JINFINITE
Super-Earth
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- The Island of Eroda
another jinsley production being transferred over !
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i miss you [feelsHASkilig && JINFINITE]
- Thread starter JINFINITE
- Start date
feelsHASkilig
Solo Conversationalist
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- Page Two Hundred & Forty-Nine
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--------------------------------------------------------------★ ☆ ★textwe on a planet where there ain`t no dramatext.text.text.
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Bright lights surrounded Lacey in every corner making sure that there were no disgusting shadows that would make it hard for the photographers and editors to work around. With summer coming around the corner, it meant that models were working hard making the "in" trends look good for magazines. It was exactly what Lacey was doing right now. While other sixteen year olds were stuck in school learning about pre-calculus or the scientific method, Lacey was hard at work in a photoshoot; modeling swimsuits for Roxy to be printed on next month's issue of Elle Girl. She had been in the studio since five that morning and spent most of it in hair and make-up as well as waiting for the other models before her to finish. The waiting game for models like Lacey was ridiculous, but that was what she was to expect. "Can you arch your back in a little more, Lacey, sweetheart?" said the photographer before he brought his camera back to his eye. She honestly had no idea how she was going to arch it in even more than she already was. Currently lounging on a blue and white beach chair that so happened to match with her blue bikini, Lacey fought through some of her poses because they were uncomfortable and hurt her back. It also didn't help that because she had been on this beach chair for so long that her legs started to fall asleep. Just another perk being a successful model.
The twelve hour photoshoot consisted of three wardrobe changes and more waiting for the other models to finish. But eventually, Lacey was finished for the day by half passed four so she was able to go home in time to take a nap before her mother and step-father came home. The only problem was that she had no idea how she was actually going to get home. Her step-brother, Aiden, was currently at swim practice for another meet of the season and she would feel bad asking him to come pick her up when he was working so hard. There was the idea of possibly just taking a cab home. It wasn’t like she had never ridden in a cab before. Ever since Aiden moved out of the house for school, she had taken it upon herself to use public transportation to get there instead of having to wait around for her mother to come home from some little party she was invited to or for Aiden to come and pick her up. After all, she had her own copy of the key to his apartment. It was common of her to be there when he came home from practice. She knew the sight of her made his day.
Lacey was about to call for a cab when she heard a car horn go off close to her. Looking up from her phone, she noticed the all too familiar shiny red convertible. A smile appeared on her face when Tristan walked out of the car and ran over towards her. “There’s the cutest girlfriend in the world,” Tristan said when he reached Lacey, wrapping his arms tightly around her. Lacey returned the hug as she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and even giggled when he picked her up and spun her a couple times. The two conversed for a little bit outside the set until finally Tristan made a not-so-subtle suggestion that they head off to her place for a bit to fool around. This caused Lacey to frown and panic internally. Despite having only been dating for about three to four months now, Lacey was not comfortable with the idea of being alone with Tristan. It mainly had to do with the fact that the age difference between her and Tristan were the same as her parents and her mother had gotten pregnant a year older than her age. And considering the stress that her parents went through together because of that, she was always careful. It was for this reason that she lied and said that her mother was actually at home and since they were keeping their relationship a secret until she was of legal age it wouldn’t be a good idea. “I was actually going to my step-brother’s place anyway before heading home,” she added just so that she could tell herself she added some truth to that lie.
Tristan didn’t seem to like this as his smile disappeared from his lips and he looked at her with an annoyed expression. He further suggested that since Aiden was at swim practice until later that they just fool around at his place before he comes home. Her smile dropped entirely at this and she fought the signs of fear she was feeling inside. “Aiden comes home around five so we wouldn’t even know how long we would have to—“ She wasn’t able to finish her sentence though as the rest of the models from the shoot finally stepped out and began to leave. Lacey instantly caught on that she had lost Tristan’s attention when his gaze moved above and beyond her. Following his gaze, she noticed that he was staring at one of the newer models that entered the same company as hers. Like just about every other time she caught her boyfriend staring at another model, Lacey started listing all the things that they had that she didn’t and would make him interested in them than in her. The first thing she noticed of all things was how skinny she looked in jeans and how her slim figure made her look taller. Tristan always liked girls with really long legs. Turning her gaze back towards Tristan, she saw that he was more than staring now. He was sending her the same attractive gaze he sent her back when they first met at the beginning of the year. It made her heart drop down to the pit of her stomach. She wanted to throw up.
She had just started walking away out of the parking lot towards the curb to call a cab when Tristan finally snapped out of whatever little fantasy he was having to run after her, pulling on her arm and leading her towards his car. “If you don’t want me staying over then fine. I’ll just drop you off at his place if you’d prefer to be with him than with me,” he said in a harsh voice. Lacey cautiously stepped into the car and kept her eyes looking out the window and avoiding any conversation with him. The drive from the set to Aiden’s apartment wasn’t that far anyway. It only took about fifteen minutes and fortunately there was no traffic yet. When Tristan pulled up in front of the apartment, Lacey slowly stepped out while fidgeting through her purse for her keys. “Hey!” Tristan called out causing Lacey to turn around and look at him. “I’m gonna be in Florence for a job starting next month. I won’t be back until probably Christmas or something.” A breath caught in her throat at this. Her mind flashed a warning sign about this piece of news, telling her that if he went something was going to happen that she wouldn't like. But she knew that even if she told him to not take the job he wouldn’t. So with a short nod, she watched as he drove away without another word. Once his car was gone, Lacey let out a tired sigh and continued to the door entering the building.
When she walked into Aiden’s apartment, everything felt familiar. Despite it being empty of the actual owner she took in everything. Because she had been coming to this place so often since he moved in, every aspect of it was etched into her memory. She knew where everything was and where everything needed to be. The familiarity of the apartment was soothing to her and gave her great comfort compared to being at home. And while the apartment itself was wonderful and definitely had Aiden’s charm in it, what Lacey loved most about it was that everything in this apartment smelled like her step-brother. Though she would never admit this to anyone or out loud, she loved how Aiden’s scent. It was perfect for her and it always made her feel calm and happy, even when he wasn’t around. It was why she always came to this apartment instead of coming straight home and she was glad that Aiden trusted her enough to make her a copy of the key for herself.
Once she locked the door behind her, Lacey dropped her purse and bag of clothes onto Aiden’s couch then dropped onto it with a relieved sigh. She had intentions of taking a nap on the couch until Aiden came home when her stomach started to grumble. Her eyes widened at this, fearing the thought of food. She had to get herself distracted enough to suppress it, especially after seeing Tristan openly ogling the new model. When she looked down at her stomach, she thought that she noticed a little flab sticking out which caused her to panic. It had her mentally figuring out just what she had eaten and whether she had missed her daily workouts recently. When these thoughts were starting to make her panic more, Lacey stood up off the couch and walked over to the kitchen to find some kind of distraction. The first thing she noticed was how bare Aiden’s cabinets seemed to be compared to before. She didn’t realize until now that he had actually been living off of ramen and cereal lately which she knew would make his swim coach rather upset. That was when she made the decision that she would go grocery shopping for him. And while she was at it, she should buy something for him to eat.
But she couldn’t go out in what she was wearing. Lacey looked down at her waterfall dress and four inch heels then remembered how much make-up she actually had. Plus her hair was full of hairspray. Biting down on her bottom lip, she figured she should probably take a shower to wash off all of this stuff from the photo shoot before going out in public. It was a good thing she brought extra clothes. It was also good that she was smart enough to leave some of her shoes in Aiden’s apartment. The fact that Lacey can carelessly use her step-brother’s shower when he wasn’t around should be proof of how close they are.
Lacey only had a little less than half an hour to visit the grocery store and buy Aiden something to eat from practice. She knew that he was technically supposed to be home around the time she got out of the shower and changed into a t-shirt, shorts and Converse sneakers. But Aiden being Aiden probably would stick around after practice to talk to some teammates. So that gave her some time to be a nice little step-sister. Instead of wasting time calling a cab to take her to the grocery store, Lacey decided to just walk to one of the little grocery stores close to the apartment that was owned by an elderly couple. Most of the items in their store were healthy anyway and she knew that Aiden could use a bit of healthy in his life. Besides, the elderly couple knew her personally and she was sure they would be kind enough to give her some discount if they mentioned the things were for Aiden. They always complained that he was too skinny. When she reached the little grocery store, she picked out boxes of granola bars and snack packs that Aiden would like as well as grab bottles of juices that would give him energy for the day. She even got him plenty of bags of fresh fruits for when he was really in a hurry. As she expected, the elderly couple did give her a little discount when she said that the things were for Aiden though they were quick to add that she needed some fattening as well before she became only skin and bones. Lacey took this as a joke and thought nothing else of it when she paid for the items. After the grocery store she walked a few blocks to this little Italian restaurant to buy Aiden some pasta for his dinner.
It was after six now when Lacey ran into the apartment with her hands carrying bags of groceries as well as Aiden’s dinner. She feared that he would already be home by the time she returned which would have disappointed her because she wanted this to be a surprise. When she noticed the apartment was as quiet as it was when she left Lacey let out a sigh of relief and collapsed against the wall. “Where the hell could that guy be that he’s late?” she muttered to herself when she finally pushed off the wall and walked over to the kitchen to stow away the things she bought him.
She had just finished putting away the juice bottles when she heard the door unlock, open, then close. A very bright smile appeared on her face now and she quickly closed the door of the refrigerator then rushed out of the kitchen to greet her step-brother. “It’s about time you got home!” she exclaimed in a mock angry tone. She stood at the foot of the entrance to the kitchen with her hands on her hips and a playful scowl on her face. “I have been waiting for you for hours now and I didn’t even get one phone call telling me where you were! I had to walk here from my photoshoot!” she continued while suppressing the urge to smile and laugh. But that battle was not won and she was soon smiling brightly at Aiden. She immediately rushed over to him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist and burying her face into his chest. The hint of chlorine mixed with his typical scent made her relaxed and even happier than she was before. “Welcome home~” she said through his shirt. When she finally pulled away, Lacey acted like a typical sixteen year old teenager as she eagerly pulled her step-brother towards the kitchen. “I bought you dinner~ I figured you wouldn’t have eaten after practice and I will not allow you to pig on ramen or cereal after a long practice,” she explained as she pulled the Styrofoam container out of the plastic bag and revealed the pasta she had bought him.
The twelve hour photoshoot consisted of three wardrobe changes and more waiting for the other models to finish. But eventually, Lacey was finished for the day by half passed four so she was able to go home in time to take a nap before her mother and step-father came home. The only problem was that she had no idea how she was actually going to get home. Her step-brother, Aiden, was currently at swim practice for another meet of the season and she would feel bad asking him to come pick her up when he was working so hard. There was the idea of possibly just taking a cab home. It wasn’t like she had never ridden in a cab before. Ever since Aiden moved out of the house for school, she had taken it upon herself to use public transportation to get there instead of having to wait around for her mother to come home from some little party she was invited to or for Aiden to come and pick her up. After all, she had her own copy of the key to his apartment. It was common of her to be there when he came home from practice. She knew the sight of her made his day.
Lacey was about to call for a cab when she heard a car horn go off close to her. Looking up from her phone, she noticed the all too familiar shiny red convertible. A smile appeared on her face when Tristan walked out of the car and ran over towards her. “There’s the cutest girlfriend in the world,” Tristan said when he reached Lacey, wrapping his arms tightly around her. Lacey returned the hug as she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and even giggled when he picked her up and spun her a couple times. The two conversed for a little bit outside the set until finally Tristan made a not-so-subtle suggestion that they head off to her place for a bit to fool around. This caused Lacey to frown and panic internally. Despite having only been dating for about three to four months now, Lacey was not comfortable with the idea of being alone with Tristan. It mainly had to do with the fact that the age difference between her and Tristan were the same as her parents and her mother had gotten pregnant a year older than her age. And considering the stress that her parents went through together because of that, she was always careful. It was for this reason that she lied and said that her mother was actually at home and since they were keeping their relationship a secret until she was of legal age it wouldn’t be a good idea. “I was actually going to my step-brother’s place anyway before heading home,” she added just so that she could tell herself she added some truth to that lie.
Tristan didn’t seem to like this as his smile disappeared from his lips and he looked at her with an annoyed expression. He further suggested that since Aiden was at swim practice until later that they just fool around at his place before he comes home. Her smile dropped entirely at this and she fought the signs of fear she was feeling inside. “Aiden comes home around five so we wouldn’t even know how long we would have to—“ She wasn’t able to finish her sentence though as the rest of the models from the shoot finally stepped out and began to leave. Lacey instantly caught on that she had lost Tristan’s attention when his gaze moved above and beyond her. Following his gaze, she noticed that he was staring at one of the newer models that entered the same company as hers. Like just about every other time she caught her boyfriend staring at another model, Lacey started listing all the things that they had that she didn’t and would make him interested in them than in her. The first thing she noticed of all things was how skinny she looked in jeans and how her slim figure made her look taller. Tristan always liked girls with really long legs. Turning her gaze back towards Tristan, she saw that he was more than staring now. He was sending her the same attractive gaze he sent her back when they first met at the beginning of the year. It made her heart drop down to the pit of her stomach. She wanted to throw up.
She had just started walking away out of the parking lot towards the curb to call a cab when Tristan finally snapped out of whatever little fantasy he was having to run after her, pulling on her arm and leading her towards his car. “If you don’t want me staying over then fine. I’ll just drop you off at his place if you’d prefer to be with him than with me,” he said in a harsh voice. Lacey cautiously stepped into the car and kept her eyes looking out the window and avoiding any conversation with him. The drive from the set to Aiden’s apartment wasn’t that far anyway. It only took about fifteen minutes and fortunately there was no traffic yet. When Tristan pulled up in front of the apartment, Lacey slowly stepped out while fidgeting through her purse for her keys. “Hey!” Tristan called out causing Lacey to turn around and look at him. “I’m gonna be in Florence for a job starting next month. I won’t be back until probably Christmas or something.” A breath caught in her throat at this. Her mind flashed a warning sign about this piece of news, telling her that if he went something was going to happen that she wouldn't like. But she knew that even if she told him to not take the job he wouldn’t. So with a short nod, she watched as he drove away without another word. Once his car was gone, Lacey let out a tired sigh and continued to the door entering the building.
When she walked into Aiden’s apartment, everything felt familiar. Despite it being empty of the actual owner she took in everything. Because she had been coming to this place so often since he moved in, every aspect of it was etched into her memory. She knew where everything was and where everything needed to be. The familiarity of the apartment was soothing to her and gave her great comfort compared to being at home. And while the apartment itself was wonderful and definitely had Aiden’s charm in it, what Lacey loved most about it was that everything in this apartment smelled like her step-brother. Though she would never admit this to anyone or out loud, she loved how Aiden’s scent. It was perfect for her and it always made her feel calm and happy, even when he wasn’t around. It was why she always came to this apartment instead of coming straight home and she was glad that Aiden trusted her enough to make her a copy of the key for herself.
Once she locked the door behind her, Lacey dropped her purse and bag of clothes onto Aiden’s couch then dropped onto it with a relieved sigh. She had intentions of taking a nap on the couch until Aiden came home when her stomach started to grumble. Her eyes widened at this, fearing the thought of food. She had to get herself distracted enough to suppress it, especially after seeing Tristan openly ogling the new model. When she looked down at her stomach, she thought that she noticed a little flab sticking out which caused her to panic. It had her mentally figuring out just what she had eaten and whether she had missed her daily workouts recently. When these thoughts were starting to make her panic more, Lacey stood up off the couch and walked over to the kitchen to find some kind of distraction. The first thing she noticed was how bare Aiden’s cabinets seemed to be compared to before. She didn’t realize until now that he had actually been living off of ramen and cereal lately which she knew would make his swim coach rather upset. That was when she made the decision that she would go grocery shopping for him. And while she was at it, she should buy something for him to eat.
But she couldn’t go out in what she was wearing. Lacey looked down at her waterfall dress and four inch heels then remembered how much make-up she actually had. Plus her hair was full of hairspray. Biting down on her bottom lip, she figured she should probably take a shower to wash off all of this stuff from the photo shoot before going out in public. It was a good thing she brought extra clothes. It was also good that she was smart enough to leave some of her shoes in Aiden’s apartment. The fact that Lacey can carelessly use her step-brother’s shower when he wasn’t around should be proof of how close they are.
Lacey only had a little less than half an hour to visit the grocery store and buy Aiden something to eat from practice. She knew that he was technically supposed to be home around the time she got out of the shower and changed into a t-shirt, shorts and Converse sneakers. But Aiden being Aiden probably would stick around after practice to talk to some teammates. So that gave her some time to be a nice little step-sister. Instead of wasting time calling a cab to take her to the grocery store, Lacey decided to just walk to one of the little grocery stores close to the apartment that was owned by an elderly couple. Most of the items in their store were healthy anyway and she knew that Aiden could use a bit of healthy in his life. Besides, the elderly couple knew her personally and she was sure they would be kind enough to give her some discount if they mentioned the things were for Aiden. They always complained that he was too skinny. When she reached the little grocery store, she picked out boxes of granola bars and snack packs that Aiden would like as well as grab bottles of juices that would give him energy for the day. She even got him plenty of bags of fresh fruits for when he was really in a hurry. As she expected, the elderly couple did give her a little discount when she said that the things were for Aiden though they were quick to add that she needed some fattening as well before she became only skin and bones. Lacey took this as a joke and thought nothing else of it when she paid for the items. After the grocery store she walked a few blocks to this little Italian restaurant to buy Aiden some pasta for his dinner.
It was after six now when Lacey ran into the apartment with her hands carrying bags of groceries as well as Aiden’s dinner. She feared that he would already be home by the time she returned which would have disappointed her because she wanted this to be a surprise. When she noticed the apartment was as quiet as it was when she left Lacey let out a sigh of relief and collapsed against the wall. “Where the hell could that guy be that he’s late?” she muttered to herself when she finally pushed off the wall and walked over to the kitchen to stow away the things she bought him.
She had just finished putting away the juice bottles when she heard the door unlock, open, then close. A very bright smile appeared on her face now and she quickly closed the door of the refrigerator then rushed out of the kitchen to greet her step-brother. “It’s about time you got home!” she exclaimed in a mock angry tone. She stood at the foot of the entrance to the kitchen with her hands on her hips and a playful scowl on her face. “I have been waiting for you for hours now and I didn’t even get one phone call telling me where you were! I had to walk here from my photoshoot!” she continued while suppressing the urge to smile and laugh. But that battle was not won and she was soon smiling brightly at Aiden. She immediately rushed over to him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist and burying her face into his chest. The hint of chlorine mixed with his typical scent made her relaxed and even happier than she was before. “Welcome home~” she said through his shirt. When she finally pulled away, Lacey acted like a typical sixteen year old teenager as she eagerly pulled her step-brother towards the kitchen. “I bought you dinner~ I figured you wouldn’t have eaten after practice and I will not allow you to pig on ramen or cereal after a long practice,” she explained as she pulled the Styrofoam container out of the plastic bag and revealed the pasta she had bought him.
OP
OP
JINFINITE
Super-Earth
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- The Island of Eroda
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“43 seconds.”
A panting Aiden stared up at his swim coach through the goggles over his eyes as the older man read his time off of the stop watch in his hand. It took five more seconds for him to process what that meant and when he did he grabbed his goggles and pulled them off, chucking them onto the concrete surrounding the swim pool as his coach scribbled the exact time down on a clipboard he held. 43 seconds for 50 meters. When had he gotten so slow? Aiden’s average was closer to 26 seconds. 43 seconds wasn’t that bad, there were people on the team who averaged around that. But not Aiden; at least not till recently. He hadn’t won a meet since this season started, in fact if anything he was progressively getting worse.
“Aiden, what’s going on?” He got no response, the swimmer’s gaze was glaring off to the side ignoring his coach, “Aiden—agh, fine. Come see me after practice.” And with that his coach turned away to go focus his attention on the swimmers occupying the other lanes of the pool, only to see that they were all staring towards Aiden, no doubt wondering what on earth had happened to the star of the swim team, “What’re you all doing! If you aren’t gonna swim then go home!”
The message wasn’t directed towards Aiden but it hit him just as hard and shortly after he was pulling himself out of the water as his teammates resumed the laps they were swimming. No one tried to stop him as no one wanted to be victim to the temper they all knew he was capable of. He picked up his goggles and grabbed a large navy blue towel which was then draped around his shoulders like a cape as he made his way towards the locker room.
Upon reaching his destination, Aiden was able to drop his tough guy façade and the exhaustion set in immediately. He paused after hearing the door swing shut behind him as he took a moment to decide what to do. He was beyond tempted to leave; just go home and crash for the rest of the day. But he'd never hear the end of it from both his coach and his father. If any other swimmer left practice early, especially after being told to stay after then they'd likely get suspended if not kicked off the team. But not Aiden. Aiden was trapped on the team and couldn't leave even if he wanted to; he'd tried several times already. Every attempt he essentially ended up blackmailed by his own father until he had no choice but to return to the pool.
In the end Aiden made the same decision he always did; he'd stay. He moved to the shower now, just to rinse off the chlorine; Aiden was never that comfortable showering outside his apartment. Besides, bringing his shampoo to practice everyday was a hassle. So he always settled with just standing under the water so he wasn't sticky from pool chemicals until he got home. After turning the water off he rough dried his hair before hugging a fresh towel around himself as he made his way over to locker number seventeen. It wasn't locked as he'd just opened it before practice and everyone who had access to the locker room had been in the pool with him. So the door opened easily and Aiden replaced his goggles for his team's swim parka. He wasted no time putting the long coat on loosely, not zipping it up yet as the next thing he grabbed were a pair of sweatpants which he pulled over his swim shorts. He finally zipped up his coat; successfully covering his rather thin swimmer's body, then grabbed his phone and headphones before shutting his locker and taking a seat on a bench. He didn't remain sitting though, just long enough to slide his headphones on before laying back and hitting 'play' on his phone for whatever song he'd been listening to earlier that day. Thinking Of You by Frank Ocean started playing as he pulled his knees up slightly and brought his left forearm over his eyes to block out the awful lights in the locker room.
Aiden often had a difficult time falling asleep because his mind would go on overdrive and keep him up for hours. This time however the combined stress and physical exhaustion left him completely drained and he was out within minutes. Unfortunately for him though, a little over an hour later and he was awakened by a soft shaking of his shoulder. It was a gentle wake up but still startled the light sleeper whose eyes flashed open and he moved his arm away to see Daniel, his best friend of five years crouching beside him. Aiden exhaled slowly, recovering from the brief scare as he relaxed at the familiar face. He sat up slowly, lowering his headphones to hang around his neck as he focused on Daniel, "Practice is over."
It was then Aiden noticed the rest of the team bustling around the locker room, "Coach Robinson is looking for you."
Aiden was looking down, ruffling his nearly dry hair and wishing he could have been left to sleep longer, "You okay?"
That was a dumb question, everyone on the team knew Aiden was struggling, it was no secret. But he knew Daniel meant it seriously, on a deeper level, not just the obvious troubles he had at practice. Aiden didn't talk much about his personal life though, even with his friends. There was only so much he managed to tell them, and his suicidal thoughts as of late definitely weren't included.
"He just needs to get laid."
Both Aiden and Daniel looked up to see Josh Porter with that ugly smirk of his. Josh had always been completely overshadowed by Aiden's success. However ever since his recent decline Josh had used every opportunity he found to stand out and "get back" at Aiden. It was childish and Aiden generally didn't pay him any attention, after all that's all the other swimmer really wanted. But there were times where Josh crossed the line, "What's wrong? Those two girls you got now not good enough for you? I'll take that bitch Lacey if—"
He didn't get to finish his sentence, Aiden was on his feet prepping to assault as soon as he heard his step-sister's name. Thankfully Daniel was faster than him at the moment and caught his arm to hold him back just in time; a fight in the locker room would be bad news for everyone. It was an on going joke that Aiden liked his sister because he was always so protective of her, especially when the other swimmers would try to talk to her. They always said it was weird he didn't have a girlfriend when he could get any girl he wanted based on the number of them screaming his name at swim meets or shyly asking him out after practice. But they also knew he'd been pretty torn up after his last girlfriend left him close to four years ago and so no one really bothered him about it. With the exception of Josh who over the past two years had escalated from teasing Aiden about being nice to a girl for once to actually using Lacey to provoke him, "It's fair game bro, she's your sister after all."
By now Aiden was trembling against Daniel's restraint, Josh had picked the wrong day to mess with him, "What's wrong Aiden? Afraid to get in trouble with Daddy again?" That was it. Aiden broke free and lunged forward, his fist successfully colliding with Josh's cheek and sending him stumbling back just seconds before their coach walked in. It didn't take long for him to analyze the situation and he was soon yelling at all three of them. Aiden wasn't going to stay and be lectured though. Coach Robinson was repeatedly telling him to stop as he gathered his belongings from his locker, but Aiden tuned it all out and turned away from his very pissed coach, injured teammate and worried best friend to storm out of the locker room; he was ready to go home. But unfortunately for him, life wasn't done with him yet.
"Oh Aiden!" He had just entered the student parking lot when a small hand grabbed at his sleeve from behind, stopping him in his tracks as he mentally cringed at the high pitched voice. The swimmer turned to see none other than Nicole beaming up at him and the phone in her other hand made a shutter noise as she snapped a candid photo of him; there was no doubt that in just a few minutes it'd be on her Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook and whatever other social media she used. "You just got out of practice right? So why're you still in your parka? Wanna go get something to eat? Maybe some ice cream or--"
"I have to go," Aiden pulled his arm free and stepped away from her, completely unprepared for the waterworks he'd just created, "B-but...yesterday, you-you said that w-we could...ha-hangout after y-your practice..."
It was hard to understand her between her sobs and sniffles but Aiden managed to piece together and remember that he'd thoughtlessly gotten rid of her yesterday after practice by promising another day. That was awfully dumb of him. If only Nicole was capable of reading his expressions and seeing him as a human being and not just the Prince Charming she'd turned him into in her head; then she might have noticed how irritated he already was.
"Lacey got sick at her shoot, she asked me to pick her up," he was a smooth liar, it was almost alarming how easy it came to him, "Some other time Nicole."
Aiden was done dealing with her at that point, he didn't give her time to speak again and didn't look back until he was sitting in his car and took a glance in the rear view mirror to see her slowly leaving the parking lot, her phone to her ear. He sighed when his own phone started ringing and he fished it out of his pocket expecting to see Nicole as the caller ID. Instead he saw his father and hesitated to accept the call. His father didn't speak to him unless it was about swimming. It didn't take long for Aiden to piece together that his coach must've already called his father. Was he back in high school or something?! It was ridiculous how much his father and coach talked behind his back, treating him like some racehorse they were training for the Triple Crown.
In the end Aiden hit reject and then proceeded to turn his phone off and shut off all contact with anyone else who was looking to add to the horrible day he'd had so far. He tossed the device to the passenger seat beside him where his belongings sat, started the car and brought it first into reverse, then drive as he sped out of the parking lot and down the street. He was well over the speed limit for the first few minutes as his emotions drove the white vehicle before he was able to calm down enough to slow down. Aiden didn't know where he was going, he just knew that he didn't want to go home; he wasn't all that surprised when he found himself parked across the street from his favorite CD store. It only took a moment for him to agree with his subconscious that this was where he wanted to go.
He awkwardly shed his swim parka and then grabbed his hoodie from the backseat and pulled it over his head to hide his shirtless upper body. Cologne was sprayed to mask as much of the chlorine smell as he could before Aiden left his car, crossed the street and entered what seemed like the only place besides his apartment where he could relax. No one greeted him, but that's how it always was. It was a small store, the owners and only employees were a married couple who'd run the store on their own for as long as he could remember, with the occasional student they'd take on part time during vacations. Aiden went so frequently though that they had a schedule of sorts; he'd go in and listen or browse in silence, then socialize on his way out or while purchasing something. He went straight to a sofa in the back where there were portable CD players, headphones and a collection of used CDs all in their designated basket. Aiden loved coming here partly due to the laid back atmosphere and set up. The used CDs weren't rewrapped and there weren't frustrating computers that only let you hear a couple tracks from an album and you had to stand in front of to listen to music.
After rummaging through a box of CDs he grabbed an old favorite of his, then unplugged the headphones from a nearby player as he preferred to use his own. He sunk back into the sofa with his eyes closed as the first track started playing. Some people would get bored sitting still for a good forty minutes doing absolutely nothing but listen to music, but not Aiden. He was able to zone out of life and tune into every little sound in each song and by the time the album was over his thoughts were clear and emotions under control. Music was his therapy, and he'd been needing it a lot lately.
Forty minutes after sitting down and he was standing back up to leave. As always he stopped by the counter briefly to talk to whoever was working at the time; their conversation strictly music related, then he was back in his car and heading towards his apartment. It was six thirty when he parked, six thirty three by the time he grabbed everything he needed and had made it to his apartment door. He was a bit surprised by the lights being on as he entered and dumped his bag and parka by the door. Aiden had just stepped out of his sneakers when a very angry but not angry at all Lacey appeared in front of him. She complained of his phone and having to walk home which brought Aiden's thoughts back to his roller coaster of a day. So she really did need a ride home. Why hadn't she called him? Well maybe she had but he'd turned his phone off earlier. Then she smiled and everything melted away, she had that effect on him.
Aiden wrapped his own arms around her as she hugged him but the embrace wasn't as long as he needed and she was soon pulling away and leading him into the kitchen as though she had to show him the way. She'd bought him dinner, and Aiden was at a complete loss for words. It wasn't that it was shocking or anything, just seeing Lacey so happy after everything that he'd gone through today just made him want to break down and cry. But this was Aiden, and Aiden wouldn't dare burden his step-sister with any of his own problems, even if she was part of them. He stepped forward and took the box of pasta from her, however he set it right back on the counter and instead brought Lacey close for a second hug. He said nothing for a solid minute, just held her. This was what he'd needed all day.
He was thankful he was able to control his voice when he finally spoke and released her, reaching back for the box with a smile on his face, "Should I make you try it first?" He was teasing, but also completely serious as he referred to the last time they'd gone to eat at the Italian restaurant and despite explaining several times that he couldn't have black pepper because he was allergic, there was still black pepper in his food and he'd ended up spending the rest of the night in the emergency room. He took out a fork from the silverware drawer and passed it over to Lacey, essentially not giving her much say on the matter as he held the pasta out for her to try.
Once it was deemed safe, Aiden relocated to the sofa in the living room to eat his dinner. He hadn't realized earlier how hungry he was, but thinking back through the day he also couldn't remember eating anything other than a protein bar for lunch and cereal for breakfast. After scarfing down the pasta and a glass of water he could feel himself ready to crash for a few hours but he forced himself to his feet and cleared the empty Styrofoam box and glass to the kitchen before turning to face Lacey, "I'm gonna take a shower real quick, think of somewhere for us to go, kay? I don't feel like sitting around here all night."
That wasn't entirely true, Aiden would very much love to sit and cuddle in front of the TV all night and watch a movie with Lacey. But after ignoring his father's call earlier, he also didn't want to be at home if the Italian man managed to get angry enough to drive over to yell at him in person.
His shower didn't take long, and he didn't bother putting together some fashionable outfit when he got dressed. When Aiden exited his room his hair was towel dried damp and he wore a crewneck sweatshirt over a white t-shirt with a pair of dark jeans, "So, what're we doing tonight?"
A panting Aiden stared up at his swim coach through the goggles over his eyes as the older man read his time off of the stop watch in his hand. It took five more seconds for him to process what that meant and when he did he grabbed his goggles and pulled them off, chucking them onto the concrete surrounding the swim pool as his coach scribbled the exact time down on a clipboard he held. 43 seconds for 50 meters. When had he gotten so slow? Aiden’s average was closer to 26 seconds. 43 seconds wasn’t that bad, there were people on the team who averaged around that. But not Aiden; at least not till recently. He hadn’t won a meet since this season started, in fact if anything he was progressively getting worse.
“Aiden, what’s going on?” He got no response, the swimmer’s gaze was glaring off to the side ignoring his coach, “Aiden—agh, fine. Come see me after practice.” And with that his coach turned away to go focus his attention on the swimmers occupying the other lanes of the pool, only to see that they were all staring towards Aiden, no doubt wondering what on earth had happened to the star of the swim team, “What’re you all doing! If you aren’t gonna swim then go home!”
The message wasn’t directed towards Aiden but it hit him just as hard and shortly after he was pulling himself out of the water as his teammates resumed the laps they were swimming. No one tried to stop him as no one wanted to be victim to the temper they all knew he was capable of. He picked up his goggles and grabbed a large navy blue towel which was then draped around his shoulders like a cape as he made his way towards the locker room.
Upon reaching his destination, Aiden was able to drop his tough guy façade and the exhaustion set in immediately. He paused after hearing the door swing shut behind him as he took a moment to decide what to do. He was beyond tempted to leave; just go home and crash for the rest of the day. But he'd never hear the end of it from both his coach and his father. If any other swimmer left practice early, especially after being told to stay after then they'd likely get suspended if not kicked off the team. But not Aiden. Aiden was trapped on the team and couldn't leave even if he wanted to; he'd tried several times already. Every attempt he essentially ended up blackmailed by his own father until he had no choice but to return to the pool.
In the end Aiden made the same decision he always did; he'd stay. He moved to the shower now, just to rinse off the chlorine; Aiden was never that comfortable showering outside his apartment. Besides, bringing his shampoo to practice everyday was a hassle. So he always settled with just standing under the water so he wasn't sticky from pool chemicals until he got home. After turning the water off he rough dried his hair before hugging a fresh towel around himself as he made his way over to locker number seventeen. It wasn't locked as he'd just opened it before practice and everyone who had access to the locker room had been in the pool with him. So the door opened easily and Aiden replaced his goggles for his team's swim parka. He wasted no time putting the long coat on loosely, not zipping it up yet as the next thing he grabbed were a pair of sweatpants which he pulled over his swim shorts. He finally zipped up his coat; successfully covering his rather thin swimmer's body, then grabbed his phone and headphones before shutting his locker and taking a seat on a bench. He didn't remain sitting though, just long enough to slide his headphones on before laying back and hitting 'play' on his phone for whatever song he'd been listening to earlier that day. Thinking Of You by Frank Ocean started playing as he pulled his knees up slightly and brought his left forearm over his eyes to block out the awful lights in the locker room.
Aiden often had a difficult time falling asleep because his mind would go on overdrive and keep him up for hours. This time however the combined stress and physical exhaustion left him completely drained and he was out within minutes. Unfortunately for him though, a little over an hour later and he was awakened by a soft shaking of his shoulder. It was a gentle wake up but still startled the light sleeper whose eyes flashed open and he moved his arm away to see Daniel, his best friend of five years crouching beside him. Aiden exhaled slowly, recovering from the brief scare as he relaxed at the familiar face. He sat up slowly, lowering his headphones to hang around his neck as he focused on Daniel, "Practice is over."
It was then Aiden noticed the rest of the team bustling around the locker room, "Coach Robinson is looking for you."
Aiden was looking down, ruffling his nearly dry hair and wishing he could have been left to sleep longer, "You okay?"
That was a dumb question, everyone on the team knew Aiden was struggling, it was no secret. But he knew Daniel meant it seriously, on a deeper level, not just the obvious troubles he had at practice. Aiden didn't talk much about his personal life though, even with his friends. There was only so much he managed to tell them, and his suicidal thoughts as of late definitely weren't included.
"He just needs to get laid."
Both Aiden and Daniel looked up to see Josh Porter with that ugly smirk of his. Josh had always been completely overshadowed by Aiden's success. However ever since his recent decline Josh had used every opportunity he found to stand out and "get back" at Aiden. It was childish and Aiden generally didn't pay him any attention, after all that's all the other swimmer really wanted. But there were times where Josh crossed the line, "What's wrong? Those two girls you got now not good enough for you? I'll take that bitch Lacey if—"
He didn't get to finish his sentence, Aiden was on his feet prepping to assault as soon as he heard his step-sister's name. Thankfully Daniel was faster than him at the moment and caught his arm to hold him back just in time; a fight in the locker room would be bad news for everyone. It was an on going joke that Aiden liked his sister because he was always so protective of her, especially when the other swimmers would try to talk to her. They always said it was weird he didn't have a girlfriend when he could get any girl he wanted based on the number of them screaming his name at swim meets or shyly asking him out after practice. But they also knew he'd been pretty torn up after his last girlfriend left him close to four years ago and so no one really bothered him about it. With the exception of Josh who over the past two years had escalated from teasing Aiden about being nice to a girl for once to actually using Lacey to provoke him, "It's fair game bro, she's your sister after all."
By now Aiden was trembling against Daniel's restraint, Josh had picked the wrong day to mess with him, "What's wrong Aiden? Afraid to get in trouble with Daddy again?" That was it. Aiden broke free and lunged forward, his fist successfully colliding with Josh's cheek and sending him stumbling back just seconds before their coach walked in. It didn't take long for him to analyze the situation and he was soon yelling at all three of them. Aiden wasn't going to stay and be lectured though. Coach Robinson was repeatedly telling him to stop as he gathered his belongings from his locker, but Aiden tuned it all out and turned away from his very pissed coach, injured teammate and worried best friend to storm out of the locker room; he was ready to go home. But unfortunately for him, life wasn't done with him yet.
"Oh Aiden!" He had just entered the student parking lot when a small hand grabbed at his sleeve from behind, stopping him in his tracks as he mentally cringed at the high pitched voice. The swimmer turned to see none other than Nicole beaming up at him and the phone in her other hand made a shutter noise as she snapped a candid photo of him; there was no doubt that in just a few minutes it'd be on her Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook and whatever other social media she used. "You just got out of practice right? So why're you still in your parka? Wanna go get something to eat? Maybe some ice cream or--"
"I have to go," Aiden pulled his arm free and stepped away from her, completely unprepared for the waterworks he'd just created, "B-but...yesterday, you-you said that w-we could...ha-hangout after y-your practice..."
It was hard to understand her between her sobs and sniffles but Aiden managed to piece together and remember that he'd thoughtlessly gotten rid of her yesterday after practice by promising another day. That was awfully dumb of him. If only Nicole was capable of reading his expressions and seeing him as a human being and not just the Prince Charming she'd turned him into in her head; then she might have noticed how irritated he already was.
"Lacey got sick at her shoot, she asked me to pick her up," he was a smooth liar, it was almost alarming how easy it came to him, "Some other time Nicole."
Aiden was done dealing with her at that point, he didn't give her time to speak again and didn't look back until he was sitting in his car and took a glance in the rear view mirror to see her slowly leaving the parking lot, her phone to her ear. He sighed when his own phone started ringing and he fished it out of his pocket expecting to see Nicole as the caller ID. Instead he saw his father and hesitated to accept the call. His father didn't speak to him unless it was about swimming. It didn't take long for Aiden to piece together that his coach must've already called his father. Was he back in high school or something?! It was ridiculous how much his father and coach talked behind his back, treating him like some racehorse they were training for the Triple Crown.
In the end Aiden hit reject and then proceeded to turn his phone off and shut off all contact with anyone else who was looking to add to the horrible day he'd had so far. He tossed the device to the passenger seat beside him where his belongings sat, started the car and brought it first into reverse, then drive as he sped out of the parking lot and down the street. He was well over the speed limit for the first few minutes as his emotions drove the white vehicle before he was able to calm down enough to slow down. Aiden didn't know where he was going, he just knew that he didn't want to go home; he wasn't all that surprised when he found himself parked across the street from his favorite CD store. It only took a moment for him to agree with his subconscious that this was where he wanted to go.
He awkwardly shed his swim parka and then grabbed his hoodie from the backseat and pulled it over his head to hide his shirtless upper body. Cologne was sprayed to mask as much of the chlorine smell as he could before Aiden left his car, crossed the street and entered what seemed like the only place besides his apartment where he could relax. No one greeted him, but that's how it always was. It was a small store, the owners and only employees were a married couple who'd run the store on their own for as long as he could remember, with the occasional student they'd take on part time during vacations. Aiden went so frequently though that they had a schedule of sorts; he'd go in and listen or browse in silence, then socialize on his way out or while purchasing something. He went straight to a sofa in the back where there were portable CD players, headphones and a collection of used CDs all in their designated basket. Aiden loved coming here partly due to the laid back atmosphere and set up. The used CDs weren't rewrapped and there weren't frustrating computers that only let you hear a couple tracks from an album and you had to stand in front of to listen to music.
After rummaging through a box of CDs he grabbed an old favorite of his, then unplugged the headphones from a nearby player as he preferred to use his own. He sunk back into the sofa with his eyes closed as the first track started playing. Some people would get bored sitting still for a good forty minutes doing absolutely nothing but listen to music, but not Aiden. He was able to zone out of life and tune into every little sound in each song and by the time the album was over his thoughts were clear and emotions under control. Music was his therapy, and he'd been needing it a lot lately.
Forty minutes after sitting down and he was standing back up to leave. As always he stopped by the counter briefly to talk to whoever was working at the time; their conversation strictly music related, then he was back in his car and heading towards his apartment. It was six thirty when he parked, six thirty three by the time he grabbed everything he needed and had made it to his apartment door. He was a bit surprised by the lights being on as he entered and dumped his bag and parka by the door. Aiden had just stepped out of his sneakers when a very angry but not angry at all Lacey appeared in front of him. She complained of his phone and having to walk home which brought Aiden's thoughts back to his roller coaster of a day. So she really did need a ride home. Why hadn't she called him? Well maybe she had but he'd turned his phone off earlier. Then she smiled and everything melted away, she had that effect on him.
Aiden wrapped his own arms around her as she hugged him but the embrace wasn't as long as he needed and she was soon pulling away and leading him into the kitchen as though she had to show him the way. She'd bought him dinner, and Aiden was at a complete loss for words. It wasn't that it was shocking or anything, just seeing Lacey so happy after everything that he'd gone through today just made him want to break down and cry. But this was Aiden, and Aiden wouldn't dare burden his step-sister with any of his own problems, even if she was part of them. He stepped forward and took the box of pasta from her, however he set it right back on the counter and instead brought Lacey close for a second hug. He said nothing for a solid minute, just held her. This was what he'd needed all day.
He was thankful he was able to control his voice when he finally spoke and released her, reaching back for the box with a smile on his face, "Should I make you try it first?" He was teasing, but also completely serious as he referred to the last time they'd gone to eat at the Italian restaurant and despite explaining several times that he couldn't have black pepper because he was allergic, there was still black pepper in his food and he'd ended up spending the rest of the night in the emergency room. He took out a fork from the silverware drawer and passed it over to Lacey, essentially not giving her much say on the matter as he held the pasta out for her to try.
Once it was deemed safe, Aiden relocated to the sofa in the living room to eat his dinner. He hadn't realized earlier how hungry he was, but thinking back through the day he also couldn't remember eating anything other than a protein bar for lunch and cereal for breakfast. After scarfing down the pasta and a glass of water he could feel himself ready to crash for a few hours but he forced himself to his feet and cleared the empty Styrofoam box and glass to the kitchen before turning to face Lacey, "I'm gonna take a shower real quick, think of somewhere for us to go, kay? I don't feel like sitting around here all night."
That wasn't entirely true, Aiden would very much love to sit and cuddle in front of the TV all night and watch a movie with Lacey. But after ignoring his father's call earlier, he also didn't want to be at home if the Italian man managed to get angry enough to drive over to yell at him in person.
His shower didn't take long, and he didn't bother putting together some fashionable outfit when he got dressed. When Aiden exited his room his hair was towel dried damp and he wore a crewneck sweatshirt over a white t-shirt with a pair of dark jeans, "So, what're we doing tonight?"
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feelsHASkilig
Solo Conversationalist
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- Page Two Hundred & Forty-Nine
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Her face brightened when Aiden accepted the food that she had bought for him. She had taken great care and precaution to make sure that it was cooked correctly to prevent the previous experience from happening again. The memory of him spending a night in the emergency room after she had suggested where they eat will forever remain in on her conscience for the rest of her life. As he looked at the container of pasta, Lacey’s smile dropped a bit. There was something about Aiden that made her feel uneasy. It was a feeling she had been having for a while now. And she hated it. This look alone made her know how his day had been. It didn’t take a lot of brain work to figure out that it had to do with swim practice. Now she knew not to ask how it went. In fact, even without having to read his expression she knew not to talk about his swim practices in front of him. At home her step-father has been on edge ever since Aiden’s coach came over and mentioned his poor performances during practices. Since then Lacey has made sure to stay out of the way of the man so he doesn’t end up spitting fire at her for no reason. This was why she went to Aiden’s instead of going straight home.
Lacey had been deep in thought that she was shocked when Aiden suddenly pulled her into another hug. Her eyes widened and she wondered what the purpose of this was. But even when she had been questioning this she returned the gesture without hesitation. She couldn’t get herself to ask why he had done this. By the time she finally did manage to part her lips and begin to form her question he had released her and changed the vibe of the apartment. She blinked a couple times then looked down at the fork of pasta now in front of her face. Her stomach recoiled in itself at the sight of the food in front of her and the idea that she actually had to eat it. After glancing up at Aiden, however, she braved through her anxiety and took a nervous bite. After all, his health was far more important. Her chews were slow, but eventually she assured her step-brother that it was safe to eat and that he wouldn’t be spending the night in a hospital gown. Once he relocated to the sofa to eat his dinner, Lacey occupied herself momentarily by rummaging through her purse for her cellphone. She had purposefully left it unseen for a few hours while she had been out and doing things for Aiden so that she could avoid any urges to call Tristan and attempt to make amends with him.
When she looked at her phone, she noted that there were no missed calls or text messages from her secret boyfriend. This upset her and she thought about calling him to see if they were okay. Luckily she caught herself before she could actually go along with it by checking one of the voice messages she was left by a number she dreaded seeing since last year. The sound of Nicole’s high pitched voice was like fingernails scratching against a chalkboard to Lacey and she had no idea why she put up with the annoying girl in the first place. It was obvious that the girl was stalking Aiden and used her “friendship” with Lacey to get closer to him. What she probably doesn’t realize is that she’s only putting herself farther away from him with her constant attempts to grab his attention when he’s so plainly not interested. As far as Lacey knew, creepy and stalkerish wasn’t his type at all. She listened half-heartedly at the voicemail. She had to turn her back towards Aiden so that she could roll her eyes when the tears started to fall. Apparently Aiden had made an excuse involving her to get out of being in the same room as her alone and she was now trying to see if it was true by masking concern. Without further hesitation, Lacey deleted the message and acted as if she hadn’t heard it at all. She would get her step-brother for this later after he finished eating.
After going through a few more voice messages from her agent and other models from the photoshoot earlier, Lacey turned towards Aiden in time to catch what he had said to her. She nodded at him to acknowledge that she understood and watched him leave towards his bathroom to take that shower. What she failed to mention to him in that quick minute was that while he was speaking her phone had silently been ringing, her mother’s picture flashing on the caller ID. Once he was in the bathroom, Lacey moved deeper into the living area away from the bathroom and picked up the call. “Lacey, honey? Where are you? It’s already late. Why aren’t you at home?” her mother started. Lacey answered that she was at Aiden’s. This response caused a little gasp to be heard from the other end and then a silent and awkward pause. “Sweetheart, is your brother there right now? Um, your step-father is, uh, looking for him. He hasn’t been answering any of his calls since the end of practice.” Lacey turned her eyes towards the direction of the bathroom for a second then responded that Aiden wasn’t home yet. Since Aiden’s poor performances in practice, Lacey has mastered lying to her parents without feeling terrible about it. “Oh…well…if he does home can you tell him to—“ There was a loud bang that caused Lacey to flinch and move the phone away from her ear. Soon, the sound of her step-father’s angry voice filled the line and she felt herself cringe internally.
Lacey stood there for a couple minutes as her mother and step-father went back and forth about the whereabouts of Aiden which included the man openly commenting while she was on the line that he didn’t believe a single word she was saying. Eventually though, her mother was left alone again. Lacey let out the breath she didn’t know she had been holding in then slumped into the sofa. “Listen, Mom. Do you mind if I stay over at Aiden’s tonight? I brought, like, four outfits with me to the photoshoot today so I have an extra outfit or two to wear tomorrow when I head off to the set for the commercial in the morning,” she immediately requested now that she had the chance to speak. There was a long pause on the other end that ended with her mother reluctantly agreeing to this request. “Great! Thanks, Mommy. I’ll call you tomorrow morning before I go to the se—“
Panic consumed her when she heard the door to Aiden’s bedroom open and him walking out showered and dressed in a new outfit. In her panic she hastily pressed the End button then stashed her phone under her leg in the hopes that he hadn’t seen her on the phone. When he asked what they were going to be doing tonight, she flashed him the most innocent smile she could muster despite her heart racing rapidly in her chest. “What are we doing? Um…well…umm—I was thinking, maybe, ya know…” Lacey blushed when she couldn’t think of anything that they could do tonight. It made it more obvious that she had been doing something other than that and that she was hiding that fact. Clearing her throat, Lacey said the first thing that came to mind. “Let’s visit the pier!” At least it wasn’t something ridiculous like signing up for a pie eating contest.
As she thought about this idea, her face beamed with excitement. She hadn’t gone to the pier in months without it involving some photoshoot in the ocean. Her excitement caused her to jump off the sofa and run over to Aiden. She wrapped her arms tightly around his waist again and lifted her head upwards to grin at him pleadingly. “Pleaseeee?~ I haven’t gone to the pier without a camera on my face in soooooo long! Matter of fact, I haven’t gone to the pier without being forced to wear a bikini in an even longer time…” Of course Lacey knew that she really didn’t need to try so hard to get Aiden to say yes. After all it was he that said she should think of what they could do. Then again, she could have easily said that she wanted to stay in and cuddle and watch movies. Because in her mind it was totally normal to cuddle up with her step-brother.
But then she figured with her step-father being so furious at Aiden for a reason she didn’t know about, it was best to be off the radar and the apartment would be the first place for him to check.
“Let’s go! I’ll buy you a corndog or something!” she said suddenly. She ran to grab her purse from her bigger bag then checked to see that she had everything she needed with her. With another grin to Aiden, Lacey took his hand and led him towards the door, grabbing his keys from the table. When they finally reached his car she held tightly to the car keys with a pleading pout. “Can I drive? I got my learner’s permit a few days ago, but no one has the time to teach me,” she begged, bringing her hands together then overexaggerating her pout. She knew that the likelihood of Aiden letting her drive his car with just a learner’s permit was as much of a chance as Nicole successfully getting a date with him. But it was always worth a shot to see if something different would happen.
She wasn’t as disappointed as she acted when she was rejected this request. The Hyundai was Aiden’s baby and he wouldn’t even let his own father drive the car. Taking her rightful seat in the passenger side, she was quick to turn on the radio and pop in one of the CDs that were littering the glove compartment. Once they were on the road heading to the pier, that was when Lacey remembered something important.
She turned her entire body to look at her step-brother. “Can I stay the night at your place? I have extra clothes with me, as always, so I won’t be going to the commercial filming in tonight’s clothes or anything. I’ll only need to borrow one of your shirts tonight since I don’t bring pajamas or anything. And I’ll have to use your shampoo as well since I didn’t bring that either, but if you haven’t figured out already I sort of used your shower earlier while I was waiting for you.” Lacey giggled at this, flipping her hair in Aiden’s face so that he could get a whiff of the shampoo she had used earlier. “Where is the toothbrush I used last time I stayed over? You didn’t throw it away like last time right? Because that’s a waste of a perfectly good toothbrush…or did I misplace it somewhere?” She pondered this before giving up and returning her attention to him. “So can I stay? I already asked Mom and she said it’s fine as long as I make it to the set on time tomorrow morning.”
Lacey had been deep in thought that she was shocked when Aiden suddenly pulled her into another hug. Her eyes widened and she wondered what the purpose of this was. But even when she had been questioning this she returned the gesture without hesitation. She couldn’t get herself to ask why he had done this. By the time she finally did manage to part her lips and begin to form her question he had released her and changed the vibe of the apartment. She blinked a couple times then looked down at the fork of pasta now in front of her face. Her stomach recoiled in itself at the sight of the food in front of her and the idea that she actually had to eat it. After glancing up at Aiden, however, she braved through her anxiety and took a nervous bite. After all, his health was far more important. Her chews were slow, but eventually she assured her step-brother that it was safe to eat and that he wouldn’t be spending the night in a hospital gown. Once he relocated to the sofa to eat his dinner, Lacey occupied herself momentarily by rummaging through her purse for her cellphone. She had purposefully left it unseen for a few hours while she had been out and doing things for Aiden so that she could avoid any urges to call Tristan and attempt to make amends with him.
When she looked at her phone, she noted that there were no missed calls or text messages from her secret boyfriend. This upset her and she thought about calling him to see if they were okay. Luckily she caught herself before she could actually go along with it by checking one of the voice messages she was left by a number she dreaded seeing since last year. The sound of Nicole’s high pitched voice was like fingernails scratching against a chalkboard to Lacey and she had no idea why she put up with the annoying girl in the first place. It was obvious that the girl was stalking Aiden and used her “friendship” with Lacey to get closer to him. What she probably doesn’t realize is that she’s only putting herself farther away from him with her constant attempts to grab his attention when he’s so plainly not interested. As far as Lacey knew, creepy and stalkerish wasn’t his type at all. She listened half-heartedly at the voicemail. She had to turn her back towards Aiden so that she could roll her eyes when the tears started to fall. Apparently Aiden had made an excuse involving her to get out of being in the same room as her alone and she was now trying to see if it was true by masking concern. Without further hesitation, Lacey deleted the message and acted as if she hadn’t heard it at all. She would get her step-brother for this later after he finished eating.
After going through a few more voice messages from her agent and other models from the photoshoot earlier, Lacey turned towards Aiden in time to catch what he had said to her. She nodded at him to acknowledge that she understood and watched him leave towards his bathroom to take that shower. What she failed to mention to him in that quick minute was that while he was speaking her phone had silently been ringing, her mother’s picture flashing on the caller ID. Once he was in the bathroom, Lacey moved deeper into the living area away from the bathroom and picked up the call. “Lacey, honey? Where are you? It’s already late. Why aren’t you at home?” her mother started. Lacey answered that she was at Aiden’s. This response caused a little gasp to be heard from the other end and then a silent and awkward pause. “Sweetheart, is your brother there right now? Um, your step-father is, uh, looking for him. He hasn’t been answering any of his calls since the end of practice.” Lacey turned her eyes towards the direction of the bathroom for a second then responded that Aiden wasn’t home yet. Since Aiden’s poor performances in practice, Lacey has mastered lying to her parents without feeling terrible about it. “Oh…well…if he does home can you tell him to—“ There was a loud bang that caused Lacey to flinch and move the phone away from her ear. Soon, the sound of her step-father’s angry voice filled the line and she felt herself cringe internally.
Lacey stood there for a couple minutes as her mother and step-father went back and forth about the whereabouts of Aiden which included the man openly commenting while she was on the line that he didn’t believe a single word she was saying. Eventually though, her mother was left alone again. Lacey let out the breath she didn’t know she had been holding in then slumped into the sofa. “Listen, Mom. Do you mind if I stay over at Aiden’s tonight? I brought, like, four outfits with me to the photoshoot today so I have an extra outfit or two to wear tomorrow when I head off to the set for the commercial in the morning,” she immediately requested now that she had the chance to speak. There was a long pause on the other end that ended with her mother reluctantly agreeing to this request. “Great! Thanks, Mommy. I’ll call you tomorrow morning before I go to the se—“
Panic consumed her when she heard the door to Aiden’s bedroom open and him walking out showered and dressed in a new outfit. In her panic she hastily pressed the End button then stashed her phone under her leg in the hopes that he hadn’t seen her on the phone. When he asked what they were going to be doing tonight, she flashed him the most innocent smile she could muster despite her heart racing rapidly in her chest. “What are we doing? Um…well…umm—I was thinking, maybe, ya know…” Lacey blushed when she couldn’t think of anything that they could do tonight. It made it more obvious that she had been doing something other than that and that she was hiding that fact. Clearing her throat, Lacey said the first thing that came to mind. “Let’s visit the pier!” At least it wasn’t something ridiculous like signing up for a pie eating contest.
As she thought about this idea, her face beamed with excitement. She hadn’t gone to the pier in months without it involving some photoshoot in the ocean. Her excitement caused her to jump off the sofa and run over to Aiden. She wrapped her arms tightly around his waist again and lifted her head upwards to grin at him pleadingly. “Pleaseeee?~ I haven’t gone to the pier without a camera on my face in soooooo long! Matter of fact, I haven’t gone to the pier without being forced to wear a bikini in an even longer time…” Of course Lacey knew that she really didn’t need to try so hard to get Aiden to say yes. After all it was he that said she should think of what they could do. Then again, she could have easily said that she wanted to stay in and cuddle and watch movies. Because in her mind it was totally normal to cuddle up with her step-brother.
But then she figured with her step-father being so furious at Aiden for a reason she didn’t know about, it was best to be off the radar and the apartment would be the first place for him to check.
“Let’s go! I’ll buy you a corndog or something!” she said suddenly. She ran to grab her purse from her bigger bag then checked to see that she had everything she needed with her. With another grin to Aiden, Lacey took his hand and led him towards the door, grabbing his keys from the table. When they finally reached his car she held tightly to the car keys with a pleading pout. “Can I drive? I got my learner’s permit a few days ago, but no one has the time to teach me,” she begged, bringing her hands together then overexaggerating her pout. She knew that the likelihood of Aiden letting her drive his car with just a learner’s permit was as much of a chance as Nicole successfully getting a date with him. But it was always worth a shot to see if something different would happen.
She wasn’t as disappointed as she acted when she was rejected this request. The Hyundai was Aiden’s baby and he wouldn’t even let his own father drive the car. Taking her rightful seat in the passenger side, she was quick to turn on the radio and pop in one of the CDs that were littering the glove compartment. Once they were on the road heading to the pier, that was when Lacey remembered something important.
She turned her entire body to look at her step-brother. “Can I stay the night at your place? I have extra clothes with me, as always, so I won’t be going to the commercial filming in tonight’s clothes or anything. I’ll only need to borrow one of your shirts tonight since I don’t bring pajamas or anything. And I’ll have to use your shampoo as well since I didn’t bring that either, but if you haven’t figured out already I sort of used your shower earlier while I was waiting for you.” Lacey giggled at this, flipping her hair in Aiden’s face so that he could get a whiff of the shampoo she had used earlier. “Where is the toothbrush I used last time I stayed over? You didn’t throw it away like last time right? Because that’s a waste of a perfectly good toothbrush…or did I misplace it somewhere?” She pondered this before giving up and returning her attention to him. “So can I stay? I already asked Mom and she said it’s fine as long as I make it to the set on time tomorrow morning.”
OP
OP
JINFINITE
Super-Earth
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- The Island of Eroda
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Aiden was no fool, he noticed Lacey's stuttering instantly. The question was, why had she been caught so off guard when it was just a simple question that he'd asked before he'd even left? She didn't look upset though so Aiden didn't press her for whatever it was she was trying so hard to hide.
"Let's visit the pier!"
...the pier? He blinked and she moved closer, turning into a Lacey tumor as she continued her plea and reasoning for a trip to the pier. It would get cold down there as the sunset set, and Aiden didn't do cold. But wherever Lacey wanted to go, Aiden would take her. He just crossed his fingers that there was an extra jacket in his car in case his crew neck wasn't enough.
Lacey didn't need to go as far as to try and bribe him with food; his mind was made before she'd even decided on where to go, "Haha, yeah alright, let's go."
Aiden let his step sister pull him along, only fighting against her grasp briefly so as to grab his bag and beanie, his hair was practically dry already. Seeing as how she had the keys he made sure to mention to lock the door before they left.
When they stopped in front of his car he turned to face Lacey, expecting her to hand over his keys right away. She didn't.
"Can I drive?" There were so many things wrong with that question. Lacey had just gotten her permit. No one had taught her yet, and she wanted to drive his car to the pier of all places? He didn't bother pointing any of that out though and simply extended an open hand for his keys, "Nah uh, not this time. Ask your mom for her car, I'll teach you in that." Discussion over. Once his keys were returned he unlocked the doors.
“Can I stay the night at your place?" And she was off, it was like a race track announcer's play by play. Extra clothes on the outfield, closely followed by borrowed pajamas. Shampoo made its move but was quickly over taken by the toothbrush. It's down to the wire and--it's mom's approval for the win! Aiden's head was spinning from information overload, but in the end all it came down to was whether or not he was going to let her sleep over. And of course the answer was yes. It always was.
"Just make sure you wake me up early this time and not right when you need to leave." And there it was, permission granted. So long as a repeat of last time's sleep over before a shoot didn't take place. No doubt Lacey had meant well by letting him sleep in, but waking up to "I need to be there in ten minutes" had made it one of Aiden's most stressful mornings yet.
It didn't take long for Aiden to find parking, he was a fairly aggressive driver and was quick to claim a safe spot for his Hyundai to wait while he and Lacey enjoyed their date. Wait was this a date? Once the engine was off he turned in his seat and reached down to the floor in search of a jacket. Hallelujah! Aiden's fingers brushed against a wind breaker and he grabbed it. When he turned back around, Lacey was already out of the car. He sighed, not out of frustration or anything like that, it was just hard keeping up with his sixteen year old step sister sometimes. He was always amazed by her ability to just go on and on non stop. After pulling his keys out of the ignition, Aiden joined Lacey outside, "Well, we're here!" Very nice Aiden, state the obvious.
They set off walking side by side with no declared destination, just walking until something caught their attention. That something ended up being a small group of Aiden's teammates, though he didn't wait around for the other party to notice him in return. He took Lacey's hand, turning on the spot down a row of pop up stores aimed for tourists to avoid running into the other swimmers. He only hoped that they hadn't seen him, and that Lacey hadn't seen them. The last thing he wanted was dragging his own troubles into time that was supposed to spent with Lacey. This was supposed to be their getaway for a few hours, Aiden wasn't about to let anyone ruin that for them, "Sorry," he apologized for the sudden change in direction by making up an excuse on the spot, "The arcades are that way. I already know you're gonna wanna go and we'll end up stuck there all night."
He smiled with what he'd come up with and looked over at her, giving her hand a quick squeeze as he went on, "We'll go before we leave, promise."
That was an awful lot of one way conversation from Aiden, usually it was the other way around, "So, where to first? Besides the arcades."
They ended up walking aimlessly for a bit more before striking a deal. Aiden agreed to a brief karaoke session if Lacey would split a snack with him. It was a win situation for both of them. Aiden got to eat, he got hungry fairly easily, and he got Lacey to eat. Who in turn got to laugh at her step brother's singing for a good half hour or so; not that he was actually that bad of a singer.
Upon leaving karaoke it'd gotten a bit colder outside. Exactly why Aiden had been so hopeful of finding a second jacket in his car. Though a quick glance at Lacey and his plan to keep warm ended up changing a bit, "Hold this."
He passed his backpack over to Lacey and then immediately went to work slipping out of his crewneck. He shivered once his arms were exposed to the cold air. Not to be repetitive, but Aiden didn't care for the cold. He didn't wait for a proper trade or to give Lacey any say in the matter, just another short command as he grabbed his backpack from her and replaced it in her arms with his body heat warmed crewneck, "Put this on."
He reached into his bag, pulling out the wind breaker he'd found in the car and proceeded to put that on. As much as Aiden hated being cold, he hated Lacey being cold even more. And she was the one with a shoot tomorrow. Aiden just had school, which he was probably going to skip, and then swim practice which he was considering not going to either. So rights to the crewneck obviously went to Lacey. He took her hand again to lead her off to the next stop on their pier agenda, "So you two are dating after all."
Was this a date? The question infiltrated his mind once again as he released Lacey's hand and turned to see who was talking. It was Josh, complete with his bruised face from earlier and two wingmen from their team, "What do you want?"
This date was supposed to be a distraction from people like Josh, yet here he was. Wait, why did he keep calling this a date? Aiden's internal struggle over what to call his evening with Lacey had to be put on hold as a smirk grew across Josh's face, "A little birdie told me you'd be here. So, does Daddy know? I'm sure he must be devastated already, what with your dead weight swimming and all."
"Drop it, Josh."
"How'd he feel about you dating your sister? And mine for that matter. You know, if you ever need help choosing one or the other, I'd be more than happy to help."
He'd stepped towards them, towards Lacey. And so did Aiden, putting himself firmly between the two, his eyes dead locked on Josh, "I said, drop it."
"What's wrong Aiden? Not so tough without Daniel now are you?"
Of all the times he had to pick from, Josh just had to choose when he was with Lacey, "What do you want, Josh?" Aiden really hated having to repeat himself.
"What do I want? You punched me Aiden, I just came to return the favor. And, maybe collect interest while I'm here."
When his eyes flickered back over to Lacey, Aiden wasted no time in grabbing Josh by the collar and walking him back till they hit a wall. Everything bone in his body was telling him to finish what he'd started earlier that afternoon, Josh more than deserved it. But a voice held him back and Aiden froze up when he heard Lacey call his name. Frustrated he bit down on his lower lip as he leaned closer to Josh in order to keep his voice from traveling to anyone else, "It's your lucky day Josh," He was beyond sick of putting up with the other boy, "Why don't you try again tomorrow? I hear third time's a charm."
Aiden released him, stepping back only to find Brian, one of Josh's pals, grabbing his forearm to try and stop him from going. Not a problem, Aiden simply yanked himself free, his eyes shooting daggers as they dared any of the other swimmers to try anything else. Turning his back to them he returned to Lacey, now taking her wrist and leading her away without a word. This was something he'd never intended to let her see. A side of him he'd tried to keep hidden from her. So how was he supposed to react? The silence as they walked was killing him, partially because it wasn't silent at all, not to Aiden at least. He could hear his heart pounding, his blood still boiling from his rage that had been so abruptly interrupted. What was he supposed to do with all this emotion trapped in him when he now had no outlet for it? Nothing, there was nothing he could do with it but keep it trapped inside and save it for next time.
It was like a switch was pressed. All at once Aiden slowed down and his grip on Lacey loosened. He was visibly calmer but he still couldn't trust himself with words, not until they'd reached their destination in front of the ferris wheel where he stopped and finally turned to face his step sister, "You okay? We can go if you want, but I know I owe you a ride to the top. So...let's go~?"
"Let's visit the pier!"
...the pier? He blinked and she moved closer, turning into a Lacey tumor as she continued her plea and reasoning for a trip to the pier. It would get cold down there as the sunset set, and Aiden didn't do cold. But wherever Lacey wanted to go, Aiden would take her. He just crossed his fingers that there was an extra jacket in his car in case his crew neck wasn't enough.
Lacey didn't need to go as far as to try and bribe him with food; his mind was made before she'd even decided on where to go, "Haha, yeah alright, let's go."
Aiden let his step sister pull him along, only fighting against her grasp briefly so as to grab his bag and beanie, his hair was practically dry already. Seeing as how she had the keys he made sure to mention to lock the door before they left.
When they stopped in front of his car he turned to face Lacey, expecting her to hand over his keys right away. She didn't.
"Can I drive?" There were so many things wrong with that question. Lacey had just gotten her permit. No one had taught her yet, and she wanted to drive his car to the pier of all places? He didn't bother pointing any of that out though and simply extended an open hand for his keys, "Nah uh, not this time. Ask your mom for her car, I'll teach you in that." Discussion over. Once his keys were returned he unlocked the doors.
“Can I stay the night at your place?" And she was off, it was like a race track announcer's play by play. Extra clothes on the outfield, closely followed by borrowed pajamas. Shampoo made its move but was quickly over taken by the toothbrush. It's down to the wire and--it's mom's approval for the win! Aiden's head was spinning from information overload, but in the end all it came down to was whether or not he was going to let her sleep over. And of course the answer was yes. It always was.
"Just make sure you wake me up early this time and not right when you need to leave." And there it was, permission granted. So long as a repeat of last time's sleep over before a shoot didn't take place. No doubt Lacey had meant well by letting him sleep in, but waking up to "I need to be there in ten minutes" had made it one of Aiden's most stressful mornings yet.
It didn't take long for Aiden to find parking, he was a fairly aggressive driver and was quick to claim a safe spot for his Hyundai to wait while he and Lacey enjoyed their date. Wait was this a date? Once the engine was off he turned in his seat and reached down to the floor in search of a jacket. Hallelujah! Aiden's fingers brushed against a wind breaker and he grabbed it. When he turned back around, Lacey was already out of the car. He sighed, not out of frustration or anything like that, it was just hard keeping up with his sixteen year old step sister sometimes. He was always amazed by her ability to just go on and on non stop. After pulling his keys out of the ignition, Aiden joined Lacey outside, "Well, we're here!" Very nice Aiden, state the obvious.
They set off walking side by side with no declared destination, just walking until something caught their attention. That something ended up being a small group of Aiden's teammates, though he didn't wait around for the other party to notice him in return. He took Lacey's hand, turning on the spot down a row of pop up stores aimed for tourists to avoid running into the other swimmers. He only hoped that they hadn't seen him, and that Lacey hadn't seen them. The last thing he wanted was dragging his own troubles into time that was supposed to spent with Lacey. This was supposed to be their getaway for a few hours, Aiden wasn't about to let anyone ruin that for them, "Sorry," he apologized for the sudden change in direction by making up an excuse on the spot, "The arcades are that way. I already know you're gonna wanna go and we'll end up stuck there all night."
He smiled with what he'd come up with and looked over at her, giving her hand a quick squeeze as he went on, "We'll go before we leave, promise."
That was an awful lot of one way conversation from Aiden, usually it was the other way around, "So, where to first? Besides the arcades."
They ended up walking aimlessly for a bit more before striking a deal. Aiden agreed to a brief karaoke session if Lacey would split a snack with him. It was a win situation for both of them. Aiden got to eat, he got hungry fairly easily, and he got Lacey to eat. Who in turn got to laugh at her step brother's singing for a good half hour or so; not that he was actually that bad of a singer.
Upon leaving karaoke it'd gotten a bit colder outside. Exactly why Aiden had been so hopeful of finding a second jacket in his car. Though a quick glance at Lacey and his plan to keep warm ended up changing a bit, "Hold this."
He passed his backpack over to Lacey and then immediately went to work slipping out of his crewneck. He shivered once his arms were exposed to the cold air. Not to be repetitive, but Aiden didn't care for the cold. He didn't wait for a proper trade or to give Lacey any say in the matter, just another short command as he grabbed his backpack from her and replaced it in her arms with his body heat warmed crewneck, "Put this on."
He reached into his bag, pulling out the wind breaker he'd found in the car and proceeded to put that on. As much as Aiden hated being cold, he hated Lacey being cold even more. And she was the one with a shoot tomorrow. Aiden just had school, which he was probably going to skip, and then swim practice which he was considering not going to either. So rights to the crewneck obviously went to Lacey. He took her hand again to lead her off to the next stop on their pier agenda, "So you two are dating after all."
Was this a date? The question infiltrated his mind once again as he released Lacey's hand and turned to see who was talking. It was Josh, complete with his bruised face from earlier and two wingmen from their team, "What do you want?"
This date was supposed to be a distraction from people like Josh, yet here he was. Wait, why did he keep calling this a date? Aiden's internal struggle over what to call his evening with Lacey had to be put on hold as a smirk grew across Josh's face, "A little birdie told me you'd be here. So, does Daddy know? I'm sure he must be devastated already, what with your dead weight swimming and all."
"Drop it, Josh."
"How'd he feel about you dating your sister? And mine for that matter. You know, if you ever need help choosing one or the other, I'd be more than happy to help."
He'd stepped towards them, towards Lacey. And so did Aiden, putting himself firmly between the two, his eyes dead locked on Josh, "I said, drop it."
"What's wrong Aiden? Not so tough without Daniel now are you?"
Of all the times he had to pick from, Josh just had to choose when he was with Lacey, "What do you want, Josh?" Aiden really hated having to repeat himself.
"What do I want? You punched me Aiden, I just came to return the favor. And, maybe collect interest while I'm here."
When his eyes flickered back over to Lacey, Aiden wasted no time in grabbing Josh by the collar and walking him back till they hit a wall. Everything bone in his body was telling him to finish what he'd started earlier that afternoon, Josh more than deserved it. But a voice held him back and Aiden froze up when he heard Lacey call his name. Frustrated he bit down on his lower lip as he leaned closer to Josh in order to keep his voice from traveling to anyone else, "It's your lucky day Josh," He was beyond sick of putting up with the other boy, "Why don't you try again tomorrow? I hear third time's a charm."
Aiden released him, stepping back only to find Brian, one of Josh's pals, grabbing his forearm to try and stop him from going. Not a problem, Aiden simply yanked himself free, his eyes shooting daggers as they dared any of the other swimmers to try anything else. Turning his back to them he returned to Lacey, now taking her wrist and leading her away without a word. This was something he'd never intended to let her see. A side of him he'd tried to keep hidden from her. So how was he supposed to react? The silence as they walked was killing him, partially because it wasn't silent at all, not to Aiden at least. He could hear his heart pounding, his blood still boiling from his rage that had been so abruptly interrupted. What was he supposed to do with all this emotion trapped in him when he now had no outlet for it? Nothing, there was nothing he could do with it but keep it trapped inside and save it for next time.
It was like a switch was pressed. All at once Aiden slowed down and his grip on Lacey loosened. He was visibly calmer but he still couldn't trust himself with words, not until they'd reached their destination in front of the ferris wheel where he stopped and finally turned to face his step sister, "You okay? We can go if you want, but I know I owe you a ride to the top. So...let's go~?"
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Last edited:
feelsHASkilig
Solo Conversationalist
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- Page Two Hundred & Forty-Nine
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--------------------------------------------------------------★ ☆ ★textwe on a planet where there ain`t no dramatext.text.text.
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It appeared as if the closer they got to the beach and the pier the more excited Lacey grew. The prospective thought of a date night with Aiden made her stomach flip. Wait. A date night? Lacey blushed when she thought of this time with Aiden as a date night. He was her step-brother. Dating him was absolutely out of the question even though she has had dreams of—WAIT! Shaking her head, Lacey attempted to think of something else. She was dating Tristan. Secretly, but dating him nonetheless. And as mentioned before, he was her step-brother and completely off limits. Besides, even if she had a chance he probably wouldn’t feel the same feelings she would have for him. She was obviously too childish for him; at least in her eyes she was.
The worry from her earlier thoughts completely disappeared when the sight of the ocean and the lights from the pier came into view. “Oh my god!” Lacey cried out as she grabbed an armful of Aiden’s shirt and shook him a bit while pointing towards their oncoming destination. She couldn’t help but jump up and down on her seat when Aiden pulled into the parking lot. Once he found a spot she bolted out of the car and zoomed towards the front end of Aiden’s car with her phone in hand. She was busy taking a panoramic picture of the beach to the pier that she didn’t notice her step-brother was still in the car. But by the time she perfected the panorama and posted it on her Twitter Aiden was already out and waiting for her. Aiden’s statement of the obvious resulted in a squeal from the female. Without further thought Lacey stepped forward towards Aiden and hugged him around his waist yet again. “Thank you, Aiden!” You would have thought that they were dating with the way Lacey was acting.
First part of the pier date/trip/thing was spent merely walking around and taking in the shops and other sights. They stopped at whatever caught their attention, and usually it was Lacey that had her attention caught. She was a picture taking fiend during this time. She found every possible opportunity she could to take pictures and she made sure that Aiden was in most of them. She had been in the process of taking a picture of the shell wind chimes handing outside a novelty store when suddenly Aiden grabbed her hand and dragged her in another direction that they had been walking. Obviously Lacey didn’t get the picture but it didn’t matter as much. As they walked, Lacey noticed the quickened pace of his long strides. She was tall herself, but with Aiden still managing to tower over her his long legs served to be much faster than her. She also noticed the not so happy expression on his face. Being a model she was an expert at reading facial expressions at the drop of a hat. So when she read worry and what she could make out as a little bit of annoyance on his face, Lacey worried. She ended up looking back in the direction they had come from thinking that maybe his dad had found them.
When they finally stopped Lacey waited quietly for Aiden to explain what had just happened. A true explanation never came as the male went on to explain about the arcade and that he figured she wanted to go. If this was his real reason then his facial expression did a terrible job at showing it. But considering Lacey was not one to jump into confrontations, she pretended to believe him by flashing him a bright smile then turning her head in the direction of the arcade a few ways away. She really was excited about being promised time at the arcade. But she would have preferred if he was honest with her. Sometimes she believed that Aiden never realizes how much she worried about him more than he would have thought if he did. If that made any sense.
Before they could go to the arcade though, Aiden suggested that they do something else at the pier first. He probably figured that if they hit the arcade now they would never leave. He must have remembered the last time they went to the arcade together and ended up leaving five hours later with absolutely no money in their pockets. But they did carry out a lot of prizes though. Although Lacey pouted at this she agreed and offered that they walk around some more until they get some solid idea of what to do next. They didn’t walk around for long before they came to an agreement. Lacey had suggested that they do at least half an hour to an hour of karaoke. For Aiden to agree to this, however, Lacey had to agree to share a snack with him. She wasn’t exactly thrilled about this compromise—mainly because she wasn’t hungry, nor did she ever really—but she agreed to it. By the time they arrived at a small karaoke place right above a bar, she was still eating her portion of the churro he had bought for them. Just one bite from it and she already felt too full to finish the rest. But she didn’t want to concern Aiden so she tried her absolute hardest to finish it.
When they exited from karaoke Lacey was instantly met with a huge chill. She had seen from the large window of their private room that the sun had disappeared, but it never processed that it would be cold once she stepped outside. Considering what she had chosen to wear the cold would affect her more than Aiden. Her shivers were caught by her step-brother and resulted in him slipping out of his crewneck to give it to her. “Aiden, I’m okay! You don’t have to give this to me, really! You’ll end up getting co—“ She was cut off when the male removed the windbreaker in his backpack. Dumbstruck by this action, she wondered how long he had the windbreaker with him. Eventually she stopped thinking about it so that she could slip on Aiden’s crewneck. The crewneck was warm against her and it strongly emitted the familiar scent she associated with him. It always amused her when she wore his clothing because despite being of average model height, his clothes still appeared too big for her. So she essentially had to roll up the sleeves so that it wouldn’t appear as large as it initially did. Once she was satisfied, Lacey allowed for Aiden to take her hand lead her away.
Everything was going well and smoothly for the both of them as they went back to walking along the pier. Lacey was enjoying just walking with her step-brother hand in hand and had even gone so far as to lean and rest against him. But this moment of bliss disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared when they both heard an all too familiar voice calling out to them. Her eyes widened as she turned in the direction of the voice. She cowered behind Aiden as his teammate, Josh, and a couple other guys from the team approached them. Josh was someone that Lacey never liked. She knew of him because he was Nicole’s older brother. But from day one she never liked him. It mainly had to do with the fact that in high school—at least in the year after her mother married Aiden’s father and went to high school—he had come on to her strongly. She has never told Aiden this though.
Lacey watched nervously as the two males interacted. There was a high sense of hostility among the two and she could even feel it from the two other males standing beside Josh. She listened carefully to what they were saying and almost had to rewind the memory of the past few seconds to confirm that she had heard correctly. The bruise on Josh’s face was Aiden’s doing? Lacey could not believe this, but nothing that was going on right now was proving that Josh was wrong. She had never considered her step-brother a violent person. He never showed signs of it nor had she heard anything from anyone. Her thoughts caused for her to blank out a couple seconds of the conversation between the two men, so by the time she came back to her senses Aiden had already pinned Josh to the wall and looked on the verge of punching him again. “Aiden, stop!” she called out as she stepped forward towards him. But she wasn’t allowed to take another step as the two wingmen on either side of the three of them both glared down at her and warned her from taking another step. Luckily Aiden released Josh and returned to her. He took her wrist and guided her out of the scene.
There was silence between them until Aiden stopped the both of them in front of the large ferris wheel. Lacey nodded quietly when asked if she was okay. The truth was that words were difficult to string together into a coherent sentence after what she had just witnessed. He then mentioned about owing her a ride on the ferris wheel which she turned her attention towards for a moment. She watched the attraction cycle around with momentary stops. Eventually she returned her gaze towards him and smiled up at him. They fell in line and waited for their turn. Surprisingly enough, while they had been waiting, Lacey was noticed by a few people that knew of her line of work. Most of them were, of course, middle school to high school girls. And so as they waited, Lacey was approached by a few of these girls and took pictures with them. She was still taking pictures when Aiden was noticeably at the front of the line and was at the point where it was his turn next. Luckily she managed to excuse herself and ran towards him before he left without her.
“Are you okay?” Lacey asked nervously. They had just finished going around without stopping once and were in the process of the second go-around. Lacey had decided to be silent for a bit so that he could calm down. If she was to be honest, she was sort of afraid of her step-brother right now. She had never seen that side of him and had never thought that side of him existed. How could she figure out how to act around him? But once everything seemed calm between them, Lacey was bold enough to speak. As she waited for his response, she scooted closer to him and wrapped his arm around her shoulders so that she could be even closer. She then laced her fingers through his fingers not around her shoulders. They remained this way for the whole ride.
At long last, they arrived at the arcade. As Aiden had predicted, they spent long hours inside going from one game to the next and spending a lot of their money on getting more quarters. In the process of being in the arcade, Lacey had made her chances to drive Aiden’s car less likely by being utterly and completely terrible at the race car simulators. However she blamed this on the fact that no one in their family had taught her how to drive, though really she should have blamed it on the fact that she was terrible at playing video games period. But like the last time they had spent long hours at an arcade, both Aiden and Lacey walked out of the place victorious. And when Lacey means victorious, she means the oversized teddy bear that Aiden had won her at the basketball game. Obviously, Lacey was one happy sixteen year old girl carrying it out of the arcade. On top of the teddy bear, of course, were other prizes they managed to collect from the large number of tickets they won while playing the arcade games.
By the time they got home it was almost eleven. Once she had persuaded to let Aiden keep her new teddy bear in his apartment for a while—for reasons she would die over instead of sharing with him—Lacey decided to shower before heading to bed. After her shower she tied her long, blonde hair up in a loose bun and changed into the spare t-shirt that he let her borrow for tonight and a pair of shorts that were in her bag. Normally, most people with siblings would have them sleep on the couch when staying over. But considering how close Lacey was to Aiden—not to mention the constant arguments they had when she first started staying over—they went a completely different route. Instead, Lacey and Aiden slept together on his bed. After placing the clothes she had worn today in her bag, Lacey walked into Aiden’s bedroom and crawled into bed right beside him. Automatically she scooted closer to him until she was snuggled up against him while wrapping his arm around her again. Because obviously this was normal for step-siblings. She couldn’t get to sleep automatically since she was still high on energy from the pier trip. Instead she opted for silently staring at the blown up portrait of her and Aiden from when they and their parents took studio portraits together after their parents got married. By that time, the two of them had already grown close so the strangely romantic pose between the step-siblings was in no way directed. Lacey remembered that pose and how it came almost naturally for the two of them. Her mother had said for them to take a picture together and it was the first pose they did. Because the both of them loved that picture so much, they both asked for it to be blown up so that they could each have one for their room, although Lacey’s was printed so that it would fit in a frame to be placed on her bedside table. She also had a copy of the photo as her wallpaper on her phone—which Tristan absolutely hates. If anyone did not know better, they would never have thought they were just step-siblings by the way they held each other in the pose.
The portrait of the both of them did as it always did when she couldn’t sleep. Staring at it long enough, Lacey eventually was so content that she ended up dozing off into sleep.
She awoke quarter before six. Still cuddled up against Aiden, she slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room with what little movements she was allowed without waking the male up. The few hints of sunlight were starting to appear and this would have been the signal for her to get up and get ready. Instead she opted out of it and gazed at her step-brother as he slept. Eventually she wiggled out of his embrace so that she could wash and dress up. Since she had showered the night before, she merely cat bathed then changed into a plain t-shirt and a pair of jeans and redid her bun. Returning to the bedroom, Lacey noticed that Aiden was still sleeping. This led her to devise a rather devious plan. Giggling at her scheme, Lacey wasted no time as she leapt into the air and fell right on top of Aiden. She wrapped her arms tightly around his waist then snuggled him until he woke up. “Good morning~ You have to get ready so you can drop me off for the shoot! I need to be there before seven for hair and makeup!” she said in a loud, cheery voice. She had to do a bit more urging for a few more minutes, but eventually Aiden was out of bed and getting ready. They managed to leave the apartment half passed six and she arrived at the location of the shoot quarter before seven. Lacey hugged her step-brother for a long time then exited the car. She promised him that she would come over later after he finished with school and practice.
Her morning was definitely a busy one. After hair and makeup—most it was spent waiting for the other models that were there before her to be finished with—she was on set for the commercial for hours with only a one hour lunch break in-between; which she spent sitting around not eating lunch. Lacey had finished filming in the middle of the afternoon. Since Aiden was busy with school and swim practice, and because Tristan was already on a plane to Florence until the end of the year, Lacey’s mother was the one responsible for picking her up. After being picked up by her mother, she stayed at home for a couple hours so that she could do some work for her homeschooling. Except that those couple hours ended up being her naptime. When she woke up afterwards, her mother was urging her to get dressed so that they could go to the salon to get her hair dyed for the party she had to attend now that she would be a summer spokesmodel for an energy drink brand.
It was a good thing that Lacey was a professional model. If she had been just a regular teenager, she would have screamed, cried, and thrown a fit over what the stylists for the party had done to her hair. She had to try her hardest to not express the frightened shock she felt staring at her hair. When her agent had mentioned she would be getting her hair dyed for the launch party of the energy drink brand she would be modeling for, they never mentioned that they would be dying her blonde locks a shocking pink with blue highlights. If she had a tough time keeping a straight face, Lacey’s mother had a tougher time though she had no trouble showing that her eyes were as wide as golf balls staring at her daughter’s atrocious hair. No amount of compliments that the stylists could throw on Lacey could make her self-esteem feel good about this look. And she had to have this look the entire weekend through the photoshoot and the launch party.
Lacey dropped her face as soon as she was in her mother’s car and wasted no time protesting against the look. She had even begged her mother to drive her home before anyone could see her hair. When they finally reached the house, Lacey bolted to her room, dumped the clothes from yesterday and today into the laundry basket then packed a couple new sets of outfits into her bag. She then changed into a black tank top, a pair of cut off shorts, and a zip up hoodie. She rushed downstairs to the living room where her mother was currently on the phone with her step-father, bag in hand and ready to beg and plead to be able to stay at Aiden’s yet again. It definitely took a lot of begging on Lacey’s part, but eventually her mother gave in and the both of them piled into her car and drove off to Aiden’s apartment.
Even though it was already almost dark out, Lacey still kept her hood on so that no one would see her hair. She kept the hood on as she stepped out of her mother’s car and entered Aiden’s apartment building. She still kept the hood on when she slowly unlocked the door to Aiden’s apartment and stepped inside. The first thing she noticed was that Aiden’s shoes were sitting at the front door; meaning that he was now home. But as she walked slowly deeper inside, there was no sign of her step-brother in neither the kitchen nor the living room. Placing her bag on the couch, she walked towards the bedroom door and opened it slowly while making sure not to make any sound. When she popped her head in, she saw Aiden currently fast asleep on his bed. There was a surge of saddened relief when she saw that he was actually home. Slipping into the bedroom, Lacey tiptoed over to the bed then sat down at the edge of it. She made sure that her hood was still on her head so that he wouldn’t see her hair. For a few minutes she merely watched him sleep, just like she had earlier that morning. Eventually, she reached a hand forward towards his shoulder and shook him gently. “Aiden…”
The worry from her earlier thoughts completely disappeared when the sight of the ocean and the lights from the pier came into view. “Oh my god!” Lacey cried out as she grabbed an armful of Aiden’s shirt and shook him a bit while pointing towards their oncoming destination. She couldn’t help but jump up and down on her seat when Aiden pulled into the parking lot. Once he found a spot she bolted out of the car and zoomed towards the front end of Aiden’s car with her phone in hand. She was busy taking a panoramic picture of the beach to the pier that she didn’t notice her step-brother was still in the car. But by the time she perfected the panorama and posted it on her Twitter Aiden was already out and waiting for her. Aiden’s statement of the obvious resulted in a squeal from the female. Without further thought Lacey stepped forward towards Aiden and hugged him around his waist yet again. “Thank you, Aiden!” You would have thought that they were dating with the way Lacey was acting.
First part of the pier date/trip/thing was spent merely walking around and taking in the shops and other sights. They stopped at whatever caught their attention, and usually it was Lacey that had her attention caught. She was a picture taking fiend during this time. She found every possible opportunity she could to take pictures and she made sure that Aiden was in most of them. She had been in the process of taking a picture of the shell wind chimes handing outside a novelty store when suddenly Aiden grabbed her hand and dragged her in another direction that they had been walking. Obviously Lacey didn’t get the picture but it didn’t matter as much. As they walked, Lacey noticed the quickened pace of his long strides. She was tall herself, but with Aiden still managing to tower over her his long legs served to be much faster than her. She also noticed the not so happy expression on his face. Being a model she was an expert at reading facial expressions at the drop of a hat. So when she read worry and what she could make out as a little bit of annoyance on his face, Lacey worried. She ended up looking back in the direction they had come from thinking that maybe his dad had found them.
When they finally stopped Lacey waited quietly for Aiden to explain what had just happened. A true explanation never came as the male went on to explain about the arcade and that he figured she wanted to go. If this was his real reason then his facial expression did a terrible job at showing it. But considering Lacey was not one to jump into confrontations, she pretended to believe him by flashing him a bright smile then turning her head in the direction of the arcade a few ways away. She really was excited about being promised time at the arcade. But she would have preferred if he was honest with her. Sometimes she believed that Aiden never realizes how much she worried about him more than he would have thought if he did. If that made any sense.
