Fighting For Life (published)

Are we friends?- Aiden's POV

She was right, Brianna was always right about me. I was a selfish dick that cared about no one but myself. That was what my actions dictated at least. Actions speak louder than words... right?

If I was any type of good man, I would've known what was going to happen. I would've saved her, I would have saved Bri. I was not a good man though, and I practically hand delivered my little sister into the hands of a disguised beast.

I would never be like my father, a good man with good intentions, only to be stopped by disease. That was part of the reason that I hated looking so much like him... I was nothing like him. No, I was a bad man with clouded judgements. I was still alive, I probably would live to be super old because that was how messed up the world was. That's how the world works; the good die and the bad keep living

I was startled out of my hurt-filled walk when I heard my phone ding. It had been well over an hour since I had begun my little expedition. When I got my phone out of my pocket there were a few texts and few missed calls.

Tommy: where are you? I thought we were going to play COD?

Brandon: we're starting without you.

Mom: Aiden, where are you? I don't mind you leaving, but you need to tell me where you are and that you're not dead on the street somewhere.

I texted my mom back quickly. I apologized that I hadn't told her and made up an excuse. I let her know that I was going to be crashing with Tom that night so she didn't expect me home. In fact, I had no intentions of going to Tommy's. I loved my cousin and best friend, but they'd be way too much for me in that moment.

I looked around slowly and took in the scene around me. It was a park. Not just any park, the only park my dad had ever brought me to. It was as if my subconscious mind wanted to twist the knife a little more.

I sighed and slowly walked further into the quiet and person-less park. I looked from the swings, to the jungle gym, to the tether ball pole that no longer had a ball at the end. So many good memories were made there. Then dad left the first time.

I hadn't been there since I was four and a half. That was when my mom kicked my dad out for the first time dur to his addiction. After that, my mom had to start working double and triples just to keep us afloat. No one had any time to take me to the park anymore. By the time my dad got sober and came back, I was twelve and more into video games and boxing rather than playing on a play sets.

I sighed and walked towards the swings, the swings were always my favorite. As I was walking over to the swings, I came up behind a bench. In the bench, there was someone balled up with their face tucked into their legs tightly. Then I heard it... the sniffles and the quiet sobbing. Whoever it was, was hurting. I didn't know if it was physically or emotionally, but they were hurting badly.

Against my better judgment, mostly because I didn't usually get involved in that kind of thing, I walked around the bench silently. I took in the person's appearance and couldn't see any visible wounds. The only thing that I could see, due to her bent up position and hood covering mostly everything except the long brown hair sticking out of it, was that it was a pretty small girl.

More sobs wracked through her body as she sniffled. I felt so bad for her. Her sobs were full of agony and sadness, I just wanted to reach out and hug her.

"Um excuse me miss, are you okay?" I asked hesitantly.

The girl immediately stopped sobbing. A long awkward minute passed as the girl still had her head down. I thought about leaving her alone, but I couldn't do that in good conscious. Finally, the girl looked up knocking my breath out of my chest.

"Aubry?" I was super surprised that it was her. Her brilliant green eyes were staring into mine as they were lit up by the few street lights that were around. Tears were still spilling over eyelids rapidly. "Are you okay?" I asked bending down to her level so I could see her face more clearly.

She simply nodded and cleared her throat shifting in her seat. "Did someone hurt you?" I asked. She didn't say anything to my question. However, the tears started to slow down thankfully.

Finally she opened her mouth and said in a hoarse voice, "do you want to sit with me?"

The question caught me off guard and before I could actually take a moment to think about it, I nodded. She scooted over and I took the spot next to her.

We didn't say anything for a long while as a comfortable silence enveloped us. She stared up at the night sky looking amazed by it.

I, however, couldn't take my eyes off of her. She had no makeup on and you could clearly see the now-healing bruises all over her face. Her eyes were slightly swollen and red rimmed, the cut on her cheek was scabbed and, her nose looked normal. She was gorgeous... and it pained me to think that. Sitting next to her was very calming. I could tell I had the same effect on her as well, her whole demeanor was more relaxed.

"Sooo, shitty thanksgiving huh?" I asked wanting to hear her voice, god I'm such a creep.

She snorted loudly making me chuckle. "You have absolutely no idea," she stated while shaking her head. "What about you? Obviously you aren't walking around an abandoned park because you just like to."

I shrugged, "I don't know, just some shit going I'm going through I guess."

"Are you okay Aiden?" She asked suddenly. It was a question that I didn't know if I've ever actually been asked and felt the need to tell the truth about it.

I thought for a moment and shrugged, "do I really have a choice to not be?"

She half smiled, "I guess not."

We went back into a comfortable silence. Being near Aubry was nice, I didn't have to pretend to be happy or try to be sexy. I was just me and she was just her. It was easy and natural.

She had begun to sag and was leaning towards me unconsciously.

"Aiden?" She asked me as her voice sounded groggy. "Are we friends?"

I thought it over for a second, not sure of the answer. I wanted to say no, but I couldn't deny the obvious. She was who I had spent most of my time with and talked to the most. I did like her, though I convinced myself that it was strictly platonically. Plus, I really wanted to get to know her more. I finally answered her, "Um yes, Aubry I think we are."

Her head had drooped on my shoulder and she yawned quietly. "I've never had a friend before," She stated snuggling closer to me. I knew that she would have been embarrassed, had she not been almost all the was asleep.

I didn't say anything and within a few minutes, Aubry's eyes were closed and her breathing was even. She was dead asleep.

Her skin was cold and she was starting to shiver slightly, all she had on was sweat pants and her light hoodie. I took off my leather jacket and draped it around her. I slid her down into my lap trying to make her more comfortable. Though I knew that the bench wasn't going to be very good no matter how hard I tried.

As I did that, I studied her bruised face a little bit more. Something about her made me want to fiercely protect her. Since she was my friend... from that moment on, I would do everything in my power to protect the girl.

A/n-
So I wanted to put a little bit of a cutesy chapter in. what do you think?? Also who do you picture as the cast? I was thinking about MAYBE doing a cast list for this story so let me know who you think should be who! Please point out any mistakes! Comment, vote and share!