Chapter 10
842 Words
I felt as if I was about to die. Mason had just caught me in the act. The act of smelling his shirt like a creepy stalker. I cursed my senses for failing me. Could my nose just keep its nose out of my business? Under normal circumstances I would have laughed at my silly statement but given the fact that Mason was still looking at me like I had just done something horrific, I had to table it for later.
What am I supposed to do now? How am I going to explain myself out of this?
The silence between us seemed to hang around for way too long, making an awkward situation even more awkward.
Just play it cool Ali.
I shrugged and deadpanned.”Just making sure it's clean.”
Mason tilted his to the side and stared at me in suspicion.
That was not convincing enough. I'd have to do something about that.
I started lifting my shirt, revealing my abdomen and took off my tank top. I was standing in front of Mason, only in my bra.
What? I had to distract him somehow from continuing to question why I had sniffed his shirt. I've seen a lot of girls in movies do exactly that to distract guys.
Mason’s eyes widened at the sight of me and he clutched his hand over his eyes. “Wait until I leave the room weirdo.”
He spun around and left the room, leaving me alone in his room standing in a bra.
I sighed relieved that at least my plan had worked. But, unintentionally I was suddenly disappointed.
Mason seemed unfazed by my sudden shirt removal. He seemed annoyed by the fact that I had taken my shirt off. It hit me. Yesterday's kiss might have just been an experiment to him. Maybe he hadn't liked it. Why else would he have acted like I was a disgusting sister who embarrassed her brother?
I heard a ping on my phone and picked it up as it gripped me to the present. It was a message from Ryan.
‘Hey Ali,
It's Mr. Grocery. Remember me from yesterday?
Let me know whether you would want to go out for a coffee or whatever you like to drink sometime. It was really great to meet you yesterday.’
I sighed and couldn't help but smile at that message. Ryan seemed really sweet and I had just confirmed that Mason couldn't even care less about me so I texted back that he should pick me up tonight and that we could go wherever he wanted.
I took Mason's shirt and got dressed. The smell of him was suddenly a bitter taste in my mouth as it only reminded me that what I had thought was a spark, was nothing but a disappointment.
I walked back to the living room in silence. The excitement of painting the living room, suddenly changed to dread. I just wanted to let him paint the room all by himself and I wanted to go sit in my room and feel sorry for myself like adult women did.
But my sudden change of heart would have been too conspicuous for Mason and I knew he would figure out why.
I couldn't give him the satisfaction of explaining the definition of the friend zone. I would just have to suck it up and play nice.
I entered the living room and picked up the brush again to start this now, unpleasant task.
Painting the living room was such a tedious task when you didn't do it with a future conquest and I must have rolled my eyes probably a hundred times.
Just before we finished up, Mason turned to my direction. “Everything okay?”
Without making eye contact, I just shrugged. “Yeah, why wouldn't it be?”
I felt Mason's gaze on me and it just annoyed me more. Could he perhaps finish up with this room instead of staring at me and stretching this out already?
I had things to do. I had to get ready for tonight. My date with Ryan was actually something I was looking forward to.
I turned and finally faced him, his eyes still locked on me. “Listen, would you mind maybe looking after Grace tonight? I have a date!”
Mason arched his eyebrows in surprise and it almost seemed as if it was a little filled with hurt. I decided not to put too much effort into dissecting the expression as I had already determined that he had no interest in me.
His posture hardened and he shrugged. “Yes. I guess I could. In fact, why don't you just go and get ready for your date now?”
I stared at him for a while. He had already turned away from me and continued painting. It was still in the middle of the day. Was he upset with me?
I gave him one last look and turned around to go get ready for my date.
- Writer
