stellaR (Editing)

Chapter X

Chapter- X

A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.                 -Max Lucado

 

      It wasn’t Chaud. That was the first thing I noticed about the person sharing a booth with us in the restaurant. I had been hoping to see him- how was it possible to miss someone so much in only two days? -but it wasn’t meant to be at the moment. I frowned at the thought.

     “Hey, chin up, girlie,” Aria bumped her shoulder playfully into mine, and I looked up at her, grinning.

     “You’re right,” I admitted gruffly.

     “Some things never change.” She sang cheerfully.

     “She’s correct, you know,” A rich, British accent flooded over me, “where Aria is concerned, she’s typically right about most things.”

     I looked up, struggling to remember the name of the guy sitting across from Aria and I, and next to Sol. I blinked at him; his red hair caught the light in a distracting way, making it look softer than it probably was, and kept pulling me from my thoughts.

     “That’s true, Aidan,” Sol piped up, and I looked to him gratefully. I smiled at his confusion, just happy I knew Aidan’s name now. It was always an awkward moment: when you just met someone, and can’t remember their name, but you’ve been talking to them long enough it’s embarrassing to both of you to have to ask. I shuddered mentally. I hated awkward social situations.

     “Aidan, where did you say you were from?” I asked politely, steering the conversation to something more entertaining.

     “I was born in Oxford, England.” He said, taking a bite from the burger he was eating before continuing, “I lived with my Mum until I was 15, then moved over here with my Dad after my parents divorced 3 years ago.”

     I made a face, “I’m sorry.”

     He shrugged, “It’s not a big deal; I’ve gotten over it already.”

     “So… how do you know Sol?” Aria piped up, taking a sip of her diet coke.

     Sol leaned forward, catching Aidan’s eye. The two of them exchanged a glance I didn’t necessarily like, before Sol answered Aria’s question.

     “When Aidan came over here with his dad, we actually met at a Predators hockey game.”

     “I wanted to see what Americans were so enthralled with,” Aidan said.

“Ugh,” Sol crinkled his nose in distaste, “I was actually there for the opposing team,” He admitted, “I don’t do Nashville.”

Aidan shrugged, “If I remember correctly, that would mean your team lost. Maybe you should ‘do’ Nashville.” He tried to use the same slang-terms Sol had thrown around so easily, but they came out stilted and irregular with his dialect.

I held back a smirk, taking a drink to hide my expression.

I wondered why we were meeting with Aidan, and why now. I had so much to think over, and begin to understand, and yet here we were, sitting in a cheap restaurant eating lunch with someone who had no connection to us. He had no real connection to the Five.

Aidan looked at me with a knowing smile, the kind that made my blood chill.

“No, I don’t have a real connection to the Five,” He spoke, shifting his head down to look me directly in the eyes, “but I do have a mental one.”