“So, is your dad someone I should be afraid of?” The way that his breath slides on my earlobe leaves goose bumps all over my body.
“Why should you be afraid of anyone in my life?” I ask him pausing just long enough and then adding, “You won’t have any sort of significance in my life.” (Looking back I think I jinxed myself.)
“Ouch, Ariana, you really hurt my feelings.” He says with wide eyes and then smirks. He makes me laugh and then he lets his hand tighten his hold around my waist. “So, how old are you Ariana?”
“Eighteen.” I tell him honestly.
“But you’re drinking?” he smirks at me.
“Some things die hard.”
“Yes, this is true. So how exactly do you know Will?” It takes me a few minutes to realize that Will is Turner’s first name.
“He was one of my dad’s Marines and when I first got my fake I.D. they would always see me out; at first they would try and convince me to go home, because if anything happened and they were at the same place as I was my dad would be furious at them,”
“Understandable.” He nods along.
“Yes, so after time and time of me showing up to the same spots and them not being able to get me to go home, they just kind of took me under their wing and made sure that I didn’t into trouble.” He laughs slightly.
“So, why is such a pretty girl here all alone, so far from home?” I smile up to him and shake my head telling him that I’m not explaining that. “Alright,” he cowers, putting up his hands, “But let tell you this before you and I part ways... you will tell me.” he leans over and kisses my cheek and then walks away. I wanted to stay away from him. I slowly walked back over to the table and slide in as Turner looked to me and smiled.
“So, R, does The Major know that you are here?” I shake my head and he smirks, “I can’t say that I am really surprised.” I laugh slightly as he looks back over to me, but as I look at him I’m not focusing all I can think about is Chase staring at me, it makes the butterflies dance in my stomach. I don’t hear what else Turner is saying until he waves a hand in front of my face, “Hello, earth to R,”
“I’m sorry what were you saying?” he laughs at me and I see Chase laugh as well, I can only guess that he knows I was paying more attention to him than I was ‘Will’ as he called him.
Later that night I am sitting on the balcony after we get back from the bar and I’m reading my book as my insomnia is effecting me.
“Hey you,” I hear and I look up in the direction that the voice came from and I see Chase standing on the balcony of one of the rooms to my side and I smile.
“Shh, people are sleeping.” I say at him in a hushed voice.
“They are going to be out cold by this time, what are you doing?” I laugh as I look around and see that all the lights are off in the hotel except of the two of ours and I hold up my book.
“Boo, want some company?” he asks and I stare at him for a moment wondering if it a good idea if I let him in, I don’t really know anything about him, and my father would kill me if he knew that I was letting a strange man in my hotel room just meeting him today, but then again he is probably also pretty pissed about me just leaving as well.
“Sure,” I surprise myself when the word comes out and he grins getting up and walking inside. I stand up and walk inside as well, making sure I look well for him to be coming to my room and I walk out of the door. I see him walking aimlessly around the rooms I can only guess trying to figure out which one exactly is mine.
“I wasn’t sure which one was yours.” I laugh as I reach for his arm and pull him in. He stumbles in as I reach into the fridge in my room and pull out a beer and pop the top.
“Do you want one?” He nods his head and I hand him the one in my hands. Then we walk towards the couch and sit down.
“So, what are you still doing up?” He looks to me, very much drunk.
“Insomnia,” I tell him but I know that I’m truly lying I know that if I go to sleep I will have the dream again. I sit back in the couch and I catch him looking over to me smiling. “What?”
“You know you are really pretty.” He leans over, closer to me.
“And you are really drunk.” I laugh.
“I’m really not, Ariana.”
“Alright then, how am I pretty?” I cave. I want him to know that I want him to like me.
“That’s a dumb question.” He states and I let my mouth fall open, “What? It’s the truth,”
“Alright then, why are you intrigued with me?”
“Your hair, it caught my eye at first, not many girls have the confidence to walk around with pink hair.”
“It’s not confidence that lets me walk around with it.” I admit to him.
“Then what is it?” He asks, wide-eyed.
“I’m trying to fake confidence.” I confess to him, upset that I’m telling him the truth.
“What?” He asks.
“N-nothing,” I say back to him again.
“No Ariana, tell me what do you mean by that.” He demands, sitting up straight, and staring into my soul.
“I just mean that I am so broken on the inside that I try harder than anything to make people think that I am confident.” I realize what I am saying as I shake my head and get up walking back to the kitchen when he stands in front of me.
“Don’t walk away,” he takes a deep breath and smiles at me, “Dance with me.” he says to me and then extends his hand.
“There’s not any music.” I look to him confused.
“Just trust me.” he says as he steps closer to me and I let him take my hands and start to sway with him as he sings a mellow rendition of Hey Ya. His voice is smooth the way it flows over the words and my heart melts, I lean my head into his chest and I listen to the vibrations at my ear. He picks up his pace half way and I jump back from him and start to wiggle my hips and the song calls to do, he is trying not to laugh. When the song finishes he finally lets his held back laughter out and we collapse onto the couch laughing.