Before they could go to the arcade though, Aiden suggested that they do something else at the pier first. He probably figured that if they hit the arcade now they would never leave. He must have remembered the last time they went to the arcade together and ended up leaving five hours later with absolutely no money in their pockets. But they did carry out a lot of prizes though. Although Lacey pouted at this she agreed and offered that they walk around some more until they get some solid idea of what to do next. They didn’t walk around for long before they came to an agreement. Lacey had suggested that they do at least half an hour to an hour of karaoke. For Aiden to agree to this, however, Lacey had to agree to share a snack with him. She wasn’t exactly thrilled about this compromise—mainly because she wasn’t hungry, nor did she ever really—but she agreed to it. By the time they arrived at a small karaoke place right above a bar, she was still eating her portion of the churro he had bought for them. Just one bite from it and she already felt too full to finish the rest. But she didn’t want to concern Aiden so she tried her absolute hardest to finish it.
When they exited from karaoke Lacey was instantly met with a huge chill. She had seen from the large window of their private room that the sun had disappeared, but it never processed that it would be cold once she stepped outside. Considering what she had chosen to wear the cold would affect her more than Aiden. Her shivers were caught by her step-brother and resulted in him slipping out of his crewneck to give it to her. “Aiden, I’m okay! You don’t have to give this to me, really! You’ll end up getting co—“ She was cut off when the male removed the windbreaker in his backpack. Dumbstruck by this action, she wondered how long he had the windbreaker with him. Eventually she stopped thinking about it so that she could slip on Aiden’s crewneck. The crewneck was warm against her and it strongly emitted the familiar scent she associated with him. It always amused her when she wore his clothing because despite being of average model height, his clothes still appeared too big for her. So she essentially had to roll up the sleeves so that it wouldn’t appear as large as it initially did. Once she was satisfied, Lacey allowed for Aiden to take her hand lead her away.
Everything was going well and smoothly for the both of them as they went back to walking along the pier. Lacey was enjoying just walking with her step-brother hand in hand and had even gone so far as to lean and rest against him. But this moment of bliss disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared when they both heard an all too familiar voice calling out to them. Her eyes widened as she turned in the direction of the voice. She cowered behind Aiden as his teammate, Josh, and a couple other guys from the team approached them. Josh was someone that Lacey never liked. She knew of him because he was Nicole’s older brother. But from day one she never liked him. It mainly had to do with the fact that in high school—at least in the year after her mother married Aiden’s father and went to high school—he had come on to her strongly. She has never told Aiden this though.
Lacey watched nervously as the two males interacted. There was a high sense of hostility among the two and she could even feel it from the two other males standing beside Josh. She listened carefully to what they were saying and almost had to rewind the memory of the past few seconds to confirm that she had heard correctly. The bruise on Josh’s face was Aiden’s doing? Lacey could not believe this, but nothing that was going on right now was proving that Josh was wrong. She had never considered her step-brother a violent person. He never showed signs of it nor had she heard anything from anyone. Her thoughts caused for her to blank out a couple seconds of the conversation between the two men, so by the time she came back to her senses Aiden had already pinned Josh to the wall and looked on the verge of punching him again. “Aiden, stop!” she called out as she stepped forward towards him. But she wasn’t allowed to take another step as the two wingmen on either side of the three of them both glared down at her and warned her from taking another step. Luckily Aiden released Josh and returned to her. He took her wrist and guided her out of the scene.
There was silence between them until Aiden stopped the both of them in front of the large ferris wheel. Lacey nodded quietly when asked if she was okay. The truth was that words were difficult to string together into a coherent sentence after what she had just witnessed. He then mentioned about owing her a ride on the ferris wheel which she turned her attention towards for a moment. She watched the attraction cycle around with momentary stops. Eventually she returned her gaze towards him and smiled up at him. They fell in line and waited for their turn. Surprisingly enough, while they had been waiting, Lacey was noticed by a few people that knew of her line of work. Most of them were, of course, middle school to high school girls. And so as they waited, Lacey was approached by a few of these girls and took pictures with them. She was still taking pictures when Aiden was noticeably at the front of the line and was at the point where it was his turn next. Luckily she managed to excuse herself and ran towards him before he left without her.
“Are you okay?” Lacey asked nervously. They had just finished going around without stopping once and were in the process of the second go-around. Lacey had decided to be silent for a bit so that he could calm down. If she was to be honest, she was sort of afraid of her step-brother right now. She had never seen that side of him and had never thought that side of him existed. How could she figure out how to act around him? But once everything seemed calm between them, Lacey was bold enough to speak. As she waited for his response, she scooted closer to him and wrapped his arm around her shoulders so that she could be even closer. She then laced her fingers through his fingers not around her shoulders. They remained this way for the whole ride.
At long last, they arrived at the arcade. As Aiden had predicted, they spent long hours inside going from one game to the next and spending a lot of their money on getting more quarters. In the process of being in the arcade, Lacey had made her chances to drive Aiden’s car less likely by being utterly and completely terrible at the race car simulators. However she blamed this on the fact that no one in their family had taught her how to drive, though really she should have blamed it on the fact that she was terrible at playing video games period. But like the last time they had spent long hours at an arcade, both Aiden and Lacey walked out of the place victorious. And when Lacey means victorious, she means the oversized teddy bear that Aiden had won her at the basketball game. Obviously, Lacey was one happy sixteen year old girl carrying it out of the arcade. On top of the teddy bear, of course, were other prizes they managed to collect from the large number of tickets they won while playing the arcade games.
By the time they got home it was almost eleven. Once she had persuaded to let Aiden keep her new teddy bear in his apartment for a while—for reasons she would die over instead of sharing with him—Lacey decided to shower before heading to bed. After her shower she tied her long, blonde hair up in a loose bun and changed into the spare t-shirt that he let her borrow for tonight and a pair of shorts that were in her bag. Normally, most people with siblings would have them sleep on the couch when staying over. But considering how close Lacey was to Aiden—not to mention the constant arguments they had when she first started staying over—they went a completely different route. Instead, Lacey and Aiden slept together on his bed. After placing the clothes she had worn today in her bag, Lacey walked into Aiden’s bedroom and crawled into bed right beside him. Automatically she scooted closer to him until she was snuggled up against him while wrapping his arm around her again. Because obviously this was normal for step-siblings. She couldn’t get to sleep automatically since she was still high on energy from the pier trip. Instead she opted for silently staring at the blown up portrait of her and Aiden from when they and their parents took studio portraits together after their parents got married. By that time, the two of them had already grown close so the strangely romantic pose between the step-siblings was in no way directed. Lacey remembered that pose and how it came almost naturally for the two of them. Her mother had said for them to take a picture together and it was the first pose they did. Because the both of them loved that picture so much, they both asked for it to be blown up so that they could each have one for their room, although Lacey’s was printed so that it would fit in a frame to be placed on her bedside table. She also had a copy of the photo as her wallpaper on her phone—which Tristan absolutely hates. If anyone did not know better, they would never have thought they were just step-siblings by the way they held each other in the pose.
The portrait of the both of them did as it always did when she couldn’t sleep. Staring at it long enough, Lacey eventually was so content that she ended up dozing off into sleep.
She awoke quarter before six. Still cuddled up against Aiden, she slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room with what little movements she was allowed without waking the male up. The few hints of sunlight were starting to appear and this would have been the signal for her to get up and get ready. Instead she opted out of it and gazed at her step-brother as he slept. Eventually she wiggled out of his embrace so that she could wash and dress up. Since she had showered the night before, she merely cat bathed then changed into a plain t-shirt and a pair of jeans and redid her bun. Returning to the bedroom, Lacey noticed that Aiden was still sleeping. This led her to devise a rather devious plan. Giggling at her scheme, Lacey wasted no time as she leapt into the air and fell right on top of Aiden. She wrapped her arms tightly around his waist then snuggled him until he woke up. “Good morning~ You have to get ready so you can drop me off for the shoot! I need to be there before seven for hair and makeup!” she said in a loud, cheery voice. She had to do a bit more urging for a few more minutes, but eventually Aiden was out of bed and getting ready. They managed to leave the apartment half passed six and she arrived at the location of the shoot quarter before seven. Lacey hugged her step-brother for a long time then exited the car. She promised him that she would come over later after he finished with school and practice.
Her morning was definitely a busy one. After hair and makeup—most it was spent waiting for the other models that were there before her to be finished with—she was on set for the commercial for hours with only a one hour lunch break in-between; which she spent sitting around not eating lunch. Lacey had finished filming in the middle of the afternoon. Since Aiden was busy with school and swim practice, and because Tristan was already on a plane to Florence until the end of the year, Lacey’s mother was the one responsible for picking her up. After being picked up by her mother, she stayed at home for a couple hours so that she could do some work for her homeschooling. Except that those couple hours ended up being her naptime. When she woke up afterwards, her mother was urging her to get dressed so that they could go to the salon to get her hair dyed for the party she had to attend now that she would be a summer spokesmodel for an energy drink brand.
It was a good thing that Lacey was a professional model. If she had been just a regular teenager, she would have screamed, cried, and thrown a fit over what the stylists for the party had done to her hair. She had to try her hardest to not express the frightened shock she felt staring at her hair. When her agent had mentioned she would be getting her hair dyed for the launch party of the energy drink brand she would be modeling for, they never mentioned that they would be dying her blonde locks a shocking pink with blue highlights. If she had a tough time keeping a straight face, Lacey’s mother had a tougher time though she had no trouble showing that her eyes were as wide as golf balls staring at her daughter’s atrocious hair. No amount of compliments that the stylists could throw on Lacey could make her self-esteem feel good about this look. And she had to have this look the entire weekend through the photoshoot and the launch party.
Lacey dropped her face as soon as she was in her mother’s car and wasted no time protesting against the look. She had even begged her mother to drive her home before anyone could see her hair. When they finally reached the house, Lacey bolted to her room, dumped the clothes from yesterday and today into the laundry basket then packed a couple new sets of outfits into her bag. She then changed into a black tank top, a pair of cut off shorts, and a zip up hoodie. She rushed downstairs to the living room where her mother was currently on the phone with her step-father, bag in hand and ready to beg and plead to be able to stay at Aiden’s yet again. It definitely took a lot of begging on Lacey’s part, but eventually her mother gave in and the both of them piled into her car and drove off to Aiden’s apartment.
Even though it was already almost dark out, Lacey still kept her hood on so that no one would see her hair. She kept the hood on as she stepped out of her mother’s car and entered Aiden’s apartment building. She still kept the hood on when she slowly unlocked the door to Aiden’s apartment and stepped inside. The first thing she noticed was that Aiden’s shoes were sitting at the front door; meaning that he was now home. But as she walked slowly deeper inside, there was no sign of her step-brother in neither the kitchen nor the living room. Placing her bag on the couch, she walked towards the bedroom door and opened it slowly while making sure not to make any sound. When she popped her head in, she saw Aiden currently fast asleep on his bed. There was a surge of saddened relief when she saw that he was actually home. Slipping into the bedroom, Lacey tiptoed over to the bed then sat down at the edge of it. She made sure that her hood was still on her head so that he wouldn’t see her hair. For a few minutes she merely watched him sleep, just like she had earlier that morning. Eventually, she reached a hand forward towards his shoulder and shook him gently. “Aiden…”
OP
OP
JINFINITE
Super-Earth
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- The Island of Eroda
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”Are you okay?”
No. He could hear her voice tremble ever so slightly as she tried to be brave. He was supposed to be the one comforting her in this situation, but she had already closed the gap between them. He may have still been on edge from his mini skirmish with Josh, but as soon as Lacey touched his arm he felt everything just wash away and he visibly relaxed. She had always had that power over him, no matter how he felt, being near her made him feel safe and calm, "Mm."
It wasn't much of an answer, but Aiden didn't trust himself to speak quite yet. And he didn't for the remainder of the ride. What was there to say? Trapped in a swinging box hundreds of feet above the ground was not the right place to try and explain himself. It was a place to relax and enjoy the alone time he had with his step-sister. He saw her just about everyday but it just wasn't the same as having their own private room in the sky where no one could bother them. Aiden lightly squeezed her hand that held his; he wasn't okay, but he would be. By the time their feet were back on solid ground he'd be okay; for Lacey's sake he had to be.
As the ferris wheel came to an end, so did Aiden's bad mood and the step-siblings were able to enjoy the rest of their date at the pier. Why was he still calling it a date? Maybe because a normal older brother would refuse to spend so much parking money on silly arcade games to win prizes that would just sit around the house and collect dust. But for Lacey, Aiden would do anything and he continued to prove that over and over again until it was time to leave and his car was packed with enough prizes to feed a village--well, if they were edible at least.
It was a good thing they had taken his car and not the bike. Although maybe if they'd ridden the bike then Aiden wouldn't be in this predicament. He glanced in his rear view mirror at the giant teddy bear sitting in the middle of the backseat, then over at Lacey riding shotgun beside him, "You're taking that home with you tomorrow, yeah?"
He was met with a protest and spent the car ride arguing with his sister over the future of the bear that currently occupied half the space in his car. Of course Lacey won, she usually did. Or rather, Aiden usually let her. Her reactions were cute and often times he would complain or tell her she couldn't do something just to watch her try and change his mind. That was normal sibling behavior though, right? Egging the other on just because they can. Just how much longer would Aiden have to justify his actions to himself? Apparently quite a while longer as he failed to come up with an excuse for why he and Lacey shared a bed whenever she stayed over.
While Lacey showered, Aiden changed into clothes to sleep in; he didn't usually wear much to bed as he didn't like the feeling of both his clothes and blankets rubbing against his skin. It was almost claustrophobic. But as close as he was to Lacey he wasn't ready to share a bed shirtless in just his underwear, so whenever Lacey slept over he sacrificed his comfort for his sanity. He wore a loose sleeveless black muscle tank and a pair of dark gray sweats. He was in bed long before his step-sister was out of the bathroom and was just about to doze off when the mattress shifted to her weight as she climbed in beside him. He adjusted as needed while she moved closer and once again positioned his arm as she liked. It always threw him off for a second whenever she smelled like him; like when she'd wear his jacket heavily covered in cologne, or in this case how she smelled like his shampoo. But he chose those scents because he liked them, so the combination of his shampoo and his step-sister was quite comforting and Aiden was passed out in no time.
It was a good thing Lacey could wake up on her own as Aiden hadn't set any alarms and could care less if he was late to school or practice so he would have just slept till noon. He groaned in protest at Lacey's wake up method as she landed on him. He tried to roll away but her arms locked around him holding him in place. Her voice was far too loud that early in the morning but the pillows muffled his own as he tried to tell her so. Aiden refused to move for a short bit, enjoying what would likely be the best part of his day. But Lacey needed to get to her shoot and after a bit of convincing she managed to get her brother to leave his bed. After a bit more she talked him into changing out of his sweats and putting real clothes on after his quick shower.
They were back in his Hyundai not long after and zooming off to the location of today's shoot. He had a hard time letting Lacey go as they parted for the day, ever since leaving his bed that morning he'd had a sinking feeling in his stomach that something wasn't right, or wouldn't be right. Today was bad, and he chewed his lower lip in frustration that he didn't know what was bothering him. Aiden watched Lacey until she was out of sight before shifting his car back into drive and making an illegal u-turn, he didn't have class till 9am so he'd spend the next hour at the pool.
There were three places Aiden liked to be: his apartment or the music store, but most of all in the water. Be it the pool or the ocean; Aiden must've been a fish in his past life as the only time he was truly happy was when he was swimming. Well, until recently at least. It felt great right now with the entire pool to himself; free to do whatever he wanted. But he was already dreading that afternoon during practice with the rest of the team.
That afternoon came far too quickly for Aiden who got an earful from Coach Robinson right off the bat about his current performance, yesterday's fight, his dad and anything else the man could think of. The actual practice ran smoothly however. Aiden's times were significantly better and in no time the whistle was blown marking the end of practice. So much for ending on a good note though, Aiden wasn't particularly paying much attention to the edge of the pool as he swam towards the nearest ladder and as soon as his hand grasped the metal rod someone else's hand pushed down on his head, keeping him submerged just below the water's surface. He was unfortunately in the deep end of the pool and his feet were no where close to touching the floor. Under normal circumstances Aiden could tread water for a couple hours easily. But with someone pushing down on him from above, air quickly escaping his lungs and his hands frantically grabbing at his attacker, Aiden was steadily sinking little by little. The pain in his chest from trying to hold his breathe was getting unbearable. His goggles slipped off in all the commotion and just as the chlorine stung his eyes the pressure on his head released and instead his arm was grabbed and pulled out of the water.
He gasped for air as soon as he broke the surface and squinted his eyes open as best he could to see his savior, or rather, to see his attacker. Josh was squatting at the top of the ladder, smirking as he held Aiden in place, "What's wrong Aiden? Having trouble swimming?"
The other boy chuckled, "Look like you were right. Third time is the charm."
Aiden's arm was released and he slipped back into the water. He managed to latch back onto the ladder and held on for dear life as he fought to breathe in between coughing his lungs out.
This whole incident didn't go completely unnoticed, Daniel witnessed the entire thing, just being on the opposite side of the room made it hard for him to get to them in time. When he did arrive however he had a towel in hand and jumped to steady Aiden's trembling form as he climbed up the ladder and out of the water. They moved to sit on a bench and after confirming his best friend wasn't about to pass out on him, Daniel left to run around and collect their scattered belongings; including diving to the bottom of the pool to retrieve Aiden's sunken goggles.
Daniel ended up driving Aiden home in his precious Hyundai as he wouldn't let Aiden drive himself home, and Aiden refused to leave his car at the pool and take a cab. It was a nerve wracking ride for Aiden but Daniel managed to get both swimmer and car home safely. Daniel wanted to stay a while to make sure he was okay but finally compromised to leave as long as Aiden promised to call him every hour; secondary drowning was a real thing and very dangerous. Aiden only succeeded in calling after the first hour. Still shaken up over his near-drowning experience, Lacey's promise to come back over completely slipped his mind and after showering Aiden only had enough energy to change into clean briefs and climb into bed. He was out as soon as his head hit the pillow and Daniel's calls went unheard and unanswered.
Aiden wasn't usually one to dream but this time his mind took him on a whirlwind of adventures ranging from a hiking picnic with Lacey, the giant bear from the arcade destroying his apartment, placing gold at the Olympics, and then finally he was back to drowning in the pool. Lacey's touch replicated Josh pulling him out of the water and Aiden startled awake. He was breathing heavily until his eyes landed on Lacey and her instant calming effect worked its magic once again. He didn't wait for her to speak and instead grabbed her arm, gently pulling her down to lay beside him. Aiden wrapped his other arm around her; obviously forgetting the fact that he currently lacked a shirt, or pants for that matter. As his racing heart slowed he was able to focus on other things, like how Lacey's hair smelled. It wasn't his shampoo from this morning. And sure she probably showered after her shoot, but it didn't smell like her shampoo either. Deciding not to question her recent change in shampoos, Aiden dropped the subject in his head and finally spoke for the first time after waking up, "You know, I had a nightmare that bear we won came to life and made a mess of my place. I don't think it can stay here much longer, haha..." He left a moment of silence then continued with, "So how was your shoot?"
Aiden's phone went off shortly after she started to speak and at the third ring he reluctantly released his sister and sat up to reach his cellphone on the far side of the bed. He glanced at the caller-id, ready to ignore the call if it was his father. However the screen read 'Daniel' and Aiden instantly remembered how he was supposed to call his friend, oops.
"Hey. Sorry, I fell asleep." He had to move the phone away from his ear slightly as Daniel yelled at him for being so careless as to fall asleep and saying that he 'should know better'. Daniel went on to say that he shouldn't be alone right now and would come over soon, "No it's fine, Lacey's here right now."
"Make sure you tell her what happened."
"Yeah, sure."
"I'm serious Aiden. It's not sa--"
"Love you too Dan, see you tomorrow." After cutting off his friend he ended the call and glanced at his missed notifications. Eleven missed calls and five texts, all from Daniel. He smiled softly at the screen before hitting the lock button and dropping his phone back onto the mattress. Having calmed down by now from his roller coaster dreams he turned back towards Lacey, not that he could see her in the dark and especially now that his eyes were seeing a glowing spot from staring at his phone, "Are you staying the night?"
It wasn't much of an answer, but Aiden didn't trust himself to speak quite yet. And he didn't for the remainder of the ride. What was there to say? Trapped in a swinging box hundreds of feet above the ground was not the right place to try and explain himself. It was a place to relax and enjoy the alone time he had with his step-sister. He saw her just about everyday but it just wasn't the same as having their own private room in the sky where no one could bother them. Aiden lightly squeezed her hand that held his; he wasn't okay, but he would be. By the time their feet were back on solid ground he'd be okay; for Lacey's sake he had to be.
As the ferris wheel came to an end, so did Aiden's bad mood and the step-siblings were able to enjoy the rest of their date at the pier. Why was he still calling it a date? Maybe because a normal older brother would refuse to spend so much parking money on silly arcade games to win prizes that would just sit around the house and collect dust. But for Lacey, Aiden would do anything and he continued to prove that over and over again until it was time to leave and his car was packed with enough prizes to feed a village--well, if they were edible at least.
It was a good thing they had taken his car and not the bike. Although maybe if they'd ridden the bike then Aiden wouldn't be in this predicament. He glanced in his rear view mirror at the giant teddy bear sitting in the middle of the backseat, then over at Lacey riding shotgun beside him, "You're taking that home with you tomorrow, yeah?"
He was met with a protest and spent the car ride arguing with his sister over the future of the bear that currently occupied half the space in his car. Of course Lacey won, she usually did. Or rather, Aiden usually let her. Her reactions were cute and often times he would complain or tell her she couldn't do something just to watch her try and change his mind. That was normal sibling behavior though, right? Egging the other on just because they can. Just how much longer would Aiden have to justify his actions to himself? Apparently quite a while longer as he failed to come up with an excuse for why he and Lacey shared a bed whenever she stayed over.
While Lacey showered, Aiden changed into clothes to sleep in; he didn't usually wear much to bed as he didn't like the feeling of both his clothes and blankets rubbing against his skin. It was almost claustrophobic. But as close as he was to Lacey he wasn't ready to share a bed shirtless in just his underwear, so whenever Lacey slept over he sacrificed his comfort for his sanity. He wore a loose sleeveless black muscle tank and a pair of dark gray sweats. He was in bed long before his step-sister was out of the bathroom and was just about to doze off when the mattress shifted to her weight as she climbed in beside him. He adjusted as needed while she moved closer and once again positioned his arm as she liked. It always threw him off for a second whenever she smelled like him; like when she'd wear his jacket heavily covered in cologne, or in this case how she smelled like his shampoo. But he chose those scents because he liked them, so the combination of his shampoo and his step-sister was quite comforting and Aiden was passed out in no time.
It was a good thing Lacey could wake up on her own as Aiden hadn't set any alarms and could care less if he was late to school or practice so he would have just slept till noon. He groaned in protest at Lacey's wake up method as she landed on him. He tried to roll away but her arms locked around him holding him in place. Her voice was far too loud that early in the morning but the pillows muffled his own as he tried to tell her so. Aiden refused to move for a short bit, enjoying what would likely be the best part of his day. But Lacey needed to get to her shoot and after a bit of convincing she managed to get her brother to leave his bed. After a bit more she talked him into changing out of his sweats and putting real clothes on after his quick shower.
They were back in his Hyundai not long after and zooming off to the location of today's shoot. He had a hard time letting Lacey go as they parted for the day, ever since leaving his bed that morning he'd had a sinking feeling in his stomach that something wasn't right, or wouldn't be right. Today was bad, and he chewed his lower lip in frustration that he didn't know what was bothering him. Aiden watched Lacey until she was out of sight before shifting his car back into drive and making an illegal u-turn, he didn't have class till 9am so he'd spend the next hour at the pool.
There were three places Aiden liked to be: his apartment or the music store, but most of all in the water. Be it the pool or the ocean; Aiden must've been a fish in his past life as the only time he was truly happy was when he was swimming. Well, until recently at least. It felt great right now with the entire pool to himself; free to do whatever he wanted. But he was already dreading that afternoon during practice with the rest of the team.
That afternoon came far too quickly for Aiden who got an earful from Coach Robinson right off the bat about his current performance, yesterday's fight, his dad and anything else the man could think of. The actual practice ran smoothly however. Aiden's times were significantly better and in no time the whistle was blown marking the end of practice. So much for ending on a good note though, Aiden wasn't particularly paying much attention to the edge of the pool as he swam towards the nearest ladder and as soon as his hand grasped the metal rod someone else's hand pushed down on his head, keeping him submerged just below the water's surface. He was unfortunately in the deep end of the pool and his feet were no where close to touching the floor. Under normal circumstances Aiden could tread water for a couple hours easily. But with someone pushing down on him from above, air quickly escaping his lungs and his hands frantically grabbing at his attacker, Aiden was steadily sinking little by little. The pain in his chest from trying to hold his breathe was getting unbearable. His goggles slipped off in all the commotion and just as the chlorine stung his eyes the pressure on his head released and instead his arm was grabbed and pulled out of the water.
He gasped for air as soon as he broke the surface and squinted his eyes open as best he could to see his savior, or rather, to see his attacker. Josh was squatting at the top of the ladder, smirking as he held Aiden in place, "What's wrong Aiden? Having trouble swimming?"
The other boy chuckled, "Look like you were right. Third time is the charm."
Aiden's arm was released and he slipped back into the water. He managed to latch back onto the ladder and held on for dear life as he fought to breathe in between coughing his lungs out.
This whole incident didn't go completely unnoticed, Daniel witnessed the entire thing, just being on the opposite side of the room made it hard for him to get to them in time. When he did arrive however he had a towel in hand and jumped to steady Aiden's trembling form as he climbed up the ladder and out of the water. They moved to sit on a bench and after confirming his best friend wasn't about to pass out on him, Daniel left to run around and collect their scattered belongings; including diving to the bottom of the pool to retrieve Aiden's sunken goggles.
Daniel ended up driving Aiden home in his precious Hyundai as he wouldn't let Aiden drive himself home, and Aiden refused to leave his car at the pool and take a cab. It was a nerve wracking ride for Aiden but Daniel managed to get both swimmer and car home safely. Daniel wanted to stay a while to make sure he was okay but finally compromised to leave as long as Aiden promised to call him every hour; secondary drowning was a real thing and very dangerous. Aiden only succeeded in calling after the first hour. Still shaken up over his near-drowning experience, Lacey's promise to come back over completely slipped his mind and after showering Aiden only had enough energy to change into clean briefs and climb into bed. He was out as soon as his head hit the pillow and Daniel's calls went unheard and unanswered.
Aiden wasn't usually one to dream but this time his mind took him on a whirlwind of adventures ranging from a hiking picnic with Lacey, the giant bear from the arcade destroying his apartment, placing gold at the Olympics, and then finally he was back to drowning in the pool. Lacey's touch replicated Josh pulling him out of the water and Aiden startled awake. He was breathing heavily until his eyes landed on Lacey and her instant calming effect worked its magic once again. He didn't wait for her to speak and instead grabbed her arm, gently pulling her down to lay beside him. Aiden wrapped his other arm around her; obviously forgetting the fact that he currently lacked a shirt, or pants for that matter. As his racing heart slowed he was able to focus on other things, like how Lacey's hair smelled. It wasn't his shampoo from this morning. And sure she probably showered after her shoot, but it didn't smell like her shampoo either. Deciding not to question her recent change in shampoos, Aiden dropped the subject in his head and finally spoke for the first time after waking up, "You know, I had a nightmare that bear we won came to life and made a mess of my place. I don't think it can stay here much longer, haha..." He left a moment of silence then continued with, "So how was your shoot?"
Aiden's phone went off shortly after she started to speak and at the third ring he reluctantly released his sister and sat up to reach his cellphone on the far side of the bed. He glanced at the caller-id, ready to ignore the call if it was his father. However the screen read 'Daniel' and Aiden instantly remembered how he was supposed to call his friend, oops.
"Hey. Sorry, I fell asleep." He had to move the phone away from his ear slightly as Daniel yelled at him for being so careless as to fall asleep and saying that he 'should know better'. Daniel went on to say that he shouldn't be alone right now and would come over soon, "No it's fine, Lacey's here right now."
"Make sure you tell her what happened."
"Yeah, sure."
"I'm serious Aiden. It's not sa--"
"Love you too Dan, see you tomorrow." After cutting off his friend he ended the call and glanced at his missed notifications. Eleven missed calls and five texts, all from Daniel. He smiled softly at the screen before hitting the lock button and dropping his phone back onto the mattress. Having calmed down by now from his roller coaster dreams he turned back towards Lacey, not that he could see her in the dark and especially now that his eyes were seeing a glowing spot from staring at his phone, "Are you staying the night?"
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feelsHASkilig
Solo Conversationalist
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- Page Two Hundred & Forty-Nine
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It was a relief that Aiden's bedroom was dimly lit because Lacey's face burned a bright red the second her step-brother pulled her into a tight embrace. While she was accustomed to this kind of behavior this usually consisted of Aiden wearing more clothing. She fought back the gasp that wanted to escape through her lips when the side of her cheek came in direct contact with his bare chest. One could only imagine how she would react once she finds out that he's also not wearing any pants under the covers. She managed to recover from the shock of being in the same bed as her shirtless step-brother as soon as he started to speak. His comment lightened the atmosphere a bit and resulted in Lacey giggling at the idea that the cute bear he won for her would do anything as violent. She guessed this might be one of his attempts at getting the giant stuffed animal out of his apartment. But before she could continue to ponder over this, Aiden had changed the subject and turned attention to her and her shoot earlier. Lacey lifted her head up to look at Aiden before returning to her previous position. “It was okay. Mostly a lot of waiting as usual—” She was soon interrupted Aiden's ringtone.
Waiting patiently while her step-brother talked to his best friend, Lacey sat up on the bed to fix her hood. She made sure that no strands of hair were peeking out. When she was reassured that her hair was still in hiding she turned towards Aiden to attempt to get an idea of what he and Daniel were talking about. The only clue as to what their conversation could be about was that there was something Aiden wanted to hide based on the rushed tone in his voice. Brow cocked up curiously, she inched closer as he hung up and tossed his phone onto the mattress. When he asked her if she was going to be staying over, Lacey smiled brightly then adjusted her sitting position so that she could sit cross-legged while facing him. “Mhm. I hope that's okay. I don't want to intrude if you have homework or something,” she responded, completely forgetting the fact that she had her own homeschool assignments that she still needed to work on. But Aiden didn't need to know about those in case he wanted to send her back home to get said assignments done. “Although at this point, since I have a bag packed already and I'm fully prepared with toiletries and everything, you have no choice but to be stuck with me.” With a small giggle, she crawled back to her previous position on the bed with her head resting on his chest.
Only, she wasn't in that position for long as she felt her phone vibrate in the pocket of her jacket. She let out a complaining groan as she pushed up into a sitting position again to grab her phone. At first she thought it was her mother checking in on her and was about to let it go to voicemail so that she could send a quick text message later. But when she noticed that it was Daniel's name on the caller ID, she answered after the third ring. The second she answered the call, the male on the other end wasted no time in formalities as he went straight into the most terrifying explanation Lacey had ever heard. Daniel didn't skimp on the details as he explained about Aiden's near-drowning experience during practice earlier—though Lacey did notice as he blatantly ignored answering how Aiden ended up drowning in the first place. Before he hung up and mentioned something about a study date, he gave her strict orders to watch him closely in case something were to happen. When she locked her phone and dropped it right beside Aiden's, Lacey flashed her step-brother a very serious glare. “How can you not tell me that you almost drowned earlier? Here you were busy asking about my day and if I'll be spending the night when you should have told me off the bat. We should go to the hospital to make sure you're okay or something. Should I call Mom to drive us there?” At this point Lacey was in a nervous state of worry over Aiden's well-being that it took the male quite a long time to calm her down long enough to prove that he was perfectly fine.
After being fully calmed down and Aiden deciding to put on some clothes, Lacey was given the responsibility of choosing an activity they should do. It was a Friday night and still pretty early. Since both step-siblings had taken their respected naps, the idea of turning in early was out of the question. Which left plenty of opportunities for them to go out and have a little weekend fun. Except that a part of Lacey really did not like the idea of going out, especially with the monstrosity that was her current hair style. But even she knew that it wasn't very like her if she suggested that they stay at home on a Friday night. No matter how tempting it was to just have a movie night with Aiden and cuddle with him the entire night, she was known to want to go out when it wasn't required for her to go to bed early; although she technically needed to as she had a photoshoot tomorrow morning. Beside the point, after some pondering over, Lacey finally decided on glow in the dark mini golf. It was a great idea. Not only was it going to be dark enough that no one would notice her hair, but she hadn't gone mini golfing since she moved out of hometown in Colby.
And so, glow in the dark mini golf it was. Lacey's excitement level hiked exponentially at yet another night out with Aiden. She hoped that this night would be without drama from those in his swim team. She figured that to keep such an event from occurring again she should keep their whereabouts on the down low until someone—preferably not Nicole—asked for it. Before they could leave on their adventure though, Lacey needed to take care of one small thing. “Aiden! Can I please borrow one of your beanies?” she asked innocently. She could tell that this question was somewhat strange to her step-brother, though she could not see why considering she always borrowed his clothes; sometimes without asking. “It's cold outside,” she soon added, as if that was going to argue her case. In the end, she got permission to borrow one of Aiden's beanies and after picking a basic one she rushed into the bathroom to put it on.
“I'm ready to go!” she exclaimed when she reemerged from the bathroom with Aiden's beanie on under her hood. She made sure that not a single strand of hair was visible now that the lights in Aiden's room were on and they were going to walk down the brightly lit hallway to the garage. “Are you sure you're okay to drive the both of us? What if you suddenly get super dizzy from focusing on the road for so long? Maybe I should take over the wheel for toni—“ Lacey's suggestion was obviously shot down before she could even finish her sentence. Not that she was completely upset about it. Giggling at yet another failed attempt, Lacey followed behind Aiden out of his apartment and into the hallway. “Okay, fine. No to the car. What about the bike then?” she added as he locked the door. By bike, she was referencing his Hyosung motocycle which was probably as precious and valuable as his Hyundai. So the answer to that question is just as obvious as the previous one; not that Lacey was even remotely serious in the first place. It was starting to easily show how eager Lacey was in regards to learning how to drive.
Just as expected, Aiden proved that he was perfectly capable of driving his car safely. During the entire drive though, Lacey kept conversation revolving around Aiden's upcoming swim meet and her scheduled photo shoots and other related events so as to prevent having to talk about why she was wearing a beanie and a hood. Her scheme worked because when they arrived at their destination, not once was her strange choice of attire mentioned. Just like the previous night, she was excited to be out with Aiden. In fact, she was so excited that she went so far as to drag him to the entrance. Once they were inside and paid the entrance fee plus the extra for the golf club and balls, Lacey led the way to the first station with her free hand holding Aiden's. Just as she had hoped, the place was definitely dimly lit save for everything that was glowing in the dark. It made her relieved at the idea that no one would know about her badly colored hair style.
The step-siblings had no trouble killing a lot of time while playing glow in the dark mini golf. This mainly was because Lacey was revealed to be a rather bad golfer. Even as the easiest path, it took Lacey more than ten minutes to get her pink golf ball into the hole to move on. When they reached the second path, it took even longer. And the pattern continued to the third. By the time they got to the fourth path, Lacey had gone back and forth trying to get her ball into the hole that she couldn't even find the fun in this anymore. “Aiden! Help me!” she called out with a pout in his direction. And just like the awesome step-brother that he is, Aiden managed to hit the ball into the hole in a shorter time than when she did it on her own. This continued for the rest of the time they were until they reached the very end. By the time they finished it was already getting pretty late and Lacey needed to wake up early tomorrow morning.
Like all other mornings in Aiden's apartment, Lacey was the one that woke up first. And considering it was a Saturday morning and Aiden had no responsibility of driving her to her photoshoot that morning, she expected that her step-brother would be asleep longer than usual and would probably not be awake by the time her mother came to pick her up. When she became fully conscious of her surroundings, Lacey lifted her head up slightly off of Aiden's pillow to grab her phone and check the time. It was a quarter to six, which meant that she only had half an hour to take a quick shower and change before her mother arrived. She did just that in less than twenty since she didn't need to wash her hair. When she walked out of Aiden's bathroom dressed in a white v-neck and a pair of jeans with her hair up in a messy bun, she didn't expect to find Aiden awake and staring at her hair. Eyes wide, Lacey unknowingly took a step back and hit her foot on the closed door. “Ow—Aiden! Good morning. What are you doing up so early on a Saturday...” she said somewhat nervously as she noticed him looking at her hair. She was so embarrassed that she got caught that her face turned as pink as her hair. As she felt more ashamed and self-conscious about her hair, she dove for the beanie she wore last night and tossed it over her bun so that it was covering as much as possible.“It's for the photoshoot and launch party I'm doing this weekend. I can't believe I was signed up to do something like this. I hate what they did to my hair,” she whined as she choked back the tears she had been holding in since last night. Before she could stop herself, Lacey had climbed back under the covers with Aiden and buried her face into his shirt. “This is so embarrassing!” she cried out, her words muffled by his shirt.
Lacey finally released herself from Aiden when she heard her phone ringing and saw that it was her mother. After being informed that the older woman was currently outside the apartment building, Lacey grabbed her bags off the floor, slipped into her flats and walked towards the apartment door with Aiden. “Don't worry, I'll grab something to eat with Mom before heading to the shoot,” she said once she opened the door. After giving Aiden a tight hug and promising that she'll call him as soon as the photoshoot was over, Lacey exited the apartment to meet up with her mother outside. In her mother's car, she was immediately asked if she ate something for breakfast. There was a small pause while she put on her seat belt, but she made sure not to let the pause go on for longer as she flashed her more innocent smile and responded with, “Yeah. I had a bagel with some cream cheese after getting ready.”
After the last weekend where she was forced to smile and be happy about her horrible hair style, Lacey was relieved to finally be back to her original hair color. Aiden surprised her the day after the launch party by dragging her all the way to the salon to pay to have the damage fixed. Unfortunately, after that day, Lacey was unable to show how appreciative she was of her step-brother's act of kindness. With his swim meet the following weekend, Lacey was under strict orders by her step-father to stay as far away from Aiden all week so that he could prepare to win. According to her step-father, Aiden didn't need any “pointless distractions” that could destroy his concentration. When she received this demand, Lacey felt as if she was being blamed for her step-brother's poor performances at swim practice recently. So to keep her step-father happy, she obliged even if she ended up missing Aiden only hours after she was forced to stay at home. The only times she was even remotely allowed to talk to him they were through secret phone calls in her bedroom when she knew that no one would hear her.
If being unable to see and openly talk to Aiden wasn't bad enough, Lacey found out that she would not even be able to attend his swim meet due to a scheduled photo shoot. One could only imagine how furious she was when she heard this news from her mother after distinctly making strict demands to not give her a schedule on the day of Aiden's meet. But, apparently, her agent had completely forgotten about that request and so she was scheduled to have a swimsuit photo shoot at one of the beaches hours away from where the meet was to take place. Naturally, on the day of Aiden's meet and Lacey's photo shoot, she was acting like a bratty teenager. The entire drive to the location involved silent treatments, exasperated sighs, and glaring out the window while her mother attempted to cheer her up. When she arrived on the set she was still in a fowl mood, but she hid it well behind one of her generic smiles.
Like all other shoots, time was not on Lacey's side. Between spending much longer than she should have in hair and make-up and then having to wait for hours for her turn, Lacey's mood was only growing worse. She couldn't even get in contact with Aiden. Her phone calls either all went straight to voicemail and her text messages all went unanswered. By the time it was afternoon and close to her turn to model, Lacey had given up getting in contact with her step-brother and begrudgingly concluded that she would have to talk to him after they were both finished with their important schedules. This meant that the rest of the day after she finished shooting her photos was rather uneventful. Most of the time left until she was free to go was spent having small talk with some of the models that she was associated with. Time was moving slower than she would have liked.
The highlight of that Saturday afternoon, she thought, would definitely have to be when Aiden would pick her up from her shoot. They had talked about heading to the beach for the rest of the day before going back to his apartment. And since Aiden's meet would have finished before she was done at her shoot, she wouldn't have to wait long for him to pick her up. So as she finished collecting her bags and saying a few goodbyes to some of the other models, Lacey rushed off to the exit. When she was outside, she found a familiar car...but it wasn't Aiden's. “Dan, what are you doing here? Where's Aiden?” Lacey asked as soon as she walked over to Daniel's car. Daniel had been standing beside his car waiting for her. From the exhaustion on his face, Lacey had this strange feeling that something was wrong. The male in front of her had a hard time finding the right words to say and so the both of them stood there for a long pause. “Dan, seriously, what is going on? I thought Aiden was supposed to be the one picking me u—“ “He was in an accident,” Daniel interrupted abruptly, though after he realized what he had said his facial expression read regret. Lacey's eyes widened in fear. So many worse case scenarios ran rapidly through her brain at this very statement as well as questions. “What do you mean accident? What happened to Aiden? Is he going to be alright? Where's my mom? His dad? Dan, what's going on?!” Daniel had to spend a few minutes calming Lacey down before he finally led her into his car with the reassurance that he would explain everything on the way back to the city.
With Lacey's demand that she see Aiden at once, Daniel managed to drive the both of them in less time than the expected two hours. As soon as Daniel parked his car in the parking lot of the hospital, he took Lacey's hand and led her to the ward where Aiden was taken. Waiting outside in the hall was her mother. She noticed almost instantly that the woman was sitting by herself with absolutely no sign of her step-father anywhere. She didn't even hear his booming voice yelling at some doctor or nurse. When she got closer to her mother, the woman took notice of her presence and immediately tried her best to steer the younger female away from the open door leading to Aiden's room. But Lacey wasn't going to give in so easily. She fought back and protested against being unable to see her step-brother. She was about to scream and yell when she managed to wiggle out of her mother's grasp and ran into the room. With no hesitation, she ran over to Aiden's bedside and asked her mother about whether he was going to be okay. She was caught up on the situation; that Aiden had obtained serious injuries in his shoulder and arm that would disable him from continuing with swimming. “Has he woken up yet?” she asked, to which she was given the answer that he hadn't.
After some minutes of simply sitting at his bedside, Lacey's mother coaxed her into the idea of getting food so that she could eat something. Lacey automatically shook her had at this and protested that she wasn't hungry. Even if she was, she couldn't get herself to leave Aiden's side since he hadn't woken up yet. Luckily for her, Daniel had insisted that he would get some snacks for them in the cafeteria.
Lacey remained in the same place for a little more than an hour until finally Aiden stirred and started to wake up. “Aiden! I'm so glad you're awake!” she sighed out in relief. Even though she was happy to see that he was finally conscious, that didn't stop how incredibly worried she was about him. “Are you feeling okay? Are you comfortable? Do you need me to get anything for you?” Before Aiden could answer any of her questions, a doctor came into the room and instructed that Lacey take a step back so that he could examine Aiden. Although she wanted to protest against this so that she could stay right beside him, Lacey bit her tongue and went to stand beside her mother while keeping her worried expression on her face. She watched nervously as the doctor caught Aiden up on everything that happened. It was painful to have to hear the entire story all over again. As a frown deepened on her face listening to the doctor, Lacey wanted badly to push the man away from Aiden; to protect him from all the things that were being said. She couldn't believe how unsympathetic this doctor was. Aiden was finding out that he was injured to the point that he can't swim professionally anymore. How could the doctor just drop the bomb on him all at once?
As soon as the doctor excused himself and exited the room, Lacey went right back to her place at his bedside. She had absolutely no words to say to him right now. It would be stupid of her to ask if he was okay because she knew that he probably wasn't. No one would be okay after all that. She opened her mouth in an attempt to say something, but when no words popped into her head she closed her mouth and just sat there silently. “Is there...um...do you need anything?” she asked nervously. Of all the things that she could have expected him to respond with, asking to be left alone wasn't one of them. Her head bolted to look at him with worried eyes. The feeling in her chest from being told that he wanted to be left alone felt as if someone had tightly squeezed her heart. “Aiden...” she said hesitantly as she reached forward to grab his good hand. She did not want to leave him; not after the entire week of being without him and having to sneak in phone calls just to hear his voice. But Aiden was persistent in his request to be alone. This only made the pain in her chest worsen to the point her eyes started to water.
Lacey finally agreed to leave when Daniel chimed in and told her that they should go get some coffee. When she looked away from her step-brother to his best friend, she realized that her mother had long left and that it was only the three of them in the room. She returned her gaze towards Aiden, prepared to force him to let her stay with him. But the look on his face stopped her. Reluctantly, Lacey removed her hand from his and stood up to stand beside Daniel. “I'll be back later...” she muttered then followed behind Daniel out of the room.
Daniel had taken Lacey to a coffee shop a few minutes away from the hospital by car. He reasoned that it would be best if she and Aiden were far away from each other for now. When she protested against this, he reassured her that there are plenty of nurses that will take good care of him and that he will be fine when she goes back. This didn't help to cheer her up, but she didn't want to trouble Daniel more than she already had. “Lacey, you haven't touched your tea. It's starting to get cold,” Daniel said from across the small, round table. Lacey looked up at Daniel with a confused expression then turned her gaze down towards her full mug of tea. They had been sitting at this coffee shop for half an hour now, and not once did she stop thinking about her step-brother. Daniel continued to reassure her that Aiden was going to be fine and that she should stop worrying and he kept at this for another fifteen-some minutes. When it appeared as if his efforts weren't working, the male suggested that they go out for a little walk to get some fresh air. Lacey agreed. They walked down the street for some time in silence with the occasional small talk from Daniel. But no matter how long they walked, Lacey couldn't stop thinking about Aiden. Between her initial thoughts that she had lost her step-brother to having his request that she leave him alone ring loudly in her ears, her mental and emotional state was nowhere near stable. By the time they returned back to his car, Daniel had noticed this.
“Hey,” he said as he placed a hand on her arm. “Stop worrying. Aiden's going to be just fine. If you keep scowling like that, you're going to get pre-mature wrinkles. And those can't look good on pictures.” For the first time that day, Lacey genuinely smiled and laughed. In the midst of her giggling, Daniel had taken both of her hands and pulled her into a warm embrace. Right after, Daniel pulled his head back a bit so that he could lean forward and press his lips to her forehead. She could have sworn that she felt her heart actually skip a beat at this gesture. Maybe it was because he had the faint smell of chlorine on his skin, or because his hug was so reassuring, but Lacey was happy with this. Finally, her head seemed to have cleared long enough to enjoy this moment as she wrapped her own arms around him.
Waiting patiently while her step-brother talked to his best friend, Lacey sat up on the bed to fix her hood. She made sure that no strands of hair were peeking out. When she was reassured that her hair was still in hiding she turned towards Aiden to attempt to get an idea of what he and Daniel were talking about. The only clue as to what their conversation could be about was that there was something Aiden wanted to hide based on the rushed tone in his voice. Brow cocked up curiously, she inched closer as he hung up and tossed his phone onto the mattress. When he asked her if she was going to be staying over, Lacey smiled brightly then adjusted her sitting position so that she could sit cross-legged while facing him. “Mhm. I hope that's okay. I don't want to intrude if you have homework or something,” she responded, completely forgetting the fact that she had her own homeschool assignments that she still needed to work on. But Aiden didn't need to know about those in case he wanted to send her back home to get said assignments done. “Although at this point, since I have a bag packed already and I'm fully prepared with toiletries and everything, you have no choice but to be stuck with me.” With a small giggle, she crawled back to her previous position on the bed with her head resting on his chest.
Only, she wasn't in that position for long as she felt her phone vibrate in the pocket of her jacket. She let out a complaining groan as she pushed up into a sitting position again to grab her phone. At first she thought it was her mother checking in on her and was about to let it go to voicemail so that she could send a quick text message later. But when she noticed that it was Daniel's name on the caller ID, she answered after the third ring. The second she answered the call, the male on the other end wasted no time in formalities as he went straight into the most terrifying explanation Lacey had ever heard. Daniel didn't skimp on the details as he explained about Aiden's near-drowning experience during practice earlier—though Lacey did notice as he blatantly ignored answering how Aiden ended up drowning in the first place. Before he hung up and mentioned something about a study date, he gave her strict orders to watch him closely in case something were to happen. When she locked her phone and dropped it right beside Aiden's, Lacey flashed her step-brother a very serious glare. “How can you not tell me that you almost drowned earlier? Here you were busy asking about my day and if I'll be spending the night when you should have told me off the bat. We should go to the hospital to make sure you're okay or something. Should I call Mom to drive us there?” At this point Lacey was in a nervous state of worry over Aiden's well-being that it took the male quite a long time to calm her down long enough to prove that he was perfectly fine.
After being fully calmed down and Aiden deciding to put on some clothes, Lacey was given the responsibility of choosing an activity they should do. It was a Friday night and still pretty early. Since both step-siblings had taken their respected naps, the idea of turning in early was out of the question. Which left plenty of opportunities for them to go out and have a little weekend fun. Except that a part of Lacey really did not like the idea of going out, especially with the monstrosity that was her current hair style. But even she knew that it wasn't very like her if she suggested that they stay at home on a Friday night. No matter how tempting it was to just have a movie night with Aiden and cuddle with him the entire night, she was known to want to go out when it wasn't required for her to go to bed early; although she technically needed to as she had a photoshoot tomorrow morning. Beside the point, after some pondering over, Lacey finally decided on glow in the dark mini golf. It was a great idea. Not only was it going to be dark enough that no one would notice her hair, but she hadn't gone mini golfing since she moved out of hometown in Colby.
And so, glow in the dark mini golf it was. Lacey's excitement level hiked exponentially at yet another night out with Aiden. She hoped that this night would be without drama from those in his swim team. She figured that to keep such an event from occurring again she should keep their whereabouts on the down low until someone—preferably not Nicole—asked for it. Before they could leave on their adventure though, Lacey needed to take care of one small thing. “Aiden! Can I please borrow one of your beanies?” she asked innocently. She could tell that this question was somewhat strange to her step-brother, though she could not see why considering she always borrowed his clothes; sometimes without asking. “It's cold outside,” she soon added, as if that was going to argue her case. In the end, she got permission to borrow one of Aiden's beanies and after picking a basic one she rushed into the bathroom to put it on.
“I'm ready to go!” she exclaimed when she reemerged from the bathroom with Aiden's beanie on under her hood. She made sure that not a single strand of hair was visible now that the lights in Aiden's room were on and they were going to walk down the brightly lit hallway to the garage. “Are you sure you're okay to drive the both of us? What if you suddenly get super dizzy from focusing on the road for so long? Maybe I should take over the wheel for toni—“ Lacey's suggestion was obviously shot down before she could even finish her sentence. Not that she was completely upset about it. Giggling at yet another failed attempt, Lacey followed behind Aiden out of his apartment and into the hallway. “Okay, fine. No to the car. What about the bike then?” she added as he locked the door. By bike, she was referencing his Hyosung motocycle which was probably as precious and valuable as his Hyundai. So the answer to that question is just as obvious as the previous one; not that Lacey was even remotely serious in the first place. It was starting to easily show how eager Lacey was in regards to learning how to drive.
Just as expected, Aiden proved that he was perfectly capable of driving his car safely. During the entire drive though, Lacey kept conversation revolving around Aiden's upcoming swim meet and her scheduled photo shoots and other related events so as to prevent having to talk about why she was wearing a beanie and a hood. Her scheme worked because when they arrived at their destination, not once was her strange choice of attire mentioned. Just like the previous night, she was excited to be out with Aiden. In fact, she was so excited that she went so far as to drag him to the entrance. Once they were inside and paid the entrance fee plus the extra for the golf club and balls, Lacey led the way to the first station with her free hand holding Aiden's. Just as she had hoped, the place was definitely dimly lit save for everything that was glowing in the dark. It made her relieved at the idea that no one would know about her badly colored hair style.
The step-siblings had no trouble killing a lot of time while playing glow in the dark mini golf. This mainly was because Lacey was revealed to be a rather bad golfer. Even as the easiest path, it took Lacey more than ten minutes to get her pink golf ball into the hole to move on. When they reached the second path, it took even longer. And the pattern continued to the third. By the time they got to the fourth path, Lacey had gone back and forth trying to get her ball into the hole that she couldn't even find the fun in this anymore. “Aiden! Help me!” she called out with a pout in his direction. And just like the awesome step-brother that he is, Aiden managed to hit the ball into the hole in a shorter time than when she did it on her own. This continued for the rest of the time they were until they reached the very end. By the time they finished it was already getting pretty late and Lacey needed to wake up early tomorrow morning.
Like all other mornings in Aiden's apartment, Lacey was the one that woke up first. And considering it was a Saturday morning and Aiden had no responsibility of driving her to her photoshoot that morning, she expected that her step-brother would be asleep longer than usual and would probably not be awake by the time her mother came to pick her up. When she became fully conscious of her surroundings, Lacey lifted her head up slightly off of Aiden's pillow to grab her phone and check the time. It was a quarter to six, which meant that she only had half an hour to take a quick shower and change before her mother arrived. She did just that in less than twenty since she didn't need to wash her hair. When she walked out of Aiden's bathroom dressed in a white v-neck and a pair of jeans with her hair up in a messy bun, she didn't expect to find Aiden awake and staring at her hair. Eyes wide, Lacey unknowingly took a step back and hit her foot on the closed door. “Ow—Aiden! Good morning. What are you doing up so early on a Saturday...” she said somewhat nervously as she noticed him looking at her hair. She was so embarrassed that she got caught that her face turned as pink as her hair. As she felt more ashamed and self-conscious about her hair, she dove for the beanie she wore last night and tossed it over her bun so that it was covering as much as possible.“It's for the photoshoot and launch party I'm doing this weekend. I can't believe I was signed up to do something like this. I hate what they did to my hair,” she whined as she choked back the tears she had been holding in since last night. Before she could stop herself, Lacey had climbed back under the covers with Aiden and buried her face into his shirt. “This is so embarrassing!” she cried out, her words muffled by his shirt.
Lacey finally released herself from Aiden when she heard her phone ringing and saw that it was her mother. After being informed that the older woman was currently outside the apartment building, Lacey grabbed her bags off the floor, slipped into her flats and walked towards the apartment door with Aiden. “Don't worry, I'll grab something to eat with Mom before heading to the shoot,” she said once she opened the door. After giving Aiden a tight hug and promising that she'll call him as soon as the photoshoot was over, Lacey exited the apartment to meet up with her mother outside. In her mother's car, she was immediately asked if she ate something for breakfast. There was a small pause while she put on her seat belt, but she made sure not to let the pause go on for longer as she flashed her more innocent smile and responded with, “Yeah. I had a bagel with some cream cheese after getting ready.”
---
After the last weekend where she was forced to smile and be happy about her horrible hair style, Lacey was relieved to finally be back to her original hair color. Aiden surprised her the day after the launch party by dragging her all the way to the salon to pay to have the damage fixed. Unfortunately, after that day, Lacey was unable to show how appreciative she was of her step-brother's act of kindness. With his swim meet the following weekend, Lacey was under strict orders by her step-father to stay as far away from Aiden all week so that he could prepare to win. According to her step-father, Aiden didn't need any “pointless distractions” that could destroy his concentration. When she received this demand, Lacey felt as if she was being blamed for her step-brother's poor performances at swim practice recently. So to keep her step-father happy, she obliged even if she ended up missing Aiden only hours after she was forced to stay at home. The only times she was even remotely allowed to talk to him they were through secret phone calls in her bedroom when she knew that no one would hear her.
If being unable to see and openly talk to Aiden wasn't bad enough, Lacey found out that she would not even be able to attend his swim meet due to a scheduled photo shoot. One could only imagine how furious she was when she heard this news from her mother after distinctly making strict demands to not give her a schedule on the day of Aiden's meet. But, apparently, her agent had completely forgotten about that request and so she was scheduled to have a swimsuit photo shoot at one of the beaches hours away from where the meet was to take place. Naturally, on the day of Aiden's meet and Lacey's photo shoot, she was acting like a bratty teenager. The entire drive to the location involved silent treatments, exasperated sighs, and glaring out the window while her mother attempted to cheer her up. When she arrived on the set she was still in a fowl mood, but she hid it well behind one of her generic smiles.
Like all other shoots, time was not on Lacey's side. Between spending much longer than she should have in hair and make-up and then having to wait for hours for her turn, Lacey's mood was only growing worse. She couldn't even get in contact with Aiden. Her phone calls either all went straight to voicemail and her text messages all went unanswered. By the time it was afternoon and close to her turn to model, Lacey had given up getting in contact with her step-brother and begrudgingly concluded that she would have to talk to him after they were both finished with their important schedules. This meant that the rest of the day after she finished shooting her photos was rather uneventful. Most of the time left until she was free to go was spent having small talk with some of the models that she was associated with. Time was moving slower than she would have liked.
The highlight of that Saturday afternoon, she thought, would definitely have to be when Aiden would pick her up from her shoot. They had talked about heading to the beach for the rest of the day before going back to his apartment. And since Aiden's meet would have finished before she was done at her shoot, she wouldn't have to wait long for him to pick her up. So as she finished collecting her bags and saying a few goodbyes to some of the other models, Lacey rushed off to the exit. When she was outside, she found a familiar car...but it wasn't Aiden's. “Dan, what are you doing here? Where's Aiden?” Lacey asked as soon as she walked over to Daniel's car. Daniel had been standing beside his car waiting for her. From the exhaustion on his face, Lacey had this strange feeling that something was wrong. The male in front of her had a hard time finding the right words to say and so the both of them stood there for a long pause. “Dan, seriously, what is going on? I thought Aiden was supposed to be the one picking me u—“ “He was in an accident,” Daniel interrupted abruptly, though after he realized what he had said his facial expression read regret. Lacey's eyes widened in fear. So many worse case scenarios ran rapidly through her brain at this very statement as well as questions. “What do you mean accident? What happened to Aiden? Is he going to be alright? Where's my mom? His dad? Dan, what's going on?!” Daniel had to spend a few minutes calming Lacey down before he finally led her into his car with the reassurance that he would explain everything on the way back to the city.
With Lacey's demand that she see Aiden at once, Daniel managed to drive the both of them in less time than the expected two hours. As soon as Daniel parked his car in the parking lot of the hospital, he took Lacey's hand and led her to the ward where Aiden was taken. Waiting outside in the hall was her mother. She noticed almost instantly that the woman was sitting by herself with absolutely no sign of her step-father anywhere. She didn't even hear his booming voice yelling at some doctor or nurse. When she got closer to her mother, the woman took notice of her presence and immediately tried her best to steer the younger female away from the open door leading to Aiden's room. But Lacey wasn't going to give in so easily. She fought back and protested against being unable to see her step-brother. She was about to scream and yell when she managed to wiggle out of her mother's grasp and ran into the room. With no hesitation, she ran over to Aiden's bedside and asked her mother about whether he was going to be okay. She was caught up on the situation; that Aiden had obtained serious injuries in his shoulder and arm that would disable him from continuing with swimming. “Has he woken up yet?” she asked, to which she was given the answer that he hadn't.
After some minutes of simply sitting at his bedside, Lacey's mother coaxed her into the idea of getting food so that she could eat something. Lacey automatically shook her had at this and protested that she wasn't hungry. Even if she was, she couldn't get herself to leave Aiden's side since he hadn't woken up yet. Luckily for her, Daniel had insisted that he would get some snacks for them in the cafeteria.
Lacey remained in the same place for a little more than an hour until finally Aiden stirred and started to wake up. “Aiden! I'm so glad you're awake!” she sighed out in relief. Even though she was happy to see that he was finally conscious, that didn't stop how incredibly worried she was about him. “Are you feeling okay? Are you comfortable? Do you need me to get anything for you?” Before Aiden could answer any of her questions, a doctor came into the room and instructed that Lacey take a step back so that he could examine Aiden. Although she wanted to protest against this so that she could stay right beside him, Lacey bit her tongue and went to stand beside her mother while keeping her worried expression on her face. She watched nervously as the doctor caught Aiden up on everything that happened. It was painful to have to hear the entire story all over again. As a frown deepened on her face listening to the doctor, Lacey wanted badly to push the man away from Aiden; to protect him from all the things that were being said. She couldn't believe how unsympathetic this doctor was. Aiden was finding out that he was injured to the point that he can't swim professionally anymore. How could the doctor just drop the bomb on him all at once?
As soon as the doctor excused himself and exited the room, Lacey went right back to her place at his bedside. She had absolutely no words to say to him right now. It would be stupid of her to ask if he was okay because she knew that he probably wasn't. No one would be okay after all that. She opened her mouth in an attempt to say something, but when no words popped into her head she closed her mouth and just sat there silently. “Is there...um...do you need anything?” she asked nervously. Of all the things that she could have expected him to respond with, asking to be left alone wasn't one of them. Her head bolted to look at him with worried eyes. The feeling in her chest from being told that he wanted to be left alone felt as if someone had tightly squeezed her heart. “Aiden...” she said hesitantly as she reached forward to grab his good hand. She did not want to leave him; not after the entire week of being without him and having to sneak in phone calls just to hear his voice. But Aiden was persistent in his request to be alone. This only made the pain in her chest worsen to the point her eyes started to water.
Lacey finally agreed to leave when Daniel chimed in and told her that they should go get some coffee. When she looked away from her step-brother to his best friend, she realized that her mother had long left and that it was only the three of them in the room. She returned her gaze towards Aiden, prepared to force him to let her stay with him. But the look on his face stopped her. Reluctantly, Lacey removed her hand from his and stood up to stand beside Daniel. “I'll be back later...” she muttered then followed behind Daniel out of the room.
Daniel had taken Lacey to a coffee shop a few minutes away from the hospital by car. He reasoned that it would be best if she and Aiden were far away from each other for now. When she protested against this, he reassured her that there are plenty of nurses that will take good care of him and that he will be fine when she goes back. This didn't help to cheer her up, but she didn't want to trouble Daniel more than she already had. “Lacey, you haven't touched your tea. It's starting to get cold,” Daniel said from across the small, round table. Lacey looked up at Daniel with a confused expression then turned her gaze down towards her full mug of tea. They had been sitting at this coffee shop for half an hour now, and not once did she stop thinking about her step-brother. Daniel continued to reassure her that Aiden was going to be fine and that she should stop worrying and he kept at this for another fifteen-some minutes. When it appeared as if his efforts weren't working, the male suggested that they go out for a little walk to get some fresh air. Lacey agreed. They walked down the street for some time in silence with the occasional small talk from Daniel. But no matter how long they walked, Lacey couldn't stop thinking about Aiden. Between her initial thoughts that she had lost her step-brother to having his request that she leave him alone ring loudly in her ears, her mental and emotional state was nowhere near stable. By the time they returned back to his car, Daniel had noticed this.
“Hey,” he said as he placed a hand on her arm. “Stop worrying. Aiden's going to be just fine. If you keep scowling like that, you're going to get pre-mature wrinkles. And those can't look good on pictures.” For the first time that day, Lacey genuinely smiled and laughed. In the midst of her giggling, Daniel had taken both of her hands and pulled her into a warm embrace. Right after, Daniel pulled his head back a bit so that he could lean forward and press his lips to her forehead. She could have sworn that she felt her heart actually skip a beat at this gesture. Maybe it was because he had the faint smell of chlorine on his skin, or because his hug was so reassuring, but Lacey was happy with this. Finally, her head seemed to have cleared long enough to enjoy this moment as she wrapped her own arms around him.
OP
OP
JINFINITE
Super-Earth
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- The Island of Eroda
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It seemed that sleep and Aiden's mind weren't on his side as they teamed up against him for the second time that night. After their mini golf outing, he and Lacey had crawled into bed together and Aiden had fallen asleep almost immediately with his arms wrapped around her. It was then that the nightmares returned again. He was in the ocean now, just swimming around having fun until it dawned on him that Lacey wasn't with him. He finally spotted her on the beach but she was walking away towards a parked car. Aiden tried to yell out to her to wait but all he got was a mouthful of saltwater. He swam, and swam, as hard and as fast as he could but he never got close enough for Lacey to hear him. He was drowning now; exhausted from swimming and getting nowhere close to catching up with Lacey. As he finally slipped completely underwater Aiden woke up, his eyes flashing open to see the space where Lacey had been was empty. He sat up in a panic, glancing around the room frantically until his ears finally tuned into the sound of the shower and he was able to breathe knowing Lacey was just in the other room.
Normally Aiden would just go back to sleep as this was far too early for him to be functional on a weekend, but for whatever reason today he didn't and sat up in bed to wait for Lacey to finish up and rejoin him. The bathroom door finally opened and out walked....some girl with pink hair. Oh wait, that was his sister. She fumbled with an explanation and while he was plenty shocked with her hair, he couldn't help but laugh inside at her embarrassment; it was kinda cute to watch. At last she was back in bed with him and a slightly amused smile broke across his face as he wrapped his arms around her to try and comfort her during this obviously traumatic point in her life. Everything made sense now, the beanie, the hoodie, and insisting on keeping the lights off in the name of energy conservation. Their cuddle session was cut short by the arrival of his step mother to pick Lacey up. Aiden walked her to the door and said his goodbyes making a mental note to call a salon once they opened to schedule an appointment immediately
Sitting in a hair salon can be extremely boring for the clients and in this case, waiting family members such as Aiden. It was a small, rather high end salon,only the best for his baby sister, so the waiting area was quite close to the chairs and the step siblings could clearly see one another. It was still far enough however that it would be awkward for them to have a conversation across the room. So Aiden was alternating between watching Lacey's hair return to normal and working on his homework. Yes, he'd brought his homework. Because in order to keep all of his swim scholarships he had to maintain his grades, and right now they were sinking along with him and his swim performance. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep though, with his pen still in hand:
Aiden and Lacey were at a beach playing in the surf. A sand castle they had built earlier was still standing strong against the waves. It wasn't often they went to the beach as it was quite a drive that neither of them had the time to fit into their schedules.
"Ah! No wait!" Aiden turned to see that the wind had blown Lacey's sun hat off and the current was quick to sweep it out of reach and out to sea.
"Stay here, I'll get it." With the tide coming in the waves had picked up and Lacey was quick to protest, saying to just let it go, that it was too dangerous. But for once Aiden chose not to listen to his little sister and continued to wade out into the water until it was deep enough to swim. It didn't feel like it took long for him to catch up to the hat but when he grabbed it and turned around to wave back to Lacey on the beach he saw just how far he had actually gone. That wasn't all he saw though. He saw Lacey's back as she was walking away. So naturally he called out for her to stop but as he did a particularly large wave crashed over him pushing his head underwater. When he resurfaced, Lacey was gone. In fact the entire beach was. He was in the swimming pool now at the end of a lane. The crowd was in an uproar and when Aiden looked up to the timeboard he saw why, his name was in second place and only off by milliseconds. He could hear his name being called and spun around to try and find where it was coming from. It was a female voice and it sounded very familiar.
Finally the sound of Lacey's voice broke through the chatter of the crowd and Aiden's eyes snapped open to see his step sister bent down to his eye level as she tried to wake him. The pen fell from his hand and dropped to the floor. She giggled at the clumsy action but Aiden's mind was still processing that he was awake. Lacey retrieved the pen for him as he sat up properly in the chair and finally took notice that her hair was back to normal.
"Are you ready to go?"
It was obvious that she was, he was the one with his belongings scattered around him. Lacey stood by as he shoved everything into his backpack and went to pay for her color correction service. They only had about an hour together after that before their busy schedules forced them apart for the rest of the week.
Don't bother asking Aiden what he did every day of that week because his schedule never changed. Wake up, morning training, practice, class, practice, a few hours off and then more practice late into the night, try to sleep and then repeat. Keyword: "try" to sleep. You would think that with such a grueling schedule he would be exhausted and fall asleep right away. He was, and he did. The trouble was staying asleep. His mind took him to hell and back multiple times a night with nightmares ranging from the repeat drowning one to losing Lacey. His mother even slipped in sometimes, not that he could even remember her face.
In the beginning he tried to sneak in texts and late night calls to Lacey, but as the week progressed he replied less and less and would just listen to his phone ring until it went to voicemail. It was no fault of Lacey's; it never was. It was just one of his most stressful weeks ever and not even talking to her could help. Or maybe it could have if he'd ever answered his phone.
After two days he stopped going to class and spent those hours either catching up on lost sleep or at the pool with his coach for additional training; not by his choice. Coach Robinson had spun some story about "getting the upper hand" to his father which then resulted in private practice being enforced. Aiden dreaded practice everytime he pulled into the pool's parking lot. Gone were any feelings of weightless joy when he glided across the water, now all he felt was hate towards anyone involved in his swimming, and his beyond sore muscles.
By Thursday Daniel was driving him everywhere; neither of the boys trusted Aiden behind the wheel, not when he was napping practically everytime he sat down. Aiden didn't sleep at night anymore. He tried every night but sleep never came; hence his naps throughout the day. By this point his phone had died from lack of charging. Text messages were unopened and voicemails unheard. It didn't become a problem for Aiden though as he was only either at the pool, his apartment or in Dan's car. Lacey hardly crossed his mind during those last couple of days leading up to the swim meet, honestly though there wasn't much he thought about other than his swim times and trying to remember to eat during his downtime.
Friday came around and the good news was that he was matching and beating his swim times. Bad news: it came with a price, and a painful one at that. Aiden was halfway done with a lap when a hot stabbing pain spiked in his shoulder when it circled around. He stopped swimming that instant but couldn't concentrate to tread water. His other arm flailed out till it latched onto the floating lane divider and pulled himself up to lean across it while he caught his breath. The pool was empty. Only Aiden and Daniel were here this late on the night before the meet and Daniel was currently in the bathroom. Aiden tried to raise his arm and was immediately met with another flash of pain. By the time Daniel had returned Aiden had gotten out of the water and was in the middle of drying off.
"Dan, let's go."
"What? We like just got here twenty minutes ago."
Aiden didn't respond and continued to pack up his belongings, opting to only wear his zip up hoodie rather than try and put his shirt on. Daniel gave up on getting an answer out of his best friend, it would be pointless to try. He knew that when Aiden didn't want to talk, that badgering him would just make things worse. However that didn't mean he wasn't watching Aiden like a hawk, trying to figure out on his own why the sudden change of mind. And he did just that the rest of the night as he'd insisted on staying the night to "make it easier to get to the meet in the morning".
Flash forward to Saturday just after Aiden took first place in his race. While the crowd was still all a twitter over his comeback after a streak of losing, Aiden was hiding out on the floor in the locker room. He had an ice pack to his shoulder and a towel over his head even though his hair was completely dry thanks to the swim cap that was currently abandoned on the other side of the room where he'd thrown it just minutes before. He was struggling to breathe through the pain, which proved to be quite difficult as just the simple rise and fall of his chest had his pain sensors in an uproar. But the rest of his arm he couldn't feel. Though to be honest, he wasn't sure if it was that he couldn't feel it or that he just didn't because the white hot burning in his shoulder was so overwhelming that it was all he could focus on. At least, it was until the locker room door swung open and someone stepped inside. Aiden didn't need to look up to know it was Daniel, if it were anyone else they would've said something by now or ran right up to him. Then Daniel sighed, "How long?"
"How long, what?"
"Don't play dumb Aiden, how long has it hurt? Last night?" No response, "All week?!"
Aiden's head shot up, towel dropping to the floor, "I'm fine, Daniel."
"Bullshit. C'mon your race is over, let's just go to the hospital."
Stubborn Aiden was getting to his feet now after shaking his head 'no', "At least the first aid station before we go?"
"I'm not leaving yet."
"What--?"
"Aiden! There you are, almost ready?"
Their coach now stood in the locker room doorway, a smug grin still glued to his face over Aiden's win, "Yeah I'll be out in a sec." Coach Robinson left and Daniel's eyes narrowed on Aiden, silently demanding an explanation for what was going on.
"Ryan never showed." It took a moment for Daniel to process what he meant by that. This meet there was a new division being tested; team diving. Accumulative scores of each diver's points. It was supposed to be a team building and confidence boosting exercise especially for the newer divers who may not score well. Ryan, one of the senior divers of the team was currently no call no show. No one knew where he was, and so Coach Robinson had asked Aiden to fill in for him earlier. Of course Aiden agreed, he was competitive and always up for a challenge; but now he couldn't lift his arm...
"Aiden you don't even dive!" It was true, he messed around on the board for fun and actually had huge potential when he would try diving seriously, but this would be Aiden's debut on the board.
He tossed the ice pack in a nearby trashcan before moving towards the door, Daniel grabbed his other forearm to stop him and said something about how he was being stupid and couldn't do it. This wasn't well received by Aiden who promptly pulled his arm free, losing his balance and stumbling back a few steps in the process, "I'm fine." He didn't wait around to let Daniel try and talk him out of it, he had a dive to get to.
By the time Aiden was at the top of the diving board ladder he was exhausted. The climb had been a killer trying both to not use his arm but not look suspicious by not using it. If he were suspected of diving injured they'd disqualify him. Now at the top however it was just as difficult to walk to the end of the board. He shifted uncomfortably between which leg he put weight on while the commentator announced him and his accomplishments. Aiden's head was throbbing and everything around him was spinning. His arm hurt; that was an understatement. And running through his mind was Daniel's voice yelling at him for being such an idiot.
Why was he doing this? He blinked down at his out of focus feet, the lack of sleep throughout the week had taken it's toll. What was he even doing? He wasn't a diver. But maybe it would be fun? Because swimming wasn't fun anymore. The MC was still talking about him. He inhaled sharply, looking up to glance along the sidelines for a familiar face, and he found one. His father, a smirk on his face as another man counted bills into his open hand. They were gambling over him, and Aiden like he was going to throw up. His eyes trailed down to the hard tiled floor beneath the diving ladder. It was a good three meter drop. Would it hurt if he fell? Of course it would hurt, what kind of stupid question was that? But Aiden found himself unable to look away. There was something about the idea of falling that held his attention. Maybe it was the freedom of finally having control over something he did. His entire life so far had been 110% dedicated to swimming. He was in the pool at minimum four days a week during swim season and at least twice a week off season. His dad once took the family on vacation, but really it was a coverup for enrolling Aiden in some training camp at a prestigious pool while the rest of the family enjoyed the sights and local attractions. The only times he was free to relax from practice were when he was too sick to leave the house.
In short, Aiden was done. He was over swimming. Even after all the intense training that week, he'd only just barely won his race earlier. Truthfully, he'd given up on swimming a while ago just had never found a way out; till now at least. His eyes were still locked on the rather inviting tile floor.
The announcer stopped now, he'd segwayed into Aiden's dive and everyone's attention now focused on the light headed swimmer trembling as he gripped the rail with one hand; his knuckles were white. Aiden exhaled slowly as he turned away from the ladder and towards the water. He took slow steps till he was balancing on the end of the board with a ten foot drop into the water. He wasn't entirely sure what he was planning to do anymore, at this point Aiden's mind was just blank. He was dizzy and felt like he was overheating. Unable to concentrate on any one thing he shifted his foot back, maybe to turn and walk back to the ladder, or maybe just to readjust before he dived, but neither of those happened. Instead he lost his footing and slipped, falling backwards onto the board. The sound of impact was sickening as he landed on his bad shoulder with an audible crack, his head hit next and Aiden was knocked unconscious almost immediately. Unfortunately the board's twenty inch width wasn't enough to catch him and so Aiden's fall continued, dropping his broken and unconscious body into the water below.
Aiden didn't wake after being retrieved from the water, nor did he in the ambulance to the hospital. Despite his lack of consciousness and potential head injury the doctors deemed him stable enough to go through with immediate surgery for his severely damaged shoulder and so it wasn't until well after that was over that he finally opened his eyes. Aiden's hand lifted to rub at his nose where the nasal oxygen tube tickled, then Lacey popped into view which normally would have resulted in a smile across his face. Instead he stared at her with a rather confused expression. His thoughts were all too foggy to piece together on his own what was happening or where he was. Aiden pulled sleepily at the tube under his nose; he'd slept a good portion of the anesthesia off, but it was still present enough to leave him rather dazed and uncoordinated. When the doctor appeared Aiden got this feeling that something was wrong. He wasn't supposed to be here, wherever here was. What happened to the pool?
"You fell off the diving board," Oh, that's what happened. A normal reaction might be to wonder how one was alive, or to be thankful that they were, but Aiden was just hit with a pang of regret. Why hadn't he gone through with his thoughts of suicide? If he had he wouldn't be laying here being told he sustained a career ending injury. It felt the same as if he were to wake up completely paralyzed, just a brain in a body. Without swimming he had nothing.
"When the bones heal you can begin physical therapy and should be able to regain a fairly large range of motion."
Should be able to. Range of motion. Words of comfort were obviously not this doctor's specialty. Aiden couldn't help but wonder how much even that was sugarcoated. The doctor left him stunned and at a loss for words. His mental state was too low for even Lacey to reach as she came over to try and get him to talk. Aiden didn't respond right away when Lacey asked if she could get him anything, his mind was too busy trying to fully grasp his situation to string together words. He was angry, and it showed in his voice when he finally overcame his silence to ask to be left alone. Though he did manage to maintain his composure up until she took his hand, a clear sign she was trying to stay so he tried again this time not quite as nicely, "Get out Lacey," He wasn't mad at her, he was angry with himself, but Lacey's consoling attempts were just aggravating him even more, "...please."
Her words just screamed, "It's not your fault", but it was. This was all his fault no matter how much he'd love to put the blame on someone else. His father would be an easy target, Coach Robinson had overworked him all week, heck he could even call the doctor out on malpractice. Aiden's anger came from knowing better than to blame any of them, it was his fault and that was that. After Daniel took Lacey away, Aiden was left alone with his thoughts and injuries for hours before his next real social encounter.
Aiden slept away most of his time in the hospital but the nurses were diligent in waking him up every few hours. "Just to be safe" they said when they explained that his head injury from hitting the board had them worried. Painkillers helped keep him calm and well, not in intense pain. But they couldn't quite cover up how stiff and sore his entire body was. Aiden was covered in dark bruises from smacking the water and whenever he had to get out of bed it was always torture trying to get comfortable again. When the anesthesia had fully worn off the doctor from before returned to explain more in depth the severity of his injuries, he seemed most concerned over the possibility of something neurological as Aiden had reportedly "passed out without warning", but so far he'd been fine and Aiden knew better what had been the cause for that . The doctor went on to talk about several fractures in his shoulder and clavicle as well as the torn ligament that was apparently the reason why his career had been deemed over. The doctor's "realistic expectation" was that Aiden would be able to use his arm normally once healed however the overhead actions required in swimming would be too strenuous on his forever weakened shoulder. He urged Aiden to not keep his hopes up for a perfect recovery and to "be thankful" he hadn't lost all use of the arm. Neither piece of advise sat well with the swimmer though he kept it to himself.
Spending the night was rough, Aiden's thoughts were too loud and he barely slept despite his medication making him drowsy. Daniel drove him home the next day sometime after noon. The car ride was awful, Aiden felt every bump in the road but that wasn't really the problem. It was the atmosphere. The air was tense between the two best friends with Daniel not knowing what to talk about and Aiden not having anything to say.
"Lacey wants to see you."
"I yelled at her..."
Daniel let out a light laugh, "I'd hardly call that yelling. You were just upset, it happens."
But Aiden had never talked to Lacey like that over anything, and the scene was playing over and over again in his head for the entire drive home.
Aiden lost quite a bit of weight over the next two weeks. He did a lot of sitting around in a nest of pillows and not a whole lot of eating. He was still neglecting his phone however after charging it he did manage to text Lacey a couple times to let her know he was home and such. No real conversation or discussion though. He returned to class after the first week, only for half a day though. The combination of everyone's stares and whispers along with the jolts of pain at the slightest bump sent him running back home where it was safe and quiet. Well, that was debatable. Aiden periodically destroyed something in his house when his emotions got too out of control and in general just didn't take care of himself. Clothes lay everywhere, trophies and medals knocked over, there was a broken mug in the sink, and random objects were in random places around the rooms where he'd thrown whatever was closest to him at the time to vent his ever building self hate. The most notable had to be his Olympic rings however. The Olympics had always been Aiden's personal dream. While everyone else seemed to have control over his life and swimming, the Olympics were what always kept him going. He had a longtime dream, and now that was pieces, just like the Olympic shrine he and Lacey had created after he broke both his personal and his pool's record for the 100metre freestyle. Some pieces still desperately clung to the wall but majority of the brightly colored paper had been ripped off and abandoned on the floor in his room.
Today marked two weeks exactly from his accident and Aiden had united with the sofa in his living space. It was hard for him to lay down as it put too much pressure on his shoulder so he'd long ditched his bed and took up sleeping on the sofa where he could sleep sitting relatively upright, nestled in the corner between the back and the armrest with pillows all around. The TV was on, Saturday cartoons dancing across the screen while Aiden slept the morning away. The coffee table in front of him had an empty glass of what used to be water, an unfinished bowl of cereal that was ridiculously soggy by now and his pain meds which were set precariously on the corner. The blanket he'd originally been sleeping with lay on the floor by his feet where it had fallen. Aiden only wore sweats as he couldn't be bothered to try and wear anything on his chest. Shirts were a no no with trying to deal with sleeves, and while he could wear a hoodie over his arm he was alone at home so as far as he was concerned he had no reason to cover up. The bandages from surgery had been removed last week along with his stitches so the scarring and bruising was clearly visible around his shoulder. The rest of his arm was covered by the sling that kept his arm glued to his body. The bruising from his failed dive had mostly healed however so overall he looked much better and less like he'd gotten hit by a train; though he still felt like he had. In Aiden's hand was his phone with just 38% battery left as he'd been holding it mid text for hours. The screen had a new message addressed to Lacey. It was the fifth draft of an apology that Aiden had been wording and rewording for days but hadn't been brave enough to send. Well, apparently in his sleep he was as his thumb slipped across the send button, whisking away the partially written message to his step sister's phone. Oops.
Normally Aiden would just go back to sleep as this was far too early for him to be functional on a weekend, but for whatever reason today he didn't and sat up in bed to wait for Lacey to finish up and rejoin him. The bathroom door finally opened and out walked....some girl with pink hair. Oh wait, that was his sister. She fumbled with an explanation and while he was plenty shocked with her hair, he couldn't help but laugh inside at her embarrassment; it was kinda cute to watch. At last she was back in bed with him and a slightly amused smile broke across his face as he wrapped his arms around her to try and comfort her during this obviously traumatic point in her life. Everything made sense now, the beanie, the hoodie, and insisting on keeping the lights off in the name of energy conservation. Their cuddle session was cut short by the arrival of his step mother to pick Lacey up. Aiden walked her to the door and said his goodbyes making a mental note to call a salon once they opened to schedule an appointment immediately
Sitting in a hair salon can be extremely boring for the clients and in this case, waiting family members such as Aiden. It was a small, rather high end salon,
Aiden and Lacey were at a beach playing in the surf. A sand castle they had built earlier was still standing strong against the waves. It wasn't often they went to the beach as it was quite a drive that neither of them had the time to fit into their schedules.
"Ah! No wait!" Aiden turned to see that the wind had blown Lacey's sun hat off and the current was quick to sweep it out of reach and out to sea.
"Stay here, I'll get it." With the tide coming in the waves had picked up and Lacey was quick to protest, saying to just let it go, that it was too dangerous. But for once Aiden chose not to listen to his little sister and continued to wade out into the water until it was deep enough to swim. It didn't feel like it took long for him to catch up to the hat but when he grabbed it and turned around to wave back to Lacey on the beach he saw just how far he had actually gone. That wasn't all he saw though. He saw Lacey's back as she was walking away. So naturally he called out for her to stop but as he did a particularly large wave crashed over him pushing his head underwater. When he resurfaced, Lacey was gone. In fact the entire beach was. He was in the swimming pool now at the end of a lane. The crowd was in an uproar and when Aiden looked up to the timeboard he saw why, his name was in second place and only off by milliseconds. He could hear his name being called and spun around to try and find where it was coming from. It was a female voice and it sounded very familiar.
Finally the sound of Lacey's voice broke through the chatter of the crowd and Aiden's eyes snapped open to see his step sister bent down to his eye level as she tried to wake him. The pen fell from his hand and dropped to the floor. She giggled at the clumsy action but Aiden's mind was still processing that he was awake. Lacey retrieved the pen for him as he sat up properly in the chair and finally took notice that her hair was back to normal.
"Are you ready to go?"
It was obvious that she was, he was the one with his belongings scattered around him. Lacey stood by as he shoved everything into his backpack and went to pay for her color correction service. They only had about an hour together after that before their busy schedules forced them apart for the rest of the week.
Don't bother asking Aiden what he did every day of that week because his schedule never changed. Wake up, morning training, practice, class, practice, a few hours off and then more practice late into the night, try to sleep and then repeat. Keyword: "try" to sleep. You would think that with such a grueling schedule he would be exhausted and fall asleep right away. He was, and he did. The trouble was staying asleep. His mind took him to hell and back multiple times a night with nightmares ranging from the repeat drowning one to losing Lacey. His mother even slipped in sometimes, not that he could even remember her face.
In the beginning he tried to sneak in texts and late night calls to Lacey, but as the week progressed he replied less and less and would just listen to his phone ring until it went to voicemail. It was no fault of Lacey's; it never was. It was just one of his most stressful weeks ever and not even talking to her could help. Or maybe it could have if he'd ever answered his phone.
After two days he stopped going to class and spent those hours either catching up on lost sleep or at the pool with his coach for additional training; not by his choice. Coach Robinson had spun some story about "getting the upper hand" to his father which then resulted in private practice being enforced. Aiden dreaded practice everytime he pulled into the pool's parking lot. Gone were any feelings of weightless joy when he glided across the water, now all he felt was hate towards anyone involved in his swimming, and his beyond sore muscles.
By Thursday Daniel was driving him everywhere; neither of the boys trusted Aiden behind the wheel, not when he was napping practically everytime he sat down. Aiden didn't sleep at night anymore. He tried every night but sleep never came; hence his naps throughout the day. By this point his phone had died from lack of charging. Text messages were unopened and voicemails unheard. It didn't become a problem for Aiden though as he was only either at the pool, his apartment or in Dan's car. Lacey hardly crossed his mind during those last couple of days leading up to the swim meet, honestly though there wasn't much he thought about other than his swim times and trying to remember to eat during his downtime.
Friday came around and the good news was that he was matching and beating his swim times. Bad news: it came with a price, and a painful one at that. Aiden was halfway done with a lap when a hot stabbing pain spiked in his shoulder when it circled around. He stopped swimming that instant but couldn't concentrate to tread water. His other arm flailed out till it latched onto the floating lane divider and pulled himself up to lean across it while he caught his breath. The pool was empty. Only Aiden and Daniel were here this late on the night before the meet and Daniel was currently in the bathroom. Aiden tried to raise his arm and was immediately met with another flash of pain. By the time Daniel had returned Aiden had gotten out of the water and was in the middle of drying off.
"Dan, let's go."
"What? We like just got here twenty minutes ago."
Aiden didn't respond and continued to pack up his belongings, opting to only wear his zip up hoodie rather than try and put his shirt on. Daniel gave up on getting an answer out of his best friend, it would be pointless to try. He knew that when Aiden didn't want to talk, that badgering him would just make things worse. However that didn't mean he wasn't watching Aiden like a hawk, trying to figure out on his own why the sudden change of mind. And he did just that the rest of the night as he'd insisted on staying the night to "make it easier to get to the meet in the morning".
Flash forward to Saturday just after Aiden took first place in his race. While the crowd was still all a twitter over his comeback after a streak of losing, Aiden was hiding out on the floor in the locker room. He had an ice pack to his shoulder and a towel over his head even though his hair was completely dry thanks to the swim cap that was currently abandoned on the other side of the room where he'd thrown it just minutes before. He was struggling to breathe through the pain, which proved to be quite difficult as just the simple rise and fall of his chest had his pain sensors in an uproar. But the rest of his arm he couldn't feel. Though to be honest, he wasn't sure if it was that he couldn't feel it or that he just didn't because the white hot burning in his shoulder was so overwhelming that it was all he could focus on. At least, it was until the locker room door swung open and someone stepped inside. Aiden didn't need to look up to know it was Daniel, if it were anyone else they would've said something by now or ran right up to him. Then Daniel sighed, "How long?"
"How long, what?"
"Don't play dumb Aiden, how long has it hurt? Last night?" No response, "All week?!"
Aiden's head shot up, towel dropping to the floor, "I'm fine, Daniel."
"Bullshit. C'mon your race is over, let's just go to the hospital."
Stubborn Aiden was getting to his feet now after shaking his head 'no', "At least the first aid station before we go?"
"I'm not leaving yet."
"What--?"
"Aiden! There you are, almost ready?"
Their coach now stood in the locker room doorway, a smug grin still glued to his face over Aiden's win, "Yeah I'll be out in a sec." Coach Robinson left and Daniel's eyes narrowed on Aiden, silently demanding an explanation for what was going on.
"Ryan never showed." It took a moment for Daniel to process what he meant by that. This meet there was a new division being tested; team diving. Accumulative scores of each diver's points. It was supposed to be a team building and confidence boosting exercise especially for the newer divers who may not score well. Ryan, one of the senior divers of the team was currently no call no show. No one knew where he was, and so Coach Robinson had asked Aiden to fill in for him earlier. Of course Aiden agreed, he was competitive and always up for a challenge; but now he couldn't lift his arm...
"Aiden you don't even dive!" It was true, he messed around on the board for fun and actually had huge potential when he would try diving seriously, but this would be Aiden's debut on the board.
He tossed the ice pack in a nearby trashcan before moving towards the door, Daniel grabbed his other forearm to stop him and said something about how he was being stupid and couldn't do it. This wasn't well received by Aiden who promptly pulled his arm free, losing his balance and stumbling back a few steps in the process, "I'm fine." He didn't wait around to let Daniel try and talk him out of it, he had a dive to get to.
