6. I NOTICED YOU

I stopped halfway into the car, then took a step back, turning to him. Alex stood three steps away, his jaw tight, and for the first time since I had known him, he was actually waiting for me to speak.

"How much of my success has ever truly belonged to me?" he asked again, his voice quieter now.

"You are asking the wrong person," I said, taking a step forward with my eyes locked on his. I didn't stop until I was right in front of him, staring at his face.

"I am asking you." A disbelieving scoff escaped my lips. I turned away for a second before turning back to him.

"Then you already know I won't make it easy." I kept my voice low, but my throat burned with every word I spoke. "You want a number, right, Alex?" A pause, then I continued, high-pitched this time. "So you can write it down and feel better."

His jaw tightened and he called my name in that low whisper, the same whisper that once felt like unending devotion. I always leaned into it, but now... I turned my head away for a second before looking back at him.

"Count from the moment you came home..." The word felt bitter in my mouth. I let it stay because I had once considered the White Estate my home... "Crying over a cancelled project and how you miraculously got a larger one the next day."

His lips parted, but snapped shut a minute later. "Count properly," I said calmly. "Then come ask me again."

I turned away and I heard his shoe scrape the pavement in an attempt to move towards me.

Aiden stepped into his path slowly. He just stood there, smiling politely while Alex stopped moving. "Move," Alex said, but no one answered him, not even the sir.

I slid into the back seat of Aiden's car, leaving Levi behind. Maybe I just wanted Alex to feel what I had felt seeing Serena tangled with him. Levi gave me a curt nod from outside and stepped back toward the other car.

The door to the Aston Martin opened and Aiden got in, shutting the door. The engine roared to life and the car drove away while Alex shrunk in the distance.

I turned to Aiden, watching the side of his face and properly arranging several answers to the questions he might ask about Alex.

Several minutes passed and no sound came from him, then he glanced at me. My shoulder stiffened as I locked eyes with him. What would be his first question?

"You know, I actually wish I danced like you," he said, and my eyes widened. What did he mean by that? What about Alex? "At the gala," he added, back against the seat. "Please don't," I mumbled, closing my eyes.

"Why wouldn't I? My shoes were literally crying and my toes were filing a complaint," he said, and I couldn't hold back the laugh that escaped me. The corners of my eyes crinkled, and I watched his lip twitch.

My laughter died down and I stared out the window. The city lights moving across the transparent car glass. There was something different about being with him and I could feel the sharp contrast of how it feels being with Alex.

With Alex, every silence always felt wrong. Just by being close to him, but with Aiden, the silence felt different in a way I couldn't place.

I didn't have to perform, be perfect, or restrict my facial expressions. Neither did I need to wonder if he was secretly judging me, and somehow it didn't sit right.

"You don't remember me, do you?" his voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I turned to him, brows climbing up my forehead. Was I supposed to remember someone I had never seen? "High school," he added, and I stared at him. A laugh escaped him, not entirely bright but not gloomy either. "You really don't."

"I remember a lot of people from high school," I said sharply, my voice suddenly turning defensive. Even when I wasn't defending anyone, my subtle smile remained.

"You remember Alex," he said, and my smile disappeared from my face. His eyes roamed the only sign that he noticed, but kept his eyes on the road.

"You used to sit three rows from the window in the classroom during lunch when it rained because you hated eating in the cafeteria. You said the cafeteria gave you a headache," he added. I blinked and he continued, "Simply as if reading someone's life so easily without a book wasn't a crime."

"Fine, damn, I had forgotten all those things myself. You used to carry a pink book around and you would write in it whenever you were angry. But you once changed it to blue after Alex said he preferred blue to pink while talking to someone else." My chest tightened and I felt my fingers curl slowly against my lap.

"How do you know that?" I asked, but he simply shrugged and said nothing. My eyes locked onto his side profile, but he didn't spare me a glance.

"You always sat near the bookstore when you were upset and you stayed there till someone came looking for you." Tears stung my eyes because I now remembered sitting between shelves while pretending I wasn't waiting for anyone to notice I was gone.

Aiden had remembered, even when he was just a ghost I had never noticed his presence. But to Alex, these were completely unnecessary details. "You watched me?"

His hands tightened slightly around the steering wheel, and I almost missed it. "I noticed you," he said simply. My heart thumped against my chest, then stopped.

I turned toward the window again suddenly. After all these years, he was unable to look at me... confronting me now... Why?

The traffic light turned red and Aiden stopped the car. Then I felt his fingers brush mine as he took my hand, still giving me time to pull away.

I didn't. Slowly, his fingers slipped between mine, warm while my traitorous heart gave a single beat.

The light changed and Aiden removed his hand, driving away. I arrived at the Lancaster estate and stepped out of the car, head held high. I didn't spare him another glance before walking inside, but stopped. Catherine was waiting by the entrance.

"You are late," she mumbled, but I walked past her inside. She stopped again.

Serena stood, her hand resting on the back of Grandpa's wheelchair. She offered a strained smile, but my eyes landed on the lawyer instead.

What did Catherine and her daughter do... I wondered…