I'm Going Slightly Mad

Chapter Thirteen

Yesterday had been his one month anniversary at the bookstore, and it had been hellish. Saturdays were always busy, and Aaron was stuck working the register all day. Somebody had tried to screw him, handing him a few bills and rushing off before Aaron could tell him he was still ten dollars short. Another employee caught him and forced him to cough up those last ten dollars, but Aaron still felt stupid about it. Then there was a small teenage girl with what seemed to be her first debit card. She didn’t understand exactly how it worked, and, evidently entered in her PIN wrong, which blocked her card, rendering unable to be used. She had panicked and burst into tears, and for some reason, Aaron pitied her. She was only buying one eight dollar paperback, so Aaron told her it was on him, and added eight bucks from his own wallet to the register. She’d been so grateful that she cried harder, and gushed with thanks, unintentionally making him feel extremely uncomfortable, and drawing attention to them both. Aaron had never regretted doing the right thing before, but this awkward and pathetic girl brought him pretty close.

The day had sucked even more than they usually did, and Aaron was unbelievably glad that it was Sunday.

Lucas dropped by to provide moral support, after hearing of his bad day, and Miles had made it a ritual to come and hang out with Aaron every Sunday, so they were both here, improving Aaron’s mood even more than he expected. He was sprawled out on the couch with his head on Miles’s lap, his feet on Lucas’s, just vegging out in front of the television, and he couldn’t think of anywhere he’d rather be. Miles had managed to find a TV program that actually interested Aaron, miracle of miracles, and Aaron had been absorbed in it for the last two hours. It was about cars, which meant Lucas was interested too, and had much more humor than usual for an informative program, so even Miles was enjoying it. There were snacks and beverages on the coffee table, and everything was perfect. Aaron wanted things to be like this forever. Even though Lucas was alternating between shoving Aaron’s feet off his lap, and tickling them mercilessly (and seriously, this was the last time he ever told Lucas one of his weaknesses), he was happier than he’d been all month.

He sighed contentedly and pressed his head up into Miles's hand, which was running through his hair. Miles complemented his hair all the time, and couldn't seem to believe how silky it was, so he often touched it, seeming distracted as he did so. Aaron didn't mind. It felt nice, and it made him feel good about himself, so it was okay. He didn't keep his hair so silky for no reason, after all.

He felt Lucas shift a treacherous hand nearer to his foot, and preemptively kicked him in the thigh. Lucas grunted in pain, but laughed softly.

“Do not tickle me,” Aaron growled, trying his best to sound threatening.

“Or what?” Lucas taunted.

Aaron smirked. “Or I’ll kick you somewhere else,” he retorted.

Miles chuckled. Lucas glowered at them both.

“Do that and you spend a night in prison,” Lucas said ominously.

“Oh, really? On what charges?”

“I could always actually give you all the speeding tickets you should have by now. Have you any idea how many I’ve gotten you out of? I’m sure if it wasn’t for that, you’d be way over the limit, and I could get you for driving on a suspended license,” Lucas explained.

Aaron sat up to stare at him. “You’ve put a lot of thought into that,” he remarked.

Lucas smiled. “Yes I have.”

Vaguely concerned, Aaron scooted closer to Miles, as far away from Lucas as he could get. Lucas looked smug. Miles looked... pink.

“You okay?” Aaron asked, frowning at Miles. “Your face is all red.”