Aiden's POV (bet you didn't expect that HA)
I looked at the road in front of me, turning to look at her from time to time. She looked so pretty even if she was just looking out the car's window. I gripped on the steering wheel hard, thinking about how this situation was messing her whole life up; how with one wrong choice from my side her life could be put in danger.
I hated the fact that I had dragged her into this. I left her when she expected me to be there for her, she needed me. I lied to her, over and over again. I hid shit from her, shit she deserves to know.
I, more than anyone, want to tell her the truth. The full truth. Without hiding stuff. I had lied when I told her I would tell her everything. I couldn't. It would break her if she knew that the person she called her friend was actually someone she shouldn't trust.
She's too good to be treated like this.
I didn't say anything during the entire ride there, and nor did she. She was probably thinking about what I had told her at the park. I could see I scared her, the situation scared her. I wanted to keep her out of it, I didn't want to have to come back. I wanted to see her again, wanted to make sure she was okay.
Who was I kidding, of course she wasn't.
The guys told me she got worst as time went by and it killed me to know I contributed to that by being absent. I wasn't planning on coming back, It'd put her in more danger than she could think of but I had to come back.
After his last threat, I had to make sure I was close to her, close enough to know I could protect her if needed, close enough to make sure he wouldn't get anywhere near her or her family.
Evelyn's POV
None of us dared say anything as we drove downtown, to the big party everyone was talking about. I hated parties like that; call me antisocial but I just didn't find anything fun about being in a room full of sweaty, drunk teenagers that were probably either having sex somewhere in the room or thinking about doing so. Either way, I had no place to be there.
The minute we arrived I started seeing people I recognized and I hated every bit of it. We walked in, most of the girls there eyeing Aiden as if he was a piece of candy and looking at me, probably wishing they were in my place. Honey, you can have it I just want to go home.
Through the crowd of people I managed to spot Noah, Jagger and Parker, drinking and talking. They all waved at us once they saw us, their faces lighting up when they laid their eyes on me. They'd go out of their way to try to convince me to come to a party and just loosen up but I always refused to.
Surprise!
''They like you, you know'' Aiden told me with a smile, not mentioning anything about the talk we had or the things he told me minutes ago.
''I like them too'' I replied, giving him a smile back. We walked towards the bar where the guys had -once again- a failed attempt to get me to try alcohol, so I just got a coke instead, making them laugh at my hatred for alcohol. I just never found the need to try it out because honestly, I didn't know why drinking in our age was such a big deal.
''Okay, we need to make you a statue for being able to get Evelyn Hayes in a teenage party. Wow.'' Noah playfully told Aiden, taking a sip of his drink. I hit his shoulder, as hard as I could master but laughed regardless.
Aiden sighed theatrically ''You already know no girl can resist my good looks'' he said motioning towards his face making me choke on my coke dramatically and laugh.
''HA! Has anyone told you you should become a comedian? Your jokes are just so funny'' I told him, shaking my head, teasing him.
''I'm sorry I didn't hear you from down there, I was too busy not being the size of a pea.'' He said, making Noah, Parker and Jagger fold over and laugh while I turned fifty shades of red.
''Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know being a giant meant being normal sized. Are you friends with Shrek? I mean you sure do look like him'' I responded, making the guys laugh even more while Aiden was about to have steam come out of his ears.
Take that you 6 foot tall giant!
''You little piece of-''
''Okay, okay enough with the height insults, I'm better looking than both of you so there's no need to argue'' Noah, said, running a hand through his hair the way only a person that was- you know, John Travolta in 'Grease' would do.
Me and Aiden both shared 'the look' and before Noah knew it we had both slapped the back of his neck. Hard. ''Hey! What is this? The ugly duo harassing the handsome, intelligent, very good kisser because they're jealous?'' Noah said, rubbing the back of his neck, hissing.
I rolled my eyes and brought out my phone to check the time when Aiden spoke ''Hey, very good kisser, watch out because I see a very half naked bimbo coming your way'' we all chuckled. Noah on the other hand raised his eyebrow and smoothly turned around to meet the-as described by Aiden 'very half naked bimbo' that was basically drooling over him.
Noah left and the rest of us were left on a very awkward silence, reminding me that the last time we were all out like this, as a group was before Aiden left, on that New Year's party. I haven't gone out with the guys since then, therefore the atmosphere was pretty heavy and awkward.
Amazing.