By the time Aiden was at the top of the diving board ladder he was exhausted. The climb had been a killer trying both to not use his arm but not look suspicious by not using it. If he were suspected of diving injured they'd disqualify him. Now at the top however it was just as difficult to walk to the end of the board. He shifted uncomfortably between which leg he put weight on while the commentator announced him and his accomplishments. Aiden's head was throbbing and everything around him was spinning. His arm hurt; that was an understatement. And running through his mind was Daniel's voice yelling at him for being such an idiot.
Why was he doing this? He blinked down at his out of focus feet, the lack of sleep throughout the week had taken it's toll. What was he even doing? He wasn't a diver. But maybe it would be fun? Because swimming wasn't fun anymore. The MC was still talking about him. He inhaled sharply, looking up to glance along the sidelines for a familiar face, and he found one. His father, a smirk on his face as another man counted bills into his open hand. They were gambling over him, and Aiden like he was going to throw up. His eyes trailed down to the hard tiled floor beneath the diving ladder. It was a good three meter drop. Would it hurt if he fell? Of course it would hurt, what kind of stupid question was that? But Aiden found himself unable to look away. There was something about the idea of falling that held his attention. Maybe it was the freedom of finally having control over something he did. His entire life so far had been 110% dedicated to swimming. He was in the pool at minimum four days a week during swim season and at least twice a week off season. His dad once took the family on vacation, but really it was a coverup for enrolling Aiden in some training camp at a prestigious pool while the rest of the family enjoyed the sights and local attractions. The only times he was free to relax from practice were when he was too sick to leave the house.
In short, Aiden was done. He was over swimming. Even after all the intense training that week, he'd only just barely won his race earlier. Truthfully, he'd given up on swimming a while ago just had never found a way out; till now at least. His eyes were still locked on the rather inviting tile floor.
The announcer stopped now, he'd segwayed into Aiden's dive and everyone's attention now focused on the light headed swimmer trembling as he gripped the rail with one hand; his knuckles were white. Aiden exhaled slowly as he turned away from the ladder and towards the water. He took slow steps till he was balancing on the end of the board with a ten foot drop into the water. He wasn't entirely sure what he was planning to do anymore, at this point Aiden's mind was just blank. He was dizzy and felt like he was overheating. Unable to concentrate on any one thing he shifted his foot back, maybe to turn and walk back to the ladder, or maybe just to readjust before he dived, but neither of those happened. Instead he lost his footing and slipped, falling backwards onto the board. The sound of impact was sickening as he landed on his bad shoulder with an audible crack, his head hit next and Aiden was knocked unconscious almost immediately. Unfortunately the board's twenty inch width wasn't enough to catch him and so Aiden's fall continued, dropping his broken and unconscious body into the water below.
Aiden didn't wake after being retrieved from the water, nor did he in the ambulance to the hospital. Despite his lack of consciousness and potential head injury the doctors deemed him stable enough to go through with immediate surgery for his severely damaged shoulder and so it wasn't until well after that was over that he finally opened his eyes. Aiden's hand lifted to rub at his nose where the nasal oxygen tube tickled, then Lacey popped into view which normally would have resulted in a smile across his face. Instead he stared at her with a rather confused expression. His thoughts were all too foggy to piece together on his own what was happening or where he was. Aiden pulled sleepily at the tube under his nose; he'd slept a good portion of the anesthesia off, but it was still present enough to leave him rather dazed and uncoordinated. When the doctor appeared Aiden got this feeling that something was wrong. He wasn't supposed to be here, wherever here was. What happened to the pool?
"You fell off the diving board," Oh, that's what happened. A normal reaction might be to wonder how one was alive, or to be thankful that they were, but Aiden was just hit with a pang of regret. Why hadn't he gone through with his thoughts of suicide? If he had he wouldn't be laying here being told he sustained a career ending injury. It felt the same as if he were to wake up completely paralyzed, just a brain in a body. Without swimming he had nothing.
"When the bones heal you can begin physical therapy and should be able to regain a fairly large range of motion."
Should be able to. Range of motion. Words of comfort were obviously not this doctor's specialty. Aiden couldn't help but wonder how much even that was sugarcoated. The doctor left him stunned and at a loss for words. His mental state was too low for even Lacey to reach as she came over to try and get him to talk. Aiden didn't respond right away when Lacey asked if she could get him anything, his mind was too busy trying to fully grasp his situation to string together words. He was angry, and it showed in his voice when he finally overcame his silence to ask to be left alone. Though he did manage to maintain his composure up until she took his hand, a clear sign she was trying to stay so he tried again this time not quite as nicely, "Get out Lacey," He wasn't mad at her, he was angry with himself, but Lacey's consoling attempts were just aggravating him even more, "...please."
Her words just screamed, "It's not your fault", but it was. This was all his fault no matter how much he'd love to put the blame on someone else. His father would be an easy target, Coach Robinson had overworked him all week, heck he could even call the doctor out on malpractice. Aiden's anger came from knowing better than to blame any of them, it was his fault and that was that. After Daniel took Lacey away, Aiden was left alone with his thoughts and injuries for hours before his next real social encounter.
Aiden slept away most of his time in the hospital but the nurses were diligent in waking him up every few hours. "Just to be safe" they said when they explained that his head injury from hitting the board had them worried. Painkillers helped keep him calm and well, not in intense pain. But they couldn't quite cover up how stiff and sore his entire body was. Aiden was covered in dark bruises from smacking the water and whenever he had to get out of bed it was always torture trying to get comfortable again. When the anesthesia had fully worn off the doctor from before returned to explain more in depth the severity of his injuries, he seemed most concerned over the possibility of something neurological as Aiden had reportedly "passed out without warning", but so far he'd been fine and Aiden knew better what had been the cause for that . The doctor went on to talk about several fractures in his shoulder and clavicle as well as the torn ligament that was apparently the reason why his career had been deemed over. The doctor's "realistic expectation" was that Aiden would be able to use his arm normally once healed however the overhead actions required in swimming would be too strenuous on his forever weakened shoulder. He urged Aiden to not keep his hopes up for a perfect recovery and to "be thankful" he hadn't lost all use of the arm. Neither piece of advise sat well with the swimmer though he kept it to himself.
Spending the night was rough, Aiden's thoughts were too loud and he barely slept despite his medication making him drowsy. Daniel drove him home the next day sometime after noon. The car ride was awful, Aiden felt every bump in the road but that wasn't really the problem. It was the atmosphere. The air was tense between the two best friends with Daniel not knowing what to talk about and Aiden not having anything to say.
"Lacey wants to see you."
"I yelled at her..."
Daniel let out a light laugh, "I'd hardly call that yelling. You were just upset, it happens."
But Aiden had never talked to Lacey like that over anything, and the scene was playing over and over again in his head for the entire drive home.
Aiden lost quite a bit of weight over the next two weeks. He did a lot of sitting around in a nest of pillows and not a whole lot of eating. He was still neglecting his phone however after charging it he did manage to text Lacey a couple times to let her know he was home and such. No real conversation or discussion though. He returned to class after the first week, only for half a day though. The combination of everyone's stares and whispers along with the jolts of pain at the slightest bump sent him running back home where it was safe and quiet. Well, that was debatable. Aiden periodically destroyed something in his house when his emotions got too out of control and in general just didn't take care of himself. Clothes lay everywhere, trophies and medals knocked over, there was a broken mug in the sink, and random objects were in random places around the rooms where he'd thrown whatever was closest to him at the time to vent his ever building self hate. The most notable had to be his Olympic rings however. The Olympics had always been Aiden's personal dream. While everyone else seemed to have control over his life and swimming, the Olympics were what always kept him going. He had a longtime dream, and now that was pieces, just like the Olympic shrine he and Lacey had created after he broke both his personal and his pool's record for the 100metre freestyle. Some pieces still desperately clung to the wall but majority of the brightly colored paper had been ripped off and abandoned on the floor in his room.
Today marked two weeks exactly from his accident and Aiden had united with the sofa in his living space. It was hard for him to lay down as it put too much pressure on his shoulder so he'd long ditched his bed and took up sleeping on the sofa where he could sleep sitting relatively upright, nestled in the corner between the back and the armrest with pillows all around. The TV was on, Saturday cartoons dancing across the screen while Aiden slept the morning away. The coffee table in front of him had an empty glass of what used to be water, an unfinished bowl of cereal that was ridiculously soggy by now and his pain meds which were set precariously on the corner. The blanket he'd originally been sleeping with lay on the floor by his feet where it had fallen. Aiden only wore sweats as he couldn't be bothered to try and wear anything on his chest. Shirts were a no no with trying to deal with sleeves, and while he could wear a hoodie over his arm he was alone at home so as far as he was concerned he had no reason to cover up. The bandages from surgery had been removed last week along with his stitches so the scarring and bruising was clearly visible around his shoulder. The rest of his arm was covered by the sling that kept his arm glued to his body. The bruising from his failed dive had mostly healed however so overall he looked much better and less like he'd gotten hit by a train; though he still felt like he had. In Aiden's hand was his phone with just 38% battery left as he'd been holding it mid text for hours. The screen had a new message addressed to Lacey. It was the fifth draft of an apology that Aiden had been wording and rewording for days but hadn't been brave enough to send. Well, apparently in his sleep he was as his thumb slipped across the send button, whisking away the partially written message to his step sister's phone. Oops.
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feelsHASkilig
Solo Conversationalist
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- Page Two Hundred & Forty-Nine
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“Lacey, sweetheart, you're being irrational...” said Sonia from the other side of the room, making tea for the both of them. On the contrary, Lacey believed that she was not being irrational at all. It was a known fact that Aiden was both annoyed and mad at her. She had proof that she could present to any doubters if pushed enough. Ever since Aiden's accident, the female had been spending much of her free time with Daniel and Sonia, Aiden's best friend and his best friend's girlfriend. Both had taken her under their wings; fearful of leaving her alone while her step-brother was recovering. It was difficult spending this time away from Aiden. After one week of being forced to give him space so that he could train for the meet, Lacey was anxious and irritated. Why were so many people trying to keep her away from him for longer than she wanted?
It was another late afternoon in Sonia's small apartment. She lived some minutes away from the college campus that she and the guys went to. Lacey had hitched a ride with Daniel after his afternoon class while he had his break before swim practice. Although nowadays, she spent more time and slept over in Sonia's apartment than actually being at home. Since the accident, her parents did nothing but argue with one another over Aiden's current situation. Her step-father was concerned about Aiden's scholarship being taken away now that he was no longer able to swim; even though there was no doubt in anyone's mind that he could afford Aiden's tuition. But anyone that knew the man knew that he took great pride in saying that his son was a professional swimmer on the way to the Olympics. It was definitely a difficult time in the house and more often than not, Lacey was escaping it.
In the time since the accident, Lacey had gotten fairly good at sneaking out of the house. She had gotten caught by her mother during her first attempt, but after that she knew ways. She began keeping track of both of her parents' schedules to ensure that she never passed them while they were home or on the way home. And she had also become fairly familiar with sneaking out of the house via her bedroom window. In the times that she did sneak out, which was often, she remained at Sonia's until she felt it was safe to go back home. But that wasn't often. Lacey would sometimes stay over at Sonia's for more than a night even when her mother requested that she come home. She had even gotten into a minor argument with Daniel when he had been reeled into the situation by Aiden's step-father—having been told to bring her home at once.
All in all, this time was not a smooth one for Lacey.
But if she was feeling bad about herself, this was only worse whenever she thought about Aiden. After that first visit, she had been too frightened to see him. He had looked so angry at her when all she wanted to do was stay by his side. Even when he was finally released from the hospital—she had refused Daniel's offer to come with him to pick Aiden up—she couldn't stand the idea of taking that risk of being yelled at again. Of course, this didn't mean that she was completely ignoring her step-brother. On the contrary, when she had the chance she spent most of it with her cellphone permanently glued to her hand either calling to check up on him or sending him a spam of text messages. He neither answered nor responded to any of them and her message screen had days worth of blue coated messages just from her. Her determination to keep in touch with him started to wain though. And it thus resulted in her, as Sonia states, being irrational.
Just as Sonia finished brewing their tea, the front door to the apartment opened and Daniel entered with a bag full of what smelled like Chinese food. Lacey's stomach lurched. As this was her second day staying the night at Sonia's, she couldn't make any excuse for not being hungry. In fact, just the smell of the food in the plastic bag made her feel queasy. “Thought we could have a late lunch before I head off to practice. Coach has us working a little harder now that Ai—Umm...” Daniel had caught himself mid-sentence when his eyes fell on Lacey. It wasn't as if he had forgotten she was there. He was probably just stressed over having to juggle school, swim practice, and making sure his best friend wasn't killing himself all at once. She couldn't blame him for letting slip his frustrations. However, Lacey didn't say anything, instead pulling herself tighter on the couch after being handed her giant mug of tea. She silently sat in her spot while the couple conversed and set up the food. It was a simple conversation and they had made sure to include Lacey whenever possible. But Lacey wasn't in much of a chatty mood—as surprising as it may seem to some people.
After some time, both Daniel and Sonia sensed this. “Lacey is still under the impression that Aiden is still mad at her,” Sonia explained as she pushed a to-go container of noodles in front of Lacey, which she refused and brought her mug closer.
She heard Daniel let out a sigh before explaining that Aiden wasn't mad at her and that he never had been. “He yelled at me!” Lacey blurted out, her eyes wide. Her expression then softened and she once again recoiled on her spot behind her mug. “He never yelled at me before...”
Daniel let out a light laugh behind his chop sticks. “You two really are siblings.” He never explained what he meant, nor did Lacey inquire about it.
Sonia walked Daniel to the door minutes later. Lacey busied herself by throwing away the empty to-go containers and piling the leftovers into Tupperware to be put into the fridge. Most of the leftovers were from her untouched food. After some clear signs of affection, she heard Sonia close the door then walk over to the kitchen. “You didn't eat again, Lacey,” the older female commented, concern in her tone.
“I'm not hungry...” Lacey responded though avoiding Sonia's gaze.
She heard a sigh behind her then more footsteps. When she looked behind her to see what was happening, Sonia's retreating figure was going back into her room to probably continue studying. Lacey let out a sigh herself while she placed the leftovers in the fridge. It was clear that Sonia had more to say about her lack of an appetite. Last week she had been subjected to a lecture from Sonia about how she was too skinny for her own health and that she needs to start eating something. It was only because she could use her worry for Aiden that she was able to get out of yet another lecture.
Lacey was now at the two week mark. And for the most part, she was starting to get irritated with Aiden. There were just so many ignored calls and text messages that she can handle before she finally could no longer take it.
Sitting with her legs crossed on her bed—her mother had coerced Daniel into taking her home after staying at Sonia's for over three days—Lacey was once again found with her cellphone permanently pressed against her ear. The slow and dull ringing made her grow more impatient the longer she waited for Aiden to either pick up or lead her to voicemail. Like all other times, it was voicemail. She let out a tired sigh before the beep. “It's me again...Call me back. Bye.” After hanging up, she tossed her phone to the other edge of the bed. She didn't know why this call would be any different from the others. He obviously didn't want to talk to her if he managed to go two straight weeks without a single word. Maybe she still had a little hope that somewhere inside his recovering body, he missed her as much as she missed him. But with these ignored missed calls and text messages, she would never know.
Hours passed before any sign of life returned to that tiny room. It was through the sound of a muffled high pitched tone from the other side of the bed that awoke Lacey. She hadn't even realized that she had fallen back asleep after another failed attempt at reaching Aiden. Her tired eyes turned towards the cellphone resting across from her. At this point, she didn't even hope that it was Aiden that had sent her a text message. Most of the time these past two weeks they were typically from Daniel or Sonia. She didn't expect now to be any different. And so with a tired groan, Lacey buried her face into her pillow to go back to sleep. There were light sounds of chattering coming from outside her room which indicated that her parents were still home. She didn't want to face either of them today and she figured that if she looked asleep both of them would leave her be.
“Lacey?” came a voice after a light shaking. Groaning gently, Lacey opened her eyes once again to find a dark room. Did she really just sleep the whole Saturday away? Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she sat up slowly and listened as her mother explained that she and her step-father would be attending a business dinner tonight and that they wouldn't be home until late. There were other words said, but Lacey could care less to listen. All she remembered hearing was something along the lines of dinner being in the fridge for when she was hungry. She was then left alone after hearing her step-father yell from downstairs that they needed to go now.
It was once she heard the car drive out of the garage that Lacey finally looked at her phone. As she expected, missed calls and text messages from Daniel and Sonia. Much of them were in the afternoon and then stopped about fifteen minutes later. They had both asked if she wanted to join them at the pier to celebrate with them the end of finals weeks. That's right. Aiden, Daniel and Sonia were finished with the school year this month. There were other messages coming from her agent and some of the other models that she knew. However, her heart dropped when she reached the very bottom of the list of text messages that she needed to look over. There was a small chance that she was probably still asleep and was dreaming this whole thing. It's not like it was uncommon—especially nowadays. But no. She was awake. And a text message from Aiden was staring right at her.
Her hands were shaking from excitement that she was unable to read the text properly. She had to read it over a couple more times before she finally understood what he had to say. Or, in the case of this message, what he almost had to say. From the content that she was given, it appeared as if he was in the middle of an apology. But considering how early into the day he had sent the message, it didn't seem like he had intentions of finishing it. She then figured that he was probably sleeping or something. Either way a huge grin appeared on her face rereading the message. It was unreal how happy she was right now.
She had to see him. She just had to. Looking down at her phone once more, Lacey sent Daniel a quick message asking if he could drop her off at Aiden's. The minutes waiting for that response killed her, but she spent it wisely. In fact, she spent it staring fixedly at the jar display resting atop her drawer. Her eyes widened at the brilliant idea she suddenly had. And after finally getting a text back from Daniel stating that he would come over after his dinner with Sonia, she stumbled around the room to get straight to work.
Folding tiny origami stars was a skill she acquired last year after working with a Japanese model for a winter spread. Lacey had been fascinated by the craft and had asked if she could learn. By the end of the shoot, the model had given her the remaining paper strands so that she could practice. After that day, Lacey spent months folding them nonstop. At one point it had even annoyed Aiden as she had a knack of losing some in his apartment which he would find while cleaning. And her step-father had made a comment once that she was wasting her time and paper. Now, she didn't believe so. Lacey had stopped folding the stars after she reached a thousand which was said to mean that she had one wish she could make. To some it seems like such a silly thing to believe in, but Lacey was just a believer in all things positive. It was for this reason that she never made said wish until she was completely certain of what she wanted and needed the most. Tonight, she knew her wish.
Her brilliant plan consisted of her thousand stars and three post it notes. And considering Daniel was basically head over heels for Sonia, she knew that she had enough time to get everything prepared before she got picked up. She spent some time mulling over the perfect places to hide the jars; deciding to use a scavenger hunt type thing to hopefully get him out of the apartment. The first one, obviously, would be at his apartment. But she was in a constant debate over the final two until she figured it out. The next stage of the plan was figuring out the clues she would place on the post it notes. When it came to a play on words, Lacey wasn't that creative and eventually her clues were plenty simple and cliché. As long as it got her point across, she wouldn't mind. The final part of her plan involved Lacey sending a text message to Sonia asking if she could come along with Daniel in her own car. She made sure to mention she had a plan that she would tell them later after they met. It's also noteworthy to say that she had a bright smile on her face the entire time—the first genuine smile since the accident.
Daniel and Sonia arrived in front of her house an hour and a half later. As instructed, they came in separate cars. Lacey quickly caught them up with her brilliant plan, all the while carrying the three jars securely in her arms. After she placed the jars carefully in the backseat of Sonia's car, she said her goodbyes to Daniel as he drove off first. His job in this plan was to make sure that Aiden was out of his apartment long enough for Lacey to place the first jar clue inside for him to find. By now her heart was racing with excitement and nerves. She really hoped it would work.
As Sonia drove towards Aiden's apartment, Lacey impatiently waited for a text from Daniel to give her the go ahead. It wasn't until she and Sonia were parked a little away from the entrance to the building that said text arrived. But at this time, Lacey was already hiding from sight as he and Aiden climbed into his car and drove away. The first time she gets to see her step-brother in two weeks and she has to see him while hiding from him. Oh well. It was all going to be worth it in the end. She just knew it.
Once they were clearly out of sight, Sonia drove the car closer to the apartment building and helped Lacey with one of the jars while she held the other. However, just as she was about to step inside, she had a spur of the moment idea. It was then that she led Sonia down the street towards the familiar Italian restaurant to order Aiden's favorite dish to go. As always, she made super strict instructions to make sure that the cooks kept black peppers out of it. With the jar and a bag with the food in her hands, they rushed back to the apartment to plant the first clue.
She didn't know what to expect when she walked into Aiden's apartment, but this was definitely not it. Her heart dropped walking inside and staring at the state of the place. It was totally wrecked and she could practically feel the frustration her step-brother must have felt in the two weeks he decided to become a hermit. Guilt filled her, realizing that she should have tried harder contacting him. At the beginning of the week, she had camped out in front of his apartment door, but she had been too afraid to unlock the door or even knock because she thought he was still mad at her. Now she wished she had barged in to keep him company. After the initial shock of seeing the place in almost ruins sunk in, Lacey walked carefully towards the living room. There were signs that Aiden had been sleeping on the sofa which she could understand considering his shoulder. She figured that if this was the place that he spent more time in, then it would be wise of her to place the first clue on the table so that it was in sight. Besides, she couldn't even get herself to go into his bedroom if this part of the apartment was already such a mess. Sonia stood to the side as Lacey pulled the Styrofoam container with his favorite dish out of the plastic bag and placed it on the table. She then grabbed a marker and wrote his name on the top cover. After that, she picked up the jar and placed it right beside the container. She made sure that the post it note was visible. She gazed at the note for a couple more seconds. It read:
Jar 1/3
You owe me a driving lesson (;
After ensuring that everything would be in plain sight as soon as Aiden returned to his apartment, Lacey led the way towards the door with his car keys in her hands.
Even though she was sure that she had enough time to finish setting up the rest of the plan, Lacey was still on edge that they would come back at any moment. It was for this reason that she led the way to his car in almost a run. Once they arrived at Aiden's car, she quickly unlocked it then took the jar from Sonia. Like before, she stared at the note for a bit hoping it would make sense. It read:
Jar 2/3
Escape
It wasn't the best clue she could give, but she hoped that in the years they had been step siblings there were some inside knowledge they had together that he would automatically understand. After placing the jar on the driver's seat, Lacey closed the door and locked the car. She took a moment to look down at her phone in case Daniel left some message. He didn't, which had to be a good thing. Right?
She returned to Aiden's apartment to put the car keys back where she had found them. “Can you take me to the park now? I don't want to risk waiting for him outside in your car in case Dan passes by and Aiden recognizes your car,” she asked Sonia. The older female suggested that if they are going to the park that she take her home first so that she could get a jacket. To this, Lacey shook her head. “We don't have that much time,” she responded, “I'll grab one of Aiden's crewnecks or something. Hold on.” She turned towards Aiden's bedroom and went in cautiously.
If the living room and the rest of the apartment was a mess, the bedroom was worse. The thing that hit her the worst was the destroyed Olympics rings on the wall. There were some fragments still holding strong, but the rest was cluttered on the floor. The Olympics was Aiden's dream. And now because of the accident it was out of his reach. Lacey couldn't stand being in this room anymore and hastily rummaged through his closet for the closet jacket she could find. Once she grabbed one that looked like it wasn't crinkled, she took it then rushed out of the bedroom and out the door. It wasn't until she had locked the front door that she let out a sigh of relief. A deep breath later she followed behind Sonia back to her car.
There was still no information from Daniel when the two females arrived at the parking lot of the local park close to Lacey's house. It was because of this that they pestered back and forth over the idea of leaving Lacey there; Lacey suggesting it and Sonia stubbornly rejecting it. At the end, Lacey was forced to remain inside Sonia's car while they waited for the two males to return to Aiden's apartment. At this point she was starting to get a little annoyed that Daniel wasn't saying anything to either of them. A part of her had even thought of the idea of calling him just to get some idea of where they were at, but she didn't.
As she waited, she kept her eyes down on the last jar resting on her lap. She acted as if it would disappear if she so much as looked away from it for a second. Many minutes passed until Daniel sent a text to Sonia telling her that he dropped Aiden off at his apartment. Lacey's heart raced and she sat up as if her step-brother was already at the park. “You don't have to stay anymore, Sonia. I don't mind waiting on my own. I go here all the time at this hour and I've had no problems,” she pleadingly explained. She had to do a bit more persuading before she was allowed to leave the car and make her way towards hers and Aiden's spot. A smile crept onto her lips when she heard Sonia's car pull away and leave.
The waiting process felt much longer than she would have liked. Lacey was constantly checking her phone for the time. Sonia had contacted her a few times already asking if Aiden was there, to which she reluctantly responded that he wasn't. As she continued to wait, sitting with her legs crossed on the patch of grass that she and Aiden dubbed their spot since she and her mom moved to their current house, she kept the last jar cradled in her arms. At some point, she found herself acting like she had telepathic abilities to urge her step-brother to arrive faster.
At the sound of a car pulling up, she turned her head towards the parking lot. She couldn't exactly see the car that pulled in as it was still pretty dark despite all the lights glaring throughout the park. She had to squint her eyes to figure out that the figure that was currently stepping out of the car was actually Aiden. Again, her heart raced as she nervously stood up and faced the now approaching figure. There was nervous smile on her face. When at last he was finally standing in front of her, the smile faltered a bit. This was the first time in two weeks she had seen Aiden and the difference in him was too much to handle at one time. He looked much skinner than before and he definitely looked like he hadn't left his apartment for longer than a few hours a day. It broke her heart to see him like this.
After realizing that she had been staring, Lacey cleared her throat then extended her hands out to give him the last jar, making sure that the post it note was in front of him. She kept her eyes on him the entire time to see his reaction. The last note read:
Jar 3/3
3 jars. 1000 stars. 1 wish.
I wish for you to feel happiness again.
It was another late afternoon in Sonia's small apartment. She lived some minutes away from the college campus that she and the guys went to. Lacey had hitched a ride with Daniel after his afternoon class while he had his break before swim practice. Although nowadays, she spent more time and slept over in Sonia's apartment than actually being at home. Since the accident, her parents did nothing but argue with one another over Aiden's current situation. Her step-father was concerned about Aiden's scholarship being taken away now that he was no longer able to swim; even though there was no doubt in anyone's mind that he could afford Aiden's tuition. But anyone that knew the man knew that he took great pride in saying that his son was a professional swimmer on the way to the Olympics. It was definitely a difficult time in the house and more often than not, Lacey was escaping it.
In the time since the accident, Lacey had gotten fairly good at sneaking out of the house. She had gotten caught by her mother during her first attempt, but after that she knew ways. She began keeping track of both of her parents' schedules to ensure that she never passed them while they were home or on the way home. And she had also become fairly familiar with sneaking out of the house via her bedroom window. In the times that she did sneak out, which was often, she remained at Sonia's until she felt it was safe to go back home. But that wasn't often. Lacey would sometimes stay over at Sonia's for more than a night even when her mother requested that she come home. She had even gotten into a minor argument with Daniel when he had been reeled into the situation by Aiden's step-father—having been told to bring her home at once.
All in all, this time was not a smooth one for Lacey.
But if she was feeling bad about herself, this was only worse whenever she thought about Aiden. After that first visit, she had been too frightened to see him. He had looked so angry at her when all she wanted to do was stay by his side. Even when he was finally released from the hospital—she had refused Daniel's offer to come with him to pick Aiden up—she couldn't stand the idea of taking that risk of being yelled at again. Of course, this didn't mean that she was completely ignoring her step-brother. On the contrary, when she had the chance she spent most of it with her cellphone permanently glued to her hand either calling to check up on him or sending him a spam of text messages. He neither answered nor responded to any of them and her message screen had days worth of blue coated messages just from her. Her determination to keep in touch with him started to wain though. And it thus resulted in her, as Sonia states, being irrational.
Just as Sonia finished brewing their tea, the front door to the apartment opened and Daniel entered with a bag full of what smelled like Chinese food. Lacey's stomach lurched. As this was her second day staying the night at Sonia's, she couldn't make any excuse for not being hungry. In fact, just the smell of the food in the plastic bag made her feel queasy. “Thought we could have a late lunch before I head off to practice. Coach has us working a little harder now that Ai—Umm...” Daniel had caught himself mid-sentence when his eyes fell on Lacey. It wasn't as if he had forgotten she was there. He was probably just stressed over having to juggle school, swim practice, and making sure his best friend wasn't killing himself all at once. She couldn't blame him for letting slip his frustrations. However, Lacey didn't say anything, instead pulling herself tighter on the couch after being handed her giant mug of tea. She silently sat in her spot while the couple conversed and set up the food. It was a simple conversation and they had made sure to include Lacey whenever possible. But Lacey wasn't in much of a chatty mood—as surprising as it may seem to some people.
After some time, both Daniel and Sonia sensed this. “Lacey is still under the impression that Aiden is still mad at her,” Sonia explained as she pushed a to-go container of noodles in front of Lacey, which she refused and brought her mug closer.
She heard Daniel let out a sigh before explaining that Aiden wasn't mad at her and that he never had been. “He yelled at me!” Lacey blurted out, her eyes wide. Her expression then softened and she once again recoiled on her spot behind her mug. “He never yelled at me before...”
Daniel let out a light laugh behind his chop sticks. “You two really are siblings.” He never explained what he meant, nor did Lacey inquire about it.
Sonia walked Daniel to the door minutes later. Lacey busied herself by throwing away the empty to-go containers and piling the leftovers into Tupperware to be put into the fridge. Most of the leftovers were from her untouched food. After some clear signs of affection, she heard Sonia close the door then walk over to the kitchen. “You didn't eat again, Lacey,” the older female commented, concern in her tone.
“I'm not hungry...” Lacey responded though avoiding Sonia's gaze.
She heard a sigh behind her then more footsteps. When she looked behind her to see what was happening, Sonia's retreating figure was going back into her room to probably continue studying. Lacey let out a sigh herself while she placed the leftovers in the fridge. It was clear that Sonia had more to say about her lack of an appetite. Last week she had been subjected to a lecture from Sonia about how she was too skinny for her own health and that she needs to start eating something. It was only because she could use her worry for Aiden that she was able to get out of yet another lecture.
---
Lacey was now at the two week mark. And for the most part, she was starting to get irritated with Aiden. There were just so many ignored calls and text messages that she can handle before she finally could no longer take it.
Sitting with her legs crossed on her bed—her mother had coerced Daniel into taking her home after staying at Sonia's for over three days—Lacey was once again found with her cellphone permanently pressed against her ear. The slow and dull ringing made her grow more impatient the longer she waited for Aiden to either pick up or lead her to voicemail. Like all other times, it was voicemail. She let out a tired sigh before the beep. “It's me again...Call me back. Bye.” After hanging up, she tossed her phone to the other edge of the bed. She didn't know why this call would be any different from the others. He obviously didn't want to talk to her if he managed to go two straight weeks without a single word. Maybe she still had a little hope that somewhere inside his recovering body, he missed her as much as she missed him. But with these ignored missed calls and text messages, she would never know.
Hours passed before any sign of life returned to that tiny room. It was through the sound of a muffled high pitched tone from the other side of the bed that awoke Lacey. She hadn't even realized that she had fallen back asleep after another failed attempt at reaching Aiden. Her tired eyes turned towards the cellphone resting across from her. At this point, she didn't even hope that it was Aiden that had sent her a text message. Most of the time these past two weeks they were typically from Daniel or Sonia. She didn't expect now to be any different. And so with a tired groan, Lacey buried her face into her pillow to go back to sleep. There were light sounds of chattering coming from outside her room which indicated that her parents were still home. She didn't want to face either of them today and she figured that if she looked asleep both of them would leave her be.
“Lacey?” came a voice after a light shaking. Groaning gently, Lacey opened her eyes once again to find a dark room. Did she really just sleep the whole Saturday away? Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she sat up slowly and listened as her mother explained that she and her step-father would be attending a business dinner tonight and that they wouldn't be home until late. There were other words said, but Lacey could care less to listen. All she remembered hearing was something along the lines of dinner being in the fridge for when she was hungry. She was then left alone after hearing her step-father yell from downstairs that they needed to go now.
It was once she heard the car drive out of the garage that Lacey finally looked at her phone. As she expected, missed calls and text messages from Daniel and Sonia. Much of them were in the afternoon and then stopped about fifteen minutes later. They had both asked if she wanted to join them at the pier to celebrate with them the end of finals weeks. That's right. Aiden, Daniel and Sonia were finished with the school year this month. There were other messages coming from her agent and some of the other models that she knew. However, her heart dropped when she reached the very bottom of the list of text messages that she needed to look over. There was a small chance that she was probably still asleep and was dreaming this whole thing. It's not like it was uncommon—especially nowadays. But no. She was awake. And a text message from Aiden was staring right at her.
Her hands were shaking from excitement that she was unable to read the text properly. She had to read it over a couple more times before she finally understood what he had to say. Or, in the case of this message, what he almost had to say. From the content that she was given, it appeared as if he was in the middle of an apology. But considering how early into the day he had sent the message, it didn't seem like he had intentions of finishing it. She then figured that he was probably sleeping or something. Either way a huge grin appeared on her face rereading the message. It was unreal how happy she was right now.
She had to see him. She just had to. Looking down at her phone once more, Lacey sent Daniel a quick message asking if he could drop her off at Aiden's. The minutes waiting for that response killed her, but she spent it wisely. In fact, she spent it staring fixedly at the jar display resting atop her drawer. Her eyes widened at the brilliant idea she suddenly had. And after finally getting a text back from Daniel stating that he would come over after his dinner with Sonia, she stumbled around the room to get straight to work.
Folding tiny origami stars was a skill she acquired last year after working with a Japanese model for a winter spread. Lacey had been fascinated by the craft and had asked if she could learn. By the end of the shoot, the model had given her the remaining paper strands so that she could practice. After that day, Lacey spent months folding them nonstop. At one point it had even annoyed Aiden as she had a knack of losing some in his apartment which he would find while cleaning. And her step-father had made a comment once that she was wasting her time and paper. Now, she didn't believe so. Lacey had stopped folding the stars after she reached a thousand which was said to mean that she had one wish she could make. To some it seems like such a silly thing to believe in, but Lacey was just a believer in all things positive. It was for this reason that she never made said wish until she was completely certain of what she wanted and needed the most. Tonight, she knew her wish.
Her brilliant plan consisted of her thousand stars and three post it notes. And considering Daniel was basically head over heels for Sonia, she knew that she had enough time to get everything prepared before she got picked up. She spent some time mulling over the perfect places to hide the jars; deciding to use a scavenger hunt type thing to hopefully get him out of the apartment. The first one, obviously, would be at his apartment. But she was in a constant debate over the final two until she figured it out. The next stage of the plan was figuring out the clues she would place on the post it notes. When it came to a play on words, Lacey wasn't that creative and eventually her clues were plenty simple and cliché. As long as it got her point across, she wouldn't mind. The final part of her plan involved Lacey sending a text message to Sonia asking if she could come along with Daniel in her own car. She made sure to mention she had a plan that she would tell them later after they met. It's also noteworthy to say that she had a bright smile on her face the entire time—the first genuine smile since the accident.
Daniel and Sonia arrived in front of her house an hour and a half later. As instructed, they came in separate cars. Lacey quickly caught them up with her brilliant plan, all the while carrying the three jars securely in her arms. After she placed the jars carefully in the backseat of Sonia's car, she said her goodbyes to Daniel as he drove off first. His job in this plan was to make sure that Aiden was out of his apartment long enough for Lacey to place the first jar clue inside for him to find. By now her heart was racing with excitement and nerves. She really hoped it would work.
As Sonia drove towards Aiden's apartment, Lacey impatiently waited for a text from Daniel to give her the go ahead. It wasn't until she and Sonia were parked a little away from the entrance to the building that said text arrived. But at this time, Lacey was already hiding from sight as he and Aiden climbed into his car and drove away. The first time she gets to see her step-brother in two weeks and she has to see him while hiding from him. Oh well. It was all going to be worth it in the end. She just knew it.
Once they were clearly out of sight, Sonia drove the car closer to the apartment building and helped Lacey with one of the jars while she held the other. However, just as she was about to step inside, she had a spur of the moment idea. It was then that she led Sonia down the street towards the familiar Italian restaurant to order Aiden's favorite dish to go. As always, she made super strict instructions to make sure that the cooks kept black peppers out of it. With the jar and a bag with the food in her hands, they rushed back to the apartment to plant the first clue.
She didn't know what to expect when she walked into Aiden's apartment, but this was definitely not it. Her heart dropped walking inside and staring at the state of the place. It was totally wrecked and she could practically feel the frustration her step-brother must have felt in the two weeks he decided to become a hermit. Guilt filled her, realizing that she should have tried harder contacting him. At the beginning of the week, she had camped out in front of his apartment door, but she had been too afraid to unlock the door or even knock because she thought he was still mad at her. Now she wished she had barged in to keep him company. After the initial shock of seeing the place in almost ruins sunk in, Lacey walked carefully towards the living room. There were signs that Aiden had been sleeping on the sofa which she could understand considering his shoulder. She figured that if this was the place that he spent more time in, then it would be wise of her to place the first clue on the table so that it was in sight. Besides, she couldn't even get herself to go into his bedroom if this part of the apartment was already such a mess. Sonia stood to the side as Lacey pulled the Styrofoam container with his favorite dish out of the plastic bag and placed it on the table. She then grabbed a marker and wrote his name on the top cover. After that, she picked up the jar and placed it right beside the container. She made sure that the post it note was visible. She gazed at the note for a couple more seconds. It read:
Jar 1/3
You owe me a driving lesson (;
After ensuring that everything would be in plain sight as soon as Aiden returned to his apartment, Lacey led the way towards the door with his car keys in her hands.
Even though she was sure that she had enough time to finish setting up the rest of the plan, Lacey was still on edge that they would come back at any moment. It was for this reason that she led the way to his car in almost a run. Once they arrived at Aiden's car, she quickly unlocked it then took the jar from Sonia. Like before, she stared at the note for a bit hoping it would make sense. It read:
Jar 2/3
Escape
It wasn't the best clue she could give, but she hoped that in the years they had been step siblings there were some inside knowledge they had together that he would automatically understand. After placing the jar on the driver's seat, Lacey closed the door and locked the car. She took a moment to look down at her phone in case Daniel left some message. He didn't, which had to be a good thing. Right?
She returned to Aiden's apartment to put the car keys back where she had found them. “Can you take me to the park now? I don't want to risk waiting for him outside in your car in case Dan passes by and Aiden recognizes your car,” she asked Sonia. The older female suggested that if they are going to the park that she take her home first so that she could get a jacket. To this, Lacey shook her head. “We don't have that much time,” she responded, “I'll grab one of Aiden's crewnecks or something. Hold on.” She turned towards Aiden's bedroom and went in cautiously.
If the living room and the rest of the apartment was a mess, the bedroom was worse. The thing that hit her the worst was the destroyed Olympics rings on the wall. There were some fragments still holding strong, but the rest was cluttered on the floor. The Olympics was Aiden's dream. And now because of the accident it was out of his reach. Lacey couldn't stand being in this room anymore and hastily rummaged through his closet for the closet jacket she could find. Once she grabbed one that looked like it wasn't crinkled, she took it then rushed out of the bedroom and out the door. It wasn't until she had locked the front door that she let out a sigh of relief. A deep breath later she followed behind Sonia back to her car.
There was still no information from Daniel when the two females arrived at the parking lot of the local park close to Lacey's house. It was because of this that they pestered back and forth over the idea of leaving Lacey there; Lacey suggesting it and Sonia stubbornly rejecting it. At the end, Lacey was forced to remain inside Sonia's car while they waited for the two males to return to Aiden's apartment. At this point she was starting to get a little annoyed that Daniel wasn't saying anything to either of them. A part of her had even thought of the idea of calling him just to get some idea of where they were at, but she didn't.
As she waited, she kept her eyes down on the last jar resting on her lap. She acted as if it would disappear if she so much as looked away from it for a second. Many minutes passed until Daniel sent a text to Sonia telling her that he dropped Aiden off at his apartment. Lacey's heart raced and she sat up as if her step-brother was already at the park. “You don't have to stay anymore, Sonia. I don't mind waiting on my own. I go here all the time at this hour and I've had no problems,” she pleadingly explained. She had to do a bit more persuading before she was allowed to leave the car and make her way towards hers and Aiden's spot. A smile crept onto her lips when she heard Sonia's car pull away and leave.
The waiting process felt much longer than she would have liked. Lacey was constantly checking her phone for the time. Sonia had contacted her a few times already asking if Aiden was there, to which she reluctantly responded that he wasn't. As she continued to wait, sitting with her legs crossed on the patch of grass that she and Aiden dubbed their spot since she and her mom moved to their current house, she kept the last jar cradled in her arms. At some point, she found herself acting like she had telepathic abilities to urge her step-brother to arrive faster.
At the sound of a car pulling up, she turned her head towards the parking lot. She couldn't exactly see the car that pulled in as it was still pretty dark despite all the lights glaring throughout the park. She had to squint her eyes to figure out that the figure that was currently stepping out of the car was actually Aiden. Again, her heart raced as she nervously stood up and faced the now approaching figure. There was nervous smile on her face. When at last he was finally standing in front of her, the smile faltered a bit. This was the first time in two weeks she had seen Aiden and the difference in him was too much to handle at one time. He looked much skinner than before and he definitely looked like he hadn't left his apartment for longer than a few hours a day. It broke her heart to see him like this.
After realizing that she had been staring, Lacey cleared her throat then extended her hands out to give him the last jar, making sure that the post it note was in front of him. She kept her eyes on him the entire time to see his reaction. The last note read:
Jar 3/3
3 jars. 1000 stars. 1 wish.
I wish for you to feel happiness again.
OP
OP
JINFINITE
Super-Earth
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- The Island of Eroda
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It had been a very rough past two weeks for both Aiden as well as his best friend and part-time in-home caretaker Daniel. The first 48 hours after leaving the hospital had been the worst of it but honestly his recovery had been fluctuating so much it was hard to tell if he was truly getting better or not. Some days they were in the clear and he was more or less up and active, like that day he had attempted to return to school. But then there were days he felt like he was dying or wished he was....
The accident had been Aiden’s first time under anesthesia and it seemed his body wasn’t responding well to it. The nurses had said it was normal to be groggy, disoriented and nauseous for the first day. He’d been given anti nausea meds, and plenty of painkillers but it was an endless battle just trying to keep anything down. He was in pain, but in order to take anything stronger than Tylenol he had to eat with it or else the medication would hit his empty stomach and just upset it more. But half the time he felt too sick to eat. Taking painkillers without eating just made him throw up, which would not only force the pills back up but the movement of his body contracting would aggravate his shoulder more bringing him full circle to needing painkillers but being unable to take them. It was brutal and Aiden’s significant weight loss was there to show for it. He was an athlete, he normally ate a couple thousand calories a day to match his rigorous training schedules. But that had all come to a crashing halt. His body was all sorts of out of whack now and it was making him truly miserable. His depression wasn’t helping either. A large part of recovery is mental state and ones desire to get better. All Aiden wanted was to cease existing.
The sound of the door opening brought him out of his light sleep, groaning as his pain receptors went off. It was Daniel, he came over to the couch and set a plastic bag down on the table as he checked the time on his phone, ”Did you sleep the whole time?”
Daniel had left about two hours ago, promising to come back with Gatorade and crackers which was about the extent of Aiden’s diet right now. He’d lost track of time while he was out, started running his own errands and hunting down something Sonia had asked him to grab. And sooo he was returning much later than he had anticipated but it looked like everything was fine, Aiden had been asleep so Daniel wasn’t needed or missed.
Aiden mumbled a response as he looked over to his phone in his hand. The screen was black and it didn’t respond to his touch when he tried to wake it. It must have died while he was asleep…
”Well that’s good,” It was hard for Aiden to fall asleep on account of his shoulder putting him in bar constant pain. Daniel went to clear the grossly soggy cereal from the table, wondering if it was worth it to try for the millionth time to invite Aiden out with him and Sonia or to just leave him to waste away in the apartment. Honestly Aiden had been fighting him a lot recently, the constant pain left him irritable and difficult to deal with—Aiden was just so numb to the idea of getting better. It felt impossible, what was the point?
It was that negativity that made Daniel nervous to leave Aiden alone, he held hope that Aiden would bounce back soon once they got him eating again—he was pouring out the long abandoned soggy cereal now, eyes watching his best friend from across the room—hopefully Aiden would find the will power to pull through.
”Are you hungry?”
He had to be starving, just last night Daniel had watched him hunched over the toilet unable to keep anything down. And after seeing that cereal, he doubted Aiden had eaten more than a few bites. But of course, Aiden denied his hunger. Daniel could take care of sick people, he was good with following schedules for medication, injuries and blood didn’t make him queasy. The two points he fell short were not knowing how to handle deep depression, and then cleaning. One look at this apartment and you could tell no one had cleaned in weeks. Daniel did what he could to keep the immediate area around Aiden’s new residence on the sofa clear, but everything was a mess and Daniel was feeling pretty defeated not being able to get through to his friend. There was only so much he could shoulder alone.
Daniel didn’t stay long, he had plans with Sonia. He helped open the crackers and Gatorade so Aiden’s broken body wouldn’t have to fumble with them and then left to meet up with his girlfriend, ”Eat something, take your meds, charge your phone, call me if you need me.”
Aiden tried, he really did. He nibbled at the crackers and he sipped the sports drink but his appetite really just wasn't there to keep him going. He did succeed at downing two of the lesser strength painkillers and they did help a little, but Aiden was still hurting, in more ways than one.
By the time Daniel returnedas part of Lacey’s surprise, Aiden was once again camped on the sofa. The TV had reruns of crime tv dramas playing, Aiden’s shoulder was throbbing and there was now dirt and a smashed piece of pottery on the floor. RIP house plant.
You know how Aiden had been so temperamental lately? And how he could barely even take his medications so he was just constantly miserable—well, there was one exception to this. It had actually been Sonia’s suggestion earlier in the week, but weed had managed to settle his stomach and brought back his appetite enough to keep a meal down and his painkillers as well. That had been Aiden’s best day yet, but once it wore off he had returned to his mental pit of despair and everything that came with it.
Aiden knew his father would kill him if he found out, but spoiler alert: it wasn’t his first time smoking. He and the boys on the team didn’t smoke, like recreationally or anything. But yeah they were all kids, they had all been in social situations. It was middle of nowhere Oregon, who hadn’t? So when Sonia had actually suggested it to get to like a baseline where he could actually eat, be pain free and not hate himself, Aiden eventually agreed to it. His coach wouldn’t matter, his father wouldn’t matter. No one’s opinion mattered.
It had worked, but they hadn’t tried again since on account of not having anymore and then Sonia and Daniel were busy with school things, schedules didn’t match up, etc. But Daniel had made a pit stop on his way over, ”C’mon, let’s get out for a bit.”
Aiden’s body was still super sore and bruised, he was only wearing track joggers with a fleece blanket partially draped over him. His arm of course glued across his chest by the sling. As of late he didn't usually wear anything on his upper half around the house. Just a blanket or a bathrobe as fooling with sleeves was often times too painful and not worth the effort, but going into the outside world, at night, he would need to put something on. And he wasn't in the mood to suffer through painstakingly getting dressed and maneuvering so as to avoid as much pain as possible. He didn’t want to go anywhere. Wasn’t it sort of late anyways? Why was Daniel trying to suggest going outside now? He turned a little to look over to his friend who in turn held up his crinkled brown paper bag and explained it best if they didn’t smoke so close to his apartment.
It took a bit more effort on Daniel’s part but it wasn’t too long before he was leading the way outside and down to his car. Aiden still wore the track pants, he had a zip up hoodie on with the right sleeve left empty and dangling at his side. As for his shoes he wore his Adidas slippers because anything with laces were downright impossible and he wasn’t ready to let Daniel tie his shoes for him.
Aiden didn’t bother with his seatbelt in Daniel’s car; it hurt too much to twist around and grab the buckle, the strap on the passenger side would just press against his shoulder, and if he was being completely honest...well, he didn’t really care about what might happen to him should they get into an accident—another accident—the last one wasn’t actually an accident…
It was another long and painful car ride to the empty parking lot near the pier, but the drive back was much, much easier on him. He was high, yes. Not quite like a kite, he was still pretty level headed. It was just enough to let him relax, take the pain away, the emotional as well—”What the—?”
Straight off the bat there were two things in his apartment that didn’t belong: A container of takeout that smelled amazing and all of a sudden he was starving and just wanted to sit down and eat. And then right next to it was a jar of...what?? He was sitting on the sofa now, reaching over to lift the post it off and bring it closer to read. It was clearly in Lacey’s cute little high school handwriting. A driving lesson? Why all of a sudden—his car!!
He stood up too fast, bumping the table with his leg and then stumbling when he lost his balance, ”Woah slow down, what happened?” Aiden quickly showed the post it and spun out an explanation about needing to go down to his car to which Daniel agreed to but suggested that he eat first. A suggestion that normally would have Aiden in a mood, but he was plenty agreeable right now and the mention of food caught his attention and had him sitting back down while Daniel opened the container to reveal Aiden’s favorite pasta dish. He. Was. Starving.
In between bites he was spinning the jar around to look at all the different paper stars trapped inside. How long had it been since he had seen Lacey’s stars? He used to get so mad at her over them. Not literally of course, but that she would buy special paper for them, and then he would find them literally everywhere. He always felt bad for crushing them but what could he do when they were in the bottom of his bag or the floor of his car? He kept envisioning her painstakingly folding each of these stars, that focused look of her while she concentrated her all into these little pieces of paper. It was in that moment that it truly dawned on him how much he missed her presence. She usually came over all the time, even if they were just doing their own things in the same space. He didn’t need her to dote on him, and he certainly didn’t want her to see him like this, but missing her was creating an empty hunger that the pasta couldn’t fill. He was so anxious to get down to the car, maybe Lacey was down there waiting for him. Daniel, the less intoxicated of the two, had one minor setback for him though and insisted he hydrate first and even went as far as to suggest he take one of his higher strength prescriptions so it would be active by the time he came down from his high. Take advantage of the first real meal Aiden had had in days.
Still in his athletic slippers, Aiden left the jar on the table next to the now empty styrofoam container as he crossed the room to grab his keys. He cast Daniel a bit of a shifty eye when he held the front door open for him, it was almost like he knew something? But Aiden just went with it and let Daniel get all the doors between his front door and his car. His precious Hyundai looked like it was fine. He didn’t see like balloons or ribbons or anything that stood out, had he been wrong? Did the post it not hint at his car? It had said driving lesson after all, and he knew Lacey knew he would never let her drive his car. So maybe she had meant something else…? Something however possessed him to take a few cautious steps towards his car. This was honestly the most active he’d been in a long time, usually the up and walking around exhausted him or jostled his shoulder. But right now he didn’t feel anything, it was great, he was weightless, it was like he was swimming through the air.
Once at his car’s window, he was able to see another jar in the driver’s seat. Aiden rushed to unlock the car with his keyfob and with a little help from Daniel, got the door open. The next post it read: escape...? What was he supposed to escape from? This one stumped him a little. Would he have gotten it right away if he was sober? Daniel wasn’t much help on the matter, even though Aiden had his suspicions that he knew what this was, it seemed Daniel truly didn’t get the escape message either. Or else he was just a great actor. Maybe if swimming didn’t work out then he could go into theatre.
Then all of a sudden it just smacked him in the face. The park! The one place he and Lacey always went to get away. No parents, no pool, no cameras, the park was their safe space; their escape.
A little smile crept onto his face when he knew he had figured it out, but when he went to move the jar he found he couldn’t lift it one handed. It wasn’t so much that it was too heavy to lift, it was just an awkward size, he was approaching it from an awkward angle, and with his left hand, and yes he didn’t have much strength in general right now, so in the end Daniel swooped in to pick it up.
”What’re you doing?”
Aiden had sat down in the driver’s seat as soon as it was cleared, ”I’m going to find Lacey.”
”Can you even drive?”
”Yeah, I’m good.”
He had the key in the ignition now and automatically turned over his left shoulder to reach for his seatbelt with his right—nope. Nope. Abort. Bad idea.
”Should you be driving?”
Aiden ignored him now, attempting to grab the seatbelt with his left instead, ”Aiden.”
”Aiden stop, I’ll drive you.”
It took several tries to put his seatbelt on. Daniel kept insisting to drive him but Aiden just kept stubbornly refusing to the point that he actually snapped at his friend. He may be more agreeable while high, but he still had his Italian father’s temper deep inside. And that temper wasn’t particularly deep right now. It had flared up so much these past few weeks, in case you couldn’t tell by the state of his room. As if his depression and frustration weren’t enough, his pain was on and off and the medication only added to his mood swings. He didn’t mean to snap at his best friend, but Daniel let it go, he knew better than to keep pushing Aiden right now. This was the first time in weeks the swimmer actually wanted to leave his apartment. And if it was to see Lacey then Daniel certainly wasn’t going to say no, he was just worried if Aiden was good to drive.
As Aiden hit the garage switch clipped onto the driver’s side sun visor he caught a glimpse of himself in the rearview mirror. He looked exhausted, but what stood out in particular against his pale complexion was the bloodshot look to his eyes. It wasn’t too bad honestly, but it was there. The dead giveaway he’d been smoking. This was a bad idea—whatever. He glanced back at Daniel once, standing there in the garage still holding the jar of stars waiting to see him off.
He was high. He didn’t have use of his right arm at all. And he had just taken prescription strength pain killers that probably advised against operating machinery. But he was fine. He was good to drive. He could do this. Oh god, reaching across to turn the key with his left hand. That was a struggle. E-brake with his left, oh wait wait pedal brake. Okay he was good. Reach across again to shift into reverse. Cool, got it….now to reverse. He couldn’t turn back in his seat but it was late enough that he would be able to see approaching cars by their headlights. Oh right. Aiden flicked his own headlights on, then his eyes slowly trailed back to the rearview mirror as he eased his foot off the break to back out into the street.
Honestly the drive wasn’t too bad. There was hardly anyone on the street and it wasn’t like Aiden usually drove with two hands anyways. It was when he finally reached the park that the struggles returned. He could see Lacey standing there, his headlights illuminating her figure. Well, at least he hoped that was her, he didn’t see anyone else at the park. A part of him began to panic, was he ready to see her? He had yelled at her last he saw her. They had been on and off texting though so it wasn’t like they hadn’t spoken in two weeks.His apology text had completely slipped his mind by now.
Reaching across he shifted to park, e-brake up, grab the key—contort his left arm trying to turn the key, oh right headlights. Thankfully unbuckling his seatbelt was a piece of cake compared to putting it on and Aiden was soon pushing open the car door and slowly standing up. He did most things pretty slowly these days. Like now as he walked towards Lacey, right arm still not in his sleeve, left hand shoving his keys into the pocket of his zip up hoodie.
It was cold. Or maybe it was just him? But he carried on the last few feet till he stood face to face with Lacey. He had been too focused on her to notice the third jar in her hands until she held it out to him. He blinked to focus on the post it, a slightly uncharacteristic smile formed as he reached to take the jar. Not that Aiden wasn’t happy to see her or to receive all these stars. Lacey was so cute putting this together. But realistically, without smoking earlier he wouldn’t have been able to give her the reaction she wanted.
I wish for you to feel happiness again.
He turned the jar over in his hands to look at all the little stars, ”Do I even want to know how long this took you?”
"...thanks." His smile had grown some, and his red tinted eyes flickered up to see the face he had missed the most these past few weeks.
”How’d you even get here?”
She went about explaining her plan and how she had involved Daniel and Sonia. Aiden kept turning the jar over as she talked, that small smile of his never leaving. It hadn’t fully sunk in that she had been to his apartment. Like he knew she had, She had left the jars there, she just said so herself. But it just didn’t feel real yet and Aiden wasn’t processing that meant she had seen the state of his apartment. She knew what a mess he was, literally. But did she? Did she really know? To what extent did she know about his level of happiness? Or rather his lack of?
Aiden was going in circles in his head and too focused on Lacey to notice he had begun to shiver. He was cold. He didn't have anything on under his hoodie and the zipper kept hitting his bare skin. It was nighttime now and while the weather itself wasn’t too cold, Aiden’s current weakened body coupled with his intoxicated state—he was having trouble regulating his body temperature. Slightly chilly was downright freezing now but by the time he noticed he was shivering so hard it physically hurt. He was all tensed up and aggravating his shoulder, but it wasn’t until Lacey mentioned it that he noticed himself. They had been out here for a while now, catching up and swapping stories and neither had kept track of the time.
”I’m j-just c-cold. C-could we go?” Her hand on his back was the most comforting thing he’d felt in two weeks.
They made their way back towards the car together. Aiden was now very clearly trembling from cold. Once at the driver’s side door he paused to hand the jar over to Lacey so he could fish his keys out. He stared down at them in his hand for a moment, ”Aiden?”
Write this down in the history textbooks now as the next moment Aiden extended his shaky hand out to her and passed the keys over. ”C-can you drive?”
His eyes were so heavy now, his body so cold it was painful; he couldn’t drive, he knew that much at least. Just this once. This one time he would willingly relinquish his keys. Had he been in a clearer state of mind he probably never would have.
Aiden made his way to the passenger side once Lacey took the keys, and he managed to make it into the car on his own, and close the door by himself as well. But the seatbelt wasn’t gonna happen. His head was flat against the headrest, eyes shut as his body tried so hard to get him to give in to sleep. Lacey of course mentioned the seatbelt and leaned over to see if she could help from there but it wasn’t a good angle. When she offered to get out and come around to help on his side he snapped again. What was it with everyone and seatbelts today?? ”Lacey just leave it!” Silent pause between them ”—can you just drive? Please?”
He did his best to keep his eyes open after that, he fought himself to stay present and offer verbal assistance to her as needed. She was probably more nervous than he was in that moment that she was behind the wheel of his baby. But the step siblings made it back to his apartment safe and sound, and Aiden had even revived some after the heater had kicked in during the drive.
Up they went to his apartment where it seemed Daniel had left the second jar by the front door when he left. Lacey could you grab that? After leading the way inside Aiden proceeded to step out of his slippers before walking towards the couch where he blanket was draped across the back, ”Sorry, it’s kind of a mess.”
“Kind of”? Aiden was not a messy person by nature, this was a disaster. But nothing bothered him anymore at this point. It was like he looked right through everything and everyone. He just didn’t care anymore. Unzipping the hoodie he was quick to shed it and let it drop to the floor like everything else. His too thin, bruised and battered body shivered one last time at being exposed before he was able to sloppily wrap his blanket around him. Home at last. Everything was exactly as he’d left it. Empty take out container, Gatorade, orange prescription bottle, and that first jar of stars.
”Are you staying over?” He was back on the couch now, thoroughly exhausted after those back to back outings. Despite the state of his apartment, the space beside him on the couch was clear. As if it were an empty space that had been held all this time waiting for someone to come along and fill it.
The accident had been Aiden’s first time under anesthesia and it seemed his body wasn’t responding well to it. The nurses had said it was normal to be groggy, disoriented and nauseous for the first day. He’d been given anti nausea meds, and plenty of painkillers but it was an endless battle just trying to keep anything down. He was in pain, but in order to take anything stronger than Tylenol he had to eat with it or else the medication would hit his empty stomach and just upset it more. But half the time he felt too sick to eat. Taking painkillers without eating just made him throw up, which would not only force the pills back up but the movement of his body contracting would aggravate his shoulder more bringing him full circle to needing painkillers but being unable to take them. It was brutal and Aiden’s significant weight loss was there to show for it. He was an athlete, he normally ate a couple thousand calories a day to match his rigorous training schedules. But that had all come to a crashing halt. His body was all sorts of out of whack now and it was making him truly miserable. His depression wasn’t helping either. A large part of recovery is mental state and ones desire to get better. All Aiden wanted was to cease existing.
The sound of the door opening brought him out of his light sleep, groaning as his pain receptors went off. It was Daniel, he came over to the couch and set a plastic bag down on the table as he checked the time on his phone, ”Did you sleep the whole time?”
Daniel had left about two hours ago, promising to come back with Gatorade and crackers which was about the extent of Aiden’s diet right now. He’d lost track of time while he was out, started running his own errands and hunting down something Sonia had asked him to grab. And sooo he was returning much later than he had anticipated but it looked like everything was fine, Aiden had been asleep so Daniel wasn’t needed or missed.
Aiden mumbled a response as he looked over to his phone in his hand. The screen was black and it didn’t respond to his touch when he tried to wake it. It must have died while he was asleep…
”Well that’s good,” It was hard for Aiden to fall asleep on account of his shoulder putting him in bar constant pain. Daniel went to clear the grossly soggy cereal from the table, wondering if it was worth it to try for the millionth time to invite Aiden out with him and Sonia or to just leave him to waste away in the apartment. Honestly Aiden had been fighting him a lot recently, the constant pain left him irritable and difficult to deal with—Aiden was just so numb to the idea of getting better. It felt impossible, what was the point?
It was that negativity that made Daniel nervous to leave Aiden alone, he held hope that Aiden would bounce back soon once they got him eating again—he was pouring out the long abandoned soggy cereal now, eyes watching his best friend from across the room—hopefully Aiden would find the will power to pull through.
”Are you hungry?”
He had to be starving, just last night Daniel had watched him hunched over the toilet unable to keep anything down. And after seeing that cereal, he doubted Aiden had eaten more than a few bites. But of course, Aiden denied his hunger. Daniel could take care of sick people, he was good with following schedules for medication, injuries and blood didn’t make him queasy. The two points he fell short were not knowing how to handle deep depression, and then cleaning. One look at this apartment and you could tell no one had cleaned in weeks. Daniel did what he could to keep the immediate area around Aiden’s new residence on the sofa clear, but everything was a mess and Daniel was feeling pretty defeated not being able to get through to his friend. There was only so much he could shoulder alone.
Daniel didn’t stay long, he had plans with Sonia. He helped open the crackers and Gatorade so Aiden’s broken body wouldn’t have to fumble with them and then left to meet up with his girlfriend, ”Eat something, take your meds, charge your phone, call me if you need me.”
Aiden tried, he really did. He nibbled at the crackers and he sipped the sports drink but his appetite really just wasn't there to keep him going. He did succeed at downing two of the lesser strength painkillers and they did help a little, but Aiden was still hurting, in more ways than one.
By the time Daniel returned
You know how Aiden had been so temperamental lately? And how he could barely even take his medications so he was just constantly miserable—well, there was one exception to this. It had actually been Sonia’s suggestion earlier in the week, but weed had managed to settle his stomach and brought back his appetite enough to keep a meal down and his painkillers as well. That had been Aiden’s best day yet, but once it wore off he had returned to his mental pit of despair and everything that came with it.
Aiden knew his father would kill him if he found out, but spoiler alert: it wasn’t his first time smoking. He and the boys on the team didn’t smoke, like recreationally or anything. But yeah they were all kids, they had all been in social situations. It was middle of nowhere Oregon, who hadn’t? So when Sonia had actually suggested it to get to like a baseline where he could actually eat, be pain free and not hate himself, Aiden eventually agreed to it. His coach wouldn’t matter, his father wouldn’t matter. No one’s opinion mattered.
It had worked, but they hadn’t tried again since on account of not having anymore and then Sonia and Daniel were busy with school things, schedules didn’t match up, etc. But Daniel had made a pit stop on his way over, ”C’mon, let’s get out for a bit.”
Aiden’s body was still super sore and bruised, he was only wearing track joggers with a fleece blanket partially draped over him. His arm of course glued across his chest by the sling. As of late he didn't usually wear anything on his upper half around the house. Just a blanket or a bathrobe as fooling with sleeves was often times too painful and not worth the effort, but going into the outside world, at night, he would need to put something on. And he wasn't in the mood to suffer through painstakingly getting dressed and maneuvering so as to avoid as much pain as possible. He didn’t want to go anywhere. Wasn’t it sort of late anyways? Why was Daniel trying to suggest going outside now? He turned a little to look over to his friend who in turn held up his crinkled brown paper bag and explained it best if they didn’t smoke so close to his apartment.
It took a bit more effort on Daniel’s part but it wasn’t too long before he was leading the way outside and down to his car. Aiden still wore the track pants, he had a zip up hoodie on with the right sleeve left empty and dangling at his side. As for his shoes he wore his Adidas slippers because anything with laces were downright impossible and he wasn’t ready to let Daniel tie his shoes for him.
Aiden didn’t bother with his seatbelt in Daniel’s car; it hurt too much to twist around and grab the buckle, the strap on the passenger side would just press against his shoulder, and if he was being completely honest...well, he didn’t really care about what might happen to him should they get into an accident—another accident—the last one wasn’t actually an accident…
It was another long and painful car ride to the empty parking lot near the pier, but the drive back was much, much easier on him. He was high, yes. Not quite like a kite, he was still pretty level headed. It was just enough to let him relax, take the pain away, the emotional as well—”What the—?”
Straight off the bat there were two things in his apartment that didn’t belong: A container of takeout that smelled amazing and all of a sudden he was starving and just wanted to sit down and eat. And then right next to it was a jar of...what?? He was sitting on the sofa now, reaching over to lift the post it off and bring it closer to read. It was clearly in Lacey’s cute little high school handwriting. A driving lesson? Why all of a sudden—his car!!
He stood up too fast, bumping the table with his leg and then stumbling when he lost his balance, ”Woah slow down, what happened?” Aiden quickly showed the post it and spun out an explanation about needing to go down to his car to which Daniel agreed to but suggested that he eat first. A suggestion that normally would have Aiden in a mood, but he was plenty agreeable right now and the mention of food caught his attention and had him sitting back down while Daniel opened the container to reveal Aiden’s favorite pasta dish. He. Was. Starving.
In between bites he was spinning the jar around to look at all the different paper stars trapped inside. How long had it been since he had seen Lacey’s stars? He used to get so mad at her over them. Not literally of course, but that she would buy special paper for them, and then he would find them literally everywhere. He always felt bad for crushing them but what could he do when they were in the bottom of his bag or the floor of his car? He kept envisioning her painstakingly folding each of these stars, that focused look of her while she concentrated her all into these little pieces of paper. It was in that moment that it truly dawned on him how much he missed her presence. She usually came over all the time, even if they were just doing their own things in the same space. He didn’t need her to dote on him, and he certainly didn’t want her to see him like this, but missing her was creating an empty hunger that the pasta couldn’t fill. He was so anxious to get down to the car, maybe Lacey was down there waiting for him. Daniel, the less intoxicated of the two, had one minor setback for him though and insisted he hydrate first and even went as far as to suggest he take one of his higher strength prescriptions so it would be active by the time he came down from his high. Take advantage of the first real meal Aiden had had in days.
Still in his athletic slippers, Aiden left the jar on the table next to the now empty styrofoam container as he crossed the room to grab his keys. He cast Daniel a bit of a shifty eye when he held the front door open for him, it was almost like he knew something? But Aiden just went with it and let Daniel get all the doors between his front door and his car. His precious Hyundai looked like it was fine. He didn’t see like balloons or ribbons or anything that stood out, had he been wrong? Did the post it not hint at his car? It had said driving lesson after all, and he knew Lacey knew he would never let her drive his car. So maybe she had meant something else…? Something however possessed him to take a few cautious steps towards his car. This was honestly the most active he’d been in a long time, usually the up and walking around exhausted him or jostled his shoulder. But right now he didn’t feel anything, it was great, he was weightless, it was like he was swimming through the air.
Once at his car’s window, he was able to see another jar in the driver’s seat. Aiden rushed to unlock the car with his keyfob and with a little help from Daniel, got the door open. The next post it read: escape...? What was he supposed to escape from? This one stumped him a little. Would he have gotten it right away if he was sober? Daniel wasn’t much help on the matter, even though Aiden had his suspicions that he knew what this was, it seemed Daniel truly didn’t get the escape message either. Or else he was just a great actor. Maybe if swimming didn’t work out then he could go into theatre.
Then all of a sudden it just smacked him in the face. The park! The one place he and Lacey always went to get away. No parents, no pool, no cameras, the park was their safe space; their escape.
A little smile crept onto his face when he knew he had figured it out, but when he went to move the jar he found he couldn’t lift it one handed. It wasn’t so much that it was too heavy to lift, it was just an awkward size, he was approaching it from an awkward angle, and with his left hand, and yes he didn’t have much strength in general right now, so in the end Daniel swooped in to pick it up.
”What’re you doing?”
Aiden had sat down in the driver’s seat as soon as it was cleared, ”I’m going to find Lacey.”
”Can you even drive?”
”Yeah, I’m good.”
He had the key in the ignition now and automatically turned over his left shoulder to reach for his seatbelt with his right—nope. Nope. Abort. Bad idea.
”Should you be driving?”
Aiden ignored him now, attempting to grab the seatbelt with his left instead, ”Aiden.”
”Aiden stop, I’ll drive you.”
It took several tries to put his seatbelt on. Daniel kept insisting to drive him but Aiden just kept stubbornly refusing to the point that he actually snapped at his friend. He may be more agreeable while high, but he still had his Italian father’s temper deep inside. And that temper wasn’t particularly deep right now. It had flared up so much these past few weeks, in case you couldn’t tell by the state of his room. As if his depression and frustration weren’t enough, his pain was on and off and the medication only added to his mood swings. He didn’t mean to snap at his best friend, but Daniel let it go, he knew better than to keep pushing Aiden right now. This was the first time in weeks the swimmer actually wanted to leave his apartment. And if it was to see Lacey then Daniel certainly wasn’t going to say no, he was just worried if Aiden was good to drive.
As Aiden hit the garage switch clipped onto the driver’s side sun visor he caught a glimpse of himself in the rearview mirror. He looked exhausted, but what stood out in particular against his pale complexion was the bloodshot look to his eyes. It wasn’t too bad honestly, but it was there. The dead giveaway he’d been smoking. This was a bad idea—whatever. He glanced back at Daniel once, standing there in the garage still holding the jar of stars waiting to see him off.
He was high. He didn’t have use of his right arm at all. And he had just taken prescription strength pain killers that probably advised against operating machinery. But he was fine. He was good to drive. He could do this. Oh god, reaching across to turn the key with his left hand. That was a struggle. E-brake with his left, oh wait wait pedal brake. Okay he was good. Reach across again to shift into reverse. Cool, got it….now to reverse. He couldn’t turn back in his seat but it was late enough that he would be able to see approaching cars by their headlights. Oh right. Aiden flicked his own headlights on, then his eyes slowly trailed back to the rearview mirror as he eased his foot off the break to back out into the street.
Honestly the drive wasn’t too bad. There was hardly anyone on the street and it wasn’t like Aiden usually drove with two hands anyways. It was when he finally reached the park that the struggles returned. He could see Lacey standing there, his headlights illuminating her figure. Well, at least he hoped that was her, he didn’t see anyone else at the park. A part of him began to panic, was he ready to see her? He had yelled at her last he saw her. They had been on and off texting though so it wasn’t like they hadn’t spoken in two weeks.
Reaching across he shifted to park, e-brake up, grab the key—contort his left arm trying to turn the key, oh right headlights. Thankfully unbuckling his seatbelt was a piece of cake compared to putting it on and Aiden was soon pushing open the car door and slowly standing up. He did most things pretty slowly these days. Like now as he walked towards Lacey, right arm still not in his sleeve, left hand shoving his keys into the pocket of his zip up hoodie.
It was cold. Or maybe it was just him? But he carried on the last few feet till he stood face to face with Lacey. He had been too focused on her to notice the third jar in her hands until she held it out to him. He blinked to focus on the post it, a slightly uncharacteristic smile formed as he reached to take the jar. Not that Aiden wasn’t happy to see her or to receive all these stars. Lacey was so cute putting this together. But realistically, without smoking earlier he wouldn’t have been able to give her the reaction she wanted.
I wish for you to feel happiness again.
He turned the jar over in his hands to look at all the little stars, ”Do I even want to know how long this took you?”
"...thanks." His smile had grown some, and his red tinted eyes flickered up to see the face he had missed the most these past few weeks.
”How’d you even get here?”
She went about explaining her plan and how she had involved Daniel and Sonia. Aiden kept turning the jar over as she talked, that small smile of his never leaving. It hadn’t fully sunk in that she had been to his apartment. Like he knew she had, She had left the jars there, she just said so herself. But it just didn’t feel real yet and Aiden wasn’t processing that meant she had seen the state of his apartment. She knew what a mess he was, literally. But did she? Did she really know? To what extent did she know about his level of happiness? Or rather his lack of?
Aiden was going in circles in his head and too focused on Lacey to notice he had begun to shiver. He was cold. He didn't have anything on under his hoodie and the zipper kept hitting his bare skin. It was nighttime now and while the weather itself wasn’t too cold, Aiden’s current weakened body coupled with his intoxicated state—he was having trouble regulating his body temperature. Slightly chilly was downright freezing now but by the time he noticed he was shivering so hard it physically hurt. He was all tensed up and aggravating his shoulder, but it wasn’t until Lacey mentioned it that he noticed himself. They had been out here for a while now, catching up and swapping stories and neither had kept track of the time.
”I’m j-just c-cold. C-could we go?” Her hand on his back was the most comforting thing he’d felt in two weeks.
They made their way back towards the car together. Aiden was now very clearly trembling from cold. Once at the driver’s side door he paused to hand the jar over to Lacey so he could fish his keys out. He stared down at them in his hand for a moment, ”Aiden?”
Write this down in the history textbooks now as the next moment Aiden extended his shaky hand out to her and passed the keys over. ”C-can you drive?”
His eyes were so heavy now, his body so cold it was painful; he couldn’t drive, he knew that much at least. Just this once. This one time he would willingly relinquish his keys. Had he been in a clearer state of mind he probably never would have.
Aiden made his way to the passenger side once Lacey took the keys, and he managed to make it into the car on his own, and close the door by himself as well. But the seatbelt wasn’t gonna happen. His head was flat against the headrest, eyes shut as his body tried so hard to get him to give in to sleep. Lacey of course mentioned the seatbelt and leaned over to see if she could help from there but it wasn’t a good angle. When she offered to get out and come around to help on his side he snapped again. What was it with everyone and seatbelts today?? ”Lacey just leave it!” Silent pause between them ”—can you just drive? Please?”
He did his best to keep his eyes open after that, he fought himself to stay present and offer verbal assistance to her as needed. She was probably more nervous than he was in that moment that she was behind the wheel of his baby. But the step siblings made it back to his apartment safe and sound, and Aiden had even revived some after the heater had kicked in during the drive.
Up they went to his apartment where it seemed Daniel had left the second jar by the front door when he left. Lacey could you grab that? After leading the way inside Aiden proceeded to step out of his slippers before walking towards the couch where he blanket was draped across the back, ”Sorry, it’s kind of a mess.”
“Kind of”? Aiden was not a messy person by nature, this was a disaster. But nothing bothered him anymore at this point. It was like he looked right through everything and everyone. He just didn’t care anymore. Unzipping the hoodie he was quick to shed it and let it drop to the floor like everything else. His too thin, bruised and battered body shivered one last time at being exposed before he was able to sloppily wrap his blanket around him. Home at last. Everything was exactly as he’d left it. Empty take out container, Gatorade, orange prescription bottle, and that first jar of stars.
”Are you staying over?” He was back on the couch now, thoroughly exhausted after those back to back outings. Despite the state of his apartment, the space beside him on the couch was clear. As if it were an empty space that had been held all this time waiting for someone to come along and fill it.
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feelsHASkilig
Solo Conversationalist
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- Page Two Hundred & Forty-Nine
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Lacey was quite glad that it was dark out. After how many attempts to persuade Aiden to let her drive his precious Hyundai, now that she was given the opportunity to drive it...she was terrified. She watched momentarily as her step-brother walked over to the passenger’s side. With each step she took closer to the other side of the car, she could feel her heart race with nerves and...honestly a little fear. Deep down, though, there was admittedly a little bit of excitement. Save for this very moment, the only other times she has driven a car were during her driving lessons. And she had finished those lessons not too long ago.
Of course, no one needs to tell Aiden that this would be her first time driving a car without an instructor because she was too busy with work to actually get some practice driving hours logged in. She had made so much progress tonight for that trust to be ruined.
For the most part, Lacey did a decent job acting like she was filled with the confidence needed to drive Aiden’s car. She survived taking a seat behind the wheel then adjusting the seat and mirrors to her preference. For the most part, she was fairly familiar with the mechanics involved with driving his car having been seated at the passenger seat so many times before. Nothing in front of her was too alien. It was once she focused on Aiden, however, that her cover was completely blown.
She was only thinking the best for him when she leaned over to help him with his seatbelt. But the moment he yelled at her again, she froze. The memory of him yelling at her at the hospital popped into her mind as if it just happened. There was a tense silence in the small space. Lacey’s body shook nervously. She had done it again. She had made him angry when she didn’t mean to. Why couldn’t she do anything right? “Sorry…” she mumbled out.
Even after Aiden told her to drive them back to his place, Lacey needed a moment to breathe. It was during one deep breath that she finally registered something was different. And, considering they were living in Oregon, she knew immediately what the new smell was. She never experienced smoking weed, of course. She just never really had the time nor the group of friends to try it. But she still knew enough people that did it on their own time to know when someone smoked recently. After she let out her deep breath rather sharply, she turned look over at Aiden. Save for the outburst, his behavior since he arrived at the park made a bit more sense. She did also recognize that he seemed rather comfortable with the effects; as if he had done this before. Had he? Is he smoking it more now after his accident?
As Lacey watched Aiden shift in his seat, she knew that they had been sitting in his car longer than expected. Well, there were no more reasons to stall. She had long asked to drive this car. Time to prove that she could do it….
This feeling of defeat, however, made driving back to Aiden’s apartment difficult. Lacey was honestly relieved at how late it was. Their small, in the middle of nowhere town was practically dead save for a car or two. This allowed Lacey the luxury to basically drive at her own pace; which really meant that she drove about five miles slower than the posted speed limit. But all that mattered was that despite her nerves and anxiety to be behind the wheel, she had minimal obstacles to face and eventually she got them back to his apartment in one piece.
As soon as she got out of the car, Lacey felt a rush of the effect driving while nervous had on her. A headache was growing with each step she took away from the car. It probably also didn’t help that she had failed to eat when she was home. While Aiden slowly climbed out of the car, she took a moment to just lean against the car and take a couple deep breaths. She just needed to regain some control of her balance. After all, with Aiden being high and injured, she was technically the stronger one between them. God forbid that they both depend on her strength to get them back to his apartment. Knock on wood.
Even though she was at the apartment earlier, seeing the state of it was still a shock. While Aiden made himself comfortable as if nothing was off, Lacey was just...astounded at what two weeks could do. Did Daniel even attempt to tidy up in the many visits he made? She honestly hoped that was a no or else she would be more concerned over Aiden than she already was.
Lacey felt compelled to do something about the mess. Just staring at the dirty dishes, various shattered objects and abandoned containers made her headache feel worse. It also made her feel tense and no amount of shaking different limbs could loosen her up. But she didn’t know where to even start.
She was in the middle of staring at a toppled over house plant when a distant voice broke through. It only took a second for her to realize that it was Aiden speaking to her. “Hm?” Aiden repeated his question as she walked over to the dinner table to put the jar in her hands beside the first jar. She realized then that between her stress headache and helping Aiden back to his apartment that they had forgotten the third jar in the car. Maybe she can get it later when Aiden is more comfortable and situated.
This was the problem with Lacey when it involves Aiden; she rarely thought too far ahead. Or if she did think of something far enough ahead, the situation now was overlooked. It had been that way since they became friends, like, actual friends. When she was still in junior high and having to basically following Aiden everywhere when their parents didn’t want her home alone, she rarely made decisions that worked in her favor for the near future. Like the one time she asked Aiden to go with her on a bus ride to a mall in the next city over. It was great and fun in the moment, but then she was made very aware of how much this impromptu plan would affect him. See, apparently she had completely overlooked the fact that Aiden was supposed to go on a date with his then girlfriend later that evening. By the time they left the mall to go home...they were on the bus stuck in traffic. Suffice it to say, Aiden missed his date and Lacey felt sort of guilty over it.
Right now was no different. As Lacey stared at her step-brother quietly, she pondered over his question. Was she staying over tonight? With all the hustle and bustle to get her little project completed tonight, she hadn’t considered what would happen after giving Aiden the last jar. Sure, from the park it was a no brainer. It was walking distance from home and she had done that journey alone plenty of times. However, she wasn’t at the park. She was at Aiden’s apartment. It would take longer for her to walk home and she could already hear everyone lecture her about it. She really had not considered the possibility that she would be staying over. Blame it on the two week separation. It completely screwed over their usual flow.
“Um, I guess I should, huh?” Lacey said with uncertainty. She briefly looked over at the clock. Yeah, it was just too late in the evening for her to consider calling anyone to pick her up and take her home. And she would never ask Aiden to do it considering his condition. It wasn’t like staying over tonight was too much of a big deal. Sure, they had been completely avoiding each other for two whole weeks. Sure, Aiden was currently pretty high and Lacey wasn’t quite sure how to take care of him in this state. Sure, she felt a sort of tense distance from him from where she stood. She realized that had this been any other evening before the accident, she wouldn’t even be standing where she was right now. She would already be cuddled up under the blankets with Aiden on the spot of the couch that was oddly clear of any kind of mess.
At least she still had extra clothes in the closet for situations like this.
“I should, um, call Mom first, yeah?” Lacey then added, pulling her phone out of her back pocket. Speaking of her mother, she was surprised that she hadn’t heard anything from her since she and her step-father left for...what was it again that they were going to tonight? She took a seat at the dinner table, too focused on pulling up her mother’s number in her Contacts to register the look Aiden was giving her. The conversation was brief since her parents were still at the whatever shindig. While her mother gave her approval that she could stay at Aiden’s tonight, Lacey was not too oblivious to the tone in the woman’s voice when she said that she would have to also tell her step-father. Lacey subconsciously gulped at this. As of late, any mention of Aiden was a sensitive topic around her step-father. Hopefully he was having enough fun tonight to loosen up a bit over the situation.
After Lacey ended the call, she placed her phone facedown on the table then looked over at her step-brother. “She said it’s okay. Do you mind if I change? I can borrow one of your shirts, yes? It’s not like you’re using them.” She gave off a light laugh. Making her way over to his bedroom, she caught herself tensing up a bit. Maybe it had something to do with the impending dread of finding what happened to the room. If the living room was this trashed, she can only guess what happened to his bedroom.
The first thing that caught Lacey’s attention and immediately broke her heart was the Olympic shrine. She and Aiden worked so hard on that shrine. With only a couple rings barely hanging onto the wall, it was hard for Lacey to deny the sad truth that the accident ruined Aiden’s Olympic dreams. He worked so hard to get where he was and now it was all for nothing.
She now forgot the main purpose for going into his room as she walked over to the destroyed shrine to pick up the ripped up pieces of the Olympic rings off the floor. When she stood up again to look at what remained on the wall, she panicked for a moment. Where was she going to put all of this? What purpose did she have for cleaning up the destruction of Aiden’s dream? Was she supposed to throw it away now? No. She couldn’t. The Olympics was an important goal to Aiden. Even if he was going to give up on it, she couldn’t. She just...couldn’t. She wasn’t ready to give up on that part of Aiden.
So, after gathering all the pieces of the shrine, she placed them on the bed briefly to find someplace to them all. At the same time, she remembered why she was in his room in the first place and grabbed a shirt and a pair of sweats to change into. On her way back to the bed, she paused at his closet to grab a shoe box. None of them were empty, but she was sure Aiden would forgive her if he suddenly found that one of his pairs of shoes lacked a box. Upon returning to the bed, she placed the clothes aside and carefully packed the pieces of Aiden’s Olympic shrine inside. She made sure that every piece was packed away. Once she was done, she placed the lid back on the shoebox then slid it under his bed. A secret only for her to know until she’s ready to tell Aiden.
Lacey finally left Aiden’s bedroom once she finished changing into the clothes she was borrowing from him. On top of the shirt she grabbed earlier, she once again wore the crewneck that she wore earlier when she went to the park. It wasn’t because it was cold in the apartment. Sure, there was always a chill in Oregon, but not enough that a sweater was necessary. No, she used the crewneck to hide the fact that she had to tighten the drawstring of Aiden’s sweats so that it wouldn’t fall off her waist. It should be mentioned that the sweatpants were already tight enough. And had it been months ago, they would still fit her just fine. So, yeah, Lacey thought the crewneck necessary. She didn’t need Aiden lecturing her again when she was the one that was supposed to be taking care of him and his current bad habits.
“So,” Lacey started slowly as she rolled up the sleeves of the crewneck once again. “I have to be honest here. And I say this with all the love I can possibly give at this very moment.” She paused...for dramatic effect. “This place is a total pig sty.”
“Like, I know my room at home can get pretty messy when I don’t bother...but, just...Are you not paying Daniel to be a maid too?” Lacey turned away from the styrofoam food containers on the dinner table to flash a teasing smile at her step-brother. “If I’m going to be staying over tonight, I need to do something about this. Let me go grab you something to eat and another Gatorade to keep you company.”
There was no doubt that Lacey had good intentions when she insisted on cleaning up the mess in the apartment. But as soon as she gathered up all of the trash in the kitchen and washed all the dishes, she could feel a sort of strange tension coming from Aiden. When she left the kitchen to begin work on the dinner table and the rest of the living room space, she found that he had not moved a muscle since she started. Every so often she would catch him looking at her, but the slightly dazed, silly look from earlier at the park had long ago vanished and the look in his eyes made her tense. It was the same kind of tension she felt whenever she did something to annoy her step-father. Was she annoying Aiden now? Did she do something wrong? Say something wrong?
Lacey had just finished clearing up the coffee table when she heard him say something about sitting with him. She turned to look at him again, tightening her grip on the trash bag in her hand. As much as she wanted to oblige his request, she also really wanted to finish cleaning. It was difficult to put her finger on why exactly she had this compelling need to fix up everything in the apartment. She wasn’t a neat freak in the slightest. After all, she is sixteen. But, just, something about the mess of the apartment had her on edge and she couldn’t talk herself into finally relaxing until she was done.
But the way Aiden looked at her now forced her hand. Aiden always had this way of getting her to do whatever he wanted with just a look. Tonight was no different, except that...it also was different. There was no easy way to explain this difference other than looking at Aiden just made her sad. It made fixing the apartment not as important. So, with a sigh, she dropped off the trash bag in the kitchen then made her way over to the couch. After two weeks of separation, Lacey finally took her place at Aiden’s side.
However, she found it “difficult” to get comfortable. Sure, on the outside, she didn’t seem bothered with her head resting on his shoulder and legs tucked under her. But Lacey was having a hard time focusing on the television; too consumed by every observation she had being this close to her step-brother.
First of all, he didn’t smell like Aiden. Obviously one reason for that was the weed. Personally, she wasn’t that bothered with the smell itself. But the smell clung to his hair until now and she just wasn’t used to it. When it related to her step-brother, the smell of weed was not what she would associate with him. It was just jarring and real unsettling. She figured he probably also hadn’t showered much either, but that didn’t mean she thought he stunk. It was just...these smells were not familiar to her. Nothing about it made her feel...at home being beside him. It was hard to fight off the sense that she wasn’t with Aiden.
Then there was the fact that she could feel how tense he was sitting with him. His shoulder against the side of her head felt sharp. She tried many times to make herself feel more comfortable beside him. But the more she felt that he wasn’t relaxing, the more defeated she felt herself. This wasn’t what she had imagined when she thought about their reunion.
Lacey was honestly getting desperate. But what could she do? She thought just being beside him again would be enough to make things as close to normal as possible. She really thought them being together was going to make her wish come true. How foolish she was. It was obvious that despite her efforts to wish for nothing but the best for Aiden, he wasn’t as happy as she hoped. Their time at the park was just a lucky chance for her. She just happened to be with him at a time that his senses were inhibited by outside substances.
She was tired of overthinking. Tired of worrying about how the mess in the apartment was making her feel. Tired of pretending like everything was back to normal now that they were back together.
Lacey let out a sigh. “Do you mind if I go to bed? It’s getting kind of late,” she asked, pulling her head off Aiden’s shoulder to sit up again. “Are you going to stay here? Will you be okay being by yourself?” She ended up asking a couple more questions in an effort to make sure Aiden was going to be comfortable once she left. No, he didn’t want the television turned off. Sure, he’ll take another pillow for his good side. Maybe an extra blanket wouldn’t hurt.
“Okay, well, good night. I’ll leave the door open if you need anything. Just holler,” Lacey explained then left to go to the bedroom. As mentioned, she kept the bedroom door open. Even if they wouldn’t be able to see each other for the rest of the night, at least the open door would sort of give them a connection.
Despite feeling pretty tired, Lacey had trouble falling asleep all night. Here and there she would manage to get in twenty or so minutes. But some worrying force in her would then wake her up thinking that Aiden needed her. Then she would lay in bed awake for another twenty minutes waiting for Aiden to call for her for something until the exhaustion inevitably reasoned with her that she was just imagining it and that she should go back to sleep. It was that vicious cycle for the entire night until the first signs of the sun peeked through the window. After that, she just abandoned trying to get more sleep. Instead, she used that time to clean and fix up Aiden’s entire bedroom.
