His breath mingled with mine and his lashes fluttered against my skin. Here, I finally felt alive.
-
When Aurelia was small, she never imagined her life to be such a mess. She imagined herself going to school, hanging out with friends, and with a bo...
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AURELIA
Present
As I watched him fall apart in my hands, I was reminded of what days with Bianca at home looked like. I smile still when I think back to what we were like when we were younger. Before the money, before the drinking, and before the over-indulging.
Her favorite color was yellow and she wore it every day and incorporated it into everything she owned. I remember the frill of her yellow dress fluttering in the wind at the beach; the little pale yellow beret she used to wear every day after our first-ever vacation to Paris. I also remembered the contagiousness of her laughter, the way she would throw her head back and tumble to the floor as laughs overtook her body. I remembered everything, from her affinity for ladybugs and sunflowers and her love of swimming and biking.
Still, now, before I fall asleep, I close my eyes and think back to a time when living didn't seem so hard— to a time when family always came first.
After that night all those years ago, our family was never the same. Bianca was never the same. Still, after that night, all I seem to remember of her is her anger and her fits of tears.
Watching Cameron's anger, frustration, and fear had me reaching my hand out for him before I knew what I was doing. His ice-cold hands were trembling in mine and his eyes were glassy. I dropped his hands from mine and quickly took off my hoodie, pulling it up and over my head. I handed it to him along with the keys, focusing a hard look in his direction, "Wait for me in the car."
As I walked away, I watched him stand there for a couple of seconds, staring at the new items in his hands. I was almost 10 feet away from him and I could still make out the way his body was shaking in the cold.
Working in overdrive, I stepped into the restaurant and made a bee-line towards our table. Jayden and Keegan were talking as they ate from the pizzas laid out in front of them. I stood in front of the table and snapped my fingers in front of them.
"I need you to listen to me closely, okay?" I asked, my stare fixed on Keegan. The smile on his face slipped for a moment and I nodded, continuing with what I was going to say.
I sucked in a steadying breath, "I don't ever lie to you and you never lie to me. That's our agreement, right?"
Jayden quieted down, his usually playful smile was now wiped clean. Keegan swallowed, his throat bobbing with the action, but nodded nonetheless, "Right."
"Okay," I said, moving on, "There's something really wrong with your friend Cameron out there— like really wrong. I don't know what it is, but it's scaring me and I'm going to take him home or figure something out."
Keegan sat up and glanced behind me, probably in search of Cameron. He focused his attention on me and nodded, "Yeah, okay." I quickly grabbed my wallet from the pocket in my pants and plucked my debit card from the bunch, handing it to him. "You both finish eating and then get home, okay? I'll call you in thirty minutes, maybe earlier. Okay?"
