CHAPTER 21: EDITED VERSION.

Deloise woke up at about five pm. She was alone in the room but upon taking a glance, she saw the stationed boots of Layla which told her she had returned at some point while she slept.

Not dwelling on that, she got up feeling hunger. Her stomach growled and she felt a prick of pain by her navel which spoke lengths of how hungry she was.

There,she realized she hadn't eaten anything throughout the day. She was too excited for the shoot to eat anything and when she finished shooting, she was too upset to think about eating.

She was paying the price now though. She needed food and needed it quickly.

Without a second thought, she threw on some casual clothes, picked up some money, and headed out to get some food. Within minutes, Deloise was in a fast food spot where she had a sumptuous meal.

She ordered some to-go plates and headed out of the place, looking for a quiet spot around campus to relax a bit before heading back.

On a stroll around campus, Deloise saw an empty park with some molded bench and instinctively headed towards it. The evening air was cool and one to clear your mind with.

As she got closer, she saw a mop of hair seated in one of the benches. She wondered who he was but wasn't deterred from approaching as there was more than enough space to be in solitude.

She headed for a bench of her own with her to-go bag, and suddenly, the head turned around to her surprise. She met with familiar brown orbs belonging to Aaron.

After a second of recognition, Deloise turned around, not in the mood for another dysfunctional conversation or insults from him.

' I guess I'll have to make do with my room.' She thought and immediately changed her plans for the evening.

Aaron saw her leaving and before he could stop himself, he said the words that struck her still.

" I'm sorry."

Deloise couldn’t make out what he meant by that. Something told her it was just another attempt at making a joke of her but the words in itself kept her rooted in spot.

“ Listen, you don’t need to leave. I understand you can’t stand me right now so I’ll do you a favour and leave.” Aaron added solemnly, getting up.

Surprised, Deloise took a sharp turn, loss for words, and gauged the genuineness of the scene playing out before her. She wasn’t sure how to approach the unsolicited apology dished out to her.

Wearing his heart on a sleeve, Aaron got up, tired of the back and forth between them and awakened to reality. Things were way too broken to be fixed by a mere apology- no matter how sincere.

“ No! There’s enough room for us both.” She spoke hurriedly when he made to leave, only noticing how needy she sounded after it was out. “ That is, if you are up for that.” She rectified, avoiding the intensity that was his eyes.

Meanwhile, Aaron was stunned. He couldn't help a ghost of a smile and a sudden rush of relief flooded his nerves.

“ Okay.” He managed to say, still watching the mystery that was Deloise. He was glad she didn’t turn him away, she didn’t throw his words at his face despite the wickedness he undoubtedly showed her ever since their first encounter.

Now, more than anything, they were curious; How does one navigate this uncharted territory?

Deloise threw a hidden glance at him but got caught red handed. Heat rushed to her face in seconds, turning her the shade of a juicy tomato. Aaron fought a smile and lost the battle, it was clear they both had something to say.

He headed back to the bench and took a seat, she sat a few meters away from him. Deloise had a lot going in her head, first off, she was embarrassed to the core and felt like a child caught stealing from a candy jar

Only God knew what went through his arrogant mind!

In their moment of silence, she convinced herself it wasn’t a crime. It was easier to convince herself of that fact as she wasn’t the only one stealing looks. Afterall, the fact that he caught her, and the burning of his gaze, proved her assumptions to be true.

They were both guilty of the same crime. Why she was having a whole conversation revolving around that single act was what she found too disturbing to unearth.

The atmosphere mirrored the coolness of the evening and the growing silence between them stuck between overbearing and comfortable. The duo held an overwhelming amount of awareness of the other and pondered their next line of speech alongside their hidden thoughts of each other.

“ You weren’t so bad.” Aaron broke the silence, and a second later, wondered if he should have kept his mouth shut.

Deloise did a double take, “ Is that your nice way of calling me bad?” She retorted,

“ No. That is a compliment.” He explained, his tone light and friendly.

“ Why am I not shocked?” She faced him with a raised eyebrow, “ Scratch that, I’m mildly shocked. A second ago you apologized to me, and now you even compliment me? Careful, cause I might think you are trying to be my friend.” She remarked, surprised at the boldness she displayed, looking into his eyes and saying every word.

Aaron was submerged in the moment, suddenly, that didn’t seem like a bad idea, matter-of-fact, he wanted that, craved it, more than he’d like to admit. “ And is that bad?” he purred,

" W-what?" Not expecting such a direct answer, Deloise felt at loss for words. What does one say to that?

