The Best Friend's Contract
Chapter 34

What was that? Was that a sincere compliment? Was he only trying to make me feel better about myself than sobbing at night?

I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear before turning to see him crouching to check the box, wanting to make sure it's tightly sealed. My eyes wander up to his arms, seeing them flex as his veins are pretty much visible... making me shake my head, pulling myself back into

reality.

"By the way, are you hot?" He asks, confusing me.

"Huh?" I furrow my eyebrows as I eye him putting the remaining boxes in his car's trunk after putting the rest in mine.

Aidan's brown eyes are staring directly at me, "You're sweating. Do you want to change? You should go inside if you're feeling uncomfortable," He continues to speak while I scoff, pulling onto the hair tie around my wrist with him eyeing my every movement. "Let me," He interrupts me before grabbing the hair tie away from my grasps. He starts to turn me around, lifting my hair up and away from my face... slowly running his fingers on my neck, trying to take all of my hair. Then, he is already tying my hair into a ponytail. Without me expecting, he appears in front of me to take a better look at my hair and my face as he tucks a strand of baby hair at the back of my ear before smiling to himself. There's just something about that smile and it's somehow making me try to replace gravity. "Can we go already? We spent hours packing," Dimitri's voice has somehow awaken me from my sudden trance as he takes a few steps towards us, looking at both Aidan and I.

"Right, let's go. Dimitri, where's your car?" Aidan asks.

"I took a cab here so I can third-wheel when we get to your house. Besides, I'd like to know what's for dinner." He replies with a smirk on his face.

"Great, you can drive Kenna's car. Just follow behind me," Aidan hands him my car keys which causes him to roll his eyes but head straight towards my car without muttering a single word, leaving Aidan and I standing behind his Range Rover Evoque. Both Aidan and I are already entering inside his car after checking one last time in my apartment before locking the door. My eyes wander to Aidan who is currently having his left hand on the steering wheel while the other on his lap, holding onto his phone-leaving me to look away, out the window.

Own It by Drake goes up on his Spotify which is connected to his car as I lean my body in the passenger's seat, not really knowing what has overcame me ever since he started to tie my hair because all of a sudden, I am running out of words to say. "Can I change the song?" I ask, my hand reaching out.

He glances towards my direction before making a left turn. "You don't need to ask for my permission but yeah... go ahead," He replies with a small smile plastered on his face.

"Maybe I should just turn it off," I quickly press the button and place my hand on my lap, avoiding his glances as I pay attention to the other cars on the road. Somehow, deep down, I'm regretting my previous action for turning it off because now... we're left in silence. "Since when do you hate Drake?" He asks, starting a new conversation.

"I don't hate him. In fact, I love him but I just don't feel like listening to music, right now. Maybe later," I reply and turn to look out of the window again as we come to a stop at the red light-him resting both of his hands on his lap before letting out a deep sigh.

"On second thought, I change my mind." I quickly say before pressing onto the button again and change the song on his phone, replaceing Jon Bellion. At the side, I can hear Aidan softly chuckling as he presses onto the gas pedal, turning on the indicator to make a right turn then stopping near one of my favourite restaurants.

"Do you want to wait the car or do you want to come with me? It'll take a few minutes for them to prepare the food," He says.

"I'll wait in the car. I want to listen to music," I reply.

Seconds ago, I was the one who turned the music off because I said I didn't want to listen to music but now... I want to wait in the car because I actually want to listen to music. What the hell is wrong with me? Maybe, I just need a little smack from Dimitri to make me wake up.

"Okay. Lock the doors," He says before stepping out of the car with his phone and wallet in hand. My eyes focus onto his broad shoulders as he makes his way towards the restaurant, pulling the door open and slowly disappearing from my sight.

Hymn For The Weekend by Coldplay

goes on which causes me to tap my

fingers on my lap, slowly enjoying the song. It's actually one of my favourite songs with Aidan because we seem to enjoy the beat and the rhythm-truth be told, we actually

have the same taste when?

comes

to music which makes it easier for us to attend concerts or music festivals.

"Got me feeling drunk and high," I mumble before flinching at the sudden knock on the window which leaves me to unlock the doors, letting Aidan in.

The smell of food calms me down immediately, leaving me leaning deeper into my seat as both of my eyes are focusing onto the food. He places them on my lap which to my surprise, causes my lips to curve up into a smile-silently wrapping my arms around it, protecting from any harm like a seatbelt.

Aidan presses onto the gas pedal and starts to drive down the road, glancing at my direction for a few seconds.

"Do you remember about the friendship bracelet that you got for me when we were both seventeen?" He asks, turning to look at me as I turn to look at him, slowly recalling back the memories of ever buying him a bracelet as a token of our friendship. "Yeah, the one you lost a couple of days afterwards. That friendship bracelet?" I raise an eyebrow, my lips curving up into a smirk before seeing him smiling as he turns to look down the road.

"That friendship bracelet," He nods his head.

He stops talking for awhile, "Well... I didn't actually lose it." He adds, leaving me to turn and look at him. Both of my eyes are widening at his respond before trying to seek for any lies by his expression but nothing. He seems serious about it as he turns to look at me, too. "What do you mean? You gave it away?" I ask.

A soft chuckle escapes his lips, "No. I still have it lying in one of the drawers in my room. There's a reason why I told you I lost it when I didn't and you're not going to be very happy when you hear the truth," He breathes out, tapping onto the steering wheel according to the beat of the music.

"Do tell because I think that I deserve to know," I join him, chuckling.

"So... you still remember about it, right? The design, the shape with our names on it, the colour?" He raises an eyebrow, making me furrow mine. "Well... the colour was the reason."

Our friendship bracelet was beyond cute. It was perfect. Most of the girls at my school had cute matching bracelets with their best friends when I was left with none because apparently, my best friend is a guy... but that didn't stop me. "What's wrong with the colour?! It was pink," I exclaim.

"You know how my friends were

back then. They like to tease each other and when they started to see me wearing the bracelet, they were teasing me, too. They wanted to tell the whole school that I had fallen head over heels for my own best friend and I didn't want crazy girls to run after you or send you death

notes," He replies.

"So, you pretended that you lost it?" My arms are crossed on my stomach before turning to look at him, narrowing my eyes.

"Yeah... during football practice. Then, we spent a few hours after school to look for it. I was just going with the flow because I wanted to make it look real and I didn't want to upset you but I couldn't replace a better excuse of not wearing it," He continues to speak, defending himself.

"Bro, I made that bracelet!" My voice

raising which causes him to immediately press brake, in the middle of the road-other cars are honking behind us, including Dimitri. "It took me the whole week.one hundred and sixty-eight hours to be exact but you were embarrassed to even wear it because it was pink?!" I look directly at him.

"You said you bought it!" He turns to face me.

"Well, I lied!" Just like that, I start to turn around and look out at the window as he starts to drive the car, again.

"I'm sorry, Kenna. Will you forgive me? How can I make it up to you?" He asks, slowly grabbing onto my hand before soothingly running his thumb at the back of my hand, leaving me trying my best to keep my anger high up but it's disappearing just by his finger's movements.

Both of our eyes meet, "Find that bracelet. Wear it for the rest of your life,"