Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue

(Ashlyn’s Point Of View)

I was eighteen when I was sitting on that bench - the final day of our trial. The day that would decide whether or not our lives and efforts would be thrown by the wayside by the government, for what it had been for about a full two years. The days of running from cops, shooting gang members and those who wanted us dead, or captured. The hundreds of hours spent in that hell - until the day we purged it all. The grand finale of our lives: The death of the man we once knew as Mr. Thomas - the propagator of the apocalypse - Maverick, buried within the collapsing and cascading rubble of that damned building. The Sorrel House. The most freeing minute of our lives. Our journey through hell had finally been complete. That moment ended in blaring red and blue lights, sirens, and the cocking of guns and the berating of SWAT agents.

I clung to the hands of those who sat to the left and right of me, my partners and allies through this whole journey. Aiden held my right hand, and we squeezed each other with fear, and a treacherous sadness, as if we were stepping ever closer to a cliff, ever closer to the end of our lives. He was shaking, every part of him. I too, was shaking, and my breaths came out as unsteady as a ball resting on the tip of a dagger, and water lined my red eyes and discolored eyelids.

Taylor clung to me on my left hand, she too, shaking and sobbing. Farther down the line was Tyler and Logan on my left, and Aiden and Ben on my right. The pitiful sight of all of us was one to behold by the man with the gavel who sat in front of us all. We all leaned on each other, rocked each other, and told each other it was okay, even though none of us knew whether or not it would - and that, we all knew too.

“I don’t want to have to leave any of you.” Taylor whispered to us, her words and breath shaking and wavering, with lips that shook with every syllable. Tyler leaned in close to her, offering comfort, possibly the last we would ever get from each other. There was a silence that came over the courtroom as the jury marched through the door. I shut my eyes, and turned away, choking from the hand of fear wrapped around my neck. I turned my head over onto Aiden’s shoulder.

This was it. We are sitting in the room of our future. Today we learn if we shall live another day under the sun, or if we shall be confined into chains.

There was a quietness about the jury. Their faces rested with a demeanor that sat unwavered. It was almost comforting, the confidence and calmness that they brought into the room. They all took their seats, one by one. The twelve sat, some looking down at themselves and the floor, others looking at us, and some at the judge.

There was a moment of silence before the room. It was broken by the judge clearing his throat.

“Has the Jury reached a unanimous verdict?”

One of the jurors rose from his seat and responded.

“Yes, your honor.”

“Do all of the jurors agree with this decision?”

One by one, the eleven other jurors agreed down the line when addressed by the judge.

There was a pause, the judge sighing, and then swallowing. “Very well.” He said.

“Jury Foreperson, if you would read out the final verdict to the courtroom.” The judge said with a sadness to his words. The judge looked at us with sorrow in his eyes, almost as if he felt for us. Almost as if he wants us to be set free - as if he understands us and our pain.

I tightened my hands ever-so-more around Aiden and Taylors, and we held our breath with our eyes closed. The silence made its way into the room again as the Juror stood up. As if all time had stood still in this moment - the moment where we hear our future before our ears.

“In the matter of New York vs Ashlyn Banner, Aiden Clark, Ben Clark, Taylor Hernandez, Tyler Hernandez, and Logan Fields on the charges of Manslaughter, resisting arrest, Obstruction of an Officer’s duties, hitchhiking, trespassing, gang affiliation, gang violence, government property damage, and multiple accounts of battery, armed battery, and battery with a lethal weapon, we, the jury, find the defendants…”

I inhaled, and braced for the cold hard truth.

“...Not Guilty on all accounts.” He finished.

I flashed my eyes open and looked at Aiden. He looked back at me with his wet brown eyes, and his mouth agape. All six of us erupted into tears as we fell into each other, wrapping each other in our arms, soaking each other's clothes with our tears. We gripped each other and grabbed each other's limbs and clothes, an amalgamation of tension being melted away from within ourselves. We wailed with our mouths opened, a fountain for all our stress and anxious anticipation, released like a train whistle. The gallery began to sigh away their tension as well. There were no opposers within the gallery, no man or woman was upset at the verdict. Maybe the six of us worried a bit too much that we wouldn’t be understood. I hugged Taylor and Aiden, and Ben joined in as well, we were all still crying. “It’s all over. We’re all going to be okay!” I said from the huddle of limbs we created.

After a long while, until we were all able to calmly sit back down on the bench, the judge cleared his throat one more time. “If the court clerk could please put that into official writing…” He began and talked for a few moments, using some legal mumbo jumbo, of which I was too euphoric to even care to listen to. “I would like to thank the jury for their time here over these few weeks as they critically deliberated the facts of this case… Bailiff, you may now escort the jury outside of the courtroom. Jurors, you have been discharged.” The judge paused for a moment, allowing the jurors to leave the room. “I would like to give some final statements on this case.” He spoke.

“It is the job of a judge, and a jury, to decide not whether the defendants have committed a crime. It is not to decide whether or not the actions of an individual fall within the law. The job of a judge and a jury is to decide if the defendants that sit before us in these rows are deserving of any punishment for their actions, and their situation. It is in this case - in which the decision was not made solely on the actions of these defendants - that the jury - and I, in my heart - saw through the actions of each individual, and did not judge them on it. We can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that you six that sit here before us are not dangerous , and are not criminals. You were dealt a horrible hand, and placed into a horrible circumstance, and all that you did, you did out of desperation, and survival. Whether it was against a gang, the government, or even a singular police officer, you did what you needed to do to survive, and though the actions were not perfect in all lights, in moments of desperation, you can not judge what a person instinctively calls upon. The entire world was against you.

Those who stop the apocalypse do not commit crime for selfish or spiteful reasons, but only out of desperation, and to help others - reasons that the powers that be were not able to understand - yet. I - and this jury -  have not been ignorant of that when we made our decision. You brought peace to the world as we know it, and kept each other on your feet the best you could. And no person - no child , I should say - should be thrown into a cell for that.

And as for those corrupt agencies and facilities that my government has been running, I will make it my duty as a judge under the constitution - and of my heavenly father - to inform the world of what they have done, and bring justice to all who were involved in these horrendous facilities you spoke of. And with that, I conclude this case. All are welcomed to exit. Court is adjourned.”

I am recently nineteen now, and it is summer, the summer after my senior year of high school (which, the other five and I needed to take a year late considering our time on-the-run from the government). I was standing in my room, looking at a photo on my bureau. It was of me and my friends, standing with all of their parents, and Ben holding Lily in his left arm. This was taken quite a bit ago, maybe only around a week after the final verdict of the case, on Lily’s seventh birthday - The first birthday we were able to celebrate with her for real.

I remember how Ben felt, when it was just us together, the day that her sixth birthday passed. He cried that day, and told me how much he was missing his family. I told him we would be able to get them back. In the end, we did. There was plenty of pain that was felt, and things that went wrong, but we eventually found a way to resuscitate them all from their comas before the infection could get to them.

I smiled at the photo. Most of us had gotten to look so different by the time we saw each other again while on the run, and again while in the courtroom. Aiden had grown out his roots by quite a lot. By the time we were in the courtroom, half of it was already black. Logan had begun growing a beard (though it was really only darkened fuzz when we saw it), and also sized up quite a bit while away, enough to see a noticeable amount of muscle in his arms. Tyler did not change much, aside from looking thinner, which toned his skin down to the muscles on his arms, and abdomen.

Aiden and Logan had gotten growth spurts, and Tyler probably grew an inch or so as well, but Aiden had been a few inches taller than me when we first saw each other again. Logan was somehow taller than Taylor when we saw him again as well. They told me how much taller I had looked, and had also been shocked to find out that I cut my hair a decent length. Not by so much to change how I look entirely, but enough so that it wasn’t hanging down to my ankles anymore.

I heard my phone buzz from across the room, and when I went to check the messages, Taylor had said a few things in the group chat.

Ta: School’s out for summer!!!

L: Woohoo!

A: You guys want to hang out and celebrate?

Ty: I’m down

Ta: You know it!

B: Yes please

L: I’m ready to do something aside from study

I looked down at my phone and smiled. Senior year was no joke, but because we were able to dedicate so much more of our time to it, we powered through it like academic weapons. Being able to sleep for a full eight hours, eat plenty of good food, and not worry about some evil teacher looking over our shoulders, it really helps out. Tyler got that scholarship he wanted at a nearby college, and resumed playing baseball. Taylor got a pretty good paying mechanics job for an airport nearby, with on-site training! Logan graduated damn near second in our class (oh, and Barron got expelled), Ben resumed therapy, as well as picked up speech therapy. Aiden and I were going to continue our standard education at the community college that has a strong connection to our school. Aiden said that he wanted to be a professional skateboarder, and I was still passionate about pursuing Ballet. I was going to major in performing arts, and Aiden planned on majoring in English in order to appease his parents.

You - Don’t count me out of it. Where we going?

Chapter Text

Scene 1: A Good Summer Day

(Ashlyn’s Point Of View)

  Our senior year had been a very interesting one. Since we had been involved in that court case, we received lots of unwanted attention from it. Ben, specifically, got VERY tired of people asking him questions about it, considering that most probably didn’t know he couldn’t talk, and he even had a few moments where he would freak out at people or get overwhelmed. After the first month or two, though, the attention started to die down. We would still get looks and gawks from other people, though. It seemed, at the time, like the attention wouldn’t go away until after we graduated.

There is one interesting thing, however, that even looking back on it, I still find it surprising and quite amusing. Because of Logan and Taylor’s time they spent together in isolation, after they made their escape, we realized that they had gotten closer with each other in a way that the rest of us thought they never would, which continued into the beginning of high school. They aren’t together anymore, which is why it’s funny to look back at in retrospect, but the breakup was mutually very calm and sort of enlightening to the both of them. The terms of their friendship haven’t been negatively affected whatsoever, and both of them were able to agree that they only did what they did together as a result of the isolation and the desperation they felt while under stress. The fact that Logan also came out as gay afterwards probably had something to do with it too.

I reflected on the past while walking on the path to Aiden’s house, and once I had arrived there I knocked on the front door. We all agreed to meet up at Aiden’s to hang out and see if we would go anywhere after that. The door swung open, and from the inside stood the boy with jet black hair. I was still very unfamiliar with it for some odd reason, even though at this point I had  seen him with black hair for longer than I had seen him with golden hair.

I looked up at him (funnily, looking back on the past I realized that I hadn’t needed to look up as much to see him), and he gave me a smile. He still had those red contacts; he never stopped wearing those. I smiled back, I was happy to see him. “Hey, Ash!” He said from inside. I stepped through the door and gave him a short friendly hug. He closed the door behind me after leaving the embrace, and looked back at me again.

             Our images did not really reflect the way we looked back when we first saw each other again while on the run. Aiden looked clean shaven, and the only difference was how he stopped dyeing his hair. Logan cleaned his face up, as well as started wearing glasses again. Tyler cut his hair to where it was short and neat, tightly held up against the side of his head, since more hair would make him hotter when he’s running around a lot more outside at practice.

“It’s good to see you, we hardly had any time to hang out in a while.” Aiden said to me with a large smile.

“Yeah, finals pretty much killed me. But, it’s all over.” I looked at him, and I felt hopeful for the future. A chapter of our lives had just been finished, and we were turning the page to the future.

I saw Ben and Taylor in the living room, talking about stuff. They seemed to be having a pretty in-depth conversation. Ben still preferred not to talk much, still close to not at all, but he started making sounds a lot more. Lots of mm-hmm’s and simple phrases and words to either confirm or deny something. It was a rough start in the beginning, but he got around to being comfortable doing it as of recently. Aiden and I sat down on the couch in the living room, and he resumed playing something on the TV. “We’re still waiting for Logan to get here, and Tyler’s in the bathroom, so make yourself comfy!” Aiden chimed when I sat down onto it. I leaned back onto the cushion, relaxing my neck. “I already am.”

A few minutes later, there was another knock on the door, and Tyler decided to get it since he had just gotten out of the bathroom. “That must be Logan.” Aiden said, looking in the direction of the front door. He put his controller down, and leaned back on the couch.

“Where were you guys thinking about going?”

“Can we stop by the salon, so you can get your old hair back?” I asked jokingly.

“What? No, I like it when Taylor does it!”

“Oh! Can I do it this weekend?” She asked, getting excited.

“Sure, only if you want to paint my nails black, too.” He chuckled back.

Tyler and Logan had made it back into the room, and Logan said hi to everyone. Aiden sat up on the couch and looked at Logan as he sat down into a chair.

“Jeez, Logan, you’re becoming more of a gentle giant than Ben!” He said while looking at Logan’s arms. Logan blushed for a second. “Oh, uhm… I haven’t really been working out or getting any stronger since… Well, since we were separated.” He quietly said back. His voice had deepened a bit too, compared to the beginning of our time together.

No one really felt like talking about that right now. “Er- Anyways, if you keep that up, you might start putting Tyler to shame!” Aiden shot back.

“Pft, as if. ” Tyler scoffed from his seat, and Logan chuckled.

Aiden asked his question again, and everyone pondered for a moment.

“How about that arcade we went to a while ago, for old-time’s sake!” Taylor chimed, cheerily.

“You say ‘old time’s sake’ as if it weren’t, like, a year and a half ago.” I responded while smiling.

“How about a waterpark, or something? It’s been hot for a while here.” Aiden chimed in.

“Mmm, no.. we’d all have to go home and get some swim clothes.” Taylor chimed in.

“Plus, your backyard has a pool, there’s no point in spending money on a park if we can just swim in your backyard if we wanted to.” I chimed in.

“For fun, that’s the point!” He shouted back playfully

“We’ll keep it on the table.” Taylor resolved.

We were all silent for a moment, still thinking.

Aiden started to chuckle. “We really have run out of stuff to do together!” He looked around at everyone. We laughed back at that.

Aiden decided to pick his game back up as we thought about what to do.

“It’s too hot to do anything outside today, and we can’t think of any indoor place we want to go - why don’t we just hang here and decide later at night if we want to do anything?” Logan proposed.

“I don’t mind hosting for lunch and dinner.” Aiden said from the couch, eyes still on the TV.

“Ooh, how about we just dye his hair today? And we can also watch a movie with popcorn and stuff! Remember that projector we had in the graveyard?” Taylor was getting excited.

“Yeah, we used the crap out of that thing.” I responded, chuckling.

Aiden thought for a moment, sweating slightly at the idea of changing his hair again after quite some time. “I don’t think I have any hair dye - or even nail polish at that - as well as popcorn and some other snacks. I might have to make a run to the store.

“I’ll come.” I chimed in.

“I’ll also go.” Logan said quietly.

“Yeah, you can be our muscle, Logan!” Aiden said to him

And that was that. We got into Aiden’s car, and headed out to the grocery store to pick up a few things to have a fun night. I had only been in Aiden’s car a few times. It was nice for a first car, with parents like his, I’m sure they had no problem getting him a fairly new standard car. It wasn’t anything fancy, just very new and not what you’d expect for someone’s first car. I was sitting in the passenger seat, and I picked up on the fact that one of the very few things that Aiden did with such calm and deliberate focus was driving. There was no banter or crazed behavior, or hyperactivity that showed through. He could talk in a calm and complete sentence, and he seemed to become very tranquil when he drove. His tranquility rubbed off on me, enough to make me just as calm in the seat next to him.

“I’m surprised you stopped dyeing your hair for the whole school year.” I initiated

“Well, because we no longer had to worry about… everything , I found enjoyment doing other things that I used to do before… you know.”

“I get it. Like skateboarding?”

“Yeah, it was really fun to get back into that!”

“Yeah, well it wasn’t fun to hear you whine while you had that splint on your finger for a whole month.”

Logan chimed in from the back seat. “Agreed.”

Aiden laughed. “Ugh, don’t bring that up.”

“Well, I will say this,” I began.

“You look a lot like your dad with your hair that dark.”

Aiden smiled in the driver’s seat. “That’s why I started dyeing it.” He chuckled

We eventually pulled into the parking lot, and ran from his car into the store.

“Ash, you get the nail polish, black , Logan, grab the popcorn, and not that bag kind, get the real kernels - and some popcorn seasoning - I’ll grab the… hair dye.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I said, and we all split. It hardly took us any time at all to get everything we needed, and we checked out as quickly as we got there. It had just turned to the afternoon when we got back into Aiden’s car, and he turned the ignition to start it. “Alright, let’s get back to the house before those three start tearing that place down.” Aiden joked as he started pulling out of the parking lot. The radio in the car was on, and it was playing music at a volume so insignificant to where it was almost indistinguishable from the smooth sound of the wheels on the road and the wind that whipped past the car. We all sat in tranquil silence again.

I looked at Logan in the back seat through the rear-view mirror, and dotted my eyes at Aiden in the corner of my vision. I felt happy here, but at the same time, I felt this sinking feeling in my chest. I looked down at my legs as I sat in the car, and my face lost its smile.

“We really are getting older, aren’t we?” I asked with solemn sorrow hidden in my voice.

I saw my face in the reflection of the side view mirror after looking back up. My facial scar had faded from the infected claws. My freckles had taken on a matured prominence on my face, scattered across my cheeks and my nose in a community. My skin had smoothed from its time through puberty, and now all that decorated it was my pale, freckled skin and prominent peridot eyes. I let in and out a deep breath as I began to reflect again.

My sullenness was cut short when I heard Aiden laugh pleasantly from the driver seat. I turned my head towards him, confused as to what the subject of his laughter could be.

Though he did not turn his head away from the road, I could tell that in some way, he was looking back at me. “Ash…” he began, “We’re not old yet. We just aren’t young.” There was a blatant obviousness to his statement, but it still caused me to think.

“I don’t plan on letting any number stop me from being me.” He started to say. “And though I may look older, or Logan looks stronger, or Ben looks more scruffy… I’m not going to let anything stop us from being a group - from being friends.” He finished. I continued to look at him for another second after he finished, before turning my eyes back to the road. He was right.

“Thank you, Aiden.” I muttered. “You don’t know how much that means to me.” I turned my head towards the door, too nervous to look at either of them after I said that.

Logan placed a hand on my shoulder from the back seat. “We aren’t kids anymore, but that doesn’t mean we’re adults . It’s everyone's first time being this age, too. Don’t expect people to have everything figured out, Ashlyn!” Logan must have learned a thing or two from Taylor. I placed a hand on top of the one he put on my shoulder, and thanked him, shifting into my normal posture on the seat.

We arrived back home and pulled into his driveway. “Let’s go say hi to everyone!” Aiden shouted.

We walked back into his house to the twins and Ben celebrating our return. Logan took the food we bought into the kitchen and put them into the pantry until we were ready to watch a movie, and Taylor almost exploded with excitement when she saw the box-dye we had bought. She scrambled to get up and start preparing it. “Wait! I haven’t even washed my hair yet, calm down! We should probably do that later, or at least after you do my nails!” Aiden frantically bargained. Taylor agreed to wait after her excitement had dwindled.

Logan and Ben were both still in the kitchen, and so I decided to go over there while the twins made conversation with Aiden on the couches. Ben seemed to be sweating a bit, but Logan seemed to be smiling with a carefree look about him, almost reassuring Ben or giving him some comfort. “Hey, what are you guys talking about? Is everything okay?” I looked at Ben, who turned towards me with his left hand hanging from his neck as he rubbed the back of it nervously.

“Oh! Everyone’s okay, Ashlyn. Ben was just telling me, uhm… should I tell her?” Logan looked at Ben for confirmation. I stood looking at the two of them waiting for any sort of contextualization. Ben simply nodded, still with his hand up. Logan continued. “It’s nothing serious, Ashlyn, Ben was just telling me that he and Taylor might be entering more of a… serious relationship, and was just nervous to tell me considering what we did during the beginning of our senior year.” Logan chuckled lightheartedly. “I was just telling him that he doesn’t have to worry, and that it was silly for him to be worried about that, haha!” Logan finished.

“Oh!” I was pleasantly shocked, I think? “Well, congratulations, Ben!” I looked at him and smiled. He blushed, and nodded back, finally moving his arm down from his neck. Oh, so that’s what he was covering, I thought. There was quite a hickey that resided on his neck, not enough to make me think that Taylor was a vampire, but still enough that even a family member would point out at a reunion. “Oh!” I said again.

We had all gotten back into the living room, and Taylor had already started on Aiden’s nails again. “Now your nails are gonna match your head.” Tyler chuckled.

“Not for long, they won’t!” Taylor schemed with a grin. Aiden gulped.

As the afternoon turned into evening, we commenced our activities as a group. Watching a movie, eating our popcorn together, continuing to try to find possible plans for the evening (to no avail), and laughing throughout it all. After dinner, we had to admit that there was nothing we could possibly think of doing, but it was fun to hang out together. Aiden made an attempt to rush Logan and I out the house in order to save himself from having to dye his hair, but before he could, Taylor put an end to it. She sent Aiden away to wash his hair before making the preparations for dyeing it.

There was something about Aiden while he had his black hair that made him look like a different person. However, it never really reminded me of the photo that hung on his wall. Of course, he looked similar (obviously much older), but even with the same hair, he was still always happy and smiling. It felt almost like a blend between the photo and what he looked like for most of our junior year. There wasn’t a single time where I was able to grow used to him having his hair like that, and I could never tell why.

Aiden came back downstairs with his hair blow-dried and ready for dying, and so it began. Aiden always let Taylor do it, even during our junior year before we were put into the facility. Aiden once again let Taylor do it now. Aiden had the towel around his shoulders to prevent it from staining anything, Taylor sectioned off parts of his hair, and began dyeing it all the way down to the roots.

“I remember this feeling! It’s almost nostalgic” Aiden laughed.

“Stop shaking! I’m gonna stain your scalp!” Taylor ordered.

A while later, after Aiden let it dry and process in his hair, he went back up to shower again to wash off the excess dye. We never got to see it until it was completely finished, since he hid it inside of a shower-cap while letting it process in his hair.

I heard somebody step down the stairs, and I turned up to look at them. Aiden was coming back downstairs, in a white t-shirt and sweatpants, his hair still damp from his shower, now recolored with that same golden shine I remember, and missed dearly.

Everyone in the living room looked up at him as he walked down the steps, and they all watched with open mouths and faces of shock that shifted into happiness. I simply looked at him with a pleasant smile, and he looked back at me with his prominent red eyes, smiling too.

“I was nervous, but it turned out really good!” He proclaimed.

“I knew it was going to, I did it!” Taylor chimed in, pridefully.

Time had passed a little while, time we spent just sitting on the couches, we even put on another movie to watch while we relaxed. Our time together had been relaxing, lacking eventfulness aside from Aiden reacquiring his old look. I sat next to Aiden on one of the now three couches in the living room, Taylor and Ben shared another one, as well as Tyler and Logan. There was something that I noticed about Aiden while I was sitting next to him. As I sparingly looked over at him, I realized how much his appearance had changed over time.

I guess during my entire senior year of high school, I never really looked at Aiden so closely. I must have just always been distracted by his hair. Looking at him felt like looking at a different person at the time, as if there was something objectively different between him and the blonde boy I knew a year previous. But now that I finally see him with his golden hair again, I see how different he is, more so than I originally thought.

There was an increase in the expression of his muscles down his arm. His forearms and upper arms all the way up to his shoulders had experienced not quite a growth, but a noticeable change in definition, one that I found hard to notice while still in school. His hands, wrists and forearms also had a noticeable vascularity to them. His scars, though faded, now pressed tightly up against his back whenever he had his shirt off. His back and chest had experienced development as well. His shoulders had broadened, and his trap-muscles that connected to his neck had grown as well. Overall, compared to when I had met him, he had grown broader and more toned.

Aiden turned his head towards me when he saw me looking, and I frantically turned my head back towards the TV. I heard him let out a quiet chuckle before he turned back to the T.V. as well, and when I flicked my eyes back over for a second, I saw a smile peaking around his cheek.

The sun had said goodbye about an hour ago at this point, and Aiden stood from the couch. “Well, today has been a lot of fun!” He exclaimed. He turned towards me, I was still sitting on the couch. He reached out a hand to me, and I froze for a second as I looked at it. I grabbed it softly, and sort of flinched when I realized that all he was doing was assisting me off of the couch. My mind snapped back to normal. “Yeah, it is getting late.” I said blankly.

“Logan, you drove here, right?” Aiden asked, and Logan nodded.

“Ash, do you want a ride home?” He asked me, turning back to look into my eyes. There was a calming and sweet sincerity to his voice.

“I’m only a bit over a block away. I can walk home perfectly fine.” I responded.

“I know you can walk.” He said, and I looked at him quizzically. “I asked if you want a ride.” Aiden repeated with a smile.

I paused for a second, and looked away from him. I itched my neck. “...If you don’t mind.”

“Of course not! I’ll take you home.” Aiden reassured, and went to grab his car keys.

While he was out of the room, I noticed Taylor looking at me while still on the couch with Ben. The two of them had been snuggled right up to each other on the couch. Taylor, when I looked at her, nodded her head up and down, with a smile on her face. I looked at her with confusion. What are you nodding about?

Aiden returned, and we walked out the door. I didn’t say anything while walking to the car, and I sat down in the passenger seat once I had gotten to it. Aiden started the car, and we both still had not said anything, but I did see that he was still wearing that pleasant smile.

“Thank you again for giving me a ride, it really isn’t that far.” I muttered.

“Well, if it ain’t that far, it ain’t no problem.” Aiden responded lightheartedly.

The same old peacefulness arose in the car once more once we hit the road.

“I remember what you told me when I told everyone I got my license, hahah…” Aiden began, catching my attention.

“You were dedicated to never getting into my car! You thought I would be such a terrible driver.” Aiden laughed.

“Well, after how you did driving that truck when I…” I began, but cut myself off.

I saw Aiden's smile fade into a neutral look. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to- uh…” I stuttered. “Ugh, anyways, I guess I was just scared because of how crazy you are doing everything else!” I brought it back around. I heard Aiden chuckle slightly, a slight smile replacing his neutral look.

“Well, whatever the reason was, it’s still funny to see you sitting in my passenger seat now.” He finished.

It wasn’t a long drive. He pulled over to the curb in front of my house. I got out the passenger door and walked around the front of the car since he pulled up to the curb on the driver's side. I stepped up onto the sidewalk and was about to walk up to my house, but I stopped and turned around and looked at Aiden. I walked up to his window, and he rolled it down.

“What’s up, Ash?” He asked me. I looked at him for another moment, before smiling. I crouched down a little bit just so I could see him more eye to eye. I gave him a smile.

“You look a lot better with your hair like that, Aiden.” I said. “Well, better in general, but especially with your hair back.” I let out a chuckle. He looked at me even deeper from inside the car.

“You look beautiful too.” He gazed into my eyes. My eyes shot wide, and I quickly straightened up from the window. I paused for a second, not knowing what to say. I felt my face get hot, and my smile was replaced by semi-open lips. I quickly turned around towards the house.

