The Best Friend's Contract

I press my index finger onto his temple before slowly pushing his head away which causes him to groan, leaning his head away from me as he slowly open his eyes, meeting mine. "Good morning. Rise and shine!" I say, jokingly.

"Mmm, my head's hurting. What time is it?" He asks, leaning his head on the seat as he tries to reach out for his phone-squinting his eyes to take a better look at the lock screen.

"We're arriving soon," I mutter as I press onto the 'home button' on my phone, placing it down on my lap. "You've been asleep for quite awhile ever since we departed," I add to find him running his fingers through his hair, trying to make them appear less messy. He clears his throat, "You weren't sleeping?"

"No... no, I can't seem to find any peace sleeping while you were snoring," I grin widely before tucking a few strands of hair behind my ear as he rolls his eyes at me.

That was clearly a lie he doesn't snore! I've never heard him snore before except for once but I could've just highly mistaken it with a snore when he was only breathing roughly, that was it. He has a great respiratory system and I can't really tell him otherwise... he knows better about himself.

--

"Home sweet home," Aidan says as he lets out a breath of relief as soon as he enters the apartment, placing the keys in a small bowl-where he would usually place his eyes.

I close the door behind me after pulling in my suitcase, slowly moving to the side as he stands in the middle of the entrance; causing me to run towards the couch, missing the softness of it as soon as I land, "Oh my god... this feels so good!" I exclaim.

Just as I'm about to say something else, I hear a growling sound which causes me to lift my head and turn to look at him, immediately. His cheeks have redden from the sound coming from his stomach, "Probably just gas... mind your own business, Kenna." He walks away as he pulls onto his suitcase, picking it up as walks into his bedroom.

"Mind your own business, Kenna." I mimic as I roll my eyes.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

I immediately make my way towards the kitchen, opening the cabinet to find myself staring at a packet of spaghetti-making me smile, thinking of making a bolognese for dinner. "A little something to eat and head straight to bed, sounds like a perfect plan for tonight." I mutter under my breath, only loud enough to myself.

As I take off my jeans' jacket and place it on the kitchen stool, I walk around the house in my white shirt and dark leggings to find my phone before heading towards the kitchen again, wanting to prepare the necessary ingredients to make a proper spaghetti. I bend over the kitchen counter as I scroll down on my phone, nodding my head at the recipe; finding it simple.

My eyes wander towards the glass window to find that it's currently raining heavily outside as I start to tie my hair up into a bun, letting all of the strands away from my face.

When it comes to cooking, I'm not exactly a great cook; can't really compare myself to Aidan, he's a chef in the kitchen-one of the little things that women find attractive and he's sort of proud of himself just because he knows how to cook and what to cook. It's true because whenever he cooks, I can't help but feel excited and hoping for a special surprise on my tastebuds.

"A little bit of that and this," I mutter.

As my phone gives a notification as the battery is already ten percent, I start to groan before plugging in my charger into the nearest unused plug. Then, I plug it into my phone, slowly as I turn the switch on-immediately making a sound which causes the lights in the house to flicker off.

The sound of lightning shocks me as I freeze, waiting for it to pass.

"What the hell? Kenna, what the fuck?!" I hear Aidan shouting from his room as he walks down the stairs, "Kenna... what happened to the lights?" He asks, slightly trembling as I furrow my brows, not expecting him to overreact just because there's an electricity shot and my phone seemed to be dead, forever.

"My phone's burning. Fuck!" I groan, frustratingly.

"Kenna... where are you? I can't see you," He breathes out, his voice further away from me as I try to find a flashlight but I can't seem to find it anywhere.

"I'm in the kitchen!" I answer as I notice everything else has gone silent, just the sound of his footsteps and our voices in the apartment. Other than that, the sound of the rain accompanying us in the night when the sun has set a couple of hours ago. "Kenna?" I hear his voice closer which causes me to turn around, focusing onto a dark figure near the wall as I make my way towards him, reaching out for his hand that has gone cold, confusing me. "That's you, right?" He asks, again. I wrap both of my hands around his as I remain frowning.