“Thanks,” I say placing my hand on his chest.
“Not a problem, Ariana, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure,” I shrug.
“When I look at you I see this pain in your eyes,” My face falls at him and he smirks a bit. “Don’t worry, I seem to be the only one that can see it. Not even Will notices how mangled you are inside.” I’m taken aback by his words; he knows that I am beyond broken, but that I am mangled.
“That’s an awful way to describe it.” I tell him honestly.
“I’m going to let you in on something, we all have pain hidden deep inside of us, that we don’t let anyone see, but if we’re lucky someone comes into our lives and we finally open up. They are able to accept us for who we truly are. So we let them see all of it.” I’m shocked and can’t help but be jealous that maybe, just possibly, that he might have already found that someone.
“Have you found someone to open up to?” I ask him without thinking about it.
“Maybe, I’m not sure, but my therapist keeps telling me that one day someone will walk into my life and change me forever.” He smirks to me again.
“Do you believe her?” He looks over to me and then shrugs his shoulders.
“Maybe,” he says it but it sounds more like a question than an answer.
“What’s your battle scar?” I ask him and he cocks his head at me.
“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” He sticks his hand out to me and I shake it quickly, “When I was sixteen I was driving my brother home, he was a year younger than I was and honestly he was my best friend, most people say that they can’t stand their siblings, but not us. It was almost strange like we knew how much time we had with one another, we almost never fought, but we had been fighting for weeks.” My heart sinks for him as I see his face fall and he looks back to me, “He had been all over my ass for smoking pot and doing other drugs, but for once I was actually sober. See I don’t really care about my life, but when
it comes to everyone else’s safety I would make sure that I was sober.” I nod my head telling him that I understand and he continues. “Well, it was down pouring that night and the tractor trailer in front of me merged without a blinker, into my lane, and I swerved to miss hitting him, but when I did I ended up ramming the car into the side of the mountain.” His face is as serious as I could ever imagine it being. “It all happened so fast, and when the front bumper crushed into the rocks, the car behind us didn’t have time to see us, and slammed into Matt’s side of the car, going 50. Due to the rain the ]etta pushed my truck 50 feet until we were dangling over the side of the mountain, and when it finally tipped over I blacked out. The doctor’s told me it was why I wasn’t injured any more than I already was, I didn’t tense up, but Matt he died before we fell over the edge,” he pauses looking over to me. “Do you want to know the most fucked up part of all?” I nod my head. “I didn’t even look over at him when we were hit.” I don’t know what to say to him, I just let him stare off into the emptiness of the hotel. He sits for a long time just staring off before he shakes himself out of his own demons, “So, what’s your darkness?” he asks finally turning back to me. I know that I am now committed to telling him what happened. I take a deep breath before looking over to him.
“My father was overseas three years ago; I was staying at my friend’s house, she lived next door to us. My mother was killed that night, raped and murdered. I was the one that found her, I ran to my friend’s house and her mother called the cops.” I say not looking over to him but I can still see his mouth falls open and I press my lips into a firm line. He wraps his large arms around my body and holds me. I never even realized until later that I was crying.
I wake in the morning laying in the bed with long arms draped over me and as I sit up I see his lips turn up. He had tucked me into the covers and decided to lie on top of them and hold me.
“Sorry, I didn’t want to leave last night, when I finally got you to come in here you were still crying, so I laid down with you until you fell asleep, I still didn’t want to leave you alone, just in case.” He says leaning over and pressing his head closer to me.
“Thanks,” I tell him getting up out of the bed and walking into the shower and undressing, stepping into the stream of water.
“Ariana,” I hear Chase ask me and I jump I didn’t even hear the door open.
“Chase, I’m in the shower.” I cover my “privates” with my hands.
“Sorry, I’m not looking,” I know he’s looking because when I look up I see him through the glass and he is staring at me, grinning. “I just wanted to say, that we are leaving today to go back up to Tallahassee. I know that you are here because you don’t want to be home so you can come with us if you want.”
“I don’t even know you Chase.” I say again, trying to convince myself not to go.
“You’re right, but you will.” Damn he has a point.
“I’ll think about it.” I tell him and see his face light up again.
“I would love for you to come with us; we are going to leave around eleven, so just meet us downstairs if you want too.” I am even surprised when I find myself packing my bags when I get out of the shower.
Chapter Four
Chase
“Damnit, Will, what do you mean that you don’t know, don’t all of you Marines stay in touch.” I’m shouting across the table, not caring if anyone else can hear me.
“Sure, but see enlisted and officers are not really pals to start with so it has taken me some time to try and track him down,” He rolls his eyes at me. “I’ve almost reached him; just give me a few more days.”
“You better find him soon; you have been trying to for almost a year.”
“Well god Chase you want to find her so bad why don’t you look for her.” He snaps at me.
“I have, for two years, it’s like she fell off of the fucking planet.” The single worst decision I made in my life was leaving Ariana that morning in the hotel room. I have looked for her for two years with no avail. I hear Will’s phone chirp and he smiles reaching over and finding a napkin writing something down and sliding if over to me.
