Unfolding

Chapter 25

Realization

"And you will eventually realize you do not need someone else to fill the brokenness inside you. Your heart has enough love to make you whole again." – Dhiman

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After tossing and turning all night, I finally got out of bed around seven.

Clearly there was something wrong with me if I was getting up that early.

I managed to get bits of sleep here and there, but my mind kept wondering back to Aiden's touch and the way his lips felt against mine.

I took a quick shower to clear my head, then changed into my clothes from yesterday and headed downstairs where I found Ella sipping her coffee and Mia stuffing her face with waffles. A girl after my own heart.

When she saw me, Ella offered me coffee but I shook my head no. "I'm going to head out. My mom should be coming back soon."

She looked at me concerned. "Are you sure? You're welcome to stay for however long you want Natalie."

I had told her what was going on with my parents and she had been extremely supportive. However, I couldn't tell her that my decision to run out of her house like a madwoman this morning had more to do with me making out with her brother last night, than anything else.

No – that would just boost her ego and give her even more matchmaking ideas. Instead, I forced a smile I was sure she saw right through, and quickly waved goodbye to Mia before walking to my car.

To my surprise, the entire driveway had been cleaned and so had my car. I had anticipated to spend at least half an hour cleaning all of the snow off, but looks like someone had beat me to it. Although I had a feeling I knew who it was, I didn't want to jump to any conclusions.

Despite the roads having been cleared, there were huge piles of snow on either side of the street. The temperatures were pretty low, so the thick blanket of snow didn't melt but instead continued to cover the city. I also saw people coming out of the comfort of their homes, one by one, to shovel their driveways and clean their cars.

When I got home, I plopped down on the couch in the living room and contemplated Facetiming Brooke and Caroline, but quickly decided against it. I needed to figure out my own feelings before I started blabbing to others – especially Caroline. I honestly don't know who was worse, Ella or Caroline when it came to Aiden. I'm pretty sure the two of them already had a ship name picked out.

And so, I sat there in complete silence listening to the crunching of snow underneath tires coming from outside and staring at my reflection on the TV screen. Did I enjoy kissing Aiden? Fuck Yes. Was it a good idea to even go down that path with him? Probably not.

However, I can't deny that I felt an undeniable attraction to him from the moment I met him. He is one of the most annoying people I have ever met, but he's also one of the most thoughtful. He's the type of person that you can count on to be there for you, and the same thing can't be said about many.

In the beginning, I suspected Aiden was all of a sudden so interested in who I was because he wanted something from me. However, the more we hung out and I got to know him better, the less I started to suspect that. The fact that both he and Lucas opened their friendship not only to me, but also to my friends, made me realize that he was being genuine. Maybe it didn't start out that way or maybe it did, that's something only Aiden knows.

Sure, he's got a certain reputation when it comes to girls and there's also the fact that he's probably slept with half of the girls at Northside, but sex is sex. People need to stop making such a big deal about it. It's viewed as such a taboo subject, but as long as you practice safe sex, I don't see anything wrong with it. I am by no means justifying his actions when it comes to sleeping with a different girl each week – at least that's what the rumor mill at Northside says – because at the end of the day, we all just want to be treated with respect. However, all I'm saying is, it takes two to tango.