“Goodnight, Aiden.” I said, and began walking up towards my house. I covered my mouth with my hand as discreetly as I could while walking away from the car.

“...Goodnight!” I heard him call from the car. I walked into the front door, and once it closed, I heard him start driving away. I went back up into my room, and laid down onto my bed, thinking about what he had said to me.

Beautiful? My appearance hasn’t changed much at all! Maybe I got a tiny bit taller, and yes, my hair did get a tad bit shorter over the 2 years we knew each other, but I didn’t go through any major changes. What would cause him to say that? I was just complimenting his new look, what was he trying to say? I thought for another second. Was I just complimenting his new look? Why did I choose right then of all times to say that? I pressed my eyes closed and sighed. I don’t feel like thinking about this right now, I’m tired. I flicked off all the lights around me and slipped into the land of the surreal.

Chapter Text

Scene 2: Still Needs Work

(Ashlyn’s Point Of View)

The day was now Monday, the week after the Friday that I spent with the group over at Aiden’s house. Logan and I went back home on Friday, but the reason Tyler and Taylor never left was because he was away from his college dorm on break over the weekend, and asked if he could stay at Aiden’s place during it. Taylor, because she knew that Tyler was coming back to Alto this weekend, decided to spend the weekend at Aiden’s house as well, in order to spend time with her brother (but also, probably to spend time with Ben as well). We didn’t do anything for the rest of that weekend, and now that it was over, Tyler was back out of town, and Taylor was back on the job at the airport.

Ben and Aiden both did not have jobs at this point, to my knowledge. Aiden spent most of his time during the week (and even weekends) going, practicing, and competing at skateparks. He was very serious about becoming a professional at it, and even joked that if he worked hard enough, he would eventually receive a bluemule sponsorship (it gives you horns). Aiden would compete in all types of competitions as well as just having fun with the other semi-professional skaters. He was able to make more friends outside of our group - real friends. Sometimes he would attend televised/recorded competitions, but I really couldn’t stomach watching the stunts that Aiden does. I tried my best to watch one of the events when it was happening live, and I had to turn my TV off after seeing his very first trick.

I remember telling him, “You’re gonna kill yourself doing that stuff!” the first time he convinced me to watch one of the events he was going to. I was very upset (and I didn’t mean it to be serious, maybe I was freaked out and just overreacted), and he told me in response “That would be one of the best things that could happen to me.” which I did not like either.

Ben, on the other hand, who was going to the same college as me and Aiden for psychology with a focus on counseling, volunteered from time to time as a caretaker in a local inpatient clinic, also providing first-aid for emergencies that occur there. When I tell you that Ben was extremely happy and proud of himself after obtaining his First-Aid license at school, and that he planned to maintain and improve upon it, I am not lying - in fact, words do not do his enthusiasm justice. He is compensated quite minimally for his time at the clinic, but he doesn’t do it for the money, he does it to help other kids in bad situations, since he knows what it is like to go through things like that.

My Monday had gone about itself in typical fashion. I went to my ballet classes (now able to spend more time there since I am out of school for now) not only just to get better myself, but also volunteering/working as a coach for the younger kids. Not only do I get better at what I do, but now I get paid for making other kids better at it! My dance classes are on Mondays through Thursdays, and then off on Fridays, and performances would happen on Saturdays if there was one. Sundays would also be off, but still open to those who want to practice a little extra. After my first dance session of the day (my practice session), I got a text on my phone. I sat down near my stuff by the wall during my downtime and read my messages.

A - Hey, you’re out of ballet, right? Do you want to come over or hang out somewhere?

You - Aiden, I told you this before: I’m also coaching ballet for other kids. My sessions are almost double what they used to be.

I scoffed at the fact that Aiden forgot, and almost put my phone back down until it vibrated in my hand again.

A - Oh, my bad, I totally forgot! I only asked because the SP is closed due to the weather later, and so I had some extra time on my hands.

You - Okay? I’m busy during the weeks, I don’t have the same amount of free time as you. You can’t expect me to drop everything just to hang out.

A - I’m not telling you to drop anything! Don’t get me wrong, I’m just asking to see if you’re NOT busy, not because I expect you to be free haha

You - Well, I am busy. I didn’t put hanging out with friends into my Monday schedule.

I looked at the next message with confusion, and worry.

A - I need to talk to you about something.

My mind filled with questions, all of which could not be answered in the amount of free time I have before my coaching session begins. After about a minute, I sent back my response, and put my phone back down with the rest of my stuff.

You - I’m done working at 3. I’ll be over at 4. I hope everything’s okay, but I can’t talk anymore.

I made due on my promises after my session with the younger kids ended around 3. I went back home, washed up and ate something before I walked down to Aiden's house. I left my house around 3:50. I decided to take out my phone and message him again, just to catch up.

You - Hey, I’m just catching up to see if everything’s okay. I’m on my way over now.

A - Everything’s fine! I just wanted to talk about something important.

I put my phone back into my pocket, a little bit frustrated. It’s a Monday, why is he trying to hang out with me when everyone is busy? I huffed out a breath and kept walking down to his house. Aiden was right about the weather, though. The sky was hidden behind a thick sheet of dark gray clouds that dimmed the ground from the sun. It would probably start to rain soon.

At exactly 4:00, I arrived and knocked on the front door. I was standing at the door for about half of a minute before it unlocked and opened. Aiden stood on the inside of the door, with a smile on his face. “Hey, Ash!” He began, with some excitement. I walked through the front door, and turned towards Aiden. He closed the door, and began speaking. “I’m glad you were able to stop by-” I cut him off, not quite intentionally, though.

“What did you need to talk about?” I asked uniformly. If it was important, we could talk things out, plan out a solution, and get it taken care of very quickly. Aiden looked at me with a little bit of confusion.

“I- d-uh, uhm” He stuttered. “I mean- you just got here, do you want to relax, or do-” He began.

“Aiden, you called me over here to talk to me about something, I’m just asking what ? If  it’s important, if there’s something wrong, I can help, that’s why I’m here.” I sternly assured him.

“Ashlyn, nothing is wrong.” Aiden said, with a more serious face aboard his head, yet calm and not necessarily upset. He put a hand on my shoulder. I guess he thought that I needed to calm down. “I called you over to see you.” He gently told me.

I felt my heart skip a beat. Suddenly, it felt like Aiden was just a bit too close for comfort to me, not that he had gotten any closer, but his distance somehow felt like it was too close. I looked at him frustratingly dumbfounded, and I took a step backwards from him, in silence. I turned around and walked into his living room to sit down onto a couch while sighing, and rubbing my face with my hand. “Ash?” I heard him ask when I sat down onto one of them. He entered the living room in pursuit of me.

I did not want to ignore him, or come off as rude, I was just confused. “Let me get this straight.” I started as Aiden sat down onto a different couch and looked at me.

“You text me, after forgetting that I was still at work, and ask to hang out, and once I tell you I’m busy, you tell me something that you can’t expect me not to worry about in order to get me to come over anyways!?” I asked loudly, still filled with confusion.

Aiden opened his mouth to respond, but I had more to say.

“Aiden, how do you text me something like that just to get me to come over, that’s practically manipulation!” I yelled out again.

Aiden’s eyebrows shifted into worry, and he lifted his palms up and faced them towards me. “Ash, you got it wrong, I wasn’t lying to you - there is something important I wanted to talk about!” He began to explain.

“Then what is it!?”

“Ashlyn, can you please calm down!?” Aiden shouted back. I relaxed my eyebrows and my face, and looked at him. I sat up straight on the couch, sealed my lips, and interlocked my fingers, placing my hands onto my lap. I looked at Aiden in his eyes, and something about what I did changed his demeanor. His eyebrows soared from furrowed and into a worried angle, and he stood up from his couch to come over to me. “Agh, Ash…” He started while standing up. He sat down next to me on the same couch this time, and looked me in the eyes.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to shout at you like that.”

“...It’s okay.”

“No, really, I should’ve offered you some more patience. You’re right, it does look like that, but please, don’t be upset at me.”

I took in a deep breath, and recomposed myself. I didn’t want to get emotional, but I felt like I really needed that from him, I should not have been raising my voice either.

“I’m okay. Sorry, I think that could’ve gone a lot better if I didn’t get so upset. I’m just confused, I don’t- why- what did you need? Why did you ask me to come over?” I began asking again.

Aiden relaxed on the couch seat as well. “I’ll tell you.”

“Yes. I did invite you over partially just because I wanted to see you, and I knew everyone else was going to be busier today.” Well, I already knew that, Aiden.

“But, what I wanted to talk about was… you .” He finished.

I looked at him with confusion again, needing to remind myself to stay composed.

“Aiden, I-... Me? Did I do something to you?” I asked him. I began running through my catalogs of recent memories. I thought I had everything so organized, I thought I had been treating everyone the way that they deserve, while respecting their boundaries. I tried my best not to make mistakes and keep everything in a sort of order. I can’t think of anything that I could’ve done wrong.

“Ash, you didn’t do anything wrong. That’s not what I meant.” Aiden began again. I looked at him with desperation to understand. “You haven’t done or said anything wrong to me, or to any one else in the group.” He reassured me.

“Well- what did I change about myself for this to become such a recent worry?” I asked.

“ Nothing, Ashlyn. You haven’t changed.” The room was silent for a moment.

“What do you mean?”

“Ashlyn, from the moment I met you, you’ve been so analytical. Everything needs to have a cause and effect, everything needs to have a purpose, and a reason.” Aiden began.

“Let me remind you, Ash, there isn’t anything wrong with you, but I just want to let you know this.” Aiden touched my arm gently for a second, before retracting it from me.

“That mentality worked when we had phantoms to run for our lives away from - back when we had everything on our backs - when we had the whole damn world on our tails!” Aiden continued, and I listened to everything he said.

“But there’s no reason for you to have kept it up. Even when we went back to school - everything you did and said, every time you talked to me, or everytime we made plans as a group - it all felt like…an analysis .” He finally said

“I… I understand, but I just- I don’t know if I can help it.” I muttered back to him.

“I get it, change is hard. It’s just- when everything you do, and everything you expect of us requires reason, you lose the fun of spontaneity, the fun of not knowing what could happen. you let yourself get confused, and frustrated.”

“Well, why would you all do stuff without reasons?”

“Because we have nothing to worry about, Ash.” He smiled at me, returning some goodness to the mood of our discussion.

“What is the point in having reason when there’s nothing that’s driving us towards an accomplishment?” Aiden asked me. I began to think.

“When you try to analyze other people while they just want to have fun, you’ll only confuse yourself. Plus, you focus so much on understanding everything else to a point where you stop having fun yourself.” He told me. “People are confusing, Ash, I’m not saying that everything is so simple. But don’t ever try to understand them. That’s how people go crazy.” He finished, and gave me another smile. The silence caused me to refocus on his face. He was waiting patiently for me to say something. His smile comforted me, it told me that I don’t need to worry what anyone else is thinking right now, and I can take all of the time in the world I need.

I took another moment in the silence to look at Aiden, still slightly confused on how to feel about everything.

“What… should I do?” I asked him. I was desperate to know how to go about this. I don’t have the same social skills as the rest of them, even after all this time (or so I’m learning). My body was shifted towards Aiden on the couch, and my hands were still near my lap. Aiden turned towards me with his body as well, and grabbed one of my hands off of my lap.

“I would start with not trying to answer that question.” He told me, still smiling. I was confused for a moment, but then I realized - I just have to let the confusion go.

“I would also start by just relaxing. ” Aiden moved his hand from mine and onto my shoulder, bringing up his other hand to my opposite shoulder. He squeezed my traps gently, and massaged them with a pulsating rhythm for a few seconds. Water started to tap against the glass of the window. I guess I’m not going home for a few hours.

Aiden took his hands off of me, still looking into my eyes. “It’s good to see you, Ashlyn.” He whispered with another smile. I felt an irregular pulse shiver my chest, my heart sinking somewhat down from where it sat. Aiden stood up off of the couch, giving me some room, still looking at me. I opened my lips to say something

“I…” I started to say, closing my eyes.

“I think I’m gonna take a nap.” I sighed out. Aiden chuckled. “I’ll be in my room if you feel like bothering me.” He teasingly called out as he walked up the stairs. I laid down onto the couch, my head and neck nestling into the arm of it. I closed my eyes and realized how exhausted I was from dance class. I breathed deeply for a few seconds, trying to rid myself of the roller coaster of emotions that transpired in my head. I probably really needed this .

I heard the sound of sizzling on a stove fade into my plugged ears. I took a deep breath, now awake from my nap. Wow. That pretty much sums up how it felt. I opened my eyes, and shifted into a sat-up position sitting on the couch sideways. From the couch, I looked into the kitchen, and Aiden was there, cooking something. I looked over at a digital clock near the TV. ‘5:34.’ Wow, I was out for a while. I stretched my arms for a second while yawning, and cracked my back. Aiden must have heard that, and he looked in my direction into the living room. Once he saw that I was awake, he smiled.

“Morning, Sunshine!” He called out.

“Morning.” I said back huskily.

I stepped into the kitchen and leaned my arms onto a counter, watching Aiden as he moved to a cabinet.

“What are you making?” I asked him.

“I’m making us some dinner. Just some steak and green beans. There’s also some fruit in the fridge if you want to have some with your dinner.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“Well, I was doing it for me, you just happen to be here.” He joked, smiling and looking back at me.

“Thanks…” I muttered, hesitantly.

“Ash,” Aiden started saying, walking over to where I was in the kitchen.

“You can relax , don’t feel guilty or sorry or anything.” Aiden brushed my arm with his index knuckle. I looked at him while he talked, before looking to the side, and sort of frowning.

“I don’t- I just-” I stuttered. “I don’t know how to- not feel sorry.” I rubbed my arm, itching it. “You’re so caring towards me, and since the moment I met you guys, I’ve been nothing but a grouch - a boss - a sergeant or something.” I bullied myself.

“Am I making sense?” I asked desperately, looking back at Aiden.

“Ashlyn, we wouldn’t want you to be any other way.” He looked at me deeply, encouraging me to listen.

“ Ugh. Aiden, everyone says that, are you being honest?”

Aiden placed his hand on the side of my arm near my shoulder.

“You are, and always have been, so important to this group.” He looked deep in my eyes with a face of gratefulness, and thanks.

“You must have gone through so much to make sure we were all okay. It must have been really hard.” He rubbed my arm. I looked back at him, I felt a small sting in my eyes and nose. I had to seal my lips tightly so they wouldn’t start shaking.

“Ashlyn, I only told you everything I did today not because we, or I want you to change,” he began, “But because I don’t want you to feel like you still have to worry about all of us.”

I sniffed.

“You can relax now.” He told me again, with that same gentle pressure on my arm. I turned and stepped away from him, and brought my hand up to my nose, and sniffed again. I didn’t really want him to see me get emotional right now.

I heard him take a step closer behind me, but I raised my arm up with an open palm. “I’m okay, just… give me a sec. You can keep making dinner.” I sniffed again.

I took in another breath to recompose myself, turning back towards Aiden, who was already back on top of dinner. “Thank you for making all this.” I said with a bit more confidence. Aiden turned over to me at the stove, smirking lightheartedly.

“You’re always welcome, Sunshine.”

“Please don’t get into the habit of calling me that.”

When dinner was done cooking, he gave me one of the two steaks he had made, along with some of the green beans he made. “Do you want some strawberries, or a banana or something?” He asked after handing me my plate. We had situated ourselves across each other at his long dining room table, across from each other widthwise.

“No, but if you’re going back into the kitchen, could you get me some water?” I asked him. He nodded with a smile as he went into the other room. I sat for a moment with the food in front of me, and took out my phone while waiting for Aiden to return. I decided to text my parents.

You - Hi Mom and Dad. I’m having dinner at Aiden’s tonight, so if you planned on making something, you guys don’t have to make me anything

Dad - That sounds good, Trooper.

Mom - We weren’t going to do anything fancy today anyways!

Dad - Are you staying over for the night, or will you be back before bed?

You - I have dance tomorrow, so I plan on coming back.

Mom - Okay, let us know if anything changes. If you have your key with you, we’re going to lock the door when we head up to bed.

Dad - If you are coming home, be back before 0000 hours.

You - I do, Mom, and I will, Dad.

Aiden walked back in with two cups of water and a plate with banana slices and an ornate drizzle of honey over them. This boy. Only ever gets fancy when he cooks. I wish he carried that sophistication with him everywhere. I put my phone away as he sat down and began to indulge in his food. He held his knife and fork as if we were a fancy restaurant. I remember a time when he told me he was taught to do that by his parents, and that this is how he should eat at “formal or fancy occasions.”

I took a bite of my vegetables. “Is Ben supposed to be home soon?”

Aiden swallowed and looked across the table at me. “He told me he was going out to some place with Taylor once she was off of work. Said he’d be back later than usual .” He gave me a smirk. I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I only learned that they were together on Friday.”

“Yeah, they got together shortly after graduation, I found out after I asked Ben why Taylor was coming over a lot after work. He told me that he liked her, but was afraid of what Logan might think. But when Taylor came over, I caught them cuddling in the living room.” He laughed softly.

“Hey, do you think Tyler…”

“What, he cares? No, ‘course not, Tyler loves Ben. If it were me- ”

“No, Aiden, I mean like… Do you think he’s…”

“Oh yeah , no, totally.”

I nodded and smiled. “Yeah.” I laughed.

We ate our food again for a minute. The steak was impressively flavorful. Aiden did a good job at basing it with butter and other spices. The beans were fashionably seasoned as well, and not just steamed and sautéed. I took a sip of my water. I’ve always thought that it tastes extra refreshing when in glass cups.

“Did you hear that Logan plans on majoring in astrophysics?” Aiden asked.

“Oh, really? No, he didn’t tell me that. Does he know a college that has that major?”

“Surprisingly, the college that Tyler’s going to has that available. Since it’s pretty far, he’s probably going to dorm there too.”

“Hmm. I guess when school season picks up again, You, Ben, Taylor and I will be the only ones in town during the week.”

“Yeah, ‘guess so.”

We were both silent for another moment, enjoying the food once again.

“Are your parents out of town again?” I asked him.

“Yeah, they left shortly after you guys all started work, so they were still able to go to our graduation.”

“Do you know where they’re going this time?”

“They go on business trips with their publisher, so they are probably just wherever the publisher's HQ is, maybe close to New York, or Philadelphia.”
“They work with Simon & Schuster, right?”

“Yeah. Have I given you any of their works at all?”

“I think a while ago. I read it outside of school, but I don’t think I ever told you my thoughts on it.”

“Oh, well how did you like it?”

“It was pretty good. The plot gets a little lost in their language. I think your mom is the first person in a hundred years to use the word vouchsafe. ”

Aiden laughed. “Yeah, that's why I could never read it without getting bored.”

“Did you ever get recognized, or unwanted attention from people because of your parents?”

“Not really. Even though my parents never used pen-names, authors are not really recognized for their faces , haha. I used to have to sit through these boring ass rich-people-recognition events, though.”

I chuckled, taking another bite of food. “I’m guessing that’s why you don’t like being told you look like your dad?”

Aiden groaned dramatically. “All the time, and I mean, like, ALL the time. It had to have been at least once per meeting, per event, per everything !”

“Well, you must have liked the attention at some point?”

“Everything seems desirable until you get too much of it - then it is just glutting .”

I thought about that for a second while looking down and taking another bite of food, examining the statement.

“Like you, Ash. You liked to be left alone, do things by yourself and whatnot. But everyone is miserable when they are completely alone, you know?”

I looked up from my food. “Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.”

There was silence again as we ate. I took a moment to think about everything we talked about, and what I could ask next. Thankfully, Aiden saved me from needing to think of something to ask.

“What about your parents? You get a lot from your mom, I’ve noticed, haha.” He asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I know they aren’t famous , but is there more to them besides having spent some time in the military?”

“Well, they were never deployed, but they were pretty much career-military people before they had me, then they settled down into more stationary jobs. They care a lot about community, and the neighborhood they live in. Block parties, cookouts, and all sorts of stuff were things that I always found myself going to when I was little. I know they also care a lot about me, and my safety.”

Aiden listened intently, nodding along as I spoke. He was strangely focused, yet it was more pleasant than offputting. “And most of all, they really love each other.” I finished.

He nodded once more, and smiled. He moved his eyes down to his plate and took another bite of food.

“I notice that too. All three of you seem super close!”

“Well, kids were never really something they specifically wanted , so I ended up being their little best friend.” I chuckled, and Aiden did as well.

“But yes,” I continued, “We’re not celebrities, but the neighbors, and a lot of the other men and dads in this town know my dad, Especially the other guys who worked in the military at some point.”

We both smiled as we ate a bit more.

“I find it funny,” Aiden began, “How we both ended up being pretty antisocial for very different reasons.” He finished with a chuckle.

“Yeah…” I said quietly, while looking at him.

“Well, it worked in the end, right?” I asked with a smile, taking another bite.

Aiden looked at me deeply for a few seconds, with a pleasant look about him. We were both silent, just looking at each other. There was no awkwardness, no hesitant thoughts, no meddling uncomfortability. Mutuality and understanding and care all hung about in the air around us. Aiden simply nodded his head, and said “yeah” so softly, it seemed he only mouthed it.

We finished out plates and our cups, and both stood up to take them to the kitchen. We began our walk, and crossed the threshold into the kitchen at the same time. “I can take your-” “Here, let me-” “Oh, sorry, I-” “Whoops, my bad, here-” We both cut each other off for a second as we got closer to the sink. We looked at each other for a moment, and started to laugh. We both put our own dishes into the sink.

After that interaction, we both headed into the living room and sat down onto the couch, in order to relax. We sat on the same couch, though on the opposite sides of it. We flopped down and let out one of those long sighs that tells a whole story in just a few seconds. The TV had gotten turned on, and I sunk deeper into my relaxation on the couch.

“That food was really good, Aiden. Thank you for making it.” I complimented.

“Thank you for enjoying it! Hopefully I can treat you like that again soon.” Aiden said back. I picked my head up from the couch cushion and opened my eyes, looking over at Aiden after what he said.

“Pardon?” I asked. I didn’t exactly know how he wanted me to take what he said.

He looked back over at me with a softer smile. “I was just saying, I can make you something like that again at any time. You’re always welcome here.”

I smiled back. “Thank you, Aiden. I really mean it.”

There was a peaceful silence that wrapped around the couch and the living room. I simply sat and enjoyed the presence of Aiden being next to me, and he seemed to be relaxing just as much too. After a few minutes, maybe ten or so, I looked at the clock again. It read ‘7:30.’

“I should start heading home, Aiden.” I looked over and told him.

He leaned up straight. “Do you want me to walk you home?” He looked at me with wonder.

I thought for a second. “If you don’t mind, I would appreciate it.” I smiled.

He opened the door for me, and we started on our way home. For the days having been hot for the most part, the nights have surely been cool. Especially because of the rain - which had long subsided at this point - there was an upwards draft of cooling air that emanated from the water in the grass. We walked along the sidewalk path that took us to my home. Aiden was close on my right, walking on the sidewalk on the side closest to the road. I saw that he was still smiling, and so was I for having such a pleasant evening.

“Today has been pretty… eventful , I should say.” I let out. I reflected on the emotional moments of the day. For what it was worth, relative to how it started when I first came over, it ended very pleasantly. I felt a bit embarrassed for when I was frustrated, and for when I almost cried, once I had taken the rest of the night into consideration.

Aiden chuckled. “It really has. But it was nice.”

“Yeah, it was nice.”

We walked a bit farther. “Do you have a dance-event happening this weekend?” Aiden asked.

“Yes, I have a recital . It’s on Saturday. What makes you ask, did you have plans?”

“No, not really. I was actually going to ask you if I could go to one.”

I turned my head to look at Aiden after he asked. I raised an eyebrow.

“Really? You’ve never wanted to go to a recital before.”

“Well, I know you hate watching me skate, so I was going to see if I didn’t mind going to one of your recitals.”

He looked at me for a second as well, before returning his eyes to the path quickly. I looked forward again as well, but continued talking.

“Well, it’s over in Athens, at the Classic Center , if you really are interested. People dress up formally for it, it annoys my parents a lot, but I would wear something nice if you plan on going.”

“That’s fine by me. What will you be performing?”

I sort of blushed for a moment, nervous to think about a friend of mine going to see one of my performances. Never did I ever get stage fright in the past. I always knew the audience was full of people I didn’t know, aside from my parents whom I had been dancing around since I was very little.

“Uhm, It’s Don Quixote . I don’t play a huge role in it, but-”

“Sorry, Donkey h-what now? ” Aiden recoiled with confusion.

“Don Qui-xo-te!” I laughed.

“I don’t play a major role in it, but that’s what it is if you’re interested.”

“I’ll definitely go to see it if it’s not already sold out.”

“Please, ballet ? sold out? Come on.” I joked.

“One day, all of your performances will be in sold-out venues, Ashlyn.” He said sweetly.

I blushed again. “Stop it.” I smiled, stepping closer to him on the sidewalk. Our arms were brushing each other sparingly as we walked, but neither of us moved away because of it. We continued to walk in blissful silence, the only ambient noise being the chirping of crickets in the grass, and the ocean-like song of wind-blown leaves. The sound of our feet trotting along the concrete was even and rhythmic, creating a tempo of which the rest of the sounds of the night fell upon like music.

We neared my house, and we both began to walk up the driveway. I let out a sigh, and Aiden did as well promptly afterwards. I put the key into my door, and unlocked it. I knew that Aiden was standing behind me. I unlocked the door, and turned the knob to crack it open. I turned around and looked back at Aiden, who was smiling softly at me. I smiled back at him, still feeling slightly pink from what he had said earlier.

“Thank you for walking me home, Aiden.”

“No problem…” It sounded like he had more to say, but he stopped talking.

I stood in front of the door for another second. I knew I didn’t want to go inside yet. I didn’t want to end the night yet for some reason. I began to turn away from Aiden again and towards the door. “Goodnight, Aiden.” I muttered, and opened the door to walk inside.

“Er- Ashlyn, wait.” Aiden called suddenly. He took a step into the doorway. I was one step in front of him in the entryway of my house. I turned around to see him, my right hand still holding the door, creating a bar between him and I as I held onto the knob. Aiden had his hand on the door as well, pressed against the wood that would stop me from closing it (not that I was trying to).

I looked up at Aiden, who stood just inches before me. He stared back at me. The lights were off in my house, but somehow I managed to gather the details of his face. He looked back at me, his mouth half open. It looked like he wanted to say something (which was obvious, otherwise he wouldn’t have walked into the doorway), but he still stood there silently.

I let go of the door and faced him fully and square. I moved just an inch closer.

“Yes…?” I asked him, anticipating what he would say to me. He did not want this night to end just as much as me. His jaw moved slightly, as if he were trying his hardest to say something, anything.

