Chapter 5 Sophie's terrible idea

Allison;

I woke up to an unfamiliar scent of cedarwood and laundry detergent.

For a second, I thought nothing of it and then my head began to pound.

I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut again.

Whoever had invented alcohol deserved to be sued.

I mean, yeah, it provided momentary relief but the hangovers are the worst.

Every tiny movement sent another wave of pain crashing through my skull. Even breathing felt offensive.

"...Never again," I muttered and rolled onto my side.

I froze almost immediately. This wasn't my bed.

The sheets were dark gray instead of the cream ones Sophie and I owned. The room was larger than mine, neater too. There wasn't a single piece of clothing on the floor, no half-read novels piled on the bedside table, no scented candles.

Everything was... too organized.

I slowly sat upright and that was when my eyes fell on the framed photo of Bryan and I from high school on the dresser.

Realization dawned on me just then.

"Bryan's room?"

I blinked several times. How exactly had I gotten into my brother's apartment?

The last thing I remembered was...

I frowned.

Bryan leaving for the airport, drinking from the flask, sitting on the couch and then... Nothing.

My brain was as blank as an erased whiteboard.

I pressed my fingers against my temples.

Bad idea.

The pounding intensified. "Ow."

I staggered out of bed, wincing with every step.

The apartment was unusually quiet.bNo Bryan yelling at the television or Sophie arguing with him over something ridiculous

I let out a deep sigh and managed to find my way to the kitchen.

If memory served me right, Bryan kept hangover pills in the cabinet above the microwave. Mostly because I'd been the one forcing them into his hand after every one of his "I only had two drinks" nights.

As I rounded the corner into the kitchen, I stopped.

Kaden sat at the kitchen island, at exactly the same spot I had seen him the day before. He was typing on his laptop with the same impossible level of concentration I'd seen yesterday. A cup of coffee rested beside him.

Doesn't the man ever do anything else except type and look like he's contemplating the world's murder?

I was ready to ignore him and continue my search for the hangover pills when I noticed his outfit. He wore black trousers and a white dress shirt, the sleeves were rolled to his forearms.

But that was not what caught my attention. It was the exposed part of his chest, the sharp line of his collarbone that disappeared beneath the fabric.

That was the most skin I've ever seen Kaden show and damnnn does he look great.

"Are you done?" His voice cut through my thoughts, snapping me back to the present.

I blinked. "What?"

He didn't even look up from the screen. "If you're finished staring."

Heat rushed to my face. "I wasn't staring."

He lifted his brows. "You've been standing there for almost thirty seconds."

"I was thinking…."

"Well, I’m sure you’re done now,” his fingers continued moving across the keyboard.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You sound very smug for someone who looks like he irons his socks."

That finally made him glance up. "I don't iron my socks, Buttercup."

I clenched my fist tightly and walked past him before he could say anything else and then I opened the cabinet.

Sure enough, the familiar orange bottle sat exactly where I remembered.

"I knew Bryan kept these somewhere," I muttered, popping two pills into my palm.

I glanced back at him, but he was still engrossed in whatever he was doing in his laptop.

I wished medicine worked faster. I couldn’t stand the silence in this room. Only the sound of Kaden typing filled the room.

I was just about to leave the kitchen when his voice stopped me.

"Are you okay?"

I frowned and turned around, meeting his gaze. "Why wouldn't I be?"

His fingers paused over the keyboard. For a brief moment, he simply looked at me as though I was an alien.

Did I do something ridiculous after I drank?

“What happened after I got drunk?” I furrowed my brows, mentally berating myself again for drinking irresponsibly.

Kaden opened his mouth to speak. “I…"

"Allison!"

Sophie's voice echoed from the living room. "There you are!"

Kaden closed his laptop. "I'll leave you two."

He picked up his coffee with one hand and the laptop with the other.

As he walked past me, I caught a whiff of his perfume. Sandalwood and something…

I snapped out of that thought. What the hell was my business with whatever cologne he was wearing?

Sophie burst into the kitchen seconds later.

"There you are!" she repeated before wrapping me in a hug.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry."

I blinked. "For what?"

"I was tutoring until almost midnight." She pulled away, looking guilty. "I completely forgot you didn't have your spare key."

I frowned. "My spare key?"

"You left it on the kitchen counter yesterday."

"Oh."

Right.

That explained why I hadn't simply gone home and passed out drinking here.

"I came over to check on you last night," Sophie continued. "But Kaden said you were asleep and shouldn't be disturbed."

I stared. "He did?"

She nodded. “He wouldn’t even let me see you,” she pouted. “Something about rest or…”she trailed off. “He’s just so annoying.”

I chuckled. I agreed with her on that.

She threw her hands into the air. “He’s like a breathing robot. He’s not human!”

"Right,” I nodded in agreement, settling on the seat that he had just vacated.

"He doesn’t smile, laugh or even express any emotion. I’ve never seen him laugh."

"I've heard it once,” I said, popping a mint gum from the table.

"You've heard him laugh?" She settled on the chair next to me.

"I think."

"You think?"

"It could've been him choking."

She burst into laughter. "You know," she glanced at his room as though to ensure that he wasn’t listening. “He is incredibly weird."

I laughed. "That's one way to describe him."

"No, seriously."

She leaned forward. "I've never met someone so..."

She searched for the right word. "...emotionless."

I chuckled. "He does have approximately three facial expressions."

"Exactly!" She began counting on her fingers. "Neutral, mildly annoyed…”

"Oh, I know the third one,” I grinned, leaning back on the chair as my head began to hurt.

"Slightly more annoyed,” we echoed together.

She laughed. "I swear, if the apartment caught fire, he'd probably just look up from his laptop and say, 'Interesting’."

I couldn't help smiling. "And continue typing."

"Exactly!" She sighed dramatically. "I wish there was some way to make him actually feel something."

I raised an eyebrow. "Good luck with that."

"No, seriously."

"I am serious,” I folded my arms. "Whoever decides to take on that mission deserves hazard pay."

She blinked, "It'd be a full-time job."

"A lifetime job."

"They'd wake up every morning wondering, 'Can I make Kaden Blackwood show a single emotion today?'"

"And go to bed disappointed."

I nodded gravely, "It would consume their entire existence."

Sophie became quiet, unusually quiet and I glanced at her.

A slow smile spread across her face.

Oh no!

I knew that look. That was definitely not a good smile.

That was her ‘I've just had an absolutely terrible idea’ smile.

Every terrible decision she'd ever made had started with that exact expression.

I pointed a warning finger at her. "No."

"I haven't said anything."

"You don't need to."

"But…"

"No."

I didn’t want to know what it was, all I knew was that it couldn’t be good.

She grinned wider. "Oh, you're going to love this."

"I can promise you with absolute certainty that I won't."

"You haven't even heard it,” she leaned closer to me.

"I don't have to."

She bounced excitedly on the couch.

"This is genius."

"This is how horror movies begin."

She gave me her puppy face, the one she knew I could never ignore. I let out a deep sigh and asked even though I knew I was going to regret it,

“Fine, what's your idea?”