Untroubled

[Taniya_K]

Right, so I've been writing this chapter for 2 days now, and after many re-writes and edits, I've decided to just post it. I hope it's ok and seems realistic.

Chapter 28:

The silence in the room was deafening to her. She continued to watch him as he bit on his bottom lip to probably gain a control of himself, but Belle couldn’t stand the silence anymore.

“Aden-”

“Don’t.” He said hoarsely, flinching away from her touch as she went to grasp his hand. “Just don’t.”

“Let me expl-”

“No!” Aden cut her off. “I just- I can’t be here.”

“Aden, no.” She grabbed onto his arm as he pushed himself off her bed, easily slipping his arm out from her lose grip as he headed to the door. “Aden, please!” When he didn’t stop, Belle jumped of the bed too, going after him. She managed to catch up with him in the kitchen, reaching out with both hands to stop him.

“Belle-” Aden started, not facing her.

“Please?” This time she cut him off, tightening the hold she had on his t-shirt and arm. “Please, just let me explain. Just hear me out. That’s all I ask. You can be mad afterwards, but just listen for now. Please?”

The desperation in her voice made him give in. Sighing heavily, he turned to her direction although he didn’t look at her. Belle could tell from his facial expression that he was using everything that he had to stop himself from yelling or hitting something.

Deciding to take action before he changed his mind, Belle tugged on his arm as she slipped the other hand into his, pulling him back into her room. She was pleasantly surprised that there had been no-one else home to overhear them, even at 8 o’clock on a school night.

She only let go of him when she had shut and locked her door, allowing him to take his place leaning against her dresser. Belle ignored the distance between them as she sat on the top of her bed where Aden previously had sat.

Aden didn’t look at her, choosing her floor instead. He could feel her eyes on him, he could always feel it when her eyes were on him. It usually made him smile, but right then, all he could think of was what she had done. He tried to see the bright side of it as they remained in their positions quietly, but he just couldn’t find it. Finally, he broke out of his thoughts.

“Why?” He asked, the one word so quiet that Belle wouldn’t known he had said something it if she hadn’t been watching him constantly and saw his lips move.

“Because I had to do something.” she replied instantly. Belle had known that question would probably be his first and had prepared an answer for it. But that’s all she had prepared for. She hadn’t prepared for her confession to be out of her control, or having to push the betrayal and hurt she had seen in his eyes to one side.

“Why?” Aden repeated, his voice still low.

“Cos I wanted to help.”

“’Help’?” He glanced up at her, noticing just how small she looked as she sat with her legs folded under her and his jumper covering her entirely. “How did you think it would help?”

“You wouldn’t go, Aden. I knew that you wouldn’t give in. But you needed answers, you needed to understand.” Belle informed him. Her tone was still pleading, as if she expected him to just leave any moment now.

“What I needed was for to just forget about it.”

“You wouldn’t have just forgotten about it if-”

“Yes, I would have, if people had just left it alone!” Aden snapped.

“We were worried, Aden!” She yelled back, forcing herself to keep back the tears that threatened to fall. “You were just pushing yourself to do everything else, spending your time keeping busy so that you wouldn’t have to think about it.”

“Because there was nothing to think about!”

“Then why did you flip yesterday? Why did you end up drinking like last time?” When Aden didn’t reply, only averting his gaze once again, Belle took a breath to calm herself down. “Exactly.”

“You don’t understand, Belle.” He sighed.

“Then make me understand. I’ve been trying and trying to get you to open up so that I can help. I wanted to be there for you, but you just kept pushing me out of that part of you. So I had to find my own way in.” Belle explained, her words gentle and soft so not to sound like she blamed him for anything.

“I’m sorry.” Aden whispered, looking up at her. Belle was glad to see the negative emotions that were caused because of her were now gone, even if it meant that sorrow and a haunted look replaced it.

“He loves you, you know?” She saw him swallow before nodding slowly. “He was disappointed that you weren’t there.”

“He should have known I wouldn’t have gone.”

“He did. But he still had hope. You went before, so he thought that you might go again.” Belle told him, glad that she had gotten him out of his shell about this and into the conversation. “The doctors said that he would have succeeded if he had had 5 seconds longer.”

“I don’t care.” Aden had gone back to staring at the end of her bed, arms crossed to keep himself to himself.

“Aden, Larry really meant it. It wasn’t one of those ‘if it works, it works’ kind of attempts. He actually wanted to end it all.”

“None of this is making me understand, Belle.” Aden told her. Belle got the feeling that talking about his dad trying to kill himself in detail was making him feel uneasy, not that she blamed him.

“Jail’s changed him. He’s clean off the alcohol, obviously, but he’s reclusive too. He wanted to get out because everything he sees in there is just…” Belle tried to think of the word that Larry had used to describe it to her, “depressing. And the only person he gets to see on occasion is his lawyer or his doctor.”

“Is that supposed to make me want to go see him?” Aden asked harshly. “Because it won’t. What did he think jail would be like?”

“Aden, he just wanted to see his son.”

“And I went!”

“But you didn’t go for 5 months in between! You’ve never been on your freewill.”

“Because I don’t want to see him.”

“He knows that what he did was wrong.” Aden laughed dryly, shaking his head in disbelief. “Aden, you’ve got to see it from his point of view. He’s alone in there, and yes, he deserves it after everything that he did, but everyone needs some hope.”

“And why does that have to be me?” He retorted. “Why does it always have to be me?”

“You’re family.” She simply said.

“Right, cos family meant so much to him.”

“Aden, he knows you hate him for what he did, and he said that he couldn’t ever forgive himself for putting you through that.” Belle added. Although he didn’t say a thing or move, Belle could tell that he was processing her words carefully now. “He tried to kill himself so that he’d be out of your life. Forever.”

Neither of them spoke for a while as she let the words hang there in the air. Belle waited for a reaction, but as time drifted along, she got more and more worried about him. He just stared at the edge of her bed, arms still crossed, a frown settled on his face from what she could see. From there, he looked angry, but until she saw him, and saw him properly by looking into his eyes, she wouldn’t know what he was really feeling.

“Will you say something?” Belle requested.

“I don’t know what to say.” Aden whispered. “I just… I just didn’t think that he might have done it for me.” There was a hint of disgust in his voice, and she could guess as to who it was aimed at.

“It’s not your fault.” She assured him quickly, resisting the urge to jump off her bed and hold him. Comfort was clearly not what he wanted. “Larry did everything he could to try and make up for it all, but when he realised that he couldn’t just re-write the past or try to balance it out, he kind of… gave up. The appeal was his last attempt of trying to make it up to you. But when you told him that it was impossible, he broke.”

“That all sounded like it was my fault.”

“It’s not!” Belle claimed immediately, covering her face with her hands in frustration before letting them run through her drying hair. “Aden, I can’t explain it. The words, the emotions… I can’t tell you what it was like. I can’t tell you like he did. I’m trying to give you some solace, but I can’t give it all.” She wiped furiously at the tear that had leaked down her cheek. There was no way that she was going to be the weak one here. Not now.

“I know. I’m sorry.” He apologized, facing her now. “I always thought that suicide was the selfish way out. That’s why I’ve just been refusing to think about it.” Aden admitted. “That this was just another one of his stunts to get some sympathy and be the pathetic person he was.”

“Aden-”

“I mean, he still is. After everything that he’s done, he shouldn’t feel sorry for himself. He shouldn’t think he’s doing me a favour by killing himself.” His tone had changed suddenly, turning more aggressive as he spoke slowly with such force that Belle knew he meant every word he said.

“You’re confusing me, Aden.”

“I-” He hesitated, not knowing where his thoughts were going. On the one hand, he understood everything his father had said and he almost felt sorry for him. But on the other, when he thought about the past and everything that had happened, this was just another selfish act of his dad that was supposed to be for his benefit, yet the only person he thought of was himself. “It doesn’t change anything, Belle.”

“I know it doesn’t, but you can’t think that he doesn’t care about you anymore. You can’t just push him out of your life now.” She tried to reason with him.

“Yes, I can.” He said. “This is just another way for him to gain sympathy. He did it for himself, and when it failed, it decided to play it so that it seem he was the good guy in all this. After everything that I’ve-”

Belle saw his whole posture freeze as he cut himself off abruptly. She waited for him to carry on, but after a moment, it was obvious that he wasn’t going to without her trying.

“You know you can tell me anything, right? That I wouldn’t judge you for it?” Belle told him, hoping it would make him open up some more.

“I know.” He murmured.

“Then tell me. Tell me what you were going to say.” Her words were gentle and soft but Aden still just shook his head.

“I need to think.”

“Ok.” Belle thought that he deserved that. After all, she had just unloaded all this unnecessary information onto him. Well, information that he thought was unnecessary. She was still thinking about that when Aden pushed himself away from her dresser. “Where’re you going?”

“I can’t think here.” He told her in a monotone.

“Aden!” She called out as he walked out of the door for the second time that night, watching as he paused just beyond the threshold of her room. “Are you mad at me?”

“Why didn’t you tell me before you went?”

“Because you would have tried to stop me. And then you wouldn’t want to hear what I had to say.” Belle informed him. He nodded, accepting her words while tucking his hands into his jeans pockets. “Can’t you stay?”

“I need to think.” He repeated, and Belle could hear the tiredness in the words. She knew that he was trying hard not to show just how much she had hurt him by going to see Larry at the prison.

“Will you come back?”

“I’ll let you know.” Aden simply told her before shutting the door and leaving.

Belle slumped back against the headboard of her bed, pulling her legs up and letting the sleeves of the jumper she wore cover her entire hands and more. She knew that the reaction that she would have gotten out of him wasn’t going to be nice, but for some reason, Belle would have preferred it if he had yelled at her or maybe given in at the end. Something to show that what she had found out had made an impact on him.

But no. Instead, even as she thought that she was making progress with him, he stuck to his original thoughts of his father in the end. Sighing, Belle pulled back the covers to her bed, contemplating sleeping as opposed to worrying. She knew there was more to Aden’s refusal to listen and change his mind than he was letting on.

As she turned to switch the light off, Belle’s hand brushed against another object on her bedside table. Aden’s phone. She didn’t know if he had left it there on purpose or not, but it was a good as sign as any that he didn’t want anything to do with her that night.

---

A heaviness in the atmosphere woke Belle up early in the morning. She didn’t know what it was, but she could tell, even unconsciously, that there was a change in her room. The first thing that she saw was the clock showing her that it was just past 3 in the morning, which meant that she had been sleeping for about, surprisingly, 4 hours.

Turning onto her back, Belle was just about to make out the silhouette of someone sitting on the edge of her bed, facing the door. It didn’t take a genius to work out who it was. She twisted fully so that she was on her side, shuffling along the bed to get a bit closer.

The only light in her room was coming through her window in the form of moonlight. She couldn’t remember leaving the curtains open, so that just left one reason as to why they were open now. It shone through right onto the other person, who sat rigidly still, hunched over as their elbows rested on their knees. The only thing that moved were their hands and the object in them that they tossed.

Belle just watched for a moment, figuring that it was clear Aden knew she was awake. She didn’t want to make the first move, but as the time ticked by, the continuous flipping of the object in his hands started to annoy her. Carefully, she reached out a hand, placing it on the arm closest to her, hoping it would stop him. Unfortunately, she had came to the wrong conclusion, and Aden jumped in slight shock at her touch.

“Sorry.” She whispered, retracted her hand to avoid the rejection she feared would come.

“I left my phone.” Aden said, not moving from his position but stopping the tossing. Belle finally recognised the item in his hands.

“I know. I saw.”

“I didn’t want you to worry.” He sighed, finally sitting up straight although still avoiding acknowledging her visually.

“I thought that you left it here on purpose cos you were angry with me.” Belle admitted, her voice still low as Aden continued to just sit there. He seemed calmer than before, more gathered. “Where have you been?”

“Out.”

“Somewhere safe?”

“You could say that.” A slight shrug accompanied his words, and Belle could see that she was breaking through the walls that he had previously put up.

“I’m truly sorry, Aden.” She said after a moment. “But I don’t regret what I did.”

“I just wish you had told me.” He murmured, each word still somehow clear to her.

“I wish I could have. I hated keeping it a secret, but I knew that you would have stopped me. It was something that I just had to do to feel like I was helping you, and I hope that you can forgive me for it?” Belle turned it into a question in the end, knowing that it made her seem weaker than she wanted to.

“I’m not angry at you.” Aden corrected her from before. “I’m disappointed, and hurt, but I’m not angry at you. I’m angry at me for getting you involved in all of this.”

“You didn’t get me involved.” She hurriedly told him, pushing herself up into a sitting position. “I chose to get involved because I wanted to get involved.”

“But it’s still my life, my mess. I shouldn’t drag you down with me. I shouldn’t have put the burden of going to the prison on you.” Aden tilted his head upwards, leaning back on his hands to keep himself up. “You shouldn’t have to feel the need to do things like that.”

“I did it all because I wanted to, Aden.” Belle reached forwards once again, placing her hand on one of his by her legs. “If it means I could help you in the slightest, I would do it. And this was no exception.”

Aden finally turned to look at her, the sincerity in her voice effecting him more than anything else that had happened all day. He slowly let his fingers touch hers, playing with them before intertwining them.

“Belle, I love you, and I want to do everything that I can to protect you from these things in life, these… dark things. But the more I think about it, the more I realise that the only dark things in your life are there because of me.” Aden told her, trying to hold back his tears as he watched their fingers meshed together. “Sometimes, I just think you would be so much better off without me. So much happier-”

“No.” Belle confidently cut him off, losing her fight against her own tears. “No, don’t say it because it’s not true. Whatever you’re thinking, whatever you want to say, just stop.”

“Belle, -”

“I don’t care if that’s what you think, because I can tell you without a doubt that my life would be much darker without you.” When Aden just shook his head, Belle pushed herself onto her knees, making him face her as she held both of his hands in hers. “Aden, I am so, so sorry that I had to do this behind your back, but that doesn’t change anything. And it won’t, because you can’t stop me from getting involved in this… mess of yours. As long as I’m here, I’m going to do what I can to help you, just like I know you would. You can‘t get rid of me.”

Aden couldn’t help but smile at her last words, especially as she softly smiled back at him. He tugged one hand out of hers, wiping away the tears that had now stopped but still clung to her eyelashes and cheeks.

“I wish I had a normal past, a normal family. Something that didn’t keep coming back to haunt me.” He told her, twisting his while body to face her. “To haunt us.”

“We don’t need normal, Aden. Neither one of us have had a ‘normal’ life. And it’s that that’s made who you are now, and that’s who I love and I feel completely safe with and who I would do anything for. Ok?” Belle pulled his other hand down back to her lap, making sure that he understood everything that she said.

“I find it hard to believe that you feel that safe around me.” Aden whispered, looking down. “After everything I’ve done-”

“I told you, I’m not scared of you.” Belle interrupted him. “I know I’m safer with you than anyone else.”

“You should be. I almost killed my father remember?” He reminded her. She had been wondering how long it would be before he brought that up, surprised it already hadn’t that night. “Not to mention all the other things I’ve done.”

“But you didn’t kill him, remember? That’s what’s important. After everything that he did, you didn’t go through with it.” She let her hands glide up to his shoulders, pulling herself closer to him as she sat up on her knees. “And everything that you’ve done is in the past.”

“Yeah, well, someone with a normal background would never have contemplated killing their father, even for an hour or so.” He sighed, letting his hands rise to her waist.

“Aden, ’normal’ would mean that we would never have happened.“ Belle pointed out, lightly brushing her lips against his. “So don’t wish that upon us.”

---

Phew! Glad that's over with... but things don't stay that calm for long in Summer Bay, now do they?

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

Most of you guessed my not-so-vague clue so I'll just give you the chapter now lol!

Chapter 29:

Belle woke up alone the next morning. She vaguely remembered Aden leaving earlier to get back home before having to go to school. Even after the emotionally draining talk last night, he was still prepared to go to school, even as she told him suggestively that ditching for a day would make him feel better. But Aden had pointed out that it was Friday which meant he had the afternoon off and they could catch up then.

Now, at 11am, Belle just remained in her comfy, yet empty, bed thinking over everything that had happened. She knew that, even though he would never say it, Aden didn’t trust her completely right then. That he was still hurt after what she had done. That even as he tried to pretend to accept what she had told him last night, he still felt unworthy of her.

