I smirked proudly at the guys who underestimated me. I had a long way to go, but I was doing good . . . and that felt good.
After the fights, I went and showered. Due to the holiday, they were closing early, just like how they opened early. It was barely five, but everyone was beat from working out all day, especially me. I was so tired and hungry.
“Aubry?” Aiden asked hesitantly. I turned to him as I was doing my makeup. “Now that we’re . . . um, friends . . . would you like to come to my house for dinner tonight? We’re having spaghetti and my mom always makes way too much,” Aiden asked.
My eyes went wide in panic, but my mouth watered at the prospect of food. I had never ever met anyone else’s parents before, not in that way at least. I never had friends before, and the thought of meeting someone’s family was terrifying to me. I mean, even the people who were supposed to love me, hated me. I couldn’t fathom people who didn’t need to have anything to do with me liking me.
Aiden must have sensed my uneasiness and added, “Brandon and Tom are going to be there as well . . . I just thought that maybe it’d be nice, but if you don’t want to . . .”
“Spaghetti, you say?” I said with a smile at his nervousness. “Spaghetti is my favorite! Yes, I’d like to come to dinner with you.”
Chapter Fifteen
Miserable Dinner
I was in Aiden’s truck for the first time. It was nice, but not too flashy or anything. It was clean, and it smelled like him. I couldn’t help but breathe the scent in deeply.
Good lord, I’m such a creep. I don’t understand how just the scent of someone can make you feel calm. His effect on me was weird and unusual; it made me question a lot of things within myself.
When we pulled up to his house, my anxious overthinking kicked into overdrive. Brandon and Tommy were already there since they left before us in Brandon’s car. I didn’t even realize that the truck was off and not moving until Aiden opened the door for me.
“Come on, my family isn’t too bad. Besides, it’s not like you’re my girlfriend or anything. We’re friends, and friends hang out. Don’t worry,” Aiden said gently while pulling me from the car.
He was right; it wasn’t that big of a deal, but why couldn’t I convince my overactive brain that?
As we walked to the house, I studied everything around. He lived in a nice part of town. Well, not the super nice part, but it’s where the upper middle class and old people lived. The one-story house was big, spacious, and pretty nice on the outside as well. It was upkeeped and well-painted; I couldn’t wait to see inside. I wasn’t allowed into other people’s homes too often, so when I was allowed, it amazed me.
As soon as Aiden opened the front door, a little blonde-headed girl came barreling toward us and practically tackled Aiden.
“Bubba! I missed you!” she squeaked out as Aiden hugged her with an adoring smile.
“I missed you too, Cece. I have a friend I want you to meet. Cece, this is Aubry. Aubry, this is Cece, my baby sister,” Aiden said, gesturing between us.
She looked at me skeptically with her big blue eyes; they were the same shade as Aiden’s, and that made me a little weak. I had never really ever been around kids before, so I didn’t know exactly what to say or do. I knelt down to her level despite the blaring pain in my side and smiled at her warmly.
“Hi Cece, it’s so nice to meet you. The only thing is, you’re so pretty and obviously smart, there’s absolutely no way that you can be related to Aiden!” I said quickly.
My words caused her to laugh and smile at me brightly. “Hi Aubry! Come meet my mommy and Pawpaw! They’ll be happy to see you since Aiden never brings friends home,” she said, grabbing my hand and dragging me with her. I shot a scared look at Aiden, but he smiled reassuringly.
As we made it closer to the room with all the voices in it, panic and anxiousness began to rise alarmingly. I took in my appearance and almost facepalmed myself. I had on leggings, and a way oversized t-shirt I received from donating blood once that read, “Give blood, save a life”.
On top of that, I was wearing a long black sweater. Why didn’t Aiden tell me I look like trash before we came? I didn’t have much better, but I should have at least tried.
“Why didn’t you tell me to change clothes? I look stupid and now your mom is going to hate me,” I whispered to him in annoyance.
He furrowed his eyebrows together and looked at me, seemingly unbothered by my outfit choice. “You look fine Aubry. My mom doesn’t care what clothes you have on anyways. She’s not one of those moms,” he whispered back right before we crossed the threshold into the kitchen.
I took a deep breath in and winced, forgetting about my ribs for a split-second. However, that took me out of my head for a moment and made me think rationally. There was no use in being scared, I rationalized to myself, so with that in mind, I plastered the best smile that I could muster and gritted my teeth together to greet his family.
I mean, what was the worst thing that could happen? They’d hate me? Join the club.
The kitchen was an open concept which merged with the living room, both of which were quite large. Tom was standing near the counter, talking with a woman who I assumed was Aiden’s mom. She was a pretty middle-aged lady with blonde hair in a high ponytail, wearing scrubs and a worn-out look on her face, while Brandon was standing across the kitchen next to a girl who looked to be just a few years younger than me. Then, there was an older man sitting at the breakfast table with a chessboard set up in front of him, but no one to play with.
“Mommy, mommy, mommy!” Cece said, running to her mom and tugging on her hand. “This is Aiden’s girlfriend, Aubry. Isn’t she pretty?” The little girl said loudly, making my cheeks turn red and eyes widened.
