Page 184 of The Compass Series

HAILEE

A fter the interaction Carlton had with Aiden’s fist, he didn’t give me any more trouble. And as the weeks passed, the popular kids got bored with him, and he went back to his previous social standing.

Then there was the newest issue at hand—my newfound crush on my best friend.

After the house party he threw for me and the punches he also tossed around in my honor, I couldn’t get him off my mind.

Even sitting beside him on the school bus as he yapped away about any and everything as he drew was a bit too much for me.

I felt uncomfortably sweaty whenever he’d look my way, and those blue eyes locked with mine.

Had his eyes always been that blue? Had he always made me feel this way?

Over the past few weeks, we celebrated our eighteenth birthdays together. As I blew out the candles on my cake, I wished that I’d stop feeling the feelings I’d felt for Aiden. When Aiden blew out his candles, I’d made the same wish.

It didn’t work.

I’d only felt more feelings for him.

Would the butterflies I had for him pass over time?

Of course, they would. It was just a silly, passing crush.

Nothing more, nothing less. I was fine. Totally fine.

No, no, no, no, no.

My heart was beginning to beat out of order when Aiden approached me at the bus stop. It’d been behaving odder and odder each day that passed whenever he showed up.

What was that smell?

Was that Aiden? Why did he smell like that?

Did he always smell that good? It was like he was soaked in the universe’s favorite cologne, and it was making me insane.

His scents were overwhelmingly delicious, like a baked citrus scone on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

I wanted to bathe in Aiden’s scent. Oh yes, I wanted to swim in a pool of his aroma and dip my pillows in the same smell so when I fell asleep, I could dream of him and breathe him in against my pillowcases.

Wait, no.

Act normal, Hailee. Don’t be awkward.

“What do you think?” Aiden asked as I sat beside him on the bus.

“Huh?”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “The acting role I’m up for. Do you think I should audition for it?”

Wait? Were you talking this whole time? I was too busy staring at your lips. Were your lips always that full and moisturized? What kind of ChapStick are you using? Was there always a rosy tint to them?

“Hailee?!” he called out, snapping his fingers in front of my face.

I grumbled and shook my head, breaking my stare from his smackers. “What?!”

“Dude. Did you not sleep last night? You’re grumpy.”

“I’m not,” I spat out, sounding remarkably grumpy indeed. At least he saw it as grumpiness instead of what it really was—me being hot and bothered. Luckily, he thought I was solely bothered. I cleared my throat. “Sure, take it,” I said about the movie role.

“Really?”

“Yeah, why not?” Confession: I had no clue what he was asking me about because, for the past fifteen minutes, I’d been deeply engrossed in his lips and scents. Scents and lips. Oh my gosh, you’re staring at his lips again, Hailee. Stop it!

I moved my stare to his eyes, and that was no better than before.

My heart pounded erratically against my chest as we made eye contact. When did his eyes get like that? Were they always that blue? I wanted to swim in his irises and bathe in his thoughts and?—

What the heck, Hailee. Snap out of it.

Aiden made a goofy grin, and I loved it. Dang it, I wanted to bathe in that, too. “I mean, they want me to play a gorilla most of the flick. I just don’t think that’s the road I want to go down. It’s not the best script.”

“Then don’t do it,” I quickly snapped. I didn’t mean to snap, but my nerves were all over the place.

Aiden didn’t seem to take any alarm at my oddities. He nodded. “Do you want me to buy you ice cream after school?”

“Huh?”

He narrowed his eyes and glanced around before leaning in toward me. “You know, for your thing.” He nodded toward my lap. ,

“What? What thing?”

“You know. The thing that comes at the end of a sentence. Your monthly lady friend. You always get extra snappy around that time, and I know you like ice cream so?—”

“Oh my gosh, Aiden, I’m not on my period!” I whisper-shouted, smacking his arm.

He rubbed his arm jokingly as if I hurt him, and my gosh, how I wanted to rub his rock-hard arm, too. “My bad, my bad. Just wanted to make sure you’re all right.”

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

Be so thoughtful. Thoughtfulness was a turn-on, too.

“Nothing. Never mind. I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Just didn’t sleep well last night.”

“Fair enough.” He nudged me in the arm, and those bluest of blue eyes looked deep into mine. Was there a longing in his stare, too? Did he ever look into my eyes and want to swim in them? Or was this a one-way crush?

He went back to his drawing, and I fiddled with my sweaty palms, wiping them against my gray sweatpants, leaving sweat stains.

Sweat stains, which now, after seventeen years of Aiden knowing me, made me feel embarrassed.

Did he think I was a sweaty beast? Did he wonder why I was so tomboyish?

Of course, the crush was a one-way street.

I’d seen the people he fell for, and I didn’t fit that prototype.

I was the opposite of every single girl he’d ever wanted.

I went to my first few classes and tried to focus on my studies, but for some reason, my mind kept wandering to Aiden.

It didn’t help that every girl in our school had a newly developed crush on my best friend.

How cliché. Gosh. I was cliché because I, too, fell into the crushing on Aiden territory.

I found myself scribbling in my notebook, writing his name and crossing it out, and trying to shake him from my thoughts.

I wasn’t thinking about him too much, I told myself.

I was thinking about him just as much as I thought about everyone.

As I walked down the halls toward the cafeteria, I held the straps of my backpack tightly.

I moved past my classmates and noticed them, too.

Just as much as I noticed and thought about Aiden, really.

Aiden did not get special treatment inside my noggin.

Nope. Just normal, everyday thoughts of my very best friend.

There was Erika Wells. She smelled like strawberry shampoo whenever she walked past me. And Tommy Henry smelled like cigarettes and hairspray. Kelsey Smith smelled like bad decisions and roses. And?—

Lemon drops.

He smelled like delicious, sensational lemon drops.

“What’s that smell on you?!” I aggressively barked at Aiden as he set down his lunch tray to join me.

He didn’t seem fazed by my outburst. He smiled, and gosh, was his smile always like that? Did he always slightly nuzzle his bottom lip before talking? “A brand sent me a free collection of their colognes.” He held his arm out in front of me. “This one is called Bliss. Do you like it?”

I want to drown in you, Aiden Walters.

I swatted his arm away even though I wanted to rub my nose against his wrist for the remainder of the day while inhaling his lemon drop scent.

I shrugged and cleared my throat. “It’s fine.”

Like you.

You’re fine, Aiden.

So, so unbelievably fine.

He took a long sniff of his wrist and nodded. “I like it.”

“I like you, too,” I replied.

“What?”

“What?” I echoed. I shook my head. “I mean, I like it, too. The smell. I was talking about your cologne.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure you don’t want me to buy you ice cream after school?”

I grumbled and grimaced but didn’t want him to think I was acting strange for any other reason outside of perhaps being on my period. “Ice cream would be nice.”