Anger started to swell up inside of her when she thought more and more about it. They had been so perfect, well, as perfect as it could be for them, until Larry came back into their lives. It was as if they weren’t meant to be happy for long.

And then there was Drew, who had pushed Aden to the edge. Making him doubt himself and them. Suddenly, she was out of her bed. There wasn’t much she could do about Larry now, but there was something she could do about her step-brother.

---

The door to Leah’s house was shut, but as Belle turned the handle, it didn’t surprise her it wasn’t locked. Now that Charlie had moved in with Roman and Ruby with Ross and Morag, Belle was able to guess that only Drew would be home, seeing as Leah was working that morning.

Pushing the door open with all the force she could conjure, she let it slam against the wall. The sound vibrated through the whole house and Belle could hear footsteps as she walked through the kitchen and into the living room.

“Hey! Perfect timing!” Drew said amusingly, not seeing the look on her face. “I was just studying and-”

“How dare you speak to Aden like that?!” Belle cut him off, her voice dangerously low.

Drew finally recognised her face and saw what she was here for. He crossed his arms, all the light-heartedness from before gone and replaced instead with defensiveness.

“He told you.” Drew stated, laughing dryly.

“’Told me’?” Belle repeated incredulously. “Do you have any idea what your words meant to him?”

“No. Why don’t you tell me?” He replied smartly, proud of himself that he had actually gotten to him.

“He was ready to break up with me last night, Drew!” She yelled.

“Yeah? Well, doesn’t that just bring things into perspective?”

“Excuse me?” Belle asked in disbelief, crossing her own arms.

“If what I said made him want to break up with you, then he must be more insecure about your relationship than you first thought.” He explained.

“What you said were all lies!”

“He obviously believed them, so there must have been some truth to them, right?” Drew pointed out, continuing before she could get a word in side wards. “I mean, you did go to see his father in prison, didn’t you?”

Belle hesitated for a moment. She didn’t want to play into his hands, she didn’t want to lose control of this argument to him. But she knew that if she didn’t answer, it would just put her into a worse position.

“Yes, I did, but that’s the only one thing that you said that was true.”

“So he made you go to-?”

“No!” Belle shouted. “He didn’t make me, Drew. He didn’t even know!”

“Keeping secrets, now are we?” Drew said lightly, which only infuriated her more.

“I was going to tell him that night, not that it’s any of your business.”

“Why didn’t you tell him before? Better yet,” He corrected himself. “why didn’t he go himself?”

“Because he didn’t want to and I couldn’t tell him cos he would have tried to stop me.” She said tiredly.

“Then why did you go? That has nothing got to do with you! Why do you feel the need to take care of everything, especially his mess?”

“It’s not his ‘mess‘!” Belle countered. “It’s his family. And fine, maybe it’s not as straightforward as anyone else’s, but I don’t care. I want to help him in any way I can, and I sure as Hell don’t need you looking over my shoulder judging me about it when it’s none of your business.”

“Belle, just look at his family! ‘Straightforward’ is the furthest word from my mind when I think about them-”

“Then don’t think about them!” Belle informed him.

“He’s going to go the same way as his brother and his dad. You know it’s just a matter of time.” Drew spoke carefully, making his words hit her more.

“You can’t know that, Drew. He’s nothing like-”

“He tried to kill his dad!” Drew yelled, cutting her off.

“But he didn’t! Stop holding that against him! You don‘t even know the full story!”

“I don’t care about the full story! He was prepared to kill him. He only didn’t because you got there.”

“No, he didn’t.” She told him, breathing heavily. She had no intention in reliving or describing what had happened that day at Aden’s old house. About how she had turned up just as he had hung up on the phone after calling the cops and Rachel, who in turn had called the hospital to dispatch a ambulance. She had no intention to visualise the broken look on Aden’s when he had realised what he had almost done, or when he told Rachel just what he had wanted to do. “You don’t know the whole truth, so stop judging him! Especially about this.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Drew questioned curiously.

“Remember Dom?” Belle said pointedly, uncrossing her arms as his jaw tightened. “Yeah, exactly. Except, you actually left him to die.”

“I thought we agreed never to bring that up again.” He growled, not liking the fact that Belle was turning this all on him.

“And I thought that you would leave well enough alone! Guess we were both wrong.” She told him, deadpanned.

“Belle,” Drew said gently after a moment. “I’m doing this because I care for you. He’s not good for you.”

“You don’t get to decide what’s good for me, Drew.” Belle retorted, eyeing him closely as another snippet of her and Aden’s talk came back to her. “And you certainly don’t get to tell Aden how I supposedly feel about him. How I’m apparently scared of him! Geez, Drew! Don’t you have any respect for yourself? How can you say something like that?”

Drew just shook his head slowly, trying his best to not just explode. Or better yet, just turn his back and walk away from this. The last thing he needed was to be made out like the bad guy here, but he just had to make Belle see. See what he did from an outsider’s point of view.

“I said it because I know him. I’ve seen him flip out because of something little, bullying others just for the fun of it. You know it’s true.”

“No, I knew it was true. I’ve told you before, and I know that Ric and Mattie had told you too. Aden’s changed. He’s not that kind of person anymore.” Belle kept her voice as steady as she could, knowing that if she just yelled it would come off more defensive than she wanted.

“Yeah? So he didn’t snap at you that morning when you and Roman were talking? He didn’t just spend a couple of week in a mental hospital?” Drew asked rhetorically.

“Are you really going to bring that up?” Drew simply shrugged and she sighed. “It wasn’t a ’mental hospital’ and it’s been months now. And it wasn’t because of what you think. Aden’s had a rough life.”

“That doesn’t explain everything, Belle. Fine, so he didn’t have a happy childhood like the rest of us, but that doesn’t excuse what he did!” He exclaimed.

“You want to talk about what people have done, Drew?” Belle finally snapped. She had been trying to keep it a bit civil, but as Drew refused to budge and keep coming back to Aden’s 10 day stay at the clinic, she couldn’t keep it in anymore. “Look at our family, Drew! You keep saying that Aden’s got a pretty messed up one, well, what about ours? You, me, Amanda. God, get a shrink to analyse us and they’d lock us up for the rest of our lives! We’re all messed up, Drew. But people don’t dwell on the past!”

“That’s totally different!”

“How?!” Belle scoffed.

“Because no one in out family’s actually killed someone!” He told her. “His dad killed Axel, he almost kill him, his brother almost killed Ric-”

“Stop!” Belle shouted. “Just stop! Please! I can’t take any of this anymore, Drew. I can‘t take you never having a good word to say about him. Blaming him for things that he had no control over. Judging him because of his past.”

“And I can’t take you always defending him! He doesn’t deserve it!”

“You don’t know him like I do!” Tears were now springing to her eyes. She had kept them back, suppressing them with her anger, for as long as she could. But now, just hearing him speak like that, knowing that someone thought that about the guy she loved just brought them to a bay.

“Then tell me! Tell me what it is that’s convinced you he’s changed. Because no-one else seems to know. They just take your word for it.” Drew said testily, taking a couple of steps closer to her.

“I can’t.”

“You can’t or you won’t?” He asked, his tone indicating he already knew the answer.

Belle didn’t reply. She wouldn’t tell him, she couldn’t tell him. But something at the back of her mind reminded her just how much everything made more sense when Aden had told her about his suffering.

Shaking her head, Belle was rather scowling at herself than at Drew. She didn’t know why she had just thought that. Ever since she had found out, she hadn’t told a soul. It was Aden’s secret, not hers, to tell.

“He’s not worth it, Belle. Whatever he told you, it’s probably a lie. Everyone knows what you’re like with people who need ‘help’.” Drew had carried on speaking as she fought with herself. As his words settled into her head, Belle began to realise what he was talking about. And each word that he said just pissed her off more. “And you’ll see through it soon.”

“Don’t say things like that. You don’t understand-” Her voice was dangerously calm as she did her best to not scream at him and let her tears free.

“Understand what? Because right now, I don’t know what there is to understand. I don’t know how you could, even after all this time, think that you mean as much to him as he does to you. I know what guys like him are like, I used to be one of them. And one day-”

“Don’t talk about him like you know him, Drew. Like you understand him.” She warned him suddenly.

“’Understand him‘?” Drew scoffed. “I don’t understand him at all. And I sure as Hell don’t know him, or even get to know him. But I know about him. And I know just how many times he’s hurt you, made you cry, made you do things like go to the prison to see his dad-”

“He didn’t make me do anything!” Belle finally let her voice rise just so that she could get through to him. “How many times must I tell you? Aden doesn’t make me do things.”

“But he’s made you cry right? He’s hurt you? Pushed you out? Used you?” Drew began to list everything that he could remember from what he had heard about their little fights and other stuff that had been gossiped about in the little town of Summer Bay.

“Stop it.” She whispered as his words penetrated her.

“You can’t deny it, can you?”

“I said, stop it.” Belle had averted her eyes from him a long time ago, not wanting for him to see just how much his words effected her.

“You need to hear this, Belle!” He told her, voice full of concern that she had been able to identify all the way through this so far.

“No, I don’t.” She looked at him once and took a step back. “I didn’t come here to argue with you.”

“Yes, you did.” Drew said as she turned around. He knew Belle better than most people, and he may not be in love with her anymore, but he still loved her like the sister that she legally was. “Why can’t you just admit I’m right about him?”

“Because you’re not.” She simply said as she took another small step. Before she could take another step, a force made her stop. She spun around to see Drew holding onto her left wrist, keeping her from going. “Let me go.”

“No. If you go now, we’ll never talk about this again.” He said easily.

“So?” She asked, trying to tug her arm out of his hand with no avail. His grip wasn’t rough or tight, it was just too strong for her. “Let go of me!”

“Will you just listen to me?”

“No! You don’t have anything to say that I want to hear!” Belle informed him, her eyes bouncing from his grip on her to his eyes and back again. “Let go!”

“Belle-”

“No!” This time she pushed on his arm with her other hand. “Drew, stop it.”

“Fine!” He did as she asked, a look of hatred on his face although she wasn’t sure who it was meant for. “Go. Go back to him. Tell him how I just hurt you.” He snarled at her, shaking his head. “Like he’s never hurt you before.”

She didn’t know why, but his last words, the only words that she genuinely believed that he had no idea just how true they were, effected her the most. Before she knew it, Drew was holding onto his left cheek while her right hand tingled from the pain, the charms on her bracelet still clinging and making a tinkling sound.

They stood in silence as Belle retracted her hand, folding them once again as if to physically stop herself just in she lashed out again. Drew just rubbed his cheek a couple of time, before working it from the inside with his tongue. He had been on the receiving end of Belle’s rare outburst of violence once before and he knew that she had more power than that. And he knew that if she really wanted to, she could break his nose with a punch rather than just a slap.

“I’m guessing that I struck a nerve there.” He murmured after a while as Belle swallowed, the tears just rimming her eyes now.

“Drew, you- I-” She faltered, lost for words. There was no way that she could ever explain everything to him. “Why couldn’t you just leave us be? Like you have been for the past 5 months. Why couldn’t you just keep quiet?” Her words were almost pleading now.

“Because it had gotten too far. When I saw that stamp on your hand…” He trailed off. They were finally talking about it like he had wanted them to, like he guessed she had wanted too, but now that the moment was here, Drew couldn’t find the right words that didn’t sound harsh. “You’re doing things for him that you would never do for anyone else. You’ve changed for him, and I can’t sit back and not do a thing as he takes charge and ruins your life-”

“He is my life!” Belle informed him, cutting him off from his explanation. The statement put them both back into silence before she went on. “I haven’t changed wholly. And anything that I have… it’s for the better. He makes me happy, and you can’t take that from me. You‘ll just have to find a way to deal with it, Drew.”

“What’re you saying?” He asked her after a moment, knowing there was more to her words then she had said, especially as the tears spilled over her cheeks.

“Don’t make me choose. If you can’t deal with it, with us, then you leave me no choice.” She took a breath while wiping her tears away with her left hand. “Don’t make me choose between you and him, Drew. Because I can tell you right now, I will choose him without a second thought.”

“You would choose him over your family?” Drew enquired, astonished, as she backed away, ready to leave.

“After everything we’ve been through, yes.”

“How can you know that?” His voice was full of intrigue and a bit of disgust as he tried to get his head around her ultimatum. Maybe right then, while he was pushing her to the edge, she would choose Aden over him, but once she had calmed down and thought it through, Drew was certain that she couldn’t make a choice like that so instantly.

“Because I’d do anything for him.” Her words were quiet, but they were passionate and he knew that she meant them thoroughly.

She turned to leave just as Leah came in through the front door, sensing the tension between the two of them, only to be confirmed when she saw Belle’s tearstained face.

“Belle?” She asked worriedly as the teenager pushed past her.

“Sorry.” Leah was able to hear her mumble as she rushed out of the door, leaving just her and Drew who now stood leaning against the back of the couch.

“What was all that about?” Drew just shook his head, barely registering her words.

’I’d do anything for him’, had been Belle’s words, and they were the ones that stuck in his head. Not because she had yelled them, but because they were only words that she hadn’t. That she hadn’t tried to argue with him with. That she hadn’t begged him to understand with. They were facts. Facts of her life.

And he couldn’t argue with that.

---

Alright, time to choose a side. Aden or Drew? I'm gonna choose Drew cos I don't think anyone else will... poor guy!

Hope you liked it.

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

Right, so this chapter was going to be longer, but then I thought I should keep all the fluff together and all the other stuff... with the other stuff.

This is for MissOlivia22 and Zetti, both who wanted this update asap! If I can, I'll try to post the next chapter later on tonight.

Chapter 30:

As lovely as the summer was, the heat became unbearable at times, especially in the early afternoons. Luckily for her, the Heavens had opened just as she left Leah’s place, drizzling her with a summer shower.

Belle walked in the direction of home, the only other place she wanted to be right then. But as she headed that way, a text came through on her phone from the one person that she needed at that moment.

’Just left home. Want to meet up?’ Aden’s text read, to which she hurriedly replied, even as the steady pattering of the rain distorted the screen.

’Yeah. Am almost at the pier. Heading home though.’ She sent, wiping the screen with her thumb a couple of times afterwards. Checking the time on her phone, she was amazed to see that it was now 1 in the afternoon, and that Aden had finished school for that week about an hour ago.

’Wait in the Diner. I’m almost there too. x’ His reply came instantly. Belle sighed, changing her course and crossing the road that was opposite the pier.

Once there, Belle wasn’t surprise to see how vacant the place was. But then again, it was raining and just past lunchtime, so she guessed that everybody who had the free time was inside the Diner and not waiting outside in the rain like her.

Contemplating whether to go in or not, Belle found herself dawdling towards the barrier of the pier, finally leaning against it. It was the first time that she had stood completely still since leaving the house and she could feel the coolness of the rain dropping on her bare skin of her arms and her face and neck. Her hair had clung together, curling due to the wetness. There was a glint of sunshine as it peaked out from behind a couple of clouds, blinding her for a moment, only to be covered up again.

Staring into the sea that pooled around the pier’s stands, Belle let the tears that she had been holding back since for God knows how long free. They were gentle tears, streaking down her cheeks, mixing in with the rain, not hysterical sobs. Her body stayed perfectly still as they slid down.

She knew that she couldn’t go into the Diner like that. There would be too much of a fuss about her and she wasn’t in the mood to explain what had happened. How she had just had an argument with Drew. Which had resulted in her giving him an ultimatum. She couldn’t remember, not even after everything that her mother and grandmother had done to her, ever saying those words out loud. That she wouldn’t choose her family if it ever came to that.

The more she thought about it, the more Belle prayed that it would never come to that. She knew just how stubborn Drew could be, but he wasn’t unreasonable. She had noticed how he had never said Aden’s name once throughout their confrontation, how he would just refer to him as just that; ‘him’. But that didn’t mean that he couldn’t just turn back into his old self, when he would just ignore anything to do with her and Aden. Belle had hated it then, but now that sounded quite good. It was better than the alternative.

Her thoughts were cut short when she felt a hand on her lower back. She jumped, instinctively using a hand to wipe her tears away, although the rain had been bound to disguise them.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” Aden said as he rounded her to stand beside her, leaning against the fence like she did.