A couple hours later, Lacey managed to make some progress in her little project. Aiden’s bedroom was as clean and organized as she could make it. Much of the clothes that had been tossed around were thrown into the laundry basket for later. She realized she would either need Daniel’s help or make multiple trips to get all of it done. The next item on her list was the living room. As she walked back to the apartment from throwing out the couple trash bags she filled between last night and that morning, she mulled over exactly what to start with first. The toppled over, broken house plant was a blaring Item #1. She just needed to remember where the hell Aiden kept his broom.
Speaking of Aiden.
“Oh, you’re awake,” she commented when she returned from her quick errand. “I, uh, went downstairs to toss the trash from last night.”
“So, uh, did you sleep okay?” she asked carefully. It really took a lot out of her to phrase the question like that as opposed to “how did you sleep.” She just felt that it would have been the wrong choice of words. Being forced to sleep on the couch because of a shoulder injury is never the best option. And she feared being told exactly how he felt about it.
For a brief moment, Lacey’s attention once again moved to the broken house plant she noticed last night. It was poking the back of her mind that she needed to clean it up. But how could she do that without making Aiden feel...whatever about it? She didn’t want him to have to face the consequences of his actions.
“So…” she started slowly, taking a seat at the other side of the couch. “I think a shower would do you some good. Not that I’m saying you, like, stink or anything. But I think it would be nice to just wash off the blegh-ness of the last couple weeks. Daniel told me that you haven’t left the apartment much since the surgery.”
There was a bit of back and forth over this, but after Lacey offered to help him with said shower in case the shoulder hindered his independence, Aiden muttered something about doing it himself and walked off to the bathroom. As soon as she heard the bathroom door closed, Lacey went straight to work. Whether maneuvering around the shoulder injury would prolong the shower or not, she worked under the mentality that she didn’t have much time to get much done. The important items on her living room project list had priority.
In the time it took Aiden to finish his shower, Lacey cleared away the broken house plant and all other objects that were tossed around the living room. A lot of them didn’t need to be put back in their original place considering they were basically shattered and beyond repair. She just finished folding the blankets he was using on the couch and organizing the pillows when he finally returned.
It took just one quick glance for her to abandon the rest of her living room project - which was honestly about done - to rush over to him. “Here, let me help with that,” she offered then rushed over to meet Aiden halfway. His hair was dripping onto the towel that hung over his good shoulder while he struggled to put the bad one back in its sling. Admittedly, while her offer was meant with good intentions, she actually didn’t have that much experience with putting any sling on properly. In the end, Aiden had to instruct her on how to put it back on for him properly.
“Okay, that should do it,” she said, mostly to herself with a nod of approval. Not that it meant much. For all she knew, she had done everything exactly right. And until he said otherwise, that is how she would view it. “Come on, sit down. I’ll dry off your hair so it’s not dripping all over the place.” Lacey carefully grabbed Aiden’s towel from off his shoulder then took his hand to lead him over to the couch.
“You know,” Lacey started once Aiden made himself comfortable. She sat across from him on the coffee table, towel at the ready in her hands. “Daniel just sent me a massive text. I feel like he spent all last night trying to put together everything I need to know. When did I suddenly get passed the nanny torch.” She laughed, reaching over to gently dry his hair.
“But anyway, apparently I’m supposed to, like, make sure you eat breakfast. Do you need to take any meds?” Lacey paused as she scooted closer to Aiden. “I don’t...exactly know how I’m supposed to do the ‘making sure you eat breakfast’ part…. I guess cereal is better than...you know...trying and failing to cook eggs…”
She pulled the towel away from Aiden’s head. As she placed the damp towel on her lap, she wandered off into her own thoughts while focusing her gaze on her step-brother. She was trying her best to keep the mood light between them. They survived their first night after their separation; although she guessed that term was pretty subjective depending on the person. She had to admit to herself that she can’t deny things were going to be different now. However, she wondered - and feared - if that meant things were going to be different between them.
Even if he looked like the same Aiden, Lacey saw that something changed in him. She didn’t know what that something was and she was too afraid to ask. It was that fear that kept the same question running through her head. Would that affect the way he felt about her...whatever that may be?
Of course, no one needs to tell Aiden that this would be her first time driving a car without an instructor because she was too busy with work to actually get some practice driving hours logged in. She had made so much progress tonight for that trust to be ruined.
For the most part, Lacey did a decent job acting like she was filled with the confidence needed to drive Aiden’s car. She survived taking a seat behind the wheel then adjusting the seat and mirrors to her preference. For the most part, she was fairly familiar with the mechanics involved with driving his car having been seated at the passenger seat so many times before. Nothing in front of her was too alien. It was once she focused on Aiden, however, that her cover was completely blown.
She was only thinking the best for him when she leaned over to help him with his seatbelt. But the moment he yelled at her again, she froze. The memory of him yelling at her at the hospital popped into her mind as if it just happened. There was a tense silence in the small space. Lacey’s body shook nervously. She had done it again. She had made him angry when she didn’t mean to. Why couldn’t she do anything right? “Sorry…” she mumbled out.
Even after Aiden told her to drive them back to his place, Lacey needed a moment to breathe. It was during one deep breath that she finally registered something was different. And, considering they were living in Oregon, she knew immediately what the new smell was. She never experienced smoking weed, of course. She just never really had the time nor the group of friends to try it. But she still knew enough people that did it on their own time to know when someone smoked recently. After she let out her deep breath rather sharply, she turned look over at Aiden. Save for the outburst, his behavior since he arrived at the park made a bit more sense. She did also recognize that he seemed rather comfortable with the effects; as if he had done this before. Had he? Is he smoking it more now after his accident?
As Lacey watched Aiden shift in his seat, she knew that they had been sitting in his car longer than expected. Well, there were no more reasons to stall. She had long asked to drive this car. Time to prove that she could do it….
This feeling of defeat, however, made driving back to Aiden’s apartment difficult. Lacey was honestly relieved at how late it was. Their small, in the middle of nowhere town was practically dead save for a car or two. This allowed Lacey the luxury to basically drive at her own pace; which really meant that she drove about five miles slower than the posted speed limit. But all that mattered was that despite her nerves and anxiety to be behind the wheel, she had minimal obstacles to face and eventually she got them back to his apartment in one piece.
As soon as she got out of the car, Lacey felt a rush of the effect driving while nervous had on her. A headache was growing with each step she took away from the car. It probably also didn’t help that she had failed to eat when she was home. While Aiden slowly climbed out of the car, she took a moment to just lean against the car and take a couple deep breaths. She just needed to regain some control of her balance. After all, with Aiden being high and injured, she was technically the stronger one between them. God forbid that they both depend on her strength to get them back to his apartment. Knock on wood.
Even though she was at the apartment earlier, seeing the state of it was still a shock. While Aiden made himself comfortable as if nothing was off, Lacey was just...astounded at what two weeks could do. Did Daniel even attempt to tidy up in the many visits he made? She honestly hoped that was a no or else she would be more concerned over Aiden than she already was.
Lacey felt compelled to do something about the mess. Just staring at the dirty dishes, various shattered objects and abandoned containers made her headache feel worse. It also made her feel tense and no amount of shaking different limbs could loosen her up. But she didn’t know where to even start.
She was in the middle of staring at a toppled over house plant when a distant voice broke through. It only took a second for her to realize that it was Aiden speaking to her. “Hm?” Aiden repeated his question as she walked over to the dinner table to put the jar in her hands beside the first jar. She realized then that between her stress headache and helping Aiden back to his apartment that they had forgotten the third jar in the car. Maybe she can get it later when Aiden is more comfortable and situated.
This was the problem with Lacey when it involves Aiden; she rarely thought too far ahead. Or if she did think of something far enough ahead, the situation now was overlooked. It had been that way since they became friends, like, actual friends. When she was still in junior high and having to basically following Aiden everywhere when their parents didn’t want her home alone, she rarely made decisions that worked in her favor for the near future. Like the one time she asked Aiden to go with her on a bus ride to a mall in the next city over. It was great and fun in the moment, but then she was made very aware of how much this impromptu plan would affect him. See, apparently she had completely overlooked the fact that Aiden was supposed to go on a date with his then girlfriend later that evening. By the time they left the mall to go home...they were on the bus stuck in traffic. Suffice it to say, Aiden missed his date and Lacey felt sort of guilty over it.
Right now was no different. As Lacey stared at her step-brother quietly, she pondered over his question. Was she staying over tonight? With all the hustle and bustle to get her little project completed tonight, she hadn’t considered what would happen after giving Aiden the last jar. Sure, from the park it was a no brainer. It was walking distance from home and she had done that journey alone plenty of times. However, she wasn’t at the park. She was at Aiden’s apartment. It would take longer for her to walk home and she could already hear everyone lecture her about it. She really had not considered the possibility that she would be staying over. Blame it on the two week separation. It completely screwed over their usual flow.
“Um, I guess I should, huh?” Lacey said with uncertainty. She briefly looked over at the clock. Yeah, it was just too late in the evening for her to consider calling anyone to pick her up and take her home. And she would never ask Aiden to do it considering his condition. It wasn’t like staying over tonight was too much of a big deal. Sure, they had been completely avoiding each other for two whole weeks. Sure, Aiden was currently pretty high and Lacey wasn’t quite sure how to take care of him in this state. Sure, she felt a sort of tense distance from him from where she stood. She realized that had this been any other evening before the accident, she wouldn’t even be standing where she was right now. She would already be cuddled up under the blankets with Aiden on the spot of the couch that was oddly clear of any kind of mess.
At least she still had extra clothes in the closet for situations like this.
“I should, um, call Mom first, yeah?” Lacey then added, pulling her phone out of her back pocket. Speaking of her mother, she was surprised that she hadn’t heard anything from her since she and her step-father left for...what was it again that they were going to tonight? She took a seat at the dinner table, too focused on pulling up her mother’s number in her Contacts to register the look Aiden was giving her. The conversation was brief since her parents were still at the whatever shindig. While her mother gave her approval that she could stay at Aiden’s tonight, Lacey was not too oblivious to the tone in the woman’s voice when she said that she would have to also tell her step-father. Lacey subconsciously gulped at this. As of late, any mention of Aiden was a sensitive topic around her step-father. Hopefully he was having enough fun tonight to loosen up a bit over the situation.
After Lacey ended the call, she placed her phone facedown on the table then looked over at her step-brother. “She said it’s okay. Do you mind if I change? I can borrow one of your shirts, yes? It’s not like you’re using them.” She gave off a light laugh. Making her way over to his bedroom, she caught herself tensing up a bit. Maybe it had something to do with the impending dread of finding what happened to the room. If the living room was this trashed, she can only guess what happened to his bedroom.
The first thing that caught Lacey’s attention and immediately broke her heart was the Olympic shrine. She and Aiden worked so hard on that shrine. With only a couple rings barely hanging onto the wall, it was hard for Lacey to deny the sad truth that the accident ruined Aiden’s Olympic dreams. He worked so hard to get where he was and now it was all for nothing.
She now forgot the main purpose for going into his room as she walked over to the destroyed shrine to pick up the ripped up pieces of the Olympic rings off the floor. When she stood up again to look at what remained on the wall, she panicked for a moment. Where was she going to put all of this? What purpose did she have for cleaning up the destruction of Aiden’s dream? Was she supposed to throw it away now? No. She couldn’t. The Olympics was an important goal to Aiden. Even if he was going to give up on it, she couldn’t. She just...couldn’t. She wasn’t ready to give up on that part of Aiden.
So, after gathering all the pieces of the shrine, she placed them on the bed briefly to find someplace to them all. At the same time, she remembered why she was in his room in the first place and grabbed a shirt and a pair of sweats to change into. On her way back to the bed, she paused at his closet to grab a shoe box. None of them were empty, but she was sure Aiden would forgive her if he suddenly found that one of his pairs of shoes lacked a box. Upon returning to the bed, she placed the clothes aside and carefully packed the pieces of Aiden’s Olympic shrine inside. She made sure that every piece was packed away. Once she was done, she placed the lid back on the shoebox then slid it under his bed. A secret only for her to know until she’s ready to tell Aiden.
Lacey finally left Aiden’s bedroom once she finished changing into the clothes she was borrowing from him. On top of the shirt she grabbed earlier, she once again wore the crewneck that she wore earlier when she went to the park. It wasn’t because it was cold in the apartment. Sure, there was always a chill in Oregon, but not enough that a sweater was necessary. No, she used the crewneck to hide the fact that she had to tighten the drawstring of Aiden’s sweats so that it wouldn’t fall off her waist. It should be mentioned that the sweatpants were already tight enough. And had it been months ago, they would still fit her just fine. So, yeah, Lacey thought the crewneck necessary. She didn’t need Aiden lecturing her again when she was the one that was supposed to be taking care of him and his current bad habits.
“So,” Lacey started slowly as she rolled up the sleeves of the crewneck once again. “I have to be honest here. And I say this with all the love I can possibly give at this very moment.” She paused...for dramatic effect. “This place is a total pig sty.”
“Like, I know my room at home can get pretty messy when I don’t bother...but, just...Are you not paying Daniel to be a maid too?” Lacey turned away from the styrofoam food containers on the dinner table to flash a teasing smile at her step-brother. “If I’m going to be staying over tonight, I need to do something about this. Let me go grab you something to eat and another Gatorade to keep you company.”
There was no doubt that Lacey had good intentions when she insisted on cleaning up the mess in the apartment. But as soon as she gathered up all of the trash in the kitchen and washed all the dishes, she could feel a sort of strange tension coming from Aiden. When she left the kitchen to begin work on the dinner table and the rest of the living room space, she found that he had not moved a muscle since she started. Every so often she would catch him looking at her, but the slightly dazed, silly look from earlier at the park had long ago vanished and the look in his eyes made her tense. It was the same kind of tension she felt whenever she did something to annoy her step-father. Was she annoying Aiden now? Did she do something wrong? Say something wrong?
Lacey had just finished clearing up the coffee table when she heard him say something about sitting with him. She turned to look at him again, tightening her grip on the trash bag in her hand. As much as she wanted to oblige his request, she also really wanted to finish cleaning. It was difficult to put her finger on why exactly she had this compelling need to fix up everything in the apartment. She wasn’t a neat freak in the slightest. After all, she is sixteen. But, just, something about the mess of the apartment had her on edge and she couldn’t talk herself into finally relaxing until she was done.
But the way Aiden looked at her now forced her hand. Aiden always had this way of getting her to do whatever he wanted with just a look. Tonight was no different, except that...it also was different. There was no easy way to explain this difference other than looking at Aiden just made her sad. It made fixing the apartment not as important. So, with a sigh, she dropped off the trash bag in the kitchen then made her way over to the couch. After two weeks of separation, Lacey finally took her place at Aiden’s side.
However, she found it “difficult” to get comfortable. Sure, on the outside, she didn’t seem bothered with her head resting on his shoulder and legs tucked under her. But Lacey was having a hard time focusing on the television; too consumed by every observation she had being this close to her step-brother.
First of all, he didn’t smell like Aiden. Obviously one reason for that was the weed. Personally, she wasn’t that bothered with the smell itself. But the smell clung to his hair until now and she just wasn’t used to it. When it related to her step-brother, the smell of weed was not what she would associate with him. It was just jarring and real unsettling. She figured he probably also hadn’t showered much either, but that didn’t mean she thought he stunk. It was just...these smells were not familiar to her. Nothing about it made her feel...at home being beside him. It was hard to fight off the sense that she wasn’t with Aiden.
Then there was the fact that she could feel how tense he was sitting with him. His shoulder against the side of her head felt sharp. She tried many times to make herself feel more comfortable beside him. But the more she felt that he wasn’t relaxing, the more defeated she felt herself. This wasn’t what she had imagined when she thought about their reunion.
Lacey was honestly getting desperate. But what could she do? She thought just being beside him again would be enough to make things as close to normal as possible. She really thought them being together was going to make her wish come true. How foolish she was. It was obvious that despite her efforts to wish for nothing but the best for Aiden, he wasn’t as happy as she hoped. Their time at the park was just a lucky chance for her. She just happened to be with him at a time that his senses were inhibited by outside substances.
She was tired of overthinking. Tired of worrying about how the mess in the apartment was making her feel. Tired of pretending like everything was back to normal now that they were back together.
Lacey let out a sigh. “Do you mind if I go to bed? It’s getting kind of late,” she asked, pulling her head off Aiden’s shoulder to sit up again. “Are you going to stay here? Will you be okay being by yourself?” She ended up asking a couple more questions in an effort to make sure Aiden was going to be comfortable once she left. No, he didn’t want the television turned off. Sure, he’ll take another pillow for his good side. Maybe an extra blanket wouldn’t hurt.
“Okay, well, good night. I’ll leave the door open if you need anything. Just holler,” Lacey explained then left to go to the bedroom. As mentioned, she kept the bedroom door open. Even if they wouldn’t be able to see each other for the rest of the night, at least the open door would sort of give them a connection.
Despite feeling pretty tired, Lacey had trouble falling asleep all night. Here and there she would manage to get in twenty or so minutes. But some worrying force in her would then wake her up thinking that Aiden needed her. Then she would lay in bed awake for another twenty minutes waiting for Aiden to call for her for something until the exhaustion inevitably reasoned with her that she was just imagining it and that she should go back to sleep. It was that vicious cycle for the entire night until the first signs of the sun peeked through the window. After that, she just abandoned trying to get more sleep. Instead, she used that time to clean and fix up Aiden’s entire bedroom.
A couple hours later, Lacey managed to make some progress in her little project. Aiden’s bedroom was as clean and organized as she could make it. Much of the clothes that had been tossed around were thrown into the laundry basket for later. She realized she would either need Daniel’s help or make multiple trips to get all of it done. The next item on her list was the living room. As she walked back to the apartment from throwing out the couple trash bags she filled between last night and that morning, she mulled over exactly what to start with first. The toppled over, broken house plant was a blaring Item #1. She just needed to remember where the hell Aiden kept his broom.
Speaking of Aiden.
“Oh, you’re awake,” she commented when she returned from her quick errand. “I, uh, went downstairs to toss the trash from last night.”
“So, uh, did you sleep okay?” she asked carefully. It really took a lot out of her to phrase the question like that as opposed to “how did you sleep.” She just felt that it would have been the wrong choice of words. Being forced to sleep on the couch because of a shoulder injury is never the best option. And she feared being told exactly how he felt about it.
For a brief moment, Lacey’s attention once again moved to the broken house plant she noticed last night. It was poking the back of her mind that she needed to clean it up. But how could she do that without making Aiden feel...whatever about it? She didn’t want him to have to face the consequences of his actions.
“So…” she started slowly, taking a seat at the other side of the couch. “I think a shower would do you some good. Not that I’m saying you, like, stink or anything. But I think it would be nice to just wash off the blegh-ness of the last couple weeks. Daniel told me that you haven’t left the apartment much since the surgery.”
There was a bit of back and forth over this, but after Lacey offered to help him with said shower in case the shoulder hindered his independence, Aiden muttered something about doing it himself and walked off to the bathroom. As soon as she heard the bathroom door closed, Lacey went straight to work. Whether maneuvering around the shoulder injury would prolong the shower or not, she worked under the mentality that she didn’t have much time to get much done. The important items on her living room project list had priority.
In the time it took Aiden to finish his shower, Lacey cleared away the broken house plant and all other objects that were tossed around the living room. A lot of them didn’t need to be put back in their original place considering they were basically shattered and beyond repair. She just finished folding the blankets he was using on the couch and organizing the pillows when he finally returned.
It took just one quick glance for her to abandon the rest of her living room project - which was honestly about done - to rush over to him. “Here, let me help with that,” she offered then rushed over to meet Aiden halfway. His hair was dripping onto the towel that hung over his good shoulder while he struggled to put the bad one back in its sling. Admittedly, while her offer was meant with good intentions, she actually didn’t have that much experience with putting any sling on properly. In the end, Aiden had to instruct her on how to put it back on for him properly.
“Okay, that should do it,” she said, mostly to herself with a nod of approval. Not that it meant much. For all she knew, she had done everything exactly right. And until he said otherwise, that is how she would view it. “Come on, sit down. I’ll dry off your hair so it’s not dripping all over the place.” Lacey carefully grabbed Aiden’s towel from off his shoulder then took his hand to lead him over to the couch.
“You know,” Lacey started once Aiden made himself comfortable. She sat across from him on the coffee table, towel at the ready in her hands. “Daniel just sent me a massive text. I feel like he spent all last night trying to put together everything I need to know. When did I suddenly get passed the nanny torch.” She laughed, reaching over to gently dry his hair.
“But anyway, apparently I’m supposed to, like, make sure you eat breakfast. Do you need to take any meds?” Lacey paused as she scooted closer to Aiden. “I don’t...exactly know how I’m supposed to do the ‘making sure you eat breakfast’ part…. I guess cereal is better than...you know...trying and failing to cook eggs…”
She pulled the towel away from Aiden’s head. As she placed the damp towel on her lap, she wandered off into her own thoughts while focusing her gaze on her step-brother. She was trying her best to keep the mood light between them. They survived their first night after their separation; although she guessed that term was pretty subjective depending on the person. She had to admit to herself that she can’t deny things were going to be different now. However, she wondered - and feared - if that meant things were going to be different between them.
Even if he looked like the same Aiden, Lacey saw that something changed in him. She didn’t know what that something was and she was too afraid to ask. It was that fear that kept the same question running through her head. Would that affect the way he felt about her...whatever that may be?
OP
OP
JINFINITE
Super-Earth
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- The Island of Eroda
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Despite having eaten before leaving the house, Aiden was ready for seconds when Lacey mentioned food. Thank you marijuana for bringing back his appetite, even if it was only temporary. With a new Gatorade and snacks, Aiden was plenty content in his corner of the sofa. Or at least he thought he was. The TV was on but Aiden caught himself watching Lacey instead. First it had been Daniel, now Lacey. There was something that just felt off having them around in this situation. He felt like he was under constant surveillance even though he was the one watching her right now. Watching her clean up was just leaving this acid taste in the back of his mouth. Cleaning was simple enough alone, but under this pretense? It was just further highlighting his uselessness. He had done this to himself—he was the reason the apartment was a disaster. This wasn’t a part of him he had wanted to expose to Lacey, but here she was cleaning it up for him.
Despite still being high he was finding it really hard to feel good about anything right now. Even Lacey being here was quickly losing that magic from the park and was beginning to feel forced; like she didn’t want to be here—or was it that he didn’t want her here? Aiden honestly just felt so tired of it all, tired of trying, tired of others trying, tired of being tired, ”Just leave it Lace, come sit down.” Maybe if she would just come over and sit with him then things could go back to normal. Usually being around Lacey made him feel better. She was his favorite. His favorite “what” you might be wondering? She was his favorite person in the world. She made everything better when it sucked. He always looked forward to spending time with her. The fun times like mini golf and pier games; and then the rough times—the escape times. Being with Lacey just always made it better. Except for right now apparently.
Sitting with Lacey didn’t feel right; for several reasons. He wasn’t in pain at the moment, thanks now to the pain killers he’d managed to take before leaving for the park. But the sling certainly wasn’t comfortable. If he slouched too far down the sofa it put pressure against his shoulder, but if he sat up too straight it wasn’t relaxing. Normally sitting with Lacey meant some form of cuddling but he hadn’t made any move to initiate such contact. He couldn’t really. Honestly even moving his good arm would no doubt jostle the bad. He kept the edge of the blanket in his hand just to give it something to hold. His breathing was shallow, and body tense on account of his shoulder, but it wasn’t the physical that bothered him right now so much as it was the emotional. Or was it psychological? He may never know.
He wouldn’t say it, hell he might not even be aware of it at the moment, but some part of him deep inside was touched and thankful for Lacey ensuring that he would remain comfortable whilst losing her companionship when she was ready for bed.
It didn’t take long after she left for Aiden to begin to realize just how scared he actually was to be alone. Not scared of anything in particular. Rather it was more that he didn’t like hearing his own thoughts. She had left the TV on as he’d requested but the noise did little to drown out the conversations being held in his head. What was he doing—no, what would he do? He literally had nothing left. Swimming was his everything. He didn’t have a back up plan. College had always just been a formality, a stepping stone to get noticed. A place that’s sole purpose was to help him rise to the top. He was only here to focus on swimming. It was just a matter of time before some big name coach would sign him on; before he was competing in bigger pools with higher stakes. He was supposed to be working towards qualifying for the Olympics but that was all over now. So what was the point? Aiden’s thoughts were spiraling for at least an hour until the weed and pain pill wombo combo finally overpowered his mind and knocked him out for the rest of the night.
The next morning he woke up dumb early, thank you swim routine. Even though he had been home for two weeks it seemed his internal clock couldn’t be rewired that easily. He was so used to waking up before the sun to get as much training in before school as he could. The pills had also thrown his system for a ride though, he knew how to sleep in, but the past couple weeks he had still been up bright and early, his shoulder ran his life. He followed its schedule. But today at least Aiden was able to hit the snooze button on his internal clock and fell back asleep for sometime.
He managed to sleep for several more hours actually. His body, mind and soul all seemed to be aligned in their exhaustion and after finally managing a meal and medication he’d been granted adequate rest. It was the sound of a door shutting that finally brought him back, but his eyes opened to quiet apartment. It seemed the TV had been turned off since he had woken up earlier. And there were no sounds of Lacey in his bedroom. Had she left? ”Lacey?” No response. Or maybe Daniel had come back over to trade places? But there were no footsteps after the door closed. Whoever it was had left— unless he hadn’t even heard a door to begin with. Could have been a loud noise from outside. Could have been a dream he forgot as soon as he woke up. Maybe he was just hallucinating this? Maybe Lacey was still asleep in his room and just hadn’t heard him call out to her. There were numerous possible explanations for this but nothing could seem to tempt Aiden to get up from his little nest on the sofa. What difference did it make either way? Sure he might be alone now, but did he care? He hadn’t wanted Lacey over to begin with— okay now that was a huge lie but it still made it easier to justify to himself. He would just sit here, alone, in silence, forever. Aiden was perfectly content to just waste away here, what would be the point of getting up anyways?
Well Lacey returned not long after but despite actually being glad she hadn’t left, Aiden didn’t make much of an effort to greet her. He acknowledged her with an, ”Oh…” But proceeded to just turn back to stare at the wall with a pained sigh. He was so stiff and sore from sleeping so tensely. Aiden was most definitely not a back sleeper, and while he had grown used to it, it would never be comfortable to him. Lacey went on to suggest a shower but the prospect of getting up was just too much for him right now. No thanks. He’d rather sit in his sadness than have to handle the pain that would no doubt come with such activity. But Lacey was equally stubborn and wouldn’t take no for an answer, you would think they really were brother and sister if you saw them with their small bickers like this. True siblings were always getting at one another after all. What took the cake was Lacey finally offering to help him shower; that idea didn’t sit well with him at all. He had already watched her clean his apartment in small doses, she didn’t need to clean him too. He had created this mess all on his own, he wouldn’t let her be a part of it. Honestly there was no reason for him to make such a big deal out of it but it managed to get him up from the sofa and into the bathroom. There was no good reason he kept taking out his frustrations on Lacey, he really didn’t mean to but he was moody, hurting and at a point where he just didn’t care about...well, about anything really.
The doctor had said to shower with his sling on, but after last week’s poor attempt at washing up and trying to get soap out from between his arm and the material—yeah no, Aiden didn’t want to deal with all that again. So after starting the water he very carefully slid the sling off and set it on the closed toilet seat to make it easier to grab later. Having not been wearing a shirt to begin with, slipping off his pants was easy enough and he was soon slowly stepping under the hot water with his arm glued against his body for fear of hurting himself. Honestly he probably could move it a little more, from like his elbow and such or utilize his hand to hold things. But whenever it hurt, it really hurt and he simply wasn’t willing to go through that. As such he babied his arm the entire time and didn’t exactly shower as thoroughly as he normally would have. He only did the bare minimum but it still took almost twice as long as his normal shower time. Ultimately he rubbed some body wash on and managed to mostly shampoo his hair with one hand. But the pen marks from his surgery were still visible as he wasn’t brave enough to scrub anywhere near the incisions.
After he was technically done he just stood there for a little while. Just standing under the water letting it hit his shoulder blades to avoid direct contact with the injuries. Lacey had been right, the shower did feel nice. It was refreshing to be rid of all his accumulated body oil and feelings. Not that the shower had pulled him out of the dark, no no. But his heart felt just a little lighter, like that maybe he could get through the day. Maybe.
Lifting his head back he had intended to run his face and hair under the water one last time before getting out but instead the movement held him frozen in place. The water hit his face and ran across his closed eyes into his ever so parted lips and had him sputtering and gasping not a moment later when a drowning sensation dragged the pool out of his memories and dumped him in it. Aiden swore under his breath as his hand fumbled to switch off the water. His heart continued to race frantically while he dried off just enough to get dressed but after a glance back at the fogged up mirror he opted to take his panic out of the small tiled room. Another glance, this time to ensure his bedroom door was closed enough before dropping his towel to change into clean underwear and whatever pants he could find that weren’t stuffed into the laundry bags that—hold up, laundry? The room was...more or less clean. Aiden didn’t mind, in fact it was a little easier to breathe without everything being everywhere. Was this what Lacey had been up to all morning after he’d fallen back asleep?
Just like before Aiden opted out of dealing with a shirt. It’s not like he was going anywhere, why bother going through the potential pain that would come with getting fully dressed? He just had to...get his….arm….back in...this stupid...sli— ”Here, let me help with that.”
He tried to withhold from hissing in pain as the two of them ever so carefully tucked his arm into the sleeve of the sling and then adjusted the strap to a comfortable position. Last night’s pain medication was long gone from his system by now and he was definitely feeling it. For now though he was running off the good feelings from the shower as Lacey led him back to the sofa. He was relieved to be off his feet and no longer having to “hold” his arm still. Here he could sink into his pillows and feel safe; like he wasn’t at risk to bump into anything.
Aiden didn’t say anything for the “Nanny torch” comment while she went to work drying his hair. Maybe that’s what it was about Lacey that had him so on edge and blunt with her. It wasn’t that it was Lacey being here, it was that she wasn’t Daniel. Daniel wouldn’t put up with his attitude, or he would and then wait a moment and ask if he was done. Daniel would decide when it was time to do something or how far to push him. Daniel kept track of things like medications and meals. With Daniel, Aiden didn’t have to do anything beyond his current floating through life without purpose existence. But with Lacey it was the exact opposite. Lacey was constantly looking to him for direction, she always had. That was their relationship. Aiden was the sure of himself older brother and she always went along with anything he said. So being in that position of being in charge of himself was currently exposing Aiden and forcing him to acknowledge parts of himself he wasn’t ready to face. She kept asking what he needed, what he wanted—he didn’t want anything. Daniel would have just put a glass of water and some pain killers in his hand and told him to take it. But Lacey asking what she should do gave Aiden an out and that made him nervous. That same fear from last night was surfacing but it’s origin was a little clearer now. He was scared of himself. He had spent his whole life wanting to be able to make decisions for himself, but now that he was forced into it he didn’t want anything to do with it. Everything was so much easier when someone else was telling him what to do. This whole being accountable for himself thing wasn’t working.
Aiden’s thoughts circled back to that “massive text” she said Daniel had sent. What exactly had he told her? Did she know how little he had cared about, well, anything the past two weeks? Did she know how difficult the two weeks had been on him? How many nights had been spent on the bathroom floor coughing up stomach acid because he couldn’t keep anything down? Did she know how scared he had been to see her again after snapping at her? Did she know how broken he truly was? And not just the extent of his injuries—no, he meant that part of him that didn’t care. The part of him that didn’t see the point in pushing through all his misery. The part that regretted having woken up in the hospital.Actually, did Daniel even know that part?
No he couldn’t put that on her. He wouldn’t. Not when she was clearly trying so hard for him. He would have to put on a brave face for her, she didn’t need to see the ledge he was hanging from—he wouldn’t let her be the one to half to talk him down from it.
Okay breathe Aiden, inhale—ouch oh god not that hard. You need pain killers first. So food, you need food Aiden, to be able to stomach your medications. Just let her help you. On a normal day he probably wouldn’t have eaten much more than a shake, maybe fruit or some form of snack bar too before going for a run or off to the pool. After training he would for sure down a full breakfast like a true growing teenage boy. But so point was, he wasn’t entirely used to eating much this early in the morning anyways. Not that he was expecting Lacey to make some huge meal for him, but it’s still hard to think of what to eat when you’re not hungry.
Grocery shopping wasn’t exactly his thing either. Even if he hadn’t been recovering from surgery the past two weeks, the chances of Aiden having any real food in his kitchen was slim. Protein powder, sure. Maybe some chips or popcorn, snack foods. But anything that really qualified as breakfast? He more often than not would eat out. But that wasn’t exactly an option right now. He couldn’t safely drive them anywhere, especially when he was hurting. And he didn’t want to force Lacey behind the wheel again.
The longer he was awake the more the pain was settling in and if you were to ask him to be honest he was beginning to miss last night’s high; everything had felt so much more manageable when he hadn’t been…aware of it. And he didn’t just mean the pain in his shoulder. It had been such a load off his chest to finally not feel like he wanted to jump in front of a movin—
Aiden. Let. Her. Help. You.
”Uh yeah—“ As he cleared his throat Aiden’s gaze broke away from her to look down at the coffee table in search of the various prescription bottles. He didn’t know the names of them all but he would be able to differentiate them once he saw them. The surgical strength ones were tiny. And if it wasn’t enough then he could supplement with the other one. And then one bottle was anti-nausea...should he take one just in case? Or was he finally over that stage of recovery? See this was where he needed Daniel—who in turn had been texting Sonia for advice. With Lacey he needed to be the one to decide what he needed. Maybe he should just call it quits after all. This was getting to be too much pressure. It would be so easy to just tell her “no”. To say “I’m fine”.
But despite his conflicting self hate and fear, he couldn’t find it in him to say no or turn down Lacey. She was trying so hard for him and he was well aware of that at least. He was still Aiden though, and wouldn’t hesitate to voice his opinion, “Ugh, no cereal...please.” Yesterday’s soggy cereal was in the forefront of his mind and it definitely wasn’t an appetizing thought. But Lacey had a point about the burnt eggs. What was even in the kitchen? He kind of didn’t want to get up to go check, ”Is there bread? Toast is fine.”
So yes, there was in fact bread. Lacey set a plate containing two slices of toast on the table before him but it seemed she didn’t really know what else to do with herself. This was it. This was the moment he had to make a choice between taking his medications and hoping the toast was enough to settle his stomach, or to not take them and hope the pain didn’t worsen. Honestly if it stayed at this level he could probably handle it...maybe...but he was also so so tired of being in pain all the time and the horrible mood it put him in. Okay, he’d do it. He’d take them. He knew it was only a matter of time before the pain would overwhelm him; Aiden really just hadn’t been coping well with recovery.
No lie, sitting up from his nest of cushion comfort was a bit of a struggle but he wouldn’t have been able to eat sitting so reclined even if she had passed him everything. Aiden had managed okay so far but it was all piling up too much to hide his wince at the effort it took to move. It didn’t matter if he ate first or took the pills right? ”Uh, could you get a glass of water I guess?” The words didn’t feel right as they fell out of his mouth, this whole “asking for help” thing wasn’t working for him. It’s not like he normally would have cared. Literally any other day he would happily stay on the couch and pass lazy requests for his little sister to fulfill. Just like true siblings. But the fact his current condition rendered him incapable of doing it himself made it hard to ask for anything. As such while she was back in the kitchen he continued to wince through more movement to retrieve as many prescription bottles as he could reach without actually getting up to read the labels and see if he could make heads or tails of what was what.
After a moment of confusion he was able to recognize what to take—though he failed to open the bottles with his one hand, so more assistance was required but he was soon medicated and praying that he wouldn’t see them come back up in the next twenty minutes or so. While he forced himself to take his first bite of toast, Lacey’s attention traveled to her phone as it seemed she’d received a text which distracted her just long enough for Aiden to realize he didn’t have a clue where his own phone was. Not that he particularly needed it. The only people he would contact were Lacey or Daniel, but he was still your average American teenager tied to his mobile device. Where was it? Last he’d had it it had died on him and he couldn’t remember charging it afterwards so it had to be somewhere close by—oh there it was, on the floor at the opposite end of the couch. Was it worth picking up? The painkillers hadn’t kicked in yet so that was gonna be a hard no. He didn’t need it. Clearly Daniel was communicating through Lacey anyways. He didn’t need his phone, but still… ”Lace, can you—?” He didn’t finish his request but instead pointed down at the phone when she looked over to him ready to help with whatever he needed, ”It’s probably dead.”
This had been entirely unnecessary. Just keep eating Aiden and stop creating excuses.
He got through one slice and almost half of the second before leaning back into his pillow nest and calling it quits, for now at least. He wasn’t exactly full, but it was too much too fast for the delicate state his stomach was in. His main goal right now was to just not throw up. If he could get through the morning then maybe the rest of today would be easier on him than previous ones.
”You don’t have a shoot?” Normally Aiden was kept pretty up-to-date with his sister’s schedule, but as he hadn’t spoken to her in two weeks, he was out of the loop. He was so used to waking up and immediately having to rush her off to some venue or salon in the early morning hours. But the early morning had come and gone and she was still here.
He still had mixed feelings about her being there. Last night it hadn’t felt right; but that was no longer the case. He had missed having her around, and he always enjoyed waking up to her in his apartment. But he was still miserable to the point that he didn’t want...well...anything really. And he didn’t like her seeing him like this. He was caught between his depression which had clearly run rampant for weeks, and feeling like he needed to hide it all from her. Put on an act and do whatever necessary to make her happy while she was here.
Whatever necessary to make her happy.
Of course Lacey would suggest leaving the apartment, and to the mall of all places. That was a big no in Aiden’s book though; leaving that is, he didn’t have anything against the mall in particular. He was just perfectly content nestled up in his pillows and didn’t want to go anywhere. It had been some time now since waking up. The toast ended up unfinished but he hadn’t felt sick yet so that was a good sign, ”Yeah sure,” the sarcasm was loud in his voice as he went on to tease her, ”Lemme just put my hiking boots on and we can walk the five miles over there.”
”Lacey I can’t drive right now,” well, he could but it certainly wasn’t very safe, ”And you’re definitely not getting my keys.” Aiden was choosing to ignore the fact that both he and Lacey had in fact driven last night. He’d been high, he’d thought he could do it. And any normal day he never would have let her in his driver’s seat, even though she had actually done well last night, from what he could remember at least. Aiden thought he was being pretty damn clever pointing out their inability to drive as a way to turn her down but Lacey was a quick thinker and mused aloud if Daniel and Sonia might want to join them. What? No. He didn’t want to go. But he couldn’t outright turn her down, he rarely could.
And so within the hour he found himself staring out the window of the car rather than the comfort of his apartment. Going out had meant getting dressed and Aiden had settled for a pullover hoodie, over his arm making him look a bit like an amputee. But no one had been able to convince him to fool with a real shirt or sleeves. It was still fairly early in recovery, if Aiden said it hurt then no one would question it. Besides they were happy enough just to be getting him to go outside. The seatbelt was a battle Aiden lost this time around though. It was Sonia who wouldn’t let him off the hook. (No one tell her he hadn’t been wearing it much if at all yesterday.) She made him sit in the driver’s side backseat so the belt would rest across his good shoulder. So that was where he was for the ten or so minute drive to the mall, sitting in silence while the others happily conversed together as though nothing had changed. Well, in a way nothing had changed for any of them. Their lives all just kept going as normal, Aiden’s was the only one to come to a shattering stop. He had passed the phase of self hatred, his apartment had shown for that. Aiden had reached this point of numb where he didn’t really feel like he was there all the time. It was this sort of surreal out of body experience. Like nothing could bother him anymore, he had nothing left to lose. His self importance was so dangerously low that—”Aiden? We’re here.”
Why were they here again? Their mall adventure had its fun moments. Watching Lacey bounce around and grab clothes to hold up to herself or Sonia trying to convince Daniel to try on a new jacket when he was oh so attached to the same German field jacket he’d worn for going on two years now. But Aiden had felt so disconnected for so long now that he kept finding himself retreating back into his head as he followed them around, always a few steps behind his friends...until he wasn’t.
”Lacey?” They had been right there, right in front of him but after Aiden blinked out of his thoughts they had vanished from sight. Maybe if he tried a little louder, ”Lace—!” He had turned to walk around a rack of large puffy jackets when a smallish child at top speed smacked into him—just barely tall enough to knock against his forearm and in turn jostle his immobilized shoulder. The pain was white hot and sharp though fleeting. It began to subside almost as quickly as it had spiked but now he was aware of the growing aching feeling that he had been ignoring for the past hour. Thank god the others hadn’t been far after all and had apparently witnessed his near accident. He was fine, he’d be fine. It was honestly minor, at least his shoulder itself hadn’t been hit. But minor or not it still hurt and Aiden’s hand was over his clavicle now as though that would do anything to soothe it, ”You good?”
Daniel had placed himself just behind Aiden’s bad side, a shield of sorts against any other possible dangers while Lacey had quickly glued herself to his left with that worried look of hers. Aiden swore quietly as he fought himself to take shorter breaths to avoid further movement. Sonia meanwhile was rummaging through her purse repeating a couple times that she had Ibuprofen with her but her pre-med side was coming out now, ”You only took the Oxy earlier right?” And there she went listing medications of course she remembered his prescriptions from the one time she had gone over with Daniel last week, ”Ah ha! Got it~” She beamed, proud of herself as she pulled out the small to-go container of extra strength Ibuprofen, ”You should be fine to take it now, you’re probably due for it anyways. But you should eat so you don’t get sick.”
”Great, I’m starving.”
It was a slow journey to the food court with Daniel and Lacey playing bodyguard on either side of him but Aiden was so glad to finally get off his feet and sit down once they arrived. He and Lacey took a seat on the outskirts where it was less crowded and Sonia set the painkillers on the table between them before leaving hand in hand with Daniel to go order for everybody.
Aiden tried to sit back into his chair but he was having a hard time getting comfortable now when the recent pain was in the forefront of his mind. He would kill for a pillow right now to place between his shoulder and the back of the chair. It was just his luck for this to happen. As soon as he started being able to enjoy being out and having fun, something just had to happen to knock him back into his new reality.
He heard his name and looked over to Lacey, but she wasn’t looking back at him. And come to think of it that hadn’t sounded like her at all. Daniel maybe? But a glance over towards his best friend just gave him an eyeful of PDA. Wow okay, thanks.
So then...who? Turning his head to his left answered his question pretty quickly. He didn’t recognize them specifically but they were wearing jackets with his school’s emblem embroidered on. Sure maybe he was just being paranoid and assuming people were talking about him, but he saw one of them raise a finger to point in his direction. Great, he finally goes out in public and is immediately noticed by fellow students...and who knows who else. It was a pretty small city after all. Anyone who followed the school’s athletic teams would know about his accident. Was he the talk of the town now? Or was it just a coincidence that a couple students from school happened to pass by? He tugged his hood up over his head as he turned his attention back to face the table, then reached out to try and open the Ibuprofen himself. That was a fail. But it’s not like he had a drink yet anyways even if he’d been able to open it. With a frustrated sigh he let the tiny bottle drop back onto the table and he slid down further in the chair in an attempt to find a comfortable position, ”Do me a favor? If Nicole texts you, don’t respond.” It probably was just all in his head. But just in case. Just in case his location did get shared across the student body, the last person he wanted to have to deal with right now was his “Number One Fan”.
Despite still being high he was finding it really hard to feel good about anything right now. Even Lacey being here was quickly losing that magic from the park and was beginning to feel forced; like she didn’t want to be here—or was it that he didn’t want her here? Aiden honestly just felt so tired of it all, tired of trying, tired of others trying, tired of being tired, ”Just leave it Lace, come sit down.” Maybe if she would just come over and sit with him then things could go back to normal. Usually being around Lacey made him feel better. She was his favorite. His favorite “what” you might be wondering? She was his favorite person in the world. She made everything better when it sucked. He always looked forward to spending time with her. The fun times like mini golf and pier games; and then the rough times—the escape times. Being with Lacey just always made it better. Except for right now apparently.
Sitting with Lacey didn’t feel right; for several reasons. He wasn’t in pain at the moment, thanks now to the pain killers he’d managed to take before leaving for the park. But the sling certainly wasn’t comfortable. If he slouched too far down the sofa it put pressure against his shoulder, but if he sat up too straight it wasn’t relaxing. Normally sitting with Lacey meant some form of cuddling but he hadn’t made any move to initiate such contact. He couldn’t really. Honestly even moving his good arm would no doubt jostle the bad. He kept the edge of the blanket in his hand just to give it something to hold. His breathing was shallow, and body tense on account of his shoulder, but it wasn’t the physical that bothered him right now so much as it was the emotional. Or was it psychological? He may never know.
He wouldn’t say it, hell he might not even be aware of it at the moment, but some part of him deep inside was touched and thankful for Lacey ensuring that he would remain comfortable whilst losing her companionship when she was ready for bed.
It didn’t take long after she left for Aiden to begin to realize just how scared he actually was to be alone. Not scared of anything in particular. Rather it was more that he didn’t like hearing his own thoughts. She had left the TV on as he’d requested but the noise did little to drown out the conversations being held in his head. What was he doing—no, what would he do? He literally had nothing left. Swimming was his everything. He didn’t have a back up plan. College had always just been a formality, a stepping stone to get noticed. A place that’s sole purpose was to help him rise to the top. He was only here to focus on swimming. It was just a matter of time before some big name coach would sign him on; before he was competing in bigger pools with higher stakes. He was supposed to be working towards qualifying for the Olympics but that was all over now. So what was the point? Aiden’s thoughts were spiraling for at least an hour until the weed and pain pill wombo combo finally overpowered his mind and knocked him out for the rest of the night.
The next morning he woke up dumb early, thank you swim routine. Even though he had been home for two weeks it seemed his internal clock couldn’t be rewired that easily. He was so used to waking up before the sun to get as much training in before school as he could. The pills had also thrown his system for a ride though, he knew how to sleep in, but the past couple weeks he had still been up bright and early, his shoulder ran his life. He followed its schedule. But today at least Aiden was able to hit the snooze button on his internal clock and fell back asleep for sometime.
He managed to sleep for several more hours actually. His body, mind and soul all seemed to be aligned in their exhaustion and after finally managing a meal and medication he’d been granted adequate rest. It was the sound of a door shutting that finally brought him back, but his eyes opened to quiet apartment. It seemed the TV had been turned off since he had woken up earlier. And there were no sounds of Lacey in his bedroom. Had she left? ”Lacey?” No response. Or maybe Daniel had come back over to trade places? But there were no footsteps after the door closed. Whoever it was had left— unless he hadn’t even heard a door to begin with. Could have been a loud noise from outside. Could have been a dream he forgot as soon as he woke up. Maybe he was just hallucinating this? Maybe Lacey was still asleep in his room and just hadn’t heard him call out to her. There were numerous possible explanations for this but nothing could seem to tempt Aiden to get up from his little nest on the sofa. What difference did it make either way? Sure he might be alone now, but did he care? He hadn’t wanted Lacey over to begin with— okay now that was a huge lie but it still made it easier to justify to himself. He would just sit here, alone, in silence, forever. Aiden was perfectly content to just waste away here, what would be the point of getting up anyways?
Well Lacey returned not long after but despite actually being glad she hadn’t left, Aiden didn’t make much of an effort to greet her. He acknowledged her with an, ”Oh…” But proceeded to just turn back to stare at the wall with a pained sigh. He was so stiff and sore from sleeping so tensely. Aiden was most definitely not a back sleeper, and while he had grown used to it, it would never be comfortable to him. Lacey went on to suggest a shower but the prospect of getting up was just too much for him right now. No thanks. He’d rather sit in his sadness than have to handle the pain that would no doubt come with such activity. But Lacey was equally stubborn and wouldn’t take no for an answer, you would think they really were brother and sister if you saw them with their small bickers like this. True siblings were always getting at one another after all. What took the cake was Lacey finally offering to help him shower; that idea didn’t sit well with him at all. He had already watched her clean his apartment in small doses, she didn’t need to clean him too. He had created this mess all on his own, he wouldn’t let her be a part of it. Honestly there was no reason for him to make such a big deal out of it but it managed to get him up from the sofa and into the bathroom. There was no good reason he kept taking out his frustrations on Lacey, he really didn’t mean to but he was moody, hurting and at a point where he just didn’t care about...well, about anything really.
The doctor had said to shower with his sling on, but after last week’s poor attempt at washing up and trying to get soap out from between his arm and the material—yeah no, Aiden didn’t want to deal with all that again. So after starting the water he very carefully slid the sling off and set it on the closed toilet seat to make it easier to grab later. Having not been wearing a shirt to begin with, slipping off his pants was easy enough and he was soon slowly stepping under the hot water with his arm glued against his body for fear of hurting himself. Honestly he probably could move it a little more, from like his elbow and such or utilize his hand to hold things. But whenever it hurt, it really hurt and he simply wasn’t willing to go through that. As such he babied his arm the entire time and didn’t exactly shower as thoroughly as he normally would have. He only did the bare minimum but it still took almost twice as long as his normal shower time. Ultimately he rubbed some body wash on and managed to mostly shampoo his hair with one hand. But the pen marks from his surgery were still visible as he wasn’t brave enough to scrub anywhere near the incisions.
After he was technically done he just stood there for a little while. Just standing under the water letting it hit his shoulder blades to avoid direct contact with the injuries. Lacey had been right, the shower did feel nice. It was refreshing to be rid of all his accumulated body oil and feelings. Not that the shower had pulled him out of the dark, no no. But his heart felt just a little lighter, like that maybe he could get through the day. Maybe.
Lifting his head back he had intended to run his face and hair under the water one last time before getting out but instead the movement held him frozen in place. The water hit his face and ran across his closed eyes into his ever so parted lips and had him sputtering and gasping not a moment later when a drowning sensation dragged the pool out of his memories and dumped him in it. Aiden swore under his breath as his hand fumbled to switch off the water. His heart continued to race frantically while he dried off just enough to get dressed but after a glance back at the fogged up mirror he opted to take his panic out of the small tiled room. Another glance, this time to ensure his bedroom door was closed enough before dropping his towel to change into clean underwear and whatever pants he could find that weren’t stuffed into the laundry bags that—hold up, laundry? The room was...more or less clean. Aiden didn’t mind, in fact it was a little easier to breathe without everything being everywhere. Was this what Lacey had been up to all morning after he’d fallen back asleep?
Just like before Aiden opted out of dealing with a shirt. It’s not like he was going anywhere, why bother going through the potential pain that would come with getting fully dressed? He just had to...get his….arm….back in...this stupid...sli— ”Here, let me help with that.”
He tried to withhold from hissing in pain as the two of them ever so carefully tucked his arm into the sleeve of the sling and then adjusted the strap to a comfortable position. Last night’s pain medication was long gone from his system by now and he was definitely feeling it. For now though he was running off the good feelings from the shower as Lacey led him back to the sofa. He was relieved to be off his feet and no longer having to “hold” his arm still. Here he could sink into his pillows and feel safe; like he wasn’t at risk to bump into anything.
Aiden didn’t say anything for the “Nanny torch” comment while she went to work drying his hair. Maybe that’s what it was about Lacey that had him so on edge and blunt with her. It wasn’t that it was Lacey being here, it was that she wasn’t Daniel. Daniel wouldn’t put up with his attitude, or he would and then wait a moment and ask if he was done. Daniel would decide when it was time to do something or how far to push him. Daniel kept track of things like medications and meals. With Daniel, Aiden didn’t have to do anything beyond his current floating through life without purpose existence. But with Lacey it was the exact opposite. Lacey was constantly looking to him for direction, she always had. That was their relationship. Aiden was the sure of himself older brother and she always went along with anything he said. So being in that position of being in charge of himself was currently exposing Aiden and forcing him to acknowledge parts of himself he wasn’t ready to face. She kept asking what he needed, what he wanted—he didn’t want anything. Daniel would have just put a glass of water and some pain killers in his hand and told him to take it. But Lacey asking what she should do gave Aiden an out and that made him nervous. That same fear from last night was surfacing but it’s origin was a little clearer now. He was scared of himself. He had spent his whole life wanting to be able to make decisions for himself, but now that he was forced into it he didn’t want anything to do with it. Everything was so much easier when someone else was telling him what to do. This whole being accountable for himself thing wasn’t working.
Aiden’s thoughts circled back to that “massive text” she said Daniel had sent. What exactly had he told her? Did she know how little he had cared about, well, anything the past two weeks? Did she know how difficult the two weeks had been on him? How many nights had been spent on the bathroom floor coughing up stomach acid because he couldn’t keep anything down? Did she know how scared he had been to see her again after snapping at her? Did she know how broken he truly was? And not just the extent of his injuries—no, he meant that part of him that didn’t care. The part of him that didn’t see the point in pushing through all his misery. The part that regretted having woken up in the hospital.
No he couldn’t put that on her. He wouldn’t. Not when she was clearly trying so hard for him. He would have to put on a brave face for her, she didn’t need to see the ledge he was hanging from—he wouldn’t let her be the one to half to talk him down from it.
Okay breathe Aiden, inhale—ouch oh god not that hard. You need pain killers first. So food, you need food Aiden, to be able to stomach your medications. Just let her help you. On a normal day he probably wouldn’t have eaten much more than a shake, maybe fruit or some form of snack bar too before going for a run or off to the pool. After training he would for sure down a full breakfast like a true growing teenage boy. But so point was, he wasn’t entirely used to eating much this early in the morning anyways. Not that he was expecting Lacey to make some huge meal for him, but it’s still hard to think of what to eat when you’re not hungry.
Grocery shopping wasn’t exactly his thing either. Even if he hadn’t been recovering from surgery the past two weeks, the chances of Aiden having any real food in his kitchen was slim. Protein powder, sure. Maybe some chips or popcorn, snack foods. But anything that really qualified as breakfast? He more often than not would eat out. But that wasn’t exactly an option right now. He couldn’t safely drive them anywhere, especially when he was hurting. And he didn’t want to force Lacey behind the wheel again.
The longer he was awake the more the pain was settling in and if you were to ask him to be honest he was beginning to miss last night’s high; everything had felt so much more manageable when he hadn’t been…aware of it. And he didn’t just mean the pain in his shoulder. It had been such a load off his chest to finally not feel like he wanted to jump in front of a movin—
Aiden. Let. Her. Help. You.
”Uh yeah—“ As he cleared his throat Aiden’s gaze broke away from her to look down at the coffee table in search of the various prescription bottles. He didn’t know the names of them all but he would be able to differentiate them once he saw them. The surgical strength ones were tiny. And if it wasn’t enough then he could supplement with the other one. And then one bottle was anti-nausea...should he take one just in case? Or was he finally over that stage of recovery? See this was where he needed Daniel—who in turn had been texting Sonia for advice. With Lacey he needed to be the one to decide what he needed. Maybe he should just call it quits after all. This was getting to be too much pressure. It would be so easy to just tell her “no”. To say “I’m fine”.
But despite his conflicting self hate and fear, he couldn’t find it in him to say no or turn down Lacey. She was trying so hard for him and he was well aware of that at least. He was still Aiden though, and wouldn’t hesitate to voice his opinion, “Ugh, no cereal...please.” Yesterday’s soggy cereal was in the forefront of his mind and it definitely wasn’t an appetizing thought. But Lacey had a point about the burnt eggs. What was even in the kitchen? He kind of didn’t want to get up to go check, ”Is there bread? Toast is fine.”
So yes, there was in fact bread. Lacey set a plate containing two slices of toast on the table before him but it seemed she didn’t really know what else to do with herself. This was it. This was the moment he had to make a choice between taking his medications and hoping the toast was enough to settle his stomach, or to not take them and hope the pain didn’t worsen. Honestly if it stayed at this level he could probably handle it...maybe...but he was also so so tired of being in pain all the time and the horrible mood it put him in. Okay, he’d do it. He’d take them. He knew it was only a matter of time before the pain would overwhelm him; Aiden really just hadn’t been coping well with recovery.
No lie, sitting up from his nest of cushion comfort was a bit of a struggle but he wouldn’t have been able to eat sitting so reclined even if she had passed him everything. Aiden had managed okay so far but it was all piling up too much to hide his wince at the effort it took to move. It didn’t matter if he ate first or took the pills right? ”Uh, could you get a glass of water I guess?” The words didn’t feel right as they fell out of his mouth, this whole “asking for help” thing wasn’t working for him. It’s not like he normally would have cared. Literally any other day he would happily stay on the couch and pass lazy requests for his little sister to fulfill. Just like true siblings. But the fact his current condition rendered him incapable of doing it himself made it hard to ask for anything. As such while she was back in the kitchen he continued to wince through more movement to retrieve as many prescription bottles as he could reach without actually getting up to read the labels and see if he could make heads or tails of what was what.
After a moment of confusion he was able to recognize what to take—though he failed to open the bottles with his one hand, so more assistance was required but he was soon medicated and praying that he wouldn’t see them come back up in the next twenty minutes or so. While he forced himself to take his first bite of toast, Lacey’s attention traveled to her phone as it seemed she’d received a text which distracted her just long enough for Aiden to realize he didn’t have a clue where his own phone was. Not that he particularly needed it. The only people he would contact were Lacey or Daniel, but he was still your average American teenager tied to his mobile device. Where was it? Last he’d had it it had died on him and he couldn’t remember charging it afterwards so it had to be somewhere close by—oh there it was, on the floor at the opposite end of the couch. Was it worth picking up? The painkillers hadn’t kicked in yet so that was gonna be a hard no. He didn’t need it. Clearly Daniel was communicating through Lacey anyways. He didn’t need his phone, but still… ”Lace, can you—?” He didn’t finish his request but instead pointed down at the phone when she looked over to him ready to help with whatever he needed, ”It’s probably dead.”
This had been entirely unnecessary. Just keep eating Aiden and stop creating excuses.
He got through one slice and almost half of the second before leaning back into his pillow nest and calling it quits, for now at least. He wasn’t exactly full, but it was too much too fast for the delicate state his stomach was in. His main goal right now was to just not throw up. If he could get through the morning then maybe the rest of today would be easier on him than previous ones.
”You don’t have a shoot?” Normally Aiden was kept pretty up-to-date with his sister’s schedule, but as he hadn’t spoken to her in two weeks, he was out of the loop. He was so used to waking up and immediately having to rush her off to some venue or salon in the early morning hours. But the early morning had come and gone and she was still here.
He still had mixed feelings about her being there. Last night it hadn’t felt right; but that was no longer the case. He had missed having her around, and he always enjoyed waking up to her in his apartment. But he was still miserable to the point that he didn’t want...well...anything really. And he didn’t like her seeing him like this. He was caught between his depression which had clearly run rampant for weeks, and feeling like he needed to hide it all from her. Put on an act and do whatever necessary to make her happy while she was here.
Whatever necessary to make her happy.
Of course Lacey would suggest leaving the apartment, and to the mall of all places. That was a big no in Aiden’s book though; leaving that is, he didn’t have anything against the mall in particular. He was just perfectly content nestled up in his pillows and didn’t want to go anywhere. It had been some time now since waking up. The toast ended up unfinished but he hadn’t felt sick yet so that was a good sign, ”Yeah sure,” the sarcasm was loud in his voice as he went on to tease her, ”Lemme just put my hiking boots on and we can walk the five miles over there.”
”Lacey I can’t drive right now,” well, he could but it certainly wasn’t very safe, ”And you’re definitely not getting my keys.” Aiden was choosing to ignore the fact that both he and Lacey had in fact driven last night. He’d been high, he’d thought he could do it. And any normal day he never would have let her in his driver’s seat, even though she had actually done well last night, from what he could remember at least. Aiden thought he was being pretty damn clever pointing out their inability to drive as a way to turn her down but Lacey was a quick thinker and mused aloud if Daniel and Sonia might want to join them. What? No. He didn’t want to go. But he couldn’t outright turn her down, he rarely could.
And so within the hour he found himself staring out the window of the car rather than the comfort of his apartment. Going out had meant getting dressed and Aiden had settled for a pullover hoodie, over his arm making him look a bit like an amputee. But no one had been able to convince him to fool with a real shirt or sleeves. It was still fairly early in recovery, if Aiden said it hurt then no one would question it. Besides they were happy enough just to be getting him to go outside. The seatbelt was a battle Aiden lost this time around though. It was Sonia who wouldn’t let him off the hook. (No one tell her he hadn’t been wearing it much if at all yesterday.) She made him sit in the driver’s side backseat so the belt would rest across his good shoulder. So that was where he was for the ten or so minute drive to the mall, sitting in silence while the others happily conversed together as though nothing had changed. Well, in a way nothing had changed for any of them. Their lives all just kept going as normal, Aiden’s was the only one to come to a shattering stop. He had passed the phase of self hatred, his apartment had shown for that. Aiden had reached this point of numb where he didn’t really feel like he was there all the time. It was this sort of surreal out of body experience. Like nothing could bother him anymore, he had nothing left to lose. His self importance was so dangerously low that—”Aiden? We’re here.”
Why were they here again? Their mall adventure had its fun moments. Watching Lacey bounce around and grab clothes to hold up to herself or Sonia trying to convince Daniel to try on a new jacket when he was oh so attached to the same German field jacket he’d worn for going on two years now. But Aiden had felt so disconnected for so long now that he kept finding himself retreating back into his head as he followed them around, always a few steps behind his friends...until he wasn’t.
”Lacey?” They had been right there, right in front of him but after Aiden blinked out of his thoughts they had vanished from sight. Maybe if he tried a little louder, ”Lace—!” He had turned to walk around a rack of large puffy jackets when a smallish child at top speed smacked into him—just barely tall enough to knock against his forearm and in turn jostle his immobilized shoulder. The pain was white hot and sharp though fleeting. It began to subside almost as quickly as it had spiked but now he was aware of the growing aching feeling that he had been ignoring for the past hour. Thank god the others hadn’t been far after all and had apparently witnessed his near accident. He was fine, he’d be fine. It was honestly minor, at least his shoulder itself hadn’t been hit. But minor or not it still hurt and Aiden’s hand was over his clavicle now as though that would do anything to soothe it, ”You good?”
Daniel had placed himself just behind Aiden’s bad side, a shield of sorts against any other possible dangers while Lacey had quickly glued herself to his left with that worried look of hers. Aiden swore quietly as he fought himself to take shorter breaths to avoid further movement. Sonia meanwhile was rummaging through her purse repeating a couple times that she had Ibuprofen with her but her pre-med side was coming out now, ”You only took the Oxy earlier right?” And there she went listing medications of course she remembered his prescriptions from the one time she had gone over with Daniel last week, ”Ah ha! Got it~” She beamed, proud of herself as she pulled out the small to-go container of extra strength Ibuprofen, ”You should be fine to take it now, you’re probably due for it anyways. But you should eat so you don’t get sick.”
”Great, I’m starving.”
It was a slow journey to the food court with Daniel and Lacey playing bodyguard on either side of him but Aiden was so glad to finally get off his feet and sit down once they arrived. He and Lacey took a seat on the outskirts where it was less crowded and Sonia set the painkillers on the table between them before leaving hand in hand with Daniel to go order for everybody.
Aiden tried to sit back into his chair but he was having a hard time getting comfortable now when the recent pain was in the forefront of his mind. He would kill for a pillow right now to place between his shoulder and the back of the chair. It was just his luck for this to happen. As soon as he started being able to enjoy being out and having fun, something just had to happen to knock him back into his new reality.
He heard his name and looked over to Lacey, but she wasn’t looking back at him. And come to think of it that hadn’t sounded like her at all. Daniel maybe? But a glance over towards his best friend just gave him an eyeful of PDA. Wow okay, thanks.
So then...who? Turning his head to his left answered his question pretty quickly. He didn’t recognize them specifically but they were wearing jackets with his school’s emblem embroidered on. Sure maybe he was just being paranoid and assuming people were talking about him, but he saw one of them raise a finger to point in his direction. Great, he finally goes out in public and is immediately noticed by fellow students...and who knows who else. It was a pretty small city after all. Anyone who followed the school’s athletic teams would know about his accident. Was he the talk of the town now? Or was it just a coincidence that a couple students from school happened to pass by? He tugged his hood up over his head as he turned his attention back to face the table, then reached out to try and open the Ibuprofen himself. That was a fail. But it’s not like he had a drink yet anyways even if he’d been able to open it. With a frustrated sigh he let the tiny bottle drop back onto the table and he slid down further in the chair in an attempt to find a comfortable position, ”Do me a favor? If Nicole texts you, don’t respond.” It probably was just all in his head. But just in case. Just in case his location did get shared across the student body, the last person he wanted to have to deal with right now was his “Number One Fan”.
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feelsHASkilig
Solo Conversationalist
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- Page Two Hundred & Forty-Nine
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It just dawned on Lacey while watching Aiden eat his toast that she hadn’t eaten since...yesterday? The exact memory of when and what she last ate was a bit fuzzy. Most of the day before was spent sleeping, so if she ate something it had to be in the morning before her episode of pining for Aiden and then using sleep to avoid it began. But even as she watched her step-brother fight his way through his breakfast, she didn’t feel up for making something for herself. Honestly, making sure that he ate seemed more important than her own need to eat.
While Aiden struggled through the rest of his breakfast, Lacey had Daniel and Sonia to keep her occupied. After the long text message Daniel sent earlier, she got the same text message just moments later when Daniel copied and pasted it into a group chat that included Sonia. From that point on, the two were reluctantly offering her tips and tricks to help take care of Aiden. It was a lot of Sonia throwing around which pain medications worked best and other pre-med jargon. Daniel, on the other hand, was good at offering his advice on how to work around Aiden. The first thing he acknowledged was that being around him was not going to be easy. Lacey was slowly realizing that herself.
It was sort of jarring when he asked her about her work schedule. Before the accident, he knew her schedule better than she did...usually. Of course there were occasions when shoots or meetings sprung up on Aiden and they had to rush out of the apartment for her to make it on time. But the rest of the time, he always knew when to get her to work. So to hear him ask if she had a shoot felt off.
“No, no shoots this week,” she answered anyway. “But that’s mainly ‘cause I have a huge shoot this weekend. I, uh, got booked for that one LA campaign. You know, the one you drove me to their meeting in Portland a couple months back? Me and Mom have a meeting with Susie though later this week and then we fly to LA Friday night.” She was tempted to tease him and say that she hoped he wouldn’t miss her while she was in LA next weekend. But the mood just didn’t seem bright enough between them for that kind of joking around.
Sarcasm, on the other hand, seemed just fine. Lacey felt the corners of her lips turn down. It wasn’t like this type of response was unusual for Aiden. He’s her big brother after all. He basically had every right to tease her. But between the heavy tension in the apartment and his overall demeanor, Aiden’s sarcastic comment in response to her mall suggestion felt a little like an attack.
She remembered Daniel’s text about her stepbrother’s behavior. He told her that it was better to just let him ride out whatever mood he was in before directing away from it. How she was supposed to do that, she had no idea. Daniel wasn’t very clear on the details. As Aiden went on to explain that it was not possible for them to go to the mall, she quietly thought about how unreasonable he was being. Just last night he let her drive his car and she was successful. And, they didn’t need to drive. There were plenty of other options to get them from one place to another.
That was when she pointed out that they could invite Daniel and Sonia to the mall and they could drive for them. It seemed like a solid idea. Aiden liked the couple. Daniel is his best friend after all and Sonia was fun to have around when she wasn’t constantly stressing over her science courses. Driving with them to the mall as opposed to taking a taxi seemed like the most clever idea. And Aiden appeared to be okay with it.
There wasn’t much of a plan once the four of them arrived at the mall. Lacey did mention to Sonia after getting out of the car that she wanted to look for a couple outfits for her shoot next weekend. Obviously not for the shoot itself, but she wanted to have a couple articles of clothing fit for the LA scene. So with that in mind, that became the focus on their mall adventure. At least until Lacey got pulled into the long-running debate between the lovely couple about the two year old jacket Daniel just cannot seem to part with. Lacey, of course, sided with Sonia. How long did Daniel think he can say no to his girlfriend?
This was good. Lacey needed this time out with her friends. She and Aiden needed this time out of the apartment to just try and live normal lives.
The sharpness of Aiden’s voice as he called out for her pulled her out of whatever good mood she was in moments before. She panicked. When did she lose track of Aiden? All she did was skim for a smaller size of a cute dress she and Sonia liked. She followed the direction his voice came from and found him just as a little girl zoomed past her only to basically collide into Aiden seconds later. She, Daniel and Sonia sort of just stood there stunned and waiting for whatever happens next. While that might sound like a prolonged moment, their pause lasted no more than a couple seconds before they rushed over to help Aiden as best they could. From that point on, Lacey refused to leave his side.
When they arrived at the food court later, Lacey watched Aiden carefully. Was it a bad idea to bring him to the mall? If they stayed at the apartment, the incident earlier would not have happened and he would not be in pain. Would he blame her for this?
If he was annoyed or upset with her over earlier, he didn’t show it. Well, he didn’t really show much expression other than the obvious discomfort due to his chair. Lacey bit her lip nervously. She wished she went with Sonia to get food instead of Daniel. He seemed to know exactly how to act around Aiden no matter what the mood.
As soon as she turned away to check on Daniel and Sonia’s progress, Aiden pulled his hood over his head and slouched deeper into his chair. Confused, she watched as he reached over for the tiny bottle of Ibuprofen Sonia left on the table and then tried and failed to open it. She was just about to reach out and open it for him when he mentioned something about Nicole and not responding to her. Now she was more confused. “Um, okay. Sure,” was all she could manage. Besides, it wasn’t like she would ever respond to anything Nicole said now. Not that Nicole even bothered to reach out to her lately. After finding out that she hadn’t seen Aiden since the accident, she heard nothing from Nicole ever since.
The hood made it difficult for Lacey to start up any conversation with Aiden. It felt like he wanted to shut himself away from the world...even if she was in it. They ended up sitting at the table quietly and once again with a tense air around them until the happy couple returned. Daniel was balancing a tray with three to-go containers while Sonia two of the four cups of what Lacey could only guess was soda.
While Daniel and Sonia each had their own separate plates of food, Lacey insisted that she was okay just sharing a plate with Aiden. Honestly, she wasn’t that hungry and she attributed that to her stress over Aiden. But when she told Sonia that she didn’t feel like eating, she wasn’t having it. So here she was, staring at an insanely large amount of food with such a little appetite for any of it. Did they really have to give so much fried rice and noodles?
Lacey twirled her fork around some noodles while Daniel and Sonia discussed what sounded like their opinions on final exams they took last week. Sonia was going on about how she wished she had done better on her Anatomy practicum; translation being that she probably aced that test or at least passed it. She was still twirling the noodles when she felt her phone go off in her back pocket. Her mother’s picture was on the screen when she glanced down at it.
“I’ll be right back. I have to take this,” she announced then pushed her chair back to stand and leave.
The phone call took some time. Her mother wanted to get an update on how she was doing after spending the night at Aiden’s apartment. Lacey felt inclined to keep the details to a minimum. She simply told her mother that the sleepover and Aiden were fine. Then they discussed her upcoming meeting later in the week to prepare for next weekend and how she wanted to do a bit of shopping for new outfits for LA. That was when Lacey explained that she did already pick out a couple outfits. This then led to Lacey clarifying that she and Aiden were in fact out of the apartment right now and spending time at the mall. Her mother seemed pretty shocked by this bit of news, but the silence only lasted a few seconds before she continued their conversation with an update on her work schedule. Apparently her agent got a call from a company that would like to meet with her about a commercial campaign this coming Tuesday.
In truth, Lacey wasn’t sure about the meeting. Since she already had such a busy schedule next weekend, she was hesitant to be away from Aiden before then. Not that she didn’t think he would not be able to take care of himself for just a couple hours, but they just reunited after two long weeks apart. The last thing she wanted to do was be away from him.
Which then led Lacey to come to a quick compromise. She would agree to go to the meeting for the commercial campaign, if she was allowed to stay at Aiden’s until their meeting with Susie for the LA shoot. Save for the couple or so hours she would need to leave for the commercial meeting, she would have until Thursday to be with him.
Despite the fact that this was a phone call, Lacey could tell her mother was not too keen to agree to this arrangement. She knew exactly why. Even she was hesitant about what her stepfather would think when he finds out why she isn’t staying at home. But this was Lacey’s proposal. If her mother and Susie really wanted her to entertain this commercial, she wanted to spend quality time with Aiden.
“Okay, so…” Lacey started when she returned to the table to join the others. “I hope it’s okay that I stay over this week. Because Mom is stopping by later tonight to drop off some of my clothes.” She picked up her drink and took a sip. “Try not to get too tired of me too quickly or else I’m gonna have to walk home.”
When they returned to the apartment later, Aiden went straight to his nest of pillows on the couch leaving Lacey to stow their leftover Chinese food in the refrigerator. She figured Aiden could eat them later tonight for dinner so he can take his medicine. The rest of the day was spent just relaxing inside. Or, at least, relaxing as much as was possible for the two of them. Maybe Aiden was doing fine, but Lacey still felt...awkward in the apartment. It still did not feel like it used to before the accident. Plus, she realized as soon as Daniel and Sonia drove off how much she actually depended on their company to lighten the mood for her. They had two weeks worth of experience dealing with this dark cloud over Aiden’s head. The worst she ever got from him in the four years they knew each other was his annoyed voice whenever she bugged him too much. She still felt as if she was treading on thin ice when saying or doing anything around him.
Her mother dropped by the apartment around the time Lacey heated up the leftovers for Aiden. She didn’t stay long and she spent the entire visit outside at the door. Apparently she had some dinner plans tonight with a couple wives of her stepfather’s co-workers. Along with her clothes, Lacey’s mother brought a couple bags of what looked like groceries. Or, more specifically, pre-packaged food of what appeared to be sandwiches and salads. There was some fruit and a loaf of bread. It was as if she knew Aiden’s apartment didn’t actually have food in it. Whatever reason compelled the woman to help restock the kitchen, Lacey simply said thank you and left it at that.
“Well,” she started as she carried everything onto the dining table. “Looks like we don’t have to worry about eating for the rest of the week.”
It seemed as if they were developing a sort of routine when Monday came around. Once Aiden was fed and given whatever list of medications Sonia said he should take, Lacey went on her small cleaning sprees to put the apartment back together. That morning, much of her focus was the living room. So much had been knocked over that she still needed to pick up and put back. But with Aiden constantly sitting on the couch, she was too nervous to get to any of it the other day. Now that he seemed to be getting used to her company, she risked it.
In the afternoon she even convinced him to leave the apartment with her. Sort of. They went to the laundry room so Lacey could start on a couple loads. She didn’t expect him to help out, of course. But he was more than welcome to hand her a shirt or two if he wanted. She simply wanted his company in the hopes that spending more time together would help get him out of this mood.
She just really wanted her big brother back.
If Aiden’s new mood affected her, having to sleep alone in his room for the past three nights made matters worse. It was torture for Lacey knowing that while she was sleeping on Aiden’s bed, he was just outside the door sleeping on the couch. The bed felt too big and too lonely for her without him at her side. She would wake up in the late hours to find that she had rolled onto his side of the bed, hugging his pillow. That’s if she actually managed to sleep long enough to wake up in the late hours. Every night since she came back she considered just forgetting about sleeping on his bed to stay with him in the living room. But every night she chickened out, afraid that his mood and his pain would only make her feel more lonely and useless.
It was a miracle Lacey managed to clock in the hours of sleep she got that Monday night. Sure, it was still on and off, but at least she got more than twenty minutes. Hell, she managed a solid two hours before she woke up again. She considered her exhaustion from all the house chores she did that Monday as a contribution. The back and forth from the apartment to the laundry room without a nap afterwards was tiring. However, regardless of the amount of sleep she successfully she got that night, waking up that morning hit her with a level of loneliness she found almost unbearable.
Once again, she woke up clinging to Aiden’s pillow. She did not know how much more of this she could take. If she was going to be sleeping alone, she might as well go back home. But she knew that she couldn’t. Who would take care of Aiden while he was still in pain? This was such a vicious cycle. She doubted and questioned her reasoning for being at the apartment, but then resolved that she could never leave her brother alone with no one to help take care of him.
Lacey turned her head to focus her attention on the open bedroom door. She didn’t hear any sounds coming from the living room. Was Aiden awake? She considered getting up to check, but in the end decided against it. If he was awake, he would probably call for her. Or figure out some way to keep himself occupied. It was still fairly early in the morning. He was allowed to sleep in now.
But what about Lacey? What was she supposed to do until her caregiving duties began for the day? There wasn’t much of the apartment to clean. Everything was either picked up or thrown away. The only thing she had left was the laundry...and she just was not in the mood to do those multiple trips today. Aiden had plenty of extra clothes to keep him from looking like a complete bum.
As the loneliness crept up on her, Lacey grabbed her phone from under her pillow to check for notifications. Text messages and emails from her mother and her agent reminding her of her meeting for the commercial campaign this afternoon. Some social media notifications. Private messages from other models also with her agency. New text messages and a voicemail from Daniel asking how things were going since their last text conversation last night. Nothing that she was too keen on focusing her attention on. None of these would momentarily alleviate the loneliness that was just bringing down her own mood.
Before she addressed all the messages she has waiting for her, she scrolled through her multiple text threads to find Tristan’s name. Despite the emotionally busy few weeks since Aiden’s accident, Lacey has tried keeping contact with her boyfriend. A good morning/good night text at least every other day just to let him know that she missed him. Because she honestly did. They did long distance often now that Tristan was doing international work. But after Aiden’s accident, she wished she had someone that would be her stable ground. Tristan always seemed to have everything together.
However, disappointment slowly creeped in when she tapped on Tristan’s text thread and found that he once again did not respond to any of her messages. Was he just so busy in Florence right now to talk to her? To add salt to the wound, she scrolled through the wall of text messages she sent him since the day before Aiden’s accident. The last message he sent her was to tell her that he was busy with work.
Lacey sighed, frustrated that not even her own boyfriend was there to give her a temporary break from her own headspace. It was probably this frustration that resulted in her throwing caution to the wind as she pulled up Tristan’s contact information on Skype to call him.
It took two attempts to call him before he finally picked up. Lacey did the math. She was definitely not going to be disrupting him at this time. The initial high of hearing his voice again almost immediately disappeared after his greeting. His hello didn’t even sound like he was genuinely happy to hear from her. And while she tried to keep her own voice positive as she tried to keep up any form of conversation, Tristan sounded more and more distracted. The call only lasted about three minutes before he ultimately cut her off and told her that he had to go. But just as Tristan was in the midst of saying a quick goodbye, Lacey could have sworn she heard...giggling?
Or maybe she was imagining the sound. Yeah, that had to be it. Or maybe it wasn’t giggling at all and some background noise at his work.
Her chest tightened. It was suddenly very hard to breathe. She sat up in the hopes that it would help. It did, but not that much. Her breaths came in short and honestly a little painful. Why couldn’t Tristan just give her five minutes of his time without making her feel like she was getting in the way of something he considered more important.
Screw Tristan. He wasn’t the only one that had better things to do. She too had someone that needed her more.
Maybe….
Lacey abandoned her phone in the bedroom to return to the living room. Whether Aiden was awake or not, she needed a distraction; a happy distraction*.
She glanced at the clock briefly. It was about that time for Aiden to eat something for breakfast to take medicine. In the kitchen she took one of the sandwiches her mother brought over and a glass of water. Yes, she felt like she was starting to get the hang of this caregiver routine.
As she stepped out of the kitchen and returned to the living room, she found that Aiden was now in the midst of fully waking up. “Good morning,” she greeted, forcing a bright smile on her face. Aiden was already in enough pain, he didn’t need to deal with his little sister’s petty relationship problems. “Did you sleep better last night?”
She took her spot on the couch. Said spot was not directly beside Aiden. Overtime since her return to the apartment, she gradually gave her brother the space he needed on the couch. As much as she wanted to remain at his side, he sometimes gave the vibe that he didn’t feel the same. It wasn’t a good feeling to think about, but Lacey just wanted him to be comfortable. “Here, this one is one of the tamer sandwiches Mom brought. I might have to go to the store or something to get more. The only ones left are some of the weirder options. Lemme go get a fruit bowl too,” she explained as she put the sandwich and water on the coffee table.
Breakfast was...quiet. Just like the other days, Lacey was finding it more and more difficult to think of topics to discuss. There was only so much she could talk about work and how she was almost done with her homeschooling before he got bored. Although there was one thing she needed to discuss with him.
“I don’t know if you remember,” she began as she picked up a grape from the fruit bowl, “but I have my meeting today. Mom is going to pick me up around, like, three-ish. I should be back in a couple hours.”
They spent the rest of the morning into the afternoon in the living room semi-watching whatever reruns were on TV. But after she got lunch prepared for Aiden, Lacey left to get ready for when her mother picked her up for the meeting. Both her mother and Susie had a specific look they wanted for her to wear. And while it normally wouldn’t be a big deal, she gave said look a bit of extra effort just so she didn’t have either of them on her back. Today was not the day to be told she didn’t know how to be a model.
“Okay, I’m about ready. How do I look? And if you say bad, I won’t come back later because I am in no mood to redo my makeup…or change.” Lacey was joking of course. She adjusted her skirt around her waist with one hand while the other carried her heels into the living room.
“Mom will be here soon. Last minute lazy requests while I’m here or else you’ll have to get off your own butt to do it.” As she spoke she took a seat on the couch to better put her heels on. “Unless you want to just call Daniel to be a temp while I’m away. I promise I won’t get butt hurt...maybe. Just lie later that I’m the better nanny.”
Yes, she was purposely trying to keep the mood light for when she had to leave. She feared what Aiden might do or feel once he was left alone. Maybe if she kept the mood lighter and maybe got a chuckle from him, it would be enough until she came back. That was the hope at least.
After fulfilling whatever last minute requests he had, Lacey heard her phone go off on the coffee table. A text message from her mother displayed on the lockscreen letting her know that she was outside. Lacey gave a quick goodbye to her brother before grabbing her purse and leaving the apartment.
The meeting was, honestly, uneventful. And while she appeared to be wowing the marketing team, she had a small inkling that she wasn’t going to get the job. Sure, she can probably fake her way through selling the brand for the commercial, but Lacey ultimately was not into it personally. So while her mother and her agent might be disappointed if she doesn’t get the job, she wouldn’t give it an extra blink.
When she climbed into her mother’s car later, the first thing she did was look at her phone to check if she had any messages. The most recent message was from Daniel and was time stamped about half an hour ago. Apparently he was going to take Aiden out for some fresh air. No ETA when he would bring Aiden back to the apartment. Lacey tried not to think too much into this. This was Daniel after all. If there was anyone she trusted with her brother, it was his best friend. She told herself not to worry too much...even when she got no response back when she asked what they would be doing. Guess they were having fun or something.
As they pulled into traffic, she composed a quick text to Aiden to check in on him. And she waited for any kind of response up until her mother pulled up in front of the apartment. It was getting harder to not worry….
Lacey needed another round of distractions to stop herself from growing increasingly worried for Aiden. It upset her a little that he wasn’t home when she got back and that the coffee table was the mess he left it when she left earlier. Just like that morning, Lacey left her phone untouched and out of sight at the bottom of her purse. If she didn’t look at her phone, the frustration and worry would not overpower her. She went to work cleaning up the mess in the living room. The trash can in the kitchen was due to be emptied. Just not in her heels or her outfit in general.
It was off to the showers as soon as the living room was all cleaned up. She considered keeping the bathroom and bedroom doors open just so she could hear when Aiden got back, but ultimately decided against it. All that mattered was the shower would not only cleanse her from her work day, but kill time until her brother came home.
Only the shower was apparently not long enough.
Lacey was back in the living room in a tank top and sweats with her hair still slightly damp when the front door finally opened. She put the television on mute as she watched Aiden come inside. His good arm was carrying a plastic bag with what looked like a to-go container inside. “Have fun?” she asked, trying to keep her voice level so as to not give away how upset she kind of felt right now.
It didn’t take Lacey very long to notice that something was off with Aiden. His demeanor as he walked over to the dining table seemed...relaxed. Definitely not what she had seen from him in the last couple of days. Sure, during the course of her stay at the apartment he seemed more accustomed to having her around. But there was just...something about how he was acting right now that just didn’t feel familiar.
No, wait. She was wrong. Once she looked past the last few days, she recognized that this behavior was a bit familiar. Now it was a matter of figuring out how and why.
But just as she questioned it, the answer came to her. All she needed to do was take a deep breath near him.
Lacey stood up from her spot on the couch to join him at the dining table. He was in the middle of pulling the to-go box out of the plastic bag when the smell hit her. As he asked her to check if the restaurant really did put no pepper in his food, the day they reunited at the park popped into her head. He had been so calm and relaxed during their reunion. It was the last time she saw that goofy smile of his. A smile she thought then was because of her. Turns out, after putting two and two together, she realized she had nothing to do it.
It was the weed that fixed him. It fixed him that day at the park. And it was doing the same thing right now.
So that was why neither Daniel nor Aiden responded to her texts earlier. They went off to smoke. Did they think she would not handle it? This was Oregon after all. She was no stranger to this.
The pasta noodle in her mouth felt heavy, as if each bite took just a little extra effort. Her throat closed up as she forced herself to swallow. Luckily the one taste test was enough for her to conclude there was no peppers. She refused to take another bite. As Aiden went to town on his food, Lacey watched him from the couch. She just couldn’t get herself to stay with him at the table anymore. The smell of the weed made her sick.
Again, she had no problem with weed overall. It was legal and it wasn’t like Aiden was abusing it. But each time she breathed it in and realized it was coming from her brother, it was as if a monster was slithering inside her causing her stomach to turn all around. The very same monster wrapped its tail around her chest and squeezed. She was suffocating with no way out.
After Aiden finished his food - and actually finished it - he mentioned that he was going to shower. Lacey simply nodded. She feared what word vomit would come out if she dared to speak. When Aiden disappeared into his room, she unmuted the television to focus on anything other than the painful thoughts in her head just spiraling faster and faster and making it harder to breathe.
By the time Aiden returned, his sling partly fixed to him, the volume of the television was booming. She needed it to quiet all the thoughts in her head whether they were good or bad. She didn’t even turn down the volume when she joined Aiden to help him put his sling back on properly.
If the shower was supposed to help settle things, it didn’t. Sure, the smell faded some. But Lacey’s thoughts and feelings remained as a substitute stink on her mind.
Why did she come here? Why did she stay? Did she really think being back here with Aiden would help him with...whatever he was going through? Was she even helping at all? Or...or was she making things worse?
They were back on the couch together. Lacey clung to the throw pillow as an excuse to not sit beside him. She was practically in fetal position at the other end, her legs tucked under her and her back resting against the arm. After one and a half episodes of whatever show was on - she honestly could not pay attention - she didn’t know how much more of this she could take.
The truth was this: Lacey didn’t want to be here anymore. She wanted to go home. And the longer she had the pressure of Aiden’s presence weighing down on her, the more tempting the idea grew.
“I have to pee,” she said in a small voice. She grabbed her phone from the coffee table and kept her gaze forward.
Lacey took a seat on the bed near the pillows to be out of sight of Aiden. After unlocking her phone, she went straight to her text messages with the intention of texting her mother to pick her up. But then her gaze briefly overlooked her mother’s name and fell on another: Tristan’s.
Another person in her life that she cared for. Another person that made her happy. Another person that she couldn’t make happy in return, not even just by being in his life.
Why couldn’t she do anything right to make things better? Why couldn’t she just get her Aiden back? Why hadn’t she been there at the meet instead of that stupid shoot? Why did it take her two weeks to overcome her fear and come back to him? Why wasn’t she enough?
The tears stung and blurred everything on the phone screen. She could not wipe them away enough to read anything. She grew more frustrated, tossing her phone at the other side of the bed. It was useless now. There was no way she could go home like this.
The loneliness from this morning return ten times over. The pressure in her chest was so painful and so unbearable. Her breathing came in short and quick. Everything came at her at once, pulling her in like quicksand with nothing for her to hold onto to save her life. Her lifesaver couldn’t save her this time. Because he was the one pulling her down now.
Why wasn’t she enough?
Lacey couldn’t make it stop. She sniffed and wiped away her tears until her eyes felt raw. She felt so trapped in the bedroom. As long as she was still like this, she couldn’t leave. But the tears were just endless.
There was a thunk sound at the end of the bed as Lacey pulled the blanket and climbed into bed. But she couldn’t bother to investigate what the sound was. She sniffed again as she pulled the covers over her head to block the bedroom out of sight. She just had to imagine she wasn’t here anymore. Maybe if she willed herself to sleep right now she would wake up the next morning back in her own bedroom at home. All she needed to do was shut her eyes tight and pray for sleep. Eyes. Shut. Tight.
“Lace?” Just keep them closed…
Lacey pulled the covers tighter over her head, burying her face into the pillow to muffle her sobs. Maybe if she kept as still as possible he would think she just went to bed early. She fooled her mother all the time at home. Surely she mastered the craft well enough that she could fool her brother. All she needed to do was be completely still and keep her head under the covers.
It was hard to tell how long she remained buried under the covers while waiting for Aiden to leave. But she would have stayed like this until she inevitably cried herself to sleep. Please Aiden, just go away.
Suddenly the bed sagged beside her and she could feel the covers being tugged away from her. Fear and panic forced her to grab another handful of the covers to keep them from coming off over her head. She fought back and would have kept fighting had Aiden’s low voice not broken her will. He was breaking her heart all over again.
Once again she was causing more problems than solving them. He should not be here like this. She should not be here at all. She really should have just stayed away–
“No…” she choked out. Aiden caught her at a moment when she loosened her grip on the covers. By then it was too late to get the upper hand. The covers were completely pulled away now; exposing her vulnerabilities. She wanted to shrink and hide under the pillows. Or fade away. Anything but reveal her swollen, tear stained face to this person that is supposed to be her rock.