“ It isn’t a taboo to befriend you, is it?” He pushed, fully facing her, and enjoying her obvious discomfort much more than he should.

Deloise squirmed under his gaze, she wasn’t strong enough for this side of Aaron, “ Seeing how often you get your periods..” She shrugged,

“ P-periods? Har-har-har, not funny.” Aaron felt gobsmacked, here he was, thinking he was on top of the situation, only for her to deliver one of her infinite punchlines. He had to give it to her, she could make a mean ass dialogue. She didn’t even need to try.

“ You know what I mean.”

“ Whatever. That’s besides the point.” He spoke dismissively, “ Don’t run away from the matter at hand.”

“ There’s nothing to say, Aaron. This isn’t pre-school where we go around asking people to be our best friends. And even if it was, I think we aren’t the best fit for that. Right now, I’m only trying to be civil with you because of the project. That's all I can say.”

Aaron sucked in a breath, he couldn’t say he hadn’t seen that coming, neither did it sting less. It was clear the reason she accepted his apology –and that only made him feel shittier than when he set off for this journey. Apparently, she felt they’d ruin the project if they left things unhandled. “ I understand.”

Deloise maintained an uncomfortable silence; wondering if she was being unreasonable.

“ Listen, I know you aren’t trying to be best friends with me, hell, I don’t even think that’s possible with me, but we have to start somewhere if we are going to be civil.” Aaron struggled to make sense of his words.

“ Okay?” She urged, trying to see where he was headed.

“ To be civil, we need to be able to tolerate each other. I mean, we are going to be on set more frequently and need a lot more than tolerance if the shooting is to go flawless. Don’t get me wrong,” he skipped a breath, “ You are doing awesome but we can either make this awesome or we can give them an unforgettable experience.”

“ What are you getting at?”

Aaron snapped his fingers, “ Exactly my point. I don’t subscribe to giving anything but the best, this career didn’t build itself.”

Deloise maintained a bored look.

“ We have something great going on, we can make it phenomenal with more work.”

With the delayed gratification, Deloise lost patience. “ I’m yet to understand what you are proposing. It's getting dark.”

Sucking in a breath, he proposed, “ Let’s meet. Once or twice a week. Get through the lines before we have to give them a show.”

Deloise watched with keen eyes, she couldn’t tell what he was up to and honestly worried about his motives. “ You want to work with me?” She asked again, half expecting he corrected her.

“ If you put it that way, Yes.” He replied, shocking her the more.

“ Is this your way of telling me you weren’t satisfied with my job today?” She asked, growing uncomfortable as she continued, “ You don’t need to walk me through my job, if there’s something you think I’m not doing properly, you are within your rights to point me in the right direction.”

Aaron shook his head, “ How on earth did you- Is that all you got from all I said.” He deadpanned, surprised at her conclusion. “ I’m just trying to build some sort of originality with our characters. If you don’t feel comfortable spending time revising the script with me, it's fine.”

“ I didn’t say that. Don’t put words in my mouth.” She quickly corrected, “ I’m down with revising the script.”

“ Great. I’ll get back to you on that,” He stood up, “ It's getting late,”

Deloise kept her eyes on the sunset, “ I’m sorry about earlier.”

Aaron scrunched his eyebrows, “ What?”

“ I had no business disturbing you, especially knowing you weren’t in the best of moods.

“ I was being an asshole, don’t make me feel shittier than I already do.” He said, cringing at the memory of their last meeting.

Nodding, Deloise opened her mouth, struggling to speak her mind.

“ Say it. We might as well thrash it out now.”

She cleared her throat, “ About that kiss, I know you may have seen that as something to joke about but I’d appreciate it if you keep your lips to yourself now onwards.”

Aaron cringed at the insinuated message, he saw that from a mile away but it didn’t stop the shame and the feeling of wanting the earth to swallow him whole. “ There’s no excuse for my actions. I was being stupid and I’m so sorry for being so- I promise it won’t happen again.” He finished, his tone resolute.

Deloise got on her feet, she felt bad seeing how hard he struggled to speak, a sharp contrast from his usual confident persona.

“It's fine. Just thought to clear that up for transparency.” She said hurriedly, looking at the darkened sky. “ It’s getting late, I expect further directions about the exercise.”

“ I’ll send a text-and a follow up call, just to ensure you see it.” He said, regaining his composure. “ I’ll walk you.”

Aaron escorted her to her dorm, relieved to have cleared things up and looking forward to being civil with her; code for being less of an asshole towards her.

While he proceeded to his apartment back to his apartment, he hoped he didn’t end up fucking things up again.