“You didn’t.” She replied cheekily, forcing a small smile onto her face as she kept it looking downwards.

“Thought you didn’t like the rain?” He asked, remembering the storm from several months back.

“I like the rain.” She corrected him. “I don’t like the thundering, or the heavy rain. This light drizzle has it’s uses.”

“Yeah?” Aden murmured, turning around so to lean backwards against the fence so that he could face her. “Such as hiding your tears?”

“What?” Belle tried to laugh it off, but she couldn’t stop him from lifting her chin up and looking into her eyes, which must have been red by now.

“You know you can’t keep things from me.” He said lightly, laying a hand on her cheek and gently skimming his thumb across it. “What’s wrong?”

Belle just leaned into his touch before shaking her head, biting on her bottom to stop herself from unloading it all onto him right there and then. Lifting her hand, she pulled Aden’s down, using the other one to wipe the other side of her face as the rain started to pour just that little bit more heavily.

Aden’s hands came to rest on her hips, pulling her to stand in front of him as she finally took him in entirely. He had changed from his school uniform, now wearing jeans and a t-shirt under his jacket that he had cleverly pulled on. The rain had probably plastered his hair down before he had run his hand through it at least a couple of times to make it stick up in all directions, Belle figured.

Slowly, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling herself up onto her tiptoes as his arms came around her waist, holding her close to her. Belle buried her face into the crook of his neck, taking comfort in his familiar scent. She remembered reading somewhere how the sense of smell held more memories than anything else, and as she stood there, surrounded in safety and love, she understood just how true that was.

They stood like that for a minute or so, one of Aden’s hands coming up to stroke her hair as he dropped kisses onto the top of her head. It seemed to calm her down and Belle was able to get a grip of herself as she pulled away.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered, keeping her eyes on her hands as they slid down his chest, relishing in the warmth that his body gave out, even through the slightly wet t-shirt..

“It’s ok.” Aden told her, pressing another kiss to her temple.

“No, I mean, I’m sorry. For everything.” Belle informed him. He thought about it for a second and she watched his face as realisation hit him. “I know that I hurt you and I don’t blame you if you can’t trust me anymore.”

“Belle,” He paused, sighing while letting his eyes wander off into the distance. “Yeah, what you did hurt me and I don’t like that you did it, but I do trust you. It doesn’t mean that it’s changed my mind or anything, but I understand why you did it.”

“Really?” Her tone was hopeful.

“Really. When I thought it through I realised that I would have done the same for you. So I can’t exactly be mad about that.” His words brought a huge relief to her, something that was clearly shown on her face as she smiled genuinely for the first time that day.

“Thank you.” Belle breathed as she rested her forehead against his shoulder.

“For what?”

“For being you. For being understanding.” She said, pulling back before tilting her head up to reach his lips. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” He replied as they parted, gently pushing her hair back off her face. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

“Can we get out of the rain first?” Belle asked, to which Aden merely nodded, knowing that that was the best idea.

“Diner?”

“Home.” She corrected, sighing heavily. “I’m probably a mess and the last thing I need is Irene fussing over me.”

“You’re beautiful.” Aden murmured, pressing his lips to her forehead once again as he affectionately rubbed soothing circles on her lower back. “We should go before it starts to bucket it down.”

Belle nodded, a small smile gracing her face at Aden’s smooth words. She walked out of his arms, taking the lead as she guided them off the pier. Now thoroughly soaked by the rain, the air moving past her as she travelled gave her the chills, making her rub her arms in a way to warm herself up, with no avail. It wasn’t until she got to the edge of the road that she figured out why Aden was slightly behind her, as a sudden warmth encased her.

Her smile grew as she pushed her arms through the jacket so that she could wear it properly, loving the security it gave her. She looked coyly at Aden who just wrapped his arm around her shoulders to pull her close.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” He replied casually. “Can’t let you get ill, now can I?”

---

By the time they got back to the beach house, the sun began to shine through and the rain had eased up a bit. But that didn’t mean that either one of them were even close to dry.

“Bathroom.” Belle instructed as Aden entered the house before her while she shut the door. “Wet clothes in the bathroom.”

“Alright…” He laughed, letting her guide him by the hand as they trudged, soaked with the rainwater.

Once they were inside the bathroom, Belle pulled down two towels, placing them on the counter next to the wash basin. Turning around, she frowned when she saw Aden taking off his shoes and reaching for one of the towels next to her.

“What?” He asked, slightly self-conscious as he dried his arms.

“We don’t have any clothes to change into.” She pointed out. Aden froze as he rubbed his hair. He looked down at himself than at her before smirking.

“That would help.” He stated. “I’ll go get some.” Dropping the towel back onto the counter, he opened the door, only to be stopped before he could get one foot out.

“No!” Belle had grabbed onto him. “You’ll get my room wet.”

“Sweetheart, it’s just water.” Aden said slowly. “I’m sure it won’t cause a disaster or anything.”

Belle, clearly, didn’t like his reply, slamming the door shut before he got the chance to go. Aden was prepared for some snide remark, but instead, when he turned to face her, she was grinning slyly at him.

“I’ve got a better idea.”

“Really?” He gave her his trademark smile as she tugged at his shirt. “What’s that then?”

“I’m sure you can figure it out.” Belle murmured just before letting her lips touch his teasingly. Aden, however, wasn’t going to let her get away with it, pulling her tight to him, claiming her lips with his.

She giggled as his hands came up to her shoulders, pushing off his jacket and hearing it fall to the floor with a wet thump. By then, Belle couldn’t give a second thought to anything else except for Aden. Gliding her hands over his t-shirt which was now practically glued to him, she managed to find the hem at the bottom and pull on it to unstuck it from his body. She pulled away, laughing, as she felt the fabric in her hands.

Biting her bottom lip, Belle managed got rid of Aden’s top with a bit of help from him, his skin now cool from the water. She let her hands roam his toned torso as he gave up with the waiting and started dropping kisses on her neck while unbuttoning her top and pushing her in the direction of the shower.

Aden glanced up for a second to see if Belle was ok, not being able to forget her tears from earlier. His worry was pushed to a side when he saw the desire in her eyes as she unbuckled his belt, bringing him into a kiss that made him hesitate for a second.

“Aden?” She asked attentively as she pulled back, pausing in her actions. The anxiousness in her voice made him realise that Belle herself had probably pushed whatever that had happened to make her cry to the back of her mind at that moment. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” He smiled, smoothing her hair back. “Except that I’m freezing. Why are we just standing here?” Belle let out a relived laugh at his words before pulling him closer by his jeans.

“Why, indeed…”

---

Felt good to get back to basics... for now.

Hope you all enjoyed it.

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

Like promised, another update tonight. I did end up finishing it like I wanted to, although it meant updating later than I wanted to, too.

Enjoy!

Chapter 31:

“Typical.“ Aden grumbled as he flopped onto the bed, now fully dressed and warm.

“What’s that?” Belle asked from where she was slipping on a top, hidden from Aden’s eyes by her cupboard doors.

“The sun comes out when we’re inside.” He huffed, pushing himself up to lean against her headboard, keeping his eyes trained on her as the fabric covered her smooth skin.

“That’s life for you.” She murmured, shutting the doors suddenly and turning around. “Like what you see?”

“You know it.” Aden replied, not even bothering to hide just how much he meant it. Instead, he added his ‘bad boy’ smirk to make it more suggestive.

“Hmm…“ Belle didn’t bother to verbalise any of her thoughts, not wanting to encourage him as she stood in front of her mirror for a second, sweeping her hair up into a messy ponytail. “What?” She questioned him when she caught his leering eyes in the reflection.

“I know you want me.” Aden smiled arrogantly at her as she rolled her eyes, fighting the urge to copy his actions.

“Huh, please!” She scoffed instead, fumbling around on her dresser for a certain something. When she couldn’t find it, a slight panic settled inside her as she patted her pockets before remembering.

“Where-?” Aden started as Belle walked out of her room, only to return in a matter of seconds, climbing onto the bed in front of him.

“Here.” She gave him the bracelet that she had taken off before getting into the shower, holding out her right hand for him to clip it on. Aden did what she requested, clasping it shut without any difficulty before twirling the charms around, fingering each one. Belle watched his face closely as he did so, biting onto her bottom lip, knowing that he was remembering what they all represented.

Once he had gone around all 8 charms, Aden held both her hands in his, bringing them up to his lips before letting them rest in his lap. Belle couldn’t help but smile like a teenager at his romantic gesture. It was the simple things like that that he came out with that made her fall in love with him more and more everyday.

She continued to watch him as he played with her fingers, her smile dying when he paused and a look of confusion and curiosity shone on his face. Belle glanced down as he let go of her right hand so that he could hold onto her left with one hand and skim over her forearm with the other.

Aden hadn’t noticed the mark before. It wasn’t that bright, but it was red and it stood out in contrast to her pale skin. It was a thin, diagonal line about 2 inches long, ending at her wrist.

“How’d this happen?” He queried, gazing up at her to gauge her reaction.

“It’s just a scratch.” Belle tried to sound casual, adding a light shrug to emphasize it.

“Yeah, I can tell.” Aden told her. “But how did you get it?

“What d’you mean, ’how’?”

“I know you’re a klutz and all, babe, but when you get injured, you tend to go all out.” He joked, turning her hand around in his.

“Funny.” Belle replied sarcastically, tugging her hand out of his. However, Aden brought it back to him by gripping her elbow, a frown settling on his face as he examined it closer. She couldn’t see what was so interesting about her wrist until she pulled one of his hands away. Belle didn’t know how she hadn’t seen it earlier. She guessed it was due to the hot shower making her skin redder, especially effected area.

“Did someone hurt you?” He asked her carefully, his thumb following the red trail around her upper wrist and then up the scratch. “Belle?”

“No.” Drew’s words came flooding back to her even as she spoke. Go back to him. Tell him how I just hurt you.

“You’re lying.” Aden simply stated. “Is this what was wrong?”

“No.” She repeated, tears filling her eyes at the memory of that morning. “I went to see Drew.”

“He did this to you?” Although his voice was low due to their nearness, Belle got the feeling that there couldn’t have been more angry if he had yelled it.

“No!” She quickly replied before realising just how much of a lie that was. “Yes, ok, but-”

“I’m going to kill him.” He growled, letting go of her hand before pushing himself forward to get off the bed.

“Aden, no!” Belle placed her hands on his chest, forcing him to sit back down. “You don’t understand!”

“Understand what?” He claimed, rage clear in his words. “You were crying earlier because of this. What’s more to understand?”

“I wasn’t.” Belle corrected him, willing her tears to stay back for the 3rd time that day. And, for the 3rd time that day, she was losing that battle. “It doesn’t even hurt, Aden. I can’t feel it.”

“Then why were you so upset? What did he do?”

“He didn’t do anything.” She took in a breath to steady herself as she went over that morning once again, tears just rimming her eyes. “We had a fight.”

Breathing heavily, Aden fought with himself as to what to do. What he wanted to do was to go find that jerk and hurt him as much as it was obvious he had hurt Belle. But what he knew he needed to do was stay there with her. He couldn’t remember the last time that she had ever fought with Drew before. Maybe argued a bit, but never enough to make her cry.

Family meant a lot of Belle, he knew that. Even the dysfunctional, biological family she hardly ever saw. And as much as Aden hated it, Drew was her family.

“Come here.” He murmured, reaching out for her, but she recoiled.

“No,” Belle sniffed, wiped away her tears as quickly as she could. “I’m ok.”

Aden rolled his eyes, getting a hold onto one of her arms as she continued to try to stem the flow of tears. Sometimes being as stubborn and independent as Belle was had it’s advantages. And one of those was knowing when she actually wanted him to comfort her even as she rejected his attempts at first.

This time, she didn’t fight him as he pulled her to him, climbing onto his lap as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and burying her face into his collar like she had earlier on. Aden could feel her breathe in and out steadily and quickly, trying to stop her tears as he held her close, resting his chin on her head.

They sat in silence for a while. Aden didn’t feel the need to comfort her with words, especially when he didn’t know what was wrong. Instead he just kept her close to him, stroking her hair and waiting until she gathered herself.

Belle pulled away a little bit, laying her forehead against his jaw as she let her fingers play with the nape of his hair before pulling away fully.

“Ready to talk?” Aden prompted her gently as she pushed her fringe out of her eyes.

“I’m overreacting.”

“Let me be the judge of that.” Belle sighed, knowing that there would be no getting out of this. “Why did you go see him?”

“I wanted to talk to him about what he said to you.” She confessed.

“And…?”

“And we talked.”

“I thought you said you fought?” Aden asked.

“Fine, we yelled.” She said exasperated, a bit of herself shining through. “I asked him why he said all that and he said the usual stuff.” Aden knew what the ‘usual stuff’ was, mainly about how he hadn’t changed or wasn’t worth it.

“Then what happened?” Knowing there must be more to it if it made her cry.

“Then…” Belle took a breath. “Then he brought up your family and the… incident.” They both knew what she meant by that. Aden nodded sternly, indicating for her to go on. “So I told him to leave the past alone, but he didn’t. And I snapped when he wouldn’t stop saying stuff about us.”

“What about us?” Aden knew what it was, but he wanted to make sure.

“Basically what he said to you. I told him that I wasn’t going to listen to it and that I didn’t want to argue, so I went to leave and that’s when he…” Belle trailed off, holding up her hand to show him what she meant. His jaw twitched a bit, and Belle could tell that it was taking all his effort to just remain there, sitting still.

“Then?” His tone was cold and emotionless.

“Then I told him to let go, and he did.” She didn’t want to go into all the details, knowing that it would just make Drew out to be the bad guy. She still felt the need to defend him, even if she didn’t know why. “We argued some more and then I left as Leah arrived back home.” Belle stopped as if she had finished, but then added something quick to hopefully get Aden to not ask anything else. “Oh, and I slapped him.”

“Good for you.”

“Thanks.” She mumbled.

“There’s more.” Aden said after a moment.

“What?”

“That’s not what made you this upset. There’s something else that you’re not telling me.”

“Aden-” Belle said tiredly.

“Belle?” She had averted her eyes from his now. “Tell me? Please?”

“I told him to leave us alone.” Belle whispered. “And that if he didn’t, I would have nothing to do with him.”

They both sat in silence after that, Belle not wanting to add anything more, and Aden in slight shock that she would have actually said something like that. To know that she would rather not know Drew than to hear him say things about them, about him, was a reality check for him. He had always assumed that she meant more to him than he did to her, but after hearing that, Aden had an inkling that maybe, just maybe, he meant more to her than she did to him, although that was a very hard to do so.

As he thought it all through in his head, Belle crawled back over next to him, snuggling up to his side and pulling his arm around her as she wrapped hers around his waist and laying her head on his shoulder. It took a moment to register all this, and when he did, Aden shuffled down the bed so that they could lay down, guessing that sleeping, or even pretending to sleep in his case, would be good for them.

---

“Funny. My car didn’t have any dirt on it when I left it here.” Drew drawled out as he walked up to his most prized possession park by the Surf Club.

“Funny. I didn’t realise you called this thing a car.” Aden replied, not bothering to look up from the ground. He stood, arms crossed, leaning against the bonnet on the driver’s side of the car.

It was just past 7 in the evening that Friday, and Aden was just walking home from the Diner where he had dropped Belle off to work on the busy night when he had seen the familiar car on his way. Not one to pass up the opportunity, he decided to wait outside rather than to go inside and cause a scene.

“What do you want, Jefferies?” Drew asked roughly as he approached him.

“I want you to apologize.” Aden finally looked up to see him pulling his keys out of his pocket.

“To you?” He chuckled. “No thanks.”

“Not to me.” Aden placed a hand on the door to prevent him from opening it. “To Belle.”

“Belle?” Drew repeated, eyebrow drawing together in confusion.

“Yeah, Belle.”

“Why?”

“For hurting her and making her cry.” Aden simply said.

“If I want to apologize, I will.” Drew replied pointedly, turning and opening the car door as much as he could. He knew that he had hurt her and a pang of guilt went through him, but he wasn’t going to do as Aden said.

“Maybe I didn’t make myself clear.” Aden pushed the door shut, causing a pissed off Drew to face him once again. “You will apologize to Belle.”

“And what makes you think that I’ll do it?”