"Why are you trembling? Why are you freezing?" I ask, confused and slightly worried. Then, I start to realise that he's currently sweating from the sudden blackout-causing me to push his hair away from his face as he tries to control his breathings. He breathes out, "I ... I don't do well with storms. Actually, I can't deal with rains and lightnings at the same time." He replies, almost hesitating.

"How come I never know about this? You not knowing how to ride a bike and now you having fear of lightnings? You never told me before," I say as he grips onto my hand, tighter than before as we both stay still-me pulling him towards the living room, both sitting onto the couch as we wait for the lightnings and rain to stop.

"I thought it wasn't necessary," He mutters.

"Which explains a lot why you don't go out in the rain or why you always put your headphones on when there's lightnings during the heavy raining," I furrow my brows, feeling him still trembling beside me both of his eyes are closed as he tries to focus onto something else than the rain or the lightnings.

"I feel like a bad friend... "I mutter under my breath, causing him to clench his jaw.

"Why is that?" He asks.

"I never knew about your fears or your weaknesses," I continue to speak; remembering back about the night in Dallas at the funfair when we were having a conversation and he told me about not knowing how to ride a bike.

He chuckles lightly, "Weakness."

I laugh, "Oh, come on! You probably have more than one and you're just trying to hide them all away because you're already embarrassed about me finding out about it... slowly and little by little. It all started off with the bike thingy," I say. Just as another lightning came to strike, I immediately place both of my hands on his ears as he closes his eyes, again-this time, he starts to lean closer towards me, possible enough for me to smell his cologne as I try to find a way to soothe him.

"It's okay... it's okay. You don't have to be afraid, alright? I'm here with you and I'm going to stay here with you until the rain stops and the storm passes," I whisper in his ear as I cup onto his face, seeing him looking directly into my eyes before nodding a few times; assuring me that he needs me here in order to calm down.

We both lock ourselves in his room as he sits in the corner, further away from the windows with the music blasting loudly from his phone wanting to make sure that he hears something else than the lightnings outside.

"How do you deal with it when you're alone?" I ask, looking at him.

He turns towards me, "I start off by listening to music because that usually helps the most. I can't help it, Kenna-when the rain starts pouring, I don't start panicking but as soon as the lightnings strike... I'd feel as if I'm shaking and terrified," He breathes.

"You want to tell me why? You don't have to but I want to know." I smile, leaning closer towards him as we both listen to the sound in the background; It's Gotta Be You by Isaiah, one of our favourite songs when it first came out.

"I don't know. There's not a story

behind it because I just hate the sound of it. The rain eases me but the storm.I'd panic right away." He looks at me, "You're not a bad friend, Kenna. It doesn't mean that when you don't know certain things about me, you're already labelled as a bad friend because I wanted to hide those things from you. I wanted to appear as someone who can protect you and not the other way around," He continues.

"So... when you get scared or when you are sad, you'd always have me to turn to than finding someone else with no fears or weaknesses-I want you to find me and pour it all out. Unfortunately, I'm weaker than I look and my fears are pathetic." He frowns.

I immediately grab onto his hand as

we start to entwine our fingers, "Your fears are not pathetic, Aidan. They make you who you are and you should know that I wouldn't look for anyone else to pour my problems because it has always been you... sometimes Dimitri but always you. You were always there for me and I can't appreciate you more," I reply.

Aidan continues to look at me before slowly curving his lips up into a smile, in which I return without hesitation.

Just as we continue to look at one another, the lights start to flicker back on as the rain is slowly stopping-no more storm outside in the sky. I turn to look at him, seeing that he has managed to breathe properly again, calmer than when the lightnings were loud and clear. "See? We got through just fine," I reassure him with a chuckle.

I make my way towards the kitchen to look at my phone, seeing that it has broken. The battery might've been dead from the sudden lightning attack earlier-making me groan in frustration, knowing that I'll be needing a new phone as soon as possible.

"What happened to your phone?"

Aidan appears beside me, slowly making his way towards me as he looks down at my burnt phone; apparently, this was bound to

happen. This phone has been

me through thick and thin..ofell on thick surfaces and has managed to stay alive for all this time

Unfortunately, it's already time for it to go.

"Shit happens. You need a new plug, too." I let out a deep sigh before heading towards the living room after glancing at Aidan who seems a little bit surprised.