“I-...” He started. He still looked deeply into my eyes. He looked down, and did a scan of my body from the floor up. He closed his mouth, and in its stead was a face deep in thought. For some reason, and I did not know why when I did it, I went from the entryway of my house, and instead shifted over to the opposite side of the doorframe. I still looked at him, and I leaned backwards to where my head and back were leaning on the doorframe. He followed me with his eyes, and the rest of his body. I was a bit closer to him compared to when I was standing in the entryway.

He inched closer towards me, similar to what I had done a few seconds ago. I had my arms down at my sides, and I watched his every move with patient anticipation. He looked down to where my hands were, and I saw him reach out one of his ever so slightly as an invitation. I took it. I reached my left hand out and grabbed his right, and for a second he just let it sit atop his palm, before he shifted it to where our fingers were interlocked. I felt my heart pound a little harder, and the pink feeling in my face hadn’t left either. Our eyes went from our hand back to each other, and Aiden leaned even closer, causing me to have to look a bit farther up to compensate. I was up against the doorframe, but I did not care. I didn’t feel trapped, or claustrophobic.

Aiden reached up with his other hand and placed it onto the side of my arm, not high enough to be on my shoulder, but also not on my elbow. He gently held it, still looking into my eyes. His contacts reflected a crimson shine where it hit the light outside of the house. He opened his mouth again.

“I want to say something… but…” He started in a whisper. “I don’t… really know what it is.”

I shook my head, still looking back. “You don’t need to.” I told him.

 I leaned forward off the frame and closer to him, and with my free right hand, I placed it onto his shoulder firmly. We both want it, just do it . All was quiet for a moment, and he dotted his eyes towards something near the bottom of my face, and slowly leaned forward after looking back up. I closed my eyes, and leaned back onto the door frame creating some more distance that drew him forward. A moment later, I felt the press of his lips against mine. His hand that was on mine went up to where my jaw meets my cheek, and the hand on my arm moved behind me and onto my lower back. My hand that was on his moved to his back, and the one on his shoulder shifted to the back of his head. I held my breath for a second while our lips were together, and after they hesitantly disconnected, we both let out an exhale. I opened my eyes again and looked into his eyes some more, relaxing in his grip as he held my face up.

We kissed again, shorter this time, almost as if we were sneaking an extra bite on a forbidden treat, yet it was mutual. After that, our hands slowly slipped off of each other, and were returned to ourselves. We both sat in the doorframe together for another moment, hearing each other’s breath. I took a step into my home after turning away slowly, making it farther into my entryway this time. I placed my foot onto the first stair of the steps that lead upstairs, yet I paused again. I turned around to look at Aiden, and saw him looking back through the darkness, still in the doorway.

“Get home safe.” I told him.

“I will.”

“Goodnight, Aiden.”

“Goodnight, Sunshine.”

Chapter Text

Scene 3: Time’s a-Changin’

(Ashlyn’s Point Of View)

I didn’t see Aiden for the rest of the week, and he did not reach out to text me during the time, either. Well, I say that as if I blame him, but it was a mutual exchange, or lack thereof. We both did not make specific attempts to reach out to each other. It was not because of any awkward tension or moment that would accompany or occur if we made company with each other. It, to me, was just a mutual acknowledgement of how busy we both were. The rest of the days of the week were hot, mainly clear or slightly cloudy, so the skate park was probably open, and so I assumed he was hard at work going there.

I didn’t tell anybody else in the group, or my parents, what had happened between us on that Monday night. Not because, once again, it would be embarrassing or awkward, but simply because I didn’t . I worried for a moment when I woke up on Tuesday what it meant for us. I wondered if anything would change, if anything would have to change, but I put those worries aside. I just knew that it felt right in the moment, and that I wanted it when it happened. It was the greatest way I believe we could’ve ended it. Everything else we did was good, even the parts that felt bad when it happened, like when I almost cried. I liked it, and that’s all I decided to focus on. I took Aiden’s advice and decided not to focus on the little things.

If things did not change between us, I would not care. I knew I liked what we did, and that’s all I cared about, and if we did it again sometime, then we did. For now, however, I needed to focus on Ballet, for it was the day before our performance on Saturday. Since we did not have a dance session on Fridays/days before performances, in order to let us all use the day to heal up, reenergize, and carb-load for the next day, I had a lot of time on my hands. It was 9:00 now, and I was sitting in my room re-reading the old story that Aiden’s mother had written, the one he gave to me a while back. While I read it, I tried to de-escalate my nerves for the performance tomorrow.

Usually, I do not feel nervous to perform in front of others, not even my parents. But things still felt a little different now that I knew a friend was coming. And though I did not even play a major role in it, I still knew that I had to try hard in it. I got a text on my phone when I was close to finishing a chapter. I read the last 2 pages of the book, which took a minute, and then picked up my phone.

Tay - Hey, girlfriend! You’re off of work today, right?

You - Yeah, I have the day off to prep for tomorrow's performance.

Tay - Oh yeah, Aiden was telling me about that. He told the rest of the group to clear their schedules to come see you tomorrow!

I looked at my phone in stunned silence. Aiden. You did not.

You - Are all of you coming?

Tay - Yep! Aiden said he would cover all of our ticket prices, so there isn’t a reason not to!

You - Damn… Okay. Anyways, what’s up today?

Tay - Well, because you’re free, and Ben and I don’t have work either, we were wondering if you would like to come get breakfast or lunch with us? We can take you anywhere you wanna go, I think it will help with your nerves before your performance!

I thought for a minute. Well, I really don’t have anything to do today; Maybe this is a good idea.

You - Yeah, that sounds good. Can you swing by around 1?

Taylor sent back a thumbs up and a heart, and I put my phone away. I got up out of my room and started working on some things I needed to do around the house since I had time to spare before they arrived.

I was waiting in my living room, dressed adequately for going out, dissimilar to what I wore at Aiden’s four days ago. I saw the light that shined through the blinds on the window shift, and refracted differently, and a second later, got a text on my phone from Taylor.

Tay - We’re here!

I stepped outside, and walked over to the car, getting into the back seat. I sat behind the driver's seat, in which Ben was sitting, in order to be able to see and talk to Taylor, who sat in the front passenger seat. “Hey, thanks for offering to take me out, Taylor.”

“Oh, no worries, it was also kind of Ben’s idea. We want you to be as prepared as you can be for tomorrow!” She beamed with excitement and energy. Ben waved his hand to me, and I said hello to him too.

“I was thinking we could go to that Longhorn Steakhouse about six miles up in Cornelia?” I asked.

“Oooh, that sounds good! We can totally go there!” Taylor responded energetically. Ben responded with a calm thumbs up.

We pulled into the parking lot, and headed into the restaurant. I noticed Ben is just about as good of a driver as Aiden is, though he’s a bit more of a timid one. He takes a bit longer to change lanes, and merge on and off of highways, but his confidence seems to be the only downside of his ability.

Once we were sitting in our booths, I perused the menu. I found it funny that I was craving steak again. Taylor and Ben were sitting next to each other on the opposite side of the booth.

“So, Ashlyn, Aiden was telling me that you guys are doing a rendition of Don Quixote ?” Taylor began in conversation. I paused reading to look up back at Taylor.

“Yeah, we are. How much did Aiden tell you?” I asked, curiously.

“Well, he told us the date, the location, and what it was you were doing. That’s about it though.”

“Oh, okay.” I felt relieved for some reason. Throughout the week I felt confident within myself to be comfortable with what had happened between us on Monday, but I never considered how Aiden must have felt about it. Maybe I should have reached out within the time to talk about it with him at least a little bit. Though, if he was worried, he would’ve reached out to me, too.

“He didn’t… talk about anything else, did he?”

Taylor cocked her head slightly, a little confused at my question.

“No, just the recital.” She paused. “Why - did something happen? Is there something else he should’ve told us?” She asked back.

“No, not necessarily.” I answered.

“You two are okay, right?” She asked, still lightheartedly as to not bring the mood down. I matched her energy.

“Yeah! Everything’s good. I was just curious.” I gave her a smile.

The waiter came over and took our drink orders. He was a taller boy, still young, looking to be around my age or perhaps slightly younger. He had tanish skin, and brownish hair that was darker than Ben’s, yet somehow reflective and of a widespread range.

After he walked away, Taylor looked over at me, slightly smiling.

“Hey, did you see that boy?” Taylor asked.

I looked at her with a face of hysterical confusion. I let out a scoff-y chuckle.

“Taylor, you’re checking out a dude right next to your boyfriend?” I smiled, and dotted my eyes at Ben for a second, who remained composed and calm, almost confident in the fact that Taylor would not be doing such a thing.

“Oh, come on. I wasn’t asking for me, I was asking for you !” She smiled.

“What?”
“C’mon, Ashlyn! You can’t tell me you at least thought that boy was at least a little cute.”

I shook my head, and laughed. “I wasn’t even paying attention to his looks.” I shot back, jokingly.

Later, when we got our drinks back, and we put in our food orders, The waiter paused while he was grabbing our menus. I looked up at him after he froze when reaching over and picking my menu up. After he straightened back up, he looked at me and asked, “You look familiar… Have I seen you somewhere-”

“Nope!” I looked at him with a wide eyed smile that signified do not ruin my lunch right now.

He stuttered for a second and apologized, before walking off with our orders and our menus. I placed an elbow on the table, and rested my forehead onto my palm, letting out a sigh.

“We’re still getting recognized, huh?” I asked, not quite in a bad mood, but still finding it surprising.

“Well, that one was the first one we heard in a long while.” Taylor said back, lightly chuckling at what had just happened.

“Honestly, I think he only caught on because I ordered for Ben!” She continued, and picked up her near hand to rub Ben’s that rested on the table.

“Oh! Speaking of which - Ben, how is speech therapy going?” I asked curiously, my energy returning.

He looked over at me, and began nodding. He let out a quiet “ good. ” in response. Taylor looked at him while he was saying it, and rubbed his hand again, leaning on him for a second to show support.

“Well, I hope you’re feeling less stressed out because of this, Ash.” Taylor brought up.

“Yeah, I’m starting to feel a little better about it, more confident, too.”

A little while later, our food had arrived, and the now-silent waiter handed us all of our platters before moving along without a word aside from “Anyone need refills?”

I began cutting into my food, and I decided to amp up the conversation again.

“Aiden told me that Logan was majoring in Astrophysics, did he tell you guys?”

“Mmhmm! I’m super excited for him! I’m sure he and Tyler are going to keep each other’s company once the school year starts up. I hope they don’t get lonely over there.” Taylor beamed.

“Oh, by the way, I asked Aiden this too.” I began, Taylor looked up from her plate.

“Your brother…” I started, “Do you think he’s-”

“Oh, yeah, one hundred percent!” Taylor laughed. I looked over at Ben, and he was nodding as well.

I nodded back. “I thought so!”

We ate for a minute, until Taylor asked me.

“Hey, Ashlyn. What are your thoughts on Aiden becoming a skateboarder?”

I leaned back in the booth and sighed with my eyes on the ceiling.

“ Ugh , I don't even want to talk about it! Ben, you get me, right?” I turned over to him, and he thought for a second before nodding slowly.

Taylor looked between us and then back at me again finally. “What do you mean?”
“I just- I think he’s really going to hurt himself doing that stuff.”

“Really? I don’t think so. He’s been getting a lot of attention from it. I think he might actually make it big if he keeps it up! According to him, there have been some pretty big names popping up around here at the skate parks, and he himself is almost considered one!”

I sighed again. “I don’t know. I know he loves it, and stuff. If I’m being honest, I couldn’t watch his videos if I tried.”

Taylor laughed friendlily. “You’re just like Ben when it comes to that. I can watch it just fine, but he has to go into another room!”

I sat up straight in the booth. “I’m glad I’ll really only be seeing him on campus once college starts for us. That and when we’re all hanging out together.” I said, taking another bite of food.

I swallowed. Wait a second. “Wait, are you two rooming together? What do you mean ‘go into another room’?” I asked, looking at Taylor.

Taylor widened her eyes. “Oh, no! We both still live at home, we’re just over each other’s places a lot!” Taylor placed her hand on Ben's shoulder, and rubbed it.

“My mom is really starting to love having him around!” Taylor chuckled happily. Ben blushed, and returned the favor by placing a hand on Taylor’s far shoulder as well.

“Huh, I was about to say,” I chuckled, “You guys better not be moving out already! Growing up way too fast.” I joked.

“Yeah, not yet!” Taylor laughed back.

Ben drove me back to my house, and I waved goodbye to them as I went back inside. I checked my clock and saw that it was four. I sat down in the living room, and waited there watching TV for my parents who I knew would be coming home around 5. About an hour later, they both walked through the front door, already having a conversation with each other. I looked up from the sofa over at the front door, and Dad saw me once he got inside.

“Hey, Trooper! You ready for your big show tomorrow?” he asked with energy, sitting down on the couch next to Mom. I shifted my body towards the other sofa instead of the TV. I stretched my arms up, sighing. “I guess so, you guys are still going, right?”

Mom and Dad laughed for a second. “Of course, honey.” Mom confirmed. “We’ve never missed something like this before.” Dad added. I smiled where I sat, thankful for their reinforcement.

“Oh, I never told you - because I only found out today - but Aiden and the rest of the group are going to watch it too.”

They both sat up from their relaxed positions, a tad more focused now. “Oh! Really?” “Is that so?” They both began. “Is there any special reason, or did they all just decide to do it because they’re all free?” Dad began.

“Well, it is one of the first she’s had in a while, especially because of how much she needed to relearn after the whole shebang . She only had 3 other ones during the school year, if I’m remembering correctly.” Mom began to analyze. I made the connection as to why I myself have been such an analytical person. Because those 5 were my first group of friends, I never knew how to act friendly and switch between my focused work-oriented mode and my relaxed mode. My parents, since it was my first group of friends that they were around too, were just as analytical as me, because they didn’t really know how kids were nowadays to each other, and it sort of rubbed off on me.

“I’m not thinking about it too hard.” I told them while smiling. “I’m just glad they’re coming to support me.” I finished.

They looked at each other for a second, before smiling and looking back at me. “Well, that’s very sweet of them.” Mom told me.

I felt something twitch in my heart while remembering the events of this past week. I decided to get some advice from one of the only women that I can trust with my vulnerability  right now.

“Hey, Mom, if you don’t mind, can I have a private chat with you later?”

She looked over at me, and dotted her eyes at Dad for a second, before confirming “Of course, honey.” They were the type of people who knew not to ask dumb questions like ‘is it serious?’ or ‘why does it need to be private?’ considering the fact that it ruins the whole concept of it being private.

Dad, however, wasn’t stupid, and could tell why I would choose only Mom instead of being comfortable telling the both of them, considering I always have been in the past. “Ashlyn, is this about boys ?” He asked, with a seriousness about him that I myself could not take serious.

I saw Mom nudge his arm. “Honey, she said she wants to talk about it privately .” She unwaveringly looked at him.

He backed off. “Alright, I’m only kidding. You’re an adult now, Trooper, you can do anything you want. But remember, you can also tell us anything.”

I looked over at the two of them, and they were looking at each other.

“But I still want some time with your mother before she goes off to have that private chat with you.” He smiled at her. She smiled back, and pushed his arm to create distance between them on the couch. I cringed.

“Okay, well, I’ll be in my room whenever you’re not busy, Mom.” I stood up and walked out of the living room.

About half an hour or so had passed by the time my mother knocked on the door and let herself in.

“Hey honey.” She said in a low hushed voice as she closed the door behind her.

“What did you want to talk about?” She had a look of worry about her face. I was laying on my bed, but I had sat up when she had walked in.

“I’m okay, Mom, you don’t have to look so worried.” I reassured her.

“I just… didn’t want to talk to Dad about… it.” I said pretty blankly, looking down at my hands. Mom moved from the door to my bed next to me.

“Hmm, so it is about boys, huh.” She smiled softly as she sat.

“So, tell me. What’s on your mind, sweety?” She asked.

I took a breath in, sort of regretting this, and as I sighed out I looked over at her. She probably could tell that I didn’t want to have to start it off. She placed a hand on my back.

“Is it about Aiden?” she asked.

I nodded. Turning to face the floor of the bedroom.

“Did something happen between you two?”

I inhaled sharply, and hesitantly nodded again.

“Was it something bad?”

I looked back over at her, and saw that her face had taken on another serious look. One of plotting and defensive motherly instinct.

“No, it wasn’t something bad.” I returned. I looked back over at the floor again.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

I nodded, but still hesitated with my voice.

“Did this happen on Monday?” She continued.

I nodded, and mouthed ‘ yeah .’

“Okay, tell me what happened, sweety.”

I inhaled. “We were having a good night. He fed me dinner, and we talked for a while about all sorts of stuff. It felt like a really nice night. When it came time for me to leave, he offered to walk me home, and we talked some more. And… when we got home, I unlocked the door, and I opened it, but I didn’t go inside, and then I said bye, and then Aiden said wait , and then I turned around, and then he came inside too and then I still didn’t want to go and then-” I rushed faster and faster.

“Honey, it’s okay. Slow down.” My mother rubbed my back and reassured me.

“What did you two do when you got home?” She asked calmly.

“I-...” I began. I felt my mothers hand soothing my back. “I kissed him.”

My mother let out her own breath. One that was able to calm me down, as well.

“I kissed him, and then he went back home, and I went to bed.” I finished.

“Well, that’s not too bad!” My mother joked.

“What? What do you mean ‘not too bad’?”

“Well, it sounded like you really wanted to, and so did he.”

“I mean, yeah, I did, but it’s just…”

“It’s what, honey?”

“I just don’t know what this means for us now.”

Mom chuckled. “Oh, honey.” She said, and I turned to look at her.

“All of those things you’re worried about; They’re just labels, honey! If you’re worried about what to call each other, don’t! Whether you want to call yourself friends, or boyfriend and girlfriend, dating , situationship, It doesn’t matter! The only thing you’re going to be calling him for as long as you know him - for the most part - is Aiden .” She said. 

I looked at the floor again. “Sweety, relationships aren’t so linear and divided. Just because you do something with somebody else, whatever it may be, it doesn’t mean anything has to change in regards to anything else, even if it’s as simple as what you’d call each other.”

I huffed out again, relaxing a bit more while sitting on my bed.

“Do you plan on kissing him again?” She asked.

“I don’t know… possibly? If my mind’s telling me I should.” I responded, unsure.

“Well, that’s what you are. You’re just two people who might kiss each other again someday. Don’t worry about what box you should put yourself in to describe one another.” She finished.

I flopped back onto my bed, taking in a deep breath and closing my eyes. “Thanks. I guess I really was just overthinking all of that crap.” I joked.

“No problem, hon. Do you want me to tell your father?”

I opened my eyes, and bit my lip when I looked at her.

“Err… I don’t know about that yet.” I said seriously.

“Okay. Well, come downstairs, He’s making us dinner.”

“Okay, I’ll be down in a minute.”

Chapter Text

Scene 4: Celebration

(Aiden’s Point Of View)

It’s Saturday night, and Ben, Taylor, Tyler and Logan are sitting in a line in one of the rows of the Classic Center. I had on a 3 piece suit, probably a bit over the top for the occasion, but I was always taught that being extra formal at an event is not anything to be worried about. Ben wore a button up with suit pants, and Taylor was in a dress that matched the color of Ben’s shirt. Tyler was also rocking a suit shirt and pants, and Logan had on a flannel patterned shirt with grey khaki pants, and suspenders .

I took my suit coat off and put it on the back of my chair when I sat down. I felt awkward being the only one with one on, and so I might as well take it off to fit in a bit better. I hadn’t talked to Ashlyn since Monday. Not until this morning at least. I sent her a text trying to confirm the time the recital started. She sent me back a link to the website, which I guess is kind of what I was asking for. I blushed a little bit, sort of anxious to be able to see her again, even if it just meant her in some extravagant and exaggerated get-up for the theatrical performance.

Taylor was shaking with excitement, looking down the line both ways at all of us with a huge smile on her face, and shaking her fists back and forth to show it. Ben embarrassingly tried his best to calm her down as more and more people started to fill the rows, and eventually, Taylor was able to smolder her excitement down to simply just shifting around in her seat.

I sat on the farthest left side, and towards the right sat Ben, Taylor, Logan, and Tyler. The one thing I never understood about Theatres versus going to the movies was the mutually understood concept of not bringing in any food. I knew the performance was going to be quite long, considering the intermission on top of the already more-than-an-hour show. Oh well . The lights of the gallery had dimmed, and the echoing ambiance of the room faded into a surreal silence, a silence of which had an almost deafening volume, as the stage began to take form. The background had been set up by the extras, the lights were still off, until eventually, the music began to sound from the orchestra below the stage. I felt a smile creep its way onto my face from the shear atmosphere that exuded before my eyes and ears. The lights crept their way back up upon the stage, and the show began.

Before the show started, the other four and I decided to meet up in the parking lot and head in together. We also decided to meet up with Ashlyn’s parents in the lot too. Ashlyn had already been taken there hours before any of us or her parents arrived, and we only wanted to meet up with them for some extra company, as well as security and direction on how to go about the Classical Center. It wasn’t my, or Ben’s first time going to such a place akin to here, but I couldn’t speak for the Twins and Logan, so it was best to group up with them for everyone's sake.

While we were in the lobby of the Center, after all of us had gotten our tickets, we proposed our idea that we had planned for after the performance.

“We were wondering,” Taylor began, as Mr. and Mrs. Banner listened intently, “If it would be alright with you two to take Ashlyn back home with us in order to celebrate and sleep over into sunday?” Taylor had a mighty way with words.

“Whose house are you going to?” Ashlyn’s mother asked.

“Mine, ma’am.” I chimed in. She looked over and smiled after getting confirmation.

“Of course! You live nearby anyways, you kids have all the fun you want!” She confirmed.

“Thank you!” Taylor beamed.

Once the show had been completed, all of the actors (ballerinas?) made their way onto the stage for the standing ovations. I hope Ashlyn was doing okay with all of the noise from the audience. Once we saw her skip her way onto the stage with the rest of her line, I cheered and clapped louder, and Taylor screamed so loud, I wouldn’t be shocked if Ben’s ears weren’t ringing for at least a week. I wouldn’t be surprised if she heard that , I thought.

We were all in the Lobby again, waiting with Ashlyn’s parents for her to come out. We stood near a wall, the place in which - according to the description Ashlyn’s dad gave us - was always the place she knew to go to, because he and her mother would be waiting there. I saw the neatly tied array of braids wrapped about a head exit one of the backstage doors, and I straightened up. The rest of the group, who had noticed me straighten up all began to do so as well.

We made room for Ashlyn to run to her parents first, because they deserved to be the first to give their congratulations. Once Ashlyn’s eyes fell upon her mom and dad, she began darting over. Both of her parents spread their arms for her to jump into, which she did when she met them. They were all laughing and smiling, in this big parent-daughter group hug. We stood behind her parents, and once she left their arms, she turned over to us.

“ ASHLYYYYYN!!!! ” Taylor cried out as she darted over to give her a hug, to which the rest of us followed into another group huddle.

We all began to tell her how awesome it was, how proud we were, and how good she did, but all of us yelling over each other probably made it impossible for her to even get a single word out of it. Taylor suddenly became quiet after an oh shit moment where she realized that Ashlyn couldn’t stand the loud volume of her voice, and she lowered it down to how the rest of us sounded.

Ashlyn looked at all of us after stepping away from our huddle. “Thank you guys so much for coming!” She exclaimed, still excited and smiling.

“Really, we all should be thanking Aiden!” Taylor turned to me with a smile of her own too.

“Ahh, please, come on! I only told you guys about it, it was still your guys’ choice to show up!”

Ashlyn took a step towards me, singling me out from the group slightly. “Thank you for inviting them all to come and see it.” She said, still smiling.

I saw her mom and dad walking up from behind Ashlyn, and a second later, we were both trapped in the bear-like arms of her father.

“Aghhh, COME ON! Get in here, everybody!” He roared as he scooped us up, and everyone followed suit, crowding around us with open arms. Ashlyn very quickly became not fond of the idea, and tried her best to wriggle out, but to no avail. I started laughing among everyone again.

“LET’S HEAR IT FOR ASHLYN!” Taylor was still yelling well into the parking lot. Since Ashlyn had taken a ride with some of the people that she knew from her ballet club, she assumed that she was going to go home with her parents, considering she did not drive herself.

“Oh, your friends are going to go celebrate some place with you, you go with them!” Her father told her when she began to walk with them back to their car.

She turned around confused. “What?” She asked all of us.

“Yeah! We were going to celebrate your performance back at Aiden’s! It’s gonna be like a party for you!” Taylor began exclaiming.

Ashlyn smiled somewhat. “You aren’t gonna ditch your friends to go home with Mommy and Daddy, are you, honey?” Her mom teased her. Ashlyn laughed, and turned back towards her parents. “I guess I’ll see you guys… whenever !” she told them. Her mom and dad smiled as they began walking to their car again, and Ashlyn snapped around and looked at us all, giddy with excitement (which is a rare look). “Who’s car am I taking?” She asked.

To answer the previous question, Tyler stopped by his mom’s place to pick up Taylor, and mine to pick up Ben since he already had to drive down from his campus anyways. I went and picked up Logan on our way there too. Now, Ashlyn rode with Logan and I. When we all got into the car, there was this radiating high pitched hum that hung in my ears, one that you get for being in a loud place for too long.

Ashlyn got in the front passenger seat, and Logan got in the back. We all collectively sighed, all a bit exhausted from the performance - Ashlyn probably more so than Logan and I. But I knew I would have plenty of energy to keep it up later at our ‘ party .’ I turned the key in my car to start the engine, and before I began making my way out of the parking lot, I turned to Ashlyn. “You did amazing , Ashlyn. This was a lot of fun.” I smiled at her.

“Thank you so much for coming, Aiden.” There was something I liked about hearing my name at the end of that sentence.

“You too, Logan!” She added, and Logan nodded in the backseat.

We were on the road back to my house, and the radio was on quite low. “You can turn some music on if you want, Ash.”

“Oof, I don’t know, my ears are killing me. If you don’t mind, I might take my plugs out, so that my ears can relax, so could you stay a bit quiet?”

“Of course, I don’t mind.”

I drove in silence for a bit, dotting my eyes over a few times seeing Ashlyn rest her eyes and relax in my passenger seat. Logan was also resting a bit in the back seat. I whispered after a few minutes.

“ Ash. ” She opened her eyes from their closed state, looking over.

“Hmm?”

I kept whispering, trying to stay as quiet as possible so as not to hurt her exposed ears. “ Since it’s already late, we might just go to bed as soon as we get back to my place, and then hit it hard the next day. ”

Ashlyn smiled at the idea. “Sounds good to me, I’m about to pass out, myself. But I still want to celebrate.” She closed her eyes again.

“ Sounds like a plan. ” I smiled, and kept driving.