“Because if you don’t, I will make you wish you had.” He hissed.

“Belle won’t be happy with that, now will she?” Drew laughed.

“Don’t let it get to that then.” Aden informed him as Drew just shook his head, amused.

“And when she finds out about this…?

“She doesn’t have to find out.” He hinted heavily. “Apologize, otherwise that bruise” Aden nodded towards the slight tint on Drew’s cheek, a result of Belle’s outburst, “will be the least of your worries.”

“You can’t threaten me, Jefferies. I’m not scared of you.”

“I’m not threatening you. I’m making a promise.” Aden pushed himself off the car, feeling the daggers that Drew shot at him. “Seeing as you leave on Sunday, I’ll give you a day.”

“Gee thanks.” Drew called out after him as he started down the path homewards.

“Oh, and,” Aden added, turning in his path to face him once again just as Drew had opened the door to his car. “if you have a problem with me, you keep it with me. Ok? Like I said; Belle doesn‘t have to know.”

---

Fluff, angst and a Aden... what more could you ask for?! Seriously, though, what more could you ask for?

Hope you liked it. Like I said, it won't stay like this for long...

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

Okies, another long chapter for you guys. Hope you all enjoy it!

Chapter 32:

“I still don’t get why you won’t just listen to me.” Aden pouted as Belle giggled at his childish behaviour. They sat on the corner table of the Diner, which was surprisingly empty for a Saturday afternoon. It probably had something to do with the fact there was a cloudless sky outside.

“Because you’re a guy.”

“Really, Belle? I hadn’t noticed.” He replied dryly as Belle continued to just flip through the magazine in front of her to hopefully get Aden to shut up.

“If you need some help, I’m sure I could teach you how to spot the difference.” Belle said casually. Aden swallowed the urge to reply to that with something that would be very inappropriate to be said in public.

“That’s fine. I think I’m passing biology.” He said instead, the pout returning as Belle just grinned, knowing exactly how mean that was of her.

“Stop it, Aden. It’s not going to work!” She exclaimed suddenly when she looked at him. “I’m going to get it cut. End of.”

“But I like your hair long!”

“And I don’t. Especially not in the summer. It gets too much to handle.” She informed him. In fact, her hair was barely halfway down her back, but it was longer than she could ever remember having it. She had put off cutting it due to Aden’s constant pleading not to, instead retreating to simple trims whenever she went with Mattie to the city. But now they had arranged to go on a ‘girl’s day out’ before the HSCs to just relax for a day, and that included going to the salon.

“Fine.” Aden sighed, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair.

“Aden!” She laughed. “It’s not like I’m going to get it totally shaved off.”

“Knowing you- Ow!” He was cut off by a kick to his shin. “Alright, alright, I’ll shut up now.” Aden help his hands up in surrender.

“Finally.” Belle dramatically sighed. They had been talking about this since last night when Mattie had come into the Diner and they had arranged the day out. Belle had told Aden when he had came over that night, and thus the protesting began. It was the light, teasing kind of protesting, although he did mean what he was arguing. But Belle just enjoyed not having to talk or think about what had happened earlier in the day.

So far that day, Aden hadn’t brought up anything to do with Drew, and neither had she. The marks on her wrist and arm were virtually gone now. Like she had thought, it had only become so red and visible was because of the shower. The scratch was still there, but it wasn’t much of a big deal. Belle only wished that the whole argument could have been that easy to forget.

“So…?” She piped up once realising that she had been to far gone in her own thoughts.

“So…?” Aden repeated, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table.

“Hmm…?” Belle copied his action, moving the magazine to the side.

“Hmm…?”

“Ok, stop that.” She shook her head in amusement, leaning back in her seat.

“Stop what?”

“Stop saying what I’m saying.”

“I’m not!” Aden insisted, pulling a face of disbelief.

“Well, you’re not now but you were.”

“Was not.”

“Were too.”

“Was not!”

“Were too!” Before Aden could get another word out, Belle growled in frustration. “Urgh, you’re so infuriating at times!”

“You love it.” He winked at her, a wide grin on his face when she couldn’t help but smile back. “Seriously, though. What were you going to say?”

“I, uh…” Belle faltered, not being able to remember what the stray thought had been. “Oh, right. I was going to ask why you weren’t so busy with revision today.”

“Eh… I’ll do it tomorrow.” Aden easily dismissed.

“Aden!” Belle tutted. “You’ve gone from studying 24/7 to not studying at all!”

“I do study! Just not right now. Or today.” He argued.

“Or yesterday, or even the day before. Actually the last time I remember you picking up a book was on Tuesday.” She leaned forwards once again, arching an eyebrow as a sly smile spread across her face. “Not that you did much studying then either.”

“Who’s fault was that?” Aden smirked, mirroring her movements and picking up her hands in his.

“True…” Belle sighed heavily, scooting forward in her chair slowly so that she neared him. “I guess I’m not so resistible either.”

“Yeah.” He breathed, moving in close enough so that one tiny tilt of the head would brush his lips against hers. Aden was well aware of this, and was just about to follow through when a shadow was cast upon them.

“Gross!” The shadow huffed. “Public place, people.”

“Can we help you, Nicole?” Belle asked, irritated with her intrusion. Nicole didn’t miss the cold look she shot her as she leaned back slightly in her chair.

“Yes, can I borrow Aden for a moment?” Nicole enquired politely before grabbing onto one of his hands that had slipped out of Belle’s, not waiting for a response. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, no problem.” She said dryly as the blonde pulled him up from his seat.

“I guess I’m…” Aden trailed off, realising that he didn’t know what he was doing as Nicole guided him to the kitchen.

“Don’t mind me.” Belle called after them, slumping into her seat and pulling the magazine back to her to read.

Inside the Diner’s kitchen, Nicole brought Aden to a halt just by the counters where Roman was chopping up some meat.

“Tell him, Aden.” She instructed. Aden looked at her oddly.

“Tell him what, exactly?”

“Tell him that I deserve to spend the day outside today!”

“Nicole!” Roman said exasperatedly. “I said you could go outside, didn’t I?”

“The garden doesn’t count!” She snapped back as Aden chortled. “And neither does cleaning the tables out here!”

“You’re grounded. You don’t get to negotiate anything about it.”

“But that’s not fair!” Nicole screeched before turning to face Aden. She still had a hold on him and he was fairly certain that she wouldn’t be letting go until he helped her out. “Tell him what I’ve been doing all week.”

“What have you been doing all week?” Aden asked curiously, a smirk on his face letting the other two he was messing with her.

“This isn’t funny, Aden!” She snapped.

“Alright, alright.” He laughed.

“Tell him how I’ve been at home all week except for school and how I’ve been studying like I was supposed to.” Nicole said through gritted teeth to let him know that he really didn’t have a choice but to agree.

“Yeah, that’s true. Although,” Aden added. “by ‘all week’, she means since Wednesday.”

“That’s cos I was grounded on Tuesday.” She pointed out.

“Therefore, it hasn’t been a week yet.”

“Aden has a point there, Nic.” Roman chipped in, He had his back turned to them now, but his ear was out listening to them.

“Who’s side are you on?” She said, giving Aden a light slap to the arm before turning back to Roman. “Please, Dad? Just for today?”

“No.”

“But I’ve been so good!”

“You and ‘good’ don’t go, Princess.” Aden joked, only to be on the receiving end of another hit.

“What about Wednesday?” She suddenly said, a new tone of hope colouring her words. “I called, didn’t I?” Nicole didn’t specify as to who she was talking about calling, Belle or Roman, and Aden got the feeling that it was so that they both interpreted it in their own way. For Aden, it was her calling Roman and not telling him about him drinking and for Roman it was her calling Belle to talk to and take care of Aden.

“One good deed doesn’t get rid of that tattoo, Nicole.” Roman spoke up after a moment’s silence. Nicole’s face fell.

“But, Dad!”

“No ‘buts’!” He turned around to face the two of them, fighting a smile when he saw Aden grinning openly at Nicole’s misery. “You did something wrong, and now you suffer the consequences.”

“You’re being unreasonable!” She shouted. “I’m going to end up like one of those reclusive people, scared of dust and sunlight.”

“You mean like a vampire? Cos you’re halfway there…” Aden quipped, referring to the fact that she wasn’t allowed out, day or night.

“Shut up!”

“Hey, I’m doing you a favour here.”

“You’re not helping at all!”

“Guys!” Roman interrupted before Aden got to open his mouth. “If you’re going to fight, get out of my kitchen.”

“Fine, we’ll go fight on the beach.” Nicole said in her normal light voice.

“Nice try.” Roman chuckled, returning to the job at hand. “You can either hang out here or go home. Take your pick.”

“Hang out here on my own? No thanks.” Nicole grumbled.

“An hour.” Roman sighed. “You can call Geoff and the two of you can hang out here for an hour.”

“Really?” Nicole asked excitedly, finally letting go of Aden’s hand.

“Yes. But an hour and that’s it, got it?”

“Got it! Thank you!” She exclaimed twirling around while fishing out her mobile from her bag. She hadn’t known why Roman hadn’t take that off her yet, but she wasn’t going to remind him.

“Good, now can you let me work in peace?” Nicole nodded, prancing out of the kitchen in joy while Aden looked at him in disbelief. “What?”

“You caved in. I thought you would have more strength than that.” He informed him, laughing.

“She had a point.” Roman defended himself.

“Yeah, ‘a point’. Sure.”

“Roman! Can I get a milkshake here?” Nicole’s shrilly voice came through.

“Aden, would you…?” Roman asked, half because he was busy and half so that he didn’t have to hear the rest of the teenager’s taunting.

“Sure, sure.” He laughed once again, heading out to where Nicole was standing by the counter, her attention fixed somewhere else.

Aden followed her gaze at once, seeing exactly what had captivated her interest. There, sitting where he had been, was Drew. Belle was still there, reading the magazine like she had been, not paying him any attention. And it didn’t look like Drew was trying to get her to talk either.

“I’ve got a right mind to pour that all over him.” Nicole hissed as Aden made her a chocolate shake.

“Yeah, because being grounded for a month isn’t bad enough.” Aden replied dryly.

“I bet he did it on purpose. Letting it ‘slip’. Please.” She carried on, her words venomous that they actually amused Aden.

“True, but what you gonna do?” He murmured.

“I tell you what I’m going to do.” Nicole took the glass filled with the cold, frothy drink and started to make her way over.

“Whoa, no!” Aden pulled her back to where she had been standing.

“Oi, watch it!” She exclaimed as the milkshake threatened to slop over the top of the glass and onto her white top.

“Sorry, but just leave them alone for a second.” Nicole gave him a perplexed look. He had filled her in about Drew’s ‘talk’ with him several night ago, although he hadn’t told her everything, particularly things to do with Belle.

“You are one confusing boy.”

“Whatever.” He replied, not sure what else there was to say about that. “Hey, your lover boy’s here.” Aden nodded towards the door where Geoff had just walked in. “That was quick.”

“Yeah, he was nearby.” Nicole replied, slowly.

“You mean you had called him before.”

“Something like that.” She agreed, taking her milkshake and going over to where Geoff was standing. “I’m going to go get a table outside. Let Roman know if he asks.”

Aden nodded, wiping his hands on a cloth as she walked away. His eyes were transfixed on Drew’s back. Neither one of them had seen him, or they were just pretending to not notice him. He stood there for a minute or so before seeing Drew starting to get up.

They had been talking, Aden could see that, but when Belle shrugged gently, he saw that Drew hadn’t been doing what he had hoped. Knowing that this was his chance to make sure he would do as he wish before leaving town, Aden made his way over just as Drew stood up.

“Sit.” He said roughly, pushing him back into the chair with a hand on his shoulder before rounding the table to sit next to Belle.

“Aden!” She snapped in both shock and anger.

“What?” He replied innocently, keep his eyes on her even as he felt Drew shoot him dark glares. “You always said that you wanted the three of us to sit and chat. So why not now?”

“Because Drew was just leaving.” Belle said pointedly, turning her eyes to him. “Weren’t you?”

“Yes.” He simply responded, knowing from Belle’s tone that if he didn’t comply, he would regret it. But some things were just too good to miss. “Although, I guess I could stay and talk.”

“Good.” Aden said tonelessly, eyeing him carefully.

“Ok, what’s going on here?” Belle finally voiced her concern. The tension between the two of them was unmistakable, but mix that with the tension that existed between her and Drew and it was ready to explode. There was no way that Aden would just enjoy this. She sure as Hell didn’t.

“What do you mean?” Drew asked.

“Why are you two being… civil?” She couldn’t think of another word to use right then, trying to work out what was happening.

“It’s called having a conversation, sis.” His name for her brought a frown to her face, confusing her even more than before. ‘Sis’ was a playful, teasing, casual word, and this conversation was not going to go that way.

“Speaking of having conversations, what were the two of you talking about before I got here?” Aden tried to sound non-chalant about his prying but he could tell that his curiosity hadn’t gotten past Belle.

“Nothing.” Drew told him sharply.

“It sure didn’t look like ‘nothing’.” Aden countered, adding a subtle emphasis to the last word. “Actually, it looked more like an apology.”

“Guess you need to get your sight checked then, Jefferies.” Drew’s words with clipped as he spoke in a warning tone.

Belle’s eyes jumped from one guy to the other, trying to work out what it was that they were hiding. That much was clear from their looks and words; they were talking about something in particular, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was exactly. She thought about what they had in common, what kind of thing they would ever want to talk about. The answer was obvious. Her.

“And maybe you need to get your memory checked.” Aden’s tone hinted heavily as to what he referring back to from yesterday.

That statement confused Belle even further. The only time she could think of when they had something to remember was probably about Drew’s confrontation of Aden. Before that, it was only when she had been in hospital.

Unless… something at the back of her mind peeped up. Unless there’s something else I don’t know about.

“What’s this about?” She questioned both of them once again.

“I told you; I thought it would be nice to talk.” Aden’s tone was flawlessly smooth that just confirmed her thoughts. “Maybe Drew would like to say some things.”

“Not really.” Drew replied.

“You sure about that?”

“Stop it.” Belle said slowly. “Both of you, stop it.”

“Stop what?”

“You know what, Aden!” She snapped. “Whatever it is that you’re trying to get him to say.” Neither of them tried to fight her statement, leaving her slightly disappointed that she had been right. She pushed away from the table, letting out a short, wry laugh.

“Belle-” Aden tried but she cut him off with a dangerous look.

“Don’t.” She said quickly, getting up before seeing Drew open his mouth to say something. “I don’t want to hear it, Drew. I don’t want forced words.” Belle spun around and walked out of the Diner, leaving the two of them staring after her.

“Well done.” Drew said sarcastically as Aden did everything he could to restrain himself from hitting him.

“You still have the rest of today.” Aden informed him, eyes still on the door that she had just walked out of.

“Why do you even care? I thought you’d be happy with me gone. I know I would be with you gone.”

“Oh, I would be.” He looked at him. “I’d be ecstatic. But it’s not what Belle’s wants. For some reason, she likes having you around. And if it makes her happy, then I’ll try to keep it that way.”

Aden got up and left to go after her, realising that if he just left it, she would either get even madder or just not talk to him, leaving Drew sitting alone on the corner table. He had heard the words that Aden had just said, felt the truth behind them and seen the emotions in his eyes.

Drew collapsed back into his chair, sighing, knowing there was only one thing left to do now.

---

Sorry, just had to leave it there.

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

As promised, tonight's update. Just a warning... if you like fluff, you won't like this chapter much

Enjoy!

Chapter 33:

Aden found Belle gazing out at the sea by the log barrier just outside the Diner. He walked right up to her, taking a place leaning against the fence and watching the water with the same intensity as she did.

“What do you want?” Belle finally broke their silence when it got too much for her.

“Came to talk to you.”

“Yeah? What about?” She asked, turning her head to look at him when he didn‘t respond. He was squinting out to the sea, the little sun reaching his eyes turning them an odd but beautiful turquoise. “Do you know how that felt, Aden?”

“How what felt?” Aden’s tone was calm, which only infuriated her more.

“The two of you talking like that. About me as if I wasn’t even there!” Belle snapped, her voice low so not to draw attention to the two of them on the busy day. Aden didn’t say a word and Belle contemplated just walking off, but the curiosity inside of her held her there. “What was it?”

