Love-Love || OLD DRAFT

eleven - eleven

Before I could come up with an appropriate reaction, he had already stepped away and flown out of the window, without a goodbye or even a backward glance.

I stood numb for a while, too many emotions clouding all my senses. Slowly, I looked down at the packet in my hand.

I let out a sound between a sob and a chuckle and I wasn’t sure whether I was crying or smiling. In my hand, I held a tiny, prettily decorated gift box, the very same one that contained the bracelet I had bought for Roux earlier that day. The one I had left on a bench in the middle of the city square!

“Fucking bitch,” I muttered, shaking my head and clearly smiling this time. I pocketed the gift, pulled on my mask and jumped out of the window through which Aspen had vanished a minute ago.

He was standing on a ledge right underneath the window, clearly waiting for me. He pretended to look surprised when I landed next to him but broke into a smug smile when I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Fuck you,” I said. “Since when have you been following me?”

“Who, me?” He placed his hands over his chest in an overly dramatic fake gesture. “I’d never.”

“It’s a violation of privacy,” I informed.

“Killing people is a violation of everything,” he countered without missing a beat.

Whether I liked it or not, that shut me up. I looked away from him and at the vast expanse of the city lying in front of us. We were on a building far removed from the main hustle of the city but I still wondered what would happen if someone saw the two of us standing side by side on top of a building, staring out at the city that was currently under attack—by my supposed allies, no less. Storm would lose all the trust he had gained from the people.

“They have hostages,” Aspen said. I followed his gaze towards the eastern-most side of the city, right where the river was.

“What’re they trying to do?” I muttered, more to myself than to him.

“Trying to lure me out… or us,” he added, throwing a quick glance at me. “They’ve captured the Moonline Hotel and that’s where the hostages are. If it were you, I’d call it a gimmick but I’m not sure about Wurzel. I’m just surprised he hasn’t killed the people—”

“Fire,” I broke in, unsure of why I said it. “His weakness is fire.” And earth and water his strengths, I reminded myself miserably.

Aspen cursed under his breath and I had a feeling I wasn’t meant to hear it.

“I still don’t think I can do it, Aspen,” I said, fingers brushing against my pocket where the bracelet lied. “I fucked up. She hates me now. She’ll never pick me over Linden.”

“Friends fight, Ridge, all the time.”

I let out a dry laugh. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Fine,” Aspen threw up his hands in surrender. “Let’s say she hates you now. Let’s say you fail to convince her to stop and we have a huge fight and you end up dead. But at least you end up dead trying.”

Satan, wasn’t he a beautiful ray of sunshine!

“That was romantic, thank you,” I said turning to face him. Aspen either did not catch on the sarcasm or he ignored it because he flashed me a bright smile.

“So what say, partner,” he said ‘partner’ in a ridiculous cowboy accent. “Ready to go fight alongside me for once?”

He held out his hand towards me. I eyed it and then raised two fingers in front of his face.

“For the second time,” I corrected.

He dropped all mirth and smiled honestly. “Just don’t take a bullet for me this time.”

I groaned. “Are you ever going to let that go?!”

He chuckled and raised his outstretched hand, as if to bring my attention towards it. I rolled my eyes and placed my hand on his, lacing our fingers together.

I looked away from him and back at the city. I felt warm, but it wasn’t due to the fire.

“I’m not sure if this is the right time to say this,” Aspen said, “but black really looks good on you,” I was about to smirk and say something witty when he added, “and the Horwitz are in the possession of a weapon that can kill Supers.”

...

I loved writing this, they're too cute, hehe. I hope you liked reading it.