“I’m not his girlfriend,” I stated.
At the same time, Aiden said, “We’re not together!”
The woman looked at me endearingly and smiled. “Hello, I’m Dana.”
“I’m Aubry,” I said, holding my hand out to her. She shook it lightly and let go. “Sorry, dinner is going to be kind of late. I got off a bit late,” she told me apologetically.
“Absolutely no problem to me. Would you like some help?” I asked politely. I hadn’t been raised with politeness around me, but I made myself learn it just for situations like this one.
“You’re sweet, but I think I’ve got it. Thank you.”
I nodded with another smile directed at her before letting Cece drag me away from her and to the older man.
“Pawpaw, this is Aubry,” Aiden said, gesturing to me.
The old man smiled. “Hi, I’m Pawpaw. You can either call me that or Robert, I answer to both.”
I smiled at the man and nodded at his words.
There was just one more person in the room that I did not know. I looked over at the other girl. She had black hair like Aiden’s, but brown eyes instead. Other than the hair, she looked very much like her mother than her brother. She had a very pretty face which included a long straight dimpled scar that started from the outside corner of her left eye, all the way down to the right side of her neck.
I took it upon myself and walked up to her. “Hello, I’m Aubry,” I said, holding my hand out to her, trying my best to smile.
She scoffed slightly, but took my hand and shook anyways. “Briana,” she said shortly.
I tried not to take offense at her attitude, because honestly, I was liable to act that way too when meeting a random stranger. I shifted awkwardly in front of her as she studied me intensely. To avoid eye contact, I looked down at her shirt. On it, it read, “I do not like people unless they are fictional and named Mr. Darcy”.
I smiled widely and giggled slightly at the words. “That’s one of my favorite books!” I said, pointing to her shirt.
Her eyes went wide as if I had spoken another language to her. “Y-you read?” she asked, bewildered.
“I used to.” I nodded, trying not to let a frown take over my face as I remembered the love
ly times that I used to coop myself up all day long with a book. Those were the days before Kelsey left. I shook off the thoughts quickly and smiled at Briana.
I walked towards Robert after everyone went silent and asked, “Can I play with you? Or do you already have an opponent?”
He smirked and gestured to the opposite chair. “Come and play, if you dare,” he joked.
I smiled and took a seat, I hadn’t played chess in a long while. I hoped that I was still pretty good at the strategy game.
***
It was twenty minutes later, and he was stuck. I was going to win, and we both knew it. Finally, he made his last move, and I made mine hastily.
“Checkmate!” I said with a laugh.
“No way! You cheated or something. No one ever beats Pawpaw at chess!” Brandon exclaimed loudly.
I shook my head and looked at Robert with a smile. “Good game, Robert. You are a very good chess player,” I said with a smile.
“Indeed. We’ll have a rematch sometime in the near future, I hope.” He laughed. “First time for anyone to beat me. You have to let me win my title back.”
I nodded in response and let Aiden pull me out of the crowded breakfast room area afterwards.
“Sorry, it just looked like you were getting a little overwhelmed with everyone in there,” he commented sheepishly.
“Thank you,” I said with a smile. “I was . . .”
I was a little worried about my breaking façade since he had noticed, but also grateful because I definitely did not want to have a panic attack in the middle of his family dinner.
“Well, I figured that I could—”
He was cut off by the doorbell and his mom telling him that the door was for him.
He looked confused when she said that it was for him and walked towards the entryway. I stood in the hall awkwardly and began looking at the pictures that hung on the wall with family photos. Aiden was a cute kid, from the pictures that I had seen.
I felt weird seeing snapshots of someone’s past. Pictures were weird concepts to me—a frozen moment back in time. However, I assumed that the reason they were strange to me, was because I had nothing good to remember and no pictures to remind me. It was quite sad when you think about it.
Suddenly, I came across a picture with a very familiar-looking man in it. He looked just like Aiden, but that wasn’t what I meant by familiar, though. I could have sworn that I had seen that man somewhere before. I just couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
Before I could contemplate it anymore, Aiden came racing up to me and pushed me gently into a room while closing the door softly.
“What the fuck?” I slightly yelled at being manhandled off guard.
“Shhh! I have some bad news. Bridget is here. My mom, being the person she is, politely offered her to stay for dinner too,” he said, backing away from me with a worried look.
“Shit. Well that’s great. Now there is no way she’s not going to think that I’m trying to sleep with you. Of course, this whole friend thing was going to spread around eventually,” I said, rolling my eyes with a shrug.
“No,” he said firmly. “I already told you. No one at school is to know that we even know each other.”
For some reason, I wasn’t completely sure why those words hurt me because I usually didn’t get too affected anymore. I was under the impression that that certain agreement was over when we became friends. I bit my tongue, trying not to yell at the boy before me.
Finally I said, “B-But I thought we were friends now?” I sounded a lot more pathetic than I thought I would.
Aiden paused and looked at me. “We are, but the people at school can’t know that. It’s not . . . safe for you to be seen as close to me. Even at the Underground. We need to keep a distance. A fighter-trainer relationship; not friends.”