“What was what?” Once again, he spoke with an air of serenity that it took a lot of self-reminding that she loved this guy to stop her from strangling him.

“What were you trying to get him to say?” Belle turned her body towards him now, crossing her arms to let him know that she was being serious.

“It’s not important.”

“Yes, it is.” She argued. “Aden, just tell me, will you? And look at me, for God‘s sake!” Belle took a hold his upper arm, pulling on it to make him twist in her direction. At first, his eyes drifted right above her head before they dropped down to meet hers.

“It’s not important, and you’ll probably find out later, anyway. Ok?” Aden told her, an edge to his words.

“No, it’s not ‘ok’.” Belle sighed, running her free hand through her hair. Aden seemed adamant about not telling her, and the steely look in his eyes told her that he wasn’t going to be swayed on this. So instead, she tried to think back to their conversation inside. Before he had come over, Drew had tried to make small talk, but it was hard to ignore the figurative massive, pink elephant in the room.

And when Aden had returned to the table, just as Drew was leaving to avoid the awkwardness, both boys had sat in their seats, as if leaving would make them the weaker one. It was a total flip from when neither of them would want to be in the same room as each other.

Belle started to go over the snippets of the conversation that she could remember in her head. She remembered Drew insisting on staying, and them arguing about what her and him had been talking about.

“You wanted him to apologize.” It had finally hit her when she recalled the emphasise he had put on the word ‘apology’. And the fact that it was almost hard to see someone trying to say sorry from behind them.

“Yes.” Aden simply replied. He had turned back to look out at the sea.

“Why?”

“Why do you think, Belle?” Aden tilted his head towards her, still not looking up. “About what you told me yesterday.”

“When did you get to see him yesterday?” Belle immediately asked, forgetting for a moment about the ‘why’.

“Doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me.” Although her words were gentle, they were frantic, making him turn his head to look at her.

“I didn’t go looking for him, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I’m not worried about that!”

“Then why are you so mad? I thought you wanted Drew to get off his high horse and apologize.” Aden kept his words low, but the fury in them was just as evident as it was on his face.

“I did- I do!” Belle corrected herself, some anger in her voice too. “But I don’t want him to think he’d have to apologize! I want him to feel like doing so himself. Otherwise there’s no point to it, is there? He’ll still be the same!”

“How do you know? Maybe he’ll just back off.” Aden told her.

“How do you know that?” Belle countered. “Why are you defending him? What did you say to him?”

“Nothing!”

“Then why didn’t you want to tell me?” Their voices had risen and a couple of people passing by turned their heads in their direction. Both took deep breaths, trying to get rid of the rage with each exhalation.

“Because I knew how you would react. Plus,” Aden carried on when she opened her mouth to say something. “I knew that when he did apologize, you wouldn’t take it for real. Not to mention that you would just flip out about me going to talk to him.”

“Yeah, you’re right, Aden.” She took a slow, deep breath, closing her eyes to calm herself down. “Firstly, if you hadn’t said anything, how do you know he wouldn’t have apologized anyway? I know Drew, and I didn’t think he would let it go that far.”

“Secondly?” Aden prompted. He didn’t like being reminded just how she knew Drew, even if it was all in the past.

“Secondly, if you knew I was gong to flip out, why did you do it? I thought we don’t keep secrets from each other. I thought we don‘t go behind each others‘ backs.”

“You mean like how you didn’t keep the fact you went to see my dad a secret?” Aden replied cynically. “Or how you went to see Drew yesterday morning?”

“That’s different!”

“Yeah, but going to the prison wasn’t, was it?”

“Aden-”

“No, I mean, if Belle wants to do it, then she can. Cos nothing you do is wrong, is it?”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“But it’s what you think, isn’t it? That I’m the one in need of help in our relationship. That when I do something to try and help you, you think that I‘m treating you like a kid.”

Belle didn’t reply to his words. Not because he was right, because he wasn‘t, she told herself sternly, but because she saw just how much she had hurt him. Even after assuring her that he forgave her what she had done, he still felt betrayed. And now when he did something for her, something to help her, something that isn’t anywhere as big as what she did, she got mad. She got mad because he had tried to stick up for her, to make her life easier, happier.

Aden didn’t wait for her to snap out of her thoughts, walking away in fear of rejection once again. Belle watched as he turned and headed homebound with just one thought reverting in her mind.

I’m such a hypocrite.

---

She debated whether she should knock on the door or just walk in. More times than not, the front door to Roman’s place was either open or unlocked. Sighing, Belle decided that knocking would make her seem more formal, so instead turned the handle, glad when it didn’t jam and let her in.

When Aden had left her by the beach, Belle had gone for a walk along the shore, thinking over what had happened. She hadn’t seen Drew leave the Diner or anywhere near the beach, so she guessed that he had either stayed inside or left via the other exit.

Now, an hour later and after the longest walk she had taken from the Diner to Roman’s, Belle had decided that this fight, if it could be called that, was very petty. Not to mention that it still left some unresolved issues.

“Aden?” She called out tentatively, going through to the kitchen, only to find it empty. Returning back to the front room, Belle went up the stairs, being as quiet as she could in hope to hear something to give her a sign that he was at home.

Not hearing a thing, she carried on climbing the stairs, turning the corner and heading straight to his room. This time, Belle knocked and waited for a response. When she didn’t get one, she knocked once again, a little bit harder. A frown settled on her face when there was no response.

Although the rational side of her said that maybe Aden wasn’t in, the other, irrational side that tended to speak louder when it had something to do with the two of them, told her that maybe he didn’t want to see her. Like always, Belle repressed that voice, knocking once again while opening the door, not surprised that it wasn’t locked.

Aden laid on his bed, legs pulled up, facing the ceiling. His eyes were closed and Belle’s initial thought was that he was asleep. That was until she saw the headphones plugged into his ears and his feet soundlessly tapping out the tune to whatever he was listening to. If she listened carefully, she could even hear the buzz from the extremely loud music.

Belle shut the door behind her gently before moving towards the bed. Lightly, she placed her hand on one of his knees, causing him to freeze. His eyes snapped open in shock, only relaxing when realization hit him.

“Geez, Belle!” Aden exclaimed, pulling the earphones out and pushing himself up to lean against the back of his bed. “What’re you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk.” She informed him.

“Yeah?” He replied, sounding uninterested while messing around with some button on his iPod. “Then talk.”

“About earlier… I didn‘t mean to snap at you like that.”

“Alright.” Aden nodded before turning to look at her. “Anything else?”

Taking a breath, Belle sat down on the edge of his bed as Aden just watched her. She had known that this wouldn’t be easy. Neither one them liked to give in, especially when they felt like they weren’t in the wrong. But sometimes, sacrifices had to be made.

“What you said, about me going to see your father,” Belle saw Aden frown and turn his head towards the window at the mention of his father. She took another breath before carrying on. “It’s true. What I did… it’s the same as what you did.”

“No, it’s not.” Aden told her, coldly.

“Aden-”

“You went behind my back to see my father without even telling me or anyone else. You went to see him in prison, Belle!”

“And you went to see Drew behind my back!” She yelled back at him, not being able to keep herself calm. Defence was a natural instinct of hers.

“Only after you went to see him first. I didn’t want anything to do with my dad, yet you still went.” Aden paused, facing her once again as he lowered his voice to sound more gathered. “You knew just how much I wanted to cut him out of my life, but you just brought him straight into it again.”

“I know, I know. But you weren’t going to be able to move on until you understood. I was just trying to help, Aden.”

“Just like I was trying to help too!”

“Ok, yeah…“ Belle struggled to remain controlled as Aden’s anger flared.

“But?”

“But what you did was totally different to what I did!”

“I thought you said it was the same?!” Aden reminded her of her previous words.

“Yes, it was and it wasn’t. You told him to apologize to me. You were making him do something that he didn‘t want to do! I just went to see your father and listened to him!” She was becoming aggravated every time Aden spoke. Why couldn’t he just make it easier for the both of them and just agree with her?

“I wasn’t ‘making’ him do anything. I just suggested it.” He corrected her.

“So you didn’t threaten to knock his block off if he didn’t comply?” Belle asked, half rhetorically. “Exactly.” She added when he didn’t reply. “Look, we can’t take it back now, so why don’t we just…?”

“Just, what? Forget it ever happened?” He questioned her sarcastically. “Yeah, alright. While I’m at it, I’ll just forget that my father tried to kill himself. Or the fact that he’s in jail. Better yet,” Aden growled. “I’ll just forget everything that’s ever happened! Cos that just makes it all perfect, doesn’t it now?”

“Now you’re just being unreasonable.” Belle snapped, standing up to gain an advantage on his sitting form. “I’m trying to apologize here, to make things better, yet once again, you won’t even listen!”

“I am listening, Belle! But all I hear is you trying to make up excuses. You really don’t get it, do you?”

“Get what?” She asked, exasperated.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Is it about what you said earlier? About me not needing your help?” Belle prodded, remembering that that was the main reason she had came over to talk to him about. When Aden turned his attention back to his iPod, she took it as a ‘yes’. “What you said wasn’t true, Aden. I don’t think that at all. It’s just that I can handle my family.”

“And I can handle mine.” His tone suggested that he was no longer interested in what she had to say, infuriating her.

“You know what?” Belle said as she crossed her arms. “When you’ve gotten over yourself and stopped acting like a child, come and see me.”

It was only when he heard the front door slam shut that Aden looked up, pulling his earphones in anger before throwing the iPod onto the side, thankfully onto his schoolbag, with such a force that it would have broken if it had hit anything else.

Breathing in and out heavily, he shuffled down the bed to lay down. He knew what he had done was wrong, making Belle the bad one in all of this, but even after almost 10 months, Aden was still convinced that she deserved better and that one day she would realise it. Even after the numerous times she had told him that it wasn’t true, and that his past didn’t matter, a voice at the very back of Aden’s head kept telling him that one day she would have enough of his troubles.

Yet, instead of trying to convince her otherwise, Aden seemed to be pushing her right towards what that little voice said.

---

Hope you liked it...?

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

Sorry for the late update tonight. Had such a hectic day at uni today and had a lot of reading. Just got this finished. It's barely checked, so if there's any mistakes, then I'm sorry. Oh, and if it sucks, then blame it on my exhaustion.

Chapter 34:

Groaning, Aden woke up from another fitful dream to an empty room. He pushed himself onto his elbows, looking at the time. 4:34pm it showed. It had been about 2 hours since Belle had left and he had given in to sleeping rather than thinking.

Swinging his legs off the bed, Aden ran his hands over his face and hair, trying to get rid of the remains of the bad dream. He reached out for his mobile that was laying on the bedside table, disappointed when there were no missed calls or texts from Belle.

Still feeling all clammy, he dropped the phone next to him and got up, walking straight out the door and heading for a shower. Hopefully, that would get his mind to work better.

---

Belle laid on the couch in the beach house, her head resting on a pillow propped up by the arm rest with the TV playing some trashy talk show that she was certainly not interested in. The only thing her eyes were transfixed on was her bracelet. She had laid her hand right in front of her on the pillow, gently letting the charms go around and around her wrist by rolling it against the soft pillow, careful to not get any caught onto the fabric.

A sudden vibration made her stop. She had her phone in her other hand, prepared for any calls or texts she may receive, but not to make any. Now, she swapped it to her other hand, too lazy to sit up, to see who had contacted her. Belle had tried to not get her hopes up, but she couldn’t keep the sigh of disappointment leave her when she saw Mattie’s name on the screen. Instead of reading whatever she had written, Belle decided to be a really crap best friend and left it. After all, she was being a really crap girlfriend that day too.

---

Snapping on his watch, Aden picked up his mobile once again. He shook his head when he saw there were still no missed called or texts even 30 minutes later. Sighing, he shoved it into his pocket before heading out of his room.

“Where’re you rushing off to?” Nicole asked him when he reached the bottom landing.

“Out.” He simply replied as she looked at him over the back of the sofa.

“To make up with Belle?” At his questioning look, she clarified her words for him. “I saw her leave earlier. She seemed pretty peeved off. What did you do?”

“What makes you think I did something?” Aden said gruffly, making her raise an eyebrow.

“Wow, must have been something bad.” Nicole stated. “You didn’t get into a fight with Drew, did you?”

“No. Why?”

“Cos I would like to see that.” She informed him earnestly, making him laugh wryly.

“So would I, Nic.” Aden told her. “See ya.”

“Bye!”

---

Turning onto her back, Belle gave Geoff a questioning look.

“You look like you could do with some.” He shrugged as she took the chocolate bar from him.

“Thanks.” She murmured, still trying to figure out if there was an ulterior motive to him or not.

“You want to talk about it?” Geoff asked slowly, leaning on his forearms against the back of the couch. He had returned home about an hour ago and hadn’t heard one word from her or seen her move. Something was wrong.

“Not particularly.” Belle admitted, opening and breaking off a piece of her chocolate. “Want some?”

“Uh…” Geoff hesitated before remembering just how much Belle savoured the sweet stuff. “That’s ok.”

“Your loss.” Belle simply replied, slipping the piece into her mouth. She didn’t see his eye roll.

“Alright. Well, I’m just going to be in my room…” He pointed over his shoulder to his door.

“Ok.” She said, not wanting to bite his head off about how she was capable to look after herself and that she was fine, especially after he had given her some chocolate. Geoff nodded, waiting for a second while internally debating whether to push the issue or not before backing off and going like he said he was going to.

Once he had gone, Belle broke off another piece, playing with it in her fingers as it started to melt. Carefully, she popped it into her mouth, cleaning every last bit of it off her fingers. Chocolate was not something to waste. However, Belle sighed. Not even chocolate could fix this problem. It was doing a good job at overtaking her thoughts, but it wasn’t changing anything.

There’s only one thing that can fix this. She thought to herself, silently grumbling when she told herself that it required two people to talk without being assumed she was crazy. And the only person who could help fix this is “Aden.”

Aden stood in the kitchen, hands tucked into his jeans pockets, looking slightly sheepish. He watched her as she slowly sat up straighter, pausing in her chewing as her eyebrows rose in shock.

“I think… we need to talk.” His voice was low and steady with so many emotions lacing the words that she couldn’t identify them separately. But together, they were passionate, and, mixed with the lost look on his face, it stopped her brain from sending impulses for her to speak.

Belle simply nodded, so minutely that she didn’t know if he had seen it. Standing up, she ran her free hand through her hair before switching the TV off and picking up her mobile that she had thrown onto the coffee table.

“No fighting?” She asked as she approached him.

“No fighting.” Belle nodded, holding out a hand for him, which he took instantly before letting her guide him to her bedroom.

Once inside, she locked the door and sat down at the top of her bed, neither one of them dropping their joined hands as Aden sat opposite her, one leg under him. He pulled her hand onto his lap, using his other hand to twirl her bracelet around until he found the charm he wanted.

Belle never tore her eyes off his actions, comprehension hitting her when she saw him gently rub the dove charm between his thumb and forefinger. A symbol of peace. He had said those very words when he had given it to her.

“I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.” Belle broke their silence, her words just whispers. “Again.”

“It’s ok. I shouldn’t have yelled at you in the first place.” Aden replied, looking up at her, never letting go of her hand.

“What now?”

“We talk.” He said sternly. “Just honestly, talk. We can’t let something like this bring us down, Belle.”

“I know that, but what I did… you’re not going to get over that quickly. I don’t know what to do to make it up to you, to say just how sorry I am.” She paused for a second, tears already glistening in her eyes. “To make you trust me aga-”

“Hey, I trust you.” Aden cut her off. “I trust you. I know that you’re sorry and like I said yesterday, I understand why you did it. I only said all that earlier because I was mad at you for being mad at me.”

“I shouldn’t have been mad at you. It’s just…” Belle struggled for the right words so not to sound like she was blaming him for anything. “I don’t like other people fighting my battles for me. This was to do with me, and I didn’t want to add it to your problems too.”

“And I don’t like people having to deal with my mess either, but look where that’s gotten me?” Aden replied light heartedly. They were both trying so hard not to say anything bad about each other that it was getting harder and harder to just talk.

“Ok, so we get involved with each other’s problems. Isn’t that what we’ve always done? Helped each other? Isn’t that what having a relationship’s about?” She asked him, her tone soft but her words meaningful.

