Argylle: Back To You • Aidan & Elly

Chapter 3

Aidan

What the hell is that sound? Like the distant sound of a jackhammer.

My brain slowly started to come together and I figured out what it was without opening my eyes. That damn cat, right next to my head. And that uncomfortable feeling that... I sat up and sneezed. "Damn allergies!"

That's when a startled Rachel sat down next to me as the sudden sound woke her up.

Wait a minute.

My expression at that moment probably looked as surprised as hers. She looks sleepy, a little nervous, and perfectly complemented by her messy hair. She actually looked charming despite the fact that she was wearing a pajama set that seemed to scream: stay away from me, buddy. Which, unfortunately, also suggested the fact that we were still going in Elly mode.

Finally, after staring at her for a while, my mind flooded with memories of us getting into bed together. And how I almost kissed her in my brain-fried state. Oh.

"Good morning." She broke the slightly awkward silence.

"Morning, sunshine..."

"How are you feeling?" She leaned over and put her hand on my forehead before I could even respond, "You don't have a fever anymore." She uttered and withdrew her hand. Maybe the fever will come again.

"I'm fine. Thank you for taking care of me. And I'm sorry if I was being... inappropriate."

She was about to say something, but Alfie crawled onto her lap and demanded attention when he started meowing. "You must be hungry, aren't you?" Her voice changed tone, like a woman talking to a small child, or, as I'd already discovered, Elly talking to her cat. I'd probably only hear that from Rachel as a joke. "Mommy's gonna give you a food, come on, let's go!" She took him in her arms, got out of bed, and before I could recover, she was out of the room. I guess I'll be getting used to this a lot for a while. I almost found myself getting jealous of the cat for having more attention than me. I better go take a shower.

###

A little later, after a very quiet breakfast, I considered how to approach all of this. I didn't know how to treat Elly and not scare her off. It had already looked so hopeful when her old self had awakened, it was so nice and overwhelming to be able to team up with Rachel again, to see the woman I had fallen head over heels in love with all those years ago. If that hadn't happened, if the real her hadn't awakened, we probably wouldn't even be sitting here today.

But then what happened? It's as if she'd closed herself back into her safe shell, afraid to come out. Vogler really made a mess of her head. It was like another kick in the chest, maybe even harder than the one she actually gave me. Well, at least I didn't have to pretend I didn't know her anymore.

I looked at her, and I could tell she was a little bit nervous with my presence. In that way, when you've been alone for a long time, and then someone walks into your house from one day to the next. Yeah, I'll admit, maybe it was a bit of a rush. When she noticed my look, she smiled apologetically.

I don't want her to feel bad, to feel like she's doing something wrong. There's nothing inherently wrong with Elly, she even reminds me of Rachel in a few ways. In a way, it's still her. But the knowledge that they tried their best to suppress her strongest points. That was pretty infuriating, to say the least. And a damn good tactic on their part. I don't like that even my mind distinguishes her as two people, but it's just better that way so I don't do something stupid.