So, he wanted to be my friend, but only my secret friend. That didn’t seem like much of a friendship.
“No,” I said in a tight voice.
I never had a friend before, but what Aiden was offering didn’t feel like friendship. “I’m not going to be your secret friend that hides in the dark behind you. We’re either real friends or no friends,” I said, standing my ground.
“Aubry . . . please—” he started but cut himself off quickly even though I could see the hesitation in his eyes. “Just . . . go out the back door, I suppose,” he stated, opening the door and peeking out to make sure that the coast was clear.
I followed behind him and came face to face with the picture again. “Aiden, before I go . . . who is this in this picture?” I asked.
My curiosity got the best of me, and since I apparently was never going to be there again, I supposed that I simply didn’t want to let the curiosity eat me alive. Though, the answer was not one that I wanted.
When his words registered in my mind, I knew that we were doing the right thing. We didn’t need to be friends, and if he ever found out who I was, he would probably beat me to smithereens, no matter what his viewpoint on violence towards women was. He would never want, nor should be my friend.
***
Aiden
You know, I understood Aubry’s apprehension on coming to dinner at my family’s house. It was the same apprehension I felt at the idea of anyone coming over. With Aubry, however, I felt nothing of the sort. I wanted to get to know her better and be her friend, no matter what rules I had set in my mind against doing just that. We would be discreet, and I would give no one any inklings that I cared about someone.
I knew that I sounded like I was protecting myself and my reputation more than I wanted to be friends with the girl, but it was quite the opposite actually. I couldn’t be seen caring for Aubry in any capacity to protect her. I had already seen what happened to the people I care about. I didn’t want anything like that to happen again.
That was why when Bridget came to the door uninvited, and my mother invited her to stay, I had to get Aubry out. I knew that it seemed superficial, but that wasn’t my intention at all. I was purely trying to care for Aubry. I knew that if Bridget caught Aubry at my house, which I wasn’t sure how Bridget knew where I lived, she would spread lies and gossip all over town. I couldn’t let that happen to Aubry; it wasn’t safe.
It was sad because my whole family seemed to really be loving Aubry. Even Bri liked her, and Bri never liked anyone new. So instead of having Aubry over for dinner, and the whole situation had been messed up, they were stuck with Bridget. No one was going to like her.
I would have kicked Bridget out instead of getting Aubry to leave, but my mom had already invited Bridget to stay. I knew that if I tried to make Bridget leave, she’d make a big deal, and my mother would kill me for being rude to a “guest.” It wouldn’t matter that the “guest” was uninvited.
However, I knew Aubry wouldn’t put up a fight. It was a messed-up thing; the girl who didn’t make a big deal out of things was the one being thrown out. It was the reverse and messed up, but that was life.
I couldn’t put Aubry at risk. No matter how much I preferred her company over psychopath Bridget’s, no matter how much it pained me when she told me that she wouldn’t be friends with me behind closed doors. No matter how much I wanted to just take my words back after I said them, it was what was best for her. I had to keep reminding myself of that.
I didn’t want to hurt Aubry. Heck, I actually found Aubry to be rather likeable after getting past all of her rough edges, but I couldn’t put her in danger just because I liked her. I couldn’t put her in danger just because I had a weird pull towards her. In fact, that pull was even more of the reason not to care about her. He would see right through that pull and figure us out if we weren’t careful. Yes, things were probably better off the way that they were playing out.
Minus Bridget being at my house, that whole factor was creepy. I thought that I had made myself clear to her about being done. I never ever had anyone over from my school except B, and now Aubry, so I wasn’t sure how the girl knew my address. She was becom
ing a stalker. I needed to nip that in the bud before it escalated to even crazier proportions again. My mind quickly berated me for letting another girl become too attached.
I led Aubry out of the room that I had shoved her into. I wanted to ask her to stay, or at least let me explain, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t explain anything to her, and that fact made me feel even worse. That was what was best for us though. I needed to look like an asshole to her for her to understand that she needed to not be my friend. I was awful, and I was not a good friend to have.
As we walked down the hallway, she pointed at a picture, “Aiden, before I go . . . who is this in this picture?”
My breath hitched when I saw the picture that she was talking about—my dad. “That’s um . . . That’s my dad, Jeremy Clark.” I turned back around speedily, so she couldn’t see the hurt in my eyes and began walking again.
I saw her eyes widen, but she said nothing at my revelation. She just followed me with a blank and somber face. When we got to the door, I felt horrible for all of this. This was bullshit. I’m such an asshole.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She said nothing to me and walked out of the door with that same blank look on her face.
I leaned my head on the closed door and watched her through the door window. I felt so bad.
I went back to the kitchen, and Bridget was sitting there with my family talking about herself. Everyone looked uncomfortable. My mom came to me and asked quietly, “Where’s Aubry?”
I shook my head at her, and she looked disappointed.
Brandon told me that Briana excused herself from dinner before Bridget even came into the kitchen. She could tell who that shrill voice belonged to before she saw the face. She didn’t like to deal with Bridget in school, much less out of it. Somehow, I had led one of her biggest bullies to one of the only places that she considered safe.
Fighting For Life Page 14
