"If you truly wish to be with me, know this..." He whispers into the darkness while holding me, "I will control you, command you and tell you what to do." I remember how my eyes burst wide open and I tried to pull free. I completely freaked out. Who...
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The spring was the most anxious time I had, the inevitable was coming and there was nothing we could do. And there was no extra time in our hands that we could spend together either. Exams, work, hobbies, he was needed at home packing up the house and suddenly it was the month before summer holiday.
The last month had been quite chill, the warmer more than likely we're just chilling outside. Teachers had no interest in trying to try and keep us inside.
Aron didn't talk about leaving. We didn't talk about us. We didn't talk. Period.
Pia and Tobias had broken up, Pia was going to graduate and leave for college. We were no longer hanging out together, she was busy figuring out her future. And it for sure had no sign of us in it.
It was the end of May when Aron came to me during one of those peculiar outdoor classes and I saw he was trying to gather bravery to talk. Just to be mean I stood silently, waiting.
"We're leaving next week." He finally says and I nod. What could I say? We had no word in this, no weight to put into the situation. We were teenagers.
"Alright."
"So, I guess it's a goodbye?" He asks and I look at him. Eating him with my eyes.
"I guess it is." I whisper and he barely manages to open his arms as I flung myself into his neck and cry my eyes out.
"You are the best thing that could've happened to me this year." He whispers and I nod. He was the best thing for me too, but I couldn't say anything. I was trying to swallow all the tears that I couldn't cry anymore.
It was friday. I remember that. And it was a sunny day when he left.
Left me on a bench crying after him.
I was hurting. I felt alone. I felt abandoned. I felt betrayed. Again.
I had taken a second job for the summer. I was doing afternoons at the bookstore and evenings I was helping at the camping area, as a cashier of the little kiosk over there. I had been determined that I needed to spend most of my time doing something, anything but staying at home and trying to stay sane. I was hurting so much that I remember crying after Aron for weeks. He had said he'd try to call me, but I told him not to. It would only hurt more. I am not sure if it would have though.
On my first day at the camping area I was learning how to use the cash register and I saw a familiar face passing behind the window. Thought first I had seen wrong, but later towards the closing hours he walked in and we locked eyes.
"Kaden?" He stops at the door and looks at me in silence. I feel foolish. He must've forgotten me, we had not spoken in months. He had gotten a girlfriend half through the school year and I had been with Aron so he stopped calling me. I spoke with Joshua still every other week or so. I turn away and continue counting the money from the register as he keeps staring at me.
He says my name so quietly I barely hear it. I lift my eyes up and he walks slowly, almost like prowling towards me. His shoulders have gotten wider, his eyes are chocolate brown and his hair hangs in front of his eyes; as it was fashionable back then.
"Yea?" He is now on the opposite side of the counter, right in front of me.
"Damn it is good to see you." He says huskily and smiles at me, "I barely recognized you then!"
"I thought I saw you earlier. Are you here for the summer too?" I continue calculating the money and close up the register after signing up the notebook.
"Yea, yea. Granny said I should try to make some extra cash. Been quite tight lately."
"I can relate to that. I do afternoons at the bookstore and come here for the last couple of hours before closing so the owner can do the bookkeeping in peace and get home in time too." Kaden nods continuously and puckers his lips thinking for a moment.
"Would you want to hang out sometime?" He asks and brushes his hair out from his eyes with his fingers. There was something adorable about that gesture. I nod,
"Sure." He turns to the window as a car honks outside.
"That's my lift. I'll uh, set another little later tomorrow. If you want?"
"Yea... Yea, that would be nice." I agree and before I realize he has taken my hand into his, squeezes it.
"I know it hurts now, it'll get better soon. I promise. I know from experience." And in the next moment he is closing the door behind him.