“Yeah, I guess.” His simple line put them both into silence as their gazes went downwards towards their hands once again. Sighing heavily, Belle pulled her hand out to make him look at her.

“Let’s get to the bottom of this.” She said determinedly. “Forget about me going to the prison or you talking to Drew. I want to talk about what you said earlier. You can’t honestly think that, can you?”

“I don’t know.” Aden shrugged, leaning backwards slightly, using his hands to balance him behind him.

“No, Aden, I want to know the truth. Talk honestly, remember?” Belle saw a look pass over his face knowing that he now regretted saying those words. “We’re even in this relationship, Aden. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.” He repeated. Belle scoffed at his reply.

“Great.” She shook her head. “I thought you were serious about sorting this out.”

“I am!” Aden said defensively, tilting his head upwards to the ceiling for a moment before continuing. “It just doesn’t feel like it, you know? That we’re equal. You’ve done so much for me, put up with so much, supported me so much, and I’ve never done anything like that.”

“You have. You were there for me when I needed you yesterday, and when I needed to talk to someone, just to unwind or get everything out. You’ve been there when I broke my leg.” She listed, adding the last one with a bit of disgust at the memory of her fractured ankle. “You’ve supported me through all this with getting a job, you’ve put up with me when I was so busy with planning the charity event. You’re even studying harder for me.”

“Yeah, but none of that is exactly special, now is it?” Aden scoffed at himself.

“You want to know what’s special, Aden?” Belle asked him, tilting her head to the side as he continued to just look at her. “Everything that you’ve done to show me how much I mean to you. Opening up to me, the counselling sessions, getting the help you needed back then,” She didn’t need to explain that by ‘back then‘ she was talking about his time in the clinic. “Continuing to fight everything, even now. Not to mention the gifts, which I don’t need, but you still get me anyway.” She added with a smile, toying with her bracelet subconsciously.

They both fell into silence as Belle’s words washed over him. He understood everything she said, even agreeing with most of it. But there was still some uneasiness buried inside of him. At time ticked by, Aden knew that Belle was getting suspicious of his quietness.

“You don’t believe me?” She questioned him after a while.

“No, it’s not that.” Aden hurriedly told her. “I know you meant what you said.”

“But…?”

“But, all those things have helped me just as much as you.”

“It doesn’t make it less special. Or less meaningful.” Belle pointed out. “What’s really on your mind, Aden?” When he didn’t respond, she reached out for his hand, making him sit forward so that he could allow her to intertwine her fingers in with his. “What are you worried about?”

“You deserve better, Belle.” Aden confessed, words low, not lifting his eyes to meet hers.

“No.”

“You do. You deserve someone without a messy past, someone who doesn’t make you choose between them and your family. Someone who actually listens to you when you say that you don’t need them to defend you.”

“You- you- you can’t be serious?!” Belle stuttered, unable to process everything that he had told her. “Is that what you want? You want me to break up with you?”

“I’m just-” Aden tried to calm her down as a frown settled onto her face, pulling her hand out of his.

“Just what? Telling me what I want? What I should want?” Belle interrupted him, her eyes watering from hurt and anger. “Fine. You know what? You can take this back.” She said sharply. Unclasping her charm bracelet after a couple of tries, she threw it onto the bed next to him and getting up to see if there was anything else she could give back to him. Or at least, throw at him.

“Belle-”

“What?!” She exclaimed, rooting around on her dresser for a little figurine of a unicorn that he had bought her a couple of months back. Her tears were flowing freely now, Aden could hear it in her voice even as she used her sleeve to wipe it away every so often.

“Belle, don’t do this.” The emotions behind his words made her stop and turn to face him. He had spun around on her bed, looking at her with tears in his own eyes.

“How can you say all that Aden? It’s like you don’t even know me at all!” At her words, he turned his face away from her, slightly downwards. Belle sighed, wiping her tears away once again before running her hands through her hair. “I don’t want this. I don’t want you thinking that I need something more. Cos I don’t. You didn’t choose your past, you’re not the one making me choose between you and Drew and, yeah ok, it might be nice to be listened to, but every girl wants a guy there who goes against what she says to protect her or to make her happy.”

“You really mean that?” Aden asked, shock colouring his words.

“Yeah, I do. But there’s no point in all that if you don’t believe in me. In us.” She told him, her tears stopping as she lowered her voice to make her words more gentle. “You don’t think that I get scared too, Aden? That I don’t wonder how long it’s going to be before you get bored of me? Before some other girl catches your eye? Someone smarter, sexier… simple?”

“I wouldn’t…” Aden replied, sounding astonished and confused at the same time. “Belle, I love you. There’s no-one else I want to be with.”

“And I love you and there is no-one else I want to be with, but that doesn’t stop you from acting like this. It’s been 10 months, Aden. I’m not going anywhere.” Belle tried to reassure him, keeping herself from getting angry or annoyed once again. She was glad that they were getting all this out, even if it hadn’t gone the way she had hoped it would’ve gone.

“I’m new to all this, Belle. Even now. I’ll always be new to this, and I don’t know how to handle it sometimes, so I do the one thing that I’m use to.”

“What’s that?”

“Cutting people out. Pushing them away. I don’t want to do that with you, Belle, but I don’t know how to handle this. I want to be the one who’s there for you, who you turn to, who protects and helps you, but it gets so hard to do when you’re so independent.” Aden explained to her, words filled with raw emotions that it made Belle’s heart ache. “And I’ll never stop thinking that you deserve better.”

Belle stood leaning against her chair, not sure what to make of the words. In the matter of 15 minutes, she had apologized, almost gotten back on track, practically broken up with him, told him she loved him and that she feared he’d find someone else better than her. And now she didn’t know what else there was to do or say.

“Alright.” She finally said, taking in a deep breath, eye focused on the carpet next to the bed. “Alright. I can’t make you think something, or not make you think something, but I can tell you that you are that to me. You’re the first person I ever turn to and who I would ever let protect me. I’ve told you more than I’ve possibly told anyone else, and I’ll keep doing so. And I know that I’m independent, but that’s who I am.” Her eyes found their way up to his as she continued to speak.

“How’d you do it?” Aden asked her suddenly.

“Do what?”

“Act like everything’s ok with us when you’re scared about… that.” He couldn’t bring himself to say the words that she had used before about him finding someone else. He didn’t ever want to think about something like that.

“I don’t know.” Belle shrugged. “I guess the idea of not being with you is just more overwhelming, so I just push it aside and treasure the time we do have together.”

“And it works?” Aden enquired in great doubt.

“I suppose so. You never suspected anything, did you?” Aden had to agree with her; he hadn’t ever thought that maybe him and her were on the same page, that they were both scared of losing each other to someone else. “And we’re are ok… aren’t we? I mean, in that way?” Her tone was almost fearful that Aden couldn’t stop the small smile show on his features.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “What about everything else? We ok with that?”

“That’s up to you, Aden. Can you put all that crap about me not needing you aside? Because I do, ok? And about me ‘deserving better‘?” Belle asked him as he thought about it. He knew that he would never be able to stop belting that, but there was a chance to put it aside.

“Yes.” Aden told her, relaxing his posture and shuffling up the bed to lean against her headboard. “I will always think it, Belle, but I can try and do what you do.”

“Good.”

“Good.” He repeated, making her smile. “You want your bracelet back?”

“Oh God!” Belle said in slight horror, scrambling back onto her bed. “Please don’t tell me I broke it or something.”

“It’s fine.” Aden assured her, holding it out to her in the palm of her hand. She sighed in relief, moving to his side before holding her right arm out for him to put it on.

“Back where it belongs.” She murmured when Aden clasped it back on, letting her twirl it around to make sure all 8 charms were ok. “Just like us? We talked and sorted things out, right?”

“I guess so.”

“So we back to where we were? Before all this stuff?” Belle asked attentively.

“No.” He replied, making her forehead crinkle in confusion. “I’d like to think that we’ve moved forward.”

“Hmm… Yeah, that’s true.” Belle said. “And for the record, I know I said that I treasure the time we have together so not to think about the future, but I’m in this for the long run.”

Aden smiled, slightly in awe to hear those words from her, gently tugging her towards him for a kiss. It started off slow, growing with each second to end up deep and passionate, only stopping when they needed to breath.

“Me too.” He informed her, resting his forehead against hers. “You’re my everything.”

“And you’re mine.” Belle replied, dropping another kiss onto his lips only for him to pull away fully.

“And for the record,” He copied her, playing with a lock of her hair hanging by her jaw. “There’s no-one out there who’s smarter than you. And there’s definitely not anyone sexier than you.”

---

Sorry if I scared you there for a bit. But you should all know I'm a sucker for fluff

Hope you enjoyed it.

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

Sorry for the late update guys. It's extra long to make up for it.

Enjoy.

Chapter 35:

Although their day had been very emotional, awkward and revealing, Aden and Belle were both back on track as soon as they had kissed and made up.

Now, after spending most of their time in Belle’s room, they sat on the couch watching TV. It was just past 9 and both Geoff and Annie were at the Den, while Irene stood in the kitchen drinking her coffee and having a small snack before she headed up to bed after coming home from work early.

Belle sat curled up to Aden, head resting on his chest, pretending to be interested in the teen drama that she was purposely forcing him to watch. With his arm around her shoulders holding her to him, Belle found it hard to concentrate on anything but him and just how closer they felt after the talk today, and not just physically. She absentmindedly played with the ring on his finger as his hand hung from her shoulder, just twisting the object round his finger.

Glancing down at her, Aden wasn’t surprised to see that his girlfriend’s eyes were no longer fixated on the TV, but rather on the coffee table in front of them. He knew that her attention had wavered when she began toying with his ring like she usually did when her mind was on something else.

“Hey!” Belle suddenly exclaimed when she registered a change in the surroundings. Her eyes flickered to the TV quickly, sitting up a bit straighter. “I was watching that!”

“No, you weren’t.” Aden simply replied, pointing the remote control at the TV once again and continuing with his channel surfing.

“Yeah, I was!” She told him, letting go of his hand and reaching out for the control. “Gimme that!”

“No!”

“But-”

“Tell you what.” Aden interrupted her, making her stop in her actions. “You tell me what the last scene before the break was, and I’ll change it back.”

“It was…” Belle trailed off, racking her brain thinking what it was. She really hadn’t been paying attention, she realised, but there was no way she was going to give in to him. “Uh… the fire?”

“Nope.” Aden smiled, finding a sports channel. “That was about 5 minutes ago.”

“See? You were enjoying it!” She tried, but Aden just laughed.

“I think you’re confusing ‘enjoyment’ with ‘boredom‘.”

“Oh? So you’re bored, are you?” She teased, lifting her head up off his chest, allowing his arm to drop from her shoulders to her waist. “Even with me here?”

“Hey, you’re the one who had drifted off with the fairies.”

“Had not!”

“Tell me what happened.” He told her once again, moving the control far to his other side so that she couldn’t get near it.

“No!” Belle said sharply. “Gimme!” She didn’t care how childish she was being as she reached out for his arm, trying to pull it closer to her. But, as she had expected, Aden was way too strong for her. “It’s my TV, and if you think that I‘m going to watch some crappy match on a Saturday night, then you‘ve got another think coming!”

“It’s not your TV.” Aden chuckled as she managed to climb onto his lap when he held the control over his head.

“Irene!” Belle finally whined, taking one last swipe at his hands, only to fail again. “Tell him!”

Irene looked up from the newspaper she was reading. She had learnt long ago to just zone the two lovebirds out when they were sitting there, so when she heard her name, Irene was definitely surprised. Seeing Belle now half on Aden’s lap, one hand trying to pull his hand down while the other held his other hand down, it didn’t take a lot to figure out what was going on.

“I’m not getting involved, girly.” She said amusedly, returning back to her reading with a smile on her face.

Sighing, Belle let her arm drop back down again, a slight pout forming on her lips. Aden laughed once again a both Irene’s response and Belle’s reaction, bringing his arm back down. As soon as it had rested on the sofa next to him, Belle made a go for it, only for his quick reflexes kick in, taking it out of her reach once again.

“Aden!”

“What?!” He asked her innocently.

“You’re being really immature, you know that?” Belle replied, trying to grab it once more, this time being held back by Aden’s other arm around her waist.

“I’m being immature?” He scoffed, letting his fingers skim along her lower back before giving her a slight tickle, making her jump back off his lap.

“Oi!” She squealed, pushing away his hand, now no longer interested in the TV control. “Yeah, so not immature! Stop it!” Belle warned Aden, giggling, as an evil glint shone in his eyes, his hand still teasingly hovering around her midriff.

“Ahem!”

Both Aden and Belle looked up to see Irene standing up by the dining table, not looking too amused anymore. For a moment, they thought it was because of them, but the actual reason soon became clear when Irene headed back into the kitchen, revealing Drew standing behind her, arms crossed, leaning against the wall.

Belle felt Aden’s arm wrap itself around her waist, pulling her closer to him on instinct. She placed a hand on the one resting on her hip, squeezing it gently.

“Want me to stay?” He whispered into her ear, tearing his eyes off the other guy. Belle looked away from Drew, letting her gaze wonder to the side as she considered his question.

“Nah, it’ll be ok.” She finally answered, shaking her head.

“Alright.” Aden replied, warily, pushing himself off the couch.

“See you later?” Her voice was still low enough so that no-one else heard.

“Sure.” He murmured, dropping a kiss onto her lips before moving towards the kitchen exit, giving Drew a careful look as he passed. “Night, Irene.”

“Night, love.” She called back just as Aden walked out of the house. Turning around, she replaced the coffee cup and plate onto the drainer next to the sink after washing it. Once that was done, she watched as Drew silently walked over to the single seater, sitting down almost anxiously. Knowing that this was probably going to be a private conversation, Irene decided that that was the best time as ever to make herself scarce. “Alright, darl, I’m going to head up to bed.”

“Ok, night.” Belle said, watching her retreating form up the stairs. When her figure had vanished, she took her time in positioning herself on the sofa, tucking he legs under her and leaning back in the corner so she could face him and picking up the remote control that laid on the other side of the couch.

“Never knew you were into footy.” Drew commented, trying to break the awkward silence between them.

“I’m not.” She said dryly, switching the TV onto another channel which seemed remotely boring. “Aden was watching it.” She took a breath, glancing at him from the corner of her eyes before just deciding to give in. “Why are you here?”

“I’m leaving tomorrow morning.” Drew announced, leaning back in the sofa. “And I wanted to talk to you before I did.”

“Go on, then.” Belle told him, her attention still on the TV.

“Are you going to listen to me? Or just pretend that you’re not interested?”

“Fine.” She sighed, pressing the mute button on the remote before turning all of her attention to him. “I’m listening.

“Right, well…” He began, wringing his hands together.

“Anytime now, Drew.”

“I was thinking about what you said the other day, and I’m sorry for making things worse between you and your boyfriend.” He confessed.

“If you’re apologizing because of what Aden said, then you can just take it back and walk right out that door again, Drew.” Belle informed him, a frown settling on her face.

“You really think I would do something that-” Drew caught himself midway through the sentence. Clearing his throat, he continued. “Something that Jeffries told me to do?”

“I guess not.” Belle agreed, nodding once. “And you didn’t make things worse, just for your information.”

“If you say so…” He mumbled, not low enough as he had hoped for.

“Didn’t you just say you came here to apologize?” Belle said critically, raising an eyebrow at him.

“No, I said I came to talk.”

“So you going to keep talking or mumbling?”

“Alright, alright.” Drew rolled his eyes before turning serious again. “I’m sorry that I said all those things to both you and him. I know that I shouldn’t have yelled at you either, or pushed you so much so that you felt like you were trapped between having to choose.”

“So you take it all back?” Belle was astonished by his words, her eyes wide open.

“Yeah, kind of.”

“’Kind of’?” Her eyebrows scrunched together, a deep feeling of terror settling in her stomach, anticipating whatever Drew was going to say next to just make things worse.

“Well, I wish I hadn’t said some of those things, especially after you tried to walk away.” Drew admitted sheepishly.

“But…?”

“But I haven’t changed my mind about him.”

“Then what’s the whole point of all this?” Her voice had risen in volume, anger colouring her words.

“The whole point is,” He said slowly, keeping calm to make sure there was no repeat of last time. “that I don’t want you to think that you have to choose between the two of us. If you want, I won’t say one bad thing about him to you. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not thinking it.”

