Aiden Vasilakis
Her scream filled my ears and I dropped the bag that I had been holding, my arms going out instinctively to catch her.
But she never came.
She had miraculously managed to regain her balance just in time.
"Fuck, are you okay?" I whisper-shouted at her, she stood completely still, not another sound left her lips, she seemed completely frozen in time. I could practically see her gears turning with every passing second. She had two options right now; she could either go back up to her room and pretend like this never even happened- which would be a more logical option considering that the scream that erupted from her was surely enough to wake half of the neighborhood. Or she could say fuck it and come down the rest of the way- a more reckless but thrilling option.
Her response never came so I opened my mouth to ask again but I quickly closed it back up when she surprised me by choosing the second option. Her movements were quick, never staying on a step for longer than a millisecond. Until her feet finally met the ground and she turned around to face me.
Our height difference was more than noticeable now that she stood right before me, it was clear that we stood at least a foot apart. Dark sunglasses covered her face and the scarf around her head also helped in concealing her facial features.
"We gotta go, now," She told me, picking up her bag off the floor, anxiety apparent in her every word. Before I could even muster a response, she was already moving on to the next part of our escape plan. Things moved quickly after that, giving me barely any time to ponder on the difference in her voice now that we were face to face; it sounded sweeter, softer, and addictive in a sense.
But I had to quickly dismiss that thought and get moving, closing the ladder back down and carrying it across the empty street over to my driveway sliding the ladder behind the thick bushes out of sight from bypassers.
She had already slid into the passenger seat of my car which I left unlocked with the engine running as we had planned, I wasted no time and slid inside and pressed on the gas pedal completely dismissing my seat belt which was totally unlike me. I was ashamed to admit it, even if it was just to myself but part of me desperately wanted us to get away as fast as possible before she changed her mind.
The tension in the car was thick, palpable. She clutched her bag tightly against her chest as though her life depended on it and stared ahead.
"You okay?" I asked her after we had finally pulled out of our block, I kept one hand on the steering wheel as I pulled my seatbelt on.
She simply nodded keeping her eyes on the road, "This is the stupidest thing I've ever done," She spoke and I took a few moments to ponder on her voice, there was something so addicting about it, she just had the type of voice that you could listen to for hours and it sounded even better in person.
I let out a low chuckle trying to lighten the mood, "Regretting it already?"
She finally turned her face toward me, "I should be but fuck this is simultaneously the stupidest and the most thrilling thing I've ever done," She said with a giggle, my eyes fought with my brain as they struggled to decide what to focus on; the road or the sight of her smile up close under the moonlight leaking in. "You know, you're turning out to be a very bad influence on me,"
My lips lifted into a cocky grin, "Oh you have no idea darlin," I reached into my glove compartment pulling out my cigarette packet, "Do you mind?" I asked her.
She shook her head, "No not at all, at least not if you share it,"
I popped the box open and reached in pulling out the black lighter that I had tucked in there along with two cigarettes, "I didn't know you were I smoker,"
"Not typically," She said as I rolled down my window before handing her the lighter along with her cigarette, "only when I'm stressed and this was one of the most stress inducing situations to be in, do you know how hard it was to look my sweet aunt in the face and pretend like I was just going to bed when it was furthest from the truth," With the cigarette and the lighter in one hand, the other worked quickly to undo the knot at her chin removing the silk scarf off her head and then slipping the sunglasses off, "God, I get chills just thinking about it,"
"Okay, now you're making me feel like a dick for getting you into this mess,"
"You should but I'm nowhere near a victim," Her words came with a slight mumble with the cigarette now in between her lips before lighting it, "Fuck I missed this," She sighed after blowing out her first puff of smoke.
For the first time ever I was happy to see a stop light ahead giving me the opportunity to look at her face up close, but when I turned she was staring out her window, observing, "Being outside?"
