Ronny

Chapter 9

But that's not how my family works.

"Why aren't you?" Aaron asks.

I shrug, "My parents love my siblings for how successful they are. I'm not successful." I sum it up for him, not wanting to bore him with the long sad story of why my parents don't love me.

Aaron looks at me, confused. "They don't care about Stanford." I say. "And I have a slight reading disability, which to them means I'm an idiot"

"My turn to ask" I change the subject. "What about your family?" I ask.

I instantly feel Aaron tense at the mention of his family. "Out of the picture" is all he says, and I immediately understand he does not want to talk about it.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" I ask, unsure where it came from.

He shakes his head, and I feel myself become slightly relieved. But also confused. Aaron is this gorgeous, rich, nice man. The fact that he doesn't have a girlfriend could be a red flag of its own.

Im spending too much time with Alyssa. 

"You?" Aaron asks. "Nope" I say, "Have you had a girlfriend before?"

Aaron nods, then looks to me like he's asking me the same. I shake my head, "My parents are pretty strict with boys"

He raises an eyebrow, clearly amused by this.  "Am I allowed to be here?"

"Umm technically no. Actually definitely not."

As if the universe heard us talking about my not having permission to have Aaron over, my bedroom fills up with headlights through my window as a car pulls up the driveway. I jump out of bed immediately, running to the window to see Mama and Papa getting out of their car.

Aaron is parked right in front of the house, so there is no getting out of this. "Its my parents, they see your car" I tell him, panicking.

The front door opens, and Aaron starts to leave my room, I follow him. "What are you doing?"

No response.

I follow him downstairs to where my parents are in the foyer, taking off their jackets.

"Mr. Hendrix! I thought that was your car" Mama puts on her fake persona. "What are you doing here?"

Aaron is standing in front of me, and I look to the floor, not wanting to be subject to my parents stare downs.

"I left my wallet here the other night" Aaron lies to my parents. "Adelina helped me find it"

"Oh how...sweet of her. I'm sorry Avery wasn't here to help you. She's at a photoshoot for Vogue right now. You should subscribe, she's a usual on the cover" Mama boasts about Avery, I look to Aaron to see how he reacts.

Nothing, his face is blank.

He turns to me, "I should go"

I nod, and am about to ask if he will text me, but then I remember who is watching me. Aaron nods, almost like he knew what I was thinking.

"Bye" I smile to him, he slightly smiles back, which is improvement for me.

When Aaron leaves, I try to slink away to my room, but of course I have to face Mama and Papa first.

"Explain yourself" Papa demands. "W-what?" I ask, feeling nervous around Papa since he hurt me the other night.

"Don't act like I'm a fool. Why were you with him?"

"He um left his wallet. I just helped him look for it, that's all" I lie, hoping Papa doesn't see through it.

Mama is giving me one nasty look, "Steven, believe the girl. What else could have been happening, Aaron being with her?"

Papa folds his arms across his chest, "You're right, Amy." Papa almost chuckles. "Go to your room" He snaps at me. I quickly go to my room before my parents change their mind.

As I go to my room, I pass by Nick's childhood room and feel a pit form in my stomach from not seeing him in so long. He was supposed to come home from New York last week, but his case got reopened which called him back.

And even when he comes home, he doesn't live here, he has his own place.

I should get my own place.

I shake off the thought, since Mama and Papa wouldn't let me until I graduate. They think if they give me enough independence I will spiral out of control and get off track career-wise, which is apparently the worst thing that could possibly happen in the whole world.

I change and do my night routine, then flop on my bed where Aaron was just a little bit ago. My face gets red as I think of how he read my spicy book. He probably thinks I read that all the time. I put a pillow to my face and groan, embarrassed about the book.

Before I fall asleep, I set a quick reminder on my phone to call the towing company tomorrow morning, then shoot Aaron a quick text.

Goodnight ronny :)

I wait for a response, then feel giddy when I see the typing bubbles appear.

Go to sleep, Adelina.

Yes sir.

1440 words