Ghost City

6

A knock sounded on my door, sending my heart racing out of my chest. Why was I so nervous? "Come in," I invited. I had recently gotten back from dropping Aurora off at school and was wondering if Damien had come to change his mind about whatever date he had planned.

"Hey," Damien said whole opening the door. "So I was thinking we could do something light- a picnic to be exact- and I was wondering if you wanted to do it before Aurora would come off from school or after and include her in it."

"Um, we can do it before," I said. I was hoping we'd have a romantic picnic of some sort if Aurora wasn't involved, as opposed to a family picnic with Aurora asking a million questions about her parents' relationship status.

He nodded before asking, "Think you'll be ready in an hour?" I nodded while giving a gentle smile, and he nodded and left the room. I immediately rushed to my walk in closet and began ravaging through my stuff to find a cute outfit.

Two hours later
I checked the time on my phone as a way to avoid the awkward silence between the two of us. We had been sitting here in silence for about thirty minutes, and I was beginning to regret not including Aurora. At least there's be something to talk about.

"So," Damien and I said in unison. I guess he took notice of the awkward silence too. "You can go. No, you can."

I chuckled, "Okay, I'll go," and he smiled slightly and gave a gentle nod. "The car that we came here in, is that like a rental or your new car?"

"My new car," he answered.

I slightly frowned, "When did you get it?"

"Rico saw it yesterday and sent me a pic of it and I was like: that's fire. He dropped it off this morning," he answered.

I smiled, "I think it's fire too. I asked because got really looks like something you'd drive. It seem a bit personalized to your taste."

"Yeah, he did a few customizations to it before dropping it off so that it would better fit my style," he nodded. "I didn't know you took notice of my car preferences." I smiled while shrugging and picking up and eating a chocolate-covered strawberry. "What job do you do?"

I answered, "I'm a fashion designer at a company run by a friend of the family, but next month I'll be opening my own."

"That's dope," he nodded. He then asked, "Will it be like a luxury brand or like everyday wear?"

"I'm hoping to have a mixture of both. I wanna have modern and older looks in my store," I answered.

"Cool," he nodded. "I'm proud of you."

I smiled appreciatively, "Thanks." I then asked, "Do you have any plans of your own- obviously for the future. I don't expect you to jump into work after all you've been through. By the way, you can definitely talk to me about it if you ever want to vent."

He nodded, "I'm fine, thanks. I already started putting in job applications."

"You don't wanna wait a while before-" I got out until he cut me off.

He shook his head, "Time waits for no one, Sagacity. I gotta keep it pushing no matter what. I'm okay, and I'll continue to be okay."

"Yeah, but you should still take time to make sure you're mental health is-"

"I'm fine, Sagacity," he asserted in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Okay."

"Don't be like that."

"Be like what?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

"Wouldn't have asked if I did, now would I?"

"Watch your mouth," Damien frowned, causing me to frown as well.

"Or what, Damien?" I asked as I looked him up and down. The audacity of this guy.

He rolled his eyes and sighed, "Always something with you."

"You're the one who got annoyed with me for caring about your well being. If anything there's always something with you," I argued.

"There is always something with me, Sagacity. There has always been and will always be something with me, that's why I'm fine. Yeah, that was my first time, and hopefully last, getting kidnapped, but it's not the only time I've been through tough shit. I've always had it rough and I've always coped with it, so when I say I'm fine, I'm fucking fine!" he said, annoyance clear is his voice.

I nodded, "Well forgive me for being worried."

He sighed and looked up at the sky for a while before connecting eyes with me again. "I appreciate your care, but I need you to understand boundaries as well. If I don't wanna talk about something, I don't need you trying to pressure me into talking about it. There's a lot you don't know because my way of dealing with shit is keeping it to myself and using it as a motivation to go harder."

"Okay, but what am I even here for if you can't even talk to me about what I'm assuming has been a traumatic situation for you? I know you won't wanna go to a therapist or anything because your pride is always-" I got out before he cut me off.

He shook his head, "It doesn't have anything to do with my pride."

"It has everything to do with your pride," I disagreed. "You never admit when you're down. That's sort of the reason you got kidnapped in the first place. Had you talked to me before about seeing certain shit, I would've told my father and he'd keep an eye out."

"So now it's my fault I got kidnapped," he huffed, completely misunderstanding what I was saying.

"That's not what I meant," I shook my head.

"You just said that's sort of the reason I got kidnapped," he said with a blank look. I opened my mouth to speak, but he beat me to it by saying, "Just forget it."

"D-" I got out.

"Nah," he shook his head. "You want me to talk about my feelings? Okay. It was bad enough when you pointed a fucking gun to my head when you saw me, but to fucking blame me for getting kidnapped? What the actual fuck, Sagacity?! I'd never do nor say some fucked up shit like that to you!"

"I-"

"Don't even try to apologize now," he rolled his eyes. "I'm going for a walk. If I take another 16 months to show up, just squeeze the trigger." With that said, he got up and walked away, and I stayed seated as I tried to figure out how shit went south so quickly and how to approach him without getting his classic fuck off, but I ultimately sided with giving him his space.

A/N: forgot to post yesterday 😬 posting days will now be Thursdays and Saturdays! I'll also post two other chapters to make up for not posting yesterday 😌