She whipped her head back to look at me, "Yeah," She chuckled, "that too," For a split second her eyes drifted away but she quickly brought them back to meet mine not letting her mind drift off to wherever it had drifted to, "but I was talking about the cigarettes, I- ran out of my stash a while ago and haven't been a been able to get my hands on any cause aunt Jenna's seeing this as the perfect opportunity to get me to quit since everything that enters the house needs to go through aunt Jenna first," She most have seen the way my face dropped at her last statement because she quickly added, "I know that last part sounds a bit iffy but it's not like that, she needs to check everything, she's trying to protect me,"
The light had turned green and cars had started to move but I could care less, my eyes stayed on hers, a deep sense of guilt set in me, "So this is putting you in danger?"
She opened her mouth and closed it back up after the car behind us honked, "Aiden the light's green, drive," She said with a dismissive giggle before bringing the cigarette back to her lips, staring ahead.
I started driving again only to pull over on the side of the road soon after, "We're going back,"
Her head snapped back in my direction so fast it must have given her whiplash, "Wha-what why?"
"Kris, what do you mean why? If the reason you're inside is so serious, I can't put you in danger. I would never forgive myself if you got hurt because of me," I told her in all honesty.
She shook her head frantically, desperate to convince me of the opposite, "Nothing's gonna happen to me, I wouldn't be here in the first place if this was putting me in severe danger," She said and probably realized that I wasn't quite convinced just yet, so she reached in with her free hand and gripped my forearm, the touch so light that I could barely feel it over the thick material of my black hoodie, "Please? I need this, and I have a feeling you need it too," She gave my forearm a squeeze, and a soft smile crawled its way onto her lips when she said the last part.
My fingers tightened their grip on the steering as I contemplated or pretended toâ there was something about her smile that made it incredibly hard to say noâ "Alright fine,"
"Can we stop at a gas station?" She asked after we had been driving for a few minutes, Dissolve by Absofacto hummed quietly on the radio, both of us taking occasional puffs of our cigarettes. "I need to change,"
"Change?"
She held up the bag that had stayed on her lap the entire ride, "Yeah, well we're going to an orchestra where I'm sure there'll be a much of posh middle aged people so I thought I'd look the part,"
"And you're only telling me this now? We never agreed on a dress code,"
She shrugged, "I didn't think we needed to," A little snicker got past her lips.
"Well obviously we did cause now I'm gonna be looking like a hobo next to you," The subtle snicker turned into a full blown laugh, "you're a shit friend you know that?" I said with a chuckle as we pulled into the gas station that was just a block away from the concert hall.
"So I've been told," She sighed sarcastically with a giggle.
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"That'll be $14.56," The older man behind the cash register said, I fished my card out of my wallet and handed it to him to pay for the two cigarette packs I had gotten.
"I'm ready. Fuck, sorry it took a little longer than I said it would, zipping up this dress was a nightmare," The words were out of her mouth faster than I could turn around and when I did, there she stood. Seeing her face in the dimly lit car was one thing but seeing her in the bright white lights of the gas station convenience store was a completely new experience. Her eyes in the dim light were a deep shade of brown like my own but now I could see that they were a perfect blend of brown and green. Her face was like a puzzle; everything single element fit perfectly together.
My eyes moved lower, taking her in. The upper half of her dress hugged her and I would be lying if I said my eyes didn't linger on her cleavage for a second too long â I was only a man afterall. Her backpack stayed in one hand and her sunglasses and scarf on the other.
"Did you hear me?" She asked, bringing my attention right back to her.
"Yeah, um, we're good, we still have about 5 minutes to make it there in time," I told her before holding out one of the packs I bought, "here," She stared between me and the pack of cigarettes, "because I'm actually a good friend," I told her, the smugness evident in my tone.
"Oh wow, so you're really gonna rub it in like that," She rolled her eyes but took the cigarettes from my hand.