Aiden was the one she went to for every meltdown and every problem she had with the confidence and knowledge that he would always know how to fix it. Just like that atrocious hairstyle last month. He took her straight to the salon and made her feel like it was not the end of the world. But how could he fix this?? How could he make all of this feel better...when he is the cause?
Why did he have to get into that accident?
Without the covers to protect her, Aiden’s touch caused her to flinch. She still refused to show her face, burying it so deep into the pillows. Even without seeing her face, she was already so exposed. Without the covers she could no longer hide how much her shoulders shook or cover up each sharp breath she took.
He just needed to go away. There was nothing he could do now to fix this.
Lacey wanted to refuse any temptations he threw at her. Then he spoke again, cautiously now. His voice lured her in and she slowly turned her face away from the pillow to look at him. She couldn’t see much though. Her tears blurred her vision so much she couldn’t make out the expression he was giving her.
She was forced to acknowledge now that he was actually here. Not in his pillow nest on the couch waiting for her to take care of him. He was here now...taking care of her. She didn’t think she could cry anymore tears. But as she finally tore down her walls and gave up, the tears fell some more. Screw it all. She needed her big brother.
Her sobs came out loud and choked as she sat up and reached out to Aiden. She was careful not to put any weight on his bad shoulder while she wrapped her arms around his neck. A moment later, she felt a tug around her waist that guided her to climb onto Aiden’s lap, one leg on either side of him. She still did not look at him. She couldn’t. Instead she buried her face into his good shoulder and just let the tears fall.
While Aiden struggled through the rest of his breakfast, Lacey had Daniel and Sonia to keep her occupied. After the long text message Daniel sent earlier, she got the same text message just moments later when Daniel copied and pasted it into a group chat that included Sonia. From that point on, the two were reluctantly offering her tips and tricks to help take care of Aiden. It was a lot of Sonia throwing around which pain medications worked best and other pre-med jargon. Daniel, on the other hand, was good at offering his advice on how to work around Aiden. The first thing he acknowledged was that being around him was not going to be easy. Lacey was slowly realizing that herself.
It was sort of jarring when he asked her about her work schedule. Before the accident, he knew her schedule better than she did...usually. Of course there were occasions when shoots or meetings sprung up on Aiden and they had to rush out of the apartment for her to make it on time. But the rest of the time, he always knew when to get her to work. So to hear him ask if she had a shoot felt off.
“No, no shoots this week,” she answered anyway. “But that’s mainly ‘cause I have a huge shoot this weekend. I, uh, got booked for that one LA campaign. You know, the one you drove me to their meeting in Portland a couple months back? Me and Mom have a meeting with Susie though later this week and then we fly to LA Friday night.” She was tempted to tease him and say that she hoped he wouldn’t miss her while she was in LA next weekend. But the mood just didn’t seem bright enough between them for that kind of joking around.
Sarcasm, on the other hand, seemed just fine. Lacey felt the corners of her lips turn down. It wasn’t like this type of response was unusual for Aiden. He’s her big brother after all. He basically had every right to tease her. But between the heavy tension in the apartment and his overall demeanor, Aiden’s sarcastic comment in response to her mall suggestion felt a little like an attack.
She remembered Daniel’s text about her stepbrother’s behavior. He told her that it was better to just let him ride out whatever mood he was in before directing away from it. How she was supposed to do that, she had no idea. Daniel wasn’t very clear on the details. As Aiden went on to explain that it was not possible for them to go to the mall, she quietly thought about how unreasonable he was being. Just last night he let her drive his car and she was successful. And, they didn’t need to drive. There were plenty of other options to get them from one place to another.
That was when she pointed out that they could invite Daniel and Sonia to the mall and they could drive for them. It seemed like a solid idea. Aiden liked the couple. Daniel is his best friend after all and Sonia was fun to have around when she wasn’t constantly stressing over her science courses. Driving with them to the mall as opposed to taking a taxi seemed like the most clever idea. And Aiden appeared to be okay with it.
There wasn’t much of a plan once the four of them arrived at the mall. Lacey did mention to Sonia after getting out of the car that she wanted to look for a couple outfits for her shoot next weekend. Obviously not for the shoot itself, but she wanted to have a couple articles of clothing fit for the LA scene. So with that in mind, that became the focus on their mall adventure. At least until Lacey got pulled into the long-running debate between the lovely couple about the two year old jacket Daniel just cannot seem to part with. Lacey, of course, sided with Sonia. How long did Daniel think he can say no to his girlfriend?
This was good. Lacey needed this time out with her friends. She and Aiden needed this time out of the apartment to just try and live normal lives.
The sharpness of Aiden’s voice as he called out for her pulled her out of whatever good mood she was in moments before. She panicked. When did she lose track of Aiden? All she did was skim for a smaller size of a cute dress she and Sonia liked. She followed the direction his voice came from and found him just as a little girl zoomed past her only to basically collide into Aiden seconds later. She, Daniel and Sonia sort of just stood there stunned and waiting for whatever happens next. While that might sound like a prolonged moment, their pause lasted no more than a couple seconds before they rushed over to help Aiden as best they could. From that point on, Lacey refused to leave his side.
When they arrived at the food court later, Lacey watched Aiden carefully. Was it a bad idea to bring him to the mall? If they stayed at the apartment, the incident earlier would not have happened and he would not be in pain. Would he blame her for this?
If he was annoyed or upset with her over earlier, he didn’t show it. Well, he didn’t really show much expression other than the obvious discomfort due to his chair. Lacey bit her lip nervously. She wished she went with Sonia to get food instead of Daniel. He seemed to know exactly how to act around Aiden no matter what the mood.
As soon as she turned away to check on Daniel and Sonia’s progress, Aiden pulled his hood over his head and slouched deeper into his chair. Confused, she watched as he reached over for the tiny bottle of Ibuprofen Sonia left on the table and then tried and failed to open it. She was just about to reach out and open it for him when he mentioned something about Nicole and not responding to her. Now she was more confused. “Um, okay. Sure,” was all she could manage. Besides, it wasn’t like she would ever respond to anything Nicole said now. Not that Nicole even bothered to reach out to her lately. After finding out that she hadn’t seen Aiden since the accident, she heard nothing from Nicole ever since.
The hood made it difficult for Lacey to start up any conversation with Aiden. It felt like he wanted to shut himself away from the world...even if she was in it. They ended up sitting at the table quietly and once again with a tense air around them until the happy couple returned. Daniel was balancing a tray with three to-go containers while Sonia two of the four cups of what Lacey could only guess was soda.
While Daniel and Sonia each had their own separate plates of food, Lacey insisted that she was okay just sharing a plate with Aiden. Honestly, she wasn’t that hungry and she attributed that to her stress over Aiden. But when she told Sonia that she didn’t feel like eating, she wasn’t having it. So here she was, staring at an insanely large amount of food with such a little appetite for any of it. Did they really have to give so much fried rice and noodles?
Lacey twirled her fork around some noodles while Daniel and Sonia discussed what sounded like their opinions on final exams they took last week. Sonia was going on about how she wished she had done better on her Anatomy practicum; translation being that she probably aced that test or at least passed it. She was still twirling the noodles when she felt her phone go off in her back pocket. Her mother’s picture was on the screen when she glanced down at it.
“I’ll be right back. I have to take this,” she announced then pushed her chair back to stand and leave.
The phone call took some time. Her mother wanted to get an update on how she was doing after spending the night at Aiden’s apartment. Lacey felt inclined to keep the details to a minimum. She simply told her mother that the sleepover and Aiden were fine. Then they discussed her upcoming meeting later in the week to prepare for next weekend and how she wanted to do a bit of shopping for new outfits for LA. That was when Lacey explained that she did already pick out a couple outfits. This then led to Lacey clarifying that she and Aiden were in fact out of the apartment right now and spending time at the mall. Her mother seemed pretty shocked by this bit of news, but the silence only lasted a few seconds before she continued their conversation with an update on her work schedule. Apparently her agent got a call from a company that would like to meet with her about a commercial campaign this coming Tuesday.
In truth, Lacey wasn’t sure about the meeting. Since she already had such a busy schedule next weekend, she was hesitant to be away from Aiden before then. Not that she didn’t think he would not be able to take care of himself for just a couple hours, but they just reunited after two long weeks apart. The last thing she wanted to do was be away from him.
Which then led Lacey to come to a quick compromise. She would agree to go to the meeting for the commercial campaign, if she was allowed to stay at Aiden’s until their meeting with Susie for the LA shoot. Save for the couple or so hours she would need to leave for the commercial meeting, she would have until Thursday to be with him.
Despite the fact that this was a phone call, Lacey could tell her mother was not too keen to agree to this arrangement. She knew exactly why. Even she was hesitant about what her stepfather would think when he finds out why she isn’t staying at home. But this was Lacey’s proposal. If her mother and Susie really wanted her to entertain this commercial, she wanted to spend quality time with Aiden.
“Okay, so…” Lacey started when she returned to the table to join the others. “I hope it’s okay that I stay over this week. Because Mom is stopping by later tonight to drop off some of my clothes.” She picked up her drink and took a sip. “Try not to get too tired of me too quickly or else I’m gonna have to walk home.”
When they returned to the apartment later, Aiden went straight to his nest of pillows on the couch leaving Lacey to stow their leftover Chinese food in the refrigerator. She figured Aiden could eat them later tonight for dinner so he can take his medicine. The rest of the day was spent just relaxing inside. Or, at least, relaxing as much as was possible for the two of them. Maybe Aiden was doing fine, but Lacey still felt...awkward in the apartment. It still did not feel like it used to before the accident. Plus, she realized as soon as Daniel and Sonia drove off how much she actually depended on their company to lighten the mood for her. They had two weeks worth of experience dealing with this dark cloud over Aiden’s head. The worst she ever got from him in the four years they knew each other was his annoyed voice whenever she bugged him too much. She still felt as if she was treading on thin ice when saying or doing anything around him.
Her mother dropped by the apartment around the time Lacey heated up the leftovers for Aiden. She didn’t stay long and she spent the entire visit outside at the door. Apparently she had some dinner plans tonight with a couple wives of her stepfather’s co-workers. Along with her clothes, Lacey’s mother brought a couple bags of what looked like groceries. Or, more specifically, pre-packaged food of what appeared to be sandwiches and salads. There was some fruit and a loaf of bread. It was as if she knew Aiden’s apartment didn’t actually have food in it. Whatever reason compelled the woman to help restock the kitchen, Lacey simply said thank you and left it at that.
“Well,” she started as she carried everything onto the dining table. “Looks like we don’t have to worry about eating for the rest of the week.”
It seemed as if they were developing a sort of routine when Monday came around. Once Aiden was fed and given whatever list of medications Sonia said he should take, Lacey went on her small cleaning sprees to put the apartment back together. That morning, much of her focus was the living room. So much had been knocked over that she still needed to pick up and put back. But with Aiden constantly sitting on the couch, she was too nervous to get to any of it the other day. Now that he seemed to be getting used to her company, she risked it.
In the afternoon she even convinced him to leave the apartment with her. Sort of. They went to the laundry room so Lacey could start on a couple loads. She didn’t expect him to help out, of course. But he was more than welcome to hand her a shirt or two if he wanted. She simply wanted his company in the hopes that spending more time together would help get him out of this mood.
She just really wanted her big brother back.
If Aiden’s new mood affected her, having to sleep alone in his room for the past three nights made matters worse. It was torture for Lacey knowing that while she was sleeping on Aiden’s bed, he was just outside the door sleeping on the couch. The bed felt too big and too lonely for her without him at her side. She would wake up in the late hours to find that she had rolled onto his side of the bed, hugging his pillow. That’s if she actually managed to sleep long enough to wake up in the late hours. Every night since she came back she considered just forgetting about sleeping on his bed to stay with him in the living room. But every night she chickened out, afraid that his mood and his pain would only make her feel more lonely and useless.
It was a miracle Lacey managed to clock in the hours of sleep she got that Monday night. Sure, it was still on and off, but at least she got more than twenty minutes. Hell, she managed a solid two hours before she woke up again. She considered her exhaustion from all the house chores she did that Monday as a contribution. The back and forth from the apartment to the laundry room without a nap afterwards was tiring. However, regardless of the amount of sleep she successfully she got that night, waking up that morning hit her with a level of loneliness she found almost unbearable.
Once again, she woke up clinging to Aiden’s pillow. She did not know how much more of this she could take. If she was going to be sleeping alone, she might as well go back home. But she knew that she couldn’t. Who would take care of Aiden while he was still in pain? This was such a vicious cycle. She doubted and questioned her reasoning for being at the apartment, but then resolved that she could never leave her brother alone with no one to help take care of him.
Lacey turned her head to focus her attention on the open bedroom door. She didn’t hear any sounds coming from the living room. Was Aiden awake? She considered getting up to check, but in the end decided against it. If he was awake, he would probably call for her. Or figure out some way to keep himself occupied. It was still fairly early in the morning. He was allowed to sleep in now.
But what about Lacey? What was she supposed to do until her caregiving duties began for the day? There wasn’t much of the apartment to clean. Everything was either picked up or thrown away. The only thing she had left was the laundry...and she just was not in the mood to do those multiple trips today. Aiden had plenty of extra clothes to keep him from looking like a complete bum.
As the loneliness crept up on her, Lacey grabbed her phone from under her pillow to check for notifications. Text messages and emails from her mother and her agent reminding her of her meeting for the commercial campaign this afternoon. Some social media notifications. Private messages from other models also with her agency. New text messages and a voicemail from Daniel asking how things were going since their last text conversation last night. Nothing that she was too keen on focusing her attention on. None of these would momentarily alleviate the loneliness that was just bringing down her own mood.
Before she addressed all the messages she has waiting for her, she scrolled through her multiple text threads to find Tristan’s name. Despite the emotionally busy few weeks since Aiden’s accident, Lacey has tried keeping contact with her boyfriend. A good morning/good night text at least every other day just to let him know that she missed him. Because she honestly did. They did long distance often now that Tristan was doing international work. But after Aiden’s accident, she wished she had someone that would be her stable ground. Tristan always seemed to have everything together.
However, disappointment slowly creeped in when she tapped on Tristan’s text thread and found that he once again did not respond to any of her messages. Was he just so busy in Florence right now to talk to her? To add salt to the wound, she scrolled through the wall of text messages she sent him since the day before Aiden’s accident. The last message he sent her was to tell her that he was busy with work.
Lacey sighed, frustrated that not even her own boyfriend was there to give her a temporary break from her own headspace. It was probably this frustration that resulted in her throwing caution to the wind as she pulled up Tristan’s contact information on Skype to call him.
It took two attempts to call him before he finally picked up. Lacey did the math. She was definitely not going to be disrupting him at this time. The initial high of hearing his voice again almost immediately disappeared after his greeting. His hello didn’t even sound like he was genuinely happy to hear from her. And while she tried to keep her own voice positive as she tried to keep up any form of conversation, Tristan sounded more and more distracted. The call only lasted about three minutes before he ultimately cut her off and told her that he had to go. But just as Tristan was in the midst of saying a quick goodbye, Lacey could have sworn she heard...giggling?
Or maybe she was imagining the sound. Yeah, that had to be it. Or maybe it wasn’t giggling at all and some background noise at his work.
Her chest tightened. It was suddenly very hard to breathe. She sat up in the hopes that it would help. It did, but not that much. Her breaths came in short and honestly a little painful. Why couldn’t Tristan just give her five minutes of his time without making her feel like she was getting in the way of something he considered more important.
Screw Tristan. He wasn’t the only one that had better things to do. She too had someone that needed her more.
Maybe….
Lacey abandoned her phone in the bedroom to return to the living room. Whether Aiden was awake or not, she needed a distraction; a happy distraction*.
She glanced at the clock briefly. It was about that time for Aiden to eat something for breakfast to take medicine. In the kitchen she took one of the sandwiches her mother brought over and a glass of water. Yes, she felt like she was starting to get the hang of this caregiver routine.
As she stepped out of the kitchen and returned to the living room, she found that Aiden was now in the midst of fully waking up. “Good morning,” she greeted, forcing a bright smile on her face. Aiden was already in enough pain, he didn’t need to deal with his little sister’s petty relationship problems. “Did you sleep better last night?”
She took her spot on the couch. Said spot was not directly beside Aiden. Overtime since her return to the apartment, she gradually gave her brother the space he needed on the couch. As much as she wanted to remain at his side, he sometimes gave the vibe that he didn’t feel the same. It wasn’t a good feeling to think about, but Lacey just wanted him to be comfortable. “Here, this one is one of the tamer sandwiches Mom brought. I might have to go to the store or something to get more. The only ones left are some of the weirder options. Lemme go get a fruit bowl too,” she explained as she put the sandwich and water on the coffee table.
Breakfast was...quiet. Just like the other days, Lacey was finding it more and more difficult to think of topics to discuss. There was only so much she could talk about work and how she was almost done with her homeschooling before he got bored. Although there was one thing she needed to discuss with him.
“I don’t know if you remember,” she began as she picked up a grape from the fruit bowl, “but I have my meeting today. Mom is going to pick me up around, like, three-ish. I should be back in a couple hours.”
They spent the rest of the morning into the afternoon in the living room semi-watching whatever reruns were on TV. But after she got lunch prepared for Aiden, Lacey left to get ready for when her mother picked her up for the meeting. Both her mother and Susie had a specific look they wanted for her to wear. And while it normally wouldn’t be a big deal, she gave said look a bit of extra effort just so she didn’t have either of them on her back. Today was not the day to be told she didn’t know how to be a model.
“Okay, I’m about ready. How do I look? And if you say bad, I won’t come back later because I am in no mood to redo my makeup…or change.” Lacey was joking of course. She adjusted her skirt around her waist with one hand while the other carried her heels into the living room.
“Mom will be here soon. Last minute lazy requests while I’m here or else you’ll have to get off your own butt to do it.” As she spoke she took a seat on the couch to better put her heels on. “Unless you want to just call Daniel to be a temp while I’m away. I promise I won’t get butt hurt...maybe. Just lie later that I’m the better nanny.”
Yes, she was purposely trying to keep the mood light for when she had to leave. She feared what Aiden might do or feel once he was left alone. Maybe if she kept the mood lighter and maybe got a chuckle from him, it would be enough until she came back. That was the hope at least.
After fulfilling whatever last minute requests he had, Lacey heard her phone go off on the coffee table. A text message from her mother displayed on the lockscreen letting her know that she was outside. Lacey gave a quick goodbye to her brother before grabbing her purse and leaving the apartment.
The meeting was, honestly, uneventful. And while she appeared to be wowing the marketing team, she had a small inkling that she wasn’t going to get the job. Sure, she can probably fake her way through selling the brand for the commercial, but Lacey ultimately was not into it personally. So while her mother and her agent might be disappointed if she doesn’t get the job, she wouldn’t give it an extra blink.
When she climbed into her mother’s car later, the first thing she did was look at her phone to check if she had any messages. The most recent message was from Daniel and was time stamped about half an hour ago. Apparently he was going to take Aiden out for some fresh air. No ETA when he would bring Aiden back to the apartment. Lacey tried not to think too much into this. This was Daniel after all. If there was anyone she trusted with her brother, it was his best friend. She told herself not to worry too much...even when she got no response back when she asked what they would be doing. Guess they were having fun or something.
As they pulled into traffic, she composed a quick text to Aiden to check in on him. And she waited for any kind of response up until her mother pulled up in front of the apartment. It was getting harder to not worry….
Lacey needed another round of distractions to stop herself from growing increasingly worried for Aiden. It upset her a little that he wasn’t home when she got back and that the coffee table was the mess he left it when she left earlier. Just like that morning, Lacey left her phone untouched and out of sight at the bottom of her purse. If she didn’t look at her phone, the frustration and worry would not overpower her. She went to work cleaning up the mess in the living room. The trash can in the kitchen was due to be emptied. Just not in her heels or her outfit in general.
It was off to the showers as soon as the living room was all cleaned up. She considered keeping the bathroom and bedroom doors open just so she could hear when Aiden got back, but ultimately decided against it. All that mattered was the shower would not only cleanse her from her work day, but kill time until her brother came home.
Only the shower was apparently not long enough.
Lacey was back in the living room in a tank top and sweats with her hair still slightly damp when the front door finally opened. She put the television on mute as she watched Aiden come inside. His good arm was carrying a plastic bag with what looked like a to-go container inside. “Have fun?” she asked, trying to keep her voice level so as to not give away how upset she kind of felt right now.
It didn’t take Lacey very long to notice that something was off with Aiden. His demeanor as he walked over to the dining table seemed...relaxed. Definitely not what she had seen from him in the last couple of days. Sure, during the course of her stay at the apartment he seemed more accustomed to having her around. But there was just...something about how he was acting right now that just didn’t feel familiar.
No, wait. She was wrong. Once she looked past the last few days, she recognized that this behavior was a bit familiar. Now it was a matter of figuring out how and why.
But just as she questioned it, the answer came to her. All she needed to do was take a deep breath near him.
Lacey stood up from her spot on the couch to join him at the dining table. He was in the middle of pulling the to-go box out of the plastic bag when the smell hit her. As he asked her to check if the restaurant really did put no pepper in his food, the day they reunited at the park popped into her head. He had been so calm and relaxed during their reunion. It was the last time she saw that goofy smile of his. A smile she thought then was because of her. Turns out, after putting two and two together, she realized she had nothing to do it.
It was the weed that fixed him. It fixed him that day at the park. And it was doing the same thing right now.
So that was why neither Daniel nor Aiden responded to her texts earlier. They went off to smoke. Did they think she would not handle it? This was Oregon after all. She was no stranger to this.
The pasta noodle in her mouth felt heavy, as if each bite took just a little extra effort. Her throat closed up as she forced herself to swallow. Luckily the one taste test was enough for her to conclude there was no peppers. She refused to take another bite. As Aiden went to town on his food, Lacey watched him from the couch. She just couldn’t get herself to stay with him at the table anymore. The smell of the weed made her sick.
Again, she had no problem with weed overall. It was legal and it wasn’t like Aiden was abusing it. But each time she breathed it in and realized it was coming from her brother, it was as if a monster was slithering inside her causing her stomach to turn all around. The very same monster wrapped its tail around her chest and squeezed. She was suffocating with no way out.
After Aiden finished his food - and actually finished it - he mentioned that he was going to shower. Lacey simply nodded. She feared what word vomit would come out if she dared to speak. When Aiden disappeared into his room, she unmuted the television to focus on anything other than the painful thoughts in her head just spiraling faster and faster and making it harder to breathe.
By the time Aiden returned, his sling partly fixed to him, the volume of the television was booming. She needed it to quiet all the thoughts in her head whether they were good or bad. She didn’t even turn down the volume when she joined Aiden to help him put his sling back on properly.
If the shower was supposed to help settle things, it didn’t. Sure, the smell faded some. But Lacey’s thoughts and feelings remained as a substitute stink on her mind.
Why did she come here? Why did she stay? Did she really think being back here with Aiden would help him with...whatever he was going through? Was she even helping at all? Or...or was she making things worse?
They were back on the couch together. Lacey clung to the throw pillow as an excuse to not sit beside him. She was practically in fetal position at the other end, her legs tucked under her and her back resting against the arm. After one and a half episodes of whatever show was on - she honestly could not pay attention - she didn’t know how much more of this she could take.
The truth was this: Lacey didn’t want to be here anymore. She wanted to go home. And the longer she had the pressure of Aiden’s presence weighing down on her, the more tempting the idea grew.
“I have to pee,” she said in a small voice. She grabbed her phone from the coffee table and kept her gaze forward.
Lacey took a seat on the bed near the pillows to be out of sight of Aiden. After unlocking her phone, she went straight to her text messages with the intention of texting her mother to pick her up. But then her gaze briefly overlooked her mother’s name and fell on another: Tristan’s.
Another person in her life that she cared for. Another person that made her happy. Another person that she couldn’t make happy in return, not even just by being in his life.
Why couldn’t she do anything right to make things better? Why couldn’t she just get her Aiden back? Why hadn’t she been there at the meet instead of that stupid shoot? Why did it take her two weeks to overcome her fear and come back to him? Why wasn’t she enough?
The tears stung and blurred everything on the phone screen. She could not wipe them away enough to read anything. She grew more frustrated, tossing her phone at the other side of the bed. It was useless now. There was no way she could go home like this.
The loneliness from this morning return ten times over. The pressure in her chest was so painful and so unbearable. Her breathing came in short and quick. Everything came at her at once, pulling her in like quicksand with nothing for her to hold onto to save her life. Her lifesaver couldn’t save her this time. Because he was the one pulling her down now.
Why wasn’t she enough?
Lacey couldn’t make it stop. She sniffed and wiped away her tears until her eyes felt raw. She felt so trapped in the bedroom. As long as she was still like this, she couldn’t leave. But the tears were just endless.
There was a thunk sound at the end of the bed as Lacey pulled the blanket and climbed into bed. But she couldn’t bother to investigate what the sound was. She sniffed again as she pulled the covers over her head to block the bedroom out of sight. She just had to imagine she wasn’t here anymore. Maybe if she willed herself to sleep right now she would wake up the next morning back in her own bedroom at home. All she needed to do was shut her eyes tight and pray for sleep. Eyes. Shut. Tight.
“Lace?” Just keep them closed…
Lacey pulled the covers tighter over her head, burying her face into the pillow to muffle her sobs. Maybe if she kept as still as possible he would think she just went to bed early. She fooled her mother all the time at home. Surely she mastered the craft well enough that she could fool her brother. All she needed to do was be completely still and keep her head under the covers.
It was hard to tell how long she remained buried under the covers while waiting for Aiden to leave. But she would have stayed like this until she inevitably cried herself to sleep. Please Aiden, just go away.
Suddenly the bed sagged beside her and she could feel the covers being tugged away from her. Fear and panic forced her to grab another handful of the covers to keep them from coming off over her head. She fought back and would have kept fighting had Aiden’s low voice not broken her will. He was breaking her heart all over again.
Once again she was causing more problems than solving them. He should not be here like this. She should not be here at all. She really should have just stayed away–
“No…” she choked out. Aiden caught her at a moment when she loosened her grip on the covers. By then it was too late to get the upper hand. The covers were completely pulled away now; exposing her vulnerabilities. She wanted to shrink and hide under the pillows. Or fade away. Anything but reveal her swollen, tear stained face to this person that is supposed to be her rock.
Aiden was the one she went to for every meltdown and every problem she had with the confidence and knowledge that he would always know how to fix it. Just like that atrocious hairstyle last month. He took her straight to the salon and made her feel like it was not the end of the world. But how could he fix this?? How could he make all of this feel better...when he is the cause?
Why did he have to get into that accident?
Without the covers to protect her, Aiden’s touch caused her to flinch. She still refused to show her face, burying it so deep into the pillows. Even without seeing her face, she was already so exposed. Without the covers she could no longer hide how much her shoulders shook or cover up each sharp breath she took.
He just needed to go away. There was nothing he could do now to fix this.
Lacey wanted to refuse any temptations he threw at her. Then he spoke again, cautiously now. His voice lured her in and she slowly turned her face away from the pillow to look at him. She couldn’t see much though. Her tears blurred her vision so much she couldn’t make out the expression he was giving her.
She was forced to acknowledge now that he was actually here. Not in his pillow nest on the couch waiting for her to take care of him. He was here now...taking care of her. She didn’t think she could cry anymore tears. But as she finally tore down her walls and gave up, the tears fell some more. Screw it all. She needed her big brother.
Her sobs came out loud and choked as she sat up and reached out to Aiden. She was careful not to put any weight on his bad shoulder while she wrapped her arms around his neck. A moment later, she felt a tug around her waist that guided her to climb onto Aiden’s lap, one leg on either side of him. She still did not look at him. She couldn’t. Instead she buried her face into his good shoulder and just let the tears fall.
OP
OP
JINFINITE
Super-Earth
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- The Island of Eroda
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The sandwiches were getting old. Not literally as in their shelf life, but rather Aiden was getting sick of them. It wasn’t so much that he didn’t like them, they tasted fine. They just weren’t exactly what he wanted to eat. But it wasn’t like he had a whole lot of options, nor had he voiced his opinions on them. He didn’t really want to eat anything most of the time but he still tried his best every time Lacey set something in front of him. His nausea had stopped after their trip to the mall as Lacey, backed by Daniel, had gotten a routine down that seemed to work. By scheduling his meals more or less, they had been tricking his stomach into expecting to be hungry at a certain time. For the most part it worked, but his emotions were a serious appetite suppressant and so there were still times when he wanted nothing to do with his food. Like right now as he barely got through half his sandwich before calling it quits and swallowing his morning painkiller. Maybe he’d give the fruit a shot.
Oh right, he was losing Lacey today. Wow, how dramatic Aiden. Yeah he had completely forgotten. The downside to this whole “doing the same thing everyday” routine was that Aiden could not keep track of time to save his life. Everyday it was wake up, force his way through something to eat, take pills and then sit on the sofa and maybe sleep until his next meal, more pills before bed and repeat everything the next morning. Usually he differentiated his days by different training regimens, or his class schedules. But now that he had lost everything there was nothing that stood out in his life to tell him what day it was. And now he was losing Lacey too to this meeting he had apparently pushed out of his mind till now.
He was having better luck snacking on grapes than getting through the rest of his sandwich that Lacey had brought back out for lunch, but when Lacey walked out all legs in her skirt he lost any and all interest in the fruit bowl on the table.
”How do I look?” If Aiden were to be honest, he’d never seen Lacey not pull something off. No matter what it was she always found a way to look stunning—must be because she was a model. Yeah, that was it. She was a model so she made everything look good. Couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that he always thought she looked spectacular in general.Did he really just think that outloud?
The moment passed. These days whenever the happy feelings came they were like trying to hold a fish after dunking his hands in melted butter—a prettier metaphor would be to say it was like catching smoke with your bare hands. But it didn’t feel pretty to Aiden, it really felt more like the buttery fish: messy. Every time he thought he might have a solid grasp on...well…anything, it slipped out of his hands and splattered all over the floor. The frustration of being unable to hold it just amplified how awful literally everything else was. Anddd that brought us full circle back to feeling like shit about everything while Lacey offered to summon Daniel for him.
Aiden looked away while she tended to her heels. No, he most definitely did not want Daniel here. He hadn’t wanted Lacey here either but now that she was leaving he didn’t want her to go. And thus, with all this internal conflict came: Aiden’s bad moods.
He tried so hard to keep it to himself while Lacey went to pull his phone off the charger for him. He didn’t want that either. He didn’t want his phone, the sandwich, his friends—Aiden was spiraling again. He said his goodbyes, a see you later to be exact, and then she was gone with the click of her heels and the door closing shut behind her.
Well now what was he supposed to do? These past few days everything he’d done was for her, so without Lacey here what purpose did he have? He didn’t want anything to do with himself, clearly the previously destroyed state of his apartment showed for that. But Aiden was moving past the anger stage of his grief and into a sort of state of denial. His entire life had been turned upside down, but here were his friends trying their best to show that they were still there for him. It should have been a realization for him that he would be able to move on from this eventually but instead it sort of had the opposite effect on Aiden. He wasn’t ready to let go of all this. Would he and Daniel still remain friends if they didn’t have swimming to tie them together? Would he still get to live here in this big empty apartment if he wasn’t winning trophies to satisfy his father? Would he still have the freedom to see Lacey if he was...well...whatever it was he was supposed to do now that he didn’t swim? His friends had spent days trying to normalize the situation but it was only highlighting that he wasn’t ready to give this all up.
He was definitely not thinking clearly when a ding from his phone pulled him out of his thoughts as he reached to flip it over so he could see the screen. Aiden had long ago silenced all his 5am alarms and such, all the alerts to remind him to get to training on time. His phone had been quiet for weeks now so Aiden was expecting to see a notification from Lacey or Daniel, after all they were the only ones he’d been in contact with. A long forgotten event reminder from his calendar was definitely not what he had in mind.
You have an event coming up:
Tomorrow
boot camp begins
7:00am
Oh right, “boot camp” started tomorrow. His coach had planned this week long training intensive to take place once all the swimmers were done with their classes, as if their usual schedule wasn’t intensive enough already.
Had he not been left alone then maybe he would have been reminded of his new reality, but as it was his mind was repeating to him that he wanted this, No, he needed this. He couldn’t live without swimming. The Devil spoke to him from behind a mask of optimism. His career didn’t have to be over. He could get over this. He would get over this, and he needed to be prepared to jump back into training when he got out of the sling. After all, he’d been kicked out of the pool due to injury before and he’d bounced right back, so why should this be any different?Because this time it was more than just a sprain or pulling a muscle, he had practically shattered his entire shoulder; muscle, bone and joint all affected.
How long had he sat staring numbly at the television while he fought off all reason and gave into his hurting heart? Well it didn’t take much more to convince his desperate self to get off the couch and lower himself onto the floor in a clearing away from any furniture. Crunches ended up being hispoison workout of choice. It had been over two weeks since he had done any sort of exercise and all his pent up frustrations were driving him crazy. Usually if he was in a mood he could go jog it off or swim laps till he dropped. But two weeks of nothing...he needed this, and he kept telling himself that even though somewhere deep in his heart he knew it was a bad idea.
Aiden started slowly at first but he soon built up a steady yet painful momentum. Each breath was a short and sharp gasp for air and not at all how he was taught to workout. He was okay in the beginning as he was fit enough to keep the pressure off his shoulder, and maybe he would have stayed fine if he had just kept it to a quick bare minimum rep. But Aiden’s mind was all over the place and he quickly stopped concentrating on his form and just kept pushing through the rapidly growing pain.
How long would it take to get back into shape once this was all over? He only had a few weeks left until summer: peak training season since classes wouldn’t take up his time during the day. He had meets already scheduled for the rest of the year, he couldn’t afford to be benched all summer. If he didn’t bring home medals he would never qualify for Nationals and without Nationals he could officially kiss his Olympic dreams goodbye.
Swimming had been the only constant in his life for so long now. He had started off in Italy, always in the pool. Then when he moved to the states his father was quick to enroll him in swim clubs, partly to push him down an athletic path for his future, but partly also just as a form of childcare. It was either swimming or stay home with a nanny. Aiden took to swimming pretty well on his own, but it was when he showed real talent that his ego sort of kicked in. He wanted to be the best and quickly outgrew his local competition. This was a trend everywhere they moved until finally settling here in Oregon. Aiden was almost ready to move on to the major leagues of swimming, but then this….
No he’d get over it. He had to. Aiden was drowning in his depression over the thought of not swimming and not knowing what to do with himself.
Had he not been so locked inside his own head he might have heard knocking at the door, or the door opening, or Daniel calling his name. He might have heard Daniel rushing over and telling him to stop, over and over and over—Daniel’s hand was pushing down on his sternum now with such a force that Aiden in his current state didn’t stand a chance at pushing out of. He was pinned down to the floor now and his hazel eyes flashed open as the pain fully set in. Or more like now that he was out of his mental headspace he was aware of the excruciating pain that was his shoulder. Aiden was gasping for air now and not a moment later was curling in on his good side as the pain induced nausea quickly washed through him and had him coughing and retching until what was left of his minimal meal from breakfast came back up accompanied by a whole lot of stomach acid and Gatorade as that was what mostly filled his stomach these days. He was suddenly overheating, his face felt hot and it felt like the room was spinning as he lay there on the floor.
Aiden’s eyes naturally watered as his body continued to contract against him, “You're gonna hurt yourself—what are you thinking!?” But Daniel’s words met Aiden’s deaf and ringing ears as he came down from all the adrenaline. While Aiden continued hacking up what little was left inside him Daniel took the moment to go grab towels from the bathroom. He extended the moment to stop by the kitchen to grab some things and dampen one of the towels while he was there, it wasn’t like Aiden could go anywhere anyways or do much more harm to himself if Daniel didn’t rush back to his side that instant. He wrapped the towel around an ice pack from the freezer on his way back to Aiden but set everything down on the coffee table once he had returned.
The pain had set in full force by now and Aiden honestly felt like he was going to die. He had been saved from all this at the swim meet as he’d been unconscious when he fell. If this pain was just from aggravating the injury then there was no way he would have been able to handle when it actually broke. He was so dizzy as he felt Daniel try to pull him upright. Dan was struggling to find a good way to move him without touching his arm, after all, usually you would lift from under a person’s arms. But Daniel somehow managed to successfully transfer his friend from the floor to the couch. He tried to pass Aiden the ice pack but Aiden wouldn’t take it, or rather he couldn’t take it. He was still waiting for his world to stop spinning and even when Daniel placed it in his hand his fingers couldn’t seem to close around it. He had no strength left, but for Aiden it felt more like he didn’t have control over his own body. As much as he willed himself to move he couldn’t and in the end Daniel picked up his hand and reached it across to hold the ice pack in place so he could fish out his phone. Daniel worked quickly and efficiently as he went to work cleaning up the floor while he had his phone sandwiched between his ear and his shoulder as he asked Sonia for advice.
”Should I take him to the hospital?”
Daniel and Sonia had entered a series of back and forth questions over Aiden with both sides asking their fair share. At one point Daniel ended up switching to speakerphone so he could use both hands, just as Sonia blurted out, ”I don’t know Dan, I’m not his doctor!” She sounded...not annoyed so much as stressed. She prided herself on her medical knowledge and never missed an opportunity to show it off but she was absolutely right. It was one thing to read prescription labels and know how to deal with side effects, or to have a general understanding of things to look out for. But as far as making actual decisions over Aiden’s health, that shouldn’t be on her, she was only nineteen and not some child prodigy like in a hospital television drama.
”Sorry…”
”No, I’m sorry, you’re right. I shouldn’t —“
”It’s fine, he’s probably fine. You said he didn’t use his arm right? He didn’t try to lift or grab anything?” She paused for Daniel to confirm before going on, ”I don’t think he could have done any serious harm then, you would know if something was wrong.”
Daniel just watched his friend in silence for a moment, Aiden hadn’t moved a muscle since getting him on the couch, his eyes were shut with his face half buried in a pillow. He didn’t look good to be honest, but it looked like he was able to clutch the ice pack now and wasn’t breathing funny anymore, so maybe it would be fine as Sonia said. She went on to instruct her boyfriend to get Aiden to take his painkillers, double dose if he felt he needed it and they’d take it from there as far as determining if he needed real medical attention or not. They both knew Aiden would kill them if they made a whole scene over it, the hospital would alert his family and that was a recipe for disaster. No sense in putting him through all that if they didn’t have to, so they’d wait it out and see.
Aiden obeyed without complaint when Daniel handed him a single dose to start with and a fresh glass. He needed this pain gone. But not a minute after taking it the water just hit his now empty stomach like a cold ton of bricks and he immediately was coughing back up that little white pill into the palm of his hand with a pained cry when his shoulder tensed.
”Do you want me to come over?” Right, she was still on speakerphone and had heard everything.
Daniel had taken the medication and glass away from Aiden, it hadn’t even been a minute, and with no signs of dissolving the pill deserved a second chance once they got Aiden’s nausea under control, ”No I’m just gonna try and take him out to smoke, it worked last time. I’ll call you later baby.”
It took a good deal of convincing for Daniel to get Aiden off the couch. Partial convincing, partial gently dragging him to his feet. The ice pack had helped dull the pain from an excruciating throbbing sensation to...a not excruciating throb. There was no hiding how much it hurt, not that Aiden was even trying to. But soon enough he had Aiden downstairs in the co-pilot passenger seat of his car; the seatbelt refused once again. Daniel brought the painkiller and a Gatorade to make him take later, and a clean towel...just in case, and then after a quick text to Lacey they were off to the pier.
”Lacey went out?”
They’d been parked for about 15 minutes now; about half of that was Daniel alternating between grinding and pausing to see if Aiden was still with him. He had faith that the injured swimmer would be fine but he hadn’t said a word the entire drive over and it was making Daniel uneasy about his decision to bring him out here. Should they have gone to the hospital instead after all? Well once they passed the 15 minute mark all his fears were out the window along with their smoke, ”She had a work thing,” Daniel nodded understandingly but didn’t miss a beat in his sassy comeback, he’d been hanging out with Sonia too much recently, ”So you just decided to kill yourself while she was gone.”
Woahkay now Daniel, slow down. Yes, but no, not exactly. Aiden let out a frustrated sigh while Daniel snatched the blunt from his hand, taking away Aiden’s “out” and forcing him to face the question—statement—topic at hand.
”I can’t quit,” his seat was slightly reclined and Aiden let his head drop back against it though his eyes were trained out the window to stare down the ocean as it teased him, ”I’ve never not swam,” a double negative to match his ever darkening mood, was that grammatically correct? Well technically, but whatever, Daniel was getting him high, and it got the point across…
There was a decent pause between them, Daniel wasn’t great with words and Aiden’s feelings were still simmering just below the surface, ”I’m just so sick of sitting around waiting. It’s such a waste of time, I should be in the gym, or the pool or—“
”Aiden, I am all for having hopes and dreams and motivation and all that. You know I love an underdog, but I think it might be good to take a step back this time.” Daniel looked over to his friend who in turn was squinting judgingly back at him while he tried to process this perspective.
They argued back and forth for a good while; the blunt ending up a permanent resident in Aiden’s hand as Daniel tapped out early on being the mostly responsible driver that he was. Well, they weren’t exactly arguing. It was more like a lot of Aiden saying how he has nothing left now and Daniel trying to disagree with him.
”It sucks, it really does, but I don’t think there’s gonna be any coming back from this. It might be time to just focus on not staying half a cripple for the rest of your life and find a plan b.”
”Maybe you could break into modeling with Lacey or something.” This got some serious side eye from Aiden but Daniel just grinned knowing he had struck a nerve. A nerve that wasn’t tied into swimming. A nerve that contrary to what Aiden had said earlier proved he still had something else in his lifeworth living for, ”I’m just saying the world is your oyster—or whatever. There are other ways out of this crappy city besides swimming.”
Yeah, swimming was his escape. Daniel was calling him out on that, but swimming wasn’t just supposed to be his one way ticket out of here. He loved it. And now he had lost it forever.
”You hungry?”
Well, obviously.
”Let’s grab something to go and head back before it gets late, I sort of promised Sonia I’d bring her dinner for helping earlier.”
Daniel made him take the painkiller before they went into the Italian place by his apartment. “Take with food” wasn’t so delicate that he couldn’t wait another twenty minutes, besides Aiden would probably snack on breadsticks the rest of the drive back.
”Can I even trust to leave you alone?”
They were sitting in Daniel’s parked car outside the apartment now waiting for Aiden to finish the break stick in his hand and then head on up, ”I’m not alone, Lacey’s back~” Yes he had read her texts but forgive his intoxicated state for not remembering to reply. It was one of those instances where he read it, replied in his head and then put his phone down and completely forgot about it.
There was a certain teasing to his voice as well. A weird combination of: Aww it’s sweet you’re worried, but try not to be jealous cause Lacey is here and I’d rather be with her so byeee. Combined with this sort of shifty undertone vibe. Like he could hide behind Lacey to escape from the truth bombs Daniel had been dropping. Sort of like if he had been playing hide and seek with Daniel, and Daniel was so close to finding him, but then Aiden’s mother came to pick him up—or in this case Lacey. And so Aiden got to call the game off before he lost and skip along home without Daniel officially finding him.
”If I find out later you wer—“
But Aiden was already out of the car and shutting the door with a rushed, ”Bye Dan.”
Walking into his apartment brought on a colossally confusing range of feelings. On the one hand his cabin fever was off the charts and this was the last place he wanted to return to. It was so soul crushingly restricting in here. It was so tense it was hard to breathe. But then at the same time he was so relieved to be back in his little cave. It was safe here. Free from prying eyes and judgemental opinions. Free from people breathing down his neck about everything. Free from reality. Reality didn't exist here in his apartment where it was just him, and Lacey, his pasta and— ”Do you want a breadstick?”
She did not. Nor did she want anymore of the pasta when he offered, beyond the traditional taste test. Well, more for him~
Aiden was able to continue his mental escape while he ate possibly the best pasta he’d ever had—or was that the weed talking? Well it was great and Aiden was absolutely famished after having literally emptied his stomach just a few hours earlier.
Next stop? The bathroom. The shower was calling his name and Aiden wanted nothing more than to stand under the water. That was where he felt his best after all, wasn’t it? In the water—the pool…
But this wasn’t the pool, as he reminded himself when his body moved on autopilot to try and wash his hair only for one arm to stop short.
In the pool he had such freedom to just...swim. Even though he was constantly bombarded with expectations, in the pool it was just him and the water. He could enter this sort of, ethereal state of mind and enhanced by the adrenaline that came with swimming.
But the shower could only do so much to mimic that and once he shut the water off he was left just standing there, cold and dripping wet. There was no feeling of accomplishment or success. No post workout or competition adrenaline to come down from. It was just him, alone, broken and high. The high was what got him to then keep moving when he otherwise would have stayed stuck in his thoughts for what would feel like an eternity.
It was also what had him reaching for the eye drops on his bathroom counter. They were Daniel’s actually. Or perhaps Sonia? Well one of them had forgotten it earlier in the week and now it was Aiden’s to use as he needed. And he needed them now, among other things, like Lacey’s assistance again with this damn sling after he had found clean pants and rejoined her back in the living room. He was still blinking through the drops settling in as he too got situated back into his little comfort nest.
This was….nice. Just him, and Lacey, and the TV—oh jk...she was leaving. Any other day and Aiden probably wouldn’t have minded so much. Any other day and he would have just continued watching...whatever. It was they were watching. Although, any other day he wouldn’t be sitting here high with his baby sister. But this particular day he found himself watching her go, and then constantly looking back towards his bedroom door as he waited for her to return. Only she never did. What, did she fall in or something?
It took a minute to get up from his safe space of pillows but he did eventually get to his feet and made his way back across the floor to his bedroom, ”Lace?”
The mound on his previously cleanly made bed was definitely not what he had been expecting to find. Actually, he wasn't entirely sure what he had been expecting to find. Just Lacey, which, check, he found her. Least, he was pretty sure this mound was her or else he was way higher than he thought and was hallucinating things now.
But the mound didn’t make any movement beyond the occasional tremble from her sobbing and left Aiden sighing softly as he went to cross over to his bed. He’d been here before with her. Well, not this exact scenario obviously, but he’d talked down his emotional baby sister plenty of times before; a couple of those times being here in this very room in fact, ”Laaaaacey,” he took a seat now beside her but no response. Normally Aiden would have no trouble overpowering her, swimmer arms and all, but she had caught him at a bad time. He only had use of his left hand, the non dominant one. But even that was weakened in his current state so his first few attempts at pulling back the blankets were futile, ”Talk to me Lace, what happened?”
He did eventually get the blanket off her but trying to pull her up was a complete fail, she wouldn’t budge—until she did. They were both very lucky in this moment that Aiden couldn’t feel any pain as she attached herself around his neck whilst he let out a sigh. It wasn’t a sigh of annoyance or frustration, not in the slightest. It was more one of relief, but not quite relief. It was more that feeling when a small child is making a big deal out of nothing and then they finally come to see reason and you’re just slightly overcome with how cute they were the whole time, ”Come here…”
And there she was. There was the little sister he’d been missing these past few days. That other girl who’d been cleaning up the very eggshells she walked on had been a total stranger to him. The Lacey he knew would whine if things weren’t going her way, cry over seemingly pointless things, state her opinions and stick to them; his little sister Lacey would call him out on his bullshit and in turn motivate him to do better. But Lacey the caretaker just made him feel useless and broken. Not broken in the sense of being sad, though he was that too. But broken as in there was something wrong with him. Which there was...he knew there was something very wrong with him and it scared him—he scared himself. But Lacey had been making it that much more apparent which in turn had just been turning Aiden away time after time. The way she wouldn’t sit with him, how forced all her teasing felt, the way she looked at him—or rather the way she wouldn’t look at him. Lacey hadn’t treated him “normally” all week.
He let her have her moment, his hand rubbing her back briefly before settling around her waist to keep her close. After all, he couldn’t give her a proper hug while his right arm was trapped in its sling.
”Hey, you know your wish from the park?” She had quieted down somewhat, probably to try and hear him over her own sobbing, ”Could we share it?” Not that you were wondering, but just in case you were: yes, Aiden was most definitely that cliche boy in class who talked others into letting him copy their homework and it worked every single time. And no, it wasn’t like him to be this clingy. But he was feeling especially clingy right now and it sounded nice in his head and it was too late to take it back.
Aiden couldn’t wipe the smile off his face as he tried, and failed, to maneuver his little sister off his shoulder now so he could see her face, ”What’s wrong, hm?”
Between her crying and the fact she was still buried into his neck it was rather difficult to understand her, but from what he could make out it sounded like she—yeah no he really couldn’t make heads or tails of anything she had just said. Should he just start asking questions? Process of elimination?
Usually Aiden was great at calming her down. Usually he would take her out to get her mind off things. Usually he stood a chance at talking through it with her. Usually it was too big an issue and they overcame it pretty quickly.Usually he wasn’t the root of the problem.
At last he got her to sit up finally. Aiden unsnaked his arm from around her waist to slip up in between them to her face where he brushed strands of hair away and then the corners of her eyes. First the left, then the right, before putting their foreheads together. His eyes were still open, competitively fighting his own brain to try and still focus on her despite being in such close proximity that she was a blur in front of him, ”Let’s get out of here.”
His voice was low but still had an air of excitement to it. An intonation that hadn’t been heard coming from him in a long time. When was the last time he had actively suggested something? And something out of the apartment at that.
”C’mon, up, let’s go!” Up was easier said than done. Untangling Lacey from him took a minute; mostly just because half of him was useless to help support her but soon enough they were off his bed and Aiden was soliciting Lacey’s help with his hoodie after she reminded him that he “couldn’t go out half naked”.
Aiden however had no plan beyond getting them out of the apartment. He couldn’t drive—well, he shouldn’t drive— but it might be possible to persuade him to let his little sister drive again. Maybe. He was much more agreeable when he was high after all.
Standing outside with her now, Aiden felt the best he had in weeks. Pain and nausea had both been dealt with, he was out of his suffocating apartment, and Lacey was finally returning to normal. It was his turn now to feel better. To be happy.
Only...Aiden decided to pass on his turn. Lacey had let out her feelings in a good cry sesh, but Aiden wouldn’t be following suit. Nor would he be talking about it any time soon. The weed had resealed the cracks in his broken heart and it would hold up for a good while now. He didn’t want to dredge up those feelings again, and so he wouldn’t. He simply would ignore himself and instead pour his everything into Lacey’s happiness.
The park—their escape—was a little too far to walk right now, but the liquor store was close enough. So wrapping his one arm around Lacey’s shoulders he began walking in that direction. With how many times they stopped by for late night snacks, surely it would be a suitable substitute for the park. They could get ice cream, or sodas, or really just anything other than the sandwiches, fruit and Gatorades they’d been living off of. God Aiden, you just ate…and here you are thinking about food again...
”Did you wanna talk about it?” Now that she had stopped crying and as an attempt to refocus himself on her, Aiden opened up the floor for conversation and advice giving. Because while most siblings just fought all the time, Aiden happened to be great at listening to his little sister’s life drama. He always found himself caring just a little extra when it came to her. So he’d get to the bottom of this and kill whoever it was that made her cry.
Oh right, he was losing Lacey today. Wow, how dramatic Aiden. Yeah he had completely forgotten. The downside to this whole “doing the same thing everyday” routine was that Aiden could not keep track of time to save his life. Everyday it was wake up, force his way through something to eat, take pills and then sit on the sofa and maybe sleep until his next meal, more pills before bed and repeat everything the next morning. Usually he differentiated his days by different training regimens, or his class schedules. But now that he had lost everything there was nothing that stood out in his life to tell him what day it was. And now he was losing Lacey too to this meeting he had apparently pushed out of his mind till now.
He was having better luck snacking on grapes than getting through the rest of his sandwich that Lacey had brought back out for lunch, but when Lacey walked out all legs in her skirt he lost any and all interest in the fruit bowl on the table.
”How do I look?” If Aiden were to be honest, he’d never seen Lacey not pull something off. No matter what it was she always found a way to look stunning—must be because she was a model. Yeah, that was it. She was a model so she made everything look good. Couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that he always thought she looked spectacular in general.
The moment passed. These days whenever the happy feelings came they were like trying to hold a fish after dunking his hands in melted butter—a prettier metaphor would be to say it was like catching smoke with your bare hands. But it didn’t feel pretty to Aiden, it really felt more like the buttery fish: messy. Every time he thought he might have a solid grasp on...well…anything, it slipped out of his hands and splattered all over the floor. The frustration of being unable to hold it just amplified how awful literally everything else was. Anddd that brought us full circle back to feeling like shit about everything while Lacey offered to summon Daniel for him.
Aiden looked away while she tended to her heels. No, he most definitely did not want Daniel here. He hadn’t wanted Lacey here either but now that she was leaving he didn’t want her to go. And thus, with all this internal conflict came: Aiden’s bad moods.
He tried so hard to keep it to himself while Lacey went to pull his phone off the charger for him. He didn’t want that either. He didn’t want his phone, the sandwich, his friends—Aiden was spiraling again. He said his goodbyes, a see you later to be exact, and then she was gone with the click of her heels and the door closing shut behind her.
Well now what was he supposed to do? These past few days everything he’d done was for her, so without Lacey here what purpose did he have? He didn’t want anything to do with himself, clearly the previously destroyed state of his apartment showed for that. But Aiden was moving past the anger stage of his grief and into a sort of state of denial. His entire life had been turned upside down, but here were his friends trying their best to show that they were still there for him. It should have been a realization for him that he would be able to move on from this eventually but instead it sort of had the opposite effect on Aiden. He wasn’t ready to let go of all this. Would he and Daniel still remain friends if they didn’t have swimming to tie them together? Would he still get to live here in this big empty apartment if he wasn’t winning trophies to satisfy his father? Would he still have the freedom to see Lacey if he was...well...whatever it was he was supposed to do now that he didn’t swim? His friends had spent days trying to normalize the situation but it was only highlighting that he wasn’t ready to give this all up.
He was definitely not thinking clearly when a ding from his phone pulled him out of his thoughts as he reached to flip it over so he could see the screen. Aiden had long ago silenced all his 5am alarms and such, all the alerts to remind him to get to training on time. His phone had been quiet for weeks now so Aiden was expecting to see a notification from Lacey or Daniel, after all they were the only ones he’d been in contact with. A long forgotten event reminder from his calendar was definitely not what he had in mind.
You have an event coming up:
Tomorrow
boot camp begins
7:00am
Oh right, “boot camp” started tomorrow. His coach had planned this week long training intensive to take place once all the swimmers were done with their classes, as if their usual schedule wasn’t intensive enough already.
Had he not been left alone then maybe he would have been reminded of his new reality, but as it was his mind was repeating to him that he wanted this, No, he needed this. He couldn’t live without swimming. The Devil spoke to him from behind a mask of optimism. His career didn’t have to be over. He could get over this. He would get over this, and he needed to be prepared to jump back into training when he got out of the sling. After all, he’d been kicked out of the pool due to injury before and he’d bounced right back, so why should this be any different?
How long had he sat staring numbly at the television while he fought off all reason and gave into his hurting heart? Well it didn’t take much more to convince his desperate self to get off the couch and lower himself onto the floor in a clearing away from any furniture. Crunches ended up being his
Aiden started slowly at first but he soon built up a steady yet painful momentum. Each breath was a short and sharp gasp for air and not at all how he was taught to workout. He was okay in the beginning as he was fit enough to keep the pressure off his shoulder, and maybe he would have stayed fine if he had just kept it to a quick bare minimum rep. But Aiden’s mind was all over the place and he quickly stopped concentrating on his form and just kept pushing through the rapidly growing pain.
How long would it take to get back into shape once this was all over? He only had a few weeks left until summer: peak training season since classes wouldn’t take up his time during the day. He had meets already scheduled for the rest of the year, he couldn’t afford to be benched all summer. If he didn’t bring home medals he would never qualify for Nationals and without Nationals he could officially kiss his Olympic dreams goodbye.
Swimming had been the only constant in his life for so long now. He had started off in Italy, always in the pool. Then when he moved to the states his father was quick to enroll him in swim clubs, partly to push him down an athletic path for his future, but partly also just as a form of childcare. It was either swimming or stay home with a nanny. Aiden took to swimming pretty well on his own, but it was when he showed real talent that his ego sort of kicked in. He wanted to be the best and quickly outgrew his local competition. This was a trend everywhere they moved until finally settling here in Oregon. Aiden was almost ready to move on to the major leagues of swimming, but then this….
No he’d get over it. He had to. Aiden was drowning in his depression over the thought of not swimming and not knowing what to do with himself.
Had he not been so locked inside his own head he might have heard knocking at the door, or the door opening, or Daniel calling his name. He might have heard Daniel rushing over and telling him to stop, over and over and over—Daniel’s hand was pushing down on his sternum now with such a force that Aiden in his current state didn’t stand a chance at pushing out of. He was pinned down to the floor now and his hazel eyes flashed open as the pain fully set in. Or more like now that he was out of his mental headspace he was aware of the excruciating pain that was his shoulder. Aiden was gasping for air now and not a moment later was curling in on his good side as the pain induced nausea quickly washed through him and had him coughing and retching until what was left of his minimal meal from breakfast came back up accompanied by a whole lot of stomach acid and Gatorade as that was what mostly filled his stomach these days. He was suddenly overheating, his face felt hot and it felt like the room was spinning as he lay there on the floor.
Aiden’s eyes naturally watered as his body continued to contract against him, “You're gonna hurt yourself—what are you thinking!?” But Daniel’s words met Aiden’s deaf and ringing ears as he came down from all the adrenaline. While Aiden continued hacking up what little was left inside him Daniel took the moment to go grab towels from the bathroom. He extended the moment to stop by the kitchen to grab some things and dampen one of the towels while he was there, it wasn’t like Aiden could go anywhere anyways or do much more harm to himself if Daniel didn’t rush back to his side that instant. He wrapped the towel around an ice pack from the freezer on his way back to Aiden but set everything down on the coffee table once he had returned.
The pain had set in full force by now and Aiden honestly felt like he was going to die. He had been saved from all this at the swim meet as he’d been unconscious when he fell. If this pain was just from aggravating the injury then there was no way he would have been able to handle when it actually broke. He was so dizzy as he felt Daniel try to pull him upright. Dan was struggling to find a good way to move him without touching his arm, after all, usually you would lift from under a person’s arms. But Daniel somehow managed to successfully transfer his friend from the floor to the couch. He tried to pass Aiden the ice pack but Aiden wouldn’t take it, or rather he couldn’t take it. He was still waiting for his world to stop spinning and even when Daniel placed it in his hand his fingers couldn’t seem to close around it. He had no strength left, but for Aiden it felt more like he didn’t have control over his own body. As much as he willed himself to move he couldn’t and in the end Daniel picked up his hand and reached it across to hold the ice pack in place so he could fish out his phone. Daniel worked quickly and efficiently as he went to work cleaning up the floor while he had his phone sandwiched between his ear and his shoulder as he asked Sonia for advice.
”Should I take him to the hospital?”
Daniel and Sonia had entered a series of back and forth questions over Aiden with both sides asking their fair share. At one point Daniel ended up switching to speakerphone so he could use both hands, just as Sonia blurted out, ”I don’t know Dan, I’m not his doctor!” She sounded...not annoyed so much as stressed. She prided herself on her medical knowledge and never missed an opportunity to show it off but she was absolutely right. It was one thing to read prescription labels and know how to deal with side effects, or to have a general understanding of things to look out for. But as far as making actual decisions over Aiden’s health, that shouldn’t be on her, she was only nineteen and not some child prodigy like in a hospital television drama.
”Sorry…”
”No, I’m sorry, you’re right. I shouldn’t —“
”It’s fine, he’s probably fine. You said he didn’t use his arm right? He didn’t try to lift or grab anything?” She paused for Daniel to confirm before going on, ”I don’t think he could have done any serious harm then, you would know if something was wrong.”
Daniel just watched his friend in silence for a moment, Aiden hadn’t moved a muscle since getting him on the couch, his eyes were shut with his face half buried in a pillow. He didn’t look good to be honest, but it looked like he was able to clutch the ice pack now and wasn’t breathing funny anymore, so maybe it would be fine as Sonia said. She went on to instruct her boyfriend to get Aiden to take his painkillers, double dose if he felt he needed it and they’d take it from there as far as determining if he needed real medical attention or not. They both knew Aiden would kill them if they made a whole scene over it, the hospital would alert his family and that was a recipe for disaster. No sense in putting him through all that if they didn’t have to, so they’d wait it out and see.
Aiden obeyed without complaint when Daniel handed him a single dose to start with and a fresh glass. He needed this pain gone. But not a minute after taking it the water just hit his now empty stomach like a cold ton of bricks and he immediately was coughing back up that little white pill into the palm of his hand with a pained cry when his shoulder tensed.
”Do you want me to come over?” Right, she was still on speakerphone and had heard everything.
Daniel had taken the medication and glass away from Aiden, it hadn’t even been a minute, and with no signs of dissolving the pill deserved a second chance once they got Aiden’s nausea under control, ”No I’m just gonna try and take him out to smoke, it worked last time. I’ll call you later baby.”
It took a good deal of convincing for Daniel to get Aiden off the couch. Partial convincing, partial gently dragging him to his feet. The ice pack had helped dull the pain from an excruciating throbbing sensation to...a not excruciating throb. There was no hiding how much it hurt, not that Aiden was even trying to. But soon enough he had Aiden downstairs in the co-pilot passenger seat of his car; the seatbelt refused once again. Daniel brought the painkiller and a Gatorade to make him take later, and a clean towel...just in case, and then after a quick text to Lacey they were off to the pier.
”Lacey went out?”
They’d been parked for about 15 minutes now; about half of that was Daniel alternating between grinding and pausing to see if Aiden was still with him. He had faith that the injured swimmer would be fine but he hadn’t said a word the entire drive over and it was making Daniel uneasy about his decision to bring him out here. Should they have gone to the hospital instead after all? Well once they passed the 15 minute mark all his fears were out the window along with their smoke, ”She had a work thing,” Daniel nodded understandingly but didn’t miss a beat in his sassy comeback, he’d been hanging out with Sonia too much recently, ”So you just decided to kill yourself while she was gone.”
Woahkay now Daniel, slow down. Yes, but no, not exactly. Aiden let out a frustrated sigh while Daniel snatched the blunt from his hand, taking away Aiden’s “out” and forcing him to face the question—statement—topic at hand.
”I can’t quit,” his seat was slightly reclined and Aiden let his head drop back against it though his eyes were trained out the window to stare down the ocean as it teased him, ”I’ve never not swam,” a double negative to match his ever darkening mood, was that grammatically correct? Well technically, but whatever, Daniel was getting him high, and it got the point across…
There was a decent pause between them, Daniel wasn’t great with words and Aiden’s feelings were still simmering just below the surface, ”I’m just so sick of sitting around waiting. It’s such a waste of time, I should be in the gym, or the pool or—“
”Aiden, I am all for having hopes and dreams and motivation and all that. You know I love an underdog, but I think it might be good to take a step back this time.” Daniel looked over to his friend who in turn was squinting judgingly back at him while he tried to process this perspective.
They argued back and forth for a good while; the blunt ending up a permanent resident in Aiden’s hand as Daniel tapped out early on being the mostly responsible driver that he was. Well, they weren’t exactly arguing. It was more like a lot of Aiden saying how he has nothing left now and Daniel trying to disagree with him.
”It sucks, it really does, but I don’t think there’s gonna be any coming back from this. It might be time to just focus on not staying half a cripple for the rest of your life and find a plan b.”
”Maybe you could break into modeling with Lacey or something.” This got some serious side eye from Aiden but Daniel just grinned knowing he had struck a nerve. A nerve that wasn’t tied into swimming. A nerve that contrary to what Aiden had said earlier proved he still had something else in his life
Yeah, swimming was his escape. Daniel was calling him out on that, but swimming wasn’t just supposed to be his one way ticket out of here. He loved it. And now he had lost it forever.
”You hungry?”
Well, obviously.
”Let’s grab something to go and head back before it gets late, I sort of promised Sonia I’d bring her dinner for helping earlier.”
Daniel made him take the painkiller before they went into the Italian place by his apartment. “Take with food” wasn’t so delicate that he couldn’t wait another twenty minutes, besides Aiden would probably snack on breadsticks the rest of the drive back.
”Can I even trust to leave you alone?”
They were sitting in Daniel’s parked car outside the apartment now waiting for Aiden to finish the break stick in his hand and then head on up, ”I’m not alone, Lacey’s back~” Yes he had read her texts but forgive his intoxicated state for not remembering to reply. It was one of those instances where he read it, replied in his head and then put his phone down and completely forgot about it.
There was a certain teasing to his voice as well. A weird combination of: Aww it’s sweet you’re worried, but try not to be jealous cause Lacey is here and I’d rather be with her so byeee. Combined with this sort of shifty undertone vibe. Like he could hide behind Lacey to escape from the truth bombs Daniel had been dropping. Sort of like if he had been playing hide and seek with Daniel, and Daniel was so close to finding him, but then Aiden’s mother came to pick him up—or in this case Lacey. And so Aiden got to call the game off before he lost and skip along home without Daniel officially finding him.
”If I find out later you wer—“
But Aiden was already out of the car and shutting the door with a rushed, ”Bye Dan.”
Walking into his apartment brought on a colossally confusing range of feelings. On the one hand his cabin fever was off the charts and this was the last place he wanted to return to. It was so soul crushingly restricting in here. It was so tense it was hard to breathe. But then at the same time he was so relieved to be back in his little cave. It was safe here. Free from prying eyes and judgemental opinions. Free from people breathing down his neck about everything. Free from reality. Reality didn't exist here in his apartment where it was just him, and Lacey, his pasta and— ”Do you want a breadstick?”
She did not. Nor did she want anymore of the pasta when he offered, beyond the traditional taste test. Well, more for him~
Aiden was able to continue his mental escape while he ate possibly the best pasta he’d ever had—or was that the weed talking? Well it was great and Aiden was absolutely famished after having literally emptied his stomach just a few hours earlier.
Next stop? The bathroom. The shower was calling his name and Aiden wanted nothing more than to stand under the water. That was where he felt his best after all, wasn’t it? In the water—the pool…
But this wasn’t the pool, as he reminded himself when his body moved on autopilot to try and wash his hair only for one arm to stop short.
In the pool he had such freedom to just...swim. Even though he was constantly bombarded with expectations, in the pool it was just him and the water. He could enter this sort of, ethereal state of mind and enhanced by the adrenaline that came with swimming.
But the shower could only do so much to mimic that and once he shut the water off he was left just standing there, cold and dripping wet. There was no feeling of accomplishment or success. No post workout or competition adrenaline to come down from. It was just him, alone, broken and high. The high was what got him to then keep moving when he otherwise would have stayed stuck in his thoughts for what would feel like an eternity.
It was also what had him reaching for the eye drops on his bathroom counter. They were Daniel’s actually. Or perhaps Sonia? Well one of them had forgotten it earlier in the week and now it was Aiden’s to use as he needed. And he needed them now, among other things, like Lacey’s assistance again with this damn sling after he had found clean pants and rejoined her back in the living room. He was still blinking through the drops settling in as he too got situated back into his little comfort nest.
This was….nice. Just him, and Lacey, and the TV—oh jk...she was leaving. Any other day and Aiden probably wouldn’t have minded so much. Any other day and he would have just continued watching...whatever. It was they were watching. Although, any other day he wouldn’t be sitting here high with his baby sister. But this particular day he found himself watching her go, and then constantly looking back towards his bedroom door as he waited for her to return. Only she never did. What, did she fall in or something?
It took a minute to get up from his safe space of pillows but he did eventually get to his feet and made his way back across the floor to his bedroom, ”Lace?”
The mound on his previously cleanly made bed was definitely not what he had been expecting to find. Actually, he wasn't entirely sure what he had been expecting to find. Just Lacey, which, check, he found her. Least, he was pretty sure this mound was her or else he was way higher than he thought and was hallucinating things now.
But the mound didn’t make any movement beyond the occasional tremble from her sobbing and left Aiden sighing softly as he went to cross over to his bed. He’d been here before with her. Well, not this exact scenario obviously, but he’d talked down his emotional baby sister plenty of times before; a couple of those times being here in this very room in fact, ”Laaaaacey,” he took a seat now beside her but no response. Normally Aiden would have no trouble overpowering her, swimmer arms and all, but she had caught him at a bad time. He only had use of his left hand, the non dominant one. But even that was weakened in his current state so his first few attempts at pulling back the blankets were futile, ”Talk to me Lace, what happened?”
He did eventually get the blanket off her but trying to pull her up was a complete fail, she wouldn’t budge—until she did. They were both very lucky in this moment that Aiden couldn’t feel any pain as she attached herself around his neck whilst he let out a sigh. It wasn’t a sigh of annoyance or frustration, not in the slightest. It was more one of relief, but not quite relief. It was more that feeling when a small child is making a big deal out of nothing and then they finally come to see reason and you’re just slightly overcome with how cute they were the whole time, ”Come here…”
And there she was. There was the little sister he’d been missing these past few days. That other girl who’d been cleaning up the very eggshells she walked on had been a total stranger to him. The Lacey he knew would whine if things weren’t going her way, cry over seemingly pointless things, state her opinions and stick to them; his little sister Lacey would call him out on his bullshit and in turn motivate him to do better. But Lacey the caretaker just made him feel useless and broken. Not broken in the sense of being sad, though he was that too. But broken as in there was something wrong with him. Which there was...he knew there was something very wrong with him and it scared him—he scared himself. But Lacey had been making it that much more apparent which in turn had just been turning Aiden away time after time. The way she wouldn’t sit with him, how forced all her teasing felt, the way she looked at him—or rather the way she wouldn’t look at him. Lacey hadn’t treated him “normally” all week.
He let her have her moment, his hand rubbing her back briefly before settling around her waist to keep her close. After all, he couldn’t give her a proper hug while his right arm was trapped in its sling.
”Hey, you know your wish from the park?” She had quieted down somewhat, probably to try and hear him over her own sobbing, ”Could we share it?” Not that you were wondering, but just in case you were: yes, Aiden was most definitely that cliche boy in class who talked others into letting him copy their homework and it worked every single time. And no, it wasn’t like him to be this clingy. But he was feeling especially clingy right now and it sounded nice in his head and it was too late to take it back.
Aiden couldn’t wipe the smile off his face as he tried, and failed, to maneuver his little sister off his shoulder now so he could see her face, ”What’s wrong, hm?”
Between her crying and the fact she was still buried into his neck it was rather difficult to understand her, but from what he could make out it sounded like she—yeah no he really couldn’t make heads or tails of anything she had just said. Should he just start asking questions? Process of elimination?
Usually Aiden was great at calming her down. Usually he would take her out to get her mind off things. Usually he stood a chance at talking through it with her. Usually it was too big an issue and they overcame it pretty quickly.
At last he got her to sit up finally. Aiden unsnaked his arm from around her waist to slip up in between them to her face where he brushed strands of hair away and then the corners of her eyes. First the left, then the right, before putting their foreheads together. His eyes were still open, competitively fighting his own brain to try and still focus on her despite being in such close proximity that she was a blur in front of him, ”Let’s get out of here.”
His voice was low but still had an air of excitement to it. An intonation that hadn’t been heard coming from him in a long time. When was the last time he had actively suggested something? And something out of the apartment at that.
”C’mon, up, let’s go!” Up was easier said than done. Untangling Lacey from him took a minute; mostly just because half of him was useless to help support her but soon enough they were off his bed and Aiden was soliciting Lacey’s help with his hoodie after she reminded him that he “couldn’t go out half naked”.
Aiden however had no plan beyond getting them out of the apartment. He couldn’t drive—well, he shouldn’t drive— but it might be possible to persuade him to let his little sister drive again. Maybe. He was much more agreeable when he was high after all.
Standing outside with her now, Aiden felt the best he had in weeks. Pain and nausea had both been dealt with, he was out of his suffocating apartment, and Lacey was finally returning to normal. It was his turn now to feel better. To be happy.
Only...Aiden decided to pass on his turn. Lacey had let out her feelings in a good cry sesh, but Aiden wouldn’t be following suit. Nor would he be talking about it any time soon. The weed had resealed the cracks in his broken heart and it would hold up for a good while now. He didn’t want to dredge up those feelings again, and so he wouldn’t. He simply would ignore himself and instead pour his everything into Lacey’s happiness.
The park—their escape—was a little too far to walk right now, but the liquor store was close enough. So wrapping his one arm around Lacey’s shoulders he began walking in that direction. With how many times they stopped by for late night snacks, surely it would be a suitable substitute for the park. They could get ice cream, or sodas, or really just anything other than the sandwiches, fruit and Gatorades they’d been living off of. God Aiden, you just ate…and here you are thinking about food again...
”Did you wanna talk about it?” Now that she had stopped crying and as an attempt to refocus himself on her, Aiden opened up the floor for conversation and advice giving. Because while most siblings just fought all the time, Aiden happened to be great at listening to his little sister’s life drama. He always found himself caring just a little extra when it came to her. So he’d get to the bottom of this and kill whoever it was that made her cry.
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feelsHASkilig
Solo Conversationalist
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- Page Two Hundred & Forty-Nine
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Everything felt so heavy. Her eyes. Her face. Her head. Her heart. The only thing that gave Lacey any kind of comfort was being in Aiden’s arms...erm, arm…erm, embrace. Just lifting her head slightly made her head feel like it weighed ten pounds more. She cried so much just now and her body was feeling the effects of it. It was as if the emotional pain that initiated the tears manifested itself into an equivalent physical pain. She hated this pain. She wanted it to go away. She wished that Aiden would take all the pain away like the great big brother he was.
Speaking of wishes….
Lacey cursed the stupid jars. They were such a stupid idea. They obviously did not work in the slightest. Nothing she did - even with the best intentions - did anything to give Aiden back to her. She didn’t want this person in front of her anymore. Maybe if she closed her eyes tight enough and hugged him just a little tighter, she could get what she wanted. To hell with that stupid wish.
“Iwanttogohome…” Lacey muttered into Aiden’s shoulder. She still refused to lift her head up to look at him while her tears trickled down his bare chest. “I...I...I d-d-don’t w-w-want to be h-h-h-here…”
And that was as much truth as Aiden was able to get out of Lacey. However, it didn’t seem like he heard any of it. It didn’t register to Lacey that her momentary truth giving came out a mumbling, sputtering mess in-between sobs. To her, her words came out loud and clear. When Aiden continued trying to be a big brother, it frustrated Lacey. She just said that she wanted to go home. She didn’t want any excuse to stay here with him any longer. Not while he was like this.
When Aiden successfully untangled her from him, Lacey felt so defeated. Nothing was going her way today. Absolutely nothing.
The last thing she wanted was to go outside. Even after washing her face, Lacey felt so vulnerable out in public. Now that it was later in the day, there were more people out and about enjoying their freedom from their busy routines. And each time she and Aiden passed someone, Lacey coward a little; dropping her head down to avoid eye contact with anyone. Not even her brother’s arm around her shoulders made her feel safe. She didn’t want this; to be outside. But she didn’t want to be back at the apartment either.
The thought of going home distracted Lacey enough that she missed Aiden’s question. So when he shook her around the shoulders gently and called for her attention, she blinked and looked up at him confused. “What?” As he repeated what he said, apparently wanting to know if she wanted to talk about earlier, Lacey looked away from him again. She focused intently on their matching footsteps. She may have been tall for her age, but Aiden still towered over her plenty. So the fact that they were able to match steps while walking was quite an achievement for the step-siblings.
She was very aware that she was keeping him hanging. The truth was that she didn’t know how to answer. Aiden may be her big brother, but he was also her best friend. Especially over the years when she got pulled out of school for work and lost contact with pretty much every friend she had. He was the one she almost always went to when she needed to rant or vent about anything that troubled her. But how could she burden him with her feelings right now when they revolved around him? That wasn’t fair to him.
But she couldn’t straight out lie to Aiden either. Sure, she took pride in her skill to cover up some of her true feelings if they were deemed not important. But when it was something serious - like sobbing her eyes out out of nowhere - Aiden’s built in Lacey-Lie-Detector was cranked all the way up and there was no way of hiding anything from him.
So, did she wanna talk about it? “No, not really…” she finally answered. “Not yet, I guess…” At least she was opening up the possibility of being able to talk about it.
When they arrived at the liquor store, Lacey mostly followed Aiden around as he picked a few items he wanted. Nothing in the store called to her personally. It has been a while since she last ate a bag of chips and soda at this point upset her stomach. She also hasn’t had a sweet tooth since Valentine’s Day so candy wasn’t an option either. What did that leave Lacey? Nothing really. So before Aiden could ask her if she was going to get anything, she grabbed a bag of chips she knew he wouldn’t mind sharing and a random bottle of Vitamin Water.
Now stocked with what Lacey now knew was venting snacks, Aiden once again opened the floor to talk about earlier when they returned to the apartment. Lacey sighed. There was no way of getting out of this, was there? If she told Aiden she wanted to go home, he would probably take it personally. But if she gave in and told him the truth, he would probably still take it personally. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt his feelings in his condition.
“I don’t know…” she started in a low voice. She took a seat on the couch, completely abandoning her liquor store items with her brother. “I guess I was just upset or something.” She didn’t need the look on Aiden’s face to know she basically gave him nothing. With another sigh, she tried again. “I didn’t...like not knowing what you and Daniel were doing. Not that you have to tell me everything that you’re doing, like, every minute of the day. But...I just...you made me wait hours for you to come back without a word.”
There, a half truth. That was the best her brother was going to get from her. Lacey refused to tell him the whole truth. The last thing she wanted was for him to make light of her disappointment in herself. If he was going to make her feel like her half truth was no big deal or that she was overreacting, she would be able to stomach the lecture from the half truth.
“You know, Aiden,” she paused, hesitant to say what she wanted to say next. “If you don’t want me to be here, you can just tell me. You don’t have to put up with me if you don’t want to…” She looked down at her lap as she sniffed back the lump in her throat.
He never asked her to leave after that. Whether it was out of pity for his little sister or if he genuinely wanted it, he never gave off the vibe that he wanted her to leave. Not even as they struggled to recover from her breakdown the next day. Even when the atmosphere in the apartment after their talk was awkward and heavy, he never once asked her to go home.
As for Lacey, she was too afraid to give in to her own desires. Even as she carried on with their daily routine, in the back of her mind she thought about wanting to go back home. But she couldn’t get herself to grab her phone and asked to be picked up. Why? Because despite how awkward it was to be together in the apartment, for a little while after their talk, Lacey got her brother back. That night, he even agreed to abandon his pillow nest on the couch to stay with her in his room. Between finally having him beside her on his bed and her overall exhaustion from that day, she finally slept through the night without interruption. So even though she still wished to be back at home, that one glimmer of hope that she was getting Aiden back renewed her.
After spending all of Wednesday recovering from the drama of Tuesday night, Lacey woke up early Thursday morning to a text message from Daniel. It was in a group chat between him, Lacey, Aiden and Sonia requesting that they all hang out today. Naturally, he poked fun at the fact that the step-siblings remain cooped up in the apartment and insisted that they come out and get some sun. Just to keep the guy from targeting her with his usual teasings, Lacey agreed to this arrangement, but mentioned that she did need to go home in the afternoon for a meeting.
It was apparently Sonia’s idea for them to go to the local farmer’s market that morning. Aiden must have mentioned to Daniel or something that his diet the past few days consisted of eating mostly sandwiches and fruit. So why not go out for some fresh air and good food? Lacey was all for the fresh air. The good food? Not really.
Honestly, Lacey was a little nervous for Aiden. The farmer’s market has always been known to be pretty crowded. Given how he acted at the mall the other day, she was hesitant to keep her hopes up that maybe things would be better today.
And then they arrived at the farmer’s market and Lacey was surprised at how well he adapted to the crowds. Aiden did pretty well maneuvering around people standing and walking about. Most of them were quick to register his sling and move out of the way, which Lacey thought was nice. While Aiden, Daniel and Sonia focused on finding good food to eat, Lacey focused on making sure Aiden was going to be okay.
Finally, after walking around to many vendors and trying countless free samples, the gang carried their actual meals to a spot of grass. Well, all but Lacey. After being coerced by Sonia to try some samples with the others, Lacey couldn’t find it in her to commit to eating a full meal. Besides, nothing at the farmer’s market really called to her. She was, however, persuaded by Sonia to buy some dried fruit that she had a mild interest in after a couple samples. But other than that, she opted to once again share whatever Aiden had. After all, she was always supposed to have the first bite of whatever he got...and the first bite was usually enough for her.
Overall the farmer’s market did some good for Lacey. It was just nice to finally get out of the apartment for a while. And she saw that it did some good for Aiden as well. He seemed to be in brighter spirits spending time with her, Daniel and Sonia.
The morning looked up for Lacey when both Daniel and Sonia excused themselves to buy some groceries, leaving her alone with her brother for the first time since they woke up that morning. She was relieved to find that his spirits were still pretty bright without his best friend around. And what was even better, no weed was involved. This had to mean that he actually was enjoying himself. Lacey smiled. Like, genuinely smiled; nothing forced for the sake of keeping face. For the first time in two days, she felt lighter, brighter. Happy.
She held onto that happiness the whole day knowing she was going to be swamped with work once she and her mother arrived for her meeting with her agent.
“Try not to get him into any trouble,” Lacey joked to Daniel and Sonia as she climbed out of the back seat.
Before closing the door, she looked at Aiden and smiled. “I’ll call once I’m done. Promise.” With a quick wave, she closed the door and jogged over to the entrance of her agency.
The meeting covered everything that Lacey needed to know about her LA gig. As this was her first out of town (out of state really) job, her agent had a lot to say to prepare her for anything and everything. They went over her schedule for that weekend as well as what to expect while at the shoot. Lacey wondered how different a photoshoot in LA could be to the ones here. Not seriously, of course. She knew deep down that it was more than likely she would end up doing more sitting around and waiting than being in front of the camera. As her agent and her mother discussed more details of the trip, she considered bringing her schoolwork. Which reminds her, she was unsure whether one of her textbooks was at Aiden’s apartment or not. She would have to look for it just to make sure.
After the meeting, Lacey balanced the manila folder under her arm to climb into her mother’s car. Once her seatbelt was on, she immediately took her phone out of her purse to send a quick text message to Aiden that there was a change of plans. Instead of going straight to his apartment like she intended, her mother wanted her to go back to the house to start packing. Even if their flight wasn’t until Friday night, apparently her mother would rather she be prepared than do everything at the last minute. That was fine with her. If she packed now and brought the bag with her to the apartment, then that was one less trip she and her mother would need to take before heading to the airport.
After packing for the LA shoot and reassuring her mother that, no, she was not hungry, Lacey unloaded her suitcase from the trunk of the car and rolled it onto the sidewalk in front of Aiden’s apartment building. She reassured her mother that she would indeed be ready to leave for the airport Friday afternoon. And, no, she had no intention of putting on a full face of makeup just for a flight.
When she unlocked the door to Aiden’s apartment, Lacey held her breath unsure what to find on the other side. No surprise really, she found her big brother sitting on the couch. “Hey! When did you get back?” she asked as she rolled her suitcase over to the wall beside the dining table. She took the spot right beside him, moving one of the pillows to her other side so she was more comfortable resting against him. “Sorry I ended up running a little late. Mom is, like, more nervous about this weekend than I am.” She paused to observe whatever was on the television right now. “Did you eat already?”
Lacey was only able to spend a few more hours with Aiden before she had to go to bed for the night. She promised her mother that she would go to bed at a decent time because apparently her eyes looked a little tired. Hence the back and forth about the full face of makeup earlier. After being told that Aiden was going to sleep on the couch for the night - apparently his shoulder still was not ready to cooperate with sleeping on a bed - Lacey bid him goodnight then retreated to the bedroom to go to bed.
After she changed into her pajamas, Lacey was just about to tuck herself into bed when her eyes focused on a specific spot under the bed. She took one quick glance over at the open door. From her spot, she couldn’t see what Aiden was doing, but the lack of any sound of movement told her he wasn’t going to be moving anywhere anytime soon. With that reassurance, she knelt down onto the floor and reached under Aiden’s bed for the shoebox. She then adjusted her position to sit cross-legged and opened the box. She hadn’t looked at the torn up Olympic shrine since she cleaned it up and put it all in the shoebox. But even if the memory of the destruction was still fresh in her mind, it still hurt seeing all the ripped up colorful pieces of paper scattered about.
Lacey reached into the shoebox for one of the lesser ripped photographs. It was the final swim meet of Aiden’s senior year. He had a towel draped over his shoulders while he held up his newly won medals. Lacey couldn’t for the life of her remember what program he swam that day probably because she was running on the high of excitement just being at the meet to support her brother. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was the tired, but bright grin on his face. He apparently beat another personal best that day.
This photo felt like another lifetime ago. Even before the accident Aiden rarely smiled like he did that day. His head and his eyes were on the prize; the ultimate goal. Was the goal still reachable? Would he ever get back to this smiling boy relishing in his accomplishments?
Lacey craned her neck once again to peek out the open bedroom door. Still no sounds of Aiden moving about. After one final look at her smiling big brother, Lacey folded the photo carefully then held onto it as she closed the shoebox and returned it under the bed. She slipped the photo into the inside pocket of her purse before climbing into bed for the night.
The following morning, Lacey decided to change things up for their morning routine. Since she would be out of town for the entire weekend, she decided that it was best they combat any threat of cabin fever by insisting they go out for breakfast. Naturally, Aiden wasn’t entirely all for that idea. It apparently required putting on a shirt. But Lacey continued to insist that they needed to get some fresh air. “This is the only time I’ll know you actually got out of this apartment for a bit. Please? I’ll pay.” We all know she didn’t need to lure him in by paying. The please was most definitely enough.
The great thing about their little town was that pretty much anything was walking distance with the right motivation. Three blocks after the liquor store was a cafe Lacey rarely went to on her own. Not because it was sketchy. On the contrary, the cafe was trendy and often had customers in business suits with their eyes glued to their phones or computers. No, the main reason Lacey rarely went to this cafe on her own is because Aiden was certain it was too far from his apartment. And so, if she ever wanted to go, he had to go with her. For her protection. Right.
As promised, she paid for breakfast. She got Aiden his usual order while she got herself a butter croissant and a tea.
It was a little tougher today to tell if Aiden was enjoying this small outing, but Lacey kept her hopes up that he was getting better. Three weeks after the accident and his surgery, he had to be getting better by now. Hopefully the pain was starting to fade away some.
Lacey wanted to enjoy this time with Aiden. This weekend is the first time they are going to spend apart for longer than a few hours. Even if they just survived - barely - the last two weeks, the thought of being away from Aiden for anything longer than a day was unsettling. There were so many scenarios running through her head about what he would do while she wasn’t there. Would he be able to take care of himself? Should she talk to Daniel to make sure he checked on Aiden while she was gone?
A half a croissant and an empty cup of tea later, Lacey placed a napkin over the remaining torn up half of the croissant and stood up from her chair. She once again took her place at Aiden’s side to return to the apartment. She was scheduled to leave for the airport at two. If she wanted every single minute to count with Aiden, she needed him back at the apartment and resting as soon as possible. She didn’t want the moody Aiden to come back because he was tired from being outside for too long.
“It’s too bad I won’t have time to go to Disneyland while I’m in LA. I haven’t been there since...was it our parents’ wedding anniversary?” Lacey looked away from Lilo & Stitch currently playing on the television to look at her step-brother. “Oh well, Mom said we do have some time to do a bit of shopping in the evenings. I’ll bring you back a shirt.”
Lacey was in the middle of preparing lunch for Aiden when she heard her phone go off. A quick glance told her that it was her mother letting her know that they would be picking her up in half an hour. They? She must mean her agent. Okay, time to make sure her brother was going to be fine without her and prepare to leave.
When she got the text that it was time to leave, Lacey gave Aiden a quick hug before grabbing her suitcase and heading to the door. “I’ll call or text when we’ve landed, okay? Bye! Love you!” With one last wave, she rolled her suitcase into the hallway then closed the door behind her.
Lacey froze as soon as she stepped out of the apartment building. She was completely wrong. “They” did not mean her mother and her agent. “They” was her mother and her step-father. The last time Lacey saw her step-father was the day she and Aiden reunited. He hadn’t been in a good mood that day. As she rolled her suitcase over to the shiny, brand new car, he still didn’t look like he was in a good mood.
As she climbed into the backseat, Lacey avoided looking at her step-father. Just being in the same car as him felt tense. She didn’t even want to imagine what he was thinking right now pulled up in front of his son’s apartment. He didn’t even ask her how Aiden was doing before he shifted the car into drive and pulled out of his lazy parking spot.
The tension in the car only grew worse when traffic to the airport hit. Lacey once again kept her eyes lowered to her lap, the sound of her step-father’s impatient drumming on the steering wheel making her more and more anxious. He was constantly sighing, frustrated whenever they slowed to another stop. Her mother was doing her best to defuse the situation with small talk.
Eventually though, her methods failed. After a rather chilling groan, Lacey heard her step-father slap his steering wheel. “This is your fault, you know.”
The car was silent. Lacey’s head jerked up to look forward. Her eyes immediately moved to the rearview mirror. Her step-father was looking right at her with cold, angry eyes. “I already have a lot of shit to do to prepare for my own trip and here I am chauffeuring you to yours. If you weren’t such a distraction, your brother would be the one taking you to the airport. Not me. This is a waste of my fucking time.”
Lacey’s heart was racing. She hated it when her step-father targeted her with his frustration. Okay, she hated his temper period. But whenever it was directed at her, she felt like she wanted to disappear forever. She hated that he was going off on her now while they were all stuck in traffic in this car. Was it even possible that the car was shrinking all around her?
