7
Aiden was hosting a party for New Year's tonight. I had never been a fan of parties, but the whole football team had promised it would be small.
They lied.
I still stayed, of course, but I hadn't been enjoying it. I had never been one to live a life full of hard drugs and alcohol and wake up in somebody's mom's bed with no recollection of what had happened the night before.
Ethan was really the only thing keeping me there, otherwise, I would be curled up in my bed sobbing over a gallon of moose tracks ice cream.
My best friend pulled me along his house, stopping to talk to the occasional group. I tried to chip in but was inevitably more comfortable in my silence.
One of the main reasons parties just weren't for me is probably because of the horny teenagers grinding against each other to music that's way too loud. I didn't need to see that.
I found myself trailing off from Ethan and into the backyard. Only a few lingering bodies were back there.
The music tuned out, and I found myself taking off my socks and shoes before rolling up my pants. I sat down on the ledge and dipped my legs into the pool.
The cold water made me flinch. Goosebumps grew around my skin, but I eventually began to grow comfortable with the temperature.
"Whatcha doing?" the sudden voice made me jump and almost fall into the water.
I turned around to see Aiden rolling up his pants and taking off his shoes. He sat next to me, dipping his feet into the water.
"Umm, nothing I guess."
"You guess?"
"Well, yeah."
He kicked his feet, splashing the water around us.
"I heard," Aiden said softly, not looking me in the eye, "About Brielle, I heard."
"Oh," I whispered out, barely audible.
"I'm sorry. There are support groups you can call if you need them. Or maybe you could like take a few days off or something. I don't know I just don know what I would do if something like that happened to me. I can't imagine what you're going through."
"You don't need to say you're sorry, Aiden. That would imply that you did something wrong. You don't need to try to fix it either. I'm pushing through and I don't need to talk to other people about how it affected me or whatever."
"Okay. Is there anything I can do?"
"Just be here."
He nodded and the kicking of his feet grew softer. He rested his head on my shoulder. The roar of the party grew louder by the minute as more people began migrating to the backyard.
His leg brushed against mine. I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be intentional or by accident, but it made me feel weird.
Then, I began to question further when he didn't move his leg. Again when sighed against my shoulder. I could feel his soft hair hitting my face.
I saw his pinky lift before his hand rose. Before it could move any further toward me, a voice called out.
"Matteo?" Ethan yelled over the music.
I turned my head around, looking into his blue eyes.
"I'll be right back," I told Aiden as I arose from the water. I didn't bother putting shoes on, not wanting to get them soggy.
YOU ARE READING
Cover Girl
Teen Fiction"I had always fit into people's standards. Perfect. People don't tell you how much it sucks to be perfect. They expect happiness. They expect a put-together life, but my life was anything but happy and put-together. Some days were great, but mo...