I pulled into my driveway, and the others had made it home first. Logan, while we were still in the car, texted the newly revised plan to the rest of the group, and so when we walked into the house, the twins and Ben were setting up the living room to accommodate for six people sleeping there, with blankets and pillows all about the couches, and the floor right below it.

I guess everyone was tired enough to like that idea. Tyler was smart enough to bring an extra pair of clothes aside from his suit, but I’m guessing that Taylor only brought her dress with her, because now she was wearing a baggy t-shirt and some pajama sweats which I assume belonged to Ben. Ashlyn was also in normal casual-clothes, which she must have changed into while backstage after the showing. Logan also brought a change of clothes, in which he excused himself to go change into after we had entered.

“I’m gonna go get change, too.” I said, looking over at Ashlyn, who had her ear plugs back in.

I don’t know why I told her specifically, I guess I just didn’t want it to seem like I was just running off. I changed into some simple smiley pajama pants, and a basic white tee before heading back downstairs. Once I returned to our living room, the 5 were getting situated into their different ‘stations.’ Ben and Taylor were snug as some bugs in a rug on one of the couches, and Tyler occupied another one of the couches. Logan was resting upon one of the piles of blankets the twins and Ben must have assorted earlier, and Ashlyn was also on the ground, on a different mat with covers and a few pillows.

“Well, don’t you all look comfy.” I chuckled when walking down the stairs. The TV was on, and I flicked the light of the living room off, causing the light emanating from the TV to be the only thing illuminating the group. I sat down next to Ashlyn, because it just felt right to. Logan had laid down in his pile of covers and pillows, and had started to doze off already, and I looked next to me to see Ashlyn yawning.

I began to talk, much quieter than the volume of the TV, but still loud enough to where she would be able to hear me next to her.

“You must be the most exhausted out of all of us.” I softly spoke, smiling when she turned her head over to me. She had taken the braids out of her hair when I was away, and so now her hair was free-flowing, and it cascaded along her back and shoulders.

“Yeah, I am pretty exhausted.” She rubbed one of her eyes.

It felt weird to be talking to her so normally, considering the last time we actually saw each other, we… yeah .

I wasn’t sure if I was going to move away onto one of the couches, or lay down here next to Ashlyn on the little pile of cushions she chose to reside. I decided to test the waters a bit.

Ashlyn yawned again, looking up at the TV. I looked at her again. “You can lay down, you know.” I said quietly.

She turned her head over to me a bit faster than usual. I could see a slight redness and surprise in her face, even with the room being so dim, and only the blue light from the TV painting her face. She shifted where she sat, to where her body faced a bit more towards me, but subtle enough to not catch the attention of any of the others, who were currently dozing off.

“You can, too.” She whispered back. Bingo .

She shifted into laying down on her side, a pillow underneath her head. I laid down close to her, putting my head down on a different pillow (there were so many pillows). There was a pillow that laid, putting some separation between us. I reached out and grabbed a blanket that I could use for myself, without having to take from hers.  I covered myself, and laid down behind Ashlyn. We weren’t really touching, in any way. There was enough distance between us to avoid that happening, but for some reason, it still felt right to be that close to her. I shifted onto my back, and saw Ashlyn shift from her side and onto her back as well. My head was turned towards her, and she flipped her head away from the TV to look at me. Her red hair was piling around her head, cascading along in every direction, flowing off of the pillow, and her face, and her neck.

I smiled at her when she looked at me for a good second. She shifted again to lay on her other side, this time her body was facing me. I was comfortable on my back, yet for some reason, I felt the need - the desire - to lay on my side to face her as well. And so I did.

She looked at me with the strands of her hair covering parts of her face, laying across her nose and near her lips. I kept smiling at her, and though she did not say anything to me, I thought I knew how she felt. I was comfortable near her, and she was fueling that comfort. I reached my hand over to her face, not to pull it in for another kiss or anything, but just to brush her hair out of her face - to get a better look at her. Once the wave of thick, red locks were flipped off of her face, there was a deeper clarity to her emerald eyes. The way they shined at me gave me a feeling that I couldn’t quite describe.

I had taken my contacts out, and so my vision was not perfect, but still, I saw her face as clear as I needed to. I smiled again, and I let her take whatever next move she wanted after retracting my hand from her head. She laid still for a second, just looking at me, before moving the pillow that sat between us, and collapsed her head into my chest.

I paused for a second, lifting my arm out of the way as she did that, which gave her room to shift closer, and she wrapped an arm around my back. I grabbed the pillow that she moved her head off of and finagled it underneath where her head was now, before relaxing down where I was laying. I placed my hand across the back of her head, sort of holding it as she cuddled into my chest.

She was, for the most part, firmly pressed up against some parts of me, enough for me to feel her breathing right below my ribs. Her head moved ever-so-slightly like steady shore-waves as my chest expanded with my breaths. I closed my eyes and dozed off in the comfort of her arm around my back, and mine around hers.

I was the first to wake up in the morning. Having lived in such a regimented and scheduled life back when I was younger, I grew used to instinctively waking up even without an alarm. Though we weren’t as close or as organized as we were last night, I was still laying next to Ashlyn, some of our limbs straggled across each other. I had to carefully remove her arm off of my chest in order to let myself sit up, trying my hardest not to wake her, while she was still comfortably at rest.

I stood up from the makeshift ‘ bed ’ and walked out of the living room, and upstairs. I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth. Whilst doing so, I was reminded unwillingly of my interaction with Ashlyn from last night. Why is it always more cringey when you look back on it? I finished up in the bathroom and headed downstairs again. Everyone was still asleep in the living room, and I thought about making myself breakfast for a second, before realizing that there was no point, and I would much rather just lay right back down and fall asleep until a few other people woke up. I went over to the last available couch in the living room, opting to nap by myself instead of with Ashlyn on the matted floor. I picked up my pillow and blanket carefully off of the floor, and put the pillow on the couch and wrapped myself in the blanket. I laid down onto the couch and closed my eyes again, hopefully able to get some more shut-eye until later.

(Ashlyn’s Point Of View)

I woke to the sounds of sizzling again, very similar to how I did last Monday. I peeled my eyes open, feeling surprisingly refreshed. I let out a dry moan when I sat up, blinking a few times and bringing my hands up to rub my face, running my fingers through my knotted poofed-up hair. After stretching and looking around at my surroundings, I realized something crucial about my predicament. Wasn’t Aiden right here?

I shot my head around to see everything that I could of the living room, still not having stood up yet. Tyler was still dozed off on the couch, and Taylor was also asleep on hers, though Ben was no longer next to her. Logan was in the middle of waking up like me. He reached somewhere to grab his glasses, and once he got them on, he looked back over at me, and waved while smiling.

“Good morning, Ashlyn!” He said with a huskier-than-usual voice.

“Morning, Logan. Have you seen-” I stood up from my pile on the floor, and from there I could see Ben and Aiden in the kitchen.

“...Nevermind.”

I began walking over to the kitchen, and Aiden and Ben looked up from the counter where they were preparing eggs and bacon. Ben raised his eyebrows with calm delight, acknowledging me with a respectful composure. When Aiden saw me, he beamed with a large smile on his face, practically glowing at the sight of me. I crossed the threshold into the kitchen.

“Morning, Ash!” Aiden exclaimed.

“Shh! People are still sleeping!” I quickly scrambled back. Aiden made an ope sound and sealed his mouth with wide apologetic eyes. I chuckled for a second.

“Good morning, Aiden.” I responded.

“Your hair looks… well, it looks .” Aiden joked, to my annoyance.

“It’s very full. Do you need a hairbrush?”

“No, I think I have one in my bag that I brought with my ballet stuff in it.” I turned over to look near where I set my stuff down.

I felt Aiden grab a tuft of my unregulated locks while I was turned away, and I shot back around (my hair was still long enough to be able to turn fully without it being pulled).

“Hands off.” I smacked his hand playfully, and he retracted it quickly, letting my hair fall. He looked at me with wide eyes again. I shifted my face from furrowed into a joking smirk, and a smirk started to paint itself on his face too.

“I’m going to go straighten up.” I told them both, walking out of the kitchen and over to my bags.

“There’s some mouthwash in the bathroom, if you want to use that. I know you didn’t bring a toothbrush or anything, hahah.” Aiden informed me as I walked away. I gave him a thumbs up as I grabbed a brush from my bag, and walked up the stairs.

I took a few minutes in the bathroom just to freshen myself up for the morning, washing my mouth out, getting my hair back into braids, washing my face the best I could, among other things. It only took me upwards of 7 minutes to finish up, and when I came back downstairs, the twins had started to wake up too.

Aiden and Ben served us all breakfast, and we all ate together in the living room. Taylor, Logan, and Aiden all still had plenty to say regarding my performance on Saturday.

“It was MAGICAL! I’m so shocked you never told us to go to one of those sooner!” Taylor rambled on and on, and I just laughed embarrassed from being buttered up so nice. “Yeah, Ben practically had to hold Taylor down in her seat every time she saw you come on stage!” Aiden laughed.

“I was afraid we were going to get kicked out if Taylor kept being so jittery.” Tyler spoke. Taylor shrugged, “Well, I’m definitely going to go to more of those in the future!” She cheered.

The 6 of us started to formulate our plans. “Today is all about Ashlyn!” Aiden cheered. We discussed ideas of going to an arcade, as well as to a bigger complex, like a Dan and Blasters , or a Funplex . “Guys, we really don’t need to do anything fancy-” I began

“Oh, hush! We’re gonna treat you like a queen, so don't worry about fancy , you just worry about partying hard!” Aiden cut me off.

“I can get behind that!” Taylor rose up.

“How about we go swimming?” Aiden chimed in, reminding us all about last Friday's failed plans.

“No swimming suits.” Tyler chimed in, reminding us again of why we couldn’t.

Aiden puffed out a pff in dismissal of Tyler. “Might as well go skinny dipping at this point.” Aiden joked.

“Ew.” I spat

“Ooh, that sounds fun!” Taylor joked along with him.

“Taylor!” Her brother exclaimed.

“I like the sound of the arcade again. We can still go swimming later in the afternoon, too, since we’re giving ourselves time.” Logan chimed in.

“Yeah! And then at night we can hit up a bar!” Taylor cheered.

“Still 19.” Tyler added.

“We can hit up a restaurant!” She corrected.

“Sounds pretty fun to me. Where's Dan and Blasters located?” I asked.

We found the location, and decided we would go there, and everyone (except for Tyler, he would need to borrow from Aiden) would get dropped off at home to grab some swim clothes afterwards. We used the same car plan that we had yesterday night, although this time, I was facetime Taylor while we were on the road in order to keep our two cars in contact with one another on the ride there.

We pulled into the large driveway of the D&B and made our way inside once we found each other in the parking lot. Our time there was one that could be compared to our time at the smaller arcade a few years back - one of the very few instances of celebration and good times we were able to have whilst having to worry about the phantom dimension.

The memory made me shudder, but I looked around me and saw that we were all still together. I saw that we were all smiling, and we all were still friends. We already made it. I smiled with everyone again. Let’s get this party started.

Chapter Text

Scene 5: Of Twilight and Euphoria

(Aiden’s Point Of View)

The six of us spent a few hours at the Dan and Blasters . There were plenty more games to play at this place than there were at the small one in town. I faced off with Aiden in a few rounds of DDR for the first time in forever, Logan still crushed it at all of the blaster games, even against strangers he faced off against. Some people were almost shocked to a worried degree at his skill at the games. “I just-... go to arcades a lot!” He would always say. Sometimes I still wake up with the ringing of gunshots stinging my ears from my dreams.

Taylor seemed to always have good luck with the ticket-earning games. She and Ben stuck pretty close together the entire time, played games together and laughed with each other the whole time (well, she would laugh, Ben would just be smiling). We were spread about all different parts of the arcade, so we had naturally got into groups that would usually switch up and swap between people whenever we came across each other. I spent some time with Aiden, with Tyler, with Logan, and with Taylor and Ben. It was an energetic experience overall.

After we got exhausted of the arcade, we decided to buy some lunch at the arcade while we were still there before spending our tokens. We talked about our earnings while dining together, and calculated how much everybody would get if we totaled all of the tickets and evenly distributed them with each other.

We visited the prize counter and got all kinds of silly trinkets, mainly stuffed animals and other cute little stuffed toys. Eventually when we left, everybody surprised me by saying that they were all gifting me the plushies that they had bought. “No, you guys really shouldn’t have-” I tried to reason.

“Ah, come on! We told you today is all about you!” Aiden tried stuffing a large bunny plushie into my hand as I fought the notion.

“No, it’s not that! I just have no idea where I’m going to be putting all of these!” I argued.

“Well, that’s not for us to worry about!” He shot back.

A little while later, once he had dropped me back off at my house (with the giant pile of plushies, might I add), I rushed into my room to drop off my haul, and grabbed a swimsuit from my closet.

“Hey, honey! You’re back already?” I heard my mom call from downstairs.

“Not for long! I’m about to head back out, I just need a few things!” I called back, grabbing waterproof earplugs, and some flip flops. I couldn’t stand seeing myself when I was barefoot. Ballet does a good job at destroying your feet. I hated the constant blisters and scratches. In most situations, I usually try above all else to keep others from seeing it, but when you’re in a pool, it is quite difficult. Luckily, no one in the group had ever mentioned it, even behind my back, so maybe they all didn’t notice.

I ran back out the front door, quickly waving my  parents goodbye while running back to Aiden’s car. I hopped back into the car holding all of my essentials for swimming. “Got everything you need?” Aiden asked courteously.

“Yeah, I’m ready to go.” I responded.

(Emma’s Point Of View)

I watched from the window Aiden’s car roll down the road. I turned to the love of my life, the father of my beautiful daughter. I wanted to tell him quite badly what Ashlyn and I talked about on Friday. He’s her father, it’ll just be our little secret. Mike is quite good at keeping secrets . I smiled at him, and he smiled back at me, and walked over.

He kissed me quickly while passing me by the window and going into the kitchen. “Hey, hun, you know that Aiden boy?”

He chuckled. “How could I not?”

“It was rhetorical, but…” I began, “I think you better get used to seeing him a lot more.” I began, trying to remain vague.

He looked over at me, puzzled.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“I think he’s really special to Ashlyn. More so than the others in that crew.” I smiled.

“Well, he was the first friend, so there’s probably something there.”

“Honey, you know what I mean.”

Mike sighed while looking down, before he looked back up to me with a smile that held both pride and sadness.

“She’s really growing up.” He breathily laughed.

“I think Aiden might really like Ashlyn too. I think he might be the one.”

“Heh, well, that’s thinking pretty far ahead.”

“You like Aiden, don’t you?”

“Yeah, ‘course I do.”

“Don’t you think it’s romantic? She was his first friend, and could be her first love, too!”

“Well, I trust whatever choice our baby makes.”

“That’s a good choice.”

(Ashlyn’s Point Of View)

We arrived back at Aiden’s, and he, Logan and I all integrated back with the group. Aiden stepped away first to get change, and everyone else followed suit afterwards. I went last, not for any particular reason, but when I was finished with that, as well as applying sunscreen, I came back downstairs and everyone else was already outside. No one had gotten into the water yet. I closed the door that goes into the back yard behind me, and I joined them.

“How’s the water?” I asked

“I ‘dunno, let me see!” Aiden jumped in an exaggerated swan like plunge into the pool. When he broke through the surface of the water again, he whipped his head up to get his hair and the water off of his face and eyes. “It’s beautiful!”

A few minutes later, everyone else was in the pool, and I was relaxing on one of the walls of the shallower end. It was a good idea to bring sunglasses, it was still warm and bright well into the afternoon. The others were playing all sorts of games in the water, but I generally chose to abstain from all of that. I don’t like the games in the water, especially the ones where you end up feeling all unbalanced, or flailing underwater. I mainly loved just relaxing in the sun, and feeling weightless in the water. I had my eyes closed underneath the sunglasses, and I was leaning my head back as I relaxed on the walls.

“Hey.” I heard someone speak quite close to me. I picked my head up with my once-relaxed neck and opened my eyes. Aiden was close to me in the water, but he was moving over towards the same wall I was on. “Hey.” I said back, relaxed. Aiden’s trunks were black with yellow smileys printed about it in random orientations and direction, some upside down and sideways. He had no shirt on, and his muscle patterns showed through his slim skin. Aiden wasn’t particularly muscular, he just had lot’s of definition, especially around his abs. His hair was also wet, and slicked back on his head.

He spun in a semi-circle, turning his back to the wall I was on, and he sunk himself down next to me. I was wearing black shades, and a green one-piece swimming outfit that really only showed off my arms and legs. It covered everything from my torso to my hips. My hair was down, and was fully wet, and so it hung down straight, and darker than normal.

“You know, I can run inside and get some drinks if you just want to relax.” He said to me, in a low voice. The other four were still playing around in the pool, and we both faced them and watched as we talked.

“That… kind of sounds really good. What do you have?” I asked him, turning my head to him.

He let out a chuckle when he turned back. “You’ll see, give me a few minutes.” he picked himself up out of the pool, and wiped water off of himself minimally before walking inside to get something. Taylor turned towards me when she heard the door open and close. “Where’d he go?”

I shrugged. “He said he was grabbing me a drink.”

About a minute later, he came back outside, with two glasses in his hand. When he got a bit closer, I got a better look at what he brought out. He was holding two glass cups with red contents inside.

He got back in the pool and settled next to me again. “You got us wine?” I asked, confused.

He handed me one of the glasses, and I took it, only slightly reluctantly.

“It’s hardly a celebration without it.” He chuckled.

“Aiden, we’ve never had wine any other time we’ve hung out, or at any celebration.”

“Well, if you don’t want it, you don’t have to drink it, I just thought you might like some.” He took a small sip of his as he relaxed. It didn’t seem like such a bad Idea. Drinking wine, relaxing in a pool. It might just be a nice way to celebrate while enjoying the elements. I sunk back in relaxation as well, taking a small sip of it.

“This tastes… expensive.” I remarked.

“Well, you think my parents would buy cheap wine? Haha.”

“Right, of course. You think they’ll notice that you took some?”

“Maybe, maybe not. That’s not for you to worry about, so don’t let it stop you from enjoying it.” He smiled.

“Didn’t plan on it.” I joked.

We sat near the end of the pool for quite a bit, slowly sipping on wine together. It was incredibly relaxing, it felt like it was paying off the occasion entirely. I leaned my head back and sighed. Aiden looked over at me as I did.

“You look comfy.” He joked.

I sighed moanish-ly “I don’t think I could be any more relaxed.”

“Well, I’m glad I could make due on my promise from a while ago.”

I sat up slightly, and looked at Aiden.

“What do you mean?”

“From Monday.”

My heart skipped a beat. Why are we talking about this now?

“What do you-”

“When I told you I would treat you to something again!”

I paused. “Oh… yeah, I remember.” I quietly responded.

“I’m just glad that you’re enjoying this as much as you did the dinner.” He said again.

Yes, I am too, but can we not just randomly shoot that into my mind, please?

“Well, I might mess around with those four again, I’m getting a little too hot with my upper half baking in the sun.” He said, as he leaned off the wall.

“Wait, here - give me your glass.”

“Oh, here you go.” He handed me the empty glass. I had finished mine as well, so I decided to run them both inside.

When I got back to the pool, I decided on floating around on a tube instead of against the hard wall of the pool, that might be more relaxing. For a while longer, they all continued messing around, while I mainly relaxed on the tube floating about in the water.

  Probably close to a half an hour later, I decided it was time for me to get out of the pool. We had been in it for quite a while, maybe an hour and a half in total. I wrapped myself in a towel after I got out, and sat down onto one of the outside chairs that Aiden had in his backyard. Once the others saw me get out, they decided to do so as well themselves. They all began to dry off after getting out. As I sat in one of the chairs, I got a closer look at Aiden’s body while he was drying off. I could more clearly see the scars that etched and embedded themselves in his tight skin. Aiden must have caught me looking, because as soon as our eyes flashed eachother with contact, he shied away his face, and covered his upper body in the towel.

“I’m gonna go get changed.” I called out when we all moved back inside - and I did. Then the rest followed in getting changed one by one after me, akin to how we had done the first time. Taylor returned after changing, and Aiden went up the stairs once she had come down them. Seeing her reminded me of the dinner she took me out on Friday. And, of course, thinking of Friday reminded me of the chat with my mother, and thinking of that caused me to think about Aiden.

If only there was someone I could talk to about having complex feelings towards a friend in your friend group. “Hey, Taylor, can I talk to you about something?

We moved into the dining room away from everyone in the living room. Taylor and I stood up behind a wall that would stop the rest of the group from seeing us. “What’s up, Ashlyn?” Taylor asked.

I sighed and closed my eyes for a second, pausing and thinking about what specifically I could ask her. I didn’t have too much time before we would look suspicious to the rest of the group. I looked at her again. “I think I need your advice.” I told her.

“What’s up?” Her face took on a bit of a worried look in response to my focused one.

“I don’t really know how to start this off, but I don’t want you to freak out either, okay?”

“I promise I won’t. You can tell me anything.” She mockingly zipped her mouth shut, and gave me her pinky for a pinky promise.

“So… how did you go about… getting comfortable with publicly dating Ben?”

Taylor stared at me with her mouth half open, and eyes extremely wide, unblinking.

“...What?”

“Now, Taylor, hold on-”

“ What!? Ashlyn, who- ” I reached over and covered Taylors mouth before she got too loud. I took my hand away.

“ SHH! Taylor, I’ll explain, just- quiet down!” I whisper-yelled. She nodded her head.

I took a deep breath in. “I’m not dating anyone. I’m just wondering how.”

“Okay. Let me think…” She paused for a moment.

“Well, I guess I just knew I liked him, and he liked me, and eventually we just started doing things that I guess some would consider to be dating activities? I ended up coming over here more often, and he started coming by my place a lot more, and we just got around being comfortable while super close, even with other people around.” She finished.

I thought for a moment. Why did that seem so obvious, yet not really that helpful?

“I guess the key is just knowing that you love them, Ashlyn.” Taylor smiled at me. I looked back at her. I sealed my lips, and sort of reshaped my face into something more pitiful. Taylor picked up on this, and her face returned into its worried look. “Do you need a hug?” She asked. I obliged, and embraced her for a few seconds, just to calm myself down.

“ Do you want to tell me who it is? ” Taylor whispered after placing her hands on my shoulders post-hug. I looked at her for a moment.

“You won’t tell anyone?”
“We pinky promised.” She smiled.

I took a breath in.

“...It’s Aiden.”

“Oh, Ash.” Taylor hugged me again to show comfort and support.

“I knew there was something there, angel.” She pulled away from me, and returned her arms to herself.

“You ready to go back now, Ashlyn?” She asked.

“Yeah, just… act natural.”

Everyone had finished getting changed, and we all began hanging out in the living room. It was still a bit too early to have dinner, and I just wanted to relax for a little bit until I could get some food in me. The wine I had drank earlier was making me feel a bit tipsy and dizzy, which probably contributed to my earlier emotional desire to talk to Taylor about how I felt.

“Are we going to go out for dinner?” Aiden asked the group.

“Absolutely not. You’ve had alcohol, so you can’t drive, and all six of us can’t fit into one person's car!” Tyler shut down the idea.

“We can order out some delivery.” I suggested.

“The queen hath spoken!” Aiden joked.

We decided on getting some chinese food, and by decided, I mean everyone gave recommendations, but still ended up going with my choice. While we were waiting for the food to arrive, I saw Taylor and Ben on one of the other couches, sitting comfortably next to each other, fully delectated within each other's close proximity. Seeing them sit together gave me an off feeling as I sat upon the couch by myself. I felt almost as if I was more alone than everybody else despite them still being there.

After Aiden finished on the phone, he walked back into the living room. For some reason, I found myself anticipating him sitting down on the same couch as me. “Food’s on the way!” He smiled, looking at the lot of us in the living room. Though we were all dry and back into our normal clothes, most of us still had wet hair, including Taylor, Aiden and me. Aiden’s dampened hair still rested on his head darker than it’s usually blonde brightness, and slicked back loosely and messily, with some strands falling down the sides of his head, as well as drooping in curls across his forehead.

After what seemed like forever, he finally sat beside me on the couch, watching my eyes as he met the sofa. I looked back, feeling foolish and empty minded, before snapping back into my own head, and snapping my eyes forward back to the TV. Can you be normal, please? I think I knew the answer to that question. I think it will take another glass of wine for me to be comfortable right now.

“Hey, you okay? You look pretty uptight.” Aiden’s voice rose in my left ear. He waited for the others to engage in small talk before asking me his question, so as to not cause anyone to look at us, or worry about me. I felt that it was very considerate and attentive of him. His upper body was turned towards mine, which was sitting upright with my knees shoulder-width apart and my back straight as I looked straight ahead at the TV with concrete eyes. After I heard him speak, I turned my head towards him, still rigid and mechanical.

“Hmm? Yeah- yeah, I’m uh- I’m okay.” Nice job. I face back towards the TV.

“Are you sure?” He touched my sleeve with his knuckle, but just for a second, enough to get my attention through physical contact. I turned my head back towards him again. I paused, thinking of something to say.

“Yeah…” I trailed off. I wanted to say more, but I didn’t know what. There was something I wanted to do , but I couldn’t describe it. There were so many questions I had, and I didn’t know how to ask them, or where to even start. Aiden started to turn back towards the TV after I had spoken. “Uhm…” I began, and he turned his focus back to me instantly.

“Could I… talk to you about something. Later ..?” I asked quietly.

He smiled softly at me, with just his lips. “Of course. Just let me know when.” He spoke back just as softly.

“I might have to head out after we eat, especially because I have to drive quite a bit to get back to campus.” Tyler spoke to us.

“I get it. Thanks for celebrating with us anyways, and thank you for coming to the performance, Tyler.” I responded.

“Oh, um- Tyler? I uhh, did have a few questions about the college you go to, and I might as well ask while we’re on summer break.” Logan began to timidly ask Tyler different types of questions about the campus, and other things about the college as well. Logan had always been the most timid one out of all of us, but after his ‘ glow-up ’ seeing him be so timid doesn’t really seem right, especially now that his voice had deepened ever so slightly, and he had some more meat on his bones. Since he had gotten better at speaking, especially openly, I managed to pick up the fact that something would usually be up when his voice got all stuttery like how it used to be.

I thought for a second as to what could be up with him. Oh. Oh yeah, that’s totally it. I dotted my eyes over to Taylor, and she looked back at me in almost perfect sync, and the smile she wore on her face told me that she believed in my thoughts too. Yeah, that’s definitely what it is .

Later, the food arrived at the house, and Aiden walked back into the living room with a large bag of food. He handed everyone what they had ordered, before setting the bag down and indulging in his own food as well. We were all still in the living room, and so we decided to eat there instead of moving to the dining room. Not because we were watching TV or anything, we were only talking to each other, but just for ease and convenience we stayed. I hadn’t had Chinese food in quite a while, but when we used to hang out at Aidens and/or in the graveyard, aside from pizza, Chinese takeout had sort of been the staple of what we ordered when it came to hanging out.