''So, Evelyn. How come you decided to join us?'' said Parker. Jagger -who was the most tense out of all of us- agreed saying ''Yeah, Eve. Decided to find prince handsome in a high school party?'' he said, putting emphasis on my name, his words thick with bitterness.
I chose not to think about Jagger's sudden outburst, my day was already complicated enough to have to deal with him. We usually get along pretty well so I didn't understand where his sudden bitterness came from but a little something called intuition told me it had to do with Aiden and I hanging out again, if you can even call it that.
Aiden's jaw locked and he trained his eyes solely on Jagger, who did the same. I just sat there, looking at both of them, a frown on my face. Usually I'd come up with something to say back to that, but at that moment I felt so overwhelmed and confused that I just sat back and looked at my two friends who were trying to murder each other with a look.
The glaring went on until Jagger's phone rang, snapping both of them out of it. Jagger brought it up to his ear and started talking to the person on the other side of it, his words not making much sense to my ears. Everything seemed a blur.
I turned to Aiden, who was now taking a sip of his drink. When he saw me looking at him he gave me a reassuring smile. In any other case that smile would've been the answer to everything. Now, it just made everything even harder for me to understand. The reason? Unknown. Suddenly I felt like my brain was trying -vainly- to process everything and it just was too much to handle.
I didn't know how to feel, so I didn't feel. I felt like I was being chocked, all my thoughts turning against me. I felt as if I was starring in a movie. Well, not me but my ex-best friend. It seemed so out of this world and I was so shocked at how little I really knew about him. I had known Aiden for so long that I thought I knew every little detail about him and his family but turns out I wasn't even close to knowing everything.
After shock came confusion and after confusion came guilt.
They, whoever they were, threatened Aiden and his mum, using me and my family as their subject. I should be worried about how much these people knew about me and whether or not I was safe and I was worried. Very worried. And I was, I felt terrified and unsure not only about my sake but my family's too, but for some reason I couldn't put that as my top priority as I felt somewhat responsible for his pain.
I know that if I see things logically, I'll find that I'm not the one responsible for the fact that these people are sick in the head and have some sort of pleasure from causing pain to an innocent family, but I also know that maybe, just maybe, If they hadn't mentioned me, Aiden wouldn't have had to move and put himself and his family in worse danger than they were already in.
What did they do to him? What was his life like when he was away? Did he get involved in illegal stuff? He probably did. What if he found the wrong people and started getting drunk or doing drugs? Drugs. My best friend, the person that was with me through most of the worst moments of my life, in a street somewhere doing drugs. I couldn't get that picture out of my head and as time went by I felt an unbearable pain in my chest, as I felt my frown deepen.
My frown went away, my features now feeling numb. I felt as if as time passed by I could receive less and less oxygen, my mind not being logical, my entire body now in panic.
The walls of the room slowly felt like they were closing in on me, leaving no room for me to breathe. I put a hand over my chest, tears welling up in my eyes, threatening to spill in any moment. My chest was frantically moving up and down in an attempt to get the tinniest bit of oxygen. Nothing. Nothing happened.
Aiden turned to me, worried. He said something, something I didn't hear. Everything around me was a blur. I couldn't hear, I couldn't breathe, I could barely see, the tears in my eyes making everything a blur.
I pushed everybody out of the way and practically ran towards the door, crying more and more as I realized I wasn't getting my breath back. I pushed people frantically, making many of them give me weird looks. I could hear Aiden scream my name as he ran behind me but could do nothing to respond.
I reached the room's door and opened it, running outside with my head down, not looking around me, just running, desperate to get some air. I ran out, head still down until I bumped into someone. The person turned around, his eyes widening as he saw me.
''EVELYN?!''
Aiden's POV
I kept running after Evelyn, trying to keep up with her. I knew she was panicking and the worst part about it was that it was making me panic as well. I wrecked my brain trying to find something- anything on why she was having a panic attack all of the sudden. My mind went back to the conversation we had the same night. Did she think she was still in danger -which she was, she just didn't know- and was scared? Did I say everything too quickly and frighten her? I probably had.
Evelyn had already left the room, me following close behind when she bumped into a guy that was standing outside.
''EVELYN?!'' At the sound of her name, she turned her head up to look at... Cole? Her raging older brother looked ready to murder someone -probably because he was- while trying to stop himself from decapitating me on the spot.
''What the hell are you doing here with him?!'' He yelled at her, probably not having realized that she was literally unable to breathe at the moment. Evelyn turned to look at me, her hands flying everywhere as she tried to talk to me. Small detail: she couldn't make any sound.
