Trust Me

Chapter 11

We made it to the park about 10 minutes after he picked me up.  The only thing we had to see by were the street lights that dotted the driveway up to the parking lot, only slightly illuminating the surrounding features. 

“So, what do you want to do?” I asked as we exited his truck in the vacant parking lot.  I walked around his truck to see him, finding that the side of his face that I couldn’t see while we were in the truck was covered in scrapes.  A bruise consumed the cheekbone just beneath his eye, and a small amount of blood had dried at the corner of his mouth. 

“Aidan, what happened to you?” I demanded instantly.

“Got in a fight, no big deal,” he explained.  I looked over him again and again, wondering why he had gotten into a fight, who it was with, and how badly the other person had been injured. 

“Your left cheek is covered in cuts and bruises.  It kinda is a big deal,” I pointed out, taking a step closer to examine his injuries more fully.  I had no idea who did this to him, but I wanted to kill whoever did.  Who could possibly think it was okay to hurt Aidan Fosco?  My friend?  No one messes with my friends without getting payback.

“Don’t worry about it, Ash.  Stuff happens.  I’m fine,” he assured me.  I nodded my head, trying to ignore the fact that someone had actually hurt him.  But he said not to worry about it, so I had to respect that, right? 

We trekked across the parking lot to the playground, unable to see much of anything.  The lights that dotted the driveway up to the parking lot didn’t offer much light in the way of the playground, so we were left to see by the moon.  I was at a disadvantage with Aidan wearing all black.  The only thing on him I could see when he was hiding were the bright red tips of his hair. 

“Hide and seek!  If I find you, you have to kiss me!” Aidan called out from his mystery location. 

“Fine!  If I find you, you have to buy me a coffee!” I added, searching for a suitable hiding spot to start in. 

“Good luck.  You’re wearing lime green pants.  I’m in all black,” he pointed out.

Without Aidan in sight, I climbed up the stairs on one end of the playground to the fort at the top.  I could conceal myself within its walls and under its roof until I could find a better place to hide. 

From the wall I peered out over the mulched area to see if I could spot him anywhere. 

“I just thought of something,” I called out.

“What?” Aidan replied, his voice coming from below me.  He had to have been in the lower level of the fort.  Probably under the stairs.

“If we’re both searching for each other, we’re not going to move,” I pointed out.

“You’re right.  All right, best two out of three.  Whoever finds the other more often wins,” Aidan suggested.

“Who hides first?” I questioned.  I turned around to stop peering over the wall in hopes of scouting out a hiding place, turning right into the kiss.  Two soft lips met mine briefly, leaving me forgetting the hiding spot I had decided upon.

“Well, I just found you, so I guess I’ll give you a second chance to hide, princess,” he whispered. 

“Don’t call me princess.  And good luck finding me,” I told him.  He plunged into the tube slide that came off another side of the fort—a pretty extensive structure, really.  It contained two levels.  The top level had stairs on one side, a tube slide on another, a bridge on the third, and a rock-climbing wall on the fourth.  The bridge led to another fort on the other side sporting most of the same equipment, except for the rock climbing wall.  That was replaced with a climbing net.  Well, and the slide didn’t have a top on it.  It was just a regular old slide.  A half pipe.  The bottom levels of the fort had bridges connecting them, and bridges that connected to the outer corners of the play structure.  That outer corners were like a freaking fast food play place.  They were these huge structures that were filled with all sorts of tubes, nets, rooms, and everything else that made them so much fun to race and hide in.  Then there were the swings that came off of the outer corners, completing every child’s dream on a fantastic playground—and came out at the bottom.  He grinned up at me and told me I had 20 seconds to get out of his sight before he came looking for me.