I took a bite of the food, and moaned a long mmm , as I was taken back by the nostalgia of the flavor, but also just because of how damn delicious it was. “I remember eating this all the time. Why did we ever stop ordering from there?” I asked jokingly, digging into my food like a hungry dog.

“I have no clue, but it would definitely take being on the run from the government for me to stop eating this again!” Aiden joked, seeming to be enjoying the food as much as I am.

“ Mmm ! The smell of this stuff reminds me so much of the graveyard! That place practically always smelled like this food!” Taylor called out.

This was such a fun day, and this was such a good way to end it off.

“Would any of you guys like some wine with your Chinese takeout?” Aiden mocked in a posh rich voice. I looked over at him, funnily perplexed.

“You’re having more wine? Were you not planning to drive me home?” I asked Aiden, sort of chuckling.

“These legs were made for walkin’. I’ll carry you home if you want me to - but this mouth was also made for drinkin’!” Aiden joked, standing up from the couch.

“Well, if you’ve already made up your mind, then I’ll have another glass too!” I smiled.

Two minutes later, I was sipping and eating again, relaxing on the couch, with all of the special friends in my life. Could this day get literally ANY better? Once I had finished my food (and drink), I shifted on the couch, and put my feet up onto it, slanting down onto the arm of the couch. My socks ended up bumping into Aiden, who shifted down to the left to give me some more room to slouch. “Thank you guys so much for today.” I chuckled, sort of tired, yet still grateful.

“Oh, you’re welcome, Ashlyn!” Taylor cheered back. Ben nodded his head and smiled. Tyler said “no problem,” and Logan said “you’re welcome” as well. Aiden was still chewing though, but after a second when he swallowed, he said “Are you kicking me off of the couch?”

I laughed, and shifted back upright onto the couch. “What, you’re not gonna let the queen lay down on the couch even for a little bit?” I mocked Aiden.

“Well, be my guest, your highness! Layeth to your heart's content!” Aiden dramatically jumped up from the couch, and pointed to it with an upward palm as to allocate the spot for my feet to go. I chuckled. “I’m kidding, Aiden.”

“I know, I was going to get up anyway. I’m taking your dishes over to the kitchen.”

A little while later, after some more talking, Tyler unfortunately had to get up to leave. He grabbed everything he needed, and lectured his sister on not going out and doing anything stupid or illegal, before picking his keys up and walking out the front door and saying bye.

Logan turned to Aiden and Ben and joked, “I guess I’m sleeping over, huh?” while laughing and smiling.

“What do you mean?” Aiden asked, confused.

“Well, my ride just left, and you’re drunk, so you’re definitely not driving me home!” He retorted, still smiling.

“Oh, Mr. Mafia Gunslinger’s a rule-follower now?” Aiden joked back, definitely feeling the effects of his two glasses.

“You can sleep here if you want.” Ben told him, still quietly and sort of scratchy. Logan noticed Ben’s efforts, and thanked him greatly.

“I don’t know if I want to go out again tonight. I think we should just watch a movie or something.” I mentioned to everyone.

“That sounds pretty good, I was planning on staying over, as well. If, of course, Benny doesn’t object.” Taylor smiled up to Ben, teasingly leaning into him as if the answer could possibly be no.

“Sounds like a plan!” Aiden chimed in.

The evening got a bit darker as it got later and later, and in the middle of the movie that we were watching, I felt Aiden touch my arm (I ended up sharing the couch with him anyways, I didn’t feel like lying down all that much).

“Hey, were you still planning on going home tonight? Did you want to sleep over today now that Taylor and Logan are?” He asked quietly after I faced him.

“I don’t know.” I began, “The plan was originally to go home tonight because I already slept over yesterday.” I said.

“You can sleep over more than one day, Ashlyn. Unless you don’t want to.”

“I don’t want to overstay my welcome, so I mean that’s one thing.”

“Ashlyn.” He looked at me more deeply, and I stopped shifting between him and the TV, deciding on him.

“You are always welcome. You can never overstay here.” he smiled.

While he was looking at me, I was reminded suddenly of how close we slept to each other last night. I felt that lurching beat in my heart, and also felt myself getting a bit hotter. I had to take a deeper breath - the combination of how he was looking at me, and how vividly I remember pressing up against his chest, moving with the expansions of his ribs, wrapping my arm around and feeling his back, and him the same - it as a bit too much to try and continue to breathe normally to.

“I don’t know if I want to sleep on a couch or floor again tonight, Aiden.” I whispered to him, with a face that wanted to tell him that there was more than one meaning to what I said.

Aiden paused while calculating a response. His eyes had widened only the slightest bit, and he lost his smile and replaced it with anticipatory lips, half-open ready to say something.

“You don’t have to tonight. If you don’t want to.” He finally responded.

“What are you two talking about? You’re missing half of the movie!” We heard Taylor call out.

“Nothing!” We called back in unison.

We both shifted back towards facing the TV, returning our bodies to their forward orientation on the couch, sitting awkwardly and uniformly. After we both faced forward, I looked over at Aiden in the corner of my eye, and he did the same when I saw him. I saw a smile slowly creep across his face when his eyes intersected my vision. Only for a second did he look back, before looking back up at the movie again. I felt my lips pull across my face in a smile as well when I looked back over at the TV.

A little later, a bit farther into the movie, I heard Aiden shift next to me on the couch. He was moving closer to me on the couch, and I turned my head over fully to see. He was just shifting his seat, and afterwards he leaned his head closer to me, still facing the TV.

“Hey, so if you want…” He whispered, and I listened in. “You can take my bed. I can take the couch.” He finished, and dotted his eyes at me for just a second to see if I was listening.

I turned my head back towards the TV for a moment, then back at him again. “What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, you said you don’t want to sleep on a couch again, and I don’t want to force you to walk home.” Aiden continued.

This boy. I really don’t know if he’s dense or if he’s afraid that he’s pushing my boundaries. We’ve slept next to each other MULTIPLE times! Even if it was more than platonic, why would he be so nervous about it now?

“Aiden,” I began in a whisper back. The TV was making quite a bit of noise, which assisted in our secrecy. “You can if you want, but I’m not going to make you do that.”

Aiden let out a breath.

“But,” I resumed, “I thought that when I go up, that would be a good time to have that talk with you.” I finished.

Aiden thought for a second, still looking at the TV. He then looked down at the ground, but not me, and his face was blank and thoughtful. There was no smile, but he didn’t necessarily look sad at all. “That makes sense. Okay, we can talk then.” He whispered as if it were business, like it were an exchange, or a transaction - absent of any emotion or opinionated addition or flare.

“Aiden.” I whispered again, and it caught his attention. Not enough for him to look at me, but enough to get him to stop slouching, and look back up at the TV. “Do you not want to sleep together?” I asked with almost too much casualty. Aiden finally looked over at me, suspiciously fast. His eyes were a bit wide, and he looked as if he had been caught off guard.

“I- um, what? No, I-” He started. “It’s not… that. I just thought that you wouldn’t, uhm…” He trailed off, still whispering.

“Aiden.” I looked at him. I said it in a way that expressed both disappointment and wonder as to why he would even believe it. After another second, I began to think, myself. Was there a reason why he wasn’t there when I woke up? I looked at him closer, His eyes were stuck on the floor, until he looked back up at me again.

“Why were you thinking so much about this?” I asked quietly, turning my body slightly farther towards him, hopefully to urge him to publicize his vulnerability to me - to assist and comfort him by showing I care enough to listen.

“I don’t- uh… no particular reason.” I saw a curl appear on one side of his face, in an embarrassed or arguably guilty looking smile.

“Aiden, we’ve slept near-and-with each other countless times, it doesn’t mean anything.” I reassured him. Or so I thought. I thought about it for another second. The cruel thing that some don’t realize upon initial thought is that the amount of help and comfort one can give another by equating the situation to nothing is just as equal to the ability it has to do damage .

Aiden smiled a bit bigger, this one seeming a bit more natural. “Yeah, you’re right.” He chuckled quietly. “Sorry! I was just overthinking some things.” He said when he fully turned back towards the TV. I felt I needed to say something else, just to rebalance everything - just in case saying that it ‘ doesn’t mean anything ’ didn’t come across the way I meant it.

  I reached over with my arm and placed my palm against his arm. “We can always talk about this more later.” I reassured him, rubbing his arm for a second before retracting it and focusing on the movie again.

Later had it gotten, and more tired had I felt. Logan was laying down on his couch, and was dozing off, Ben and Taylor were struggling to stay awake on their couch as well, wrapped up in each other’s arms and Taylor nuzzled in his collarbone in the crevice where his neck meets his chin. He had his head resting on top of Taylors, and they both looked at the TV with pleasant sleepy eyes. Aiden looked a bit sleepy next to me, but he wasn’t struggling to keep his eyes open or anything. I felt sleepy too, but I believed I could probably make it to the end of the movie.

I was able to, and once it had shut off, the 5 of us let out a sigh. Logan picked his head up slightly off of the couch. His glasses were off, and his eyes were squinting out at us, nearly closed from faulty eyesight, as well as heavy eyelids. “Are you guys going to bed?” He asked us.

“Well, me and Ben are, so, we will see you guys in the morning.” Taylor responded sleepily. She had stood up, and was not pulling Ben by the arm to get him off of the couch too. They made their way over to the stairs, and before going up, Taylor turned around and beamed, “Goodnight everyone!” She turned around again and walked up the stairs, with Ben’s arm across her shoulders and the back of her neck. It was adorable - even while standing or walking around, when they were together, it was as if they were inseparable.

I let out a sigh once they were out of sight, and rubbed one of my eyes. Aiden turned off the TV, and asked if Logan needed anything to sleep, in which he said he was okay. He had a pillow and blanket that he was using, and so he was okay sleeping on the couch. I stood up from the couch, the last person to do so, since Aiden was already standing up. I stretched for a second with my eyes closed, and when I opened them I saw Aiden looking at me. Our eyes met for a second, almost casually, before I started walking over to the steps.

“I’m going up, too. Goodnight, Logan. Aiden, are you coming?” I asked tiredly, almost bluntly.

“Yeah, I’m coming.”

Aiden shut the door to his room behind us, after letting me in. His room was decorated with all sorts of skateboards and posters of bands, teen magazine pages, and smiley posters. His furniture was also decorated, or rather arguably plastered with all sorts of stickers and art of smiley faces and other emoji-like faces.

I did not pay too much attention to the room, my main focus was the bed. I was more tired than I thought I would be. I still felt a little tipsy from my glasses of wine. It wasn’t my first time drinking alcohol, but it was probably the most I had consumed in a day, as well as it being the first time I had outside of my home.

“So…” I heard Aiden speak behind me. Oh, right, I promised to talk.

“Aiden, I’m super sorry, but I am just so tired right now.” I turned to face him, with a sorrowful and guilty look about me. Aiden did have a rather focused face, but after saying something, it shifted into a lighthearted smile. He faced his open palms towards me to signify he was okay. “That’s alright! No big deal! We can talk about it at any other time, Ash.” He smiled and reassured me. I could tell he was a teeny bit off from the way that he carried himself up the stairs, and the way he walked, but he definitely wasn’t tipsy enough for it to affect his actions.

“I really did want to talk about it, I hope you don’t feel like I wasted-”

“Ashlyn.” He took a step towards me. I was standing close to the middle of his room as he approached. He was now only about half a step away from me, and I looked up at him, patiently, waiting for whatever his next action was, feeling almost as if I was reliant on his next action in order to decide how I was going to feel. He began to reach out with his hand, but it paused, and jittered a few times, almost as if his hand was stuttering, and wondering where to go next. Quickly enough, though, he placed it on my shoulder. It was closer to my neck, however, so it rested diagonally on my trap muscle. I could feel his thumb brush my collar bone and rest in the divot that it created on my skin.

“You’re okay.” He started softly. “You don’t need to convince me, It’s fine. I’m okay with talking about it at a different time.” He was still holding a soft smile on his face, and his hand squeezed my trap with a pressure so precise that it shot a feeling through the rest of me that told my body that it either needed to lay down, or fall forever into the arms of whatever may be making me feel this way. I looked down at the floor as he talked to me, still sort of frowning, but listening.

He took his arm off of my shoulder, and instead of putting it back at his side, I watched as he did something else. He put his index knuckle under my chin while I was looking down, and placed his thumb gently on the space right below my lips, and tilted my head back up to face him. He was smiling. He lifted my head up, but he didn’t say anything. It seemed simply to be an uplifting gesture, yet it felt intimate. It felt good in all of the possible ways.

He began walking over to his bed, yet waited for me once he arrived at it. I finally turned around to face him (I had looked at the wall for a few seconds after he lifted my chin), and also began to walk over to the bed as well. “Ladies first, your highness.” He smiled.

I scoffed lightly. “You know, I would be annoyed, but I’m too tired.” I responded. I climbed into his bed, and shifted myself onto the side closer to the wall, giving him room to get in after me. After getting under the covers, I faced the wall, and the lights of the room turned off shortly after. I felt the bed shake and shift as Aiden got in next to me. Now I understood why Aiden was a bit more hesitant to assume this to be the same situation as the other times. The times we had slept with each other, or as a group, was usually on some sort of floor, or other cushioned furniture. A personal bed is an entirely different feeling, or at least it felt like one.

I felt tense, and I sort of made it my one goal to look at nothing except for the wall. Come on, is this seriously what you want? I argued in my own head about how I felt. You have all of these feelings towards Aiden, you shouldn’t feel so awkward showing it. You’ve already KISSED, and you both know that! What are you afraid of? I asked myself.

I shifted from my side and onto my back. I turned my head to Aiden, who was also lying on his back. I looked at his closed eyes for a second. I opened my mouth to say something, but god knows what I would. I sealed my lips and settled for a different approach. His chest and neck looked extremely inviting. I shifted where I laid, and brought myself closer to Aiden. I leaned onto my side that was closer to him, and I wrapped my arm over his chest, grabbing what I could of his torso on the farther side of him to pull myself closer. I picked my head up and moved it to where his shoulder meets his neck. I placed my head down onto him, and felt my forehead press against his jaw gently. I was laying on top of him with my arm strewn across, hugging Aiden.

There was no movement from him whatsoever for a few seconds, until I felt his near arm slither between my body and the bed in order to get behind me, and pull me gently closer to him. I let out a soft, ever-so-light breathy moan at the gentle pull of his hand. I nuzzled my head farther into his neck, shifting as such that my eyes and forehead were resting against his neck. The arm he used to pull me closer was then placed on my back, in the same cuddly-like hug I had strewn across his chest.

Aiden and I were cuddling in his bed. I felt and heard his breathing, as well as the gentle hand on my back that held me, and he felt mine. This was something I knew I wanted to convey to him, and I was able to do it such that no words needed to be exchanged whatsoever. I don’t know if I love him, but I know that I kissed him. I know that I cared about what he thought about me, and I know that he is different. I know that I was confused, and possibly jealous of the confidence Taylor and Ben have. I know it was foolish to feel so nervous to see someone who I knew shared the same thoughts and feelings that I did. I shooed my rushing thoughts away. I was too tired to even try and be thinking of an answer to it all anyways. I just knew that I was comfortable.

I felt a surge of happy shivers make their way from my shoulders and down throughout the rest of my body whenever I thought about the fact that I was laying with Aiden. I felt warm and comforted, I felt cared for and appreciated, I felt tuckered and tired, but most of all, I felt like that was one of the greatest days of my life.

Chapter Text

Scene 6: Of Following Days

(Ashlyn’s Point Of View)

I was blissfully asleep into the early hours of the morning. It wasn’t until I heard a phone alarm break through the silent ambience of Aiden’s chamber did my brain finally alert me that I was awake. There was noise in the room that had gone undetected while I was asleep. The chirping and cooing of morning doves seeped through the window as dawn broke into the sky, but had fallen upon deaf, sleepy ears.

I woke up to the alarm, but not frantically or panicked. I had awoken, but I did not open my eyes or move from my position. I was still in Aiden’s arms as I came about consciousness, and Aiden too stayed still for a few moments upon waking up. I shifted my limbs around, such that it reaffirmed my position around Aiden - I nuzzled my head farther up his chest and towards his neck, and re-hugged my slipping arms around his chest again. While I moved, I felt his arm around me move with me. I took in a deep breath and moaned out a dry morning sigh. As I did so, I felt his comforting hand rub my back. No words were exchanged just yet.

Eventually I felt Aiden shift, though he still held on to me, and used his far hand to grab his phone off of his nightstand and silence his alarm. He let out a sigh as well. For a moment after the alarm was silenced, and he returned to his normal position, there was a tranquil solidarity that washed over his room. The songs and chirping of morning birds still flooded through the window, the dawning sun peaked its orange spotlight through the window, shimmering into a spectrum as it came about. Neath the blankets, and against Aiden’s body, the climate was temperate - soothing and warm, inviting. I could have easily fallen back into sleep.

I opened my eyes, and saw that Aiden still laid on his back, though looking at me. I needed to move my head away from him in order to see his face, considering how embedded I was into his neck. Our faces were separated by just a centimeter, our noses practically poking each other when I finally came a distance away. For a moment we looked at each other just like that - Aiden had a soft-lipped smile on his face, and his squinting eyes were fighting to stay open. I could tell that my hair was messy simply by how it felt on my head.

After just a second of looking at him so closely, I wanted to inch forward. I did so just enough to where our noses were poking each other, ready at any point to slip past. It was interrupted by Aiden beginning to sit up, and I was left looking at the rest of the room past where his face once was. He sat up fully, and began getting out of bed. I continued to lay, now watching him step up. I took on a feeling that he was sort of rejecting something I was owed, as if he moved in order to avoid a kiss that I longed to give him. Now on the bed alone, I felt only a shell of what was once my completed comfort.

He still wore a smile on his face, and so I decided to stop thinking about something so trivial - It was most likely only a product of my overthinking, anyways. He stretched his arms above his head once he was fully standing. “Good morning, Ashlyn.” He pleasantly chimed, turning back to me. I was still on the bed, propped up by my elbow. “Hey…” I said quietly, voice still a bit dry from waking up.

“You sleep okay?”

“Yeah…”

“That’s good!”

I didn’t respond. I rubbed my eyes and sat up on his bed, not getting off of it yet though. I wasn’t upset or anything, I was still just pretty tired. I am not a morning person, I have needed to realize that, especially recently when summer started and I continued to get up early for work.

“Did you have fun last night?” He asked, putting his red contacts back into his eyes.

“Yeah, it was a lot of fun.” I tried to put a little more energy into my responses.

“That’s good.” He was a bit more quiet.

“Do you want to stay over for breakfast?” He invited.

“I don’t know.” I looked over away from him, and rubbed my arm. I really don’t want to overstay .

“Are you sure? I don’t mind at all, Ashlyn.”

“I don’t want to intrude!”  I looked back at him, sort of frowning. He was still facing away and looking in a mirror he had in his room. When he turned towards me, he was smiling. He walked over to me quite quickly, just smiling, and not saying anything. I had to look up at him when he got to the bed. “Ash,” He began. He touched my chin the same way he did yesterday, and pointed it up so I would be looking at him. He crouched down a little bit, to make it easier to look, considering how close he was.

“Do you really think that there’s ever a time where I don’t want you here?” He asked. I sort of blushed in response, which only furthered his smile. “Hmm?” He urged.

I shook my head in response, my lips still sealed.

“Bingo. Don’t you ever worry about overstaying. Because if it were up to me,” He leaned in a tad bit closer.

“I would never want you to leave, Sunshine.” His words took me back to a week ago, and I could only blush as my chin sat on his fingers. He was close enough to where I could feel his breath. It was hot, and it smelled like morning breath, but I did not care. It did not subtract from how inviting he looked right now. I looked at him for another moment, just lost in his eyes, and the silence must have made him a little embarrassed, because his smile lessened ever-so-slightly, and parts of his ears and cheeks were dashed with red.

“I uhm-” He gently released my chin. “Sorry, am I too close?” He asked dumbly, in such stark comparison to how confident he sounded a moment ago. I could not help but giggle at the juxtaposition.

“What, can you not handle the warmth of Miss ‘Sunshine’?” I asked teasingly.

He fixed his eyes on mine again, a bit more focused again.

“No, I… I think it was your eyes.” He said softly again.

This time I was washed over with a face of surprise and a wave of redness. My silence made him chuckle as well.

“I-” I stuttered. “Shut up. Your breath stinks.” I stood up off of the bed and walked over to his door. When I grabbed the knob and opened the door, Aiden called behind me. “Don’t come back in, I’m going to change. I’ll see you downstairs!”

“Whatever.”

A little while later, I was in the living room talking to Logan as Aiden began cooking us some breakfast. It was a pleasant little conversation, talking a little bit about everything - college, last night, the performance, among other things. The sizzling of eggs and what I assumed was bacon from the smell pouring out of the kitchen was starting to seem appetizing and catch my interest. “Ooh, that smells good, Aiden.” I called from the living room. Aiden looked over into the room and smiled.

“Better than my breath?” He called back, with a smirk.

“Ugh, shut up.” I scoffed and turned away.

At that point, Ben and Taylor were making their way down the stairs. Well, isn’t that just perfect. “What did he just say?” Taylor whispered with wide eyes that stared at me, and a face of shock and awe. Oh geez.

“Nothing, he just- he said-” I stuttered. “He’s kidding.” I finished while shooting a look back. Logan eyed me with a face of confusion, and between me and Taylor. He started whispering as well, though it was obvious that he didn’t know what for. “What are we talking about? Aiden was just-” His eyes widened a little bit, and he returned them to me. “Wait, what’s wrong with Aiden’s-”

“ SHH !” I harshly whispered, thankfully slipping by the attention of Aiden, as he kept making breakfast. Ben looked around, bubbly and confused as he slowly blinked. He seemed not to be a morning person as well. Taylor sat down next to me on the couch, and Ben made himself comfortable on another. Taylor began to whisper in my ear when I wasn’t looking. Though I had my plugs in, her voice was still quite loud, even as a whisper, and her lips brushed the edge of my ears for a moment as she talked.

“ Did you guys do something last night ?” She asked.

“ What ?” I whispered back, “ No, stop getting ahead of yourself. He wouldn’t have joked like that if we did .”

“ Then how were you smelling his breath? Did you two kis- ”

“ We didn’t. Can we please talk about something else that’s not this? ”

My frustration must have pushed Taylor to give in, because she leaned away and wiped the interactions off of her sleeve, not letting it get to her. I huffed out a breath to let the silly frustrations exit with it, and instead sat patiently again for breakfast to arrive.

When it finally did, Ben, Taylor, Logan, Aiden, and I all ate together in the living room again. We didn’t talk about much, everyone was still waking up for the most part, just enjoying the sun peaking through the large windows around the different parts of his house, sitting on the comfortable sofas and soaking in the beautiful perfect temperature of the house. Eventually it came time to discuss how we would be getting home, and Ben said he could take Taylor home at any time, and so it just came down to me and Logan. Aiden offered to take Logan back to his house, and it seemed logical to go home at the same time, since he could take me home as well while he was still out.

The eggs and bacon that Aiden made sat well in my mouth, and in my stomach. It was a good way to wake up and eat something, considering the last things I ate were chinese takeout and wine. He also did the righteous act of bringing my water, to which I swigged down at the fastest possible speed. I sat back on the couch seat and closed my eyes as the others continued in conversation, choosing to relax instead of participate. Soon enough it came time for me and Logan to leave, and so we both stood up, and Aiden left the living room to grab his keys.

Taylor hugged Logan goodbye, and Ben did afterwards. Taylor flinched before giving me a hug, waiting for me to spread my arms out first to see if I was comfortable giving one. A very friendly and analytical gesture, it was very sweet of her. I of course gave her the hug she deserved. “I’ll miss you! We have to hang out again soon.” She squeezed.

“You can come over any time, Tay. You can also take me anywhere again, if you want. You too, Ben.” I smiled at the two of them. “It was fun hanging out with you all. Thanks for planning this all for me.” I finished.

Ben walked over and opened his arms, and I entered them. Taylor and Logan also decided to join in what was now a group hug. “Of course, Ashlyn!” Logan chimed in. Aiden came down stairs at the end of our hug while we were all disconnecting from each other, and I looked up at him as he came down the stairs. He smiled and made his way back to the living room. He gave Taylor a hug goodbye, and said bye to Ben as well, to which he waved and she said goodbye too.

We all got in his car, I in the front passenger seat, and Logan in the rear passenger seat. The inside of the car was quiet, and tranquil. The windows were down and the cool yet sunny ambience was seeping into the car, making the environment of the vehicle comfortable and natural. Aiden exchanged a split second look at me, before locking his eyes onto the instruments of the vehicle in order to back out onto the road. We began our journey to Logan’s house first, surprisingly. I watched confused as Aiden pulled out in the wrong direction that would take us away from my house, and I made the assumption that he was going to take Logan first. The logical side of me was in opposition, yet, a different part - the currently dominant part of my mindset - was okay with it.

The radio was low, and the wind from driving filled and came in and out of the car, washing it with sound. It blew my hair slightly, but not wildly enough to distract Aiden from driving, or enough to be a distraction from the silent mood of the car. The tranquility remained unbroken all the way up until we pulled into Logan's driveway and dropped him off.

“Thanks for coming over!” Aiden called out.

“And thanks for celebrating with us!” I called afterwards.

Logan smiled and waved sweetly as he went inside of his home, and its sincerity left a mark on me, enough to make me smile a tad bit.

The door to Logan’s house shut, and we sat in his driveway for just another second. Aiden reached out and grabbed the gear selector.

“So…” He began, sort of softly, putting it into reverse. I looked over at him, and his face had remained on the road and his surroundings, yet his mouth had a gentle curve to it. “Would… now be a good time to talk about things?” He asked. Oh. Yeah, now kind of would be a good time. Alone, together, in a safe place, with no fear of anyone else catching whiff of it.

“Oh…” I said back, a little perplexed and hesitant. I thought for a second. “Yeah… I guess it would be.”

“It’s okay if you don’t want to.” He rushed to reassure me. “You don’t sound like you want to right now-”

“No, it’s okay. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t want to. It’s just…” I paused.

Aiden waited patiently for me to say something. We were on the road again.

I chuckled after thinking. “You know what’s funny? For a while I’ve wanted to talk about this for some reason, but I have no idea what there is to say.” I laughed softly. Aiden smiled with his lips, and nodded back.

“Yeah… it is kind of confusing.” He simply stated. There was another moment of silence.

I inhaled before speaking. “Mmmm…” It was hard to find a place to start. “I thought about it for a little while after what happened on monday.” I said. Aiden perked up, showing that he was listening to what I was saying with more focus. “We don’t have to change anything else about us, even though we kissed. But, don’t get the idea that I regret anything, Aiden, it’s not quite what I mean-”

“You… want to go back to being friends?”