Of course, as luck would have it, her step-father was not done. In fact, it was almost like he was just starting.
“I have told you countless times to stop going over to your brother’s apartment while he’s training. I told you that he needs all the focus he can get. And what do you do? You go over there as if he has all the time in the world to entertain your every whim. Now look at him. His career is over.” The car suddenly jolted to an abrupt stop and he paused to blow his horn angrily. “His accident is all your fault. Because you kept him from focusing on winning. His bad swim times and his fall are all on you. You ruined your brother’s chances of making it to the Olympics. You should have just listened to me instead of pretending like you own the world. These are the consequences you have to pay.”
It was lucky that Lacey decided to put on a little touch of makeup earlier. Had she decided not to, she would have burst into tears right then and there. Her step-father was just so angry with her. All this time he bottled up his frustrations toward her and now she was trapped in the lion’s den getting ripped apart by every word. Lacey clenched her hands together tight to fight back the tears. Not only that, she focused on the pain of her nails digging into her palms to silence the thoughts in her head: the thoughts that entertained the idea that maybe, just maybe, her step-father was right about everything.
As soon as they pulled up in front of the terminal at the airport, Lacey was the first to climb out of the car and take her things. She didn’t even wait for her mother. Before her mother arrived at the sliding doors, Lacey disappeared into the bathroom. The anxiety, fear and impending guilt made her feel sick. So sick that in her desperation for a stall, she abandoned her suitcase at the entrance to the bathroom and pushed herself into the first open stall she could reach. The half a croissant and tea from that morning came right back up while the hot, burning tears she held in fell.
After a half hour delay, a two hour flight then another half hour taxi ride to the hotel, Lacey was drained of all energy. She was practically dragging her feet to the hotel room. It didn’t help that she refused to eat anything after her episode in the airport bathroom. She didn’t want to eat. The last thing she wanted was to think about food. In fact, the thing she wanted the most was to not be awake and live through the physical and emotional pain she was suffering from now. She wanted nothing more than to go to sleep and never wake up. At least in sleep she would no longer have her step-father’s words ringing in her head.
Aiden’s accident. It was all her fault. His dreams are ruined. And it’s all. Her. Fault.
When Lacey was awake, she focused on work. She was scheduled to arrive at the studio for hair and makeup early Saturday morning. Between her exhaustion last night and her laser focus concentration on work, she completely forgot her promise to tell Aiden she arrived in LA safely. Not that she could tell him anyway. Having Aiden on her mind would only make matters worse.
For the next two days, anytime Lacey thought about Aiden, she refocused her attention on something else. Whether it was work or spending time with the other models, she couldn’t think about her brother. She kept herself moving, even during the hours she was forced to wait around until it was her turn to get her pictures taken. She moved about the studio. She concentrated on the directions given to her by the photographer. She put on a fake smile and socialized with the other models. She even gave her number to a male model without so much as thinking about why he wanted it in the first place. If it was enough to take her mind off her brother and what she did to him, Lacey committed to it completely.
By the end of the LA shoot schedule, Lacey was once again drained. She couldn’t even remember the last meal she had when her mother asked if she wanted to eat before they went to the airport.
It was her agent waiting for them at the airport when they arrived back home Monday morning. Lacey was relieved that her step-father thought work was more important that his wife and step-daughter. She couldn’t stomach another car ride with him. As soon as she climbed into the backseat of her agent’s car, Lacey tilted her head back against the headrest and slept through the entire car ride home.
Home….It was strange that just a few days ago, Lacey wanted nothing more than to go home. Now, she wanted to be as far away from it as possible. But where could she go? Sonia’s maybe? Maybe she could take another flight to LA? Or maybe Aid--
No. Absolutely not. There was no way she could face her brother right now. Not with everything that she knew.
Lacey left her suitcase at the foot of the stairs as she once more dragged her tired feet to her bedroom. Once the bedroom door was closed and her mother’s shuffling sounds quieted, Lacey realized for the first time in 48 hours that the world was quiet around her. And with the silence, her thoughts became so loud.
It was her fault Aiden had his accident. It was her fault he was performing so poorly in training. She didn’t even know he wasn’t performing well. Why didn’t he tell her? If he had told her that he needed some time to focus on training, she would have given him his space. She, more than anyone, understood how important swimming was to him. He could tell her anything. Why didn’t he?
Because he was worried about her overdramatic breakdowns about horrible hairstyles. Because he took her to the pier when she asked. Because she stayed by his side every second that she possibly could.
She took him away from swimming.
She did this to him.
It was because of her that he got into his accident.
It was because of her that now his dreams were ruined.
It was her all her fault.
Lacey charged her phone for the first time after waking up Wednesday morning and digging it out from the bottom of her suitcase. When the phone finally came back to life, the first thing she saw were the numerous missed calls, voicemails and text messages from Aiden. She couldn’t get herself to open, look and listen to any of the messages without her empty stomach turning.
Since her return from LA, Lacey rarely left her bedroom. The door remained shut almost all the time. She refused to leave even to get water from downstairs. Not even her mother’s coaxing that she come downstairs to eat convinced her to leave the safety of her bedroom. Her fear of coming face to face with her step-father won over the necessity to have a meal.
“Lacey?” her mother’s voice said from the other side of the door. There was a knock and then the door handle turned. Lacey watched from over the top of her laptop as her mother cautiously poked her head in. “I’m going with your step-dad to the mall to pick up a few things for his trip. Do you need anything while we’re out?” Lacey quietly shook her head then returned her gaze back to her schoolwork. “Will you be okay at home by yourself for a little while?” Lacey nodded.
There was a pause while the only sounds in the room were Lacey’s typing. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drop you off at Aiden’s?” Lacey stopped typing and stared at the last word she typed like her life depended on it. Since charging her phone, Aiden called and texted a couple more times. She still refused to look at the messages. After a couple more seconds just staring at her computer screen, Lacey blinked once then started typing again as if she didn’t hear the last question. The last thing she heard was her mother sigh and then the door close. Maybe there was something about her lunch being in the refrigerator.
Now that she had the house all to herself, Lacey should have felt more relieved. But after two hours passed and she still felt on edge, she brought back up her thoughts about how this place did not feel like home anymore.
Thinking about it, when was the last time this house felt like home? Between her modeling work and her step-father’s every growing impatience and temper, the only times she was ever in this house was to sleep, shower and change. And whenever she left the comfort of her bedroom, it was as if she was walking on eggshells hoping and praying she didn’t step out of line and make things difficult for everyone at the house. The only places she ever felt relaxed were the park - her escape - and...Aiden’s apartment.
That was the last time this house felt like home. When Aiden was just down the hall. After he moved out, the house never felt the same. The usual noises of his high school swim mates disappeared. His music no longer traveled down the halls to her. She no longer kept her door ajar with the hope that if she wished hard enough, he would come over to spend time with her. Without Aiden, this house wasn’t home.
It was a prison.
She needed to get out of here.
It occurred to Lacey as she locked the back door that she couldn’t go to her spot at the park, at least if she didn’t want to be found. Obviously Aiden’s apartment was out of the question. She still could not pluck up the courage to face him...if she ever will. Where could she go? Sonia’s maybe? It was too far and she didn’t want to bother her with her problems. She didn’t really have any friends from when she went to school left that she could hit up out of the blue. There were her usual spots: the magazine section of the local bookstore, the ice cream parlor near the high school, the fountain in-between the city hall building and the library. No, she couldn’t go there either. They were all places she could be found. She needed to go somewhere that she was familiar with, but that no one knew she went to. It also had to be close by since she didn’t have that much cash in her wallet. And the last thing she wanted was for her mother to know that she used her card for a cab.
Some thirty minutes later, Lacey gave the signal to the bus driver that her stop was coming up. She waited until the bus pulled to the side before she stood up and made her way to the bus doors. As soon as she stepped off the bus, she looked up to find the music store just across the street.
She went with Aiden to this music store a few times before. Many of the CDs he bought her came from this very store. But what drew her to this place were the stories she remembered hearing from Aiden about why he spent so much time there. He told her once that it was a good place to wind down after a long day. Take an hour or so to listen to some CDs and maybe talk to the owner about anything music. Lacey never tried it before. Until today.
There were only two other customers in the store when she came in. The owner - or who she thought is the owner - was deep in conversation about...honestly she couldn’t figure that out from the point she listened in. After getting a quick glance over by the maybe-maybe-not owner, Lacey walked by the counter toward the couches. Just like she remembered, a couple CD players sat on the table with opened CDs for listening. Lacey didn’t know any of the artists. So she grabbed a random album and popped it into the closest CD player. As she grabbed the headphones, she dropped her phone face down on the table then made herself comfortable on the couch. She then put the headphones on her head and pressed Play.
Speaking of wishes….
Lacey cursed the stupid jars. They were such a stupid idea. They obviously did not work in the slightest. Nothing she did - even with the best intentions - did anything to give Aiden back to her. She didn’t want this person in front of her anymore. Maybe if she closed her eyes tight enough and hugged him just a little tighter, she could get what she wanted. To hell with that stupid wish.
“Iwanttogohome…” Lacey muttered into Aiden’s shoulder. She still refused to lift her head up to look at him while her tears trickled down his bare chest. “I...I...I d-d-don’t w-w-want to be h-h-h-here…”
And that was as much truth as Aiden was able to get out of Lacey. However, it didn’t seem like he heard any of it. It didn’t register to Lacey that her momentary truth giving came out a mumbling, sputtering mess in-between sobs. To her, her words came out loud and clear. When Aiden continued trying to be a big brother, it frustrated Lacey. She just said that she wanted to go home. She didn’t want any excuse to stay here with him any longer. Not while he was like this.
When Aiden successfully untangled her from him, Lacey felt so defeated. Nothing was going her way today. Absolutely nothing.
The last thing she wanted was to go outside. Even after washing her face, Lacey felt so vulnerable out in public. Now that it was later in the day, there were more people out and about enjoying their freedom from their busy routines. And each time she and Aiden passed someone, Lacey coward a little; dropping her head down to avoid eye contact with anyone. Not even her brother’s arm around her shoulders made her feel safe. She didn’t want this; to be outside. But she didn’t want to be back at the apartment either.
The thought of going home distracted Lacey enough that she missed Aiden’s question. So when he shook her around the shoulders gently and called for her attention, she blinked and looked up at him confused. “What?” As he repeated what he said, apparently wanting to know if she wanted to talk about earlier, Lacey looked away from him again. She focused intently on their matching footsteps. She may have been tall for her age, but Aiden still towered over her plenty. So the fact that they were able to match steps while walking was quite an achievement for the step-siblings.
She was very aware that she was keeping him hanging. The truth was that she didn’t know how to answer. Aiden may be her big brother, but he was also her best friend. Especially over the years when she got pulled out of school for work and lost contact with pretty much every friend she had. He was the one she almost always went to when she needed to rant or vent about anything that troubled her. But how could she burden him with her feelings right now when they revolved around him? That wasn’t fair to him.
But she couldn’t straight out lie to Aiden either. Sure, she took pride in her skill to cover up some of her true feelings if they were deemed not important. But when it was something serious - like sobbing her eyes out out of nowhere - Aiden’s built in Lacey-Lie-Detector was cranked all the way up and there was no way of hiding anything from him.
So, did she wanna talk about it? “No, not really…” she finally answered. “Not yet, I guess…” At least she was opening up the possibility of being able to talk about it.
When they arrived at the liquor store, Lacey mostly followed Aiden around as he picked a few items he wanted. Nothing in the store called to her personally. It has been a while since she last ate a bag of chips and soda at this point upset her stomach. She also hasn’t had a sweet tooth since Valentine’s Day so candy wasn’t an option either. What did that leave Lacey? Nothing really. So before Aiden could ask her if she was going to get anything, she grabbed a bag of chips she knew he wouldn’t mind sharing and a random bottle of Vitamin Water.
Now stocked with what Lacey now knew was venting snacks, Aiden once again opened the floor to talk about earlier when they returned to the apartment. Lacey sighed. There was no way of getting out of this, was there? If she told Aiden she wanted to go home, he would probably take it personally. But if she gave in and told him the truth, he would probably still take it personally. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt his feelings in his condition.
“I don’t know…” she started in a low voice. She took a seat on the couch, completely abandoning her liquor store items with her brother. “I guess I was just upset or something.” She didn’t need the look on Aiden’s face to know she basically gave him nothing. With another sigh, she tried again. “I didn’t...like not knowing what you and Daniel were doing. Not that you have to tell me everything that you’re doing, like, every minute of the day. But...I just...you made me wait hours for you to come back without a word.”
There, a half truth. That was the best her brother was going to get from her. Lacey refused to tell him the whole truth. The last thing she wanted was for him to make light of her disappointment in herself. If he was going to make her feel like her half truth was no big deal or that she was overreacting, she would be able to stomach the lecture from the half truth.
“You know, Aiden,” she paused, hesitant to say what she wanted to say next. “If you don’t want me to be here, you can just tell me. You don’t have to put up with me if you don’t want to…” She looked down at her lap as she sniffed back the lump in her throat.
He never asked her to leave after that. Whether it was out of pity for his little sister or if he genuinely wanted it, he never gave off the vibe that he wanted her to leave. Not even as they struggled to recover from her breakdown the next day. Even when the atmosphere in the apartment after their talk was awkward and heavy, he never once asked her to go home.
As for Lacey, she was too afraid to give in to her own desires. Even as she carried on with their daily routine, in the back of her mind she thought about wanting to go back home. But she couldn’t get herself to grab her phone and asked to be picked up. Why? Because despite how awkward it was to be together in the apartment, for a little while after their talk, Lacey got her brother back. That night, he even agreed to abandon his pillow nest on the couch to stay with her in his room. Between finally having him beside her on his bed and her overall exhaustion from that day, she finally slept through the night without interruption. So even though she still wished to be back at home, that one glimmer of hope that she was getting Aiden back renewed her.
After spending all of Wednesday recovering from the drama of Tuesday night, Lacey woke up early Thursday morning to a text message from Daniel. It was in a group chat between him, Lacey, Aiden and Sonia requesting that they all hang out today. Naturally, he poked fun at the fact that the step-siblings remain cooped up in the apartment and insisted that they come out and get some sun. Just to keep the guy from targeting her with his usual teasings, Lacey agreed to this arrangement, but mentioned that she did need to go home in the afternoon for a meeting.
It was apparently Sonia’s idea for them to go to the local farmer’s market that morning. Aiden must have mentioned to Daniel or something that his diet the past few days consisted of eating mostly sandwiches and fruit. So why not go out for some fresh air and good food? Lacey was all for the fresh air. The good food? Not really.
Honestly, Lacey was a little nervous for Aiden. The farmer’s market has always been known to be pretty crowded. Given how he acted at the mall the other day, she was hesitant to keep her hopes up that maybe things would be better today.
And then they arrived at the farmer’s market and Lacey was surprised at how well he adapted to the crowds. Aiden did pretty well maneuvering around people standing and walking about. Most of them were quick to register his sling and move out of the way, which Lacey thought was nice. While Aiden, Daniel and Sonia focused on finding good food to eat, Lacey focused on making sure Aiden was going to be okay.
Finally, after walking around to many vendors and trying countless free samples, the gang carried their actual meals to a spot of grass. Well, all but Lacey. After being coerced by Sonia to try some samples with the others, Lacey couldn’t find it in her to commit to eating a full meal. Besides, nothing at the farmer’s market really called to her. She was, however, persuaded by Sonia to buy some dried fruit that she had a mild interest in after a couple samples. But other than that, she opted to once again share whatever Aiden had. After all, she was always supposed to have the first bite of whatever he got...and the first bite was usually enough for her.
Overall the farmer’s market did some good for Lacey. It was just nice to finally get out of the apartment for a while. And she saw that it did some good for Aiden as well. He seemed to be in brighter spirits spending time with her, Daniel and Sonia.
The morning looked up for Lacey when both Daniel and Sonia excused themselves to buy some groceries, leaving her alone with her brother for the first time since they woke up that morning. She was relieved to find that his spirits were still pretty bright without his best friend around. And what was even better, no weed was involved. This had to mean that he actually was enjoying himself. Lacey smiled. Like, genuinely smiled; nothing forced for the sake of keeping face. For the first time in two days, she felt lighter, brighter. Happy.
She held onto that happiness the whole day knowing she was going to be swamped with work once she and her mother arrived for her meeting with her agent.
“Try not to get him into any trouble,” Lacey joked to Daniel and Sonia as she climbed out of the back seat.
Before closing the door, she looked at Aiden and smiled. “I’ll call once I’m done. Promise.” With a quick wave, she closed the door and jogged over to the entrance of her agency.
The meeting covered everything that Lacey needed to know about her LA gig. As this was her first out of town (out of state really) job, her agent had a lot to say to prepare her for anything and everything. They went over her schedule for that weekend as well as what to expect while at the shoot. Lacey wondered how different a photoshoot in LA could be to the ones here. Not seriously, of course. She knew deep down that it was more than likely she would end up doing more sitting around and waiting than being in front of the camera. As her agent and her mother discussed more details of the trip, she considered bringing her schoolwork. Which reminds her, she was unsure whether one of her textbooks was at Aiden’s apartment or not. She would have to look for it just to make sure.
After the meeting, Lacey balanced the manila folder under her arm to climb into her mother’s car. Once her seatbelt was on, she immediately took her phone out of her purse to send a quick text message to Aiden that there was a change of plans. Instead of going straight to his apartment like she intended, her mother wanted her to go back to the house to start packing. Even if their flight wasn’t until Friday night, apparently her mother would rather she be prepared than do everything at the last minute. That was fine with her. If she packed now and brought the bag with her to the apartment, then that was one less trip she and her mother would need to take before heading to the airport.
After packing for the LA shoot and reassuring her mother that, no, she was not hungry, Lacey unloaded her suitcase from the trunk of the car and rolled it onto the sidewalk in front of Aiden’s apartment building. She reassured her mother that she would indeed be ready to leave for the airport Friday afternoon. And, no, she had no intention of putting on a full face of makeup just for a flight.
When she unlocked the door to Aiden’s apartment, Lacey held her breath unsure what to find on the other side. No surprise really, she found her big brother sitting on the couch. “Hey! When did you get back?” she asked as she rolled her suitcase over to the wall beside the dining table. She took the spot right beside him, moving one of the pillows to her other side so she was more comfortable resting against him. “Sorry I ended up running a little late. Mom is, like, more nervous about this weekend than I am.” She paused to observe whatever was on the television right now. “Did you eat already?”
Lacey was only able to spend a few more hours with Aiden before she had to go to bed for the night. She promised her mother that she would go to bed at a decent time because apparently her eyes looked a little tired. Hence the back and forth about the full face of makeup earlier. After being told that Aiden was going to sleep on the couch for the night - apparently his shoulder still was not ready to cooperate with sleeping on a bed - Lacey bid him goodnight then retreated to the bedroom to go to bed.
After she changed into her pajamas, Lacey was just about to tuck herself into bed when her eyes focused on a specific spot under the bed. She took one quick glance over at the open door. From her spot, she couldn’t see what Aiden was doing, but the lack of any sound of movement told her he wasn’t going to be moving anywhere anytime soon. With that reassurance, she knelt down onto the floor and reached under Aiden’s bed for the shoebox. She then adjusted her position to sit cross-legged and opened the box. She hadn’t looked at the torn up Olympic shrine since she cleaned it up and put it all in the shoebox. But even if the memory of the destruction was still fresh in her mind, it still hurt seeing all the ripped up colorful pieces of paper scattered about.
Lacey reached into the shoebox for one of the lesser ripped photographs. It was the final swim meet of Aiden’s senior year. He had a towel draped over his shoulders while he held up his newly won medals. Lacey couldn’t for the life of her remember what program he swam that day probably because she was running on the high of excitement just being at the meet to support her brother. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was the tired, but bright grin on his face. He apparently beat another personal best that day.
This photo felt like another lifetime ago. Even before the accident Aiden rarely smiled like he did that day. His head and his eyes were on the prize; the ultimate goal. Was the goal still reachable? Would he ever get back to this smiling boy relishing in his accomplishments?
Lacey craned her neck once again to peek out the open bedroom door. Still no sounds of Aiden moving about. After one final look at her smiling big brother, Lacey folded the photo carefully then held onto it as she closed the shoebox and returned it under the bed. She slipped the photo into the inside pocket of her purse before climbing into bed for the night.
The following morning, Lacey decided to change things up for their morning routine. Since she would be out of town for the entire weekend, she decided that it was best they combat any threat of cabin fever by insisting they go out for breakfast. Naturally, Aiden wasn’t entirely all for that idea. It apparently required putting on a shirt. But Lacey continued to insist that they needed to get some fresh air. “This is the only time I’ll know you actually got out of this apartment for a bit. Please? I’ll pay.” We all know she didn’t need to lure him in by paying. The please was most definitely enough.
The great thing about their little town was that pretty much anything was walking distance with the right motivation. Three blocks after the liquor store was a cafe Lacey rarely went to on her own. Not because it was sketchy. On the contrary, the cafe was trendy and often had customers in business suits with their eyes glued to their phones or computers. No, the main reason Lacey rarely went to this cafe on her own is because Aiden was certain it was too far from his apartment. And so, if she ever wanted to go, he had to go with her. For her protection. Right.
As promised, she paid for breakfast. She got Aiden his usual order while she got herself a butter croissant and a tea.
It was a little tougher today to tell if Aiden was enjoying this small outing, but Lacey kept her hopes up that he was getting better. Three weeks after the accident and his surgery, he had to be getting better by now. Hopefully the pain was starting to fade away some.
Lacey wanted to enjoy this time with Aiden. This weekend is the first time they are going to spend apart for longer than a few hours. Even if they just survived - barely - the last two weeks, the thought of being away from Aiden for anything longer than a day was unsettling. There were so many scenarios running through her head about what he would do while she wasn’t there. Would he be able to take care of himself? Should she talk to Daniel to make sure he checked on Aiden while she was gone?
A half a croissant and an empty cup of tea later, Lacey placed a napkin over the remaining torn up half of the croissant and stood up from her chair. She once again took her place at Aiden’s side to return to the apartment. She was scheduled to leave for the airport at two. If she wanted every single minute to count with Aiden, she needed him back at the apartment and resting as soon as possible. She didn’t want the moody Aiden to come back because he was tired from being outside for too long.
“It’s too bad I won’t have time to go to Disneyland while I’m in LA. I haven’t been there since...was it our parents’ wedding anniversary?” Lacey looked away from Lilo & Stitch currently playing on the television to look at her step-brother. “Oh well, Mom said we do have some time to do a bit of shopping in the evenings. I’ll bring you back a shirt.”
Lacey was in the middle of preparing lunch for Aiden when she heard her phone go off. A quick glance told her that it was her mother letting her know that they would be picking her up in half an hour. They? She must mean her agent. Okay, time to make sure her brother was going to be fine without her and prepare to leave.
When she got the text that it was time to leave, Lacey gave Aiden a quick hug before grabbing her suitcase and heading to the door. “I’ll call or text when we’ve landed, okay? Bye! Love you!” With one last wave, she rolled her suitcase into the hallway then closed the door behind her.
Lacey froze as soon as she stepped out of the apartment building. She was completely wrong. “They” did not mean her mother and her agent. “They” was her mother and her step-father. The last time Lacey saw her step-father was the day she and Aiden reunited. He hadn’t been in a good mood that day. As she rolled her suitcase over to the shiny, brand new car, he still didn’t look like he was in a good mood.
As she climbed into the backseat, Lacey avoided looking at her step-father. Just being in the same car as him felt tense. She didn’t even want to imagine what he was thinking right now pulled up in front of his son’s apartment. He didn’t even ask her how Aiden was doing before he shifted the car into drive and pulled out of his lazy parking spot.
The tension in the car only grew worse when traffic to the airport hit. Lacey once again kept her eyes lowered to her lap, the sound of her step-father’s impatient drumming on the steering wheel making her more and more anxious. He was constantly sighing, frustrated whenever they slowed to another stop. Her mother was doing her best to defuse the situation with small talk.
Eventually though, her methods failed. After a rather chilling groan, Lacey heard her step-father slap his steering wheel. “This is your fault, you know.”
The car was silent. Lacey’s head jerked up to look forward. Her eyes immediately moved to the rearview mirror. Her step-father was looking right at her with cold, angry eyes. “I already have a lot of shit to do to prepare for my own trip and here I am chauffeuring you to yours. If you weren’t such a distraction, your brother would be the one taking you to the airport. Not me. This is a waste of my fucking time.”
Lacey’s heart was racing. She hated it when her step-father targeted her with his frustration. Okay, she hated his temper period. But whenever it was directed at her, she felt like she wanted to disappear forever. She hated that he was going off on her now while they were all stuck in traffic in this car. Was it even possible that the car was shrinking all around her?
Of course, as luck would have it, her step-father was not done. In fact, it was almost like he was just starting.
“I have told you countless times to stop going over to your brother’s apartment while he’s training. I told you that he needs all the focus he can get. And what do you do? You go over there as if he has all the time in the world to entertain your every whim. Now look at him. His career is over.” The car suddenly jolted to an abrupt stop and he paused to blow his horn angrily. “His accident is all your fault. Because you kept him from focusing on winning. His bad swim times and his fall are all on you. You ruined your brother’s chances of making it to the Olympics. You should have just listened to me instead of pretending like you own the world. These are the consequences you have to pay.”
It was lucky that Lacey decided to put on a little touch of makeup earlier. Had she decided not to, she would have burst into tears right then and there. Her step-father was just so angry with her. All this time he bottled up his frustrations toward her and now she was trapped in the lion’s den getting ripped apart by every word. Lacey clenched her hands together tight to fight back the tears. Not only that, she focused on the pain of her nails digging into her palms to silence the thoughts in her head: the thoughts that entertained the idea that maybe, just maybe, her step-father was right about everything.
As soon as they pulled up in front of the terminal at the airport, Lacey was the first to climb out of the car and take her things. She didn’t even wait for her mother. Before her mother arrived at the sliding doors, Lacey disappeared into the bathroom. The anxiety, fear and impending guilt made her feel sick. So sick that in her desperation for a stall, she abandoned her suitcase at the entrance to the bathroom and pushed herself into the first open stall she could reach. The half a croissant and tea from that morning came right back up while the hot, burning tears she held in fell.
After a half hour delay, a two hour flight then another half hour taxi ride to the hotel, Lacey was drained of all energy. She was practically dragging her feet to the hotel room. It didn’t help that she refused to eat anything after her episode in the airport bathroom. She didn’t want to eat. The last thing she wanted was to think about food. In fact, the thing she wanted the most was to not be awake and live through the physical and emotional pain she was suffering from now. She wanted nothing more than to go to sleep and never wake up. At least in sleep she would no longer have her step-father’s words ringing in her head.
Aiden’s accident. It was all her fault. His dreams are ruined. And it’s all. Her. Fault.
When Lacey was awake, she focused on work. She was scheduled to arrive at the studio for hair and makeup early Saturday morning. Between her exhaustion last night and her laser focus concentration on work, she completely forgot her promise to tell Aiden she arrived in LA safely. Not that she could tell him anyway. Having Aiden on her mind would only make matters worse.
For the next two days, anytime Lacey thought about Aiden, she refocused her attention on something else. Whether it was work or spending time with the other models, she couldn’t think about her brother. She kept herself moving, even during the hours she was forced to wait around until it was her turn to get her pictures taken. She moved about the studio. She concentrated on the directions given to her by the photographer. She put on a fake smile and socialized with the other models. She even gave her number to a male model without so much as thinking about why he wanted it in the first place. If it was enough to take her mind off her brother and what she did to him, Lacey committed to it completely.
By the end of the LA shoot schedule, Lacey was once again drained. She couldn’t even remember the last meal she had when her mother asked if she wanted to eat before they went to the airport.
It was her agent waiting for them at the airport when they arrived back home Monday morning. Lacey was relieved that her step-father thought work was more important that his wife and step-daughter. She couldn’t stomach another car ride with him. As soon as she climbed into the backseat of her agent’s car, Lacey tilted her head back against the headrest and slept through the entire car ride home.
Home….It was strange that just a few days ago, Lacey wanted nothing more than to go home. Now, she wanted to be as far away from it as possible. But where could she go? Sonia’s maybe? Maybe she could take another flight to LA? Or maybe Aid--
No. Absolutely not. There was no way she could face her brother right now. Not with everything that she knew.
Lacey left her suitcase at the foot of the stairs as she once more dragged her tired feet to her bedroom. Once the bedroom door was closed and her mother’s shuffling sounds quieted, Lacey realized for the first time in 48 hours that the world was quiet around her. And with the silence, her thoughts became so loud.
It was her fault Aiden had his accident. It was her fault he was performing so poorly in training. She didn’t even know he wasn’t performing well. Why didn’t he tell her? If he had told her that he needed some time to focus on training, she would have given him his space. She, more than anyone, understood how important swimming was to him. He could tell her anything. Why didn’t he?
Because he was worried about her overdramatic breakdowns about horrible hairstyles. Because he took her to the pier when she asked. Because she stayed by his side every second that she possibly could.
She took him away from swimming.
She did this to him.
It was because of her that he got into his accident.
It was because of her that now his dreams were ruined.
It was her all her fault.
Lacey charged her phone for the first time after waking up Wednesday morning and digging it out from the bottom of her suitcase. When the phone finally came back to life, the first thing she saw were the numerous missed calls, voicemails and text messages from Aiden. She couldn’t get herself to open, look and listen to any of the messages without her empty stomach turning.
Since her return from LA, Lacey rarely left her bedroom. The door remained shut almost all the time. She refused to leave even to get water from downstairs. Not even her mother’s coaxing that she come downstairs to eat convinced her to leave the safety of her bedroom. Her fear of coming face to face with her step-father won over the necessity to have a meal.
“Lacey?” her mother’s voice said from the other side of the door. There was a knock and then the door handle turned. Lacey watched from over the top of her laptop as her mother cautiously poked her head in. “I’m going with your step-dad to the mall to pick up a few things for his trip. Do you need anything while we’re out?” Lacey quietly shook her head then returned her gaze back to her schoolwork. “Will you be okay at home by yourself for a little while?” Lacey nodded.
There was a pause while the only sounds in the room were Lacey’s typing. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drop you off at Aiden’s?” Lacey stopped typing and stared at the last word she typed like her life depended on it. Since charging her phone, Aiden called and texted a couple more times. She still refused to look at the messages. After a couple more seconds just staring at her computer screen, Lacey blinked once then started typing again as if she didn’t hear the last question. The last thing she heard was her mother sigh and then the door close. Maybe there was something about her lunch being in the refrigerator.
Now that she had the house all to herself, Lacey should have felt more relieved. But after two hours passed and she still felt on edge, she brought back up her thoughts about how this place did not feel like home anymore.
Thinking about it, when was the last time this house felt like home? Between her modeling work and her step-father’s every growing impatience and temper, the only times she was ever in this house was to sleep, shower and change. And whenever she left the comfort of her bedroom, it was as if she was walking on eggshells hoping and praying she didn’t step out of line and make things difficult for everyone at the house. The only places she ever felt relaxed were the park - her escape - and...Aiden’s apartment.
That was the last time this house felt like home. When Aiden was just down the hall. After he moved out, the house never felt the same. The usual noises of his high school swim mates disappeared. His music no longer traveled down the halls to her. She no longer kept her door ajar with the hope that if she wished hard enough, he would come over to spend time with her. Without Aiden, this house wasn’t home.
It was a prison.
She needed to get out of here.
It occurred to Lacey as she locked the back door that she couldn’t go to her spot at the park, at least if she didn’t want to be found. Obviously Aiden’s apartment was out of the question. She still could not pluck up the courage to face him...if she ever will. Where could she go? Sonia’s maybe? It was too far and she didn’t want to bother her with her problems. She didn’t really have any friends from when she went to school left that she could hit up out of the blue. There were her usual spots: the magazine section of the local bookstore, the ice cream parlor near the high school, the fountain in-between the city hall building and the library. No, she couldn’t go there either. They were all places she could be found. She needed to go somewhere that she was familiar with, but that no one knew she went to. It also had to be close by since she didn’t have that much cash in her wallet. And the last thing she wanted was for her mother to know that she used her card for a cab.
Some thirty minutes later, Lacey gave the signal to the bus driver that her stop was coming up. She waited until the bus pulled to the side before she stood up and made her way to the bus doors. As soon as she stepped off the bus, she looked up to find the music store just across the street.
She went with Aiden to this music store a few times before. Many of the CDs he bought her came from this very store. But what drew her to this place were the stories she remembered hearing from Aiden about why he spent so much time there. He told her once that it was a good place to wind down after a long day. Take an hour or so to listen to some CDs and maybe talk to the owner about anything music. Lacey never tried it before. Until today.
There were only two other customers in the store when she came in. The owner - or who she thought is the owner - was deep in conversation about...honestly she couldn’t figure that out from the point she listened in. After getting a quick glance over by the maybe-maybe-not owner, Lacey walked by the counter toward the couches. Just like she remembered, a couple CD players sat on the table with opened CDs for listening. Lacey didn’t know any of the artists. So she grabbed a random album and popped it into the closest CD player. As she grabbed the headphones, she dropped her phone face down on the table then made herself comfortable on the couch. She then put the headphones on her head and pressed Play.
OP
OP
JINFINITE
Super-Earth
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- The Island of Eroda
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Having either Daniel or Lacey over nearly 24/7 the past few weeks had felt suffocating at the time. Like he was on suicide watch. Like everyone was just waiting for him to breakdown. But the truth was that no one actually knew those deep dark feelings that haunted him on the daily. It was his secret keeping that had made it so hard to be around them, being constantly on edge that someone would see through him. But now without them Aiden honestly felt more uneasy than ever before. He hated being alone now.
The TV did little to drown out his own thoughts. Aiden spent most of his time wrapped up in his little blanket burrito on the couch with his pillows on either side of him. Without Lacey or his friends over he had no reason to go anywhere. Snacks and drinks all stayed within his one arm’s reach; he hadn’t had trouble eating since he last smoked with Daniel. Normally he would probably spend his free time with Lacey or Daniel, but the situation had reversed them all. Now everyone’s “free time” was when they weren’t babysitting Aiden, and so we’ve come full circle to Aiden not knowing what to do with himself.
Having reached a point in his healing that he wasn’t in constant pain he now spent a lot of his time catching up on all the deep sleep he had missed out on during the weeks since his surgery. Yes, you could argue he had already been sleeping a good deal, but it was almost always a light sleep and he would wake sore and still tired. This now was a different type of sleep. This was a sleep not out of necessity but as a way to pass the time. He had nothing else to do so his depression essentially kicked him into hibernation mode. His 5am wake ups were gone, Aiden easily slept till noon now, got up for a few minutes and would knock back out in no time.
Contrary to his “I don’t care” habits, Aiden maintained a decent line of communication with the others now. It wasn’t much; usually declining an invite from Daniel, or Daniel telling him a story from earlier in the day, or Daniel asking if he needed anything, or Daniel—it was all Daniel actually. Lacey hadn’t responded to a single text. Hadn’t answered a single call. Nothing. The siblings hadn’t spoken since she left his apartment for her trip to LA. Honestly she was probably part of why he opted to sleep the days away. She had been all he looked forward to and now even she had left him.
Lacey should have been back from her trip by now, but Aiden still hadn’t heard back from her. Was she mad at him? He had thought they were fine when she left. Had something happened while she was gone? Surely nothing had happened to her specifically, right!? One of their parents would have contacted him. Unless, what if something had happened to her mother? And if his father was unreachable at work...had the plane crashed? Had they gotten attacked in LA? Every worst possible scenario was racing through his head, blocking any form of common sense from breaching his thoughts until the sound of his ringtone brought him back to Earth. He jumped at the noise but proceeded to move as quickly as his body would let him to reach the device where it sat on his little coffee table. Daniel usually texted him, Sonia too. The only people who might call were his father (fat chance of that), his coach (he had no reason to now), or Lacey. It had to be Lacey.
Well thank god for caller ID and for the fact Aiden actually slowed down long enough to read it. Lacey’s mother’s name was shining across the screen but Aiden didn’t pause long enough to think through what this might mean, ”Hello?”
”Is Lacey with you?”
There was a worry to her voice that should have rubbed off on Aiden but instead the years of sibling trust and loyalty kicked in and he leaned back slowly to resume sitting against his pillows, ”Yeah, she’s in the shower.” He didn’t miss a beat, the lie falling all too easily from his lips with an experience that only came from being a rebellious teenager brought up in an uptight family. If Lacey wasn’t home then she must have her reasons. But at least she was safe—well...he actually didn’t know that yet. But she had made it back from Los Angeles and hadn’t gone down with the plane or anything. He hadn’t even given his lie a second thought, not a single ounce of the consequences weighted on him in that moment.
On the other line Lacey’s mother let out an audible sigh of relief but seemed hesitant with her next request, as though she was torn between wanting to give her child her space while also wanting to keep tabs on her at all times, ”Could you ask her to call me when she’s done?”
”Yeah, sure.” Another lie, or at least a partial one. Sure he could pass the message along, but he had to find his baby sister first.
After they hung up Aiden switched to his texts and pulled up the thread under ‘Princess Ariel’ followed by a short series of cute emojis. Lacey had been in a bit of a phase back when she got her first cellphone and had insisted she put it in as her contact name. It was supposed to sort of be a short term joke, and she had since told him to change it on several occasions but he hadn’t yet; the memory of her was too cute for him to move on yet.
He compiled a quick text asking where she was but of course she still wasn’t responding to him. He called her but the line rang till voicemail so Aiden just hung up and tossed his phone onto the couch beside him, ”Damnnit Lacey…” His frustration pushed him up from his nest and across to his actual bedroom.
Where are you?
Aiden had by now worked out a struggle free system for putting his sling on and off so he, as quickly as he could manage, shed his arm’s protective shield to put on a zip up hoodie, with his arm through the sleeve now. These days Aiden wasn't often in pain unless his shoulder was specifically jostled or he tried to move it too much. As such he preferred wearing flannels, button up jerseys or just a zip up hoodie over his bare chest as he was today. Those things he could all put on by himself, but the struggle to put on or take off a t-shirt by himself just wasn't worth it. It would hurt if he forced it but if he was too gentle or timid then he would get stuck in the shirt and if no one was there to help him then he’d be wearing it for forever, or partially wearing it if he couldn’t get his arm out.
He wore track joggers today, a little more dressed up than just sweatpants, but on his way out he still stepped into his Adidas slippers. Truthfully he hadn’t tried to tie his shoes yet. The times he had gone out were either in his Adidas or Lacey had tied his shoes for him. Baby steps. He was using his hoodie sleeve at least, tying his shoe laces would be an achievement for another day.
He made several stops on his search for his sister but finally was making a sort of desperate last attempt as he pulled up outside his favorite music store. He said his hellos as he entered but did what he could to avoid the obligatory small talk revolving around how he hadn’t been by in weeks. He couldn’t do all that right now, not until he had located Lacey. Honestly this was pretty much the last place he had in mind to check. It was sort of a reverse psychology guess. If she didn’t want to be found then she wouldn’t go to one of her hideouts, no she would go to his, go somewhere he wouldn’t normally look for her. And as he turned the corner to the back seating area he was able to breathe out a sigh of relief seeing Lacey sitting there on a couch with a pair of headphones over her ears.
What now though? Aiden didn’t actually have a plan once he had found her. He wasn’t like Lacey thinking up some elaborate idea and ensuring it ran perfectly. No, Aiden had no idea what he was doing, he just wanted to find her, after that...well…
It seemed she hadn’t noticed him and he leaned against a fixture to watch her for a few minutes. He was sort of hoping she would notice him, let her take the reins now but she never once looked up. He did see her phone out beside her though, so she clearly had it. Was it dead maybe?
With a slight struggle he fished out his own phone and proceeded to go to his recent calls page and hit Lacey’s contact ID. He didn’t lift the phone to his ear though, there was no need. He just wanted to see if she would even answer. Sure enough her phone sprang to life and he watched as she glanced to see who or what it was alerting her to but then turned it screen side down and resumed whatever it was she had been doing. Sitting in silence with her music.
What. Just. Happened? Did she really just flat out ignore his call like that? Aiden could feel his temper rising inside. A frustration towards her for making him worry all week only to find she was blatantly avoiding him. He called her name but the music she was listening to must have been too loud. He could have walked over to her, yes, but instead Aiden went back into his pockets to look for...well...anything. His fingers closed around his keys; they were simple, just his car fob and three keys, his apartment, his father’s house and his motorcycle. No keychains or anything extra. Nothing bulky, heavy or sharp. Perfect. Aiden’s next move was tossing them at his little sister, aiming for her lap or to fall just next to her. Something to catch her attention.
It did the trick, startling her to look up and slowly lower the headphones once she saw him staring back at her. He would have crossed his arms over his chest had one not been in the sling. As it was he let his good arm fall to his side.
Where normally he would have worn a smile while greeting her, instead today it was a concerned frown tainted with that frustration raging inside him, ”Your mom is looking for you.”
Would she respond? Or would she just ignore him to his face now too? Well Aiden wasn’t going to wait to find out and immediately cut back in, ”Why aren't you answering your phone?”
”You said you’d call,” yeah he wasn’t done yet, Lacey had left him alone with his emotions for too long and it had been bottled just waiting for release—but Aiden seemed to just freeze up and held his breath for a second while he looked down at his feet as though trying to calm himself down. He exhaled slowly as he refocused back on Lacey, ”....are you okay?”
It was another rough patch for the step siblings to come back from, although arguably easier than the last one. Lacey was once again more or less a part of his daily routine and things were starting to look up again, starting to feel good—until they weren’t. Literally. Things were not feeling good— his shoulder was not feeling good.
They were sitting in an exam room together now for a check up appointment, Aiden sat on the edge of the bed for patients while Lacey was in a chair across the room against the wall. It was a rather small room, she wasn’t far, but she wasn’t next to him and Aiden was wishing that she was. This was just about the last place that Aiden wanted to be at right now and it showed as the poor doctor was practically pulling teeth trying to get useful responses out of him. No amount of healing would fix his shoulder, so what was really the point in being here right now? To “regain some range of motion”? Yeah sure, whatever…
As he had been the past few weeks, Aiden wore a zip up hoodie: no t-shirt underneath. He had tried yesterday to get into one but even with Lacey’s assistance it just wasn’t worth the struggle or pain. So he presently sat with his hoodie unzipped but his left arm remained in sleeve while his right was out and exposed so that the doctor could better see his movements. The sling sat beside him on the bed while the doctor took his wrist in one hand and supported his elbow with the other. He instructed Aiden to slowly lift his arm as far as he could but Aiden made no attempt to comply. After a moment the doctor began to slowly straighten out his elbow before raising the entire arm higher, and higher, and higher…
It didn’t take much before he was showing signs of pain. Upon seeing this the doctor gave a sort of general explanation that it would probably be stiff and sore after being out of commission for so long, but he didn’t exactly seem to acknowledge or differentiate Aiden’s painful reaction in comparison to what “should be expected” at this point in his healing. Aiden hissed, finally verbally expressing how much it hurt but the doctor still had such a “walk it off” attitude as he removed his hands and let Aiden glue his arm back to his side, ”You wear the sling all the time, don’t you? I want you to start letting your arm out of it, let it just hang at your side to let it start loosening up.”
That all made sense, saying that his arm was stiff and locking up being confined to the sling 24/7. The doctor had good points and everything he said made sense. But it also all sounded like he wasn’t supposed to still be hurting this much. Was he just being weak? His fingernails were digging into his elbow has he held his arm close, waiting for the painful flare up to subside while the doctor continued on to talk about how he wanted to start physical therapy right away, ”We should start as soon as you can,” he had left the bedside now to go over to his computer and pull up a calendar while Aiden slid his sleeve back on and zipped his hoodie up, ”My earliest availability is next Friday.”
”No, I’m out of town Friday—“
Shit...did he really just say that out loud in front of Lacey? He avoided looking over at her, fooling with his sling instead as he struggle to put it back on despite how many different ways the doctor had earlier said that he “shouldn’t still be in much pain” “should be making progress from here on out” “probably just sore from depending too much on his sling” —so many reasons why what he was feeling wasn’t real.
It was too late to take back what he had said but maybe they could just move past it, he just needed to find something else to talk about with Lacey as they were climbing back into his car. But Lacey was too quick and immediately asked where he was going. After all, they always told each other their schedules. Aiden stayed quiet though, contemplating how to tell her this news and wondering how she would take it. The silence was honestly a little tense and borderline heavy, but Lacey bravely pushed him once more, ”Aiden?”
He couldn’t stop the sigh as he exhaled the build up of accumulated pain and stress from the past hour spent in the hospital. He hadn’t started the car yet or even put his seatbelt on, but Aiden turned slightly to face her as best he could as he slowly began his explanation, ”Okay well, it was supposed to be a surprise…”
He paused now for dramatic flair, eyes searching Lacey’s now to try and gauge where her head was at, ”We’re going to Colby next week.” Aiden had kept his expression straight, his inner joker coming out and loving the suspense he had put Lacey through before delivering what he was hoping would be the highlight of her year.
He’d already asked her mother for permission and had a hotel in mind, he had been planning to buy their room tonight and pack their bags in secrecy...well cat’s out of the bag now. Lacey found out and maybe for the better cause he had honestly been stressing over what he was supposed to pack for her.
The TV did little to drown out his own thoughts. Aiden spent most of his time wrapped up in his little blanket burrito on the couch with his pillows on either side of him. Without Lacey or his friends over he had no reason to go anywhere. Snacks and drinks all stayed within his one arm’s reach; he hadn’t had trouble eating since he last smoked with Daniel. Normally he would probably spend his free time with Lacey or Daniel, but the situation had reversed them all. Now everyone’s “free time” was when they weren’t babysitting Aiden, and so we’ve come full circle to Aiden not knowing what to do with himself.
Having reached a point in his healing that he wasn’t in constant pain he now spent a lot of his time catching up on all the deep sleep he had missed out on during the weeks since his surgery. Yes, you could argue he had already been sleeping a good deal, but it was almost always a light sleep and he would wake sore and still tired. This now was a different type of sleep. This was a sleep not out of necessity but as a way to pass the time. He had nothing else to do so his depression essentially kicked him into hibernation mode. His 5am wake ups were gone, Aiden easily slept till noon now, got up for a few minutes and would knock back out in no time.
Contrary to his “I don’t care” habits, Aiden maintained a decent line of communication with the others now. It wasn’t much; usually declining an invite from Daniel, or Daniel telling him a story from earlier in the day, or Daniel asking if he needed anything, or Daniel—it was all Daniel actually. Lacey hadn’t responded to a single text. Hadn’t answered a single call. Nothing. The siblings hadn’t spoken since she left his apartment for her trip to LA. Honestly she was probably part of why he opted to sleep the days away. She had been all he looked forward to and now even she had left him.
Lacey should have been back from her trip by now, but Aiden still hadn’t heard back from her. Was she mad at him? He had thought they were fine when she left. Had something happened while she was gone? Surely nothing had happened to her specifically, right!? One of their parents would have contacted him. Unless, what if something had happened to her mother? And if his father was unreachable at work...had the plane crashed? Had they gotten attacked in LA? Every worst possible scenario was racing through his head, blocking any form of common sense from breaching his thoughts until the sound of his ringtone brought him back to Earth. He jumped at the noise but proceeded to move as quickly as his body would let him to reach the device where it sat on his little coffee table. Daniel usually texted him, Sonia too. The only people who might call were his father (fat chance of that), his coach (he had no reason to now), or Lacey. It had to be Lacey.
Well thank god for caller ID and for the fact Aiden actually slowed down long enough to read it. Lacey’s mother’s name was shining across the screen but Aiden didn’t pause long enough to think through what this might mean, ”Hello?”
”Is Lacey with you?”
There was a worry to her voice that should have rubbed off on Aiden but instead the years of sibling trust and loyalty kicked in and he leaned back slowly to resume sitting against his pillows, ”Yeah, she’s in the shower.” He didn’t miss a beat, the lie falling all too easily from his lips with an experience that only came from being a rebellious teenager brought up in an uptight family. If Lacey wasn’t home then she must have her reasons. But at least she was safe—well...he actually didn’t know that yet. But she had made it back from Los Angeles and hadn’t gone down with the plane or anything. He hadn’t even given his lie a second thought, not a single ounce of the consequences weighted on him in that moment.
On the other line Lacey’s mother let out an audible sigh of relief but seemed hesitant with her next request, as though she was torn between wanting to give her child her space while also wanting to keep tabs on her at all times, ”Could you ask her to call me when she’s done?”
”Yeah, sure.” Another lie, or at least a partial one. Sure he could pass the message along, but he had to find his baby sister first.
After they hung up Aiden switched to his texts and pulled up the thread under ‘Princess Ariel’ followed by a short series of cute emojis. Lacey had been in a bit of a phase back when she got her first cellphone and had insisted she put it in as her contact name. It was supposed to sort of be a short term joke, and she had since told him to change it on several occasions but he hadn’t yet; the memory of her was too cute for him to move on yet.
He compiled a quick text asking where she was but of course she still wasn’t responding to him. He called her but the line rang till voicemail so Aiden just hung up and tossed his phone onto the couch beside him, ”Damnnit Lacey…” His frustration pushed him up from his nest and across to his actual bedroom.
Where are you?
Aiden had by now worked out a struggle free system for putting his sling on and off so he, as quickly as he could manage, shed his arm’s protective shield to put on a zip up hoodie, with his arm through the sleeve now. These days Aiden wasn't often in pain unless his shoulder was specifically jostled or he tried to move it too much. As such he preferred wearing flannels, button up jerseys or just a zip up hoodie over his bare chest as he was today. Those things he could all put on by himself, but the struggle to put on or take off a t-shirt by himself just wasn't worth it. It would hurt if he forced it but if he was too gentle or timid then he would get stuck in the shirt and if no one was there to help him then he’d be wearing it for forever, or partially wearing it if he couldn’t get his arm out.
He wore track joggers today, a little more dressed up than just sweatpants, but on his way out he still stepped into his Adidas slippers. Truthfully he hadn’t tried to tie his shoes yet. The times he had gone out were either in his Adidas or Lacey had tied his shoes for him. Baby steps. He was using his hoodie sleeve at least, tying his shoe laces would be an achievement for another day.
He made several stops on his search for his sister but finally was making a sort of desperate last attempt as he pulled up outside his favorite music store. He said his hellos as he entered but did what he could to avoid the obligatory small talk revolving around how he hadn’t been by in weeks. He couldn’t do all that right now, not until he had located Lacey. Honestly this was pretty much the last place he had in mind to check. It was sort of a reverse psychology guess. If she didn’t want to be found then she wouldn’t go to one of her hideouts, no she would go to his, go somewhere he wouldn’t normally look for her. And as he turned the corner to the back seating area he was able to breathe out a sigh of relief seeing Lacey sitting there on a couch with a pair of headphones over her ears.
What now though? Aiden didn’t actually have a plan once he had found her. He wasn’t like Lacey thinking up some elaborate idea and ensuring it ran perfectly. No, Aiden had no idea what he was doing, he just wanted to find her, after that...well…
It seemed she hadn’t noticed him and he leaned against a fixture to watch her for a few minutes. He was sort of hoping she would notice him, let her take the reins now but she never once looked up. He did see her phone out beside her though, so she clearly had it. Was it dead maybe?
With a slight struggle he fished out his own phone and proceeded to go to his recent calls page and hit Lacey’s contact ID. He didn’t lift the phone to his ear though, there was no need. He just wanted to see if she would even answer. Sure enough her phone sprang to life and he watched as she glanced to see who or what it was alerting her to but then turned it screen side down and resumed whatever it was she had been doing. Sitting in silence with her music.
What. Just. Happened? Did she really just flat out ignore his call like that? Aiden could feel his temper rising inside. A frustration towards her for making him worry all week only to find she was blatantly avoiding him. He called her name but the music she was listening to must have been too loud. He could have walked over to her, yes, but instead Aiden went back into his pockets to look for...well...anything. His fingers closed around his keys; they were simple, just his car fob and three keys, his apartment, his father’s house and his motorcycle. No keychains or anything extra. Nothing bulky, heavy or sharp. Perfect. Aiden’s next move was tossing them at his little sister, aiming for her lap or to fall just next to her. Something to catch her attention.
It did the trick, startling her to look up and slowly lower the headphones once she saw him staring back at her. He would have crossed his arms over his chest had one not been in the sling. As it was he let his good arm fall to his side.
Where normally he would have worn a smile while greeting her, instead today it was a concerned frown tainted with that frustration raging inside him, ”Your mom is looking for you.”
Would she respond? Or would she just ignore him to his face now too? Well Aiden wasn’t going to wait to find out and immediately cut back in, ”Why aren't you answering your phone?”
”You said you’d call,” yeah he wasn’t done yet, Lacey had left him alone with his emotions for too long and it had been bottled just waiting for release—but Aiden seemed to just freeze up and held his breath for a second while he looked down at his feet as though trying to calm himself down. He exhaled slowly as he refocused back on Lacey, ”....are you okay?”
It was another rough patch for the step siblings to come back from, although arguably easier than the last one. Lacey was once again more or less a part of his daily routine and things were starting to look up again, starting to feel good—until they weren’t. Literally. Things were not feeling good— his shoulder was not feeling good.
They were sitting in an exam room together now for a check up appointment, Aiden sat on the edge of the bed for patients while Lacey was in a chair across the room against the wall. It was a rather small room, she wasn’t far, but she wasn’t next to him and Aiden was wishing that she was. This was just about the last place that Aiden wanted to be at right now and it showed as the poor doctor was practically pulling teeth trying to get useful responses out of him. No amount of healing would fix his shoulder, so what was really the point in being here right now? To “regain some range of motion”? Yeah sure, whatever…
As he had been the past few weeks, Aiden wore a zip up hoodie: no t-shirt underneath. He had tried yesterday to get into one but even with Lacey’s assistance it just wasn’t worth the struggle or pain. So he presently sat with his hoodie unzipped but his left arm remained in sleeve while his right was out and exposed so that the doctor could better see his movements. The sling sat beside him on the bed while the doctor took his wrist in one hand and supported his elbow with the other. He instructed Aiden to slowly lift his arm as far as he could but Aiden made no attempt to comply. After a moment the doctor began to slowly straighten out his elbow before raising the entire arm higher, and higher, and higher…
It didn’t take much before he was showing signs of pain. Upon seeing this the doctor gave a sort of general explanation that it would probably be stiff and sore after being out of commission for so long, but he didn’t exactly seem to acknowledge or differentiate Aiden’s painful reaction in comparison to what “should be expected” at this point in his healing. Aiden hissed, finally verbally expressing how much it hurt but the doctor still had such a “walk it off” attitude as he removed his hands and let Aiden glue his arm back to his side, ”You wear the sling all the time, don’t you? I want you to start letting your arm out of it, let it just hang at your side to let it start loosening up.”
That all made sense, saying that his arm was stiff and locking up being confined to the sling 24/7. The doctor had good points and everything he said made sense. But it also all sounded like he wasn’t supposed to still be hurting this much. Was he just being weak? His fingernails were digging into his elbow has he held his arm close, waiting for the painful flare up to subside while the doctor continued on to talk about how he wanted to start physical therapy right away, ”We should start as soon as you can,” he had left the bedside now to go over to his computer and pull up a calendar while Aiden slid his sleeve back on and zipped his hoodie up, ”My earliest availability is next Friday.”
”No, I’m out of town Friday—“
Shit...did he really just say that out loud in front of Lacey? He avoided looking over at her, fooling with his sling instead as he struggle to put it back on despite how many different ways the doctor had earlier said that he “shouldn’t still be in much pain” “should be making progress from here on out” “probably just sore from depending too much on his sling” —so many reasons why what he was feeling wasn’t real.
It was too late to take back what he had said but maybe they could just move past it, he just needed to find something else to talk about with Lacey as they were climbing back into his car. But Lacey was too quick and immediately asked where he was going. After all, they always told each other their schedules. Aiden stayed quiet though, contemplating how to tell her this news and wondering how she would take it. The silence was honestly a little tense and borderline heavy, but Lacey bravely pushed him once more, ”Aiden?”
He couldn’t stop the sigh as he exhaled the build up of accumulated pain and stress from the past hour spent in the hospital. He hadn’t started the car yet or even put his seatbelt on, but Aiden turned slightly to face her as best he could as he slowly began his explanation, ”Okay well, it was supposed to be a surprise…”
He paused now for dramatic flair, eyes searching Lacey’s now to try and gauge where her head was at, ”We’re going to Colby next week.” Aiden had kept his expression straight, his inner joker coming out and loving the suspense he had put Lacey through before delivering what he was hoping would be the highlight of her year.
He’d already asked her mother for permission and had a hotel in mind, he had been planning to buy their room tonight and pack their bags in secrecy...well cat’s out of the bag now. Lacey found out and maybe for the better cause he had honestly been stressing over what he was supposed to pack for her.
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feelsHASkilig
Solo Conversationalist
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- Page Two Hundred & Forty-Nine
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Lacey let out a sigh, feeling slightly disappointed. As she scrolled through the rather long email from her agent, the dread sank more and more to the bottom of her empty stomach. She got the job. The job that she hadn’t even thought about since the meeting weeks ago. Apparently she faked interest enough to wow the right people.
She just had to book the stupid commercial.
But Lacey wasn’t going to worry about that right now. No. This new upcoming gig was not going to ruin her ultimately good mood for the day. She had a couple months to once again completely forget about the commercial gig. For right now, what mattered to her was this weekend. She was finally going home to Colby.
To say that Lacey was beyond thrilled to be going to Colby this weekend was honestly an understatement. She had been a mess of excitement and nerves at the thought of the trip since Aiden accidently let slip his secret plans. This was going to be a great trip, Lacey knew it. After the stressful spring the step-siblings had, beginning their summer in Colby was a dream come true. To Lacey, nothing in the world could ever ever beat summertime in her hometown. How she missed the place so much. Thanks to work, she hasn’t visited in over a year. It hit her hard when she realized it.
There was a knock at her bedroom door suddenly that broke through her train of thought. Lacey just tossed her phone onto her pillow when the door opened and her mother peeked inside. “How are you doing with packing?” she asked, a bright smile on her face. Ever since her step-father left for his business trip at the beginning of the month, the house has felt much less tense. As a result, her mother spent more time at home as opposed to wherever the next get together was she had planned that day. Hell, she hosted a brunch the other day with some of her friends. Lacey was happy that her mother was finally able to relax now.
“Did you see the email?” Lacey asked slowly while folding a loose blouse on top of the slightly growing pile of clothes for the weekend.
Her mother eyed the selection of clothes and swimsuits spread out across her rather untidy bed then nodded. “I told you the directors loved you. But you just didn’t want to believe me.” She pushed the swimsuits to the side to make room to sit on the bed. “We can worry about that when you get back from your trip. You and Aiden should just enjoy yourselves.”
Lacey looked over at her mother for a moment. It was impossible for her to look at her mother the same way after everything that happened with Aiden. It wasn’t a bad thing, not at all. When she found out through Aiden that it was her mother that told him about the incident with his dad, Lacey felt that she needed to start cutting the woman some slack. She wasn’t the only one that was having a hard time with her step-father. Sure, she got told some bad things recently from the man, but Lacey couldn’t help imagining that he was worse when he was alone with her mother. But despite sticking with him even with his bad habits, she still took her side when she needed it. If it wasn’t for her mother, Lacey wasn’t sure she and Aiden would ever get past the brick wall they ran right into after he found her at the music store. If it wasn’t for her mother, she and Aiden wouldn’t be having this trip to Colby at all.
“Have you told your dad yet that you’re going to be in town?” her mother suddenly asked.
Lacey now focused on a pair of shorts she just stuffed into her luggage. The question brought to light the one uncertainty she had about this weekend: should she reach out to her dad? Obviously, there was nothing wrong between her and her dad. Despite being unable to give him the opportunity to uphold his legal custody rights - blame work - their relationship is still as strong as ever. In fact, she could argue that because of her inability to see him in person their relationship is stronger. Prior to everything that happened since Aiden’s accident, she made it a habit to at least text her dad once or twice a day letting him know how she was doing; at least give him an update that he wanted to hear. The routine shifted to at least twice a week once she became busy with taking care of Aiden and juggling work. But her dad understood. He too was a busy man. Between work, his numerous projects and her infant half brother, it was a miracle father and daughter could share more than just a couple text messages to each other before it would take hours to respond.
So why then is she struggling to send her dad a quick text message letting him know that she would be in town for the weekend? Honestly? It mostly had to do with Aiden. This was his trip after all. Sure, he may have planned it for her after everything that has happened since last month, but it just didn’t seem fair to him if she informed her family and friends of her return. She knew that he probably wanted to spend quality time with her away from their own small town world drama; where they could just be Aiden and Lacey without a care in the world.
And so, it was for this very reasoning that Lacey responded with, “Not yet, but maybe later.”
A couple hours later and a rather “intense” debate with her mother over whether or not she really needed eight sets of swimsuits for this weekend, Lacey sat at the kitchen island with a now cold cup of tea in front of her, her eyes impatiently darting toward the window every time a car passed the house. She knew Aiden would never be late to pick her up, but the anticipation still made it impossible for her to sit still. The minutes were just dragging along unbearably.
“What time are you two going to leave tomorrow?” her mother asked from the other side of the kitchen island.
Lacey turned her head away from the window to look at her mother. “In the morning probably, but maybe after all the traffic has died down. I told Aiden that if we make it to Colby before the room is ready we can just chill at the beach for a while. Or I might show him around Colby since he’s never been.” She then grabbed her phone to look at the screen. No new text messages from her step-brother. Then again, only two minutes passed since she last looked. And about eight minutes since he last sent her a text telling her he would pick her up in about ten. Yes, she was very impatient and they weren’t even going on their trip yet.
“Here, before I forget,” her mother then said. She left the kitchen island momentarily to grab her purse. After rummaging a bit, she pulled out her wallet then slipped out an all too familiar card: Lacey’s credit card. “Remember, this is for emergencies only. I’m trusting that you’ll be responsible with it. If you need any money, let me know so I can transfer some from your savings.” Her mother continued musing over Lacey’s weekend budget, but Lacey decided to stop actively listening after something about an “account in dad’s bank.” Despite all the work she did nowadays, Lacey’s mother really liked to remind her that she still was not eighteen...and thus not fully in control of her earnings. Just one year and four more months to go….
Aiden’s car could be seen pulling into the driveway from the kitchen window. An instant grin spread across Lacey’s face and she jumped off her stool to meet him at the door. Her cup of tea went completely abandoned. She just opened the front door when Aiden climbed out of his car. His arm was back in the sling. Hopefully that meant he followed the doctor’s orders earlier of letting it out of the sling for a bit.
Despite the fact that his father was not home, Lacey could tell that Aiden was not very comfortable being at the house. As such, she kept his time here short. Once she grabbed her things from the living room, she returned to where her mother and Aiden were standing at the front door. She caught them in the middle of them discussing something about “making sure to eat,” but chose to ignore it to prevent from being dragged into the topic. “Okay! I’m ready!” she announced, rolling her carryon suitcase to a halt beside her.
Lacey said her final goodbyes to her mother then followed behind Aiden to the car. When he reached over to take her luggage, she immediately tugged it away from him and insisted that she could take care of it. She also added that she didn’t want to risk hurting his shoulder now that he was so close to starting therapy after their trip. Although he may not know it, she felt terrible that he was missing his earliest opportunity at recovery on account of her. He should have known that they could easily postpone this Colby trip after he started physical therapy.
“Okay,” she started after climbing into the passenger seat. She was once again denied the chance to drive them to his apartment. It was as if he completely forgot that she is actually a decent driver. The trust was not there at all. “I am finally free from any and all school work! I submitted my last test yesterday. It is finally summer vacation for this girl!” She thrusted her well manicured thumb at herself, laughing at her excitement.
“So I went to the music store this morning. Mostly ‘cause, like, Mom was out getting groceries for this thing she’s hosting at home and I really didn’t want to go with her? Anyway, I got sucked into buying a couple CDs.” Lacey leaned forward to reach into her tote bag. When she leaned back onto her seat, she had in her hands a small plastic bag with a handful of CDs stacked together. A couple CDs was obviously an exaggerated understatement. As Aiden slowed to a stop at a light, she pulled the stack out of the bag then placed them carefully on her lap. “I’m going to be totally honest here? I have no idea who, like, half of these people are…. The store owner had no one to talk to so asked what I was looking for.” From that moment until Aiden pulled up in front of his apartment complex, Lacey went into her full explanation on how she ended up with what the music store owner dubbed “The Essential Roadtrip Music”.
TL;DR: The music store owner went into this tangent with Lacey about creating the “perfect” playlist in this day and age of music streaming. He got real heated over how it was nothing compared to mixtapes and burned CDs. He then went on to explain the exact steps to take to create said “perfect” playlist without the need to edit it. Somehow, and Lacey honestly zoned out a couple times, the conversation moved from the “perfect” playlist to them discussing good roadtrip music. Apparently during one of her zoned out moments, Lacey let slip that she and Aiden were going on a trip. After that, the owner was ready to share his apparently vast knowledge on what makes the best roadtrip music and what is just absolute trash. Thus explains the small stack of CDs dubbed “The Essential Roadtrip Music”.
“After all that, he finally asked where we were going. When I told him Colby, he immediately grabbed The Beach Boys...for I guess obvious reasons? I honestly didn’t even expect him to know where Colby was.” Lacey stuffed the CDs back in the plastic bag with a tired sigh. “You are more than welcome to keep all of these if you like them. I feel like I would get banned for all eternity or shot by lasers if I, like, went back to return them…. That guy is intense….”
Luckily Lacey had the foresight to pack tomorrow’s clothes into her tote bag before Aiden picked her up from the house. This would at least eliminate the need to carry her luggage to the apartment. If anything, she could leave the clothes she wore today in the apartment until they returned from their trip. It was only a weekend after all.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to help you drive tomorrow? It’s not like there’s going to be a lot of traffic on the way to Colby. We’re literally just going to be driving along the coast. I can’t imagine driving for two hours will be very comfortable for your shoulder.” Tough chance, Lacey. Her step-brother was adamant on being the sole driver tomorrow.
The step-siblings decided to hunker down in the apartment for the rest of the day. Sonia invited them earlier to have dinner before they left tomorrow, but Lacey wasn’t feeling up for that offer. If they had simply asked to hang out, sure. But dinner just made the option less appealing. Aiden seemed okay with turning down the offer as well. Not that this was surprising really. So for the rest of the night, she and Aiden stayed in the living room listening to the new CDs she bought earlier. There was a debate just before Aiden popped the first CD in over whether they should have saved the listen for their drive; let Lacey appreciate the music and how they were “supposed” to be heard. Especially for the artists she never heard of. But with Lacey’s lack of self-restraint and inability to contain her curiosity, the debate leaned in her favor.
Turns out, she wasn’t exactly a fan of a third of the selection, but for the sake of their drive she was willing to tolerate it. Save for The Beach Boys. They made her think of LA and for the time being the city still felt raw to her. Even if she and Aiden were okay now, she still needed a bit of time to recover from all that happened with her step-father and what she had to do to distract from it while in LA.
The next morning, Lacey was the first to wake up. It was twenty past nine, so not exactly early. With no scheduled photoshoots or meetings, she was allowed to sleep in a bit. After reaching over her head for a nice, long stretch, Lacey turned onto her other side to check on her step-brother. It took a bit of persuading and buttering up, but she got him to agree to sleep on his bed tonight. She might have teased about the now obvious dent in his couch that perfectly fit his form. She wondered if he was comfortable while she watched him sleep.
However, she only had a moment to ponder this thought before he started to stir and show signs that he was waking up. He must have sensed that she was awake or something.
Lacey smiled, pushing herself up to rest against her arm. “Last chance to reconsider utilizing your little sister’s new knowledge behind the wheel?” she offered. But just like every other time, he turned her down. “Fiiiiine! But if you start complaining about your shoulder halfway through the drive, I’m going to very gladly point out that I told you soooooo!” She quickly stuck her tongue out at him teasingly then turned over to climb out of bed. “I’m going to get ready first.”
The rest of the morning was spent preparing to leave. After Lacey finished getting ready, Aiden took his turn once he completed whatever last minute packing he needed to do. While he got ready, Lacey left the apartment to go to the corner store to buy some snacks for the drive. She ended up buying a little too many snacks, but most of them were things that Aiden liked. Her selection consisted of a couple bags of kettle chips and a bottle of tea.
Upon her return to the apartment, she found Aiden currently letting his shoulder out of the sling. That seemed like a good idea. Since they would be confined to a sitting position for a couple hours, it was better he let his arm out now than later when it would be stiff. She helped him put the sling on before they collected everything they needed for the trip and left the apartment to head to the car.
“Here, I got you a Starbucks double shot and a muffin to eat for breakfast. Don’t want you starving while you’re behind the wheel,” she offered, rummaging through one of the plastic bags for the items she pointed out. But before she could offer Aiden the coffee, she thought it wise to help him out with the muffin. Peeling the wrapper with one good hand while in the car just seemed like a recipe for disaster. She had the muffin unwrapped and free to pick at as soon as they arrived in front of the car.
Lacey was ready to take her responsibilities as shotgun seriously. After Aiden pulled out of his parking spot, Lacey was already holding a piece of the muffin she had outstretched in one hand. “Say ahh!” she teased with a giggle. Okay, maybe she wasn’t exactly taking her responsibilities seriously, but Aiden only had one good hand to drive. The least she could do was feed him his breakfast. She quickly glanced in front to check if it was safe. Save for a couple cars a fair distance away, she deemed the situation safe and leaned closer to Aiden to feed him a piece of muffin. She immediately fell victim to another round of giggles.
One muffin, a can of Starbucks double shot, half a bag of chips, portions of three CDs and two hours later, Lacey turned away from Aiden’s GPS to gaze out the window. Excitement filled her entire body. Finally! They were in Colby. Or, at least, they were almost at Colby. “Aiden! There it is!” she exclaimed. At the speed Aiden was driving, he would have missed it. But for Lacey, it was always the first thing she looked for when she was coming home.
The sign read: THE LAST CHANCE BAR AND GRILL. YOUR LAST CHANCE AT THE BEST RIBS IN COLBY
While most people look for “Welcome to” signs to indicate they’ve made it, Lacey finds the Last Chance sign on the road to tell her that she’s home. Although she had not eaten at The Last Chance in over a year - two, arguably, since the last time she went with her dad she hardly touched anything they ordered save for a piece of cornbread - seeing the sign always made her feel good. The feeling sprang into existence after her parents’ divorce and she started living with her mother. That first month away from Colby, she recalled how it felt to see the old sign. It’s decades worth of peeling paint and the corny way “THE LAST CHANCE” shared the name of the restaurant and the catchy slogan. Ever since then, Lacey views the sign as Colby welcoming her back home. Looking at it now, the mixture of excitement and nostalgia overpowered her.
However, there was a brief, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment when her smile faltered. As the nostalgia grew stronger than her excitement, she remembered again just how long it had been since she was home. How could she have gone this long without coming back?
But as soon as the sadness hit, it vanished as soon as she turned to face Aiden again. Her smile was once again back on her lips. “I can tell you one thing, the sign is right about them having the ‘best ribs’ in Colby. Just...try not to compare it to anything else outside the town.”
They drove for another twenty minutes after passing the sign. Now that they were driving through Colby, Lacey assisted Aiden with finding the hotel. It was one thing for the GPS to tell them that their destination was on the left. It was another to have a Colby native mention specific landmarks to ensure they don’t miss it.
Despite the step-siblings calling it a hotel, there weren’t really any hotels in Colby. Small beach town that it was, the most they had to offer were motels for the weary traveler taking a break from driving down the coast or inns for the vacation types that came during vacation season. Lacey’s mother had to be one to suggest this inn to Aiden. As he pulled into the driveway leading up to the front of the inn, Lacey gazed up at the building for a few seconds. It had been years since she visited this inn. Years ago before the divorce, this was her mother’s favorite spot. She would spend countless hours in the dining area with her girlfriends on Sunday during brunch; something about half off mimosas. The last time Lacey ever visited the inn was during the last wedding anniversary her parents celebrated. She was ten.
In the five years since her last stay and the years she would occasionally see it in passing, the inn did not change a bit. If anything, it looked as if the building had a recent paint job, but that was it. Even the flowers and plants that surrounded the porch area looked like they never changed.
The sound of Aiden opening his door cut through Lacey’s memories. A blink later, she turned to watch her step-brother get out to talk to what appeared to be a busboy and a valet. Lacey took that as her cue to get out of the car as well. Had she been paying close attention, she would have noticed when both the busboy and valet paused to watch her. Because of her modeling, she was used to the staring. For all she knew, this was the same situation. Of course, if she actually did pay close attention to the two boys, she would have picked up on the fact that they both look approximately her age if not a couple years older. But that was not all, their staring was not because they thought she was attractive. Maybe they did. But, no. They more looked at her as if they recognized her.
By the time Lacey turned back to check if Aiden forfeited his car keys over and let the busboy grab their things, both employees returned to their duties without a single glance over at her.
While Aiden was at the reception desk checking in, Lacey took a seat at one of the small couches at the opposite wall next to the dining area. She eyed the chalkboard menu; it was apparently now lunchtime and soup of the day was clam chowder.
It wasn’t long before Aiden finished checking in and walked over to her. “Wow, we got to check in early?” she asked, amazed. Guess it was still technically off season for the inn. As she stood up from the couch, Aiden handed her a copy of their room key. Another thing that had not changed, they still used actual keys for their rooms. She looked down at the engraved “2” on the keychain. Maybe it was her memory, but the room number suddenly made her feel excited once again.
Turns out, her excitement was reasonable. As soon as she opened the door to their room, she stared in awe at the wide window looking out to the ocean. “Oh, my God!” she gasped. “I’ve never been in one of the rooms that was facing the ocean. The couple times I stayed here with my parents, we always faced the gardens.” Lacey rushed over to the window to gaze out at the beach right outside. Literally, guests could walk out the entertainment room downstairs and have sand between their toes.
“I cannot wait to take you to the boardwalk! It has all these cute boutiques and we could, like, rent bikes. And, of course, we have to go to the beach. It’s, like, the best part about Colby.” Lacey was speaking quickly, her eagerness to explore her hometown again making it impossible to keep still.
However, despite her excitement, Aiden reasoned that they should probably wait for their luggage so they could freshen up. He was right, naturally. As her excitement simmered down to a bearable amount, Lacey finally turned away from the window to check out the room. The first thing she noticed were the two queen sized beds standing side by side. For a brief moment, Lacey felt disappointed at the idea that they would be sleeping on separate beds. She was so used to sharing a bed with Aiden when they were in a room together. Granted, most of those situations were because they had no choice but to share the bed. Now, it would most likely just seem awkward to suggest they sleep on the same bed when a perfectly good one was right next to it.
It wasn’t long before the busboy from earlier knocked at their door. He helped carry their things inside, probably to be nice due to Aiden’s slinged arm. Once again, Lacey missed the busboy glancing at her before leaving their room.
“Well, here are our things! Time to do the freshening up and all that. We don’t want to waste daylight!” Lacey skipped over to her luggage to grab the top outfit. She once again called dibs on the bathroom and rushed to change.
The sand was warm under her feet. She chose to carry her sandals for the time being while they were walking on the beach then wear them once they arrived at the boardwalk. As they walked, Lacey stuck to Aiden’s side. She was now practically talking his ear off about everything that they could do this weekend. Even if Colby was a small beach town, it still had plenty of activities to entertain them. For good measure, she also offered the suggestion that they could chill at the beach the whole weekend. Whatever he was up for doing, she would gladly do it with him.
She just had to book the stupid commercial.
But Lacey wasn’t going to worry about that right now. No. This new upcoming gig was not going to ruin her ultimately good mood for the day. She had a couple months to once again completely forget about the commercial gig. For right now, what mattered to her was this weekend. She was finally going home to Colby.
To say that Lacey was beyond thrilled to be going to Colby this weekend was honestly an understatement. She had been a mess of excitement and nerves at the thought of the trip since Aiden accidently let slip his secret plans. This was going to be a great trip, Lacey knew it. After the stressful spring the step-siblings had, beginning their summer in Colby was a dream come true. To Lacey, nothing in the world could ever ever beat summertime in her hometown. How she missed the place so much. Thanks to work, she hasn’t visited in over a year. It hit her hard when she realized it.
There was a knock at her bedroom door suddenly that broke through her train of thought. Lacey just tossed her phone onto her pillow when the door opened and her mother peeked inside. “How are you doing with packing?” she asked, a bright smile on her face. Ever since her step-father left for his business trip at the beginning of the month, the house has felt much less tense. As a result, her mother spent more time at home as opposed to wherever the next get together was she had planned that day. Hell, she hosted a brunch the other day with some of her friends. Lacey was happy that her mother was finally able to relax now.
“Did you see the email?” Lacey asked slowly while folding a loose blouse on top of the slightly growing pile of clothes for the weekend.
Her mother eyed the selection of clothes and swimsuits spread out across her rather untidy bed then nodded. “I told you the directors loved you. But you just didn’t want to believe me.” She pushed the swimsuits to the side to make room to sit on the bed. “We can worry about that when you get back from your trip. You and Aiden should just enjoy yourselves.”
Lacey looked over at her mother for a moment. It was impossible for her to look at her mother the same way after everything that happened with Aiden. It wasn’t a bad thing, not at all. When she found out through Aiden that it was her mother that told him about the incident with his dad, Lacey felt that she needed to start cutting the woman some slack. She wasn’t the only one that was having a hard time with her step-father. Sure, she got told some bad things recently from the man, but Lacey couldn’t help imagining that he was worse when he was alone with her mother. But despite sticking with him even with his bad habits, she still took her side when she needed it. If it wasn’t for her mother, Lacey wasn’t sure she and Aiden would ever get past the brick wall they ran right into after he found her at the music store. If it wasn’t for her mother, she and Aiden wouldn’t be having this trip to Colby at all.
“Have you told your dad yet that you’re going to be in town?” her mother suddenly asked.
Lacey now focused on a pair of shorts she just stuffed into her luggage. The question brought to light the one uncertainty she had about this weekend: should she reach out to her dad? Obviously, there was nothing wrong between her and her dad. Despite being unable to give him the opportunity to uphold his legal custody rights - blame work - their relationship is still as strong as ever. In fact, she could argue that because of her inability to see him in person their relationship is stronger. Prior to everything that happened since Aiden’s accident, she made it a habit to at least text her dad once or twice a day letting him know how she was doing; at least give him an update that he wanted to hear. The routine shifted to at least twice a week once she became busy with taking care of Aiden and juggling work. But her dad understood. He too was a busy man. Between work, his numerous projects and her infant half brother, it was a miracle father and daughter could share more than just a couple text messages to each other before it would take hours to respond.
So why then is she struggling to send her dad a quick text message letting him know that she would be in town for the weekend? Honestly? It mostly had to do with Aiden. This was his trip after all. Sure, he may have planned it for her after everything that has happened since last month, but it just didn’t seem fair to him if she informed her family and friends of her return. She knew that he probably wanted to spend quality time with her away from their own small town world drama; where they could just be Aiden and Lacey without a care in the world.
And so, it was for this very reasoning that Lacey responded with, “Not yet, but maybe later.”
A couple hours later and a rather “intense” debate with her mother over whether or not she really needed eight sets of swimsuits for this weekend, Lacey sat at the kitchen island with a now cold cup of tea in front of her, her eyes impatiently darting toward the window every time a car passed the house. She knew Aiden would never be late to pick her up, but the anticipation still made it impossible for her to sit still. The minutes were just dragging along unbearably.
“What time are you two going to leave tomorrow?” her mother asked from the other side of the kitchen island.
Lacey turned her head away from the window to look at her mother. “In the morning probably, but maybe after all the traffic has died down. I told Aiden that if we make it to Colby before the room is ready we can just chill at the beach for a while. Or I might show him around Colby since he’s never been.” She then grabbed her phone to look at the screen. No new text messages from her step-brother. Then again, only two minutes passed since she last looked. And about eight minutes since he last sent her a text telling her he would pick her up in about ten. Yes, she was very impatient and they weren’t even going on their trip yet.
“Here, before I forget,” her mother then said. She left the kitchen island momentarily to grab her purse. After rummaging a bit, she pulled out her wallet then slipped out an all too familiar card: Lacey’s credit card. “Remember, this is for emergencies only. I’m trusting that you’ll be responsible with it. If you need any money, let me know so I can transfer some from your savings.” Her mother continued musing over Lacey’s weekend budget, but Lacey decided to stop actively listening after something about an “account in dad’s bank.” Despite all the work she did nowadays, Lacey’s mother really liked to remind her that she still was not eighteen...and thus not fully in control of her earnings. Just one year and four more months to go….
Aiden’s car could be seen pulling into the driveway from the kitchen window. An instant grin spread across Lacey’s face and she jumped off her stool to meet him at the door. Her cup of tea went completely abandoned. She just opened the front door when Aiden climbed out of his car. His arm was back in the sling. Hopefully that meant he followed the doctor’s orders earlier of letting it out of the sling for a bit.
Despite the fact that his father was not home, Lacey could tell that Aiden was not very comfortable being at the house. As such, she kept his time here short. Once she grabbed her things from the living room, she returned to where her mother and Aiden were standing at the front door. She caught them in the middle of them discussing something about “making sure to eat,” but chose to ignore it to prevent from being dragged into the topic. “Okay! I’m ready!” she announced, rolling her carryon suitcase to a halt beside her.
Lacey said her final goodbyes to her mother then followed behind Aiden to the car. When he reached over to take her luggage, she immediately tugged it away from him and insisted that she could take care of it. She also added that she didn’t want to risk hurting his shoulder now that he was so close to starting therapy after their trip. Although he may not know it, she felt terrible that he was missing his earliest opportunity at recovery on account of her. He should have known that they could easily postpone this Colby trip after he started physical therapy.
“Okay,” she started after climbing into the passenger seat. She was once again denied the chance to drive them to his apartment. It was as if he completely forgot that she is actually a decent driver. The trust was not there at all. “I am finally free from any and all school work! I submitted my last test yesterday. It is finally summer vacation for this girl!” She thrusted her well manicured thumb at herself, laughing at her excitement.
“So I went to the music store this morning. Mostly ‘cause, like, Mom was out getting groceries for this thing she’s hosting at home and I really didn’t want to go with her? Anyway, I got sucked into buying a couple CDs.” Lacey leaned forward to reach into her tote bag. When she leaned back onto her seat, she had in her hands a small plastic bag with a handful of CDs stacked together. A couple CDs was obviously an exaggerated understatement. As Aiden slowed to a stop at a light, she pulled the stack out of the bag then placed them carefully on her lap. “I’m going to be totally honest here? I have no idea who, like, half of these people are…. The store owner had no one to talk to so asked what I was looking for.” From that moment until Aiden pulled up in front of his apartment complex, Lacey went into her full explanation on how she ended up with what the music store owner dubbed “The Essential Roadtrip Music”.
TL;DR: The music store owner went into this tangent with Lacey about creating the “perfect” playlist in this day and age of music streaming. He got real heated over how it was nothing compared to mixtapes and burned CDs. He then went on to explain the exact steps to take to create said “perfect” playlist without the need to edit it. Somehow, and Lacey honestly zoned out a couple times, the conversation moved from the “perfect” playlist to them discussing good roadtrip music. Apparently during one of her zoned out moments, Lacey let slip that she and Aiden were going on a trip. After that, the owner was ready to share his apparently vast knowledge on what makes the best roadtrip music and what is just absolute trash. Thus explains the small stack of CDs dubbed “The Essential Roadtrip Music”.
“After all that, he finally asked where we were going. When I told him Colby, he immediately grabbed The Beach Boys...for I guess obvious reasons? I honestly didn’t even expect him to know where Colby was.” Lacey stuffed the CDs back in the plastic bag with a tired sigh. “You are more than welcome to keep all of these if you like them. I feel like I would get banned for all eternity or shot by lasers if I, like, went back to return them…. That guy is intense….”
Luckily Lacey had the foresight to pack tomorrow’s clothes into her tote bag before Aiden picked her up from the house. This would at least eliminate the need to carry her luggage to the apartment. If anything, she could leave the clothes she wore today in the apartment until they returned from their trip. It was only a weekend after all.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to help you drive tomorrow? It’s not like there’s going to be a lot of traffic on the way to Colby. We’re literally just going to be driving along the coast. I can’t imagine driving for two hours will be very comfortable for your shoulder.” Tough chance, Lacey. Her step-brother was adamant on being the sole driver tomorrow.
The step-siblings decided to hunker down in the apartment for the rest of the day. Sonia invited them earlier to have dinner before they left tomorrow, but Lacey wasn’t feeling up for that offer. If they had simply asked to hang out, sure. But dinner just made the option less appealing. Aiden seemed okay with turning down the offer as well. Not that this was surprising really. So for the rest of the night, she and Aiden stayed in the living room listening to the new CDs she bought earlier. There was a debate just before Aiden popped the first CD in over whether they should have saved the listen for their drive; let Lacey appreciate the music and how they were “supposed” to be heard. Especially for the artists she never heard of. But with Lacey’s lack of self-restraint and inability to contain her curiosity, the debate leaned in her favor.
Turns out, she wasn’t exactly a fan of a third of the selection, but for the sake of their drive she was willing to tolerate it. Save for The Beach Boys. They made her think of LA and for the time being the city still felt raw to her. Even if she and Aiden were okay now, she still needed a bit of time to recover from all that happened with her step-father and what she had to do to distract from it while in LA.
The next morning, Lacey was the first to wake up. It was twenty past nine, so not exactly early. With no scheduled photoshoots or meetings, she was allowed to sleep in a bit. After reaching over her head for a nice, long stretch, Lacey turned onto her other side to check on her step-brother. It took a bit of persuading and buttering up, but she got him to agree to sleep on his bed tonight. She might have teased about the now obvious dent in his couch that perfectly fit his form. She wondered if he was comfortable while she watched him sleep.
However, she only had a moment to ponder this thought before he started to stir and show signs that he was waking up. He must have sensed that she was awake or something.
Lacey smiled, pushing herself up to rest against her arm. “Last chance to reconsider utilizing your little sister’s new knowledge behind the wheel?” she offered. But just like every other time, he turned her down. “Fiiiiine! But if you start complaining about your shoulder halfway through the drive, I’m going to very gladly point out that I told you soooooo!” She quickly stuck her tongue out at him teasingly then turned over to climb out of bed. “I’m going to get ready first.”
The rest of the morning was spent preparing to leave. After Lacey finished getting ready, Aiden took his turn once he completed whatever last minute packing he needed to do. While he got ready, Lacey left the apartment to go to the corner store to buy some snacks for the drive. She ended up buying a little too many snacks, but most of them were things that Aiden liked. Her selection consisted of a couple bags of kettle chips and a bottle of tea.
Upon her return to the apartment, she found Aiden currently letting his shoulder out of the sling. That seemed like a good idea. Since they would be confined to a sitting position for a couple hours, it was better he let his arm out now than later when it would be stiff. She helped him put the sling on before they collected everything they needed for the trip and left the apartment to head to the car.
“Here, I got you a Starbucks double shot and a muffin to eat for breakfast. Don’t want you starving while you’re behind the wheel,” she offered, rummaging through one of the plastic bags for the items she pointed out. But before she could offer Aiden the coffee, she thought it wise to help him out with the muffin. Peeling the wrapper with one good hand while in the car just seemed like a recipe for disaster. She had the muffin unwrapped and free to pick at as soon as they arrived in front of the car.
Lacey was ready to take her responsibilities as shotgun seriously. After Aiden pulled out of his parking spot, Lacey was already holding a piece of the muffin she had outstretched in one hand. “Say ahh!” she teased with a giggle. Okay, maybe she wasn’t exactly taking her responsibilities seriously, but Aiden only had one good hand to drive. The least she could do was feed him his breakfast. She quickly glanced in front to check if it was safe. Save for a couple cars a fair distance away, she deemed the situation safe and leaned closer to Aiden to feed him a piece of muffin. She immediately fell victim to another round of giggles.
One muffin, a can of Starbucks double shot, half a bag of chips, portions of three CDs and two hours later, Lacey turned away from Aiden’s GPS to gaze out the window. Excitement filled her entire body. Finally! They were in Colby. Or, at least, they were almost at Colby. “Aiden! There it is!” she exclaimed. At the speed Aiden was driving, he would have missed it. But for Lacey, it was always the first thing she looked for when she was coming home.
The sign read: THE LAST CHANCE BAR AND GRILL. YOUR LAST CHANCE AT THE BEST RIBS IN COLBY
While most people look for “Welcome to” signs to indicate they’ve made it, Lacey finds the Last Chance sign on the road to tell her that she’s home. Although she had not eaten at The Last Chance in over a year - two, arguably, since the last time she went with her dad she hardly touched anything they ordered save for a piece of cornbread - seeing the sign always made her feel good. The feeling sprang into existence after her parents’ divorce and she started living with her mother. That first month away from Colby, she recalled how it felt to see the old sign. It’s decades worth of peeling paint and the corny way “THE LAST CHANCE” shared the name of the restaurant and the catchy slogan. Ever since then, Lacey views the sign as Colby welcoming her back home. Looking at it now, the mixture of excitement and nostalgia overpowered her.
However, there was a brief, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment when her smile faltered. As the nostalgia grew stronger than her excitement, she remembered again just how long it had been since she was home. How could she have gone this long without coming back?
But as soon as the sadness hit, it vanished as soon as she turned to face Aiden again. Her smile was once again back on her lips. “I can tell you one thing, the sign is right about them having the ‘best ribs’ in Colby. Just...try not to compare it to anything else outside the town.”
