His at Night (His #1)

Chapter 14 : Mr. Overreacting

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''Hey, Rory,'' Aaron says when I come near him. I only nod in his direction, going past him. He catches my arm in his grip and I freeze, which he fortunately notices and he loosens his grip on me until I bring my arm away from his touch.

''I want a few minutes with you,'' he rushes out, not allowing me to completely move away from him. Oh, who am I kidding – I'm working with this guy, I can't ignore him the whole night and hide from him like some freaking mouse from the cat.

And isn't it funny how all guys in my life want to have a few minutes with me to talk? Hmm.

''What's up?'' I casually ask, but my voice is too tight so I can't lie to either of us. I do everything to avoid his stare.

''I'm sorry I didn't show up the other day. But I have a reason why I didn't.''

My shoulders tense up because he's the second guy I have to listen to excuses from. Laughable, really. I don't respond him, which he takes as a cue to continue his 'explaining'.

''My mother got a heart attack,'' he gets out in a quiet, sad tone, at which I come to a complete stop and turn around to face him.

I didn't give myself time to look at his face, how tired and worried his features really are.

''Oh, god,'' I breathe out, my mouth falling open.

''She's okay now. They saved her. She's fine now ...'' he rants and I can hear how his voice cracks in the middle of the sentence.

Sympathy for him fills my body and I throw my arms around him in comfort. I can't even imagine how would I feel if it happened to me, so at least I could do is offer him comfort I'm sure he needs and just be his friend. And of course, accept his apology.

Aaron's arms come around my body and he pulls me even closer to me, burying his head in my neck and inhaling, making me shiver. Uh.

I break away from the hug and step back away from him a bit, giving him a tight smile.

He's watching me carefully. Is it just me or something between us isn't how it used to be at first? We're both so closed-off with each other now. I don't like it.

He clears his throat and lowers his head. I watch him curiously, wondering if I really see the blush spreading on his cheeks.

''I'm sorry I didn't call. These past days ... have been hell. Truly, pure hell and I completely forgot to give you a call ...'' he watches me closely, studying my expression.

I nod at him. ''It's okay. You did what you had to do and now that I know what happened, I'm not mad. I mean, how could I be?'' I laugh dryly.

Aaron nods with his head, accepting my explanation and I see how his shoulders relax, like he just got some heavy burden off of them. I didn't know my reaction would affect him so much, so I feel kind of bad for reacting that way. My only excuse is that I didn't know the situation he was in, but that sounds lame even in my head.

Aaron shrugs and I see he's becoming uncomfortable. I guess he got too much sympathy these past days so he doesn't need it from me, too.

''So, I've been wanting to ask you a question about that guy ...'' Aaron starts, moving close to me so I could hear him since people started coming in and the music started playing.

''Which one?'' I ask him, deciding to play it dumb. I know he meant Braden, but I don't want to make this easy for him.

I hear Aaron chuckling behind me. ''So there's more than one?'' he teases.