“No! Nonono, you misunderstand.” I reasoned. “Look,” I began again.

“Aiden, I don’t regret anything we did on Monday. In fact I enjoyed our… uhm…” I slowed and trailed off upon saying what I did, and when looking back over at Aiden I could see that he was blushing at the mention of it.

“Nonetheless - I wouldn’t call it going back , Aiden. I wouldn’t call it that. I just want to say, I discovered that relationships do not have to fall into these strict categories. I don’t know if I would necessarily call you my friend , or my boyf -” I stuttered again.

“Ugh! All I’m saying is-”

“Nothing has to change.” Aiden smiled. I looked at him and calmed down. Man, he really knows how to do that, nowadays .

“I get it, we’re a whatever-happens kind of deal.”

“I guess so. Just- don’t worry about labels and whatnot.” I started again.

“I wanted to talk to you about this, Aiden, not because I was overthinking or regretting anything, I hope you know. I just wanted to clarify in case you were confused about anything.” I finished. Aiden nodded as I spoke.

“I understand. I hope you know, I don’t regret anything either, Ashlyn.” He finished.

I felt my face get red when he said that, and I felt the need to turn my head away and look out the window. After doing so, I could hear Aiden chuckle softly from where I couldn’t see.

“Man, that was really awkward, wasn’t it?” Aiden asked crudely.

I turned back around. “What?”

“I mean, like - that was really hard to sit through!”

“What are you- are you trying to make me feel bad or something?”

“No! Of course not! It’s just that…” He paused.

“Ashlyn, we’ve both kissed and slept with each other and you wanted to talk about what we call each other as if either of us think that we’re still normal friends?” Aiden joked a bit too lightheartedly about such subjects that held such a place in my mood right now.

“Well, I don’t know what I was thinking! I don’t know what you were thinking! I was confused at first, I didn’t know what to make of it! This is my first time in a situation like this and you’re also my first friend and I didn’t know if you knew what was going on-”

“Ashlyn, hey, Ash!” Aiden called out during my rambling. I was breathing a bit faster and I got quite a bit worked up from that joke of his.

Aiden took a hand off of the steering wheel and searched his peripheral to find mine. I moved the hand closest to him a bit to make it easier to spot. After he grabbed it ever-so-gently, he let his car fill up with silence again.

“I didn’t mean it. I was kidding. I know it’s not simple to think about. Maybe I shouldn’t’ve teased you like that.” Aiden smiled and rubbed his thumb on the back of my hand.

“Yeah, well maybe you should’ve thought before you said something.” I pouted moodily.

“You’re right. But what do you expect from me? Nothing more than that, I’d hope.” He joked. I had to fight back a smile, not just from his lighthearted silliness, but also from the dopamine I was getting from his comfortable grasp.

“I’m sorry, Ash.” He said, still sort of smiling, but also genuine.

“It’s okay, I’m not mad at you, I’m just… so confused.” I began. “I really thought I had this stuff figured out, and for the most part, I do. It’s just… sometimes I… ugh, I don’t even know!” I lurched my head back onto the headrest of the seat, bringing my free hand up to my face and rubbing it.

“I think it would be best to let that thought go. I don’t think it should be about how we think we feel about each other. I think we should just let it be about what we do .” Aiden reassured. After he finished speaking, my awareness for his hand that was in mine increased slightly, and I couldn’t help but blush a little bit. He was still rubbing the back of my hand with his thumb, and it traced along gently with hardly any pressure. I squeezed back a little bit, and he returned with another gentle squeeze.

I hadn’t noticed until a bit, but I realized that we were on the street where our houses were. We were rapidly approaching where I lived. I guess this was going to be goodbye again soon. I took a deep silent breath next to him. He pulled over to the curb, and put the car into park. There was another silence that hung in the car after it stopped, though this one felt different to the tranquility from before.

Aiden turned his head over to me, and I looked at him back. We stared into each other's eyes for a moment. Neither of our faces had any sort of smile on it, and they were void of any sort of exciting or mentionable emotion. It was almost as if we both knew that another goodbye was inevitably coming. Aiden had his hands back to himself at this point, and I heard him tap one of his fingers on his steering wheel, almost as if it were a loading-bar for something that he was planning to say in his head. His eyes dotted to the side as well. “Well…” He started.

“Guess this is… bye for now?” He asked.

“Aiden, don’t be so cliche.” I scoffed back unseriously.

“No, Ashlyn.” He returned, catching my attention from his seriousness.

“It may sound like a cliche, but there's a reason it is one. It’s a feeling that everyone has probably had before, and have probably hated .” He explained. I looked deeply in his eyes as he talked.

“I hate that feeling. I hate saying goodbye to you.” He turned his body towards me as he spoke. I felt my heart skip. I felt exactly the same. The way he looked at me caused my eyes to sting for a second, not enough to make me cry, but still flooding me with a wave of melancholy. I was still right in front of him, yet it felt like I missed him.

“I hate it too.” I squeaked out in return.

Aiden’s hands started to raise, hesitantly from where he was. I shifted where I sat too, in order to face him a bit better, which gave him a bit more confidence in his hands.

He reached out his right hand and with it he softly laid it upon my jaw and cheek, holding it, and softly brushing his thumb on my cheek as he did with my hand a few minutes ago. With his left he reached out, and I mutually met it with my right, in which they interlocked and gripped each other.

“I don’t want to sound cheesy, but…” Aiden began. “I think I know what I wanted to say to you last time, but couldn’t think of.”

I felt my eyes get the slightest glaze of watery film over them. I gripped his hand with my right even harder. His bright red eyes stared back into mine. I couldn’t look away. “What is it?” I asked back, nearly a whisper.

“Ashlyn,” my heart skipped again with anticipation.

“You are the most beautiful, interesting, and passionate person I know. I am so lucky to have you in my life.” I felt my face begin to practically melt in his hand. I felt like soup, or jelly - a formless blob, a conglomerate of fiery emotions that needed to be outlet, yet dissipated in the warm hands of the source of the heat of my passion.

I let out a quick, shaky vocal breath before crying out “Aiden..” and leaning forward towards him. His hands followed along with my face as I leaned forward, and I watched as his face began to lean forward as well. I watched him close his eyes, and I closed mine. I want to kiss you so damn bad. Our faces met in the middle, and I felt his lips attach to mine, with much more passion and pent up emotion behind them this time - and I matched it just the same. I reached my arms up and placed them onto his face the same as he did to me. I caressed the different features of his jaw, and reached one around to the back of his head and planted it there.

There was a soft moan that was let out between us as we breathed during our face-congress - not one of lust or exaggerated pleasure, but simply as we breathed out through our noses. It felt like I could move infinitely deeper into him, as if our souls - our life forces - were molding into one another, despite the limits of our physical bodies. There was so much I wanted out of the kiss, and there was plenty that I had gotten from it. When I moved my hands to his face, Aiden grabbed my arm with his free left, still holding my face with his right. His left hand was almost a desperate cling to the cloth of the shirt on my arm. The connection of our lips lasted quite a while longer than their original together-ness a week earlier. Once they finally, and very hesitantly separated after almost a full minute, we both let out an exhale, and slowly distanced ourselves. We opened our eyes after the disconnection, and as we came back into view of each other, we looked at each other’s eyes again. I stared into his vibrant reds, half closed, almost as if they were ready for more, or recovering from what they have already had, and he looked onto my wet, almost shining emeralds.

There was a silence that hung between us again, a silence that told a story of thousands of words. We both finally let go of each other, and reoriented ourselves into our own seats again, still looking at each other.

“I’ll see you later, Ash.” Aiden quietly said. I clicked the latch of the door.

“Goodbye, Aiden. I’ll miss you.” I said back.

“Don’t say that.”

I looked at him after standing up from my seat. My eyebrows shaped a confused look on me.

“I’ll be over in a second if you ever need me at any point, okay?” He said sternly from his car. Stern, not in the sense of an overwhelming seriousness, but in a way that solidified his promise of dedication. A romantic sternness.

“Thank you.” I said back.

“Any time, Sunshine.”

“Hey, don’t tell Ben or Taylor or anyone.”

“I won’t. Not until you’re ready.”

“Thank you.
… I’m gonna… go inside, now.”

“Okay, Ash.”

“Bye, Aiden.”

“Bye, Sunshine.”

End of Part 1

Chapter Text

Scene 7:  In the Rain of Rainbows

(Aiden’s Point Of View)

I stood steadily at the top of the half-pipe. My foot sat on the tail of my board as it hung over the metal lip of the rail. I looked outwards at the course that I needed to carve, and the sweat from the previous round was abundantly glazed over my cheeks. My hair was wet under my helmet, and my eyes were slim and focused. The sun beat down hard on the course today, and the padding of my gear had moistened from my sweat.

I had not become well known or recognized because of my skill, even though I had amassed a large amount of it. I had amassed a following and recognition from other big names because of, what they called, the ‘ultimate confidence.’ An embarrassingly goofy name, but in their eyes, I was deserving of it. I always thought that skateboarders were cunning and daredevilish, but I hadn’t seen myself to be any more of a daredevil than them, but apparently, I had been.

My face took on a smirk as I readied myself, and I looked out at the course as I brought my other foot up onto the front of the board, and slapped down onto the half-pipe. Let’s fucking do this.

Televised jams and events were always silly in my mind. I’ve always preferred the vibes of local non-competitive sessions, or perhaps vlog-like videoed jams that would just go to YouTube. I loved hanging out with other skateboarders, not necessarily the competition itself, but the brotherhood and sisterhood among a common passion. Though, both got me recognition, and either way, I got to skate, so it didn’t matter all too much  to me.

There was a set of picnic-tables that lined the outside of the park that were being used by the skateboarders currently not in the round, and after my minute was up, I popped my board into my hands and walked out to where my table was. At my table, there were a few things: a towel, a large metal water bottle, and multiple plastic gallon jugs of water, a backup board, backup helmet, and the Beautiful Miss Sunshine - Ashlyn Banner.

I saw her soft, unserious smile as I approached the bench. I was breathing deeply through my nose, with one hand in my hip while the other carried my board in order to maximize recovery. Ashlyn was sat on the table itself, with her feet on the bench-seat of the table.  When I made it to the table, I plopped my board down next to the spare deck. “Water?” I asked, squinting both of my eyes towards Ashlyn, because both the sun and sweat were fighting to get into them.

She reached out and extended the bottle to me, to which I took it, turned and plopped down onto the bench seat. I unclipped my helmet strap and took it off with one hand while taking a bit sip of water with another. “You know,” I started after gulping, “I still can’t believe I convinced you to go to these. You used to hate the idea of me skating.”

“Are you going to say that every time I go to one of these?” She chuckled.

“Probably, it’s my way of saying thanks!”

“Well, usually you take me out to eat afterwards, so it’s a pretty good deal in my book.” She smiled, nudging me with her leg that I sat next to.

“Well, it’s no cost to me, since I usually win all of these anyways.” I chuckled back.

“Yeah.” She responded, “You know, one of these times, we need to have a bigger celebration - like what you did for me.” She proposed.

“Agh, I dunno about that.” I swatted my hand up.

“Oh, stop it, Aiden. You work pretty hard at this all the time, you got to celebrate it sometimes. ”

“Seeing you here, and spending time with you is enough of a celebration for me.” I turned and looked at her.

Her eyes widened a bit, before she turned away from me, and rested her head on her arm that rested on her knee, placing her hand over her smirking smile trying to hide it. I liked when I was able to fluster her, it was a beautiful reminder that she felt something about me. I stood up from the bench and moved myself around to where she had looked away, and I smiled.

I leaned my face closer to her and replaced my smile with anticipatory lips, to which she stuck a finger into them, pushing my face back. “Mm-mm. Not with that sweaty face.” She joked, no longer hiding her smirk. I smiled back after standing straight back up, and turning back to sit down on the bench again.

I probably still have a little while of waiting to do before my next round. I’m glad I get to spend it with her.

I watched intently as the other skaters went through their course, seeing how hard I would have to go next round in order to match or keep it up - how risky I would have to be. That was the thing about me that others could never understand. I always thought that the riskiness of the trick should not determine one’s hesitation, or nervousness, though other people did not share that sentiment. All the time I hear the question “isn’t that scary?” Or “isn’t that more dangerous?” And all I can ever think is “absolutely not.” Do they even know what comes close to being scary to me? I’d rather fall off a skateboard every day than have to live another with guns pointed at my front and back. That is true fear, that is some real adrenaline.

Six competitors total, including me, 5 rounds of skateboarding. I had just finished my third when I walked over to Ashlyn that time. The last competitor was finishing up his minute. 5 rounds of one minute of skating per round. Bailing times you out and gets you a point penalty until you step back onto your board, or call injury time. If you call injury time, chances are you’re not getting back onto your board to keep going, and the others send you off and out of the competition to the sound of honorary clanking of boards against the coping edge (edge of the halfpipe).

I’ve never needed to call injury time (luckily) since when I started all the way back in the last marking period of my senior year of high school, but there have been rare occasions in which I have bailed. I’ve only ever gotten right back up again, every time quicker than the last, with no less of a smile on my face.

Some time had passed, and I shredded my fourth round, and now I was prepping for the fifth. I stood up from my bench, and took one last swig of my water, the cold liquid shot an icy refreshing comfort around my mouth, which radiated down my neck as I swallowed. It was damn hot today, and I was almost out of gas. Nevertheless I knew I had to hit this last round harder than ever. I always do.

Ashlyn bumped my leg from where she was sitting behind me. I turned around after clipping my helmet. She was looking at my face, squinting from the bright afternoon sun. “Good luck. Don’t hurt yourself.” She said plainly.

“I won’t, Ash,” I smiled back, and grabbed my board. I stepped up onto the half pipe and looked out at the course once again. The announcer blared my name over the speakers through the microphone, to a small yet whooping and energetic audience. I planted my board and foot down onto the edge again.

Now or never, baby.

I was back in the parking lot, putting my earnings into the back seat of my car with Ashlyn’s assistance: a brand new deck (just the board, no trucks or wheels or anything), a trophy made thinly out of gold (something you’d see on a highschool trophy shelf), a small cash prize (not huge, thought it didn’t need to be, it wasn’t a huge event) of $500, and a photograph of me on the podium with everyone else, standing on the highest block.

I had the towel wrapped around my neck, and I dabbed it on my forehead, and rubbed a part of my face with it while sighing outwards. When I opened my eyes after uncovering my face, Ashlyn was looking back at me. Her face was that of a proud mother, ready to cheer on her incredibly happy child. “You did so good today, Aiden. I’m really proud.” She announced, not losing an ounce of her smile.

I smiled back down too, and once my hands were free I wrapped her into a hug, one that she hesitantly accepted by wrapping back around me. “Oof. You still smell though.” She chuckled, and I laughed as well.

I let her go, and when she got back into view, I spoke. “Maybe we should stop by my house first, and drop our stuff off before we go out to eat?” I proposed.

“Yeah, that way you can shower, too.” She smirked.

I gave her a look, and then got into my car. I waited for her to join me in the passenger seat, and then embarked on the drive back home. I remembered a little while earlier, only just after my fifth round ended, I had to run over and comfort Ashlyn because she was crying. I took a pretty bad fall a few seconds into my round - well, it looked bad, I was fine, though.

I was grinding the curved edge of a bowl and took it a little bit too fast, and ended up slipping off of my board backwards. My lower back landed on the slope of the bowl, which made crashing down onto it much safer and less painful. I rolled out of it pretty quickly, but wasn’t able to stand up right away because my balance was out of whack. I laid on my back for a few seconds, which must have scared a few people, including the announcer.

I stood up right before they thought about calling an injury time, and someone tossed me my board, in which I continued the rest of my session. And continue I did, I slammed through the rest of the round with an even bigger smile on my face. After that round, I made it my priority to immediately make it over to Ashlyn as the others prepped to get into the bowl. When I saw her on the bench, her eyes were teared up, and she was covering her mouth with a hand. I could see her lips quivering from what I could see of her mouth. She looked afraid. I rushed over with a smile on my face, and just wrapped her up in a big tight hug, telling her “I’m okay! I’m okay, See? It was a small fall, Ash! You’re okay, we’re okay!” As I rocked her. It probably scared her a lot. I guess winning it in the end made it a bit better for her.

“Hey.” I spoke up while driving.”

“Hmm?” Ashlyn turned her head over to me.

“I’m sorry for scaring you earlier, Ash. I know it looked like I got hurt, and I know you hate seeing it.” I reached over with my hand as I spoke, an invitation to comfort her, and show affection. She took my hand and we squeezed each other’s gently.

“I know that’s why you don’t like watching any of my videos, and I know it’s why you don’t want me skateboarding. I know it’s scary to watch, especially because you’re close to me.” I continued.

“It’s okay, Aiden. I wouldn’t have agreed to go to this one if I didn’t want to see it. I was just shocked and unprepared.” Ashlyn muttered back, quietly yet passionately. I rubbed her hand with my thumb for another second.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine now.”

“Okay, that's good.”

There was a peaceful silence in the car before either of us said anything again.

“Don’t worry, if I ever get hurt, I’ll do it safely, okay?” I squeezed her hand again.

She let out a soft chuckle, and shook her head.

“You better. I don’t want you doing dangerous stuff, now. Only safe extreme-sports.”

I laughed back. I pulled her hand that I was gently holding up to my face, and I kissed the back of her hand, before returning it to the center console and letting it go. Ashlyn was quiet for a second, and I could tell that she was looking at me, even though I was focused on the road.

“Ew. I said only after you shower.” She crudely wiped her hand onto my sleeve, jamming the back of her hand into my arm. I laughed and smiled at her, swatting back playfully, making sure to focus on the road. Eventually when we did return, I put the car in park and hopped out to get the stuff out of the back. Ashlyn gave me a hand with everything, and we headed inside to settle our stuff down, and I took a shower and got changed into some more comfortable clothes before heading back out the door with her.

(Ashlyn’s Point Of View)

Our college year has started now, and summer vacation has now been over for around 2 weeks. It was the Friday of our second week when Aiden had his skate competition - the first one I had gone to with him. I knew it was going to be televised, and I didn’t like the idea of my face on TV, but Aiden reassured me that they wouldn’t record me for long, and only would when they wanted a shot of him at the benches. I was hesitant, but obliged.

Aiden and I were lucky to share a lot of our gen-eds - the typical classes that the college required us to take that weren’t really a part of our majors. It was good to have more freedom over my schedule, so that we had more time off during the week. Aiden and I shared math, history, chemistry, and English. It was mostly intentional, I believe, because Aiden asked me time and time again what my schedule was - before he ever made his own.

We took our seats at the Chipotle after getting our food. Aiden paid for our meals with some of the prize money that he won, which I thought was silly, but thanked him for it anyways. I had my work laptop with me and opened it to start on some of the homework I was assigned. Aiden and I made some small talk as I worked my assignments. They were mainly introductory, the school year had not been going on for too long at this point.

“Man, it’s still hard to believe,” Aiden chewed. “College, huh?” He leaned back in his seat. I took a break from typing.

“Yeah, I guess so.” I said quietly. “Ugh… stop trying to make me feel so old, Aiden!” I scoffed.

“You’re not old!” He laughed back. He pushed on the top of my laptop, tilting the screen down. He had his other arm propped on the table by his elbow and he was resting his head on his hand, looking at me.

“What are you doing?” I asked bluntly.

“Just lookin’ at you.” He smiled with slim eyes.

“I’m trying to do work, Aiden-”

“I know, I want you to stop.”

I blinked at him, a hesitant smirk forming on my face. Why even fight it? I closed my laptop and shifted it to the side, and copied his posture, leaning on one of my hands propped up onto my elbow. Aiden’s smile deepened, and I sort of reflected a similar face.

“You look really cute.” He muttered. I closed my eyes and turned back to my food.

“ Ugh , Aiden, quit with the PDA, it’s awkward.”

“Sorry.” He wasn’t sorry.

We ate our food some more.

“So what did you want to talk about that was so crucial it needed to stop my work?” I asked with mock-crudeness.

“Who said I wanted to talk about anything?” Aiden smirked. I glared at him to his laughter.

“Well, I just- I dunno, I thought I’d get your mind off of college for a little bit, we could talk about something else.” He arose with a casual demeanor.

“Hmm. Well, the dance studio offered me a bit of a raise to help out with paying for college, so that was very nice of them.”

“Okay, dance, we’re getting somewhere!” He joked. “What’s it like teaching the younger dancers?”

“It’s a lot of fun.” I chuckled. “You wouldn’t believe how snarky they could be sometimes, it’s adorable.”

Aiden laughed back. “Are they influenced by you at all?” I flicked a piece of lettuce at him.

“I think all kids in dance go through a sarcastic phase. It’s almost required when it comes to any form of theatre or performing art.” I explained.

“Hmm.” Aiden listened in.

“But, other than that, working with kids is kind of… no, it’s a lot of fun. It’s fun to see how passionate they are. It reminds me of when I was younger.”

“Man, working with kids is really not helping with this young-adult crisis you’re going through, does it.”

“Probably not.” We laughed.

“I gotta say, seeing smaller kids at the skate park is really cool, too! Watching a bunch of little kids going around on boards and scooters is really something that brings joy to the faces of the most unsuspecting people!”

“I thought skaters hated kids cuz they always get in the way.”

“No, they hate the parents for letting them run off - they love the kids!” He smiled.

“I love going around and giving them high fives and stickers and stuff!”

“That’s… actually really sweet of you, Aiden.” He blinked at me for a second, before blushing and turning his head away. After a moment he looked back.

“Honestly, one of the coolest experiences I’ve had at a skatepark was getting recognized by a kid! A young middle schooler, or somethin’! He acted like I was a celebrity! He wanted my autograph!” Aiden beamed with excitement as he told this story. It was really nice to see him so passionate and happy about something. Maybe skating wasn’t a bad choice for him after all.

“Really?”

“Yeah! I ended up signing his board for him, and since I was just there to skate around, I gave him some advice, too. I was shocked that I was getting recognized simply for doing something I loved!”

“Hey, Aiden?” I looked at him a bit deeper, and he returned the compliment with his big red eyes.

“Yeah?”

“You remember how you told me my performances would be in sold out venues?”

He chuckled, and blushed a little. “Yeah…”

“Aiden, you won’t be able to go a day in a skatepark without needing to sign boards.” I smiled at him. He returned a soft smile as well, and reached a hand across the table. I placed a hand on top of it, and we sat like that for a few seconds.

“You’ve got high expectations of me, you know.”

“Not expectations. High hopes.” I smirked.

We sat for another second. Aiden broke the solid beam of eye contact, and shifted his hand away. “Finish eating, before your food gets cold.” He smiled, as he took another bite of food as well.

Our drive back to his house from dinner was quiet, and peaceful. We listened to some music as we let ourselves digest. I decided that I would stay over at his house for a bit longer as we completed our assignments (together this time). We rested in his living room as we worked. His parents were already back from work when we arrived, and they greeted me openly as usual, before giving us room in the living room to hang out.

Aiden hadn’t told me, but Ben had let it slip to me at some point that Aiden and his parents have had a few awkward conversations about what we were , and every time Aiden wasn’t able to give a proper answer. Ben only told me out of worry that we might have been something more and that he was underselling it to his parents, but I reassured him that it was okay, and that it was probably the most accurate thing he could say about us to his parents. We weren’t really dating, we still mostly hung around each other like friends, yet rarely we would have an intimate moment. It was mostly casual, yet the intimate moments were passionate, yet temporary and few and far between. In fact, I hadn’t kissed him to the extent that I did on that Monday during the summer at all. That might have been the last time we shared a moment so intimate and passionate. There was nothing that caused us to need to do something like that again, though, so we simply hadn't because we didn’t need to.

Aiden was working away on his laptop when he got a phone call. It interrupted the casual conversation we were having, and I looked up from my laptop as he picked up his phone to see it.

“Oh, it’s just Logan.” He stated, as he picked up the phone.

“Hey, what's up, Logan? How’s everything on campus?” Aiden asked. His smile went from bold and true, to dotty, before it fell off of his face entirely.

“Yeah, everything’s okay over here…” I looked up from my laptop again, and watched him as he talked. His face was a bit confused, and it was worrisome to me.

“Wait, hold on.” Aiden stood up from the couch, and I followed him with my eyes. He looked at me for a second, and held up his hand towards me, while mouthing ‘ give me a sec ’ as he walked out of the room.

I sat in the living room, slightly worried and impatiently, as I continued to work on my homework. Aiden was outside of the room for a bit over a minute, and I could hardly hear a murmur of what he was saying. When he did finally come back in, his face was worried as well. His eyebrows were furrowed in a deep thoughtful position on his face, and he was rubbing his mouth with his hand as he came back to his seat. He sat down hunched over, no longer in his laxed position with his laptop.

I sat up where I was sitting, and moved my laptop away. Aiden shifted his eyes over to me, and I took on a worried face as well. “Aiden, is everything okay?”

He took a deep breath, and moved his hand off of his mouth. He held his phone in his other hand, and he looked at it for a second before he put it in his pocket.

“Alex had to flee New York and join the witness protection program.” Aiden started.

My heart skipped a beat. “What?” I shifted again where I sat, leaning more towards Aiden, ready to stand up from my seat.

“He got a note from the Andra , they’re back for something.”

I felt something in my chest drop.

“What are you talking about? how does Logan know?”

“Logan is the only one who maintained constant contact with Alex. Alex sent him a message from a burner saying that he needed to run. The Andra is looking for some reparations for the men who went to prison during the whole fiasco.” Aiden continued, focused yet solemnly.

I had to put my hand up to my chest, my heart was beating too erratically. No. This cannot all happen again. This was supposed to be over.

“Well, Alex is gone now, right? We don’t have to worry about it, right?” I desperately dug for an answer.

“Not exactly - Because Alex had contact with Logan, they might be able to trace it to him, and they might go to him for reparations instead.” Aiden looked at me seriously.

“No…” I sunk down onto the couch. I gripped my shirt with my hand above my chest. I felt my breath start to become sporadic and panicked.

“This wouldn’t be a problem if Logan’s grandparents were available. They won’t be around for another month. They’re off on a long vacation. If Logan is able to stay safe at that time, then it might all get sorted out.”

“Can’t we just go to the police? Can’t we just let them handle it?” I spoke quickly.

“We can. I will tell Logan to do that now. In the meantime, I’ll order some cameras and home security stuff for his house, and go over to set it all up. I’ll tell Logan to alert his grandparents since no one will be there when I go to do it.”

“I thought they did what they did as a favor. I didn’t- why would they want rep- what-” I started to breathe a lot quicker, unable to finish my words. Aiden jumped up from his couch seat.

“Hey, Ash, it’s okay! Come here.” He sat down right next to me, and I fell into his chest, hyperventilating and starting to tear up, and choke on hiccups. He wrapped his arms around me, and repeated “It’s okay.” He rubbed my back and soothed the jagged breaths and quaking sniffs into a steady flow of breath that came in and out of my mouth. My eyes reddened from tears that waited patiently to begin strewing from my eyes.