They drove for another twenty minutes after passing the sign. Now that they were driving through Colby, Lacey assisted Aiden with finding the hotel. It was one thing for the GPS to tell them that their destination was on the left. It was another to have a Colby native mention specific landmarks to ensure they don’t miss it.
Despite the step-siblings calling it a hotel, there weren’t really any hotels in Colby. Small beach town that it was, the most they had to offer were motels for the weary traveler taking a break from driving down the coast or inns for the vacation types that came during vacation season. Lacey’s mother had to be one to suggest this inn to Aiden. As he pulled into the driveway leading up to the front of the inn, Lacey gazed up at the building for a few seconds. It had been years since she visited this inn. Years ago before the divorce, this was her mother’s favorite spot. She would spend countless hours in the dining area with her girlfriends on Sunday during brunch; something about half off mimosas. The last time Lacey ever visited the inn was during the last wedding anniversary her parents celebrated. She was ten.
In the five years since her last stay and the years she would occasionally see it in passing, the inn did not change a bit. If anything, it looked as if the building had a recent paint job, but that was it. Even the flowers and plants that surrounded the porch area looked like they never changed.
The sound of Aiden opening his door cut through Lacey’s memories. A blink later, she turned to watch her step-brother get out to talk to what appeared to be a busboy and a valet. Lacey took that as her cue to get out of the car as well. Had she been paying close attention, she would have noticed when both the busboy and valet paused to watch her. Because of her modeling, she was used to the staring. For all she knew, this was the same situation. Of course, if she actually did pay close attention to the two boys, she would have picked up on the fact that they both look approximately her age if not a couple years older. But that was not all, their staring was not because they thought she was attractive. Maybe they did. But, no. They more looked at her as if they recognized her.
By the time Lacey turned back to check if Aiden forfeited his car keys over and let the busboy grab their things, both employees returned to their duties without a single glance over at her.
While Aiden was at the reception desk checking in, Lacey took a seat at one of the small couches at the opposite wall next to the dining area. She eyed the chalkboard menu; it was apparently now lunchtime and soup of the day was clam chowder.
It wasn’t long before Aiden finished checking in and walked over to her. “Wow, we got to check in early?” she asked, amazed. Guess it was still technically off season for the inn. As she stood up from the couch, Aiden handed her a copy of their room key. Another thing that had not changed, they still used actual keys for their rooms. She looked down at the engraved “2” on the keychain. Maybe it was her memory, but the room number suddenly made her feel excited once again.
Turns out, her excitement was reasonable. As soon as she opened the door to their room, she stared in awe at the wide window looking out to the ocean. “Oh, my God!” she gasped. “I’ve never been in one of the rooms that was facing the ocean. The couple times I stayed here with my parents, we always faced the gardens.” Lacey rushed over to the window to gaze out at the beach right outside. Literally, guests could walk out the entertainment room downstairs and have sand between their toes.
“I cannot wait to take you to the boardwalk! It has all these cute boutiques and we could, like, rent bikes. And, of course, we have to go to the beach. It’s, like, the best part about Colby.” Lacey was speaking quickly, her eagerness to explore her hometown again making it impossible to keep still.
However, despite her excitement, Aiden reasoned that they should probably wait for their luggage so they could freshen up. He was right, naturally. As her excitement simmered down to a bearable amount, Lacey finally turned away from the window to check out the room. The first thing she noticed were the two queen sized beds standing side by side. For a brief moment, Lacey felt disappointed at the idea that they would be sleeping on separate beds. She was so used to sharing a bed with Aiden when they were in a room together. Granted, most of those situations were because they had no choice but to share the bed. Now, it would most likely just seem awkward to suggest they sleep on the same bed when a perfectly good one was right next to it.
It wasn’t long before the busboy from earlier knocked at their door. He helped carry their things inside, probably to be nice due to Aiden’s slinged arm. Once again, Lacey missed the busboy glancing at her before leaving their room.
“Well, here are our things! Time to do the freshening up and all that. We don’t want to waste daylight!” Lacey skipped over to her luggage to grab the top outfit. She once again called dibs on the bathroom and rushed to change.
The sand was warm under her feet. She chose to carry her sandals for the time being while they were walking on the beach then wear them once they arrived at the boardwalk. As they walked, Lacey stuck to Aiden’s side. She was now practically talking his ear off about everything that they could do this weekend. Even if Colby was a small beach town, it still had plenty of activities to entertain them. For good measure, she also offered the suggestion that they could chill at the beach the whole weekend. Whatever he was up for doing, she would gladly do it with him.
OP
OP
JINFINITE
Super-Earth
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- The Island of Eroda
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Of course Lacey called dibs first, it wasn’t like he had drunk a double shot that morning, drove for two hours and now needed to pee. But it was fine, he could wait while she occupied the bathroom.
No onein this case Lacey had allowed him to carry anything today but now that he was alone he reached to grab his duffle off the floor and brought it over to the bed furthest from the entrance. As he set his bag down on the bed he couldn’t stop the soft sigh from escaping as his eyes trailed up to the pillows on the bed he’d chosen and then over to the matching bed just a few feet over. This was going to be a long weekend. Yes last night he’d slept in his own bed for the first time in weeks and he’d felt okay in the morning, but the process of falling asleep had been a nightmare. On the bed he had to lay on his back which, while it didn’t hurt it was still uncomfortable. On the sofa in his nest of pillows it sort of created this illusion that he wasn’t on his back, rather he was supported on all sides by soft, comforting pillows that held him in place. He just wasn’t looking forward to going to bed that night. But that would be many hours from now and so Aiden quickly pushed the concern to the back of his mind.
His right hand held his bag still while his left went through all the motions of unzipping and then rummaging through for a pair of shorts to change into since his track pants at the beach didn’t sound like a good idea. He didn’t need a new shirt as the one he was wearing was fine, it was a muscle tank with low drop arm holes that gave him plenty of space to maneuver with his bad arm as opposed to wrestling with a t-shirt’s sleeves. He would however, take off the zip up hoodie he currently wore over it—which meant removing the sling.
It was a delicate operation: first releasing the strap around his neck and then sliding the sleeve portion off his arm. Aiden didn’t move his arm though, he kept it glued to his chest even without the sling to hold it in place. He was too afraid to move it just yet, already anticipating the pain to come. Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad though? Maybe he had in fact been healing and improving and all that—or maybe he was just used to the pain by now. Next step was tugging the zipper down the front of his hoodie. It was easy to slip his left arm out, but as it came to his right he held his breath as he pulled the sleeve off his arm followed by a short gasp after it was off.
Lacey was still in the bathroom so he turned around to sit on the edge of the bed, now slowly exhaling as he first straightened out his elbow and then veryyyy slowly tried to relax and lower his arm to his side. His shoulder clicked painfully once it fell into place but Aiden willed himself to relax and just breathe through it as he looked up to distract himself by observing the rest of the room.
Aiden was no stranger to hotel rooms. He’d spent a good portion of his childhood in them after all. When he had first moved to America his father’s job kept them on the move so they never had a designated home until Oregon. Granted he was used to top level suites, not seaside inns, but it was still familiar to him. The way the beds were all perfectly made, the phone on the nightstand between them to call down for room service, there were no doubt pristine white towels folded in the bathroom with accompanying tiny travel size shampoos and soaps. Even after buying the house in Oregon, Aiden still traveled to plenty of meets and summer training programs for swimming. While a lot of people might find hotel rooms uncomfortable, they prefer their own homes. And it wasn’t that Aiden didn’t like his apartment it was just that, well the apartment wasn’t his. His father paid for it and had on several occasions reminded him of that and the fact that he could very easily take it all away from him. Aiden really didn’t feel like he belonged in the family house either. But hotel rooms, well, they were simple. And even though some might have more or less amenities, at their core they were all the same. Aiden liked being able to walk into a hotel and know what to suspect.
Well his shoulder had stopped hurting for the moment, it seemed to have faded away but without the pain to concentrate on he was beginning to realize just how thirsty he was. A glass of water never sounded so good—god he needed to pee, ”Lace? Are you done yet?”
Walking outside after changing was the first moment Aiden actually felt like they were on vacation. They had really done it, they were here. No one here would breathe down their necks. There was no hectic work schedule for Lacey. There were no ex-teammates for Aiden to risk running onto. He had always known Lacey was right for trying to get him out of his apartment and the few times she succeeded had gone well. But each time he had just returned to his pillow nest. Now out here in an entirely new town with the ocean breeze created a sort of fresh start for him—for both of them.
His adidas slip ons had truly been his best friend through this entire injury. They were still glued to his feet now as they walked across the sand. He had packed a pair of real shoes just to be safe but the chances of him being in a situation to need to wear them were slim; they were spending the weekend at the beach! His shoes were ideal for the beach, but his sling? Not so much. He was definitely thankful that it was only a sling though and not a cast because the thought of sand getting trapped in a cast sounded like hell on earth. Sure you could probably wrap the ends, wear long sleeves, there were steps you could take to prevent it. But no matter how hard you might try: Sand. Gets. Everywhere. He already knew he would be finding sand in his car for weeks after this trip even with a deep interior cleaning. Even now as they walked he could feel grains settling between his toes.
Lacey ran ahead a little in her excitement and Aiden felt himself tense up slightly in anticipation. She sometimes got a little caught up in her emotions and would be blissfully unaware of her surroundings. But nothing slipped past Aiden. He’d seen how those boys at the hotel had looked at her, even while he was right there in front of them! Just thinking back to it had him getting all riled up inside. He was her big brother, her protector. Her mother would kill him should anything happen on this trip—actually Aiden would probably kill himself first before allowing any harm to come to her. Rationally thinking, Lacey knew this town inside and out and he knew he should just let her take the wheel and trust she would be safe. But being alone with her now was spurring up some much stronger feelings than he was used to experiencing. Was it just him being nervous in a new place? And with his injured arm? But Aiden had traveled plenty for swim meets, and he’d tackled both the mall and the farmer’s market with his arm in a sling. So what was he so afraid of now?
”Lacey wait up!”
The more Lacey talked the more Aiden worried. It wasn’t that he was beginning to regret this trip, rather, Aden was scared it wouldn’t live up to Lacey’s expectations. She was so excited talking about all the things they could do...but a good number of them were things he couldn’t do. Not anymore. Bike riding? Surfing? Jet skiing? Just about anything remotely active was off the table for Aiden and all he could think about was how much he was letting her down now. He didn’t want to keep her from anything but there was so much now he couldn’t do or just wasn’t comfortable trying.
There was one thing though that he knew he could do. He’d been getting sort of hungry now after driving for so long; but Aiden had doubts he could finish a whole lunch. His body had officially adjusted to being benched from his previously athletic lifestyle which meant no more 5am wake ups to work out and no more black pit of a stomach. That wasn’t to say he wasn’t eating, but it was definitely substantially less than before. But beach side snacks would probably do the trick to last him till dinner, ”Are you hungry?”
He went on to point out that she probably knew all the best spots to eat and asked for her recommendation. This was her home town after all, ”What’s your favorite place to eat?”
Aiden of course just meant here at the boardwalk, his eyes glancing back and forth at the various little shops that they strolled past.
This was cute. Honestly so far Colby was reminding him a little bit of Italy, or what he could remember of it anyways. With all the little boutiques and food stands, a large community vibe in a small town setting; he could see why Lacey liked it here so much, besides the obvious fact that it was home. But more than looking around, Aiden found himself watching his little sister instead and feeling his heavy heart lighten a little just seeing how happy she was.
As a bustling family of semi local tourists approached them, Aiden, without panicking, grabbed Lacey’s hand to pull her to his side of the group so they didn’t get separated. He kept walking though without releasing her hand as a cruiser bike passed by next. It wasn’t crowded, no not at all, but it was just Aiden’s luck to run into the only pedestrian traffic on this boardwalk. When he did release her hand he couldn’t help but notice how empty his own hand now felt. Sort of hyper aware of how much he had...enjoyed holding her hand? Okay that was weird. Not the holding her hand part, that was fine, nothing new there. But the residual feelings now fluttering in the pit of his stomach...he must just be hungrier than he had originally thought.
They didn’t have to walk far before reaching Lacey’s recommended food spot and after ordering their light lunch took a seat with a view of the beach. Aiden was so glad they had ended up with finger food so he didn’t have to fumble with his non-dominant hand holding a fork in public. Good choice Lacey, thank you. But when he slowed down on lunch she must’ve caught him staring out at the water cause she next asked if he wanted to go lay on the beach for a while after they ate. A solid idea which Aiden was just about to agree with until she went on to suggest that he could use the time to let his arm out and relax.
Did his hesitation show? Because Aiden definitely was hesitating to agree to this right now. He really did not want to take it off again because while his shoulder no longer brought him constant pain, there was always the “what if factor”. What if he bumped it? What if he instinctively tried to move it? What if, what if, what if?? When his shoulder did hurt it still reached near excruciating levels and Aiden really did not want to put up with that. He was well aware his doctor had told him to stretch his arm, but his doctor had also said that “it might be stiff and sore but it shouldn’t hurt anymore.” It shouldn’t hurt. So why did it? The pain coupled with his impatience led to irritable moods and misery. But Aiden hadn’t brought any weed with him; he would find out sooner or later whether or not it was the right choice. But so rather than suffering through those feelings he continued to opt out of his prescribed exercises because as long as his arm was immobilized it didn’t hurt and he could continue to feel like himself. And right now the only thing he wanted to focus on was this time away with Lacey. But Lacey wanted him to take it off.
In the end Aiden declined her beach offer for now with a, “Maybe later?” As he spoke his left hand subconsciously crossed over to his collarbone and ever so gently ran across one of his surgical scars through his shirt, ”Why don’t we just walk around for a while? Give me the tour.” There, the ball was back in her court with hopefully a large enough task at hand that she would stay occupied and not press the matter any farther.
No one
His right hand held his bag still while his left went through all the motions of unzipping and then rummaging through for a pair of shorts to change into since his track pants at the beach didn’t sound like a good idea. He didn’t need a new shirt as the one he was wearing was fine, it was a muscle tank with low drop arm holes that gave him plenty of space to maneuver with his bad arm as opposed to wrestling with a t-shirt’s sleeves. He would however, take off the zip up hoodie he currently wore over it—which meant removing the sling.
It was a delicate operation: first releasing the strap around his neck and then sliding the sleeve portion off his arm. Aiden didn’t move his arm though, he kept it glued to his chest even without the sling to hold it in place. He was too afraid to move it just yet, already anticipating the pain to come. Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad though? Maybe he had in fact been healing and improving and all that—or maybe he was just used to the pain by now. Next step was tugging the zipper down the front of his hoodie. It was easy to slip his left arm out, but as it came to his right he held his breath as he pulled the sleeve off his arm followed by a short gasp after it was off.
Lacey was still in the bathroom so he turned around to sit on the edge of the bed, now slowly exhaling as he first straightened out his elbow and then veryyyy slowly tried to relax and lower his arm to his side. His shoulder clicked painfully once it fell into place but Aiden willed himself to relax and just breathe through it as he looked up to distract himself by observing the rest of the room.
Aiden was no stranger to hotel rooms. He’d spent a good portion of his childhood in them after all. When he had first moved to America his father’s job kept them on the move so they never had a designated home until Oregon. Granted he was used to top level suites, not seaside inns, but it was still familiar to him. The way the beds were all perfectly made, the phone on the nightstand between them to call down for room service, there were no doubt pristine white towels folded in the bathroom with accompanying tiny travel size shampoos and soaps. Even after buying the house in Oregon, Aiden still traveled to plenty of meets and summer training programs for swimming. While a lot of people might find hotel rooms uncomfortable, they prefer their own homes. And it wasn’t that Aiden didn’t like his apartment it was just that, well the apartment wasn’t his. His father paid for it and had on several occasions reminded him of that and the fact that he could very easily take it all away from him. Aiden really didn’t feel like he belonged in the family house either. But hotel rooms, well, they were simple. And even though some might have more or less amenities, at their core they were all the same. Aiden liked being able to walk into a hotel and know what to suspect.
Well his shoulder had stopped hurting for the moment, it seemed to have faded away but without the pain to concentrate on he was beginning to realize just how thirsty he was. A glass of water never sounded so good—god he needed to pee, ”Lace? Are you done yet?”
Walking outside after changing was the first moment Aiden actually felt like they were on vacation. They had really done it, they were here. No one here would breathe down their necks. There was no hectic work schedule for Lacey. There were no ex-teammates for Aiden to risk running onto. He had always known Lacey was right for trying to get him out of his apartment and the few times she succeeded had gone well. But each time he had just returned to his pillow nest. Now out here in an entirely new town with the ocean breeze created a sort of fresh start for him—for both of them.
His adidas slip ons had truly been his best friend through this entire injury. They were still glued to his feet now as they walked across the sand. He had packed a pair of real shoes just to be safe but the chances of him being in a situation to need to wear them were slim; they were spending the weekend at the beach! His shoes were ideal for the beach, but his sling? Not so much. He was definitely thankful that it was only a sling though and not a cast because the thought of sand getting trapped in a cast sounded like hell on earth. Sure you could probably wrap the ends, wear long sleeves, there were steps you could take to prevent it. But no matter how hard you might try: Sand. Gets. Everywhere. He already knew he would be finding sand in his car for weeks after this trip even with a deep interior cleaning. Even now as they walked he could feel grains settling between his toes.
Lacey ran ahead a little in her excitement and Aiden felt himself tense up slightly in anticipation. She sometimes got a little caught up in her emotions and would be blissfully unaware of her surroundings. But nothing slipped past Aiden. He’d seen how those boys at the hotel had looked at her, even while he was right there in front of them! Just thinking back to it had him getting all riled up inside. He was her big brother, her protector. Her mother would kill him should anything happen on this trip—actually Aiden would probably kill himself first before allowing any harm to come to her. Rationally thinking, Lacey knew this town inside and out and he knew he should just let her take the wheel and trust she would be safe. But being alone with her now was spurring up some much stronger feelings than he was used to experiencing. Was it just him being nervous in a new place? And with his injured arm? But Aiden had traveled plenty for swim meets, and he’d tackled both the mall and the farmer’s market with his arm in a sling. So what was he so afraid of now?
”Lacey wait up!”
The more Lacey talked the more Aiden worried. It wasn’t that he was beginning to regret this trip, rather, Aden was scared it wouldn’t live up to Lacey’s expectations. She was so excited talking about all the things they could do...but a good number of them were things he couldn’t do. Not anymore. Bike riding? Surfing? Jet skiing? Just about anything remotely active was off the table for Aiden and all he could think about was how much he was letting her down now. He didn’t want to keep her from anything but there was so much now he couldn’t do or just wasn’t comfortable trying.
There was one thing though that he knew he could do. He’d been getting sort of hungry now after driving for so long; but Aiden had doubts he could finish a whole lunch. His body had officially adjusted to being benched from his previously athletic lifestyle which meant no more 5am wake ups to work out and no more black pit of a stomach. That wasn’t to say he wasn’t eating, but it was definitely substantially less than before. But beach side snacks would probably do the trick to last him till dinner, ”Are you hungry?”
He went on to point out that she probably knew all the best spots to eat and asked for her recommendation. This was her home town after all, ”What’s your favorite place to eat?”
Aiden of course just meant here at the boardwalk, his eyes glancing back and forth at the various little shops that they strolled past.
This was cute. Honestly so far Colby was reminding him a little bit of Italy, or what he could remember of it anyways. With all the little boutiques and food stands, a large community vibe in a small town setting; he could see why Lacey liked it here so much, besides the obvious fact that it was home. But more than looking around, Aiden found himself watching his little sister instead and feeling his heavy heart lighten a little just seeing how happy she was.
As a bustling family of semi local tourists approached them, Aiden, without panicking, grabbed Lacey’s hand to pull her to his side of the group so they didn’t get separated. He kept walking though without releasing her hand as a cruiser bike passed by next. It wasn’t crowded, no not at all, but it was just Aiden’s luck to run into the only pedestrian traffic on this boardwalk. When he did release her hand he couldn’t help but notice how empty his own hand now felt. Sort of hyper aware of how much he had...enjoyed holding her hand? Okay that was weird. Not the holding her hand part, that was fine, nothing new there. But the residual feelings now fluttering in the pit of his stomach...he must just be hungrier than he had originally thought.
They didn’t have to walk far before reaching Lacey’s recommended food spot and after ordering their light lunch took a seat with a view of the beach. Aiden was so glad they had ended up with finger food so he didn’t have to fumble with his non-dominant hand holding a fork in public. Good choice Lacey, thank you. But when he slowed down on lunch she must’ve caught him staring out at the water cause she next asked if he wanted to go lay on the beach for a while after they ate. A solid idea which Aiden was just about to agree with until she went on to suggest that he could use the time to let his arm out and relax.
Did his hesitation show? Because Aiden definitely was hesitating to agree to this right now. He really did not want to take it off again because while his shoulder no longer brought him constant pain, there was always the “what if factor”. What if he bumped it? What if he instinctively tried to move it? What if, what if, what if?? When his shoulder did hurt it still reached near excruciating levels and Aiden really did not want to put up with that. He was well aware his doctor had told him to stretch his arm, but his doctor had also said that “it might be stiff and sore but it shouldn’t hurt anymore.” It shouldn’t hurt. So why did it? The pain coupled with his impatience led to irritable moods and misery. But Aiden hadn’t brought any weed with him; he would find out sooner or later whether or not it was the right choice. But so rather than suffering through those feelings he continued to opt out of his prescribed exercises because as long as his arm was immobilized it didn’t hurt and he could continue to feel like himself. And right now the only thing he wanted to focus on was this time away with Lacey. But Lacey wanted him to take it off.
In the end Aiden declined her beach offer for now with a, “Maybe later?” As he spoke his left hand subconsciously crossed over to his collarbone and ever so gently ran across one of his surgical scars through his shirt, ”Why don’t we just walk around for a while? Give me the tour.” There, the ball was back in her court with hopefully a large enough task at hand that she would stay occupied and not press the matter any farther.
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feelsHASkilig
Solo Conversationalist
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- Page Two Hundred & Forty-Nine
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After walking down the boardwalk for a bit, Aiden suggested that they find something to eat and let her choose the place to go. Or, more specifically, he suggested her “favorite” spot. The mixture of feelings that stemmed from the pit of her stomach made her feel nauseous and Lacey tried to hide it from her step-brother. Of course she had a favorite food spot on the boardwalk. Years of happy memories gave her the answer to his suggestion immediately. But despite that, the very thought of her favorite food item on that food spot’s menu had her stomach turning. Would she be able to keep any food down?
“It doesn’t look like much, but, like, Jesse’s Turf ‘N’ Stuff hands down has the best grab and go beach food. He has this, like, secret recipe seasoning for his fries and he has this magic touch of knowing when exactly to take it out of the fryer. Like, perfect every single time,” Lacey explained as she led Aiden over to one of the food stands along the boardwalk. Jesse’s Turf ‘N’ Stuff was a play on surf and turf without actually serving surf and turf. When Lacey was growing up, her dad told her that Jesse, the owner, picked the name thinking it was to reference surfing and turf wars. Obviously, Jesse never went to any kind of culinary school. It was for this reason that, when looking up at the faded old sign, the first thing you notice is the surfboard design of the sign with “SURF N” still etched into the wood as if the letters were there some time before “N STUFF” were added after “TURF”.
“Tryyyy not to ask Jesse about the sign? He’s cool and all, but he gets a bit touchy on the topic,” Lacey explained as they approached the open counter.
As always, Jesse never manned the front. It was common knowledge in Colby that he trusted no one with his fryer. Sure, he sometimes hired another chef to handle the stove and grill during the vacation season, but no one was allowed to mess with his fryer. It goes back to his magical fries. Mess with the settings of the fryer even by the smallest degree, you were fired on the spot. Stories around town claim that the fryer was the reason Jesse’s first and only marriage failed. From that moment on, Jesse stationed himself near the fryer while whatever Colby high schooler that needed a job worked the front.
While she ignored the turning sensation in her stomach, Lacey orderedAiden’s their food. Naturally, she had to add fries...even if she likely would not make much a dent in it herself.
It seemed that the moment Lacey arrived in Colby she caught a terrible case of the bad timings. As they waited for their order near the Pick-Up area of the counter, Lacey could have sworn she heard someone call out her name. But having been too focused on watching Jesse work his magic with his one and only love, by the time it registered to her what happened, there was no one nearby. The only people she noticed that were nearby enough to call out to her were a group of bike riders. None of them ever looked back to her. They just kept riding.
“Okay, please eat these by itself first. You have to experience the secret recipe seasoning,” Lacey was practically begging as they took a seat on the bench across the way from Jesse’s Turf ‘N’ Stuff. For good measure, she offered to try a fry with him. But as he popped the first, fresh fry into his mouth, Lacey’s still remained pressed between her two fingers. The temptation to eat it was there, but it was having the most intense battle with her stomach as it opposed the amount of oil that had to be in the one fry. It wasn’t until Aiden ate his fifth or sixth fry did she finally take a careful bite of her first one.
AsAiden they ate, Lacey offered up more suggestions for what they could do next. It was still fairly early. The beach was still pretty empty save for a local or two soaking up some of the afternoon summer sun or tourists enjoying whatever leisurely activities this small beach town had to offer. Lacey once again brought up just chilling at the beach. It was a solid activity for the first day after all. She even came prepared, packing both of their beach towels in her beach tote. She once again reassured him that they didn’t have to do much of anything today. The fun stuff is for tomorrow.
“This is a good opportunity to let your shoulder out again. Give it a bit to relax after driving for two hours,” she added, thinking the idea would appeal to him the most. But as Aiden took far too long to respond to the suggestion, Lacey’s hopeful smile faltered some. This behavior was something she picked up on since his doctor’s appointment last week; the hesitancy to abide by the doctor’s orders to let his shoulder out of the sling. Lacey didn’t understand why he was being so stubborn about this. She thought that being given the okay to stop wearing the sling even for a few minutes a day would make Aiden happy. If anything, it made him more...irritable.
But, as always, Lacey was too nervous to bring it up in their conversations. She just hoped that one day she would be able to suggest he let his shoulder out of the sling without his mood suddenly dropping.
When Aiden decided on a continued tour of the town, Lacey suppressed the urge to sigh by grabbing another fry. “Sure, we can do that,” she agreed, flashing him a smile. “You know, despite it being a small town, it’s going to take us, like, all day to see all of Colby. Buuuuut, maybe if you let me drive the car, our tour would be cut down by so much.” That idea was shot down so fast. Did she really think a different result would come out of it? Not really. But if it wasn’t obvious by now, she was just as stubborn and strong willed as her step-brother.
For the duration of the afternoon, Lacey took Aiden down the rest of the boardwalk. Every so often, she would drag him into a boutique or a shop to take a look inside. It wasn’t for the intention to buy anything. She just wanted to look. Once they reached the end of the boardwalk, a small parking lot that was slightly elevated from sea level, Lacey led Aiden up a short flight of stairs. At the top was a small road lined on both sides with tri-story houses. They were the type of houses that looked small from the front, but extended towards the back. Lacey told Aiden that not many locals lived in these houses. Instead, they’re usually bought as investment properties. Most of them are used by tourists or other types of visitors that want the at-home vibe for their vacation. These houses are especially high in demand during spring break.
At the end of the small neighborhood, it was another five minutes down an alleyway until they reached the high street. Lacey told Aiden that this was considered “downtown.” It was nothing compared to downtown areas like Portland. There were no high rise buildings that were basically blocking the sky. In fact, the tallest building in downtown was the three story apartment complex right across the street from the bank. The high street was lined with some of the more recognizable stores and restaurants. As they walked past said stores, Lacey explained that this is the place that had the most foot traffic. “You’d be surprised how many, like, trendy shops are here. One time, my dad complained about this coffee shop that opened up down the street from the one Starbucks here in downtown. He could not believe they were charging over five bucks for coffee.” She wondered if this coffee shop was even still around since her dad’s rant.
“Okay, so,” Lacey started as they turned the corner past an ice cream parlor, “If you, like, turn left from that next stop sign, it’s about a fifteen minute walk to the high school. And then from the high school, it’s about a five minute walk to the middle school? They’re like basically down the street from each other? When I was still going to Colby Middle School, I remembered thinking it was so cool that some of the high schoolers got to leave early and just chill downtown. I remember being so impatient to get through the sixth grade just so I can start high school and do that too.”
Now that it was sunset, they decided to check out the rest of Colby next time. Lacey reassured Aiden that outside of the beach and downtown, the rest of the town was just neighborhoods. After buying a couple of waters from the corner store, they walked back towards the alleyway, through the small neighborhood and down the stairs to return to the boardwalk.
“Come on, let’s take a break on the beach!” Lacey suggested. “In my opinion, this is the best time to enjoy it.” She took Aiden’s hand now, lacing her fingers through his as she tugged him onto the sand.
There was a good distance from the boardwalk to the ocean. Lacey did not stop until the waves drowned out the noises coming from the boardwalk. “Here,” she said as she dug into her tote and pulled out a towel for Aiden. With his help, they laid out both of their towels right next to each other. Lacey dropped her bag on top of the left towel then carefully sat down.
Once they were both situated, Lacey leaned forward to once again dig into her bag. It didn’t take long for her to retrieve her phone then pull up the camera app. “Hey, come in closer!” she told Aiden, hooking her right arm around his left. She then tilted her head toward him until it was resting on his shoulder. As her smile brightened, she snapped the photo.
After photos were taken, Lacey abandoned her phone at the bottom of her bag. She couldn’t even bother trying to grab it seeing as she was now laid out on her towel far away from her bag. She once more told Aiden stories of various memories she had while she lived or visited Colby. Most of them, naturally, revolved around numerous trips to the beach. It was the best she could do to not think about how Aiden still kept his shoulder in the sling. As much as she wanted to point out that it was a good time to let the shoulder out, she worried it would ruin the mood she worked so hard to build up. For the first time in ages, she could tell that Aiden was enjoying himself. She could not even remember the last time he was legitimately happy while he was around her. It was a risk if she brought up doctor’s orders now.
An unknown amount of time passed until Lacey finally pushed herself up into a sitting position. The sun moved quite a bit. There was still time left until it faded away into the horizon. “Hey, Aiden?” she called out to her step-brother, turning away from the sun and the ocean to look at him. “I’m gonna go out there and swim a bit while the sun is out. Do you wanna come with me?” She immediately noted the look on Aiden’s face. “You don’t have to go all the way in, of course. Just soak your feet and stuff.” Now she turned her entire body so that she was fully facing him. “Please?”
Her tank top and shorts sat in a neat pile right on top of her bag. After a quick glance out to the ocean, she adjusted the bottoms of her swimsuit then turned to look at Aiden again. “Let’s go?” Her smile brightened with excitement. She once again reached out to her big brother, watching as he once again took her hand in his. For a second, she paused to just gaze at their hands. The way Aiden’s hands completely enveloped hers. The comforting firmness of his grip. The warmth that radiated from skin to skin. No matter what the occasion, anytime Aiden held her hand, Lacey immediately felt safe; like nothing in the world could ever hurt her so long as Aiden was right there.
Then Lacey took a step off the towel, her feet immediately sinking into the cool sand. She tugged Aiden closer to the waves until the first one crashed against their feet. That was when she stopped and waited for him to take his place at her side. She watched the waves crash for a time just to allow their hands to remain together for a little while longer. Then, after a firm squeeze of his hand, Lacey looked up at Aiden, flashed him a soft smile then began to let go.
They didn’t fully let go, not until Lacey was far enough into the water that not even their fingertips touched. Before she walked further in, she glanced back at Aiden one last time. She hoped, deep down, that he would be okay. As excited as she was to take a dip in the ocean, she worried her swim would dampen Aiden’s mood and that was the last thing she wanted from their trip. So, as the waves crashed against the back of her thighs, she gazed at her step-brother, waiting patiently for any indication that he was really okay with this.
“It doesn’t look like much, but, like, Jesse’s Turf ‘N’ Stuff hands down has the best grab and go beach food. He has this, like, secret recipe seasoning for his fries and he has this magic touch of knowing when exactly to take it out of the fryer. Like, perfect every single time,” Lacey explained as she led Aiden over to one of the food stands along the boardwalk. Jesse’s Turf ‘N’ Stuff was a play on surf and turf without actually serving surf and turf. When Lacey was growing up, her dad told her that Jesse, the owner, picked the name thinking it was to reference surfing and turf wars. Obviously, Jesse never went to any kind of culinary school. It was for this reason that, when looking up at the faded old sign, the first thing you notice is the surfboard design of the sign with “SURF N” still etched into the wood as if the letters were there some time before “N STUFF” were added after “TURF”.
“Tryyyy not to ask Jesse about the sign? He’s cool and all, but he gets a bit touchy on the topic,” Lacey explained as they approached the open counter.
As always, Jesse never manned the front. It was common knowledge in Colby that he trusted no one with his fryer. Sure, he sometimes hired another chef to handle the stove and grill during the vacation season, but no one was allowed to mess with his fryer. It goes back to his magical fries. Mess with the settings of the fryer even by the smallest degree, you were fired on the spot. Stories around town claim that the fryer was the reason Jesse’s first and only marriage failed. From that moment on, Jesse stationed himself near the fryer while whatever Colby high schooler that needed a job worked the front.
While she ignored the turning sensation in her stomach, Lacey ordered
It seemed that the moment Lacey arrived in Colby she caught a terrible case of the bad timings. As they waited for their order near the Pick-Up area of the counter, Lacey could have sworn she heard someone call out her name. But having been too focused on watching Jesse work his magic with his one and only love, by the time it registered to her what happened, there was no one nearby. The only people she noticed that were nearby enough to call out to her were a group of bike riders. None of them ever looked back to her. They just kept riding.
“Okay, please eat these by itself first. You have to experience the secret recipe seasoning,” Lacey was practically begging as they took a seat on the bench across the way from Jesse’s Turf ‘N’ Stuff. For good measure, she offered to try a fry with him. But as he popped the first, fresh fry into his mouth, Lacey’s still remained pressed between her two fingers. The temptation to eat it was there, but it was having the most intense battle with her stomach as it opposed the amount of oil that had to be in the one fry. It wasn’t until Aiden ate his fifth or sixth fry did she finally take a careful bite of her first one.
As
“This is a good opportunity to let your shoulder out again. Give it a bit to relax after driving for two hours,” she added, thinking the idea would appeal to him the most. But as Aiden took far too long to respond to the suggestion, Lacey’s hopeful smile faltered some. This behavior was something she picked up on since his doctor’s appointment last week; the hesitancy to abide by the doctor’s orders to let his shoulder out of the sling. Lacey didn’t understand why he was being so stubborn about this. She thought that being given the okay to stop wearing the sling even for a few minutes a day would make Aiden happy. If anything, it made him more...irritable.
But, as always, Lacey was too nervous to bring it up in their conversations. She just hoped that one day she would be able to suggest he let his shoulder out of the sling without his mood suddenly dropping.
When Aiden decided on a continued tour of the town, Lacey suppressed the urge to sigh by grabbing another fry. “Sure, we can do that,” she agreed, flashing him a smile. “You know, despite it being a small town, it’s going to take us, like, all day to see all of Colby. Buuuuut, maybe if you let me drive the car, our tour would be cut down by so much.” That idea was shot down so fast. Did she really think a different result would come out of it? Not really. But if it wasn’t obvious by now, she was just as stubborn and strong willed as her step-brother.
For the duration of the afternoon, Lacey took Aiden down the rest of the boardwalk. Every so often, she would drag him into a boutique or a shop to take a look inside. It wasn’t for the intention to buy anything. She just wanted to look. Once they reached the end of the boardwalk, a small parking lot that was slightly elevated from sea level, Lacey led Aiden up a short flight of stairs. At the top was a small road lined on both sides with tri-story houses. They were the type of houses that looked small from the front, but extended towards the back. Lacey told Aiden that not many locals lived in these houses. Instead, they’re usually bought as investment properties. Most of them are used by tourists or other types of visitors that want the at-home vibe for their vacation. These houses are especially high in demand during spring break.
At the end of the small neighborhood, it was another five minutes down an alleyway until they reached the high street. Lacey told Aiden that this was considered “downtown.” It was nothing compared to downtown areas like Portland. There were no high rise buildings that were basically blocking the sky. In fact, the tallest building in downtown was the three story apartment complex right across the street from the bank. The high street was lined with some of the more recognizable stores and restaurants. As they walked past said stores, Lacey explained that this is the place that had the most foot traffic. “You’d be surprised how many, like, trendy shops are here. One time, my dad complained about this coffee shop that opened up down the street from the one Starbucks here in downtown. He could not believe they were charging over five bucks for coffee.” She wondered if this coffee shop was even still around since her dad’s rant.
“Okay, so,” Lacey started as they turned the corner past an ice cream parlor, “If you, like, turn left from that next stop sign, it’s about a fifteen minute walk to the high school. And then from the high school, it’s about a five minute walk to the middle school? They’re like basically down the street from each other? When I was still going to Colby Middle School, I remembered thinking it was so cool that some of the high schoolers got to leave early and just chill downtown. I remember being so impatient to get through the sixth grade just so I can start high school and do that too.”
Now that it was sunset, they decided to check out the rest of Colby next time. Lacey reassured Aiden that outside of the beach and downtown, the rest of the town was just neighborhoods. After buying a couple of waters from the corner store, they walked back towards the alleyway, through the small neighborhood and down the stairs to return to the boardwalk.
“Come on, let’s take a break on the beach!” Lacey suggested. “In my opinion, this is the best time to enjoy it.” She took Aiden’s hand now, lacing her fingers through his as she tugged him onto the sand.
There was a good distance from the boardwalk to the ocean. Lacey did not stop until the waves drowned out the noises coming from the boardwalk. “Here,” she said as she dug into her tote and pulled out a towel for Aiden. With his help, they laid out both of their towels right next to each other. Lacey dropped her bag on top of the left towel then carefully sat down.
Once they were both situated, Lacey leaned forward to once again dig into her bag. It didn’t take long for her to retrieve her phone then pull up the camera app. “Hey, come in closer!” she told Aiden, hooking her right arm around his left. She then tilted her head toward him until it was resting on his shoulder. As her smile brightened, she snapped the photo.
After photos were taken, Lacey abandoned her phone at the bottom of her bag. She couldn’t even bother trying to grab it seeing as she was now laid out on her towel far away from her bag. She once more told Aiden stories of various memories she had while she lived or visited Colby. Most of them, naturally, revolved around numerous trips to the beach. It was the best she could do to not think about how Aiden still kept his shoulder in the sling. As much as she wanted to point out that it was a good time to let the shoulder out, she worried it would ruin the mood she worked so hard to build up. For the first time in ages, she could tell that Aiden was enjoying himself. She could not even remember the last time he was legitimately happy while he was around her. It was a risk if she brought up doctor’s orders now.
An unknown amount of time passed until Lacey finally pushed herself up into a sitting position. The sun moved quite a bit. There was still time left until it faded away into the horizon. “Hey, Aiden?” she called out to her step-brother, turning away from the sun and the ocean to look at him. “I’m gonna go out there and swim a bit while the sun is out. Do you wanna come with me?” She immediately noted the look on Aiden’s face. “You don’t have to go all the way in, of course. Just soak your feet and stuff.” Now she turned her entire body so that she was fully facing him. “Please?”
Her tank top and shorts sat in a neat pile right on top of her bag. After a quick glance out to the ocean, she adjusted the bottoms of her swimsuit then turned to look at Aiden again. “Let’s go?” Her smile brightened with excitement. She once again reached out to her big brother, watching as he once again took her hand in his. For a second, she paused to just gaze at their hands. The way Aiden’s hands completely enveloped hers. The comforting firmness of his grip. The warmth that radiated from skin to skin. No matter what the occasion, anytime Aiden held her hand, Lacey immediately felt safe; like nothing in the world could ever hurt her so long as Aiden was right there.
Then Lacey took a step off the towel, her feet immediately sinking into the cool sand. She tugged Aiden closer to the waves until the first one crashed against their feet. That was when she stopped and waited for him to take his place at her side. She watched the waves crash for a time just to allow their hands to remain together for a little while longer. Then, after a firm squeeze of his hand, Lacey looked up at Aiden, flashed him a soft smile then began to let go.
They didn’t fully let go, not until Lacey was far enough into the water that not even their fingertips touched. Before she walked further in, she glanced back at Aiden one last time. She hoped, deep down, that he would be okay. As excited as she was to take a dip in the ocean, she worried her swim would dampen Aiden’s mood and that was the last thing she wanted from their trip. So, as the waves crashed against the back of her thighs, she gazed at her step-brother, waiting patiently for any indication that he was really okay with this.
OP
OP
JINFINITE
Super-Earth
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- The Island of Eroda
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It was nice to sit after they’d been walking around Colby all day, but sitting on the beach just wasn’t quite as comfortable for Aiden now as it normally would have been. He would have loved to join Lacey in laying down on the towel she had brought him. One of Aiden’s favorite feelings was to lay on his stomach at the beach. It always had been, even since he was a little boy back in Italy. To close his eyes and just listen to the waves crashing in the background. It didn’t even need to be sunny out, he was fine being at the beach in his hoodie. It was just such a relaxing experience and one that he didn’t get to have very often back at home despite the fact that they lived so close to the water. He just never had the spare time to drive to the nearest accessible beach— between swimming and school, Aiden was always busy. But now he had nothing. There were no responsibilities holding him back, he was able to just be at the beach with his step sister and without anything weighing him down.
Only, Aiden was still getting bulldozed by stress. He sat with his legs crossed and his upper body a little hunched forward. He couldn’t lay down now on the beach like he wanted. There was absolutely no way he could lay on his stomach, it would crush his arm in its sling. And the thought of laying on his back without his pillows just sounded awful. All that pressure on his shoulder? Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad— maybe he could just take his arm out like Lacey kept asking him about— but Aiden knew better. At least, he knew better than to expect good things to come out of it. Just about everything hurt his arm these days. Was it supposed to still hurt? Was this just him being stiff after being immobilized for over a month? Was he just weak?
A couple surfers passed by and Aiden found himself just idly staring at them. His own hair was getting fairly shaggy and he was starting to look the part of a surfer boy himself; he almost looked like he fit in and belonged here on the beach instead of his usual clean cut pool look. He hadn’t left his apartment to get a haircut since a couple weeks before his accident at least, and it definitely showed. The ocean breeze blew his bangs into his face but rather than moving them he just left them to obscure his view of the surfers as they grew farther and farther away.
It wasn’t exactly that he felt insecure about himself next to them. Aiden had never really been one to compare himself to others like that. But seeing their obviously toned bodies definitely made him feel a certain type of way. It was like...that feeling when you’ve been sick and too weak to shower for a couple days. You just feel gross and everything about yourself starts to bother you. So it wasn’t that Aiden felt he didn’t look as fit as them or anything; he was jealous of them in the sense that they could look like that.
He never thought he would say this, but he was really missing working out. It had always been a helpful outlet for him to release any pent up feelings, especially his short temper. Any time he was in a mood he would just go for a run until he was too tired to be angry anymore. Or endless sets of planks and crunches where his mind could just zone out of the pain that came from working out and just focus his thoughts on other thingslike Lacey. But he couldn’t do any of that now. Any active movements that jostled his shoulder just weren’t worth putting up with. And doing squats or lunges or something just wasn’t the same satisfactory feeling. He didn’t get any sort of release from those. He needed more challenging exercises, but he hadn’t dared even consider trying again after Daniel had caught him before. It had hurt so much, he was definitely turned off from the idea now. But so on top of all his bottled up emotions, Aiden now had this weird relationship with his own body. It wasn’t quite the same as someone feeling like they were gaining weight— because if anything he was losing it— but he was feeling weaker with each week rather than feeling like his body was getting stronger post-surgery. Wasn’t he supposed to be recovering? He already knew he wouldn’t swim again, the doctor had been perfectly clear about that. But did that mean he was gonna be some frail, flabby kid now? Benched for the rest of his life and forced to watch others live out their dreams and passions right in front of him?
Lacey’s voice called him back out of his negative headspace and dumped him back into another one, but at least she was in this one to keep him company instead of the isolation he kept putting himself into. He already didn’t really want to be here on the beach, but it was okay with her here. Now she was asking him to go into the water. With her of course, but did that really make much of a difference now? The beach was one thing. It was a gentle tease being so close to the water without actually being in it. There were plenty of beach activities to take part in that didn’t involve water, like the sunbathing they had been doing. This had been perfectly fine just sitting here soaking up all the vitamin D with the occasional breeze balancing the temperature. But going into the water? That was a harsh tease, even with all of Lacey’s best intentions in mind. He hadn’t gone near a body of water, man made or natural, since his accident. And honestly? He wasn’t sure he was ready to, even if it was just to get his feet wet.
But Lacey’s smile, that look in her eyes and her single “please” won Aiden over just about every time. How could he ever say no to that? He watched on absentmindedly as she slipped out of her beach attire to reveal her swimsuit she’d worn underneath. He was plenty used to it, they changed in front of each other plenty of times before. It wasn’t that her outfit got him particularly excited or upset, b seeing her in her swimsuit always brought this surge of protectiveness out of him, and even now he glanced around them as if expecting to have to fend off a bystander’s unwanted gaze. But they were completely alone, those surfers from earlier long gone and Lacey had made them walk so far out onto the beach that most people were too lazy to venture out here. There was no one, and so Aiden’s gaze returned to watch Lacey’s back until she turned to face him at which point he blinked out of his mini daze to look upaway from her body and meet her gaze. She looked so happy, and excited. She usually did. And usually it was infectious and would flip his moods at the drop of a hat. But lately it was just so hard to even meet her halfway. Aiden tried to smile back, he put on the best face he could manage as he took the hand she offered and focused all of his protectiveness into his grip.
He would be lying if he said the water on his feet didn’t feel good. It was a feeling he had grown to miss— to crave even. He longed so badly for that weightlessness that came from floating in water. To just lay back and let the movement of the water push him around...it was a feeling he would no longer get to experience and that knowledge hit him hard until Lacey reminded him that she was at his side still. He was almost entranced for a moment, seeing the sunlight sparkling in the water behind her as she filled his vision. But as her fingers slipped free so did that moment, leaving him standing in the cold, wet sand with the surf up to his shins at its highest point.
She was hesitating to leave him. Finally a natural Aiden reaction came out as he now kicked out at her, sending ocean water splashing in her direction as his smile grew playful in nature, ”What are you waiting for? Go~”
But the second she turned back around his smile fell and he swallowed heavily. Any other day and he would have raced her into the water, tackling her even if he was hyped enough. But today his feet were glued in place and nothing could tempt him to follow her any further.
Ever since stepping foot on the beach Aiden had been haunted by this strange dejavu but he really could not put his finger on it. He’d never been here before. And beach trips weren’t exactly a common thing for them. So why…? But as soon as Lacey’s back had turned towards him he figured it out. Or rather, the explanation hit him like a ton of bricks. His mind flashed back to that day oh so many weeks ago when he’d taken Lacey to the hair salon. He’d fallen asleep waiting for her and had dreamt of them at the beach only in the reverse; Aiden had been the one walking out into the waves while Lacey waited on the beach. Thenightmare dream had just been one of many back then while he was fatigued from stress but it clearly hadn’t really stuck with him if he had forgotten about it until now. So then, why was it haunting him now?
He couldn’t stand here watching her back any longer. It was just a stupid dream, Lacey would be fine. Aiden turned to walk back towards the beach while she continued further and further out into the water. He didn’t go all the way back like to their towels, just to the very edge of the surf where he could sit on dry sand and the water just barely lapped at his feet.
Aiden had never felt such a disconnect to the water before. Yeah there had been days he didn’t want to swim, days he hated practice, days the pool was the last place he wanted to be. But never had he felt such a physical reaction to being in it. The water was taunting him now, laughing in his face that he could never get his life back. But while Aiden usually responded aggressively to taunts and would fight back, today he fled. It was just the ocean, it wasn’t like there were any expectations of him here. No one was watching him. There weren’t any qualifications he had to meet or records to break. No one to kick him when he was already down. It should have been the perfect place to break free and let loose of all he’d been holding onto. But he just couldn’t bring himself to go any further. It was so conflicting for him to experience and even harder to describe, but if he had to attach a word to the feeling then it was definitely fear.
Sitting on the beach wasn’t a completely miserable experience. As bittersweet as it was, he did truly enjoy watching Lacey play in the water. At least she was happy. When they got back to their room it was Aiden’s turn to call dibs on the shower. A part of him knew he should let Lacey go first since she had been the one to go swimming in the ocean, but he was allowed to be selfish from time to time as part of his older brother duties. A part of the truth was that his shoulder really was starting to bother him by now. Lacey had pointed out several times today that he should let it out and rest; he had driven two hours and then they went straight to exploring as soon as they arrived, it was definitely sore and stiff now. True he could have just taken it out while waiting for Lacey to shower first, but Aiden was feeling this need to hermit away and so the bathroom would have to do. Maybe the hot water would help him relax and wash away all those weird mixed emotions that had been sitting on the beach with him.
Aiden turned the water on right away so the sound masked the pained noises he made after unhooking his sling and ever so slowly lowering his arm to his side. It sort of clicked uncomfortably into place and he bit down hard on his lower lip as he continued on to slip his tank top off. That part was easy at least, but he still didn’t get into the shower yet. Instead Aiden found himself staring rather intently at his shirtless reflection in the mirror before the steam would inevitably fog it up. His eyes had gotten stuck on the long scar along his collar bone. There was still some faint bruising around it and his shoulder in general, but the swelling had all vanished by now so it had to be close to fully healed by now. As far as outward appearances went anyways. He ran his left hand across the scar, nothing. The pain really only stemmed from movement. He almost wished it had hurt. Maybe then he would find it easier to justify his feelings. Maybe then he would feel like he had something real to complain about. Frustrated with himself, Aiden finally got into the water after stepping out of his shorts.
The shower did help him finally relax, and when he swapped with Lacey he now had the hotel room to himself to relax in his newfound relaxed state. Yes, calling dibs on the shower had been a good move after all. Aiden didn’t feel up to fooling with the sling, and he was supposed to leave his arm out anyways, so instead he arranged the pillows on one of the beds to better support and cushion his shoulder before laying back to stare up at the ceiling. He probably could have drifted off to sleep but hearing the bathroom door sort of woke him back up before he could.
There was some shuffling sounds from Lacey, maybe she was unpacking things or setting out clothes for later, he wasn’t really sure and didn’t want to make the effort to sit up and check. But after a minute or two of silence he finally spoke up about something that had been bothering him since they first arrived. Well, bother wasn’t really the right word, but it had been on his mind all day, “Do you miss living here?”
Lacey seemed to just fit back in so perfectly here. Everywhere they went today and everything they had done had just felt so incredibly Lacey. It was like this was where she truly belonged, ”Like— would you ever want to move back?” It wasn’t really until today that Aiden sort of realized that he was really struggling with a sense of belonging, identity and community. Without swimming now, who was he? He had left Italy so many years ago that it no longer felt like home. He didn’t hate his memories there by any means, just thinking back on them now it felt more like visiting a summer home or your relatives. He was happy at the time, but it no longer felt like his. It wasn’t until his father settled down here in Oregon that he had lived in the same place for longer than two years. So this was home now, but his entire life had been oriented around swimming. He didn’t really have an existence outside of the pool. His friend group was all just teammates so without the pool he no longer hung out with anyone. Daniel was the obvious exception to that, but now that their schedules didn’t naturally overlap it was getting harder and harder to see his best friend too. Aiden didn’t really have hobbies outside of swimming. Sure he liked music and loved to kill time in the music store but it wasn’t exactly like he had any interest in picking up music as like, an activity. Aiden’s life basically didn’t exist outside of the four walls of his apartment with Lacey. He was just a floating existing wasting space. But while Colby was nice so far, he couldn’t exactly picture himself here. Something about it just...he just didn’t quite feel like he fit in. It was nice to visit, but he just could not picture actually living here. When he used to get really mad at his father he would envision himself uprooting his life and catching the next flight to Italy. But did he actually want to go back? It’s not like he had anything or anyone waiting for him. Everywhere he looked there was nothing left for him, except that next to him right now was Lacey and she was about the only thing keeping him going at this point.
Only, Aiden was still getting bulldozed by stress. He sat with his legs crossed and his upper body a little hunched forward. He couldn’t lay down now on the beach like he wanted. There was absolutely no way he could lay on his stomach, it would crush his arm in its sling. And the thought of laying on his back without his pillows just sounded awful. All that pressure on his shoulder? Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad— maybe he could just take his arm out like Lacey kept asking him about— but Aiden knew better. At least, he knew better than to expect good things to come out of it. Just about everything hurt his arm these days. Was it supposed to still hurt? Was this just him being stiff after being immobilized for over a month? Was he just weak?
A couple surfers passed by and Aiden found himself just idly staring at them. His own hair was getting fairly shaggy and he was starting to look the part of a surfer boy himself; he almost looked like he fit in and belonged here on the beach instead of his usual clean cut pool look. He hadn’t left his apartment to get a haircut since a couple weeks before his accident at least, and it definitely showed. The ocean breeze blew his bangs into his face but rather than moving them he just left them to obscure his view of the surfers as they grew farther and farther away.
It wasn’t exactly that he felt insecure about himself next to them. Aiden had never really been one to compare himself to others like that. But seeing their obviously toned bodies definitely made him feel a certain type of way. It was like...that feeling when you’ve been sick and too weak to shower for a couple days. You just feel gross and everything about yourself starts to bother you. So it wasn’t that Aiden felt he didn’t look as fit as them or anything; he was jealous of them in the sense that they could look like that.
He never thought he would say this, but he was really missing working out. It had always been a helpful outlet for him to release any pent up feelings, especially his short temper. Any time he was in a mood he would just go for a run until he was too tired to be angry anymore. Or endless sets of planks and crunches where his mind could just zone out of the pain that came from working out and just focus his thoughts on other things
Lacey’s voice called him back out of his negative headspace and dumped him back into another one, but at least she was in this one to keep him company instead of the isolation he kept putting himself into. He already didn’t really want to be here on the beach, but it was okay with her here. Now she was asking him to go into the water. With her of course, but did that really make much of a difference now? The beach was one thing. It was a gentle tease being so close to the water without actually being in it. There were plenty of beach activities to take part in that didn’t involve water, like the sunbathing they had been doing. This had been perfectly fine just sitting here soaking up all the vitamin D with the occasional breeze balancing the temperature. But going into the water? That was a harsh tease, even with all of Lacey’s best intentions in mind. He hadn’t gone near a body of water, man made or natural, since his accident. And honestly? He wasn’t sure he was ready to, even if it was just to get his feet wet.
But Lacey’s smile, that look in her eyes and her single “please” won Aiden over just about every time. How could he ever say no to that? He watched on absentmindedly as she slipped out of her beach attire to reveal her swimsuit she’d worn underneath. He was plenty used to it, they changed in front of each other plenty of times before. It wasn’t that her outfit got him particularly excited or upset, b seeing her in her swimsuit always brought this surge of protectiveness out of him, and even now he glanced around them as if expecting to have to fend off a bystander’s unwanted gaze. But they were completely alone, those surfers from earlier long gone and Lacey had made them walk so far out onto the beach that most people were too lazy to venture out here. There was no one, and so Aiden’s gaze returned to watch Lacey’s back until she turned to face him at which point he blinked out of his mini daze to look up
He would be lying if he said the water on his feet didn’t feel good. It was a feeling he had grown to miss— to crave even. He longed so badly for that weightlessness that came from floating in water. To just lay back and let the movement of the water push him around...it was a feeling he would no longer get to experience and that knowledge hit him hard until Lacey reminded him that she was at his side still. He was almost entranced for a moment, seeing the sunlight sparkling in the water behind her as she filled his vision. But as her fingers slipped free so did that moment, leaving him standing in the cold, wet sand with the surf up to his shins at its highest point.
She was hesitating to leave him. Finally a natural Aiden reaction came out as he now kicked out at her, sending ocean water splashing in her direction as his smile grew playful in nature, ”What are you waiting for? Go~”
But the second she turned back around his smile fell and he swallowed heavily. Any other day and he would have raced her into the water, tackling her even if he was hyped enough. But today his feet were glued in place and nothing could tempt him to follow her any further.
Ever since stepping foot on the beach Aiden had been haunted by this strange dejavu but he really could not put his finger on it. He’d never been here before. And beach trips weren’t exactly a common thing for them. So why…? But as soon as Lacey’s back had turned towards him he figured it out. Or rather, the explanation hit him like a ton of bricks. His mind flashed back to that day oh so many weeks ago when he’d taken Lacey to the hair salon. He’d fallen asleep waiting for her and had dreamt of them at the beach only in the reverse; Aiden had been the one walking out into the waves while Lacey waited on the beach. The
He couldn’t stand here watching her back any longer. It was just a stupid dream, Lacey would be fine. Aiden turned to walk back towards the beach while she continued further and further out into the water. He didn’t go all the way back like to their towels, just to the very edge of the surf where he could sit on dry sand and the water just barely lapped at his feet.
Aiden had never felt such a disconnect to the water before. Yeah there had been days he didn’t want to swim, days he hated practice, days the pool was the last place he wanted to be. But never had he felt such a physical reaction to being in it. The water was taunting him now, laughing in his face that he could never get his life back. But while Aiden usually responded aggressively to taunts and would fight back, today he fled. It was just the ocean, it wasn’t like there were any expectations of him here. No one was watching him. There weren’t any qualifications he had to meet or records to break. No one to kick him when he was already down. It should have been the perfect place to break free and let loose of all he’d been holding onto. But he just couldn’t bring himself to go any further. It was so conflicting for him to experience and even harder to describe, but if he had to attach a word to the feeling then it was definitely fear.
Sitting on the beach wasn’t a completely miserable experience. As bittersweet as it was, he did truly enjoy watching Lacey play in the water. At least she was happy. When they got back to their room it was Aiden’s turn to call dibs on the shower. A part of him knew he should let Lacey go first since she had been the one to go swimming in the ocean, but he was allowed to be selfish from time to time as part of his older brother duties. A part of the truth was that his shoulder really was starting to bother him by now. Lacey had pointed out several times today that he should let it out and rest; he had driven two hours and then they went straight to exploring as soon as they arrived, it was definitely sore and stiff now. True he could have just taken it out while waiting for Lacey to shower first, but Aiden was feeling this need to hermit away and so the bathroom would have to do. Maybe the hot water would help him relax and wash away all those weird mixed emotions that had been sitting on the beach with him.
Aiden turned the water on right away so the sound masked the pained noises he made after unhooking his sling and ever so slowly lowering his arm to his side. It sort of clicked uncomfortably into place and he bit down hard on his lower lip as he continued on to slip his tank top off. That part was easy at least, but he still didn’t get into the shower yet. Instead Aiden found himself staring rather intently at his shirtless reflection in the mirror before the steam would inevitably fog it up. His eyes had gotten stuck on the long scar along his collar bone. There was still some faint bruising around it and his shoulder in general, but the swelling had all vanished by now so it had to be close to fully healed by now. As far as outward appearances went anyways. He ran his left hand across the scar, nothing. The pain really only stemmed from movement. He almost wished it had hurt. Maybe then he would find it easier to justify his feelings. Maybe then he would feel like he had something real to complain about. Frustrated with himself, Aiden finally got into the water after stepping out of his shorts.
The shower did help him finally relax, and when he swapped with Lacey he now had the hotel room to himself to relax in his newfound relaxed state. Yes, calling dibs on the shower had been a good move after all. Aiden didn’t feel up to fooling with the sling, and he was supposed to leave his arm out anyways, so instead he arranged the pillows on one of the beds to better support and cushion his shoulder before laying back to stare up at the ceiling. He probably could have drifted off to sleep but hearing the bathroom door sort of woke him back up before he could.
There was some shuffling sounds from Lacey, maybe she was unpacking things or setting out clothes for later, he wasn’t really sure and didn’t want to make the effort to sit up and check. But after a minute or two of silence he finally spoke up about something that had been bothering him since they first arrived. Well, bother wasn’t really the right word, but it had been on his mind all day, “Do you miss living here?”
Lacey seemed to just fit back in so perfectly here. Everywhere they went today and everything they had done had just felt so incredibly Lacey. It was like this was where she truly belonged, ”Like— would you ever want to move back?” It wasn’t really until today that Aiden sort of realized that he was really struggling with a sense of belonging, identity and community. Without swimming now, who was he? He had left Italy so many years ago that it no longer felt like home. He didn’t hate his memories there by any means, just thinking back on them now it felt more like visiting a summer home or your relatives. He was happy at the time, but it no longer felt like his. It wasn’t until his father settled down here in Oregon that he had lived in the same place for longer than two years. So this was home now, but his entire life had been oriented around swimming. He didn’t really have an existence outside of the pool. His friend group was all just teammates so without the pool he no longer hung out with anyone. Daniel was the obvious exception to that, but now that their schedules didn’t naturally overlap it was getting harder and harder to see his best friend too. Aiden didn’t really have hobbies outside of swimming. Sure he liked music and loved to kill time in the music store but it wasn’t exactly like he had any interest in picking up music as like, an activity. Aiden’s life basically didn’t exist outside of the four walls of his apartment with Lacey. He was just a floating existing wasting space. But while Colby was nice so far, he couldn’t exactly picture himself here. Something about it just...he just didn’t quite feel like he fit in. It was nice to visit, but he just could not picture actually living here. When he used to get really mad at his father he would envision himself uprooting his life and catching the next flight to Italy. But did he actually want to go back? It’s not like he had anything or anyone waiting for him. Everywhere he looked there was nothing left for him, except that next to him right now was Lacey and she was about the only thing keeping him going at this point.
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feelsHASkilig
Solo Conversationalist
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- Page Two Hundred & Forty-Nine
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Once she was fully submerged under the ocean waves, a memory flashed in Lacey’s mind and warped her sense of reality. She was suddenly four years younger. It was the first weekend back in Colby after her mother remarried. At the time, while she was thrilled for her mother, she was also adjusting to the news that her dad was now also seeing someone. It wasn’t until meeting Kristen for the first time that she realized she held on to a slim glimmer of hope that maybe...just maybe...her life might go back to normal. Don’t get Lacey wrong. She was happy for her parents. They were with people that made them happy. Except, where did that leave her? Would she be okay coming to terms that her life now consisted of living two hours away from her home and only being able to visit during the weekends? But all those thoughts and worries faded away as soon as she dove under the ocean’s surface leaving her with nothing but a calm silence. It was the same feeling four years later.
Aiden was not the only one that found solace in the water. Having been born and raised in Colby, it would be a sin for her to hate it. One of her earliest memories was playing in the very ocean she was swimming in while in her dad’s arms. As she got older, the beach and the ocean became her way of escape; especially during the final years when her parents’ marriage started to crumble. Her childhood home is a short bike ride from the beach. When the house was too tense for little Lacey, she would always take her bike and spend a couple hours sitting on the sand. Or, if tensions were so high that it affected her as well, she would spend half of that time in the water. For years, the beach was always there for her when she needed it.
Obviously, she was no Aiden. She couldn’t stay underwater for over a minute before needing to come up for air. But each time she did, it was always to face in the direction of the ocean. Each time she took in a deep breath, she gazed at nothing but the vast water while the sun gradually slipped down into the horizon. Whatever was behind her didn’t exist, not even her brother.
She had no idea how much time passed when she finally made the decision that she had enough. That was when she turned toward the beach for the first time since she turned her back toward Aiden. Sure enough, he was still there watching her in that usual way that made her feel safe. It was that very sight that brought her back to shore despite this strange feeling in her stomach that was similar to the dread she felt four years ago when she needed to go home. It wasn’t the same exact feeling, not in the slightest. She could never dread being with Aiden. But try as she might, she could not fully ignore that the feeling was there and growing the closer she got to shore.
Back in their room, Lacey realized that she didn’t have much to do to occupy herself while Aiden took his turn in the bathroom. She considered venturing downstairs to get Aiden something to eat for dinner, but after browsing the menu left in their room she couldn’t use her typical Aiden senses to figure out what he liked. She then tried to use this time to unpack and store her clothes into one of the empty drawers, but the shower still running by the time she closed the drawer. When her step brother left the bathroom open for her to take her turn, she resorted to calling her mother like she promised she would to update her on their first day in Colby.
The first thought Lacey had once she stepped out of the bathroom was to ask Aiden about what he wanted to eat for dinner. There was only an hour left before the kitchen closed for the evening and she didn’t want to cut it close or else they would have to resort to ordering pizza or something. As accommodating as Lacey tended to be for Aiden’s sake, the thought of a pizza in their small room was already making her stomach turn. After dumping the clothes she wore today into her luggage, Lacey moved to look over at Aiden as her lips parted ready to speak.
But Aiden beat her to the punch and his question left her speechless. That’s not to say she never thought about the possibility of moving back to Colby. Or how much she missed living in Colby. It was on her mind every month around the time she was scheduled to stay with her dad, but couldn’t because of work. But they were thoughts that only she knew. She’s never once spoken them out loud. As she stared at Aiden, she wondered if she should keep it that way.
“Um…” she started slowly, taking a seat beside Aiden on his bed. It unnerved her a little the way he stared at her while he waited for her answer. This only made her more nervous to tell him the truth. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings or make him think that she would rather be here in Colby than a mere ten minutes away from him.
But she had to say something. The silence between them was reaching the point of awkwardness. Lacey fidgeted in her seat then ran a hand through her damp hair. She had to say something, now.
“I guess...yes and no?” she said with uncertainty. As she spoke, she mostly stared at her hands on her lap. “I mean, yeah I do miss Colby. The friends I grew up with are still here. And there’s my dad. But it’s not like...you know...I’ve been here a lot recently….” She let the sentence fade as she once again drifted off into previous thoughts. It’s been over six months since she last visited Colby. Her baby half brother, Luca, wasn’t even born at that time. Even without coming to visit her dad and his new family, she knew. She knew she was way past being able to come back to Colby, at least as more than just a visitor. Try as she might to avoid the obvious, she knew that she no longer had a place here. Life in Colby has moved on without her.
“I don’t know?” she tried again. “I love this place. I always will. But...I dunno...I feel like Colby is more a part of me than I am a part of it. Does that make sense?” She sighed as she looked at her step-brother to see if he was following.
After taking a deep breath, Lacey forced a smile on her face as she pushed herself off Aiden’s bed to stand in front of him. “Besides,” she started, “now that my baby brother is born, I can’t imagine my dad will even have room in his house to fit me, you know?” In an attempt to pull the conversation away from this topic, Lacey looked over at the clock on the bedside table between them to check the time. “Hey, the kitchen is gonna close soon, what do you wanna eat for dinner?”
Lacey found it difficult to sleep for more than an hour that night and she didn’t exactly know why. The temperature in their room was just fine. The sound of the crashing waves outside their window was soothing. And there was nothing wrong with her bed. The mattress was sturdy and her blanket was warm. Yet she spent more time staring at the wall than fast asleep. It wasn’t until around three that Lacey turned away from the wall to face Aiden’s side of the room. Even through the darkness, she could see her step-brother’s silhouette as he adjusted his position on his bed. Was he awake too? Lacey didn’t dare make another move, instead watching him for another few minutes. She heard him groan after it sounded like he adjusted positions again, followed by a sigh. She wanted so badly to just go over to him, even if her being on his bed with him wouldn’t make his sleeping situation any better.
But she kept as still as possible in her bed. They weren’t back in his apartment. With two big beds for each of them, she had no reason to be the bratty little sister she was allowed to be in his small one bedroom apartment. She had no reason to share a bed with him as much as she wanted to.
As this sinking feeling of defeat consumed her, Lacey turned to her other side then buried her face into her pillow and forced her eyes closed until she eventually went back to sleep.
After another failed attempt to stay asleep, Lacey remained awake until seven. She alternated this time between staring at the wall as it changed from black to white and aimlessly browsing social media on her phone. She just didn’t want to bother Aiden right now just in case he did end up getting some sleep. But once she could no longer tolerate staring at either option, she turned so that she was once again facing Aiden’s side of the room. Save for whatever light peeked in from the black out curtains, it was still pretty dark in their room. She could sort of see more of Aiden’s features with the limited light, but it was still anyone’s guess if he actually was awake or not.
At least it was after seven now. It wasn’t too much of a big deal if she decided to turn on the light. Lacey stretched her arm out of her blanket to flip the switch to turn on the light. Just as she guessed, Aiden seemed to be awake albeit most likely against his will. A frown momentarily appeared on Lacey’s face taking in his pained look. “Are you okay?” she asked, concerned. She then pushed up onto her elbows to better look at him. “Was your shoulder bothering you last night?”
It took the step siblings another couple hours to be prepared to take on a new day in Colby. Now dressed in a bright sundress over another one of her new swimsuits with her hair down over one shoulder, Lacey stood behind Aiden to help him put on his sling. They didn’t say much to each other as they did this. In fact, they hadn’t really said much to each other all morning after she suggested he let his shoulder out of the sling for a while before they got dressed. As always, the topic of Aiden’s shoulder hit a sensitive spot in their time together. But now that the sling was back on, maybe his mood would brighten up some.
“Ready to go?” she asked while grabbing her purse off the bedside table. She watched as Aiden went through his usual wallet, phone, keys dance before he confirmed that he was ready. With a nod, she shouldered her purse then led the way out of their room.
Prior to the awkward silence between them, Lacey and Aiden discussed where they should go to eat breakfast this morning. Well, actually, the conversation was mostly led by Lacey in an attempt to find Aiden something to eat in case he was hungry. Just like yesterday, he gave her full control of the decision making and she decided that they should venture out of the inn. She was aware that the breakfast at the inn was great since her mother tended to come here almost every Saturday for brunch when they were still living in Colby. But Lacey wanted her step brother to experience what a real Colby Saturday morning looked like.
Randy’s Waffle House is a 24 hour diner right off the exit. Lacey talked Aiden’s ear off about this place the entire drive once she finished giving him directions. She told him about how when she was little she and her dad would stop at the diner for waffles before going home after one of his art showcases. Or how she and her friends once rode their bikes there even though they weren’t allowed near the highway. To any passersby that drove past Randy’s, it was just another diner for any weary traveler or truck driver that needed a pick me up. But for the residents of Colby, many traditions started, continued and ended there.
As Lacey climbed out of the passenger seat, she noticed that the small bike rack right outside the entrance was so full that some bikes had to be locked to other bikes. Having ridden a bike to the diner herself so many years ago, she couldn’t even imagine that many people wanted to do the very same thing.
Since it was near ten, the breakfast rush was starting to die down. Lacey and Aiden only had to wait about five minutes while tables were being cleared out and cleaned. “Try as they might, it’s near impossible to wipe up the years of syrup that spill onto the tables,” she whispered to Aiden as they watched one of the staff wipe a nearby table with a wet wash towel. When a waitress finally looked up from the cash register to find them there waiting to be seated, Lacey became momentarily distracted by the sound of laughter. She turned her head to find that one of the corner window tables was currently occupied by a group of guys that looked her age. Just one look at them told her that they were the owners of the billions of bikes currently outside. Well, that and the bike helmets sitting on the empty table behind them.
“Right this way,” came a voice suddenly. Lacey looked away from the bike group in time to watch the waitress walk past her to lead them to a table.
“Do you wanna share a plate? Their portions are huge here,” she asked as she looked at her menu. As excited as she was to be here with Aiden, she was also certain that were she to order her own plate she wouldn’t even finish half a waffle before she needed to call it quits. That is, if she even ordered waffles. She was already struggling to ignore the turning in her stomach the moment she registered that smell of bacon in the air. “If we get the breakfast platter, you can have the bacon or sau--” “Lacey?”
Lacey looked up from Aiden’s menu to find a girl with short pink hair staring right at her. Admittedly, Lacey initially had no idea who she was. But once she looked past the pink hair and sunkissed tan skin, it was almost as if something clicked in her head. It was all thanks to the all too familiar ripped jeans. “Tess?” Lacey called out in response. She flashed Aiden a quick look then mouthed to him that she’ll be right back. After sliding out of her seat, she rushed back to the front of the diner. “Did you just get here?”
When the two girls met halfway, they stopped short of an arm’s distance. While Lacey does consider Tess a friend and vice versa, it was no secret that it was strictly by association. Her sister, Brooke, was Lacey’s real friend. And it was for this reason that once she stood in front of Tess, she briefly surveyed the rest of the diner half expecting to find Brooke there as well.
“No, I just went to the bathroom. I’m with that table over there,” Tess explained when Lacey turned back to her. She nodded towards the corner window table. Had Lacey looked over at the table, she would have seen that almost every guy was watching this exchange.
There was a brief blink and you’ll miss it moment of awkward silence between the two. Lacey and Tess had no problems with each other, but without Brooke present it was obvious how different they were. Where Lacey was often pretty social, Tess tended to be on a cool and quiet side. Where Lacey enjoyed styling outfits, Tess was never without a pair of jeans that always had at least two rips in them. And if Tess were ever to do anything so unlike her, such as coloring her hair pink, it typically had her sister’s name all over it. There was nothing wrong with them as friends, they just didn’t quite see eye to eye to actually be fine alone together.
Maybe that was the reason why a third person joined their little reunion, and it wasn’t Brooke.
Lacey felt the third person’s presence before he even said anything. She turned when she heard footsteps approaching them. It had to be one of the guys from the bike table. And just like Tess, Lacey momentarily did not recognize him. It was once she looked past the shorts and faded band t-shirt that the switch in her head once again clicked on and an instant grin appeared on her face.
“Holy shit. So you really are here,” Jason greeted with a half smile that revealed a deep dimple. “I thought Andrew was lying when he said he thought he saw you on the boardwalk.”
“Sorry, um, do I know you? ‘Cause I swear you look like someone I know. But the guy was only just taller than me last I saw him before Christmas,” Lacey teased. She and Jason laughed as they stepped closer to each other for a hug. “Jeez Jay, puberty really did a number on you!”
Jason let out a low laugh, much lower than Lacey remembered from the last time she saw him. “Yeah. I went to bed one night and when I woke up I was half a foot taller. Feet were literally dangling off the bed.” Lacey joined another round of laughter between them while Jason moved to join her and Tess. “When did you get back?” he asked.
“Just yesterday,” she answered simply.
“Really?” Jason shot her a strange look. “Your dad didn’t tell me anything when I dropped off some stuff at the house last night.” He then looked over at Tess to ask if Brooke told her anything. Tess quietly shook her head, but said nothing else.
“Um…” Lacey glanced over her shoulder at Aiden before turning her attention back to her friends. “I’m actually not staying with my dad this weekend. He doesn’t know I’m here. Well, not yet at least. I was planning on calling him later so I can drop by tomorrow before I leave.”
Both Jason and Tess looked confused. “What do you mean?” Jason asked, now looking past her toward her table.
“I’m here with my, uh, brother,” Lacey explained hesitantly.
“Your brother?” Tess questioned as she too looked over at Aiden. It was obvious the moment Lacey mentioned a brother she probably pictured her baby half brother. “You mean from your mom’s second marriage?”
Lacey nodded. “Uh, yeah. He’s my older step-brother,” she clarified. “Come on, I’ll introduce you.” She led the way back to her table.
“Hey Aiden,” she started as she stood beside him at the table. “These are a couple of my friends that I grew up with. Jason and Tess. Jason. Tess. This is my older brother, Aiden.” As she went through introductions, she leaned around him from behind to place a hand on his good shoulder. “It was his idea to visit Colby this weekend. We both needed a bit of a vacation from our crazy parents.”
Aiden was not the only one that found solace in the water. Having been born and raised in Colby, it would be a sin for her to hate it. One of her earliest memories was playing in the very ocean she was swimming in while in her dad’s arms. As she got older, the beach and the ocean became her way of escape; especially during the final years when her parents’ marriage started to crumble. Her childhood home is a short bike ride from the beach. When the house was too tense for little Lacey, she would always take her bike and spend a couple hours sitting on the sand. Or, if tensions were so high that it affected her as well, she would spend half of that time in the water. For years, the beach was always there for her when she needed it.
Obviously, she was no Aiden. She couldn’t stay underwater for over a minute before needing to come up for air. But each time she did, it was always to face in the direction of the ocean. Each time she took in a deep breath, she gazed at nothing but the vast water while the sun gradually slipped down into the horizon. Whatever was behind her didn’t exist, not even her brother.
She had no idea how much time passed when she finally made the decision that she had enough. That was when she turned toward the beach for the first time since she turned her back toward Aiden. Sure enough, he was still there watching her in that usual way that made her feel safe. It was that very sight that brought her back to shore despite this strange feeling in her stomach that was similar to the dread she felt four years ago when she needed to go home. It wasn’t the same exact feeling, not in the slightest. She could never dread being with Aiden. But try as she might, she could not fully ignore that the feeling was there and growing the closer she got to shore.
Back in their room, Lacey realized that she didn’t have much to do to occupy herself while Aiden took his turn in the bathroom. She considered venturing downstairs to get Aiden something to eat for dinner, but after browsing the menu left in their room she couldn’t use her typical Aiden senses to figure out what he liked. She then tried to use this time to unpack and store her clothes into one of the empty drawers, but the shower still running by the time she closed the drawer. When her step brother left the bathroom open for her to take her turn, she resorted to calling her mother like she promised she would to update her on their first day in Colby.
The first thought Lacey had once she stepped out of the bathroom was to ask Aiden about what he wanted to eat for dinner. There was only an hour left before the kitchen closed for the evening and she didn’t want to cut it close or else they would have to resort to ordering pizza or something. As accommodating as Lacey tended to be for Aiden’s sake, the thought of a pizza in their small room was already making her stomach turn. After dumping the clothes she wore today into her luggage, Lacey moved to look over at Aiden as her lips parted ready to speak.
But Aiden beat her to the punch and his question left her speechless. That’s not to say she never thought about the possibility of moving back to Colby. Or how much she missed living in Colby. It was on her mind every month around the time she was scheduled to stay with her dad, but couldn’t because of work. But they were thoughts that only she knew. She’s never once spoken them out loud. As she stared at Aiden, she wondered if she should keep it that way.
“Um…” she started slowly, taking a seat beside Aiden on his bed. It unnerved her a little the way he stared at her while he waited for her answer. This only made her more nervous to tell him the truth. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings or make him think that she would rather be here in Colby than a mere ten minutes away from him.
But she had to say something. The silence between them was reaching the point of awkwardness. Lacey fidgeted in her seat then ran a hand through her damp hair. She had to say something, now.
“I guess...yes and no?” she said with uncertainty. As she spoke, she mostly stared at her hands on her lap. “I mean, yeah I do miss Colby. The friends I grew up with are still here. And there’s my dad. But it’s not like...you know...I’ve been here a lot recently….” She let the sentence fade as she once again drifted off into previous thoughts. It’s been over six months since she last visited Colby. Her baby half brother, Luca, wasn’t even born at that time. Even without coming to visit her dad and his new family, she knew. She knew she was way past being able to come back to Colby, at least as more than just a visitor. Try as she might to avoid the obvious, she knew that she no longer had a place here. Life in Colby has moved on without her.
“I don’t know?” she tried again. “I love this place. I always will. But...I dunno...I feel like Colby is more a part of me than I am a part of it. Does that make sense?” She sighed as she looked at her step-brother to see if he was following.
After taking a deep breath, Lacey forced a smile on her face as she pushed herself off Aiden’s bed to stand in front of him. “Besides,” she started, “now that my baby brother is born, I can’t imagine my dad will even have room in his house to fit me, you know?” In an attempt to pull the conversation away from this topic, Lacey looked over at the clock on the bedside table between them to check the time. “Hey, the kitchen is gonna close soon, what do you wanna eat for dinner?”
Lacey found it difficult to sleep for more than an hour that night and she didn’t exactly know why. The temperature in their room was just fine. The sound of the crashing waves outside their window was soothing. And there was nothing wrong with her bed. The mattress was sturdy and her blanket was warm. Yet she spent more time staring at the wall than fast asleep. It wasn’t until around three that Lacey turned away from the wall to face Aiden’s side of the room. Even through the darkness, she could see her step-brother’s silhouette as he adjusted his position on his bed. Was he awake too? Lacey didn’t dare make another move, instead watching him for another few minutes. She heard him groan after it sounded like he adjusted positions again, followed by a sigh. She wanted so badly to just go over to him, even if her being on his bed with him wouldn’t make his sleeping situation any better.
But she kept as still as possible in her bed. They weren’t back in his apartment. With two big beds for each of them, she had no reason to be the bratty little sister she was allowed to be in his small one bedroom apartment. She had no reason to share a bed with him as much as she wanted to.
As this sinking feeling of defeat consumed her, Lacey turned to her other side then buried her face into her pillow and forced her eyes closed until she eventually went back to sleep.
After another failed attempt to stay asleep, Lacey remained awake until seven. She alternated this time between staring at the wall as it changed from black to white and aimlessly browsing social media on her phone. She just didn’t want to bother Aiden right now just in case he did end up getting some sleep. But once she could no longer tolerate staring at either option, she turned so that she was once again facing Aiden’s side of the room. Save for whatever light peeked in from the black out curtains, it was still pretty dark in their room. She could sort of see more of Aiden’s features with the limited light, but it was still anyone’s guess if he actually was awake or not.
At least it was after seven now. It wasn’t too much of a big deal if she decided to turn on the light. Lacey stretched her arm out of her blanket to flip the switch to turn on the light. Just as she guessed, Aiden seemed to be awake albeit most likely against his will. A frown momentarily appeared on Lacey’s face taking in his pained look. “Are you okay?” she asked, concerned. She then pushed up onto her elbows to better look at him. “Was your shoulder bothering you last night?”
It took the step siblings another couple hours to be prepared to take on a new day in Colby. Now dressed in a bright sundress over another one of her new swimsuits with her hair down over one shoulder, Lacey stood behind Aiden to help him put on his sling. They didn’t say much to each other as they did this. In fact, they hadn’t really said much to each other all morning after she suggested he let his shoulder out of the sling for a while before they got dressed. As always, the topic of Aiden’s shoulder hit a sensitive spot in their time together. But now that the sling was back on, maybe his mood would brighten up some.
“Ready to go?” she asked while grabbing her purse off the bedside table. She watched as Aiden went through his usual wallet, phone, keys dance before he confirmed that he was ready. With a nod, she shouldered her purse then led the way out of their room.
Prior to the awkward silence between them, Lacey and Aiden discussed where they should go to eat breakfast this morning. Well, actually, the conversation was mostly led by Lacey in an attempt to find Aiden something to eat in case he was hungry. Just like yesterday, he gave her full control of the decision making and she decided that they should venture out of the inn. She was aware that the breakfast at the inn was great since her mother tended to come here almost every Saturday for brunch when they were still living in Colby. But Lacey wanted her step brother to experience what a real Colby Saturday morning looked like.
Randy’s Waffle House is a 24 hour diner right off the exit. Lacey talked Aiden’s ear off about this place the entire drive once she finished giving him directions. She told him about how when she was little she and her dad would stop at the diner for waffles before going home after one of his art showcases. Or how she and her friends once rode their bikes there even though they weren’t allowed near the highway. To any passersby that drove past Randy’s, it was just another diner for any weary traveler or truck driver that needed a pick me up. But for the residents of Colby, many traditions started, continued and ended there.
As Lacey climbed out of the passenger seat, she noticed that the small bike rack right outside the entrance was so full that some bikes had to be locked to other bikes. Having ridden a bike to the diner herself so many years ago, she couldn’t even imagine that many people wanted to do the very same thing.
Since it was near ten, the breakfast rush was starting to die down. Lacey and Aiden only had to wait about five minutes while tables were being cleared out and cleaned. “Try as they might, it’s near impossible to wipe up the years of syrup that spill onto the tables,” she whispered to Aiden as they watched one of the staff wipe a nearby table with a wet wash towel. When a waitress finally looked up from the cash register to find them there waiting to be seated, Lacey became momentarily distracted by the sound of laughter. She turned her head to find that one of the corner window tables was currently occupied by a group of guys that looked her age. Just one look at them told her that they were the owners of the billions of bikes currently outside. Well, that and the bike helmets sitting on the empty table behind them.
“Right this way,” came a voice suddenly. Lacey looked away from the bike group in time to watch the waitress walk past her to lead them to a table.
“Do you wanna share a plate? Their portions are huge here,” she asked as she looked at her menu. As excited as she was to be here with Aiden, she was also certain that were she to order her own plate she wouldn’t even finish half a waffle before she needed to call it quits. That is, if she even ordered waffles. She was already struggling to ignore the turning in her stomach the moment she registered that smell of bacon in the air. “If we get the breakfast platter, you can have the bacon or sau--” “Lacey?”
Lacey looked up from Aiden’s menu to find a girl with short pink hair staring right at her. Admittedly, Lacey initially had no idea who she was. But once she looked past the pink hair and sunkissed tan skin, it was almost as if something clicked in her head. It was all thanks to the all too familiar ripped jeans. “Tess?” Lacey called out in response. She flashed Aiden a quick look then mouthed to him that she’ll be right back. After sliding out of her seat, she rushed back to the front of the diner. “Did you just get here?”
When the two girls met halfway, they stopped short of an arm’s distance. While Lacey does consider Tess a friend and vice versa, it was no secret that it was strictly by association. Her sister, Brooke, was Lacey’s real friend. And it was for this reason that once she stood in front of Tess, she briefly surveyed the rest of the diner half expecting to find Brooke there as well.
“No, I just went to the bathroom. I’m with that table over there,” Tess explained when Lacey turned back to her. She nodded towards the corner window table. Had Lacey looked over at the table, she would have seen that almost every guy was watching this exchange.
There was a brief blink and you’ll miss it moment of awkward silence between the two. Lacey and Tess had no problems with each other, but without Brooke present it was obvious how different they were. Where Lacey was often pretty social, Tess tended to be on a cool and quiet side. Where Lacey enjoyed styling outfits, Tess was never without a pair of jeans that always had at least two rips in them. And if Tess were ever to do anything so unlike her, such as coloring her hair pink, it typically had her sister’s name all over it. There was nothing wrong with them as friends, they just didn’t quite see eye to eye to actually be fine alone together.
Maybe that was the reason why a third person joined their little reunion, and it wasn’t Brooke.
Lacey felt the third person’s presence before he even said anything. She turned when she heard footsteps approaching them. It had to be one of the guys from the bike table. And just like Tess, Lacey momentarily did not recognize him. It was once she looked past the shorts and faded band t-shirt that the switch in her head once again clicked on and an instant grin appeared on her face.
“Holy shit. So you really are here,” Jason greeted with a half smile that revealed a deep dimple. “I thought Andrew was lying when he said he thought he saw you on the boardwalk.”
“Sorry, um, do I know you? ‘Cause I swear you look like someone I know. But the guy was only just taller than me last I saw him before Christmas,” Lacey teased. She and Jason laughed as they stepped closer to each other for a hug. “Jeez Jay, puberty really did a number on you!”
Jason let out a low laugh, much lower than Lacey remembered from the last time she saw him. “Yeah. I went to bed one night and when I woke up I was half a foot taller. Feet were literally dangling off the bed.” Lacey joined another round of laughter between them while Jason moved to join her and Tess. “When did you get back?” he asked.
“Just yesterday,” she answered simply.
“Really?” Jason shot her a strange look. “Your dad didn’t tell me anything when I dropped off some stuff at the house last night.” He then looked over at Tess to ask if Brooke told her anything. Tess quietly shook her head, but said nothing else.
“Um…” Lacey glanced over her shoulder at Aiden before turning her attention back to her friends. “I’m actually not staying with my dad this weekend. He doesn’t know I’m here. Well, not yet at least. I was planning on calling him later so I can drop by tomorrow before I leave.”
Both Jason and Tess looked confused. “What do you mean?” Jason asked, now looking past her toward her table.
“I’m here with my, uh, brother,” Lacey explained hesitantly.
“Your brother?” Tess questioned as she too looked over at Aiden. It was obvious the moment Lacey mentioned a brother she probably pictured her baby half brother. “You mean from your mom’s second marriage?”
Lacey nodded. “Uh, yeah. He’s my older step-brother,” she clarified. “Come on, I’ll introduce you.” She led the way back to her table.
“Hey Aiden,” she started as she stood beside him at the table. “These are a couple of my friends that I grew up with. Jason and Tess. Jason. Tess. This is my older brother, Aiden.” As she went through introductions, she leaned around him from behind to place a hand on his good shoulder. “It was his idea to visit Colby this weekend. We both needed a bit of a vacation from our crazy parents.”
OP
OP
JINFINITE
Super-Earth
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- The Island of Eroda
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The last thing Aiden truly remembered from his accident was climbing up to the top of that diving board. He was aware he had already injured his shoulder. He had gone into the competition pushing through the pain and ignoring all the signs that he should have stopped. Then his own race had really done a number on him. What he wasn’t entirely sure about was how he’d fallen. Daniel had said it looked he fainted, but Aiden hadn’t been brave enough yet to look for any videos of the meet. All that mattered was that he was the only one to blame for his new reality. So anytime he was hurting, all he could do was internalize his anger and focus it on himself since it was really his own fault. When he was alone it was brutal to sit with all that regret, but then there were times when the pain wouldn’t even give him space to be angry and it would keep him too preoccupied to process through any of his emotions.
Basically, sleep wasn’t coming easily for Aiden their first night in the hotel room— inn— whatever you wanted to call it. You could say it was partly due to being in a new environment, but...not really. It was his shoulder that kept him up. And then being miserably awake just made him more aware of how none of this felt like home. It wasn’t the hotel room mental aspect that was uncomfortable to him though, it was the physicality of it all and how different it was compared to the set up he had going on in his apartment.