"Oh I'm not rubbing anything darlin," I held my hands up in surrender, a small chuckle accompanying the action. The tint on the cheeks grew a few shades pinker at my words.
"Here you go sir," The man said, she was quick to make it a way to wrap the conversation by sliding her glasses back in place and covering her hair in the scarf.
After getting back my card and thanking the man, we were off to the concert hall and we managed to find our seats just seconds before the show began.
The hall was packed and she was right everyone was in formal attire but after spending most of my days in a suit the last thing I wanted was to be in one on my off time. Unless of course, she had asked me to.
The first song had ended and she was still fidgeting, still looking around in the crowded hall from our spots up top, still looking at people for the slightest of movements. Even with the scarf and sunglasses covering part of her appearance, the crowded room was making her anxious, ruining her ability to enjoy a little bit of escapism.
My eyes roamed the crowd wanting to be sure that there was no one looking in her direction, and surely enough everyone had their attention on the stage. I leaned in, "Hey, Kris," I said loud enough for her to hear, and she turned to look at me.
"Yeah?"
"Close your eyes,"
She stared at me, stunned, "What?"
I nodded, "Close your eyes,"
She continued to stare, "But why?"
"Just trust me," I smiled, "here I'll do it too," I shut my eyes without hesitation, "your turn," A few moments passed without a response from her, the music filling the silence, "Are yours closed too?"
A sighed of defeat filled my ears before her voice did, "Yep,"
"Good," I said with a smile, "now here's what we're gonna do, we're gonna start to feel the musicâ"
"Aiden this is stupid Iâ"
"Shhh, just do as I say,"
Another sigh of defeat filled my ears and this time I was met with silence which only made me grin because that meant she listened, "Deep breaths, I want you to start feeling the music, let it take you wherever you want," No more complaints came from her, "that's it, let the music carry you to your happy place where none of these people exist; only you and the music,"
I hadn't realized how much I needed this too, how little I'd been treating myself. My mother was my main focus in life, all of my efforts were always for her, everything around me surrounded her. Not that it was a bad thing; my mother deserved every bit of love this world had to offer. But it was draining, even admitting it to myself made me feel like an ungrateful little shit.
Kris provided me with that sense of escapism I needed, I craved. Conversations with her were easy, they were the type of conversations that just made you. . . forget, even if it was for a split second. We were two people relying on one another for an escape.
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"Thank you," She said, her voice soft. We were parked in my driveway. After the show had finished, I opened my eyes to find her with her eyes still shut. For a second I questioned if she was even awake but the soft smile on her lips answered that question for me. Part of me wanted to ask her where it had taken her, where her happy place was. But I decided against it. "I mean tonight was just. . ." She paused searching for words, "I needed it," She simply said.
"I needed it too," I found myself admitting. She smiled, that soft gentle smile that affected me more than I'd like to admit. I got out first looking around to ensure that no one was around before getting the ladder out from behind the bushes, carrying it across the street to her window.
Once it was in place, my eyes roamed the neighborhood one more time before giving her a nod telling her the coast is hear. Now back in her sneakers that she put on in the car she rushed across the street and made her way to the ladder against her window, still in her dress.
"Kris," I called out right before she started to climb, making her stop in her tracks and turn to me. I reached into the pocket of my hoodie pulling out the other pack of cigarettes tossing it to her, her hand shot out to catch it just in time. "Hopefully that'll be enough to last you just until we do this again,"
She slid it into the pocket of her backpack before slinging it back over her shoulder, "We're not doing this again," The playfulness in her tone made me grin.
"Is that a challenge?"
She chuckled before turning back around, climbing up the ladder with a lot more ease than getting down, she climbed over her window and got into her room.
She peeked her head back out, "Yes," She simply said before shutting the window.
Fuck.
Finally was able to get this chapter out! Sorry for the long wait. These last new weeks have been a series of unfortunate events. But I promise that the next chapter will be out much sooner.
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Thanks for reading! I appreciate everything single one of you <33