“Why do they want us to pay reparations? What are they going to do to Logan?” I whimpered fearfully in Aiden’s arms.

“I don’t know. This will all get worked out. We’re going to let his grandparents know, and we’re going to get in touch with the police. It’s going to be okay, Ash. This was probably a misunderstanding anyways.”

“Oh my god… Oh my god …” I began to cry in his arms. I slung my arms back around him as I wailed. I furrowed my face into his shirt, dampening it with salty tears. I couldn’t control my breaths and they flowed out with all of the shakiness of my body. Sharp inhales and cough-like cries were flooding in and out of my body with no control. I pinched my eyes shut with fear and denial as I squeezed around Aiden. Why is this happening to us again?

Aiden shushed me, and rocked me. He rubbed me and squeezed me back with gentle care. He held me for as long as I needed, allowing me to spill out into him. He was a sturdy pillar of immutable confidence and reason, and I was a child pulling desperately on the cloth of peace’s skirt, as it stepped farther and farther away — ever receding, inevitably so.
After a a few minutes, I had acquired the remnants of what would be considered composure, enough to sit up on the couch. Aiden kept an arm wrapped around my shoulder and he sat next to me. He was silent, and contemplating, and I was still sniffling, but finding my way back to normal breathing.

“I don’t want to do this all again.” I leaned my head to the left, and it bumped into his chin. He leaned his head back onto mine.

“We’ll let the police handle it. We’re going to be okay.”

“Do you need to call Logan’s grandparents?”

“Yeah. Will you be alright if I get up to do that?”

“Yeah, I’ll be okay.”

“Okay.”

Aiden stood from the couch, and pulled his phone back out of his pocket before going into another room again to make the call. I sat in the silence of the living room. I thought about how well everything was going. How much better we all were, how we were all able to live now. How we didn’t need to be worried or together all of the time. Was that time about to be over? Were we going to have to survive again? Was our right to live under threat and scrutiny? I closed my eyes again as tears pooled in the corners of them again, and sat back onto the couch. I don’t want this for the rest of my life.

Chapter Text

Scene 8: Taking Care of Business

(Aiden’s Point Of View)

I got the box out of the back of my car that contained the camera systems and door alarm system. This was most likely going to be a 10 minute job if I was quick. I just needed to find an outside outlet to hook it up, set the cameras up in places where they wouldn’t be affected majorly by weather or tampered with by animals, and wire the door security system up to the front and back doors. I got the explicit permission from James and Mary to get the job done, and I wanted to be in and out.

I got all of the extension cables I needed, and I set the cameras up facing the front of the house and the main street, as well as one in the backyard. I screwed them down and then started on the security system on the door. It had to be connected to the Fields’ phones, so that they would all be alerted if the system were to sound, and I also had to figure out the wiring to the door itself, and how to detect whether it was a break-in, or if it were being opened by a key. I set a password onto the security system so that if it were not typed in time after unlocking the door, it would sound an alarm, which would also alert James, Mary, and Logan of the break-in. The neighbors would also most likely be suspicious enough to call the police for the alarms going off.

With everything set up, Logan’s house was finally safe from intrusion, and they also had a view of cars that would sit in front of their house for too long. I stepped out of their front door and locked it with a key, ready to head back to my car. My car was pulled into their driveway, yet there was another one parallel parked in front of their house. I froze where I was standing when I saw them. I wasn’t suspicious at first, but then I realized that there is nobody else that needs to be here right now. I looked deeply into the window of the car, and for a second I thought I saw a person looking back, but the tint was deep and it was well into the afternoon, so I was squinting from the bright sun. The car drove off without a second to lose, and it continued down the street. I pulled out my phone and sent a text to James.

You - Hey, Mr. Fields. The system has been set up, and it’s online. I’m on my way out.

You - There was a car parked out front of your house. But it drove away when I came outside.

Mr. F - Thank you for setting that up for me. As for that vehicle, do not try to follow it. Do not worry any more about it, but do not go straight home, either. If they do want to follow you, you do not want to lead them straight home.

Mr. F - Do not tell anyone I told you this, but I’ve learned that if you ever feel like you’re being followed, act as if you are. Get somewhere safe you can go that isn’t a home or anywhere else you don’t want them to know you are/can be. A police station, a public cafe or restaurant with a friend, or some place else. Never sit facing away from an entrance or exit, and never follow a routine the next day. Your college campus might be the safest place to go.

You - Thank you, Mr. Fields. I will stay safe. I hope you can work this out, soon.

Mr. F - We will get this sorted as fast as we can.

I got into my car and decided on driving to a fast food place, before swinging by the skate park for just a minute. After that I parked a block away from Ashlyn’s house, before I walked the rest of the way there. It was Sunday, two days after the first call we got from Logan, and him and Tyler decided to come down to Ashlyn’s, as well as Taylor and Ben so we could all discuss as a group how to go about this. It was also important to get Ashlyn’s parents in on it.

I walked through the front door of Ashlyn’s house, and turned into the living room to see the gang sitting together with Ashlyn’s parents. Ashlyn quickly got up from one of her living room couches, and looked at me from the living room. “Hey, everyone!” I said loudly to the room, not excited or energetic, just loud.

“Oh, thank god you’re okay.” Ashlyn began to pace quickly over to me by the front door.

“Of course I’m-” I began, but was quickly interrupted by her arms slinging around me. Her face was set in a sorrowful look, and her eyes were still open as she hugged me. I stumbled for a second before returning my arms around her.

“Hey… I’m okay.” I told her quietly. Once she let go, she looked at me for a second. Her face was worried but relieved. She turned back towards the living room and we both walked into it. Everyone else had taken on a silent sort of pained look, almost as if it was hard to watch how worried she was as she hugged me.

“I set up the cameras, Logan. As well as that door system.” I told Logan, and he looked back at me, fiddling with his hands.

“I do have to say, however, that there was a car sitting outside your house when I finished. It drove off after I noticed it.” I finished.

Everyone sort of looked up at me when I said that. Ashlyn’s parents sort of sat up in their seats. “Were you followed?” Her father sternly asked.

“No. I took precautions against it.” I returned.

“Did you pick up on any details?”

“It was a pretty standard vehicle. It had a dark tint, though. James told me not to worry about the details of it.”

“Tch…” Her father looked to the side, visibly frustrated. His hands were clasped together, and his forearms flexed as he squeezed them together. Ashlyn’s mother put a hand on his shoulder. “Mike…” She said quietly.

“I knew he was going to get us into some deep-” He paused for a second, looking around at us. We were all pensive, and deep in thought.

“I’m sorry.” Logan spoke up, timidly. He was looking at the ground, but we could tell he was talking to her father.

Mike sighed, and leaned back. “No, it’s not your fault. Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” He was stern, yet soft and reassuring.

We sat in silence in Ashlyn’s living room, but just for a quick moment.

“I can’t believe we won’t ever be able to talk to Alex again.” Taylor chimed in, sadly. She was sitting close to Ben, and when she spoke up, he rubbed her far shoulder with his hand, and pulled her a bit closer.

“Most likely not…” Logan unfortunately returned.

“What do you think they want..?” Ashlyn quietly added.

“Most likely money, or help getting some of their folks out of prison.” I chimed in.

“Bastards. ‘Said they wouldn’t pull some shit like that, yet here we are.” Mike chimed in, furrowing his eyebrows again. Emma rubbed his arm again. “The police will most likely handle it. For now, we just need a way to keep you kids safe.” Emma chimed in. “Remember, our doors are always open. Logan, Tyler, are you two safe at your campus?” She asked.

Logan and Tyler nodded. “Yes, we have security, and the both of us are also not on a ground floor in our dorms.” Logan said.

“Taylor, do you think you’re safe at your house?” Emma asked her.

“I don’t see how they would be able to trace anything back to me… I should be.” She sounded unconfident, yet it was logical.

“Ben, Aiden, are you guys okay?” Mike asked the both of us. Ashlyn was sitting next to me, and she looked over at me, quite worrisomely again. I nudged her gently and discreetly with my index knuckle. “Yes. We’re safe at our house. I can come down here at a moment's notice, anyways.” I responded confidently.

The tense air of the room began to dissipate, and we were all able to relax a bit more. Mike said he was going to call James, and together they would more formally give a note to the police in order for them to keep an eye out and keep the properties and the rest of us safe. Mike also said he was going to work with some of his ex-military buddies to see what they could do in terms of surveillance and protection where they could - whether it was keeping close contact with a security guard at my and Ashlyn’s college, or talking to some of the ex-military police officers.

After Ashlyn’s parents went away into the kitchen to cook something for dinner, the rest of us sat together in Ashlyn’s living room. Tyler and Logan stood up, knowing they had a long way to go back to campus and it would be better to leave sooner. We wished them well and a safe journey back to campus. Ashlyn asked Ben, Taylor, and I if we would want to stay for a meal, but we all refused and thanked her for the offer. 

While Ben and Taylor were away for a moment (Ben was grabbing his keys or something), Ashlyn turned to me specifically. We were standing quite close, and she looked at me in my eyes for only a second, before dropping them down to my shoes. She reached out with her hand and touched the drawstring of my hoodie, focusing on that instead of my face. She finagled with it as she spoke. “Are you going to be safe… going home and stuff?”

I looked at her unsharing emerald eyes. “Yeah… I should be okay.” I reached out and grabbed the sleeves of her hoodie near her shoulders and triceps. I touched it gently, with the same light fiddliness that she was using on my drawstrings.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay? Just to make sure-”

“I’ll be okay…” I tried to reassure her.

Ashlyn was not one to plead, after I told her a second time I would be okay, she finally looked up from my sweater and into my eyes. Our faces were not separated by much, only enough to be able to capture the top and bottom of her head. Ashlyn’s face was serious, yet something about it was calm, and sad. It was rare to see her look so vulnerable and emotionally driven. I’m glad she was losing that cold logical side of her.

She looked down at my lips for a second, and then back up at my eyes, keeping that same sorrowful face. “Where’s that smile..?” She asked ever-so-quietly. I felt the slightest curve make its way onto my lips. I wasn’t necessarily happy, I was still very worried and focused, but something about her needing to see that smile was enough for my face to muster one up.

I kept looking down at her, smiling softly, now, and her eyes dotted between mine and my lips, before finally landing back on my eyes. I didn’t really notice, but in the last few seconds our faces had been slowly creeping closer to each other. Our heads stopped, and I couldn’t look too far past her eyes. She looked back into mine deeply, and her eyebrows lifted from there sadder position for a moment.

“ Ahem. ” Mike's voice boomed in my right ear. I shot straight up and snapped my arms down to my side and off of his daughter, flinching into a straight up position and turning snappily towards him. Ashlyn flinched as well and practically teleported a foot backwards. I still wonder how she does that. Mike looked at me quite seriously for a second — not angrily, but sternly. I gulped and I felt a drop of sweat go down my cheek.

“I- uhm…” I stuttered. Mike lifted a hand, and I went silent.

“I get it- yeah, just-” Mike said, and closed his eyes and waved his hand about dismissing my attempt to talk.

“Just…” He opened his eyes again, and finally turned his hand over as a final move. Though he didn’t finish his sentence, I sort of knew exactly what he was saying (I think)? Mike walked past us and I was left looking at Ashlyn, who was now a person-and-a-half’s distance away, standing quite awkwardly. I turned my head and saw Taylor and Ben ready to head out of the door, and they opened it. I turned back to Ashlyn.

“I guess I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah… be safe.”

“I will, Ashlyn. Enjoy your lunch.”

“Thank you… Are you sure-”

“Yes, Ashlyn, I’m sure,” I chuckled, “I’m going home.”

“Okay… Text me when you get there.”

“I will, Ash.”

“Bye, Aiden.”

“Buh-bye.”

I closed the front door and continued walking out with Taylor and Ben. Taylor turned towards me and smirked. I looked back with a question mark practically printed onto my face.

“You love her so bad.” she chuckled.

“What? Dude, come on-” I fought.

“Don’t act like you don’t!”

“Stop being so weird! Ben, shut her up!” I turned to my cousin.

“You don’t think he’s tried?” She joked, jabbing my arm.

“True.” Ben simply said.

“Get Taylor home safe Ben, I’ll see you at home.”

“Oh, actually I was going to come-”

“I should’ve guessed.”

The three of us laughed as we walked back to our cars. Although I didn’t like the joke, it was a relatively good way to end off such a tense afternoon. I got back to my car (with no suspicious cars following me or parked near it), and got in to head home. I let out a sigh after turning the car on. The pictures of Ashlyn being so close to me flashed in my mind again. I shoulda kissed her. I started to drive, and that would help clear my head.

I was waiting for dinner to arrive with Ben and Taylor later that evening. We had resumed in our contemplation. We were sitting in the dining room, still waiting on the text from Tyler and Logan that they had made it back safe. The drive was close to 2 hours, but the clock had ticked just a bit past that time.

Taylor was impatiently tapping her foot to soothe herself, and she was fiddling and rocking her hands on the table. She had her phone in one of them, and she was flipping it in different ways as a method to calm herself. Ben was sitting next to me, and we sat across from her.

Finally, we heard her phone ding, and she let out a loaded sigh through her nostrils. “They just made it back.”

“ Phew, good. I knew they’d be safe.” I responded, leaning back in my chair, relieved. I had a strong confidence in their safety, but the amount of stress Taylor was exuding must have rubbed off on me to some degree. Ben silently exhaled as well, and Taylor calmed her nerves down and relaxed her arms and legs. Tyler had texted the group chat, so Ashlyn, Ben and I got the message as well. Ashlyn responded with a thumbs up, and we let Taylor respond for us.

Shortly after, the food arrived at the door, and I went to grab it. We had ordered out, it was a non-specific generic local restaurant, and so the three of us got simple foods. Cheesesteak for me, Ben got a hoagie, and Taylor got herself a wrap. We ate in the dining room, and continued talking about the situation.

“So the closest thing they have to us is Alex, yet they could possibly have eyes on Logan’s house.” I deliberated

“ They most likely won’t intrude his house now. ” Ben forced out his words. It was more soothing, and less scratchy at this point.

“Yeah, now that they know someone else has been there. I doubt they’ll follow me, either.”

“Doesn’t Alex live in New York?” Taylor asked.

Ben and I sat up in our seats. I flinched for a second. “Shit.”

We were all silent.

“How would they have-” Taylor started

“They had to have already known where Logan was in order to get to Georgia that quick.” I examined.

“Well, they wouldn’t have shown up at Logan’s house either-”

“ They know James isn’t there. ” Ben said.

“Shit.” I said again.

“Well, it’s good that Logan is back at campus, since they haven’t had eyes on his house for any more than five days.”

“But still, how would they know to get to Alto so quickly if Alex only got the call on Friday?”

We sat thinking for a second. I sat up straight, and Logan and Ben looked over at me. “They must have known Alex had contact with Logan, and sent some people out at the same time. And considering they know his Grandparents, they were able to find the address pretty damn quickly.” I explained.

“Well, if they had eyes on the house, and knew about the vacation, then-” Ben stopped.

Both of their gazes got stronger and stricter upon my face.

“They know you were there for a reason.” Taylor whispered. I felt my heart skip a beat, but I didn’t show my nervousness for the rest of them. I silently tried to recompose myself, so that I could think critically.

Ben looked more and more worried, and shifted in his seat to turn towards me.

“Shit.”

“Aiden, you’re sure they didn’t follow you?” Taylor asked, and reached across the table to touch my hand.

I thought for a second. “Yes. They pulled off before I even got near my car, and it didn’t look like anyone was there except for that one car. I even went to a few public places before heading to Ashlyn’s, and I parked down the street. They couldn’t have a way to trace me.” I reassured them all, calming myself down as well.

“However, they might know my face, which means I probably shouldn’t go back there at any time, nor to any place where they might be. I should probably lose contact with James and Mary as well.”

I finished.

“ Logan should get a new phone, too. ”

“Yeah,” I responded, “Though, he told me that Alex called him through a burner phone, one that they couldn’t possibly connect to him — just in case they had tapped Alex’s real phone.”

“Aiden, are you going to be okay?” Taylor still looked quite worried.

I touched her hand back, and held it for a second, and put on the slightest smile, all to comfort her.

“Yes, Tay. I’ll be fine. I won’t go out much until this all passes over. We can leave this up to Mike and James, and the police.” I responded.

“Just…” I continued. “Just don’t tell Ashlyn.” I finished

“What?” Taylor asked. “What, that you’re going to hide-” she started

“No,” I began, “don’t tell her that they might have a closer eye on my than we thought. I don’t want to worry her.” I finished

“ You don’t want us to lie, do you? ” Ben asked. I shot my eyes over to him.

“No! Not lie, just- don’t worry her with it. I should still be okay going to her house, and going to college, so everything is still pretty much the same, regarding my safety.” I finished

We were all silent again. I began eating my food again, and Ben and Taylor slowly started to eat as well.

I let out a sigh, and closed my eyes, just letting everything sink in. We talked about a lot, most of which we would have to reciprocate to everyone else. I made plans to let Mike know about our suspicions that they know about the vacation, and that this was deliberate, as well as the fact that they probably sent out people to look for Logan at the same time, considering that that would be the only reason why they would want eyes on his house.

“So… what is it with you and her?” Taylor started, and I opened my eyes and picked my head up off of one of my hands. I looked back at her with quite a perplex look.

“What, me and Ashlyn?”

“Yeah. It’s obvious that she’s extra worried about you.”

I didn’t know the status of our secrecy, but I didn’t feel like talking about something so embarrassing, so I decided to be indifferent — for both me and Ash.

“I dunno. Maybe she’s worried because I live close to her.” I responded dull-ly.

“No way. There’s got to be something there between you two.” Taylor smiled. You’d be right, Tay, but I’m not going to make it that easy.

“I don’t know what you’re implying.”

Tay gave me a dull look, eyes half closed as she took a bite of her food.

“She’s over here almost as much as I am at this point, you took her to a skateboarding event — she HATES the idea of you skateboarding — you guys stuck next to each other almost every time we hung out over the summer, and most of the conversations I see you have with her are so… quiet. And not like — secret quiet — like, you’re quiet. And you’re never quiet.” Taylor looked me in the eyes.

Damn, she really had this all figured out. But, sorry Tay, I won’t admit it — not until Ash is comfortable. I decided on telling a technical truth, rather than keeping up a lie.

“Well, we aren’t dating, if that’s what you’re asking.” I had to resist smiling in order to hide the half-lie. Yes, we never said the words “we are dating” but the way we hang out with each other practically is dating.

Taylor looked at me for another moment, with half closed eyes, glaring. I gulped another bite of food, looking back stupidly.

“You’re… not dating?” She asked again.

I shook my head. “Nope.” I chewed my food again. Ben looked between the two of us, sweating with food in his mouth. I and Taylors gaze were strict on eachother, backed by an unspoken conversation.

“Do you like her?”

“I like all of you guys.”

“Aiden. Do you like her.”

I scoffed. “Yes, I do — but we aren’t dating, alright?”

“Do you love her?”

“No! Er- I don’t know?” I raised my voice a little bit. I didn’t feel like talking about feelings right now, for one, and secondly, this isn’t any of her business!

“You don’t know?”

“No, I don’t know. But I do like her.”

Taylor was silent for a moment. She was thinking, and she broke her eye contact. It looked to me like the was recalling something.

“Hey, Aiden, do you remember when we celebrated Ashlyn’s ballet production?”

I thought for a second, back to our early summer. It was the time that ended our friendship, and started our ‘ unnamed situation regarding relation ’ (USRR). I sort of blushed at the memory of our last kiss which we shared that Monday long ago.

“Yeah..?”

“Did something happen between you two over that weekend? It was after that point that you both started to act a lot closer, despite how secret you tried to be.” Taylor smiled as she asked.

I sighed. I know it wasn’t her business, but I also wasn’t getting out of this conversation any time soon. I made a silent apology to Ashlyn in my head. At least it was Taylor I was telling, and she was great at keeping secrets.

“You could say that.”

Taylor lurched in her seat, now beaming with a smile.

“What happened!?” She asked excitedly, scooting her chair forward. I sort of flinched backwards.

“Nothin’.”

“Aiden, I want all of the deets. ”

“Look, we just kissed, but nothing else-”

“I KNEW IT ! THERE WAS SOMETHING!” Taylor beamed and pointed a finger at me as if she won a bet.

“But we agreed nothing else had to change.”

Taylor lost her smile, and dropped her finger.

“You what ?”

“…what?”

“Aiden-” Taylor began, before scoffing and pinching her nose and closing her eyes. She didn’t say anything else and she took another bite of her food.

“What?”

“You’re an idiot, that’s what!”

“What did I say?”

“ Why did you say you wanted to stay friends?”

“I didn’t, she did! And it wasn’t like that.”

Taylor stared blankly.

“Oh. Never mind!” She smiled and laughed.

I scoffed and kept eating, sort of pissed, yet lightheartedly. I know Taylor is a gossip queen, but it’s unlike her to pry so much into my business. Maybe she really wanted this for Ashlyn, and was doing it for her? Or maybe she’s just messing with me for the fun of it. I didn’t know. 

I turned to my cousin. “How’s college going for you?”

“ Well. I like my professors. ”

Ben’s schedule was different from my nearly identical schedule with Ashlyn — aside from major-specific classes, that is.

“Taylor, do you ever plan on going to college?”

She thought for a second. “I’m not sure. The good thing about my job was that it trained me all summer, and so they know I’m able to do the work without necessarily needing a college degree. Plus, when it comes to mechanics, I’ve done all of the studying by myself, and continue to do my own research.”

I smiled. “That’s good.”

“I don’t need a plaque, paper, or trophy to tell me what I’m worth. I already know.” She smiled. Sometimes, she had such a way with words. I thought about what she said for a second. Well, I don’t need a skateboarding degree in order to go pro, but the English degree sort of helps out.

Shortly after I finished my plate, I continued talking to both of them, until I got a notification from my phone. I looked down and saw that it was a text from Ashlyn. It was a bland request to talk on the phone.

“Excuse me, guys. Ash is calling me, I’m gonna go talk to her.” I grabbed the trash from my food and my plate and threw it away in the kitchen, before heading into the living room.

You - do you want to FaceTime or just call?

Ash - Just calling is okay.

I clicked the button to call her, and put the phone up to my ear. After a few seconds, she picked up, but she was quiet on the other end. Even her breath was soft.

“Hey, whats up, Ash?” I asked softly.

“Hey…” she was softly speaking, too. Her voice was sorrowful, and lacking any energy or excitement.

“Hey, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah… I’m just…” she took in a long inhale.

“I’m just really worried right now.”

“I understand. You don’t need to worry about us, Ash. We’re all safe.”

She sighed again.

“We have some new insights to share about it, but other than that, we have a plan, Ash. We’re just going to let the police handle it, okay?”

“Yeah.” Her voice was still worrying.

“Hey,” I started compassionately. I wish I could reach out and rub her face, and brush her head. “Are you okay?”

She was silent over the phone. I heard her sniff from the other end. I sat up on the couch.

“Ash, do you want me to come over?” I offered. I want her to feel better.

“ Please? ”

“Of course, I’ll be right over, okay?”

I stood up from the couch and went into the living room. Ben and Taylor were sitting down together still, and they both looked over at me.

“Hey, I’m going over Ashlyn’s. I might stay over for a while.” I said quickly.

“Is she okay?” Taylor asked.

“She sounds really worried right now, and she's really been stressing about this. I’m going over until she is okay.”

“Oh, poor soul.” Taylor frowned for her. “Tell her I said I love you, and I hope she feels better.”

“I will. See you guys later.”

Chapter Text

Scene 9: The Plan

(Aiden’s Point Of View)

I knocked on the front door of Ashlyn’s house. I sat patiently for a few moments, and when the door opened, Mike was on the other side.

“Hello, Aiden. Did you forget something?”

“No, sir, not this time.” I laughed. “I came over to see Ashlyn. Can I come in, please?”

Mike sighed, not quite disappointed, but in a way where I could tell that he cared deeply for his daughter — suspiciously enough to perhaps even kick me out if he feared that I was somehow bad for her.

“Sure, come on in. Just… both of you stay professional .” He moved out of the way of the door.

“Of course, Mr. Banner — and, thank you.” I smiled at him, and closed the door behind myself.

I knocked on Ashlyn’s door once I got upstairs to her room.

“Hey, can I come in?” I said quietly to the door.

I was a little unprepared when the door opened, I was expecting to let myself in. When it did open, I looked a bit down and saw Ashlyn looking back up at me. Her eyes were strict on mine, but her face was displaying worry and a helpless sadness. She was wearing the same hoodie she wore when we saw each other a few hours ago. She took a step out of the way into her room, still looking at me.

“Hey.” I said softly, stepping towards her. I spread my arms a little bit, and she looked down at my chest for a second, before back up at my face and spreading her arms herself. She pulled herself forward into a hug, turning her head sideways and fitting her head underneath my cheek. I wrapped my arms back around her, and swayed her silently for a second.

“I’m okay, Ash.” I whispered.

“I know. I just- can’t help but worry…” Her voice was breaking, and she took in a large sniff of air.

“Ashlyn, it’s all going to be okay. As soon as James gets back in 2 weeks, it will be over.” I rubbed her back for a second, and smiled, though she could not see. We disconnected from each other's arms.

“It’s just… this was all supposed to be over. What if everything gets ruined again?” Tears started to stream down a single cheek of hers. Her shaking voice had to strain to get her last words out.

“We’re not going back to the past. We can trust the police this time. They will help.” I told her. She looked to the side, sniffing again, not sharing my gaze.

“None of us will let that happen again, Ashlyn.” I said more sternly. She nodded for a second, and pinched her eyes shut.

“Okay.” She said, steadiness returning to her voice. She walked over to her bed, turning away from me, and sat down.

I was standing in the middle of her room for a second, just looking at her. It still surprised me that she was Ashlyn, and I was Aiden, and we were here even after all this time. She had her long braided hair, and peppered beautiful face, with freckles that I desperately wanted to cup her face and count. I smiled when she looked back at me.

“You wanna watch TV?” I asked happily.

She let out a sigh, and relaxed into a slouch. “…yeah.”

30 minutes had passed, and in that time, shortly after comforting Ashlyn, I had talked to Mike about what Ben, Taylor, and I had discovered. We had a short conversation in which I informed him for that time, and he responded by saying that he would inform James of that information in their next conversation. After that conversation, I went back upstairs to Ashlyn’s room, and relaxed with her on her bed.

It wasn’t something new, hanging out and laying together on a couch, or something — general close proximity and such. But something about being on a bed, with just one other person, in a room that was much more private than a living room or game room or library/study. In a living room, anyone can come in and out, and there is an air of casualty that lies therein that situation, but in Ashlyn’s bedroom, there was a much thicker climate of intimacy and privacy. Yes, we were just watching TV, but there was a much more overarching understanding and awareness of our togetherness.