He was used to sleeping on his back by now and...well, he didn’t exactly have any other options. Obviously he couldn’t sleep on his right side. And maybe in theory he could sleep on his left, but the few times he had tried just resulted in pain and feeling insecure. Like, physically insecure— unstable. Like it felt like his shoulder would wobble forward or backwards and then exerting strength to hold it in place just kept him from being able to relax and fall asleep. So sleeping on his back was his only option. Lacey had given him her extra pillows before they went to bed so he had an attempt at a pillow wall to support and stabilize his arm like he was used to but it just wasn’t the same. He had slept okay in his own bed with Lacey, it had been rough falling asleep but at least he had slept. Whereas this was much worse than just struggling to get comfortable, this was actual real pain.
Colby was the most active he had been throughout this entire healing process and his shoulder wasn’t happy with him for it. Or more specifically it wasn’t happy he had kept it cooped up for so long while they walked around everywhere yesterday. It was similar to your legs cramping up at night after you were running around all day. Your legs weren’t in pain just being in bed, but the delayed effect of all your activity was excruciating. This was medication worthy pain, but part of Aiden didn’t want to get up and risk waking Lacey and then making her worry over him in the middle of the night. The other part was just lazy and stubborn and was convinced he could just wait out this pain and it would eventually subside and let him sleep. Only it never did.
He shifted his position for what felt like the twelth time that hour alone and reached up to rub at his shoulder as if that would make any difference. Physically his shoulder had healed. The incisions had closed long ago and the bones, while still frail, had merged back together. So touching it didn’t hurt, and he could even press a good deal against it without it bothering him. But any attempt at movement just left him in complete agony. It was such a deeply set and unpredictable pain. Several times yesterday, especially at the beach, Aiden had pretty much forgotten he was injured as it didn’t bother him normally in a neutral inactive state. But when he moved it it hurt, and when he kept it pinned to his body in the sling literally all day and night without a break...yeah that hurt too.
Aiden’s breaths were heavy as he shut his eyes to try once again to get some sleep. Surely if he just kept trying then eventually his body and mind would sync up and shut down and grant him even a couple hours peace. But then he was adjusting against the pillows again not ten minutes later and his eyes opened to stare up at the dark ceiling as he let out a defeated sigh. This cycle repeated all night, only allowing Aiden to sleep in scattered twenty or so minute intervals until a to his side light flashed on. He intended to ignore that Lacey had woken up, maybe she just needed to go to the bathroom or something, maybe this next time he closed his eyes would be the time to let him stay asleep. But when she spoke up he turned just his head to look over at her for a quick couple seconds before returning to face the ceiling. His hand reached up to his face and the heel of his palm rubbed at his sleep deprived eyes as he muttered a “yeah” response.
There was a brief silence between them then, Lacey didn’t seem entirely sure what to do to make him feel better and Aiden’s painful lack of sleep just left him irritated and not really in the mood for selfcare. He was pretty content to just lay there and surely he would eventually fall asleep, after all that was pretty much how he had lived post-accident up until Lacey had come back into his life. But yesterday had just been a series of tiny meals if even that, and he was feeling it now. Waking up hungry on top of everything else was definitely not a nice feeling. He’d somewhat eaten at dinner. Had it been enough? Clearly not. But had it been about all he could handle at the time? Yes. Aiden’s stomach had shrunk over the weeks from eating so little but it didn’t mean he didn’t get hungry, just that his portions had been dramatically cut. So when Lacey asked if he wanted to get breakfast, he wasn’t entirely against the idea.
His hand was still pressed to his head, a headache now adding to his list of troubles. Aiden otherwise hadn’t moved from his spot on the bed. Water, food, drugs, at least one of those three would help and even though food would be the last to be fulfilled it ended up being the first they discussed. Lacey apparently had a waffle house to recommend which honestly sounded pretty great right now. Yeah, Aiden was down for waffles. Waffles were worth getting out of bed for; besides, they came here for Lacey, he wasn’t about to let them get tied to the room on his account just cause he’d had a rough night.
But despite his years of training and impressive core strength, Aiden clearly struggled when he decided to try and push himself up out of the pillows he had sunken into and it wasn’t until Lacey got to her feet and hurried over to help that the two of them finally— but more importantly painlessly — got him into a seated position on the bed. His legs were crossed, body hunched forward slightly with his hand clutching at his shoulder while he panted lighty from the simple exertion of sitting up when his body was under this much physical stress. His shoulder might be what was injured but his entire body was suffering along with it. He was sore from fighting himself all day and night—basically his attempts at avoiding pain were just creating more in other parts of his body.
The silence between the step siblings continued for another minute or so until Lacey bravely suggested rather insistently that he take off the sling. And while Aiden wasn’t a fan of the idea, he knew deep down that she was right. The sling made him feel more secure, but his consistent long term use was clearly doing him more harm than help and he would never be able to relax and loosen up while it was tense and stiff pinned tightly to his body.
Over the weeks Aiden developed a habit of keeping the strap of his sling arguably too short and if Sonia were here she would probably say something about his sling being too tight, that even though he felt more secure it wasn’t actually helping him at all and was probably just adding to the painful pressure he felt. But more than anything Aiden was scared to let it be too loose and risk it moving because that pain was far too much to handle. But because he had shortened it so much before bed, he now definitely needed Lacey’s help in removing it, ” — can you…?” She picked up on what he was asking for right away at his gesture and while Lacey carefully undid the strap, Aiden’s other hand quickly moved to support his arm by holding his elbow as he felt the tension release until he was the one keeping his arm in place. Even just having the pressure from the strap removed was already such a relief and once the sling was completely off Aiden allowed himself to just sit and breathe for a minute. An audible sigh of relief confirming that this had been the right decision.
He knew he needed to straighten his arm and let it rest after being locked up in this position for so many hours but just thinking about the impending pain had him taking heavy breaths in anticipation. His first step was to scoot himself closer to the edge of the bed so that once straightened his arm could freely hang off the side without hitting himself or the mattress. His nails then dug into his arm as he now opted to hold his breath, his entire body was rigid with tension as he ever so slowly extended his elbow and with it dropped his shoulder back to a neutral position until it clicked painfully into place. He didn’t bother trying to hide how much it hurt as he swore under his breath and shut his eyes until everything leveled back out.
He was leaning forward slightly like the doctor had told him, the idea being to just let it hang with gravity rather than trying to use any of the muscles to keep it at his side. Was this his fault? Was it because he kept babying his arm that it hurt so much still? Or was it something else? When they had visited the doctor before leaving for Colby he had made it seem like Aiden should be doing pretty well by now which in turn only further frustrated him. He was supposed to be healing, so why did it not feel like he was?
Lacey’s next attempt at helping was to ask if he wanted her to go get ice but he shook his head at first, mumbling a short “no”. It was more so an autopilot response though and his thoughts stuck with the idea a while longer. Did he want ice? Maybe. The numbing sensation might help and especially if his shoulder was hurting this much then the ice should help with any inflammation. Or did he want heat? He knew heat was good for chronic pain and stiff muscles. Was this considered stiff muscle pain? Or was this injury pain? Did he want ice? Or heat? Or was this too much work and he just wanted to down some pain relievers and get on with the day?
Aiden sighed softly, it was too early in the morning to be calling Sonia for her advice. Besides, this was such a small matter. He wasn’t about to reach out for help with this when he could barely get himself to ask for help when he genuinely needed it, ”Okay,” there was a pause between the step siblings as Lacey tried to process what he meant and Aiden was trying to push himself to finish what he had started: admitting he needed something, ”...yeah could you maybe get some ice?”
Good job Aiden. That’s a start.
He didn’t have to wait long while Lacey left their room to track down ice but while she was gone there was this anxious feeling that washed over him being left alone. When Lacey was with him she served as a distraction of sorts. She gave him something besides himself to focus on. But when she was gone he was left to be miserable all by himself. Emotionally he felt like shit, physically he felt like shit, and the combination of the two was near unbearable. If Aiden was a crier then he definitely would have broken down by now coming out of such a long and sleepless night. But Aiden had never been a crier and he wasn’t about to start now.
Lacey was back soon enough and now that he was properly awake and calming down he was able to notice the timid demeanor she had taken on since first coming over to help him with the sling. Where normally she would be chatting away she now stood quietly as though waiting for some sign from him. Like she wasn’t comfortable moving unless it was at his request. Aiden watched her for a moment as he first pressed the ice she had brought to his shoulder. It was almost as though he was trying to decide what to do with her, but the reality was that he was debating what to do with himself. He was a creature of habit. Routines had both run and ruined his life for years. But as such it made it pretty easy for him to know what he should, like it was easy to remember to take his prescriptions before doing much else in the morning. Well, you could thank routine habits for that, but it was also mostly just that the immense pain was a reminder that was hard to ignore. But Aiden was hesitant to take anything right now after not sleeping all night because he was worried it would make him feel sick and he hadn’t brought any weed with him if his nausea returned.
”Lace?” Some time had passed with Aiden just sitting on the edge of the bed icing his shoulder while Lacey went about washing up and getting ready. Neither had spoken really since she asked about his sling and the ice. He was supposed to be getting dressed so they could go to breakfast like they’d agreed on but Aiden just hadn’t moved. He sort of just kept hoping that “any minute now” he’d start feeling better, only it wasn’t happening. He was starting to accept that this wouldn’t get better on its own. Time, ice and stretches could only do so much and if they were going to go back out into the world then he would definitely need help from his painkillers. He’d just need to take them and pray and make sure they got breakfast soon after so the heavy prescription wasn’t sitting alone in his stomach for long.
It was now as he asked Lacey to grab the medication from his bag that it dawned on him he hadn’t taken any since yesterday morning, which was fine if he had felt fine, which he had yesterday, but it made sense now why he was in so much pain. Day one and first night of Colby running only on yesterday morning’s dose....no wonder it was hitting him so hard now. He probably should have taken some when they got back in the evening, maybe he would have slept better. But after that nightmare of a time he’d had a few weeks ago, he was trying to not be so reliant on it. And back in his apartment taking it less frequently worked out because the most activity he did was walk from the sofa to the bathroom or Daniel would take him out to smoke, but out here it seemed he needed to up his selfcare game cause he couldn’t afford to be miserable on his baby sister’s trip.
Aiden struggled with asking for help, no matter what it was for. That was just who he was. But he was learning, bit by bit, starting with the easy things like how he had asked for the ice earlier, and then now asking for his painkillers when he was hurting. Then after he got dressed he once again asked for Lacey to help with his sling. He could technically put it on by himself, but it was still a bit of a struggle and so it was worth the assistance. He was in shorts and another muscle tank, this one handmade from when he cut the sleeves off a t-shirt last summer, and as Lacey’s fingers grazed across his exposed skin Aiden’s breath caught in his throat. It was such a tiny reaction, a combination of his arm securing back into place mixed with this strange butterfly sensation feeling their skin on skin contact.
Why? Why was this sort of reaction coming out around Lacey? Was he really so desperate for a physical connection that his own sister was sparking something inside him? It wasn’t exactly that she made him butterfly nervous like when one is developing feelings for someone, but there was no denying that she made him feel better— feel good. When she had first come over to visit him with her star jars Aiden had struggled so much having her around, but he had grown to need and enjoy having her around even while he was in this useless state. He was teetering between not wanting to be a burden but also wanting Lacey to be near him at all times.
At. All. Times.
Aiden glanced back and forth between his step sister and this pink girl across the diner that had just called her name and then watched as Lacey got up to walk over to her. Okay, this was fine...in a small town like Colby, it was only a matter of time before they ran into someone she knew.
He had abandoned the menu on the table now, leaning back slightly against the wall of the booth while he watched Lacey. Aiden had worn his hoodie but left it unzipped over his sling so only his left arm was through a sleeve. The hood was up over the back of his head but it wasn’t that he was cold, it was more so an insecure feeling that just made him feel better wearing it. He could leave it in the car if they went out later and it was hot, but for now he just wanted the emotional support that his hoodie gave him. His hoodie allowed him to hide his sling, and even if that wasn’t the best thing to do from a safety perspective, it gave Aiden a mental break from physically seeing his sling all the time. Especially while he was in that gray area where it was fresh on his mind after a rough morning. Until he ate he wouldn’t really start feeling better, and he needed to eat before his medication settled in his empty stomach. He wasn’t in pain right now, and he didn’t feel sick yet, but he still wanted Lacey to just come back to the table— oh. A guy had joined them and...was hugging her.
Aiden licked at his lips when they felt dry all of a sudden, his eyes flickering between Lacey with her friends and the table of guys sitting at the other end of the diner. This was new for Aiden. Lacey didn’t really have friends back home. She was always either with him, Daniel and/or Sonia, or her boyfriend. He honestly could not recall the last time she had introduced him to anyone in her life beyond pleasantries at a shoot when he picked her up and he wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about this. Obviously she had had an entire life here in Colby before they had become step siblings, but Aiden had never really put much thought into it before. To him, her life started the day they met. But no, clearly she had left her life behind back here. A whole part of her he knew nothing about. She had mentioned Colby itself plenty of times, but never the people within it. So Aiden had sort of just assumed she had always been a bit of a loner until she began tagging along with him. But she had walked her friends back towards him now and they were nothing like what he would have envisioned her hanging out with back home. Who had Lacey been before she entered his life?
Jason and Tess? Well now Aiden had a decision to make: to shake hands, or not to shake hands. It’s common courtesy to shake during introductions, but it’s also normally done with one's right hand. Aiden’s right hand was currently in a sling and tucked away out of sight under his hoodie. So he would have to use his left, which wouldn’t have been the end of the world. It might maybe physically feel a little awkward, like putting your watch on the wrong wrist, but both he and Lacey’s friends would manage. Besides, for all he knew one of them might be left handed and would appreciate the moment. But in the end Aiden opted to not offer his hand at all, and they could take his lack of gesture how they wanted— actually though they were all kids still, Aiden included. Wasn’t handshaking sort of not a thing of their generation? Not yet at least. Maybe in a few years. Basically this entire internal dilemma had been for nothing and was just Aiden stressing over the knowledge that Lacey had other friends— guy friends— and that he didn’t know how to best present himself.
”Hey…” He didn’t really say much else or move from his spot leaning against the wall of their booth seat. The menu still sat on the table in front of him and he was still just as undecided as when Lacey had left to go greet her friend(s), his full attention had been on her and still was as he glanced between her and her friends for a moment before looking away just to take the pressure off himself.
This wasn’t like him. Sure Aiden wasn’t exactly a social butterfly, but he would still normally make an effort to put his best foot forward during the introductory period. This off reaction wasn’t entirely part of his moods either. This attitude wasn’t stemming from being in pain. No, this was something else, this was something new. Something he hadn’t felt in years. Not since the first time he saw his ex with the guy she left him for. This was a sickening, appetite ruining feeling called jealousy. But if only he knew that then maybe he’d better know how to handle it.
”So, what can I get’cha?”
Lacey’s friends had returned to their own table by now and a waitress had popped up before them with her pen and notepad out at the ready.
”Oh— uh…” Aiden glanced back down to the menu on the table and then over to Lacey while his mind raced back to what she had been explaining earlier when they were going through the options. For sure they were getting waffles. Waffles were what had gotten him out of bed this morning. But side dishes? Drinks? Options for extras? They ended up working it out there on the spot with their waitress. It was a lot of her asking or suggesting something and Lacey turning to Aiden to ask him personally or suggest an alternative if she knew he would prefer something else.
When they next saw the waitress she was setting down a platter of waffles, sausage, scrambled eggs and a small dish of fruit. Even after living in America for as long as he had, Aiden was still consistently blown away by the portion sizes and that was no different now as he reached past his silverware for the glass of orange juice he had ordered. Athletic Aiden, fit Aiden, in training Aiden, swimming Aiden could have put away all this food by himself no problem. But being post surgery and pre physical therapy Aiden found the amount of food to be a little daunting.
At least that’s how he initially felt. Once he actually started eating it seemed his starved body woke up and was happy to take in all it could get. An act that hopefully would turn around and stab him in the back later. But things were looking up now finally after such a rough night. He let his arm out this morning, managed to keep his painkillers down and didn’t get sick from them, finished nearly all his food, and now he and Lacey— there was a buzzing coming from the pocket of his shorts and Aiden set his fork back down on the plate along side the last few bites of breakfast so his one hand could pull his phone out. He assumed it had to be Daniel just cause who else would be calling him these days? But at the same time he didn’t have any idea who or what to expect. After all why would Daniel be calling him? He knew they were in Colby, so what was so life altering he had to call and couldn’t just shoot a text?
Aiden’s heart dropped into his stomach for a split second when he finally caught sight of the caller ID. That was not Daniel’s name lit up across the screen. It was crazy how quick his mood flipped and with it his energy as he answered the phone. Almost immediately Aiden sat up straighter causing his hood to fall off the back of his head and had he not currently been half crippled he probably would have grabbed something with fiddle with in his other hand. He’d been so relaxed sitting alone with Lacey for breakfast, but now his posture was tensing up and he seemed almost unable to keep still.
”What.” It wasn’t the most pleasant way to answer a call— especially considering it was his father who had called. Aiden hadn’t seen him since the hospital and had mostly been ignoring all of his messages. He went quiet, eyes fixating on his empty glass while his father went into the reason for his call which only resulted in a lot of back and forth between them.
”Yeah I went.”
“No I— “
“I told you I’m not— “
It was infuriating the way his father kept cutting him off after asking him a question, so much so that he couldn’t think straight or strategically as his next answer just fell out of his mouth, ”I’m with Lacey— “
If his father wasn’t pissed before then he sure as hell was now as his voice raised on the other end of the line, demanding to know why and making it very clear he did not approve.
Surely Lacey’s mom had told him about their trip...right? But it was dawning on him now that it was very possible she had only said Lacey was going to visit her dad. As Aiden sandwiched his phone between his ear and his shoulder he prayed in the back of his mind that he didn’t just put Lacey or her mother in a bad position with his father. He switched into Italian now, more so to match his father but also because there was no telling what would come out of his mouth now and he wasn’t entirely sure he was comfortable letting Lacey hear it. That was also why he had sandwiched his phone as his hand dug into his pocket for his wallet and passed it to Lacey before getting up from the table to leave. The last thing he wanted was to be in an Italian shouting match on the phone in the middle of the waffle house. So he opted to take his fight outside and wait for Lacey by the car.
Wasn’t his father on a trip too? Yet he seemed to have the time to berate Aiden about swimming, school, Lacey, and threatening to take away his car and apartment all in the same phone call. Wasn’t he a little old to be treated like this still? Yes, technically….but at the same time, considering all Aiden had ever focused on was swimming, his father did have half a point in saying that as long as Aiden was his dependent then he needed to do as he was told. Again, it was just half a point. It was very true that Aiden had benefited from his father’s wealth for as long as he could remember, but it was also his father who had put him in that position. Instead of learning life skills, experience or a sense of responsibility, Aiden had spent all hours of his life in the pool perfecting his times and strokes. Without swimming now he would have nothing and his father was very blunt in pointing out just how quickly he could take everything away
By the time Lacey came out Aiden had hung up and was leaning against his car. He’d taken his hoodie off, his temper heating him beyond being comfortable in it, ”Thanks…” She had handed him back his wallet which he returned to his pocket but otherwise said nothing about what had just happened.
This wasn’t fair. It was endless and relentless. There was no escape. Swimming had been making him so miserable and no longer was bringing him that adrenaline rush of joy when his arms cut through the water. He had thought that quitting swimming would take all that pain and pressure off of him, but yet here he was still receiving backlash for his every decision. Still expected to put out 110% even when he was barely capable of 40%. He had lost the will to swim but swimming had been his life for just about as long as he could remember. So where did that leave him now…? When he had mentioned this trip to Sonia she had been so excited for him and said a whole bunch about how it would be good for him to “get away from it all for a while”. Well here he was in Colby— he was “away” from it all, but it all still managed to get to him just the same.
Aiden unlocked the car still without a word to address the elephant in the room. It wasn’t until Lacey had gotten in and was in the process of pulling her seatbelt across her that he finally managed to unclench his jaw to speak, ”So where am I going?”
Earlier they had made plans to meet up with her friends after they ate, and while Aiden was absolutely awful at hiding his feelings especially when mad, he still genuinely wanted to make this the perfect trip for his little sis. It didn’t matter how upset he was or if he was in pain at all, they were still going to do any and everything she wanted to do while they were here. That seemed to be Aiden’s healthiest outlet for all his pent up emotions: direct them into being motivation for Lacey’s sake.
He found himself asking her about Colby for the duration of their drive. About her friends or things they passed by— pretty much anything to keep her talking because Aiden couldn’t sit in silence with his thoughts right now. When at last he shifted into park and pulled up the e-brake he shifted his body just a smidge so as to better see her while she finished up her current story but even after she finished he didn’t make any more to exit the car. He just sort of stared across at her for a minute until without warning his left hand reached across towards her. His already limited mobility was further impaired by his seatbelt but Aiden was determined as his fingers gently pinched at the surface of her cheek but were very careful to not actually pinch her skin in the process. When he pulled his hand away he revealed to have picked a loose eyelash that had fallen and he held his finger just before her now. His next three words finally felt like he was letting go of his previous anger. There was a sort of tired relaxation to the sound of his voice. A contentedness tainted by defeat. A sadness he continually forbade himself from giving into as he focused his all onto Lacey. This whole mess was his own fault and here he was still causing problems when they were supposed to be on her trip in paradise. It felt like nothing he did could help, he just made everything worse. But maybe...just maybe...maybe a little magic could turn their luck around.
Lacey had folded all those paper stars to make a wish come true but Aiden was neither crafty nor particularly spiritual or superstitious. He didn’t have much of anything, physically or emotionally, left to give her. But maybe just this once he could find a way to make her happy.
Aiden’s eyes were on her with her eyelash still on his pointer finger between them when he finally said those three magic words, ”Make a wish.”
Basically, sleep wasn’t coming easily for Aiden their first night in the hotel room— inn— whatever you wanted to call it. You could say it was partly due to being in a new environment, but...not really. It was his shoulder that kept him up. And then being miserably awake just made him more aware of how none of this felt like home. It wasn’t the hotel room mental aspect that was uncomfortable to him though, it was the physicality of it all and how different it was compared to the set up he had going on in his apartment.
He was used to sleeping on his back by now and...well, he didn’t exactly have any other options. Obviously he couldn’t sleep on his right side. And maybe in theory he could sleep on his left, but the few times he had tried just resulted in pain and feeling insecure. Like, physically insecure— unstable. Like it felt like his shoulder would wobble forward or backwards and then exerting strength to hold it in place just kept him from being able to relax and fall asleep. So sleeping on his back was his only option. Lacey had given him her extra pillows before they went to bed so he had an attempt at a pillow wall to support and stabilize his arm like he was used to but it just wasn’t the same. He had slept okay in his own bed with Lacey, it had been rough falling asleep but at least he had slept. Whereas this was much worse than just struggling to get comfortable, this was actual real pain.
Colby was the most active he had been throughout this entire healing process and his shoulder wasn’t happy with him for it. Or more specifically it wasn’t happy he had kept it cooped up for so long while they walked around everywhere yesterday. It was similar to your legs cramping up at night after you were running around all day. Your legs weren’t in pain just being in bed, but the delayed effect of all your activity was excruciating. This was medication worthy pain, but part of Aiden didn’t want to get up and risk waking Lacey and then making her worry over him in the middle of the night. The other part was just lazy and stubborn and was convinced he could just wait out this pain and it would eventually subside and let him sleep. Only it never did.
He shifted his position for what felt like the twelth time that hour alone and reached up to rub at his shoulder as if that would make any difference. Physically his shoulder had healed. The incisions had closed long ago and the bones, while still frail, had merged back together. So touching it didn’t hurt, and he could even press a good deal against it without it bothering him. But any attempt at movement just left him in complete agony. It was such a deeply set and unpredictable pain. Several times yesterday, especially at the beach, Aiden had pretty much forgotten he was injured as it didn’t bother him normally in a neutral inactive state. But when he moved it it hurt, and when he kept it pinned to his body in the sling literally all day and night without a break...yeah that hurt too.
Aiden’s breaths were heavy as he shut his eyes to try once again to get some sleep. Surely if he just kept trying then eventually his body and mind would sync up and shut down and grant him even a couple hours peace. But then he was adjusting against the pillows again not ten minutes later and his eyes opened to stare up at the dark ceiling as he let out a defeated sigh. This cycle repeated all night, only allowing Aiden to sleep in scattered twenty or so minute intervals until a to his side light flashed on. He intended to ignore that Lacey had woken up, maybe she just needed to go to the bathroom or something, maybe this next time he closed his eyes would be the time to let him stay asleep. But when she spoke up he turned just his head to look over at her for a quick couple seconds before returning to face the ceiling. His hand reached up to his face and the heel of his palm rubbed at his sleep deprived eyes as he muttered a “yeah” response.
There was a brief silence between them then, Lacey didn’t seem entirely sure what to do to make him feel better and Aiden’s painful lack of sleep just left him irritated and not really in the mood for selfcare. He was pretty content to just lay there and surely he would eventually fall asleep, after all that was pretty much how he had lived post-accident up until Lacey had come back into his life. But yesterday had just been a series of tiny meals if even that, and he was feeling it now. Waking up hungry on top of everything else was definitely not a nice feeling. He’d somewhat eaten at dinner. Had it been enough? Clearly not. But had it been about all he could handle at the time? Yes. Aiden’s stomach had shrunk over the weeks from eating so little but it didn’t mean he didn’t get hungry, just that his portions had been dramatically cut. So when Lacey asked if he wanted to get breakfast, he wasn’t entirely against the idea.
His hand was still pressed to his head, a headache now adding to his list of troubles. Aiden otherwise hadn’t moved from his spot on the bed. Water, food, drugs, at least one of those three would help and even though food would be the last to be fulfilled it ended up being the first they discussed. Lacey apparently had a waffle house to recommend which honestly sounded pretty great right now. Yeah, Aiden was down for waffles. Waffles were worth getting out of bed for; besides, they came here for Lacey, he wasn’t about to let them get tied to the room on his account just cause he’d had a rough night.
But despite his years of training and impressive core strength, Aiden clearly struggled when he decided to try and push himself up out of the pillows he had sunken into and it wasn’t until Lacey got to her feet and hurried over to help that the two of them finally— but more importantly painlessly — got him into a seated position on the bed. His legs were crossed, body hunched forward slightly with his hand clutching at his shoulder while he panted lighty from the simple exertion of sitting up when his body was under this much physical stress. His shoulder might be what was injured but his entire body was suffering along with it. He was sore from fighting himself all day and night—basically his attempts at avoiding pain were just creating more in other parts of his body.
The silence between the step siblings continued for another minute or so until Lacey bravely suggested rather insistently that he take off the sling. And while Aiden wasn’t a fan of the idea, he knew deep down that she was right. The sling made him feel more secure, but his consistent long term use was clearly doing him more harm than help and he would never be able to relax and loosen up while it was tense and stiff pinned tightly to his body.
Over the weeks Aiden developed a habit of keeping the strap of his sling arguably too short and if Sonia were here she would probably say something about his sling being too tight, that even though he felt more secure it wasn’t actually helping him at all and was probably just adding to the painful pressure he felt. But more than anything Aiden was scared to let it be too loose and risk it moving because that pain was far too much to handle. But because he had shortened it so much before bed, he now definitely needed Lacey’s help in removing it, ” — can you…?” She picked up on what he was asking for right away at his gesture and while Lacey carefully undid the strap, Aiden’s other hand quickly moved to support his arm by holding his elbow as he felt the tension release until he was the one keeping his arm in place. Even just having the pressure from the strap removed was already such a relief and once the sling was completely off Aiden allowed himself to just sit and breathe for a minute. An audible sigh of relief confirming that this had been the right decision.
He knew he needed to straighten his arm and let it rest after being locked up in this position for so many hours but just thinking about the impending pain had him taking heavy breaths in anticipation. His first step was to scoot himself closer to the edge of the bed so that once straightened his arm could freely hang off the side without hitting himself or the mattress. His nails then dug into his arm as he now opted to hold his breath, his entire body was rigid with tension as he ever so slowly extended his elbow and with it dropped his shoulder back to a neutral position until it clicked painfully into place. He didn’t bother trying to hide how much it hurt as he swore under his breath and shut his eyes until everything leveled back out.
He was leaning forward slightly like the doctor had told him, the idea being to just let it hang with gravity rather than trying to use any of the muscles to keep it at his side. Was this his fault? Was it because he kept babying his arm that it hurt so much still? Or was it something else? When they had visited the doctor before leaving for Colby he had made it seem like Aiden should be doing pretty well by now which in turn only further frustrated him. He was supposed to be healing, so why did it not feel like he was?
Lacey’s next attempt at helping was to ask if he wanted her to go get ice but he shook his head at first, mumbling a short “no”. It was more so an autopilot response though and his thoughts stuck with the idea a while longer. Did he want ice? Maybe. The numbing sensation might help and especially if his shoulder was hurting this much then the ice should help with any inflammation. Or did he want heat? He knew heat was good for chronic pain and stiff muscles. Was this considered stiff muscle pain? Or was this injury pain? Did he want ice? Or heat? Or was this too much work and he just wanted to down some pain relievers and get on with the day?
Aiden sighed softly, it was too early in the morning to be calling Sonia for her advice. Besides, this was such a small matter. He wasn’t about to reach out for help with this when he could barely get himself to ask for help when he genuinely needed it, ”Okay,” there was a pause between the step siblings as Lacey tried to process what he meant and Aiden was trying to push himself to finish what he had started: admitting he needed something, ”...yeah could you maybe get some ice?”
Good job Aiden. That’s a start.
He didn’t have to wait long while Lacey left their room to track down ice but while she was gone there was this anxious feeling that washed over him being left alone. When Lacey was with him she served as a distraction of sorts. She gave him something besides himself to focus on. But when she was gone he was left to be miserable all by himself. Emotionally he felt like shit, physically he felt like shit, and the combination of the two was near unbearable. If Aiden was a crier then he definitely would have broken down by now coming out of such a long and sleepless night. But Aiden had never been a crier and he wasn’t about to start now.
Lacey was back soon enough and now that he was properly awake and calming down he was able to notice the timid demeanor she had taken on since first coming over to help him with the sling. Where normally she would be chatting away she now stood quietly as though waiting for some sign from him. Like she wasn’t comfortable moving unless it was at his request. Aiden watched her for a moment as he first pressed the ice she had brought to his shoulder. It was almost as though he was trying to decide what to do with her, but the reality was that he was debating what to do with himself. He was a creature of habit. Routines had both run and ruined his life for years. But as such it made it pretty easy for him to know what he should, like it was easy to remember to take his prescriptions before doing much else in the morning. Well, you could thank routine habits for that, but it was also mostly just that the immense pain was a reminder that was hard to ignore. But Aiden was hesitant to take anything right now after not sleeping all night because he was worried it would make him feel sick and he hadn’t brought any weed with him if his nausea returned.
”Lace?” Some time had passed with Aiden just sitting on the edge of the bed icing his shoulder while Lacey went about washing up and getting ready. Neither had spoken really since she asked about his sling and the ice. He was supposed to be getting dressed so they could go to breakfast like they’d agreed on but Aiden just hadn’t moved. He sort of just kept hoping that “any minute now” he’d start feeling better, only it wasn’t happening. He was starting to accept that this wouldn’t get better on its own. Time, ice and stretches could only do so much and if they were going to go back out into the world then he would definitely need help from his painkillers. He’d just need to take them and pray and make sure they got breakfast soon after so the heavy prescription wasn’t sitting alone in his stomach for long.
It was now as he asked Lacey to grab the medication from his bag that it dawned on him he hadn’t taken any since yesterday morning, which was fine if he had felt fine, which he had yesterday, but it made sense now why he was in so much pain. Day one and first night of Colby running only on yesterday morning’s dose....no wonder it was hitting him so hard now. He probably should have taken some when they got back in the evening, maybe he would have slept better. But after that nightmare of a time he’d had a few weeks ago, he was trying to not be so reliant on it. And back in his apartment taking it less frequently worked out because the most activity he did was walk from the sofa to the bathroom or Daniel would take him out to smoke, but out here it seemed he needed to up his selfcare game cause he couldn’t afford to be miserable on his baby sister’s trip.
Aiden struggled with asking for help, no matter what it was for. That was just who he was. But he was learning, bit by bit, starting with the easy things like how he had asked for the ice earlier, and then now asking for his painkillers when he was hurting. Then after he got dressed he once again asked for Lacey to help with his sling. He could technically put it on by himself, but it was still a bit of a struggle and so it was worth the assistance. He was in shorts and another muscle tank, this one handmade from when he cut the sleeves off a t-shirt last summer, and as Lacey’s fingers grazed across his exposed skin Aiden’s breath caught in his throat. It was such a tiny reaction, a combination of his arm securing back into place mixed with this strange butterfly sensation feeling their skin on skin contact.
Why? Why was this sort of reaction coming out around Lacey? Was he really so desperate for a physical connection that his own sister was sparking something inside him? It wasn’t exactly that she made him butterfly nervous like when one is developing feelings for someone, but there was no denying that she made him feel better— feel good. When she had first come over to visit him with her star jars Aiden had struggled so much having her around, but he had grown to need and enjoy having her around even while he was in this useless state. He was teetering between not wanting to be a burden but also wanting Lacey to be near him at all times.
At. All. Times.
Aiden glanced back and forth between his step sister and this pink girl across the diner that had just called her name and then watched as Lacey got up to walk over to her. Okay, this was fine...in a small town like Colby, it was only a matter of time before they ran into someone she knew.
He had abandoned the menu on the table now, leaning back slightly against the wall of the booth while he watched Lacey. Aiden had worn his hoodie but left it unzipped over his sling so only his left arm was through a sleeve. The hood was up over the back of his head but it wasn’t that he was cold, it was more so an insecure feeling that just made him feel better wearing it. He could leave it in the car if they went out later and it was hot, but for now he just wanted the emotional support that his hoodie gave him. His hoodie allowed him to hide his sling, and even if that wasn’t the best thing to do from a safety perspective, it gave Aiden a mental break from physically seeing his sling all the time. Especially while he was in that gray area where it was fresh on his mind after a rough morning. Until he ate he wouldn’t really start feeling better, and he needed to eat before his medication settled in his empty stomach. He wasn’t in pain right now, and he didn’t feel sick yet, but he still wanted Lacey to just come back to the table— oh. A guy had joined them and...was hugging her.
Aiden licked at his lips when they felt dry all of a sudden, his eyes flickering between Lacey with her friends and the table of guys sitting at the other end of the diner. This was new for Aiden. Lacey didn’t really have friends back home. She was always either with him, Daniel and/or Sonia, or her boyfriend. He honestly could not recall the last time she had introduced him to anyone in her life beyond pleasantries at a shoot when he picked her up and he wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about this. Obviously she had had an entire life here in Colby before they had become step siblings, but Aiden had never really put much thought into it before. To him, her life started the day they met. But no, clearly she had left her life behind back here. A whole part of her he knew nothing about. She had mentioned Colby itself plenty of times, but never the people within it. So Aiden had sort of just assumed she had always been a bit of a loner until she began tagging along with him. But she had walked her friends back towards him now and they were nothing like what he would have envisioned her hanging out with back home. Who had Lacey been before she entered his life?
Jason and Tess? Well now Aiden had a decision to make: to shake hands, or not to shake hands. It’s common courtesy to shake during introductions, but it’s also normally done with one's right hand. Aiden’s right hand was currently in a sling and tucked away out of sight under his hoodie. So he would have to use his left, which wouldn’t have been the end of the world. It might maybe physically feel a little awkward, like putting your watch on the wrong wrist, but both he and Lacey’s friends would manage. Besides, for all he knew one of them might be left handed and would appreciate the moment. But in the end Aiden opted to not offer his hand at all, and they could take his lack of gesture how they wanted— actually though they were all kids still, Aiden included. Wasn’t handshaking sort of not a thing of their generation? Not yet at least. Maybe in a few years. Basically this entire internal dilemma had been for nothing and was just Aiden stressing over the knowledge that Lacey had other friends— guy friends— and that he didn’t know how to best present himself.
”Hey…” He didn’t really say much else or move from his spot leaning against the wall of their booth seat. The menu still sat on the table in front of him and he was still just as undecided as when Lacey had left to go greet her friend(s), his full attention had been on her and still was as he glanced between her and her friends for a moment before looking away just to take the pressure off himself.
This wasn’t like him. Sure Aiden wasn’t exactly a social butterfly, but he would still normally make an effort to put his best foot forward during the introductory period. This off reaction wasn’t entirely part of his moods either. This attitude wasn’t stemming from being in pain. No, this was something else, this was something new. Something he hadn’t felt in years. Not since the first time he saw his ex with the guy she left him for. This was a sickening, appetite ruining feeling called jealousy. But if only he knew that then maybe he’d better know how to handle it.
”So, what can I get’cha?”
Lacey’s friends had returned to their own table by now and a waitress had popped up before them with her pen and notepad out at the ready.
”Oh— uh…” Aiden glanced back down to the menu on the table and then over to Lacey while his mind raced back to what she had been explaining earlier when they were going through the options. For sure they were getting waffles. Waffles were what had gotten him out of bed this morning. But side dishes? Drinks? Options for extras? They ended up working it out there on the spot with their waitress. It was a lot of her asking or suggesting something and Lacey turning to Aiden to ask him personally or suggest an alternative if she knew he would prefer something else.
When they next saw the waitress she was setting down a platter of waffles, sausage, scrambled eggs and a small dish of fruit. Even after living in America for as long as he had, Aiden was still consistently blown away by the portion sizes and that was no different now as he reached past his silverware for the glass of orange juice he had ordered. Athletic Aiden, fit Aiden, in training Aiden, swimming Aiden could have put away all this food by himself no problem. But being post surgery and pre physical therapy Aiden found the amount of food to be a little daunting.
At least that’s how he initially felt. Once he actually started eating it seemed his starved body woke up and was happy to take in all it could get. An act that hopefully would turn around and stab him in the back later. But things were looking up now finally after such a rough night. He let his arm out this morning, managed to keep his painkillers down and didn’t get sick from them, finished nearly all his food, and now he and Lacey— there was a buzzing coming from the pocket of his shorts and Aiden set his fork back down on the plate along side the last few bites of breakfast so his one hand could pull his phone out. He assumed it had to be Daniel just cause who else would be calling him these days? But at the same time he didn’t have any idea who or what to expect. After all why would Daniel be calling him? He knew they were in Colby, so what was so life altering he had to call and couldn’t just shoot a text?
Aiden’s heart dropped into his stomach for a split second when he finally caught sight of the caller ID. That was not Daniel’s name lit up across the screen. It was crazy how quick his mood flipped and with it his energy as he answered the phone. Almost immediately Aiden sat up straighter causing his hood to fall off the back of his head and had he not currently been half crippled he probably would have grabbed something with fiddle with in his other hand. He’d been so relaxed sitting alone with Lacey for breakfast, but now his posture was tensing up and he seemed almost unable to keep still.
”What.” It wasn’t the most pleasant way to answer a call— especially considering it was his father who had called. Aiden hadn’t seen him since the hospital and had mostly been ignoring all of his messages. He went quiet, eyes fixating on his empty glass while his father went into the reason for his call which only resulted in a lot of back and forth between them.
”Yeah I went.”
“No I— “
“I told you I’m not— “
It was infuriating the way his father kept cutting him off after asking him a question, so much so that he couldn’t think straight or strategically as his next answer just fell out of his mouth, ”I’m with Lacey— “
If his father wasn’t pissed before then he sure as hell was now as his voice raised on the other end of the line, demanding to know why and making it very clear he did not approve.
Surely Lacey’s mom had told him about their trip...right? But it was dawning on him now that it was very possible she had only said Lacey was going to visit her dad. As Aiden sandwiched his phone between his ear and his shoulder he prayed in the back of his mind that he didn’t just put Lacey or her mother in a bad position with his father. He switched into Italian now, more so to match his father but also because there was no telling what would come out of his mouth now and he wasn’t entirely sure he was comfortable letting Lacey hear it. That was also why he had sandwiched his phone as his hand dug into his pocket for his wallet and passed it to Lacey before getting up from the table to leave. The last thing he wanted was to be in an Italian shouting match on the phone in the middle of the waffle house. So he opted to take his fight outside and wait for Lacey by the car.
Wasn’t his father on a trip too? Yet he seemed to have the time to berate Aiden about swimming, school, Lacey, and threatening to take away his car and apartment all in the same phone call. Wasn’t he a little old to be treated like this still? Yes, technically….but at the same time, considering all Aiden had ever focused on was swimming, his father did have half a point in saying that as long as Aiden was his dependent then he needed to do as he was told. Again, it was just half a point. It was very true that Aiden had benefited from his father’s wealth for as long as he could remember, but it was also his father who had put him in that position. Instead of learning life skills, experience or a sense of responsibility, Aiden had spent all hours of his life in the pool perfecting his times and strokes. Without swimming now he would have nothing and his father was very blunt in pointing out just how quickly he could take everything away
By the time Lacey came out Aiden had hung up and was leaning against his car. He’d taken his hoodie off, his temper heating him beyond being comfortable in it, ”Thanks…” She had handed him back his wallet which he returned to his pocket but otherwise said nothing about what had just happened.
This wasn’t fair. It was endless and relentless. There was no escape. Swimming had been making him so miserable and no longer was bringing him that adrenaline rush of joy when his arms cut through the water. He had thought that quitting swimming would take all that pain and pressure off of him, but yet here he was still receiving backlash for his every decision. Still expected to put out 110% even when he was barely capable of 40%. He had lost the will to swim but swimming had been his life for just about as long as he could remember. So where did that leave him now…? When he had mentioned this trip to Sonia she had been so excited for him and said a whole bunch about how it would be good for him to “get away from it all for a while”. Well here he was in Colby— he was “away” from it all, but it all still managed to get to him just the same.
Aiden unlocked the car still without a word to address the elephant in the room. It wasn’t until Lacey had gotten in and was in the process of pulling her seatbelt across her that he finally managed to unclench his jaw to speak, ”So where am I going?”
Earlier they had made plans to meet up with her friends after they ate, and while Aiden was absolutely awful at hiding his feelings especially when mad, he still genuinely wanted to make this the perfect trip for his little sis. It didn’t matter how upset he was or if he was in pain at all, they were still going to do any and everything she wanted to do while they were here. That seemed to be Aiden’s healthiest outlet for all his pent up emotions: direct them into being motivation for Lacey’s sake.
He found himself asking her about Colby for the duration of their drive. About her friends or things they passed by— pretty much anything to keep her talking because Aiden couldn’t sit in silence with his thoughts right now. When at last he shifted into park and pulled up the e-brake he shifted his body just a smidge so as to better see her while she finished up her current story but even after she finished he didn’t make any more to exit the car. He just sort of stared across at her for a minute until without warning his left hand reached across towards her. His already limited mobility was further impaired by his seatbelt but Aiden was determined as his fingers gently pinched at the surface of her cheek but were very careful to not actually pinch her skin in the process. When he pulled his hand away he revealed to have picked a loose eyelash that had fallen and he held his finger just before her now. His next three words finally felt like he was letting go of his previous anger. There was a sort of tired relaxation to the sound of his voice. A contentedness tainted by defeat. A sadness he continually forbade himself from giving into as he focused his all onto Lacey. This whole mess was his own fault and here he was still causing problems when they were supposed to be on her trip in paradise. It felt like nothing he did could help, he just made everything worse. But maybe...just maybe...maybe a little magic could turn their luck around.
Lacey had folded all those paper stars to make a wish come true but Aiden was neither crafty nor particularly spiritual or superstitious. He didn’t have much of anything, physically or emotionally, left to give her. But maybe just this once he could find a way to make her happy.
Aiden’s eyes were on her with her eyelash still on his pointer finger between them when he finally said those three magic words, ”Make a wish.”
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feelsHASkilig
Solo Conversationalist
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- Page Two Hundred & Forty-Nine
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Lacey stabbed unsuccessfully at the grape on her plate. At this point, the effort was more so she could complete the challenge than actually eat the fruit. Not that she was entirely feeling up for eating it either. After staring at the quarter piece of waffle now sitting cold on her plate, she really needed to distract herself from the discomfort she felt in her stomach. It wasn't the waffle itself that was causing her discomfort; although the smell of cooked batter from the stack between her and Aiden was a little overpowering for her liking. It was more the miscalculation of the syrup she poured over her piece. Each time she took a deep breath now, all she could smell was the ultra sweetness of whatever maple syrup brand the waffle house uses. So instead of fussing over the now unappealing piece of waffle Aiden gave her, she focused all of her attention on picking up the grape with her fork.
Honestly, Lacey didn’t even know why she poured syrup on her waffle piece. She hadn’t so much as touched syrup in over five months. But she was uncomfortable with the way her stepbrother watched her after he placed the piece on her plate. She figured that if she made it look like she was making it more appetizing to eat he would finally focus on his own meal.
“Here, let me do that,” she offered, taking this opportunity to push her plate to the other side of the table and away from under her nose. She then pulled the large plate sitting between them closer to her to cut up the remaining waffles into smaller pieces for him to eat. It was good to see that Aiden was regaining his appetite. She could always depend on waffles to grab his interest in food. And for the most part, it did. In the time since the syrup mishap, Aiden focused mostly on eating everything that was on his plate instead of watching her take careful bites of whatever fruit hadn’t crossed paths with the lake of syrup now all over her plate.
By the time Aiden finished nearly all of his food, Lacey’s portion looked eaten. Admittedly, once his attention started gravitating back to looking at her plate, she started picking at her food. Sure, she slowly ate the remaining pieces of fruit that haven’t been contaminated with syrup, but the rest were a lost cause. In which case she mostly picked at it until they were in smaller pieces beside the now soggy, degraded mess that is her abandoned waffle piece.
“Do you want a refill of your orange juice?” Lacey asked, a little too quickly. She caught him just as he was about to look from her near empty glass of water to her plate. But before he could answer, his attention was pulled from her forced efforts to what looked like his phone. Lacey exhaled quietly and slumped into her seat. She watched his expression as he took his phone out of his pocket. That was honestly the only way she could get any idea what was going on with him without having to actively ask. His expression went from confused interest to...well...there was only one explanation for that look. It was no secret that Aiden had a bit of a short temper. But over the years, especially around her, he got better at controlling it. The only time Lacey ever saw her stepbrother lose it or at the brink of losing it in a matter of seconds is when it involved his father. So when she saw Aiden’s face suddenly darken while staring at his phone, she knew almost instantly who was calling.
Lacey sighed. She knew well enough not to say anything once Aiden answered the call. It was already tense between her and her stepfather. What more between father and son.
Her theories soon became fact the moment Aiden said her name in the fragmented, almost one sided phone conversation. As soon as her name escaped her brother’s lips, Lacey watched closely as his jaw clenched the louder the voice on the other end grew. He couldn’t even protect her from whatever his father was yelling on the other end. And when Aiden suddenly switched from English to Italian? Whatever happy or content mood they were having during breakfast was gone.
There was nothing much that Lacey could do other than nod when Aiden handed her his wallet then slipped out of their table to walk to the exit. Left alone at the table, Lacey let out a deeper sigh and once more slumped into her seat. There was no point staying here any longer. Neither she nor Aiden can regain an appetite after what just happened.
After staring at the leftover food still sitting on the table, Lacey once more looked out the window to watch Aiden. He just looked so upset. If only there was something she could do to get him through whatever screaming match was going on between him and his father. But the moment she even tried to entertain the possibility, she recalled the last thing her stepfather said to her and her hopes were shot down immediately. To this day, he still blames her for Aiden’s accident and nothing her mother did or said could change his mind. If it wasn’t for her talk with Aiden after that LA trip, she probably would still believe it.
“You don’t want to bring the rest of that to-go?” the waitress asked, shocked when Lacey suddenly appeared at the register. Lacey looked back at the now abandoned table where at least a quarter of their food still sat. She shook her head as she pulled a twenty dollar bill out of Aiden’s wallet.
Just as she stuffed the receipt and the rest of the change back into Aiden’s wallet, Lacey heard multiple footsteps growing closer. Before she knew it, the rest of the bike group came to greet her. She knew a few of them personally. They were the ones that grew up riding bikes with Jason so having been close with him, she knew those guys by association and eventually befriended herself. She was then introduced to the rest of the group. Some of the guys she recognized mostly because they were younger brothers of some of the older Colby kids. A couple were entirely new faces to her.
“Where’d your brother go?” Tess asked curiously, looking around as if she would suddenly find Aiden nearby.
Lacey’s gaze dropped for a split second then she turned to look out the door. Aiden was now standing next to his car, phone out of sight. Even from this distance, she could still see the frustration on his face. Guess the phone call didn’t end well….
“So,” Jason then chimed in. “We’ll meet you at the park, yeah?” Relieved at the slight change of topic, Lacey smiled and nodded. “You’ll probably be there before us...you know, ‘cause we’re on bikes. Andrew’s also volunteered to pick up Brooke. Bet she’ll be thrilled to see you’re back in town.”
After saying one more round of goodbyes to the others, Lacey briefly watched all of them walk to their bikes. It made her smile to see that the group just fell behind Jason as if he was their leader. Which, honestly, he probably was. Even in her earliest memories having been that one girl in the bike group, it was always Jason either placed in the middle or leading the way. Nice to see that after so many years that didn’t change. Even if the only girl in the group that was always at his side was no longer her.
There were some last minute hollers from the others as they rode past while Lacey walked back to Aiden’s car. However, she didn’t entertain any of them. What kept her attention was returning to Aiden. The closer she got to him the clearer it became that his phone call with his father had not started or ended well at all. And it took all of her might to not blame herself for it.
The thing was that Aiden made it difficult to win against that fight. One of the first thoughts to run through Lacey’s mind as she stood in front of her stepbrother was how guilty she felt for putting him through that. Try as he might to protect her from his father’s wrath, she knew that the moment he said her name it was game over for Aiden. There was no escaping his father’s temper once it flared up. Not even over the phone while he was hundreds of miles away. Like all other instances, his father’s temper had a way of ruining the moment. And it just wasn’t fair. They just finished having breakfast and now the rest of the day was going to be soured by the foul mood Aiden probably caught from his father.
All Lacey wanted to do right now as she looked up at Aiden was make things better. But how? She wanted to take the pain away from his shoulder so he didn’t have to rely on the sling or the pain relievers or the weed. She wanted to tell him the right things so he could look at her without forcing a smile on his face. She wanted to reach out to him and smooth the tension from his jaw and the lines from his forehead. She wanted to be the reason he was happy again….
But as he turned away from her to unlock his car without another word, Lacey knew that moment and opportunity was gone. She would just have to move forward and do whatever she can to make what’s best of the rest of their day. For the both of them.
“Take a right at the next sign,” Lacey instructed, leaning forward slightly on her seat to read the small street sign. As Aiden slowed to a stop at the sign, she relaxed back into her seat and continued answering his question. “Tess is the twin sister of my, like, best friend, Brooke. To be honest, I didn’t really hang out with her much when we were growing up. I mean, she’ll, like, tag along with me and Brooke when we went to the beach or something. But when I was younger, I didn’t always ask to hang out with her.” When Aiden asked why, she concentrated on the sun shade for a moment as she thought this over. “We just didn’t have much in common. When our moms first introduced us to each other back when we were, like, two or three I think I gravitated toward her sister more. And it’s been that way ever since.”
This was their entire drive to the park: Lacey filling the small space of Aiden’s car with whatever she can talk about whether it was the friends she just reunited with or anything else about Colby she hadn’t told him yet. She didn’t mind and she appreciated his efforts to ask questions to keep the conversation going. At least then she could give him something else to think about other than what happened outside the waffle house earlier.
“So the park is going to be past the school and then you take a left,” she instructed as they drove past her old middle school. As she gazed up at the tall building and empty announcement sign, Lacey pondered for a minute whether she could even consider it her old middle school. She barely finished sixth grade there before she moved out of Colby. Did she have as much claim to the school as her friends who actually graduated from there?
By the time Aiden made the needed left turn, Lacey didn’t have an answer.
“Okay, this is the park. It is home to many many memories for this girl here. When I was a kid, my dad would always bring me here in the morning before taking me to school. He would let me play for like an hour. He believed that getting in some playtime before school helps, like, stimulate the brain or something. I guess that’s like his kid version of him going on his run in the morning before working on whatever piece he was working on.” Lacey looked outside the window at the playground where she spent much of her time. Over the years since she moved out of Colby, the park has slowly been getting a makeover. Just last year, they removed the sand from the playground and replaced it with the rubber flooring that made the ground bouncy. It also looked like the playground equipment either got a paint job or they completely replaced it all with similar equipment. Honestly, what surprised Lacey the most was the renovation of the skate park at the other end. First off, they put a new gate around it. As if that would keep anyone away after hours. Past experience with her friends told her that some of the older kids found a way. Then there was the addition of more ramps and other obstacles. It was now more than just a shallow looking pool. It actually looked like a skate park.
Lacey was now in the middle of discussing the skate park with Aiden. She explained to him, much to his surprise, how she spent a lot of her time there growing up. Many a summer riding her bike to the park just to hang out there with her friends. She did, of course, purposely leave out the fact that the only reason she even spent time at the skate park was because of Jason. As much as she wanted to tell her stepbrother everything about her life in Colby, now just didn’t seem like the right time to let him in on the fact that she and Jason liked each other growing up and that he was honestly the only reason she bothered riding her bike with him and his friends as often as she did. Maybe she can tell him that tidbit when he was in a better mood. Past experience talking about Tristan with Aiden told her that she needed to pick the perfect time to bring up anything like that with him.
“I didn’t actually, like, try it out,” Lacey continued, looking away from the skate park now. “I mean, when I was a kid it was much simpler than it is now. But, like, the one time I tried it, I was dared to by my friends and it didn’t end well. I got scared as soon as I pushed my bike forward and panicked basically. I had to sit on the back of Jason’s bike because I scraped my knee so bad I could barely bend it without wanting to cry.”
Having been so invested in her story telling, Lacey’s reaction when Aiden suddenly reached out to her was a bit delayed. She felt his fingers lightly pinch her cheek before she saw it. By the time she registered what happened, her surprised jump was deemed a late reaction and she saw the smallest hint of an amused smile at the corners of Aiden’s lips. She half expected him to start teasing her for her delayed reaction, but instead he focused on what was sitting on his finger. She looked down at the eyelash and, for a second, she frowned.
Aiden knew exactly what she would wish for on the eyelash. It was the same wish she had for him when she took him on that scavenger hunt. Over the past few weeks since, she watched her wish not come true. It left her wondering if it ever would. Now being given this new opportunity to wish for the same thing, she found herself in doubt. If she made that wish, would it come true? Or was all of this just an act for her benefit?
Lacey quietly looked at Aiden. She hated how it was both easy and hard to read him. After all these years, she felt proud believing that of all the people in the entire world, she was the one that understood her stepbrother the most. He was her best friend after all. And yet, at times like this, she didn’t know what he was thinking or feeling. She just wanted to know what was going on in that head of his right now.
Then she looked down at the eyelash. What type of gesture was this? Did he really believe in wishing on an eyelash? Of all people, she thought Aiden would have believed this was foolish. And yet, here he was entertaining this.
In the end, Lacey gently smiled at her stepbrother then closed her eyes. Just like with her stars, she wished to see Aiden’s smile again. She then took a deep breath. As she opened her eyes, she focused on the eyelash still sitting on his finger and gently blew it away.
Maybe by the end of this trip, both of her wishes will come true.
“Do you want to walk around for a bit? It’s going to take a bit for the others to get here since they’re all riding bikes.” Lacey once again looked out the window to scope out the park. “I think it would be good for your shoulder. I mean, we don’t have to let it out of the sling, but like…” Lacey trailed off then giggled lightly. “I lost my train of thought.”
Before Aiden could provide his own response, Lacey unbuckled her seatbelt and opened her door. “Come on! One lap around the park should be enough time before the others arrive.”
Now that it was nearing noon, the park was growing increasingly busy. In the time they spent in the car since they parked, more cars arrived until the parking lot was almost full. The playground was now flooded with children running and climbing all over the place while their parents hung around on the benches and tables nearby. Other families and groups took up space on the grass. And the first group of teenage boys (and a couple girls) arrived at the skatepark.
They just walked past the playground heading toward the activity center and water fountains when Lacey couldn’t help thinking about how she missed the park near her house. It wasn’t that long ago since she last killed time there, of course. But what she missed the most about that park was spending time there with Aiden. The last time they were at their park together was the night of her scavenger hunt. It seemed so long ago. When she tried to think of the last time they went there together prior to that night, it only made her more sad that there was so much time between the two occasions. Ever since Aiden moved out, their alone time together at their park was far apart that any time they got to go felt like such a blessing. She missed the days when she would wait at their spot for him to get out of swim practice at school.
As they quietly walked side by side along the path, she wondered if Aiden missed their park as well.
A low groan beside her interrupted her thoughts. Lacey looked up at Aiden, catching the look of discomfort on his face. She frowned, concerned. “Is your shoulder bothering you again? Do you wanna sit down?” Aiden agreed to the suggestion and led the way to the nearest bench. Following behind, Lacey kept a close eye on him. She didn’t have his pain relief medication in her purse, but if he needed something to help with the discomfort or pain, she was ready to run to the office to ask for some.
But as they took a seat on the nearby bench, Aiden didn’t ask for any help and Lacey didn’t offer. They just sat quietly together. Lacey once again didn’t know what to say to him while he was struggling with his shoulder. She wished Daniel and Sonia were here. They were good at breaking the silence.
Lacey sighed. Ever since this morning, something about today just felt off. The excitement from yesterday practically vanished. Lacey didn’t know what to do. Aiden just looked like he would rather not be out and about right now; as much as he tried to hide it from her. Maybe agreeing to hang out with her friends wasn’t the best idea. She should have just said no to their offer so that they could have a quieter day together. Especially after that phone call earlier. She could only assume that hanging out with kids a few years younger than him was the last thing Aiden wanted to do. Maybe it wasn’t too late to text Jason that she would need to do a raincheck.
Just as the idea popped into her head, Lacey felt her phone buzz in her back pocket. It was Brooke calling.
“What the hell, L? Jay said you were going to be here!” Brooke greeted as soon as Lacey answered the call.
“No, yeah, I’m here, B. Me and my brother are walking on the path. We’ll be there in a bit,” she explained, raising her voice slightly over the background noise on the other end.
“Okayyyy hurry up! It’s bad enough you didn’t even tell me you were here! I had to hear about it from Andrew!” Without another word, Brooke ended the call.
As Lacey stuffed her phone into her back pocket again, she once again watched Aiden closely. “I guess they’re here now. You ready to head back?” she asked. As they stood up from the bench, Lacey suddenly continued with, “You know, if you’re not feeling up for it, we can go back to the inn and rest a bit. I don’t…” Lacey trailed off again. Not because she lost her train of thought like earlier. Instead, she was afraid to say what she was about to say next. She didn’t want to address the elephant in the room for fear that it would just ruin the rest of Aiden’s mood. After all the effort he put into bringing the mood back up, she feared what would happen if she so much as alluded to the phone call with his father.
But there was just no way around what she was implying. And at this point, there was no taking back what she was about to say. The look on Aiden’s face as he waited for her to continue was proof enough that she can’t just say “JK” and act like nothing happened.
If she was going to go down that rabbit hole, she might as well go all in. No alluding. No beating around the bush.
“Did I get you in trouble...with your dad?”
Honestly, Lacey didn’t even know why she poured syrup on her waffle piece. She hadn’t so much as touched syrup in over five months. But she was uncomfortable with the way her stepbrother watched her after he placed the piece on her plate. She figured that if she made it look like she was making it more appetizing to eat he would finally focus on his own meal.
“Here, let me do that,” she offered, taking this opportunity to push her plate to the other side of the table and away from under her nose. She then pulled the large plate sitting between them closer to her to cut up the remaining waffles into smaller pieces for him to eat. It was good to see that Aiden was regaining his appetite. She could always depend on waffles to grab his interest in food. And for the most part, it did. In the time since the syrup mishap, Aiden focused mostly on eating everything that was on his plate instead of watching her take careful bites of whatever fruit hadn’t crossed paths with the lake of syrup now all over her plate.
By the time Aiden finished nearly all of his food, Lacey’s portion looked eaten. Admittedly, once his attention started gravitating back to looking at her plate, she started picking at her food. Sure, she slowly ate the remaining pieces of fruit that haven’t been contaminated with syrup, but the rest were a lost cause. In which case she mostly picked at it until they were in smaller pieces beside the now soggy, degraded mess that is her abandoned waffle piece.
“Do you want a refill of your orange juice?” Lacey asked, a little too quickly. She caught him just as he was about to look from her near empty glass of water to her plate. But before he could answer, his attention was pulled from her forced efforts to what looked like his phone. Lacey exhaled quietly and slumped into her seat. She watched his expression as he took his phone out of his pocket. That was honestly the only way she could get any idea what was going on with him without having to actively ask. His expression went from confused interest to...well...there was only one explanation for that look. It was no secret that Aiden had a bit of a short temper. But over the years, especially around her, he got better at controlling it. The only time Lacey ever saw her stepbrother lose it or at the brink of losing it in a matter of seconds is when it involved his father. So when she saw Aiden’s face suddenly darken while staring at his phone, she knew almost instantly who was calling.
Lacey sighed. She knew well enough not to say anything once Aiden answered the call. It was already tense between her and her stepfather. What more between father and son.
Her theories soon became fact the moment Aiden said her name in the fragmented, almost one sided phone conversation. As soon as her name escaped her brother’s lips, Lacey watched closely as his jaw clenched the louder the voice on the other end grew. He couldn’t even protect her from whatever his father was yelling on the other end. And when Aiden suddenly switched from English to Italian? Whatever happy or content mood they were having during breakfast was gone.
There was nothing much that Lacey could do other than nod when Aiden handed her his wallet then slipped out of their table to walk to the exit. Left alone at the table, Lacey let out a deeper sigh and once more slumped into her seat. There was no point staying here any longer. Neither she nor Aiden can regain an appetite after what just happened.
After staring at the leftover food still sitting on the table, Lacey once more looked out the window to watch Aiden. He just looked so upset. If only there was something she could do to get him through whatever screaming match was going on between him and his father. But the moment she even tried to entertain the possibility, she recalled the last thing her stepfather said to her and her hopes were shot down immediately. To this day, he still blames her for Aiden’s accident and nothing her mother did or said could change his mind. If it wasn’t for her talk with Aiden after that LA trip, she probably would still believe it.
“You don’t want to bring the rest of that to-go?” the waitress asked, shocked when Lacey suddenly appeared at the register. Lacey looked back at the now abandoned table where at least a quarter of their food still sat. She shook her head as she pulled a twenty dollar bill out of Aiden’s wallet.
Just as she stuffed the receipt and the rest of the change back into Aiden’s wallet, Lacey heard multiple footsteps growing closer. Before she knew it, the rest of the bike group came to greet her. She knew a few of them personally. They were the ones that grew up riding bikes with Jason so having been close with him, she knew those guys by association and eventually befriended herself. She was then introduced to the rest of the group. Some of the guys she recognized mostly because they were younger brothers of some of the older Colby kids. A couple were entirely new faces to her.
“Where’d your brother go?” Tess asked curiously, looking around as if she would suddenly find Aiden nearby.
Lacey’s gaze dropped for a split second then she turned to look out the door. Aiden was now standing next to his car, phone out of sight. Even from this distance, she could still see the frustration on his face. Guess the phone call didn’t end well….
“So,” Jason then chimed in. “We’ll meet you at the park, yeah?” Relieved at the slight change of topic, Lacey smiled and nodded. “You’ll probably be there before us...you know, ‘cause we’re on bikes. Andrew’s also volunteered to pick up Brooke. Bet she’ll be thrilled to see you’re back in town.”
After saying one more round of goodbyes to the others, Lacey briefly watched all of them walk to their bikes. It made her smile to see that the group just fell behind Jason as if he was their leader. Which, honestly, he probably was. Even in her earliest memories having been that one girl in the bike group, it was always Jason either placed in the middle or leading the way. Nice to see that after so many years that didn’t change. Even if the only girl in the group that was always at his side was no longer her.
There were some last minute hollers from the others as they rode past while Lacey walked back to Aiden’s car. However, she didn’t entertain any of them. What kept her attention was returning to Aiden. The closer she got to him the clearer it became that his phone call with his father had not started or ended well at all. And it took all of her might to not blame herself for it.
The thing was that Aiden made it difficult to win against that fight. One of the first thoughts to run through Lacey’s mind as she stood in front of her stepbrother was how guilty she felt for putting him through that. Try as he might to protect her from his father’s wrath, she knew that the moment he said her name it was game over for Aiden. There was no escaping his father’s temper once it flared up. Not even over the phone while he was hundreds of miles away. Like all other instances, his father’s temper had a way of ruining the moment. And it just wasn’t fair. They just finished having breakfast and now the rest of the day was going to be soured by the foul mood Aiden probably caught from his father.
All Lacey wanted to do right now as she looked up at Aiden was make things better. But how? She wanted to take the pain away from his shoulder so he didn’t have to rely on the sling or the pain relievers or the weed. She wanted to tell him the right things so he could look at her without forcing a smile on his face. She wanted to reach out to him and smooth the tension from his jaw and the lines from his forehead. She wanted to be the reason he was happy again….
But as he turned away from her to unlock his car without another word, Lacey knew that moment and opportunity was gone. She would just have to move forward and do whatever she can to make what’s best of the rest of their day. For the both of them.
“Take a right at the next sign,” Lacey instructed, leaning forward slightly on her seat to read the small street sign. As Aiden slowed to a stop at the sign, she relaxed back into her seat and continued answering his question. “Tess is the twin sister of my, like, best friend, Brooke. To be honest, I didn’t really hang out with her much when we were growing up. I mean, she’ll, like, tag along with me and Brooke when we went to the beach or something. But when I was younger, I didn’t always ask to hang out with her.” When Aiden asked why, she concentrated on the sun shade for a moment as she thought this over. “We just didn’t have much in common. When our moms first introduced us to each other back when we were, like, two or three I think I gravitated toward her sister more. And it’s been that way ever since.”
This was their entire drive to the park: Lacey filling the small space of Aiden’s car with whatever she can talk about whether it was the friends she just reunited with or anything else about Colby she hadn’t told him yet. She didn’t mind and she appreciated his efforts to ask questions to keep the conversation going. At least then she could give him something else to think about other than what happened outside the waffle house earlier.
“So the park is going to be past the school and then you take a left,” she instructed as they drove past her old middle school. As she gazed up at the tall building and empty announcement sign, Lacey pondered for a minute whether she could even consider it her old middle school. She barely finished sixth grade there before she moved out of Colby. Did she have as much claim to the school as her friends who actually graduated from there?
By the time Aiden made the needed left turn, Lacey didn’t have an answer.
“Okay, this is the park. It is home to many many memories for this girl here. When I was a kid, my dad would always bring me here in the morning before taking me to school. He would let me play for like an hour. He believed that getting in some playtime before school helps, like, stimulate the brain or something. I guess that’s like his kid version of him going on his run in the morning before working on whatever piece he was working on.” Lacey looked outside the window at the playground where she spent much of her time. Over the years since she moved out of Colby, the park has slowly been getting a makeover. Just last year, they removed the sand from the playground and replaced it with the rubber flooring that made the ground bouncy. It also looked like the playground equipment either got a paint job or they completely replaced it all with similar equipment. Honestly, what surprised Lacey the most was the renovation of the skate park at the other end. First off, they put a new gate around it. As if that would keep anyone away after hours. Past experience with her friends told her that some of the older kids found a way. Then there was the addition of more ramps and other obstacles. It was now more than just a shallow looking pool. It actually looked like a skate park.
Lacey was now in the middle of discussing the skate park with Aiden. She explained to him, much to his surprise, how she spent a lot of her time there growing up. Many a summer riding her bike to the park just to hang out there with her friends. She did, of course, purposely leave out the fact that the only reason she even spent time at the skate park was because of Jason. As much as she wanted to tell her stepbrother everything about her life in Colby, now just didn’t seem like the right time to let him in on the fact that she and Jason liked each other growing up and that he was honestly the only reason she bothered riding her bike with him and his friends as often as she did. Maybe she can tell him that tidbit when he was in a better mood. Past experience talking about Tristan with Aiden told her that she needed to pick the perfect time to bring up anything like that with him.
“I didn’t actually, like, try it out,” Lacey continued, looking away from the skate park now. “I mean, when I was a kid it was much simpler than it is now. But, like, the one time I tried it, I was dared to by my friends and it didn’t end well. I got scared as soon as I pushed my bike forward and panicked basically. I had to sit on the back of Jason’s bike because I scraped my knee so bad I could barely bend it without wanting to cry.”
Having been so invested in her story telling, Lacey’s reaction when Aiden suddenly reached out to her was a bit delayed. She felt his fingers lightly pinch her cheek before she saw it. By the time she registered what happened, her surprised jump was deemed a late reaction and she saw the smallest hint of an amused smile at the corners of Aiden’s lips. She half expected him to start teasing her for her delayed reaction, but instead he focused on what was sitting on his finger. She looked down at the eyelash and, for a second, she frowned.
Aiden knew exactly what she would wish for on the eyelash. It was the same wish she had for him when she took him on that scavenger hunt. Over the past few weeks since, she watched her wish not come true. It left her wondering if it ever would. Now being given this new opportunity to wish for the same thing, she found herself in doubt. If she made that wish, would it come true? Or was all of this just an act for her benefit?
Lacey quietly looked at Aiden. She hated how it was both easy and hard to read him. After all these years, she felt proud believing that of all the people in the entire world, she was the one that understood her stepbrother the most. He was her best friend after all. And yet, at times like this, she didn’t know what he was thinking or feeling. She just wanted to know what was going on in that head of his right now.
Then she looked down at the eyelash. What type of gesture was this? Did he really believe in wishing on an eyelash? Of all people, she thought Aiden would have believed this was foolish. And yet, here he was entertaining this.
In the end, Lacey gently smiled at her stepbrother then closed her eyes. Just like with her stars, she wished to see Aiden’s smile again. She then took a deep breath. As she opened her eyes, she focused on the eyelash still sitting on his finger and gently blew it away.
Maybe by the end of this trip, both of her wishes will come true.
“Do you want to walk around for a bit? It’s going to take a bit for the others to get here since they’re all riding bikes.” Lacey once again looked out the window to scope out the park. “I think it would be good for your shoulder. I mean, we don’t have to let it out of the sling, but like…” Lacey trailed off then giggled lightly. “I lost my train of thought.”
Before Aiden could provide his own response, Lacey unbuckled her seatbelt and opened her door. “Come on! One lap around the park should be enough time before the others arrive.”
Now that it was nearing noon, the park was growing increasingly busy. In the time they spent in the car since they parked, more cars arrived until the parking lot was almost full. The playground was now flooded with children running and climbing all over the place while their parents hung around on the benches and tables nearby. Other families and groups took up space on the grass. And the first group of teenage boys (and a couple girls) arrived at the skatepark.
They just walked past the playground heading toward the activity center and water fountains when Lacey couldn’t help thinking about how she missed the park near her house. It wasn’t that long ago since she last killed time there, of course. But what she missed the most about that park was spending time there with Aiden. The last time they were at their park together was the night of her scavenger hunt. It seemed so long ago. When she tried to think of the last time they went there together prior to that night, it only made her more sad that there was so much time between the two occasions. Ever since Aiden moved out, their alone time together at their park was far apart that any time they got to go felt like such a blessing. She missed the days when she would wait at their spot for him to get out of swim practice at school.
As they quietly walked side by side along the path, she wondered if Aiden missed their park as well.
A low groan beside her interrupted her thoughts. Lacey looked up at Aiden, catching the look of discomfort on his face. She frowned, concerned. “Is your shoulder bothering you again? Do you wanna sit down?” Aiden agreed to the suggestion and led the way to the nearest bench. Following behind, Lacey kept a close eye on him. She didn’t have his pain relief medication in her purse, but if he needed something to help with the discomfort or pain, she was ready to run to the office to ask for some.
But as they took a seat on the nearby bench, Aiden didn’t ask for any help and Lacey didn’t offer. They just sat quietly together. Lacey once again didn’t know what to say to him while he was struggling with his shoulder. She wished Daniel and Sonia were here. They were good at breaking the silence.
Lacey sighed. Ever since this morning, something about today just felt off. The excitement from yesterday practically vanished. Lacey didn’t know what to do. Aiden just looked like he would rather not be out and about right now; as much as he tried to hide it from her. Maybe agreeing to hang out with her friends wasn’t the best idea. She should have just said no to their offer so that they could have a quieter day together. Especially after that phone call earlier. She could only assume that hanging out with kids a few years younger than him was the last thing Aiden wanted to do. Maybe it wasn’t too late to text Jason that she would need to do a raincheck.
Just as the idea popped into her head, Lacey felt her phone buzz in her back pocket. It was Brooke calling.
“What the hell, L? Jay said you were going to be here!” Brooke greeted as soon as Lacey answered the call.
“No, yeah, I’m here, B. Me and my brother are walking on the path. We’ll be there in a bit,” she explained, raising her voice slightly over the background noise on the other end.
“Okayyyy hurry up! It’s bad enough you didn’t even tell me you were here! I had to hear about it from Andrew!” Without another word, Brooke ended the call.
As Lacey stuffed her phone into her back pocket again, she once again watched Aiden closely. “I guess they’re here now. You ready to head back?” she asked. As they stood up from the bench, Lacey suddenly continued with, “You know, if you’re not feeling up for it, we can go back to the inn and rest a bit. I don’t…” Lacey trailed off again. Not because she lost her train of thought like earlier. Instead, she was afraid to say what she was about to say next. She didn’t want to address the elephant in the room for fear that it would just ruin the rest of Aiden’s mood. After all the effort he put into bringing the mood back up, she feared what would happen if she so much as alluded to the phone call with his father.
But there was just no way around what she was implying. And at this point, there was no taking back what she was about to say. The look on Aiden’s face as he waited for her to continue was proof enough that she can’t just say “JK” and act like nothing happened.
If she was going to go down that rabbit hole, she might as well go all in. No alluding. No beating around the bush.
“Did I get you in trouble...with your dad?”
OP
OP
JINFINITE
Super-Earth
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2022
- Location
- The Island of Eroda
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Lacey had offered for them to go back to the inn, which was honestly a very tempting offer. These days everything just took so much more out of him than it should. He was an athlete—and an Olympic hopeful athlete at that—but now he was wiped out from a walk around the park?? It was pathetic how weak he’d become…
Breakfast had helped, and he was thankful his appetite had stuck around to get him through it. But Aiden was still very much so a recovering couch potato...and a heavily bruised potato at that. There was no hiding his discomfort when he got to his feet and tried to gently roll his shoulders back. This was exactly what was wearing him out so quickly these days; his body wouldn’t stop overcompensating in its attempt to avoid the pain stemming from his shoulder. Instead of leaning back to rest against the bench, he had been hunched forward to relieve any pressure against him. But now straightening his body out was making that to have been a very poor decision on his part.
But while yes, a part of him did want to retreat back to his pillow nest and blanket burritos, this was Lacey’s trip. And these were Lacey’s friends. It wasn’t like this was the first time he had ever put himself in a position he didn’t want to be in just to be able to see her and hopefully make her happy. How many of her photo shoots had he driven out to and just sat for hours while she did her thing? Or that networking party he had attended as her plus one when her mother was unable to go and she would have had to miss it otherwise. The family dinners he had braved returning home for so that she wouldn’t have to sit through them alone. Aiden was no stranger to doing things he didn’t exactly want to do on behalf of his step sister. That was literally how their relationship had been built. Being asked to babysit when she was younger, having to bring her home from school, or along with him when he hung out with his friends. Just, somewhere along the lines it all had turned from simply being obligatory brother duties, to actually being something Aiden cared quite deeply about. Which was how this entire trip came to be in the first place. He wanted her to be happy. And being cooped up in that inn wasn’t all that different from staying in his apartment with him. No, Lacey wanted to see her friends, so Aiden was prepared to push through whatever pain was to come from their little adventure.
What he wasn’t prepared for though was for her to ask about his father. His boiling blood from before had finally settled to a simmer in the car ride over here and their walk had helped cool him back towards room temperature. But now at the mention of his earlier phone call, Aiden’s jaw tensed up and a moment of silence settled in between them.
In trouble? Well in a sense, yes. But it wasn’t Lacey’s fault. After all, when wasn’t he in trouble with his father? Aiden had spent most of his teenage years so far butting heads with the Italian man. It was mostly always concerning his swim career, but now it seemed like even quitting wouldn’t get his father off his back.
”He thinks I should be training—said I’m—“
Throughout Aiden’s whole life all he really knew was swimming. All his spare time was spent in the pool, and even days he was busy he would end up there. He had been picked up from his friends’ birthday parties early and dragged to practice. Family vacations planned around training opportunities and swim meets. Hell, he had been pulled out of class before to be taken to the pool. There was nothing more important to his father than Aiden’s success as a swimmer.
But his father was the walk it off type, and he seemed to still be applying that logic—blatantly ignoring the fact that Aiden’s swim days had been ripped away from him. This injury wasn’t something he could just walk off. It had been weeks and he still couldn’t go a single day without being in pain. He could barely move his arm in such a way to resume basic human activities like brushing his teeth...but everytime he spoke to his father he just made it seem like Aiden wasn’t trying hard enough. As though the doctor’s career ending diagnosis was just a personal opinion and he knew better.
”I can’t even fucking lift my arm...but he said I’m—“ He swore under his breath, in Italian that is. Aiden had a temper; that was well enough known, but it was whenever his father got under his skin that it literally drove him insane. At its worst it felt like his brain was on fire and crumbling apart. It was just so impossibly difficult to fathom how a person— no, how a father could treat his own son like this. Like he was just some racehorse to be run into the ground well beyond his usefulness. It got to him so badly sometimes that he couldn’t even speak properly. That is to say, his bilingual brain swapped back and forth so much that it just added to his annoyance, ”Sono così—“
”He thinks I’m doing this just to piss him off. Like I fell off that board to make his life difficult.”
Aiden hadn’t really talked about his accident since it happened. He was so content on just letting that day fade into the background and just carry on with his new, miserable, swim-free existence. But his father took his injury so personally and without fail would bring it up every time they spoke, talking as though it wasn’t as serious as it was. And thinking that Aiden had done this intentionally. Which...wasn’t entirely false and so would add gas to the fire. But for his father to be so self centered to accuse him of getting hurt as though it was his mission to ruin his father’s life...wasn’t it his own life he had ruined with his fall? His father profited off his successes, and now he was exploiting his failures—clearly manipulating both Aiden and Lacey as though he could threaten them into getting what he wanted. But what did he want? Aiden had tried many times to think back and pinpoint when exactly his father had turned from supportive to overbearing, but there was no particular moment that stood out to him. It was like there were the memories of his father congratulating him for trying his best and making second place. And then there were the memories where even winning gold wasn’t enough if his times were just average. But everything in between was just a blur to him. After all, swimming was all he’d known his entire life. He couldn’t even remember half the meets he’d attended, the only proof he had that he had even gone to any of them were all the trophies and medals on display.
He suddenly went quiet, his heart pounding away in his chest with all the anger that had been stirred up within him. His father had been a huge part in what pushed him off that board, but even after destroying his career he still couldn’t get the Italian man off his back. What did he have to do to finally be left alone? Clearly leaving town wasn’t far enough to be free from him. Would he have to leave the state? The country? Did he have to die? Is that what it would take for all this pressure and all these expectations to stop?
He and Lacey hadn’t moved yet, still just standing in front of the bench they had been resting on. Aiden stared off past her, not at anything in particular as he was just lost in his own head. But there was a heaviness to his every breath, inwardly fuming as his earlier phone call replayed in his head— ”On your left!”
The voice managed to break Aiden out of his spell and he glanced over his left shoulder just in time to see a runner rush past them. His eyes followed them almost longingly as his left hand went to rub at his neck where the strap of the sling pressed into his skin. That was what he needed. He needed to run. Working out was always so therapeutic for him. He could literally run until he couldn’t feel anything. The weightlessness of runner’s high had pulled him out of many bad moods and gave him something to channel all his anger into. But now he’d just been bottling everything for weeks. Absorbing everything like a sponge, but sooner or later he wouldn’t be able to take any more.
Lacey’s phone buzzed audibly in their silence but that helped bring him the rest of the way back as he shoved his father to the back of his thoughts and let his eyes fall back on his baby sister beside him, ”Don’t worry about it, okay? He’s just not used to being told no.”
”C’mon, your friends are waiting right?” But Aiden didn’t wait for Lacey’s confirmation and instead took the first step back towards the direction they had come from. Her friend group was pretty easy to spot once they got close enough, but if there was any doubt who they were, a girl yelling Lacey’s name and running the rest of the way to meet them made it crystal clear.
Throughout introductions, first with this girl Brooke and then later with the rest of the gang, Aiden couldn’t help but feel like the odd one out. As in, he was noticeably older than everyone else and he felt it immediately. It’s not like he was even that much older than Lacey or them, but those few years made a huge difference and had Aiden lingering slightly behind her while she proudly introduced her big brother.
“Woah what happened to you?” Aiden had left his hoodie in the car when they first arrived at the park which meant that not only was his sling clearly visible, but his clothing choice also left parts of his shoulder exposed; the fresh scar peeked out and then there were also the various stages of bruising as it struggled to heal. He didn’t exactly mind, it’s not like it made him self conscious and he wasn’t trying to hide his injury, but he wasn’t ready to be asked about it. Back at home it felt like everyone knew what had happened. But here in Colby, no one knew him. No one knew that he was the star of the swim team who fell off a diving board, and Aiden was planning to keep it that way. He didn’t want more pity looks over his sad story, especially since it was his own fault he was in this condition.
Instead Aiden just let an ever so cocky smirk into the corner of his mouth as he turned to his lesser known talent for help: lying.
”You should have seen the other guy.”
Well, it wasn’t entirely a lie. No, actually, it was. But in this case Aiden was the other guy. This Aiden before them was his public appearance and doing his best to keep going. The other guy, the other Aiden was the one who had destroyed his apartment in his self loathing rage. That guy was the one who had sustained the real damage, so...was it really a lie?
Breakfast had helped, and he was thankful his appetite had stuck around to get him through it. But Aiden was still very much so a recovering couch potato...and a heavily bruised potato at that. There was no hiding his discomfort when he got to his feet and tried to gently roll his shoulders back. This was exactly what was wearing him out so quickly these days; his body wouldn’t stop overcompensating in its attempt to avoid the pain stemming from his shoulder. Instead of leaning back to rest against the bench, he had been hunched forward to relieve any pressure against him. But now straightening his body out was making that to have been a very poor decision on his part.
But while yes, a part of him did want to retreat back to his pillow nest and blanket burritos, this was Lacey’s trip. And these were Lacey’s friends. It wasn’t like this was the first time he had ever put himself in a position he didn’t want to be in just to be able to see her and hopefully make her happy. How many of her photo shoots had he driven out to and just sat for hours while she did her thing? Or that networking party he had attended as her plus one when her mother was unable to go and she would have had to miss it otherwise. The family dinners he had braved returning home for so that she wouldn’t have to sit through them alone. Aiden was no stranger to doing things he didn’t exactly want to do on behalf of his step sister. That was literally how their relationship had been built. Being asked to babysit when she was younger, having to bring her home from school, or along with him when he hung out with his friends. Just, somewhere along the lines it all had turned from simply being obligatory brother duties, to actually being something Aiden cared quite deeply about. Which was how this entire trip came to be in the first place. He wanted her to be happy. And being cooped up in that inn wasn’t all that different from staying in his apartment with him. No, Lacey wanted to see her friends, so Aiden was prepared to push through whatever pain was to come from their little adventure.
What he wasn’t prepared for though was for her to ask about his father. His boiling blood from before had finally settled to a simmer in the car ride over here and their walk had helped cool him back towards room temperature. But now at the mention of his earlier phone call, Aiden’s jaw tensed up and a moment of silence settled in between them.
In trouble? Well in a sense, yes. But it wasn’t Lacey’s fault. After all, when wasn’t he in trouble with his father? Aiden had spent most of his teenage years so far butting heads with the Italian man. It was mostly always concerning his swim career, but now it seemed like even quitting wouldn’t get his father off his back.
”He thinks I should be training—said I’m—“
Throughout Aiden’s whole life all he really knew was swimming. All his spare time was spent in the pool, and even days he was busy he would end up there. He had been picked up from his friends’ birthday parties early and dragged to practice. Family vacations planned around training opportunities and swim meets. Hell, he had been pulled out of class before to be taken to the pool. There was nothing more important to his father than Aiden’s success as a swimmer.
But his father was the walk it off type, and he seemed to still be applying that logic—blatantly ignoring the fact that Aiden’s swim days had been ripped away from him. This injury wasn’t something he could just walk off. It had been weeks and he still couldn’t go a single day without being in pain. He could barely move his arm in such a way to resume basic human activities like brushing his teeth...but everytime he spoke to his father he just made it seem like Aiden wasn’t trying hard enough. As though the doctor’s career ending diagnosis was just a personal opinion and he knew better.
”I can’t even fucking lift my arm...but he said I’m—“ He swore under his breath, in Italian that is. Aiden had a temper; that was well enough known, but it was whenever his father got under his skin that it literally drove him insane. At its worst it felt like his brain was on fire and crumbling apart. It was just so impossibly difficult to fathom how a person— no, how a father could treat his own son like this. Like he was just some racehorse to be run into the ground well beyond his usefulness. It got to him so badly sometimes that he couldn’t even speak properly. That is to say, his bilingual brain swapped back and forth so much that it just added to his annoyance, ”Sono così—“
”He thinks I’m doing this just to piss him off. Like I fell off that board to make his life difficult.”
Aiden hadn’t really talked about his accident since it happened. He was so content on just letting that day fade into the background and just carry on with his new, miserable, swim-free existence. But his father took his injury so personally and without fail would bring it up every time they spoke, talking as though it wasn’t as serious as it was. And thinking that Aiden had done this intentionally. Which...wasn’t entirely false and so would add gas to the fire. But for his father to be so self centered to accuse him of getting hurt as though it was his mission to ruin his father’s life...wasn’t it his own life he had ruined with his fall? His father profited off his successes, and now he was exploiting his failures—clearly manipulating both Aiden and Lacey as though he could threaten them into getting what he wanted. But what did he want? Aiden had tried many times to think back and pinpoint when exactly his father had turned from supportive to overbearing, but there was no particular moment that stood out to him. It was like there were the memories of his father congratulating him for trying his best and making second place. And then there were the memories where even winning gold wasn’t enough if his times were just average. But everything in between was just a blur to him. After all, swimming was all he’d known his entire life. He couldn’t even remember half the meets he’d attended, the only proof he had that he had even gone to any of them were all the trophies and medals on display.
He suddenly went quiet, his heart pounding away in his chest with all the anger that had been stirred up within him. His father had been a huge part in what pushed him off that board, but even after destroying his career he still couldn’t get the Italian man off his back. What did he have to do to finally be left alone? Clearly leaving town wasn’t far enough to be free from him. Would he have to leave the state? The country? Did he have to die? Is that what it would take for all this pressure and all these expectations to stop?
He and Lacey hadn’t moved yet, still just standing in front of the bench they had been resting on. Aiden stared off past her, not at anything in particular as he was just lost in his own head. But there was a heaviness to his every breath, inwardly fuming as his earlier phone call replayed in his head— ”On your left!”
The voice managed to break Aiden out of his spell and he glanced over his left shoulder just in time to see a runner rush past them. His eyes followed them almost longingly as his left hand went to rub at his neck where the strap of the sling pressed into his skin. That was what he needed. He needed to run. Working out was always so therapeutic for him. He could literally run until he couldn’t feel anything. The weightlessness of runner’s high had pulled him out of many bad moods and gave him something to channel all his anger into. But now he’d just been bottling everything for weeks. Absorbing everything like a sponge, but sooner or later he wouldn’t be able to take any more.
Lacey’s phone buzzed audibly in their silence but that helped bring him the rest of the way back as he shoved his father to the back of his thoughts and let his eyes fall back on his baby sister beside him, ”Don’t worry about it, okay? He’s just not used to being told no.”
”C’mon, your friends are waiting right?” But Aiden didn’t wait for Lacey’s confirmation and instead took the first step back towards the direction they had come from. Her friend group was pretty easy to spot once they got close enough, but if there was any doubt who they were, a girl yelling Lacey’s name and running the rest of the way to meet them made it crystal clear.
Throughout introductions, first with this girl Brooke and then later with the rest of the gang, Aiden couldn’t help but feel like the odd one out. As in, he was noticeably older than everyone else and he felt it immediately. It’s not like he was even that much older than Lacey or them, but those few years made a huge difference and had Aiden lingering slightly behind her while she proudly introduced her big brother.
“Woah what happened to you?” Aiden had left his hoodie in the car when they first arrived at the park which meant that not only was his sling clearly visible, but his clothing choice also left parts of his shoulder exposed; the fresh scar peeked out and then there were also the various stages of bruising as it struggled to heal. He didn’t exactly mind, it’s not like it made him self conscious and he wasn’t trying to hide his injury, but he wasn’t ready to be asked about it. Back at home it felt like everyone knew what had happened. But here in Colby, no one knew him. No one knew that he was the star of the swim team who fell off a diving board, and Aiden was planning to keep it that way. He didn’t want more pity looks over his sad story, especially since it was his own fault he was in this condition.
Instead Aiden just let an ever so cocky smirk into the corner of his mouth as he turned to his lesser known talent for help: lying.
”You should have seen the other guy.”
Well, it wasn’t entirely a lie. No, actually, it was. But in this case Aiden was the other guy. This Aiden before them was his public appearance and doing his best to keep going. The other guy, the other Aiden was the one who had destroyed his apartment in his self loathing rage. That guy was the one who had sustained the real damage, so...was it really a lie?
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