The Chronicles of Aida Sickler | H.S

nineteen.

"Baby. There's no food." His girlfriend called out after slamming the freezer door, a look of sadness plastered across her face soon to be plastered over my own and everyone else's faces.

I excused myself to the guest room and pulled out my phone to text my mom. I told her some bullshit lie about me staying at Alicia's, then I texted Alicia and told her to tell my mom, no matter what, that I was residing at her house. She was confused for a bit but I told her I'd explain at school the next day, if I even got enough sleep to go.

Harry came into the room I went into to make my calls, shutting the door behind him. "You don't know how much I hate you right now."

"Why do you hate me?" He chuckled, leaning against the door. "Be mad at the rain. It's not my fault the roads are flooded, we live on a very hilly-"

"Harry. I am in a house with people I do not know. I barely know you, and you all are on drugs!"

"Apartment."

"What?"

"It's not a house, it's an apartment." He chuckled. "And they're all on drugs. Not I."

"Oh so now you think this is funny? Harry we have class tomorrow." I tried to emphasize on the word class to see if it actually got through his skull, but he only seemed to furrow his bushy eyebrows. "I don't know if you're cool with not sleeping in your bed but I would like to sleep in mine. I haven't eaten since lunch and I left my chips in the auditorium-"

"So now it's my fault?" He suddenly barked and I furrowed my brows at his abrupt mood change, even though I understood why. He had a reason to be aggravated, I was screaming at him. "No one was holding a knife to your neck forcing you to come with me."

"Maybe not a knife but a plastic spoon that screamed, if you say no, I'll do some damage." I challenged him humorously, just a little intimidated by his dominating nature soon to get worse if I kept retaliating.

He scoffed before throwing his hands up. "You know what? You're right. It's all my fault you decided to ride with me in my car to my friend's house."

"Don't do that."

His lips curled and his nose flared. "Do what? Tell you you're right? Cause that's what you want to hear, isn't it. I wouldn't put you in that type of situation."

"And how do I know that? We barely know each other, Harry. We met in a fucking park three weeks ago. The roads could be completely fine for all I know!"

"So now I'm the creepy senior who's prey is a naive sophomore like yourself. Please give yourself some credit. You're not that fucking stupid." Harry began to take a few steps forward. "Go outside. Check for yourself. The roads are blocked, Aida. The storm that's coming? It's not going to fucking stop to prove a point. Sometimes you just have to deal with the shit you have." He clearly showed me that not only was he mad at me, but mad at the way I was acting.

I whispered as he moved closer to me, irises darkening and fists clenching at his sides. "Okay hey, relax. I guess I'll be fine." My attempt in changing my attitude didn't suffice as he cornered me against the dresser, the space between us drastically decreasing. "Harry?" He looked fucking pissed at me and I thought calling his name would bring him back into reality.

"You won't guess. You will be fine. You have a bed to sleep in. Be grateful." He growled before reaching into his jean jacket pocket, pulling out a flattened bag of chips. They were the potato chips I left in the auditorium that evening. "You left these." Harry turned away from me, beginning to walk back over to the door that he closed behind him just a few minutes prior.

"Wait-" I called out to him, hearing commotion through the thin walls. I didn't want it to end how it did; we had to sleep in the same bed after all. Biting my lip and wondering if the others were listening to us, I paused for a millisecond to hear if they were still talking about the frame rate on the video. They were.

"What." Harry hissed after I hadn't spoken for a while.

I gulped back my words, seeing his back muscles contracting under the jacket he had on, glancing at the side of his face with my eyes wide. "Is there something.. more? I feel like this is deeper than what we're arguing about." The way he was yelling at me didn't quite click with the situation. He had so much anger built up and I had so much confusion, we were arguing but so many things were left unsaid.

"You're very ungrateful." He didn't waste any time or sugarcoat it. One hand reached up to his curls like it always did, ruffling the drying hair. There was a good amount of silence between the both of us, his words sinking into the air and making it heavier than it already was. I didn't say anything back because I was too busy trying to understand all of it fully. "I could've let you walk in the rain. I didn't have to give you a ride. I didn't even have to bring you here, into my world. But you know what? I did. And you just can't seem to wrap your head around that. It's very frustrating."

I looked down at my feet in shame, but gathered up my words to say calmly. "Harry. I am grateful, I am very glad you gave me a ride. But this wasn't like, you introducing me to your friends because you wanted to." I let my words settle in for a second as my hands held the bag of chips close to my chest. "I'm not someone special in your life. I'm not. People pass through, you have experiences with them and they move on."

He turned around with his head tilted to the side just a bit. "Not all the time." He muttered.

A yawn fell from my lips unexpectedly and I tried to hold it back, bringing one hand up to cover my mouth. "What do you mean?"

"Physically, yes. They move on. But they stay with you. No matter how much you try and forget about them, whether they have hurt you or whether you have hurt them, they have an imprint in your head. Sometimes in your heart." He noticed I wasn't responding and shook his head. "I'll get you some clothes to sleep in."

"Thank you." That was all I could say in that moment, and it still didn't seem like enough. He closed the door behind him, leaving me neither confused nor upset, but somewhere in between.