“So you’ll hate him, but just do it silently?”

“Basically.”

“That’s not going to happen.” Belle scoffed.

“What? Why not?”

“Cos it’s you. You can’t keep yourself from shooting your mouth off at times, Drew.” She pointed out and he had to admit that she was actually right.

“Fine, how about I try to not say bad things?” Drew compromised.

“Will you say good things?” Belle’s tone was almost hopeful.

“Hell no!” His reply was so quick that Belle had to send him a dark look. “Sorry, but let’s take this one step at a time. Just because I’m trying to be… civil here, doesn’t mean I’m gonna be his new best friend.” Drew sighed heavily at the look of disappointment on her face as he got up and sat on the other end of the couch she was on. “Look, I know that you want me to admit that he’s changed and that he’s a good guy and all, but I can’t. I don’t want to lie to you.”

“So you’re just telling me what you think I want to hear?” Belle questioned sarcastically.

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “Listen, I know that he’s different than before, I’ll give you that. And yeah, I think that he cares for you-”

“He loves me.” She corrected him.

“Fine, whatever.” Drew really couldn’t bring himself to admitting that from he saw earlier that he knew that Aden probably did love her. “And from what he said yesterday, he might actually trying to make you happy. Although he did threaten me…” He added, his eyes narrowing as he thought back.

“You’re trying to apologize here…” Belle reminded him not-so-subtly to stop saying bad things.

“Yeah, well that’s all I’ve got say then.”

“That’s it?”

“What else do you want?” He asked her incredulously.

“Maybe that I was right about Aden?”

“Didn’t I just say that he was different to what he used to be? Not entirely, though. He’s still a knob and a half, and I’d take anything right now to just punch that smirk of his face.” Drew told her, yelping in pain when Belle gave him a slap on the side of his head. “What?”

“That’s my boyfriend you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, alright, we’ll see how long that lasts.” Drew mocked light-heartedly.

“Hmm…”

“What now?”

“Nothing.” Belle exhaled deeply, pulling a pillow onto her lap.

“So we cool?” He asked positively.

“I suppose so.”

“Better than the alternative, right?” Drew smiled gently.

“Yeah, although my alternative would be the two of you getting along.”

“This isn’t just a one-way thing, you know?” He hinted heavily as to what he meant. It took Belle several seconds for it to click.

“If you made the effort, Aden would too.” She informed him.

“Firstly, I doubt that.” Drew laughed. “And secondly, no thank you. I will go back to ignoring his existence for you, lil sis, but I will not degrade myself and be his mate.”

“’Degrade’?” Belle repeated, raising her eyebrows. “What happened to not saying anything bad?”

“It’ll take a bit of getting used to.” She rolled her eyes at his laid-back tone before reaching out and hitting him once more. “What was that for?”

“Don’t call me little.”

---

Aden snuck out of the house at about a quarter to midnight, knowing that he had enough time for Belle and Drew to talk things through. She had text him less than ten minutes ago that Drew had left and that she was missing him already.

Turning the corner at the end of the driveway, Aden froze when he saw a now familiar figure waiting by the massive oak tree that grew a couple of feet away from the main road.

“I’ve got to warn you; I live with a cop. And stalking is against the law.” He said casually as he approached them.

“Good thing that I‘m not stalking anyone then, isn‘t it?” Drew replied.

“What’s going on then? You talk to Belle?”

“Yeah. All sorted.” Drew changed his stance, uncrossing his arms and shoving them into his pockets, losing his defensive pose. Aden relaxed a bit, knowing that he wasn’t here to argue.

“I know.” He simply told him. “Gotta admit, I’m actually upset that I don’t get to follow through on my promise.”

“Me too. What a great way to prove my point?” He smirked, laughing wryly before they fell into a silence.

“What do you want then?”

“I’ve agreed to keep quiet about you to her. That we’ll stay out of each other’s way. Like we did before.” Drew told him.

“Fine by me.”

“Good, cos it wasn’t up for negotiation.”

“Why are you here? I could’ve have found this out from Belle.” Aden asked impatiently. Every minute he wasted here, he wasted spending time with her, which was way more appealing.

“I still don’t like you.” He informed him bluntly.

“I’d be more worried if you did.” Aden said matter-of-factly, confusing Drew for a moment before he just shook his head and dismissed it. It was reasons like this that he didn’t like the guy.

“And I’m just waiting for the day that Belle sees the true you. But until then, I’ll… tolerate you. Only because of the hope that when she does finally break up with you, I get to be the one to make you pay for stringing her along all this time.”

“Fine.” Aden shrugged. “But don’t hold your breath on that one.”

“We keep any problems with each other between us, yeah?”

“Sure.”

“Good.” Drew held out his hand, and Aden stared at it for a moment before taking it, shaking it with great cautiousness. It was short and brief, but it sealed the deal.

Once he let go, Drew nodded once before turning around to leave. He had made it about 10 feet before Aden called him back.

“Yeah?”

“You ever hurt my girlfriend again, and I’ll make you wish you were never born. Regardless that you’re her family, I won’t let you hurt her. You get it?” His voice was low and there was no anger in his words, making them sound more like facts than anything else.

“Right back at you.” Drew told him, a small smile appearing on his face as he turned around to walk away once again. Just maybe, he thought, he might be decent.

---

Got that out of the way, lol.

Hope you all liked it. I didn't want to make it too emotional after the last few chapters. Thought keeping it simple would be more meaningful.

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

Okie dokie, here's today's update. Nice and early and chock full of fluff! [Well, the beginning anyway].

Enjoy!

Chapter 36:

“Oh, we shouldn’t have done that.” Belle groaned, laughing deep in her throat as Aden skimmed a hand over her bare stomach under the covers.

“Hmm…” He replied, smiling his smile at her before leaning over to give her a passionate kiss, which Belle had no option by to reiterate. Aden managed to wrap one of his arms around her waist, pulling her flush against his body, while the other kept him above her. When they parted, he dropped kisses along her jaw, mumbling words in between. “You weren’t complaining half an hour ago.”

“That’s because…” Belle trailed off as he claimed her lips with his once again. A small moan of pleasure escaped her as reality began to sunk in, remembering what she had been saying. Pushing gently, she managed to get Aden onto his back, never breaking their kiss until she pulled away once she leaned over him, letting her hair tickle his neck as she laid her head on his chest. “Mattie’s going to kill me. I was supposed to meet her 10 minutes ago.”

“Oh, well.” Aden easily dismissed. It was hard for him to complain when he just got to spend that Sunday morning in bed with his girlfriend. Especially now as she nuzzled his neck, peppering kisses wherever she could.

“I’m surprised she hasn’t called or anything.” She murmured, running her hand up and down his muscular arm, loving the feel of it, knowing that it all belonged to her.

“Uh…” Aden started guiltily. “She did call. I just turned off your phone.”

“Aden!” She reprimanded, gently hitting him on his chest, a slight giggle escaping her ruining the tone. Sighing, Belle sat up a bit, using a hand on his chest to balance herself as she reached over for her phone, switching it on before she ever looked at the screen. “This is not good.”

“Why?” He asked, sweeping her hair back from her face with his fingers as she made herself comfortable curled up next to him.

“Cos she’s my best mate and I’m late to meet her.” Belle told him, dialling Mattie’s mobile number with ease. “And I should really get out of bed.”

“Yeah, you should…” Aden smirked, knowing that she had no intention in doing what she said. They laid there in silence for a bit as Belle tried to get a hold on Mattie.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Mattie.”

“Belle! Where are you? I know you’re late a lot of the time, but you always call or something!” Aden could hear her voice from the other side of the line, chuckling silently at her anxiousness.

“I’m sorry. I just kind of got up late. Slept in, you know?” Belle lied. Well, technically, she wasn’t lying entirely. She was still in bed, and she was late getting up, she just wasn’t sleeping much.

“Yeah, sure, I get it.” Mattie’s tone hinted that she didn’t believe what she was trying to feed her, but let it go for the moment so she could badger her about it later on. “Alright then, do you want me to meet you at your place?”

“Uh…” Belle tried to figure out how long it would take for her to get there and how long she would need to get ready. “No, it won’t be worth it. How about I meet you at the Surf Club at 11?”

“Ok, then. See ya!”

“Bye.” Belle sighed in relief as she hung up on the phone, looking at the time to realise that she had only 33 minutes until she had to meet her. Silently, Belle slid the phone into Aden’s right hand, who in turn placed it back onto the bedside table.

“Do you really have to go?” He whispered as he buried his face in her hair.

“Yeah, I did tell her that I would. I think it’s called being anti-social if I just stayed here with you all day.” She teased, intertwining a leg with his as she looked up at him.

“I’d call it having fun.” Aden responded, plainly. “You can’t say that you’re not tempted.”

“I’m tempted, but I think I can find the energy to fight it.” She joked, pressing a kiss to his chest and then to the underside of his jaw as she used her elbows to lean over him a bit. “You know… you could always come with us.”

“Seriously?” He questioned in disbelief. “With you and Mattie on a ‘girls’ day out’? No thanks.”

“It would be fun.”

“It would be torture.”

“You’d get to spend time with me.” She said sweetly, giving him a couple of pecks on the lips.

“I’d get to spend time with you and Mattie.” He pointed out, tucking her hair behind her ears. “Not the same.”

“Fine.” Belle pouted. “Well, I’ve got to get a move on, otherwise I’ll be late. Again.” She told him, allowing him one last kiss, breaking it off before it got too deep. Rolling off of him, she reached over the side of the bed for Aden’s shirt that had been discarded long ago last night, pulling it on with ease before getting out of bed.

Aden watched her as she picked up all of the clothes, grinning at the fact that even though she was running late, the neat freak part of her came first. Belle didn’t miss his smile, throwing some clean clothes from the drawer at him.

“You can get out of my bed, too.” She growled as she folded up their clothes before putting them into the hamper.

“Why? I’m comfortable here.” He smirked as she rolled her eyes, pulling out some clothes for herself before placing them on the chair to get changed into later on.

“Fine, do what you must. I need to go take a shower.”

“Want some company?” Aden asked her suggestively.

“I thought you were comfortable there?” Belle replied, leaning against the door as she pressed down on the handle to open it.

“I could make the sacrifice for you.” He said, mockingly earnest.

“Please, don’t put yourself too out for me.” She quipped, grinning.

“Is that a ‘yes‘?”

“No. I’m late enough as it is!”

“Then what’s another few minutes?” Aden reasoned, pulling on the pair of boxers she had thrown as him before climbing out of her bed. She observed him do so, fighting with herself.

“If I say ‘yes‘, will you promise me you won’t make me late?”

“I’ll try my best.” Aden said solemnly, walking over to her slowly. “Do you say ‘yes‘?”

“The things I do to keep you happy.” Belle grumbled, the smile on her face showing that she didn’t mean it in a bad way.

“Hm… yeah. I’ll promise to make it up to you.” Aden replied seriously before letting a grin appear on his face as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Belle pulled him closer to her by his arm before opening the door and smiling slyly.

“You can start now.”

---

Mattie slammed the back door of Belle’s car shut with the most energy that she could conjure, which wasn’t much. Climbing into the front passenger’s seat, she collapsed back, closing her eyes for a second.

“I’m exhausted.” She exclaimed as Belle got into the driver’s seat.

“Yeah, me too.” She replied, shoving her bag to the back before turning on the ignition.

“Not as much as me. I had to carry all those bags!”

“Well, who told you to buy so much?” Belle laughed, pulling out of the parking lot and heading straight for the road back to Summer Bay. It was now just past 7 in the evening, and after a full day’s worth of shopping and pampering, both girls were desperate to just get home, preferably to their respective boyfriends.

“Hey, I’ll have you know that retail therapy is a proven way of relieving stress!” Mattie informed her seriously.

“Proven by whom, exactly?”

“I dunno, but I’m sure it had been proven. It works with me, anyway.” She dismissed with a wave of her hand. “Not to mention that a good facial, haircut and manicure helps too.”

“Yeah, what was the point of that?” Belle asked her, letting her eyes drifted off the road quickly to look at Mattie’s fingers as she held them out before her to examine them. “Don’t you have exams starting next week?”

“So?”

“Won’t they get ruined? I’ve seen you in middle of exams; you chew most of your nails off.” Belle joked.

“Yeah, maybe, but that’s week away. Until then, I can have perfect nails. Makes me feel better, you know?”

“Not really…” Belle muttered in reply, giving the road more attention than her best friend right then.

“Well, if you had done as I had suggested, then you would know.” Mattie huffed, referring back to when Belle hadn’t given in to her begging to get her nails done too.

“You mean like you had suggested to cut most of my hair off?”

“What?” Mattie said innocently. “You’ve had a pixie cut before, and it looked really nice.”

“No thanks.” She rolled her eyes. “That was a long time ago. I prefer my hair a bit longer now.”

“I wasn’t that long ago. Only about year or so.” She corrected her. “And I know the real reason why you only got it cut to your shoulders.”

“I dunno what you’re talking about.” A smile graced Belle’s features and it was audible in her words.

“Oh, really? So it has nothing to do with the fact that a certain someone is always playing with your hair? Or the fact that the last time we came to the city for a day out, you had backed out of getting your hair cut? Or that it’s such a coincidence that the last time you actually had hair shorter than your shoulders was before you started dating Aden?”

“Ok, ok, I get it.” Belle stopped her. “You’ve been observant. Freakishly, stalker-type, observant.”

“I’m your best friend; I notice these things. Just like how I noticed you were lying this morning.” She said pointedly.

“I apologized for that, didn’t I?” A hint of blush rose to Belle’s cheeks as she remembered Mattie’s grilling as they drove up that morning.

“So? Doesn’t mean that I’m not going to use it against you. It’s my job as your best friend.”

“Does that mean that it’s my job as your best mate to ask you about anything and everything about your relationship?” Belle retorted.

“Sure, if you must. But just remember that I’m not the one lying to her best mate while in bed with her boyfriend.”

“Shut up!” Belle said. “We weren’t talking about this a moment ago.” She tried to change the subject to something that didn’t put her in the spotlight.

“But we are now!”

“How did we get to this, exactly?”

“I think we were talking about…” Mattie racked her brain, going backwards through their conversation to see where they had started from. “My nails and how you should have gotten a manicure!”

“You know they’re not my style. Anyway,” She carried on before Mattie could say anything. “I’m working as a waitress at the moment. Manicured nails wouldn’t last me long.”

“Ok, I’ll give you that.” Mattie sighed in defeat, falling into silence. They were like that for a couple of minutes, just the tunes from the radio giving them something to place their attention onto, although Belle’s was more on the road.

“Mattie, do me a favour and see if there’s any sweets in there.” She said suddenly, pointing to the glove box in front of the passenger’s seat. Mattie did as she was told, rooting through the little space.

“What that Hell do you put in here?” She asked when she had to pull out a handful of papers and books, among other things, so that she could see the little things. “I thought you like to keep things neat?”

“I do!” Belle said defensively. “That’s just stuff that I might need…”

“Uh-huh.” Mattie simply replied, pulling out some more stuff. “Nice shades. Don’t think they’d suit you, though.”

“They’re not mine.” Belle said amusedly, remembering how she had been wondering for the past week and a bit where those sunglasses had gotten to. “They’re Aden’s. I think most of that junk is Aden‘s.”

Mattie finally found a pack of mints, opening it and handing one over to Belle before placing that, along with the glasses, onto the dashboard as she started to flick through the many papers on her lap. She put it down to being bored rather than the curiosity. When she had been pulling the papers out in small piles, Mattie had eyed a certain piece that had caught her attention. Now, she tried to find it.

“What’re you doing?” Belle questioned, giving her a slight look, wondering why she was being so quiet.

“Nothing. Just thought I would put this stuff into a neat pile.” It was the first thing that she could think of that Belle wouldn’t find suspicious.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll just sort it out later.”

“Alright.” She replied just as she found the paper she was looking for. It had been folded haphazardly and Mattie could clearly see the name of a familiar store in the city, and it didn’t take a brain surgeon for her to realise that it was a receipt that Aden had obviously left laying around.

Carefully, she managed to slide it to her side before replacing everything else away back into the glove box. Then, as casually as she could, Mattie slipped the paper into her purse, nodding to Belle’s words as she thanked her for trying to clean up the mess.