“He is in Virginia,” I shout slamming my hands onto the table. “You don’t have a number.”
He shakes his head and I grunt getting up from the table and Will looks at me right as I walk out of the café.
“God, Chase, I know she’s a great girl, but she has really messed up your head.”
“No, Will, I really messed up her head.” And I walk out the door, walking past a bank and heading to my car, sliding in I press the lever down to go into reverse. I can’t help but see Ariana sitting in the seat next to me. I go home grabbing at the articles of clothing and shoving it into a bag haphazardly and I hear here in my head.
“That’s no way to pack a bag.” I grunt, pulling them bag out and neatly folding them and gently placing them down. I feel as if I’m going crazy.
The drive to Virginia is long, but I don’t stop. I drive through the night until I arrive at the address. I walk up the path and knock on the door, I hear a grumble as the door opens and the older man is looking back at me, his presence makes me nervous. Probably because I’m in love with his daughter.
“Who are you?” he grunts at me.
“My name’s Chase Thomas, sir.” I say stumbling over my words.
“Oh Thomas, from Okinawa,” I’m confused. I’m not sure who he thinks that I am but I just decide to go along with it, but before I have a chance to answer he opens the door and lets me inside. “So how have you been Thomas?”
“To be honest with you sir, I was never in the Marine Corps.” I admit to him, not wanting to start off deceitful.
“Than what are you doing here?”
“Well,” I say rubbing my hand on my neck, “I am a friend of your daughter’s and I was wondering if you knew how to get ahold of her?”
“I don’t have a daughter.” He scoffs at me and I wonder if Will has gotten me the wrong address.
“Ariana McCree isn’t your daughter?” I’m confused.
“Sure, at one time, but I haven’t heard from her since she left. I guess though that I didn’t really give her an option.” I look around his house and I only see one photo, it’s of him and I can only guess his wife, because she looks almost identical as what I remember Ariana looking like except I see a full head of the platinum blonde hair that I slowly watched the pink hair fade to that summer. “I think you are the first person since her mother to call her Ariana.” He says looking up to me.
“Well, she was pretty special to me.” I look around the room and I notice that he has hung up a copy of his deceased wife’s obituary, “Aria Irby McCree,” I say looking over to him.
“She was my life; I loved every minute with her. I’m sure that R made me sound like I was a terrible person, but the truth is that I just didn’t know how to handle her after her mother died.”
“She knew that sir,” I tell him, hoping that it helps.
“How do you know?” He seems stunned.
“Because she told me she just didn’t know how to handle things herself, and you didn’t try to talk to her about everything.”
“She just always seemed so tough.” He admits, shaking his head.
“It was fake confidence. She was so broken on the inside that she wanted everyone to believe that she really was.” It took me a long time to realize this myself.
“I realized that a little too late, kid.” He looks sad and for the first time I walk over to him and place my hand on his shoulder.
“Me too, thank you for talking to me Sir, if you talk to her could you give her this and let her know that Chase is looking for her.” I say as I write down my number on a piece of paper and hand it over to him.
“I will do that, and if you find her could you send her my way as well.” I nod and walk back out of the condo, to my car and drive back toward 95; heading to the only place I have ever really called home.
The m
orning I left Ariana in the hotel, I’m not even sure why I left now. I was just scared of her, of how broken she was. How could I help mend someone when I was so perforated as well? I was an idiot and I hate myself more every day that I cannot find her. I only spent a few short months with her but that girl rocked my entire world and changed it from the inside out.
Chapter Five
Ariana
I meet them downstairs. Chase smiles to me and walks over, as everyone is already in the cars, and he wraps his arm around me, “I’m glad that you decided to come.” He says into my ear. “Would you like to ride with me?” he asks and I follow his pointed finger to an old red muscle car sitting, waiting for me. I nod and Turner waves to me as I walk back with Chase. I wave back as he smiles to me.
“What kind of a car is this?” I ask as I slide into the car and he shuts the door, running over to his side he smiles at me.
“You like it?” I nod, “It’s a ’67 Pontiac GTO.” I hear him crank the car and I can feel the reeve of the engine as my body becomes somewhat excited by the sound of the car, or is it because he is sitting so close to me. I’m not sure.
I laugh slightly as I say, “You like your car, don’t you?”
“What guy doesn’t like his car, but yes I do; it’s my baby.”
“I would comment that it’s a shame you don’t have to spend all of your time with the car instead of girls, but I’m sure the car alone brings girls to you.”
“You would be amazed. What if you saw me driving this car would you notice me?” I almost feel like he is fishing for a compliment.
“I noticed you anyways.” I wonder why my mouth is betraying me. He presses his lips in a firm line. “It’s true. The second I stepped out of the cab in front of the park I saw you.”
“It’s the Mohawk huh?” he laughs.
“I’m not sure. It’s something though.” Maybe that your eyes ooze sex. My cheeks then flush at my own personal comment.
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