Unbound by Sea

Two | Reality Bites

"Is she able to contact her mom? She should have a legal guardian," the police officer stated with a poker face.

The poker-faced officer, explained the situation to Aiden. Apparently Bridgette had to have a familial connection eager to take her in legally unless someone else wants to be her foster parent here. Otherwise, if she had none, she'd have to be taken in to the orphanage. At the moment, all her relatives were outside Denmark, meaning she'd have to move if any of them wanted to take her in.

"Okay, Jakub. Please contact me too if you find her mom or family," Aiden said standing up.

"Okay, kid. Go then. Your girlfriend's waiting for you," he dismissed Aiden in such a way that made Aiden make a funny face.

"She's not my girlfriend, Sir Petersen," Aiden said with an attempt to annoy the officer.

A raised eyebrow was the answer.

Aiden turned around to see Bridgette standing with her hands folded near the hallway door. He walked towards her with his hands in his pockets.

"Everything settled?" he asked.

"Yeah. If you mean I don't have any job to pay the school's tuition, to pay house fares, and to eat," Bridgette rolled her eyes. She became bitter and sarcastic ever since the funeral. Nobody came to the funeral. It was only her, Aiden, the pastor, and the gravedigger. Hard to believe that her dad was actually a pretty successful person back then. If not, how were they able to move to Denmark all the way from the Indonesian tropical breeze?

"Okay, Bridgette. I'm going to find foster parents for you. Let's go have lunch," he took Bridgette's shoulder and brought her outside the police office.

"So much for foster parents. Nobody would like a girl like me. Even my own mom hates me," Bridgette mumbled.

Aiden didn't answer her. She needed some space to loosen up. "Let's go to our usual. You like it there," he said walking her downtown.

They were silent along the way, deep in their own thoughts. Bridgette was thinking who she would live with. It was obvious she couldn't go crashing in to Aiden's home. He's got problems with his mom. She'd seen him quarrel with her a lot. Then who would she go to? Is she going to move abroad?

Aiden was figuring out who would like to take Bridgette in. He's got lots of friends, but he felt awkward to ask about taking a girl in. After all, he sacrificed his playing time with them only to take care of Bridgette these past days. He couldn't play or watch games with them and suddenly just make them do a favour for Bridgette, right? They'd think she was his girlfriend. That is not good. He likes another girl, and if his crush finds out he has a girlfriend, she wouldn't let him talk to her. 'Oh whatever. Who cares about awkwardness', he thought.

They got to 'their usual' and ate in silence. Aiden looked over to Tivoli's trash trucks idling past an old building. Tivoli. That was the place he first met Bridgette.

"You wanna drop by Tivoli?" Aiden broke the unspoken words between them.

"No. I need to save my money. And besides, it reminds me of my parents," Bridgette replied curtly.

"Right."

The unspoken words between them was the saddest part of all the things happening to them. Each other knew, that they wanted to share their burden, let go and release the giant dam in front of their hearts. But they were only too aware that each other's problems would make each other more concerned. And they didn't want that. They wanted to forget about their problems. But I guess we all know that they can't. Reality bites.

Bridgette was the most guilty of all. She knew she was hurting her best friend by replying with curt and sarcastic answers. But she couldn't help it. Everything was weighing her down and she can't let out her anger on anyone. She didn't want to hurt Aiden. She wanted to let him know how thankful she was to him. He took care of her for the past few days: bringing her food and asking how she was. That was little of all he'd done. But she wasn't back to her old pragmatic self yet. Not yet.