Ashlyn was lying, Facing the TV that sat across the room pointed towards the bed. The door to the room sat to the right of the view of the TV, meaning if someone came in, the TV would be on their right, and the bed would be on the left (TV pointing left, headboard of the bed against the same wall as the door). I was sitting up against the headboard, to the left of her on the bed. I was on my phone, not focusing much at all on the TV, but Ashlyn was turned away from me facing it. She was quite silent.

My presence must have been enough to comfort and calm her down, because she seemed to be able to rest and lay down with me just being there. There was peace in the air of the room — aside from the tension, that is. I looked down at her sparingly, getting a view of her ear and the top half of her face, and the hair that cascaded down around it. I blushed a little bit if I looked for too long, and I found it a bit hard to find the courage to lay down next to her — so I just sat.

A few more minutes had passed of this arrangement, until I heard Ashlyn let out a longer breath than normal. I looked down at her face, and saw that her eyes were closed. Had she fallen asleep? She was only laying down for 25 minutes. Has her sleep been okay? I examined her face while deep in thought for a few seconds. I looked up at the TV, and decided to reach over to the remote to turn it off, so she could rest in peace. After doing that, I laid down above the covers next to her, simply on my back, far enough away from her so that we were not touching each other.

For another few minutes, I stared at the ceiling of her room while blinking slower and slower, listening to the sound of her deep inhales and exhales (I wasn’t going to risk waking her up with the sounds of my phone). I turned my head towards her, and saw the movement of her torso and back as the folds of her hoodie slowly climbed up and down. I decided to close my eyes for a bit too, allowing myself to rest. It was also a nice way for me to shake my nerves from the tension out. I was clearly the only one feeling tense if she was able to sleep so easily.

About an hour had probably passed by the time I woke up again. Ashlyn and I had both sort of flinched awake to her fathers voice from downstairs. “Ashlyn, dinner is ready! Come down and eat!”

Ashlyn sat up where she was laying, and my eyes shot open as well. I did not sit up, but I watched as she did. Her hair flung past her head as she came to the sudden stop, and her eyes were wide and goofily scared. “Okay!” she yelled back. She rubbed her eyes with her palms for a second, before looking down and to her left at me. I looked back with my head still on one of her pillows, and her eyes hadn’t quite narrowed at all. I smiled at her, and her face relaxed. She swung out of her bed and yawned and stretched, her joints still popping loud as ever.

We both headed downstairs and into the kitchen, where we saw her mother and father. “That took you guys a minute,” Her father began. “Were you guys sleeping?” He asked.

“Just nappin’, yeah.” I responded, and Ashlyn took a seat.

“We made enough for you to have some, Aiden, feel free to eat something.” Emma chimed in, smiling at me.

“Thank you so much,” I smiled back, “Hey Ash, you want some water?” I reached into a cabinet and grabbed two cups before walking over to the fridge and filling them up. Ashlyn didn’t respond, but I gave her some anyway when I sat down. “Thank you.” She said quietly, still sounding sort of sleepy. Her parents had made pasta, and I took a seat at the table with a small plate of it. Mike and Emma picked up on the fact that Ashlyn was in a not-so-good mood because of our situation, and so we omitted from talking about it.

“How is college going for you so far, Aiden?” Emma asked.

“It’s going well! And, I have to say, thank you for having me over a lot more as of recent, it just happens to be that many of our classes are the same, so Ash and I have had a lot of time to study together.” I looked between Ashlyn and Emma as I responded, smiling at the both of them.

“Of course, anytime, Aiden!” Emma smiled.

“And thank you for dinner, it’s delicious, Mrs. Banner.” I responded again, smiling.

“Oh, well Mike is the one who cooked it.” Emma smiled and looked over at him. I raised my eyebrows and turned to him as well, with a bite of food in my mouth. “Oh-” I swallowed, “Sorry, thank you , Mr. Banner, haha.” I chuckled.

Mike cleared his throat after nodding in response to my compliment. “And you, young lady, how are your grades?” he faced his daughter, and I turned to look as well.

“They’re good. Still A’s. Our professors haven’t assigned much, but I’ve had to do a few essays for my dance and music related classes already.” Ashlyn responded, with not too much energy. She was looking more at her plate than she was anyone else.

“That’s good to hear.” He said in response, smiling.

“Oh, and remember — my parents are writers, Ash. I’m sure they would have no problem proof-reading your essays before you turn them in if you ever feel like it.” I tapped Ash’s hand just for a second, enough to get her attention and show just the smallest bit of affection that would be acceptable at her parents’ table.

She looked up from her plate at me, with a face of acknowledgement. “Mhm.. Okay.” She said back, a bit more energy this time. I never lost my smile, but I exhaled a little bit. She wasn’t stressed out anymore, but her mood was still in the dumps, understandably so. The situation was pretty serious. Mike and Emma both sort of exhaled as well, noticeable, but not dramatic.

I was remembering the conversation I had with Ashlyn’s father about the updated news: about how they possibly sent people to both Alto and New York at the same time, meaning that they either had eyes on Alex for a while, or knew where we were at the same time when they decided to go for him too – also about how they were possibly looking for Logan, because they most likely knew about the trip, meaning that this was planned specifically for James to not be available – and how they possibly would keep an eye out for me to see if they’d ever find me again.

“Don’t go back out to James’ house again, got it?”

“Didn’t plan on it, Sir.” I paused. “Also, uhm…”

Mike looked a little deeper at me.

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell your daughter that they might have a close eye on me… just so that she doesn’t get any more worried than she already is..?” I asked him.

Mike folded his arms. “I can see why you’re concerned, but I’m the most knowledgeable one here, alright?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I am able to decide what others need to know, and act as such.”

“Yes, I trust that you can.”

“That being said, thank you for worrying about her. I’ll try not to worry her with it at all.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Get rid of James’ contact on your phone, as well as Mary’s. Since Logan got a new phone and number, he’s fine. I’ll talk to James myself and work out anything different that needs to happen. Thank you for updating me on this.”

“I will, and you’re welcome.”

I brought myself back to the present when I heard my name. I turned over to Emma, who had said it. “So, do you know what you want to do after college?” She asked nicely. I smiled back.

“Well, I’m already doing it now, but yeah — I want to skateboard competitively, and hopefully be a sponsored skater!” I smiled at them. Emma and Mike looked back at me when I said that. I could tell that Emma was trying to keep a smile just to seem nice, but Mike did not even try to hide his worried confusion.

“You… want to skateboard for a living?” Mike asked again. I turned my head to him, but in my peripheral vision I saw Ashlyn peek her head up a bit more focused, probably worried about her father scrutinizing me.

“Yes, sir. I’ve never been able to see myself as a… career type of person, haha. I’ve only ever been able to see myself doing the thing I love for the rest of my life.” I kept my smile on.

“So what are you going to college for?” He asked, keeping a calm and friendly tone.

“Creative Writing, the same thing my parents got. When I ain’t skating, I most likely will be writing.” When I said that, Ashlyn looked over at me specifically, sort of confused.

“Really? I’ve never been able to see you as the writing type, Aiden.” She said. There was volume and energy was returning to her voice.

“Yeah, well all of the reading and writing I’ve been doing for college — which seems like a lot considering it has only been like two weeks — it’s sort of been a motivator, I guess. My classes sort of reminded me of how much I used to like reading and writing.” I looked back at her.

“When did you write? You haven’t ever really talked about it for as long as we all knew you.” She asked.

“Well, that was because it was before I met you all!” I smiled again. “I wrote because I was pretty tired of moving around all of the time and never being able to remember anyone or anything. I wrote about the scenery, about what it was like where I lived. I wrote about how I felt about everything — how most of the time it was pretty lonely. I stopped around the time I had more people to actually talk to, so writing became unnecessary.” I smiled. I didn’t want to bring the mood down with a sad story, so I shrugged to brush it off, and reminded Ash that I was happy for her and the rest of the group. We all finished eating, and afterwards Ashlyn and I excused ourselves back up to her room.

Ashlyn sat back down in her bed, but I was still standing. I looked down at her. “I probably shouldn’t stay too long into the night.” I began. “Unless you want me to sleep over.” I spoke softly.

Ashlyn looked back, and she seemed a bit tired still. “You can do whatever you want. If you didn’t want to sleep over, that’s okay.” She muttered.

“No, It’s not that I don't want to, I’d just have to text Ben to let him know I am, so none of them get worried. Also, I didn’t really bring anything for the morning, and I usually do if I sleep over.”

“You don’t have to stay over just for me, Aiden.” She looked at me again.

“Oh, come on, Ash. Don’t say things like that.” I walked over and sat down next to her, our legs on the floor next to the bed. “I’m not doing this just for you. If I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t be, you know that.” I reached a hand out in between us. She looked down at it.

“I’m here for you, but I’m also here for me. I’m here for us. ” She looked up at me, and her face was very close because of our proximity. She looked back down at the hand I extended, and she took it, interlocking our fingers. She put her head down onto my near shoulder, and she let out an exhale.

“So you’re staying over..?” She asked quietly.

I chuckled softly. “Yeah.”

She picked her head up off of my shoulder, and we looked at each other again. Our faces were still close. I felt a bit of pink wash over my face. The last time we had been so intimately close (aside from earlier today, but that doesn’t count) was all the way back near the start of summer. I saw her eyes dart to my mouth for a second, but we both held the distance. I looked at hers as well. They looked soft and smooth — pinkish and natural. Ashlyn was not one to wear makeup, but she never needed it. She was always beautiful. I examined the freckles across her nose and her cheeks.

I felt I was a bit too lost in the details of her face, because I was surprised and unprepared when she leaned into me. She had already closed her eyes and connected our lips. I sort of flinched and my eyes shot wide, before I was able to comfortably lean back into it. Our lips sat connected without moving or reestablishing for about three seconds until she pulled away. After she did, I turned my upper body a bit more towards her, and hugged her. She wrapped her arms back around me, and leaned into it a lot.

After our exchange of a (unexpected) kiss and a hug, she got up to prepare herself for the night. When she left the room to brush her teeth and such, I took that time to text Ben and tell him I was staying over. He questioned concerningly about how I had college tomorrow and such, but I let him know that Mike’s recommendation (or demand, because I would not say no to him) was to stick to online for a little while, and not go to in person lectures for my own safety — just so I could spend the least amount of time out in public.

Ben understood and texted goodnight to me, and I texted it back. I heard Ashlyn walking in the hallway back to her room, and I walked over to the open door. Her dad called her from downstairs, and she stopped at the top of them.

“Hey Trooper, is Aiden sleeping over?” He called.

“Yeah, he is, if it’s okay!” She called back.

“Of course he can! We have a nice, comfortable couch right down here for him!” He called back up. Ashlyn looked at me in the doorway and scoffed. I smiled back, sort of chuckling. If only he knew this wouldn’t be the first time.

“Seriously, Dad?” She called back, sillily frustrated.

“Well, he needs a place to sleep, doesn’t he?” He called back up. I could imagine Mike smiling at the bottom of the steps just by the way he was talking.

“What, he can’t-” Ashlyn began, but I walked out into the hallway and stopped her.

“It’s fine, Ash. I’ll of course sleep on the couch.” I smiled. I walked past her and began heading down the stairs. I saw her dad at the bottom of the steps, and — as I correctly assumed — he was smiling. “Could you grab me a blanket for me though?” I asked halfway down the steps. Mike nodded, still smiling, and he walked away to go grab one. At that time, I quickly turned around and darted back up the stairs. Ashlyn was still at the top of them, and she watched me run back up them.

When I got back to the top I placed my hands on each of the sides of her shoulders and pushed my face forwards. She was a bit surprised, but not resistant when I planted another kiss quickly onto her lips. I pulled back almost instantly, an affectionate peck, and smiled at her. “Goodnight!” I loudly whispered as I started walking back down the steps. When I got to the bottom, I turned back around, and saw Ashlyn at the top of them, and she was smiling too, a large lipped smile. She sort of shook her head, and turned to go to her room. Only when she was out of sight did she say “Goodnight, Aiden.” dismissively. I chuckled. Right on queue, Mike brought me a blanket for the couch, and I told him and Emma goodnight as well, before making myself at home on one of their couches.

(Mike’s Point Of View)

I held my phone up to my ear, patiently waiting as each dial rang on. I was leaning on the counter in my kitchen. The lights were off, all was dark in and outside of the house, and the digital clock near the stove bloomed the numbers 1:25 AM. I could hear Aidens soft snores on the couch, but I was still far enough to where talking on the phone wouldn’t bother or wake him up. I tapped my finger on the counter, and stared down at it with slim eyes. James practically being on the other side of the world doesn’t help our situation that much.

Finally, I heard a click. I leaned up from the counter. “Hello, Mike.”

“James.” I returned.

“The message you sent me entailed some urgency. What did you need to call about?”

“We have a bit more intel on the possible whereabouts of the Andragathia.”

“Is that so..?”

“Yes. For a start, they most likely knew that you were on vacation. This was very purposeful.”

“I see. Well, the quickest I am able to return is only seven days from now.”

“Good. That’s still better than the two weeks.” There was a pause in the volume as I thought about what to say next.

“They were probably after your grandson. It explains why they would’ve been watching your house while they knew you weren’t there. If they were at your house, it means they didn’t know Logan was off at college, meaning he’s safe.”

“That’s good news. It seems I’ll need to find a way to contact them again.”

James’ voice sounded all too calm in such a situation. Yes, I was calm too, but I was still focused. I at least had the decency to sound like I cared about my children being in danger, which I did incredibly so.

“You sound like you aren’t taking this seriously.” There was a silence on the other end as I held my phone up to my ear. I stared deeply at a cabinet in front of me, as if I was looking at him myself.

“Sorry if you got the wrong impression, Mike.” He began. “I know you’ve been suspicious of me ever since you found out about my involvement with them, understandably so. I guess I should have reinforced a bit more that my involvement with them is very small. Our current situation is an extreme exception — one that wouldn’t be forgiven if it were found out that it was made against a member, or even ex-member of their own syndicate.” He paused. “This was not a decision made by loyal members.”

“There’s no such thing as loyalty in criminal gangs.”

“If you believe that, then you’re incredibly naive.”

My eyes shot a little wide. I clenched my jaw and remained silent.

“Is there anything else important to note, Mike?”

“Yes. They most likely sent out members to interrogate or gang stalk Alex at the same time that they sent out members to go to your house, meaning that they waited until they knew about the both of you at the same time.”

“Hmm. They seem desperate for reparations.”

“I thought you said they wouldn’t pull something like this.” I pointed my tone narrower into a sharper edge that hopefully slithered through the phone and came out just as sharp on the other end of the line.

“I thought so too. That’s why I am confident that this order was not made by a member of the syndicate. It seems that there is some other influence strong enough to convince them to do what they have, but it most likely is not internal.”

“So what’s the plan?” I sat patiently for a second as he silently thought.

“Same as usual. Tell Aiden to stay away from my house, Logan stays on campus, the police remain alert, and I come back in a week and handle it diplomatically.”

“Are you going to drag more members of Andra into this?”

“Only if I have to. But don’t worry — even if I do, it won’t involve you or any of those kids. You won’t even know it happened.”

I stayed silent for a second. I swallowed.

“Okay. Well, goodnight and good luck.” I spoke.

“Thank you. I have a few more phone calls to make, but you rest up. Oh, and Mike? Relax, why don’t you. You’re not in any danger, I promise you.”

“Alright.”

The phone clicked off, and I let out a sigh. I leaned back onto the counter a bit more on both of my arms. I rubbed my face with a hand for a second, before looking around, and at the time again. It had gotten ten minutes later into the night, I was ready to go to bed myself — so I did.

When I woke up in the morning that Monday, I told the boy to stay over until the afternoon. It would make sense for him to get the notes my daughter took from the lecture since he can’t attend, and the easiest way possible for that to happen is if he doesn’t leave. With me, Emma, and my daughter all being out of the house until the afternoon, he told us he would clean the house as a way to say thanks for our hospitality. I of course said it was not necessary, but thanked him anyways — there’s no point in turning down an offer like that.

I hope the boy would be able to keep himself busy, if he were bored, I fear he’d tear the walls off of the place. I informed him that the time he would need to stay “hidden” changed from 2 weeks to 1 week, and he seemed relieved. Though, being unable to skateboard among other things bummed him out quite a bit.

He told me he was going to stop by his house to grab his laptop and a few other things, since he was going to be staying over until the afternoon (and possibly the evening) anyways. I obliged, and was off to work.

(Aiden’s Point Of View)

I made due of my promises to the man of the house by vacuuming and cleaning up around the kitchen. I also made Ashlyn’s bed for her, but tried not to do too much cleaning in there in order to avoid looking like a weirdo. I straightened up the living room, and vacuumed there as well. Might as well make myself busy if I can’t go out and do anything else.

Since it was a Monday, everybody else was most likely at work, so calling or texting anyone in the gang most likely wouldn’t work. I decided to update my socials just to say that I was on vacation for a little while, just so that it didn’t seem like I was disappearing to any of the skaters I talk to. I had gotten used to routinely talking to a lot of the guys and gals I skated with during the week and on weekends, and obviously because college started, I wouldn’t be at the parks every day anymore, but on my off days I would be. They knew that, and so I made some time to tell them I was “on vacation” as well.

A few hours passed, and in that time I had just napped for a little while, as well as done some assignments that I was able to do without necessarily seeing the lectures. I made good use of my time. It sucked. It was boring. I couldn’t wait for Ashlyn to get home from campus. Soon enough, later in the afternoon, she did. I stood up from the living room couches when I heard the front door open. She walked through it with a back-pack on, water in one hand, and keys in the other. She also had her laptop nestled under one of her arms. Her hair was in a high messy ponytail.

“Hey, Ash! Welcome home!” I exclaimed while walking over to her. “Here, let me help you with those.” I extended my hands as an offer to help her with her load. She looked over at me after needing to close the door with her foot, and handed me her water and her laptop.

“Thank you, Aiden.” She relocked the front door. She turned back around, and took a second to slowly do a scan of what she saw of her house. “What did you do to the place?”

“Oh, I just tidied up a little bit.” I chuckled.

“Thank you, it looks nice.” Her voice was genuine, but she sounded preoccupied, as if she was still busy.

“Here- I’m gonna take this stuff up to your room.” I smiled at her and turned for the stairs with a few of her belongings. I liked helping her out with things. She always thought that me helping her was somehow a detriment to me, and she couldn’t figure out that it genuinely made me feel good to do so. After plopping her laptop on her bed, and her water on her night stand, I turned and saw her following suit into her room, dropping her bag next to her bed when she got there.

“Ugh.” She groaned, plopping down into a sat position on the end of her bed. “I’m tired. Two lectures today, both needing so many notes taken.” She flung her head back and sighed. She reached up and pulled her lazily made bun out of her hair, allowing it to avalanche down afterwards.

“You know, you haven’t done your hair in a while, Ash.” I looked at her while standing in her room. She returned a look with a raised eyebrow.

“I guess I haven’t.” She shrugged. “It’s time consuming, anyways.” She yawned.

I turned and looked at a digital clock on one of her bureaus. It was only a bit past 2, and in my peripheral vision she was yawning.

“And it sounds like you’ve also been tired a lot lately, Ash.” I said again, looking back at her. She looked at me again, with that same cocked eyebrow, though her eyes were a bit wider. Her beaming emeralds had been accompanied by slits of amethyst skin underneath them. She broke eye contact and stared out to her wall. She bit her bottom lip pensively, and sort of shied away from looking at me.

“I guess I’ve been getting a little less sleep.” She muttered.

I sighed, and sat down next to her on the bed.

“Talk.” I laid backwards and plopped onto my back, with my feet hanging off the bed.

“What?”

“Talk. Tell me what’s up. What’s been on your mind, how you’ve been feeling, if you’re doing okay. Those things.”

Ashlyn sighed. “It’s nothing to worry about, I’m probably f-”

“Don’t even think about it, Ashlyn.” My tone shifted into something more serious. Her eyes snapped to me as I was laying back. She was still sitting.

“What?”

“Don’t even think about bottling it up. Something’s wrong, and I’m gonna be a friend and sit here and listen to every last word you have to say about it.” I smirked.

“Aiden, why are you being so-” I interrupted her sentence by grabbing ahold of the back of the shirt she was wearing and leaned up slightly from my laid position. I pulled her shirt backwards, and her with it. “Woah-!” both of our backs flopped back down onto the mattress. I had pulled her from her upright position, and now she was laying with my arm around the back of her neck, holding onto her far shoulder. Her head was resting on my arm.

“I’ve been waiting a few hours for you to get home, Ash. I’ve missed you.” I whispered. I could see her skin pinken, and she turned her head slightly away from me.

“I want to talk to you, and I’ve already waited this long. Call me selfish, but I’m not leaving ‘til you talk to me about something.” I chuckled. I laid my head back and just relaxed.

“Tell me what’s on your mind.” I said.

Ashlyn turned her head straight again, looking up at the ceiling like I was. Her hair was soft where it was on my hand. She let out a long sigh and she closed her eyes. After she opened them again, she spoke.

“It’s just… been really stressful.”

“Mhm.”

“I keep waking up in the middle of the night, thinking and fearing that we’re going to go back to the way things were. I can’t stop shaking whenever I try to go back to sleep, and every time I do, I get nightmares. I can’t stop thinking about it when I’m asleep, and when I’m awake, or at all! I just can’t shake it. I can’t- stop worrying.”

“What specifically are you worried about, Ash?”

“I’m… worried about all of you getting hurt again.”

“What about yourself?”

“Well, obviously I’m worried about myself, but… It’s different.”

I rubbed her shoulder with the arm I had around her, pulling her ever-so-slightly tighter in. I heard a quiet sniffle come from her nose.

“It’s okay, Ash.” I rubbed again.

“I really- don’t want you to get hurt again-” Her voice very quickly started to shatter. She flipped inwards towards me and buried her face into the crevice of my neck and chest, beginning to cry. I brought my hands up around her and held the back of her head, finagling my fingers through her hair, and my other on her back, rubbing and soothing it.

“No one’s going to get hurt. We’re never going back to that time.” I whispered. “I understand why you’re afraid. It must be so hard to have dealt with this all by yourself.”

She continued to sniff, and let out unstable whimper-like sobs, still pressing her head into whatever could hide her eyes and face on me. I rubbed the back of her head some more, moving my fingers, softly scratching her head and scalp within the thick autumn forest upon it. We stayed in this position for many minutes. I was glad that we did, it seemed like something she really needed to get out of her system. I was happy I could help. I was happy to be the assistance and support that she needed. I recalled a time during our junior year when she pushed me away in my attempt to help — the first time she had truly lost her cool, when the twins wanted to back out of the plan to get the Jeep. That was the first time I truly felt guilty for my actions, and just later that same night was the second time, when I had jumped off the wall and sprained my ankle which caused her to get hurt.

I remembered another time during our senior year when something similar happened. At this point, it was post-trial, and we were still adjusting to our regular lives. Ashlyn was never one to think about therapy, and usually just talked to all of us and/or her parents about her mental state. I remember trying to comfort her about something, and maybe I was being a little too pushy. I had followed her outside of the cafeteria and into the hallway when she said she needed a moment alone, but when I saw her, she was definitely having another relapse. I tried to grab her hand, and her shoulder, but when her eyes snapped to me, they looked shell-shocked — they had lost all of the shimmer. She yelled out something, but I didn't think it was to me, and I went away. From that point, she always looked at me a little less than usual. I guess she just couldn’t stand the black hair.

“You know I’m always here for you, right?” I asked her when she finally picked her head up off of my chest. She looked deep into my eyes, hers were still glazed, and around them they were red and sort of puffy. Her lips shook for a second. She took in a big sniff, and when she looked at me again, she nodded with a shaky pouted chin. She was practically (sort of) (close to) laying on top of me, and when she picked her head up, she had a reasonable height above me. I looked at her eyes closely after she finished nodding.

Her lips opened and her teeth slightly opened within them as well. “Aiden…” She began saying, but paused.

“Yeah, Ash?” I asked, still focused.

“I-...” Her voice sort of stuck. Her lips were still slightly open, but her mouth began to close.

“Aiden, I-...” She tried again, and couldn’t quite finish.

I brought my hand up and with it I touched her cheek, before placing it against it, holding her jaw and face. After another second, She didn’t say anything else, and instead grabbed both sides of my face with her hands, and lowered hers down onto mine. She kissed me while holding my face, and I held her face as well. Our eyes were closed and I could feel the wet spots on the parts of her face that rubbed or pressed against mine.

This one was a bit longer compared to our last few pecks, lasting probably close to 10 seconds. Plenty of readjustments and re-kisses were made in that time, and I could tell that near the end, she was making quite the preparations to start making out with me. After those ten seconds passed, I sat up where I was laying, which sort of led to her being straddled over where I sat. As I sat up I had moved my hands over to be placed firmly on her shoulders. I gave her a second to move off of me, but our eye contact remained.

I let out a bit of an exhale. “It’s been a while since we’ve done something like that, huh…” My eyes were wide.

“Yeah… A little while.” She responded, looking back. She rubbed her lips together for a second, almost as if she was putting on chapstick, and finally broke eye contact a bit awkwardly.

“I don’t want to say this the wrong way, Ash, but, uh…” I began.

“Should we really… kiss like that when you’re feeling like this?” I asked, and immediately felt stupid about my question. I wanted to bury my face in my palms. She looked at me again, with a bit of confusion.

“What do you mean?”

Hell if I know!? “Just- I don’t really know, but, we’ve only ever… kissed like that when we were having a good, uhm…” Just shut up, you’re going to ruin this thing you have going, dude! Like what Taylor said, don’t bring up the things you don’t want to change.

She looked away from my eyes, and down at the space on the bed between us. “No, I get it.” She muttered. There was a frown that began to make its way across her face. I felt dumb, but I needed to wrap up what I was saying somehow, just to make her feel better. I reached out and lifted her chin with my knuckle and thumb like how I had all that time ago, and her eyes locked back into mine.

“I just don’t want your tears to taint our kisses, Ashlyn. I don’t want them to be associated with sad memories. I’ll still always be here for you.” I smiled. Well, that’s an improvement. She looked at me closely for a second, and her mouth was sort of open. Her eyes pointed downwards, and she turned away again. Both of us were sitting next to each other with our legs off of the bed again.

Ashlyn was silent. Her face was painted with a light disappointment, and reflection. I assumed she was thinking about her decision to kiss me.

“Sorry, I just…”

“It’s okay, Ash. I don’t blame you.” I wrapped my arm around her other shoulder, and pulled her for a second in a half-hug.

“God, this is really awkward.” She scoffed. I laughed a little bit. No point in arguing that. I stood up from the bed, and Ashlyn watched me. I turned after I stood and looked at her.

“Wanna go have some lunch?” I asked her

She sighed. “Yeah, I’m hungry.”