“Everything ok?” Belle asked, concern colouring her words and showing on her face when Mattie appeared to be strangely distracted.

“Yeah, of course.” She tried to brush off her uneasiness. “Just tired from today.”

“Sure?”

“Yup! I’ll be as good as new after a night’s sleep.”

“Me too…” Belle agreed, sighing.

“Oh, so you still remember what ‘sleep’ is?” Mattie said cheekily as Belle grinned shyly.

“Shut up now…”

---

Hm... I think this fic's going to be longer than 'Unlucky'. I haven't even gotten to the good bit yet!

Hope you all liked it!

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

Another super long, and light/fluffly, chapter just to get back to basics. But don't worry, it won't last for long

Chapter 37:

“Are you sure you don’t want me to go? I’d be more than happy to get out of your hair.” Belle asked for about the 10th time that hour as she leant against the counter in the beach house kitchen.

“If you ask me once more, I’ll throw you out like I did with the other two. Except with you, I won‘t let back in.” Irene quipped.

“Are you sure-?” Belle started to repeat quickly, a teasing smile on her face before she was interrupted.

“Belle!”

“Fine! I’ll stay. I don’t why though. It’s not like I’ll be doing anything but staying hidden away in my room.” She sighed, crossing her arms.

“Yes, I know, darl, but it would just be good if you were here. It’s been a long time since I did anything like this.”

“But it’s just a dinner.” Belle practically whined. “And it’s your fault for getting into this mess in the first place.”

“I was doing you a favour, girly. Don’t forget that.” Irene pointed out. “It’s all for charity, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.” She shuffled on her feet, checking the time on her watch. It was 7pm on the Tuesday evening, and Angelo was heading over for the evening to cook dinner for Irene, as was planned due to the charity auction. Geoff and Annie had been sent away until about 10pm, even on the school night, but Belle wasn’t allowed to go anywhere. She was supposedly there for moral support, although she still didn’t know why.

“So, how do I look?” Irene asked her, smoothing down the long, thin skirt that she had thrown on to go with the red shirt.

“Great.” Belle said earnestly.

“Don’t go overboard there, love.”

“I thought this was just a dinner?” She said sceptically, a smirk appearing on her face.

“It is, but it doesn’t mean I can’t make an effort.” Irene replied, grinning just as there was a knock at the kitchen door.

“Evening, ladies.” Angelo greeted, smiling sweetly at both of them as they faced him, Irene making her way over. “These are for you.”

“Oh, they’re lovely!” She gushed at the flowers while Belle smile awkwardly.

“And I thought I would bring some wine, too.” He added, and Belle had to bite her tongue to stop herself from saying something very inappropriate.

“Uh… thanks.” Irene replied, taking it and placing it on the counter in front of Belle. “I don’t think we’ll need that.” She decided against telling Angelo that she didn’t drink alcohol anymore.

“Right, well, I’m gonna go…” Belle pointed over her shoulder to her room, wanting to get away as quick as she could.

“You’re more than welcome to stay.” Angelo said as he placed some of the shopping bags that he had brought with him on the dining table.

“No, that’s ok.” She forced a smile to appear grateful.

“Want some wine, love?” Irene asked her.

“Uh... I’ll pass. I‘ll see you later.” Belle made her way to her bedroom hurriedly, shutting the door behind her and sighing. She was now trapped in this room for the next 3 hours or so.

Grabbing her phone, she collapsed onto her bed, wondering where Aden was. She had sent him a text, telling him that company would be appreciated that evening, and his reply had been a simple ‘I’ll try my best’.

Pressing 2 on her speed dial, Belle listened to the ringing as it continued, wondering how busy Aden really was if he wasn’t answering his phone. She was just about to hang up when he picked up.

“Hey, gorgeous.” Aden said in his normal manner.

“Hey, what you up to?” Belle asked instantly, curious as to why it had taken him so long to answer.

“Studying. Why?”

“I was just about to hang up, that’s why.”

“Right, sorry.” Belle could hear the laughter in his voice. “My phone‘s on silent. Nic‘s been trying to make me take her to the Den all evening, so I‘ve locked myself in my room and put my phone on silent to get away from her.”

“She can’t be that bad!” Belle scoffed as she rolled onto her back, pulling her legs up while staring at the ceiling.

“She is.”

“Well, you’re always welcome here…” Her tone was heavily suggestive that Aden couldn’t keep the smile off his face.

“Sorry, babe. I know I said I‘d try, but I really need to get this work done. Not to mention that Roman‘s home late tonight so I have to make sure that Nicole doesn’t try and sneak out. ”

“From your room? How are you going to do that?”

“I‘m not. It‘s just the theory.” Aden chuckled. “As long as I‘m here, Roman can‘t say anything.”

“Well, bring her along, if you must. She can go hang out in Geoff’s room.” Belle tried to reason, no humour in her voice whatsoever.

“You‘re really desperate for some company, aren‘t you?” He joked and Belle could hear the books on his end being placed onto the side.

“Yes! Irene’s acting like a teenager here. I swear I just heard her giggle!”

“Irene giggles?” Aden asked her incredulously. “Would never have guessed…”

“She also gushed over flowers he brought her and now they’re out there cooking and I’m stuck here having to listen to it! Save me! Please?” Belle pleaded, a small pout forming on her lips even though he couldn’t see it.

“Sweetheart, if I could, I would.” He let her down gently, sighing.

“If you love me, you’d find a way.” Belle said in a sickly sweet voice that she knew irritated him. If she was going to have to suffer, she was going to make him share her pain.

“Belle…” Aden groaned. “I‘ll try to come over later, when Roman‘s back at home. But no promises.”

“If it’s after 10, then don’t bother. Geoff and Annie will be home.” Belle winced as she heard another giggle, turning onto her side, away from the wall that was shared with the living room.

“Gee, thanks. Here I was thinking that you actually wanted to see me.”

“Hey, I want to see you as much as you want to see me. So if you won’t come around now, you’re not coming around later. It’s up to you.”

“That‘s not fair, you know?” Aden told her. “It‘s not entirely my fault.”

“Life’s not fair. And tough.” Belle informed him, a smile gracing her features now, happy that they had somehow gotten back to their teasing.

“Alright, well, we‘ll have to see then.” Aden said before adding, “Oh, and I know that you‘ll miss me tonight if I don‘t come around.”

“Huh! Will not!” Belle snorted.

“Will too. But, then again, it‘s not like I can blame you. I am pretty missable.” He said in his typical ‘Aden’ way.

“’Missable’?” Belle repeated. “Please don’t tell me that you’re revising English.”

“Funny.” Aden’s one was dry, making her laugh. “No, it‘s biology.”

“Oooh, I was good with biology. I think I got I really high score on it last year…”

“Yes, Belle, you would be a great help to revise with. But after what happened yesterday, I don‘t think I‘ll take you up on that offer.” He told her, referring back to when Aden had been over in the evening and she had promised to help him with some maths, but instead just ended up making out and then some for a good hour.

“Your loss.” She simply told him. “Alright, you get back to your work.”

“Hmm… yeah, that does sound like an awfully more tempting alternative than talking to you.” Belle couldn’t help but giggle at his words.

“Yeah, I know. But your studies come first, and there’s only like… what? 3 weeks until the end of exams?”

“17 days and counting.”

“Good. 17 days isn’t that long.” Belle tried to sound optimistic, but she knew she had failed miserably when he just scoffed at her. “Ok, I’ll talk to you later, yeah?”

“Sure.”

“Bye. Love you.”

“Love you, too.” Belle heard him say before he hung up. Exhaling deeply, she rolled back onto her back, dropping the phone next to her. She contemplated what there was for her to do now. Aden wasn’t allowed to come around and she wasn’t allowed to head over there. Hearing the buzzing of the two people in the kitchen as they laughed and worked, Belle growled in frustration before jumping off her bed and heading out of her room again.

“Something wrong, love?” Irene asked, holding a box of strawberries, when she heard the door open.

“Nope, just thought I’d have some of this.” Belle pointed towards the wine bottle, noticing a half full wine glass on the table already. She quickly assumed that it was Angelo’s.

Grabbing herself a clean glass from the cupboard, she began to pour herself some. Belle wasn’t one to seek solace from alcohol, but right then, if it would do anything to help keep her sanity in tact for the next 3 hours, she’d go against it.

Belle had managed to pour herself half a glass when she heard Irene giggle once again. Glancing at her through her eyelashes, Belle was surprised, and slightly scared, to see her foster mother lightly swat Angelo on the arm in a very flirty manner.

Placing the bottle back down, Belle screwed the top back on and took it with her, along with the glass, back to her room. Something told her that it was going to be a very long 3 hours.

---

“Good morning, sunshine.” Aden whispered into Belle’s ear the following day. She groaned as she began to wake up, not being able to fall back asleep as he rubbed her back gently.

“Time?” She mumbled, pushing her face into the pillow.

“9.45. And it’s Wednesday morning, in case you’ve forgotten.” He added lightly. Belle opened her eyes, rolling onto her back to see her boyfriend sitting on the edge of her bed, a hand on the other side of her body so that he leaned over her as he grinned. “Fun night?”

“Oh, yeah. The best.” She replied deadpanned.

“I can tell.” Aden said pointedly, nodding towards the wine bottle and glass that still remained on her bedside table. “Drowning your sorrows, were you?”

“Trust me, if you had to listen to all that laughing and squealing and chatter, you would’ve drank much more than me. I didn’t even get the slightest bit tipsy.” Belle informed him, pushing herself up on he elbows, tilting her head back slightly for a second.

“Really?” Aden asked amusingly, picking up the bottle to see that it was about one-sixth still left. “You drank all that and didn’t get drunk?”

“I just said that, didn’t I?”

“A little defensive this morning, aren’t we?” He laughed, placing the bottle back onto the table. “You fell asleep early last night, too.”

“Hmm…?” Belle murmured as she used a hand to cover her mouth, yawning, falling back onto her bed.

“I was calling at about 10ish, but you didn’t pick up.”

“Yeah, maybe. I can’t remember what time I went to bed. All I know is that Angelo was still here.” She simply told him, closing her eyes briefly as Aden swept some of her hair away from her eyes. Now that she had gotten her hair cut, shorter than he would have liked it to be, her fringe seemed to always play around her eyes when she slept, he had found out.

“You’re going to fall back asleep.” Aden told her warningly.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Belle smiled gently, even as she attempted to drift off once again.

“It is seeing as you start work at around midday.”

“Hmm…” Aden rolled his eyes at her reply.

“Ok, I’m going to go make you some coffee, yeah?” Belle merely nodded at his words, snuggling back into her bed.

Shaking his head gently, Aden stood up, heading straight out of her room and into the kitchen. He had gotten used to making Belle coffee every morning now, knowing that the smell of it would just draw her out of her tries of hibernation.

Now, as he rooted through the cupboard for a mug, Aden was surprised to hear footsteps pound down the stairs. Glancing over his shoulder, he gave a look of confusion to Annie.

“Shouldn’t you be at school?”

“Late start.” Annie informed him, throwing her school bag onto the sofa and trying to shove a couple of books into it.

“How late?” He asked her, turning to face her now, leaning back against the sink.

“10 o‘clock.” She grumbled while sighing, jumping up from the couch to scourer the coffee table for a certain book that she obviously couldn’t find.

“You’ve got about 5 minutes then.”

“I know! I’m gonna be so late!”

“Why didn’t you leave earlier?” Aden questioned, genuinely interested. He couldn’t remember the last time either of the Campbell kids were late to school.

“Because I forgot to change my alarm so that I could get an extra hour, so I woke up early and then fell asleep again.” Annie told him before walking over to the main table, searching under the newspapers and letters for her book. “Irene’s going to kill me if I’m late for school. I told her that I could get up by myself on time!”

“Alright, listen.” He said, placing the mug in his hands onto the side, mentally comparing her with Belle. “Do you really need whatever it is you’re looking for?”

“I guess not.” Annie sighed, tucking her hair behind her ears.

“Ok, good. Lemme get Belle’s keys and I’ll drop you off, yeah?”

“Uh… you sure?” She asked him uncertainly, zipping up her backpack. “If you’re busy…”

“I’m sure, Annie.” Aden assured her, already on his way to Belle’s room. As soon as he crossed the threshold, Aden couldn’t bite back the smile that broke onto his face when he saw Belle already halfway back to sleeping again. Snatching her keys off the dresser, he walked over to where she laid. “Belle?”

“Hmm…?” She replied once again, shifting slightly to face him, blinking a couple of times, slowly.

“I’m just going to go drop Annie off at school, alright?” He informed her quietly, dropping a kiss on her cheek. “I’ll be back soon.”

Belle nodded, and Aden was fairly sure that she had no idea what she was agreeing to. As he left, he could hear her struggle to wake up, moving around in her bed before pushing herself up.

“Ready?” Aden said, smiling gently, while moving to the front doors.

“Yup.” Annie responded, already standing at the doors. “Thanks, Aden. For the lift, and all.”

“No problemo.”

---

By the time that Aden returned back at the beach house, Belle was already up, puttering around in the kitchen.

“Up at last, I see.” He said lightly, walking in through the kitchen door, throwing her keys onto the counter opposite him.

“Yup. I had to get up, seeing as my morning coffee wasn’t going to be magically made.” Belle joked as she poured herself a cup, a smile gracing her features as he pressed a kiss to her temple. “You found them?” She asked as she finally turned to look at him.

“Yeah, funny how they were just left in your car.” Aden replied, taking off his sunglasses. “Anyone would think you were trying to hide them from me.”

“Honey, if I was trying to hide them, I wouldn’t put them in plain sight in my car.” She teased, taking her cup and walking over to sit on one of the stools. “Anyway, you’re the one who left them in my car. You’re lucky Mattie found them when she did, otherwise I’d doubt they’d ever show up again.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Aden frowned, leaning back against the sink like he had that morning.

“It means that you need to get rid of that junk you’ve stuffed in my car, cos it’s a mess.”

“I’ll do it later.”

“No, you won’t.” She said, knowingly, eyeing him over the rim of her cup as he smirked before walking over to the table for the paper.

“You not having breakfast?” Aden asked her as he watched her move, sitting down on one of the chairs.

“This is my breakfast.” Belle replied, holding up her coffee, never tearing her eyes away from the paper.

“You always have breakfast.”

“I never have breakfast.”

“Ok, lemme rephrase that. You always have my breakfast.” Belle finally looked up at him as he started to got through the fridge.

“Yeah, but that’s cos it’s there and I don’t have to make it.” She said distractedly, finally getting up. “What are you doing?”

“I’m making you breakie. Seeing as you’re too lazy to do so yourself.” He told her, a slight amusement to his words. Belle watched him carefully take out some milk and eggs before asking her. “Where’s the flour?”

“Flour? Why do you need flour?” She asked him incredulously, going over to where the flour was stored and taking it out for him anyway.

“Because… I’m going to make you some pancakes.” Aden explained, the cheeky grin on his face making her smile too.

“You can make pancakes?”

“Yup. Haven’t I ever told you?” He asked her, clearing a space out for him to work on.

“No, you must have forgotten to mention that.” Belle laughed, leaning next to him by the counter. “Why haven’t you ever made them before?”

“I dunno.” He shrugged. “Occasion never called for it?”

“But it does now?” She asked, grabbing a mixing bowl for him that she knew he would need.

“Totally. You need to start eating breakfast, otherwise you’re just going to fade away to nothing. And I can’t let that happen.” Aden claimed, poking her on her side as he rounded her to get a spoon.

“Actually, not having breakfast makes you put on more weight.” Belle informed him, going back to the table for her coffee before returning again.

“Really?”

“Yup. Breakfast quickens your body’s metabolism for the day, meaning it stored less fat. Thus you gain less weight.” She informed him with a smile as she took her place by his side once again.

“Alright, then.” Aden said slowly, leaning in to give her a quick kiss. “No more biology revision for you.”

“Told you I was good.”

“Yeah, course.” He rolled his eyes at her as he stirred the milk and water in with the flour and egg mix he had already made. “So, do you want plain pancakes, or with chocolate?” Belle simply raised her eyebrows at him. “Right. What was I thinking?”

---

Hope you enjoyed it!

xoxo