''What is it? What's happening? Why is she like this?'' Cole asked, looking at me expectedly. I didn't answer, I turned to Evelyn instead. ''Evelyn? Calm down, please, everything's going to be okay'' I said, trying to calm her down, though it didn't seem to be working. She had sat down against the wall next to us, her knees against her chest, her eyes red, tears staining her cheeks. She was panicking more and more as time went by, her mouth open as she tried to catch even the slightest breath, failing every time.
''What did you do to her?'' Cole yelled at me, making me lose my patience more and more. ''Can you stop yelling in my damn ear? She's having a panic attack, she's been getting them for years, but how would you know? Be mad at me all you want for leaving her but you're not any better Cole'' I spat at him, not even wanting to look at him anymore. Since I left, he always went on and on about how I ruined Evelyn by leaving but never did he say anything about himself. 'Going to college' he called it but I knew damn well he hadn't stepped foot in that place. He was too busy 'working' if you can even call it that.
''You're not the one to judge me, dickhead. How's the sheriff doing? From what I hear you've had a lot of visits to the police station lately. I'm sure your criminal record is far from clean, now is it?''
''Who told you about that?'' I looked up at him, not bothering to get up from the ground where I was sitting, having Evelyn in my arms as she cried, reminding me why we came outside in the first place. She seemed to be more calm now, though I wasn't sure if she could breathe or not. I didn't want her to know about this, at least not yet. Was she even listening to this whole conversation?
Cole chuckled and shook his head ''See, Aiden, me and you might have more in common than what you think, am I right? So why fight, when we can just join our forces for something we could both benefit from?''
I shook my head, disgusted. ''Me and you, have nothing in common so you better forget about whatever you had in that sick mind of yours, because I am done helping your ass.''
Evelyn's POV
Help him? Help him how? I couldn't hear the entire conversation since I couldn't seem to get my mind to function and focus on anything apart from the fact that I couldn't breathe but I had heard just enough. I really wanted to ask them what was happening but I didn't want to make things worse than they already were.
''Well, why don't you tell her, Aiden? I'm sure she'd love to hear what you have to say.'' Cole said, smirking and crossing his arms over his chest, almost looking like he was enjoying what was happening. Me on the other hand, I wasn't enjoying a single bit of what was happening.
''Back off, Cole. This is not the right place and this is not the right time for her to hear about this.'' Aiden glared at him as Cole glared back, his smirk leaving his face.
''Why not, Aiden? What else is there that I don't know?'' I asked Aiden, suspicious, moving back and leaving his arms, looking back and forth between the two of them. Thinking about it now, I don't know if wanted to know what else there was to the story, especially the part that had to do with my brother and the 'help' Aiden had offered him, nor do I know where my sudden courage to talk about this came from.
Cole continued smirking, looking at Aiden as if he was waiting for him to fall both metaphorically and maybe literally too, in a way. Aiden opened him mouth to say something but decided against it and closed it again, looking at the ground and then back at me, not meeting my eyes.
There sure was more to the story that I didn't know, more that he didn't tell me about. I hated the thought that he promised to come clean and tell me the truth and then less then an hour later I had to find out from my own brother -who hates him- that the story was far from told.
''Evelyn, I...I'' he started but I cut him off, shaking my head and looking at him, disappointed. This was honestly getting too much. I had imagined the time when Aiden came back from that unknown, at the time, place but I had never thought that that's what it feel like. I thought he'd come back and we'd be able to spend as much time as we wanted together, I thought we'd go back to the way we were -or at least I hoped so-, I thought that things would be simple.
''Don't, Aiden. You obviously don't want to tell me, so don't'' I coldly responded, not letting any emotion show and I could tell he noticed.
''Okay, do you want to-''
''I just want to go home, please'' I cut him off, still emotionless.
''I'll drive you'' my brother rather demanded than offered and though I was pissed at him as well, the idea of being stuck in a car with Aiden after this whole night didn't seem very appealing.
Aiden stood up and stretched his arm to help me get up as well. ''Okay'' I told Cole while holding on Aiden's arm to get up, feeling my legs less steady than I thought they'd be. ''Thanks'' I quickly muttered and he nodded in response, not saying anything else.
''Let's go, Eve'' Cole said, glaring at Aiden as he motioned for me to follow him. I said a quick 'goodnight' and left.
This was a hell of a night and it wasn't even over yet.