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
Keegan walked through the door an hour later, a pizza box nestled under his arm. He looked slightly frazzled and his hair was disheveled and sweaty. He let out an exaggerated sigh and dropped the pizza box onto the table before plopping down on the ground and grabbing a pizza.
I slid off the couch and onto the floor next to him and grabbed a slice. "Where'd you go?"
He chewed his pizza, running his clean hand through his hair. "I just chilled with Jayden at his house and then we played some basketball after." He didn't wait to finish the sentence before stuffing his face with some more pizza. I took a bite from mine.
I busied myself with the slice of pizza in my hands, ignoring the feel of Keegan's eyes on me. His stare didn't let up by the time I had finished my pizza so I busied myself with my fingers, fidgeting with them in my lap.
"Is he still here?" He asked.
Startled, I met his gaze. The slice of pizza he had been eating sat inside the pizza box and his eyes flicked about my face, trying to read me. It was what Keegan did ever since we moved out together: read me, see how far away I was from falling apart.
I nodded, releasing a sigh through my nose, "Yeah, he is."
Keegan brushed his hands over the table, a bewildered look on his face, "He's just going to stay here? Is there something wrong with him?"
I rubbed my face, releasing a sigh, "I don't know."
Keegan scoffed, a laugh escaping his lips, "What do you mean you don't know? There's a random guy you barely met an hour ago in our house. And don't get me wrong, I like him, but that shouldn't be a judge of his character or whatever the fuck he does in his free time."
I met his eyes, "I've already thought about all this, Keegan, I promise, but you didn't see him. You didn't see what happened to him."
My eyes watered because I could already see myself in his shoes.
"Then tell me," He asserted, "What happened?"
Sighing, I ran my fingers through my hair, "He got evicted from his home. I couldn't just leave him to deal with it because I knew what that could be like. I know how scary it is to feel like you might not sleep in your bed that night or might not have enough food for the week."
Tears blurred my vision, "It's even scarier because I don't want you to have to go through that shit. I want you to grow up normal. I want you to be able to eventually get your own car, to be able to shower whenever the fuck you want to, to not stay hungry for hours because there's nothing, but old water bottles at home."
I shook my head, willing the tears away, "Cameron is scared. I just wanted to help because if I was ever in his spot, I'd want that help, too."
Keegan stared at me. My breathing had grown heavy with emotion and I swiped my hand across my face, sucking in a stabilizing breath. We stared at each other for a while and eventually, Keegan nodded, "If you trust him, then I do, too."
