My Bad Boy’s Ego — Chapter 45

A week passes by and everything that I've wished for in the beginning of the season seemed to fulfill itself. The debt was quickly removed from our family's history, and my dad received a promotion at work. Our family was still as happy as we were when things had hit rock bottom.

"Little," Austin spoke up, shoving me slightly as I was sitting at the kitchen table.

I looked up at his call, glancing from my cereal bowl; milk slightly dripping down my chin as I reached for the napkin to quickly wipe it.

He chuckled and played around with his breakfast, before continuing, "Why didn't you tell us before you got it dropped?"

Knowing that Austin was referring to the debt, I looked back down my bowl and smiled slightly, "I just wanted to handle it by myself."

He passes me a smile, "All grown up now, I see."

I rolled my eyes playfully before pulling out my phone.

"Thank you," Austin says, catching me by surprise, "Dad said thank you too."

A warm feeling took over my body. I was proud of myself for what I've managed to have done, but it didn't feel like I did anything at all. I've made the decision to pay off the debt, but the reason I've gained that amount of money was because of Mrs. Winthrop in the first place.

I smiled back at him, "We're family."

After breakfast, I dragged my tired body back up the stairs and towards all of my art supplies. I stretched out my arms, leaving a loud groan while picking up the big empty canvas and bucket of art supplies. I turned back around and exited my room, making my way down towards the garage.

Austin watches me from the kitchen as I struggled to open the door that leads to the garage. After a long minute of struggling, I could hear Austin laughing as I finally was able to open the door with a life supply of survival kits in my arms. I turned my head towards the kitchen and toss him a smug before stumbling into the garage.

The garage was now empty. All the cars were parked outside, while my dad took his car to work. I took a deep breath and set down the large canvas against the wooden wall, the bucket right next to it. I plugged my phone into the large speakers and pressed the button that opens the front of the garage, revealing a quiet and clean neighborhood.

I walked over to the large pile of art supplies that was stacked in the corner of the garage, and grabbed a large table cloth. Dragging the cloth across the garage, I laid it down as I taped the edges before returning to my position in front of the canvas.

I was dressed in a big white t-shirt that was covered in previous paint stains. I remember the first time I wore Austin's shirt and painted, he was mad at me for nearly a week. After that, Austin's favorite shirt started to become my favorite t-shirt dress to paint in. I was wearing spandex that was long enough just to peak out about an inch below the t-shirt. I loosely grabbed all of my dark curls and toss it into a bun.

Then I grabbed the top of the canvas, and dropped it onto the floor, on top of the table cloth. I grabbed a face mask and hooked the strand behind my ear before grabbing a hold of the spray paint bottle, placing my index finger on the spray and shaking the bottle. The clicking sound of the bottle matched along with the beat of the music.

Soon enough I found myself playing with colors of the warm toned, spraying with much delicacy and precise.

"Aubrey," I heard Austin calling me.

I stopped and finally looked up to him, blinking at him innocently as I watched him standing at the door frame.

"It's about time," Austin grins, "I've been calling you for a while now."

I set down the can and pulled my mask below my chin, smiling at my older brother, "What's up?"

Austin furrows his eyebrows at his – now my shirt. All the colors that were beautifully spread onto the canvas, was also beautifully spread across my body. Austin shakes his head at me, before speaking up again, "I'm going to go to the grocery store, want anything?"

I stared off into space, thinking about my cravings as I figured that nothing had popped into my head. I shook my head as him and turned my attention back to the canvas.

"Alright, you're in charge," Austin hollers as he walks towards his car that was parked in front of the garage.

"I'm the only one in this house," I laughed at him.

"Exactly."

I watched him as he slipped into his car, speeding off as he blasts music that could probably break the windows of our neighbor's houses.

I rolled my eyes at my brother's humor before pulling the mask back onto my face, and continued with my masterpiece.

- - -

After about an hour, I was nearly finished with the painting as all that occurred into my mind was how hungry I was and how much I wanted to finish off the artwork. I groaned loudly to myself, as I heard the car engine pulling up in the driveway.

The car engine turns off, as the door opens, "Took you long enough," I called out, eyes kept onto the board in front of me. I stood up, pulling the mask underneath my chin, and slipped off my gloves, tossing it to the side.

I rested my hands on both sides of my waist, observing my finished artwork in astonishment before finally turning my attention to Austin.

"What did you bu—"

My words have cut off as my eyes caught attention of Landon wearing his white polo shirt, khaki pants with a gold chain around his neck. He had his hands stuck in the pocket of his pants, his hair was slicked back as he has added a new accessory to his face. He had a pair of Ray Ban glasses that perfectly fit the frame of his face, as his white Vans casually matches his shirt.

"Hi," I greeted awkwardly, tugging on the hem of my shirt.

I looked down at my attire, paint was smudged all over my legs and arms. My shirt looked extremely dirty as all of the past paint was still stained on the shirt from a century ago. My hair was messy and probably had some paint in it due to the reflection of the paint. I flashed him a straight smile, without curving my lips to form a full smile.

A chuckle escaped his lips, as he shows his pearly white teeth along with his flashy light blue eyes that peered through the transparent glass.

"I wanted to stop by," he cheers, walking towards me as he looks at the painting on the floor.

As his attention was on the painting, I brought up my shirt and sniffed it. I smelled like chemicals and paint. I was smelling so bad that my nostrils were slightly burning from the strong formula of the spray paints.

Landon seemed to catch me in my act. He gave me an amused smile before stepping closer to me. Since I was bare foot, it felt like Landon was a little taller than I'm normally used to. I took a step back and smiled brightly at him, "I smell."

He shook his head and reached out, grabbing both of my wrists in his hand and pulls me closer towards him, "I know."

My face flushed red as the horrid scent of the spray paint washed past us and was dancing around our bodies.

"I was painting," I smiled awkwardly.

"I know," he cracked out a chuckle again.

Although we were both standing there, observing each other's faces awkwardly in my garage, I couldn't help but feel like he was meant to be here. Even though this is my house, and he probably wasn't supposed to be here; there was something in my heart that longed him to stay by my side.

"Austin's out buying groceries," I started to blurt out. My mind was at the point of slurring, where I didn't know what to say. All that was in my mind was how much I wanted this guy to possibly be mine.

"Yes, Aubrey," he concluded, a big smile was plastered on his face.

My heart started fluttering as I watched him blink. His lashes complimenting the color of his eyes, as I couldn't find myself to look away from him.

One of our hands suddenly intertwined, as our free hand started to fiddle around with each other's fingers.

"I like you," I muttered.

Silence suddenly swept through the garage as my phone coincidentally stopped playing its music. The whole world had suddenly stopped.

Both of our expressions had changed viciously, the moment I confessed. Our fingers had stopped fiddling with each other, and our hands had separated from each other's grasp. We stood there with both shocking expressions, our body making no contact except for our eyes.

I swallowed nervously as I felt like I've spoken up at the wrong time. Landon's expression was unreadable. My heart seemed to have stopped beating the moment both of us had let go. Something about this situation made me want to run away from Landon, although the other half of me wants to stay and have him hold me in his arms.

Then I took a step back.

Our eyes were still locked as I slowly rubbed my palm against my thigh, feeling my skin rub up against each other uncomfortably as my gaze soon shifted towards my feet. I closed my eyes tightly, mentally swearing myself for confessing without a notice.

That's when I felt wind brushing against my skin.

An arm was wrapped around my waist, the other hand was caressing my cheeks. I opened my eyes the moment I felt his hand tilting my face upwards.

"I know," he answered.