Cold Hearted Bastard

Chapter 5

My cortisol levels were skyrocketing with him only being here for a day. I couldn't even imagine the end of the week how I'd be looking. Grey hair? Wrinkled? Shriveled up and dry? Yeah, most likely all of the above. I took out my phone and pressed the speed dial.

Walking towards Grandpa J's candy shop, my best friend finally picked up, "Hi Lils, I'm here where you?"

"Look down to the corner booth, I'm the one waving my hand like a crazy person right now. Also, who's the tall, handsome dude next to you?"

I looked to the left, shaking my head at my most embarrassing but longest known friend. There she was waving both hands, the bangles on her hands clinking causing the whole audience in the pretzel place to look in her direction.

"Who's the crazy chick looking at us?" Aspen whispered into my ear causing me to jump as I hung up my phone.

"My best friend," I started proudly walking to sit by her. Lily and I had been friends since sixth grade and even though she never made it to university and I went halfway across the state we were still somewhat inseparable.

We made our way down the aisle towards the corner booth at the opposite end of the shop. "This place looks like Barbie threw up all over the walls." I held back my smile as I watched him scowl. I couldn't blame him, he was right. The whole place was painted in Pepto-Bismol pink, with booths a deeper shade of pink. All the walls were decorated with candy stickers and unicorns. Even the waitresses were dressed from head to toe in pink paraphernalia.

"Aspen this is Lily, Lily this is nobody of importance," I took the seat opposite her grabbing a huge chunk of her already half-bitten salty pretzel. Aspen sat next to me, still at unease. It was a picture-perfect oxymoron. His messy brown hair, leather jacket, the whole bad boy vibe he had going on sitting in a pink candy shop, surrounded by sweet things. For a moment, I savored the scene, especially his discomfort.

"I'm Aspen," He smiled charmingly, stretching his hand out to shake Lily's.

"Lily Evans, lovely to meet you," she said, "how'd you meet Wynter?"

"That's a long story," I cut in, "I'll fill you on that later."

"I'm staying with Wynter's family," Aspen interjected smoothly, "it's been pretty drag until right now." He gazed into my best friend's eyes and it was so obvious he was trying to flirt. I welcomed the pain, as my fingernails dug into the palms of my hands. He was free to flirt with whoever he liked, just not with my best friend. Aspen screamed danger.

I scooted inconspicuously an inch closer to the window and away from him. Or what I thought was inconspicuous. He noticed. His lips hinted at a smile but never reached as he moved closer to me so that his leg was brushing against mine. I stiffened. Lily was too engrossed in asking Aspen about himself to even notice and he acted as if nothing was happening. So I did it again moving closer to the wall and away from him. This time he grabbed the inside of my leg and yanked me back towards him. I yelped involuntarily.

"You okay Wynter?" Lily asked, confused. I didn't want to make a scene. It was bad enough that Aspen had the biggest knowing smirk plastered on his face. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction that he was causing me to react.

I shook my head as I pried his strong hand off of my leg and shoved it back into his lap. Oh, I was going to have a thorough talk with him later about our so-called boundaries.

Two hours passed and it only consisted of Lilly drilling Aspen about his life in which he responded to vague answers for most of them. He was such a closed-off book it was too hard to read him. Maybe that was what made him most attractive. His secrecy and swagger were a recipe for disaster. And observing girls passing by to give him second glances confirmed my statement. He was a sight for sore eyes.