Maybe drinking like it was the end of this unfair world was not such a good idea. Of course that doubt vanished as soon as it had appeared when Sheila downed her fifth vodka shot by letting her head fall back. "It is the greatest decision I have ever made!" she muttered to herself before letting out a groan and falling into the cushion made of her hands on the bar table.
Her dark brown hair spilled from her tight bun as she made herself comfortable on the seat. It wasn't her fault that the seat was hard as wood and made her butt numb. The tight skirt and tucked in blouse didn't help her condition either. Not that she needed those office-costumes now, anyway.
Her boyfriend had broken up with her. Not that it mattered alot - but he kept her sane, slightly.
She had also been fired from her job at the estate agency that evening. Hence, the quite long trip to the nearest bar. Her fault? "God knows what,"she replied to the thoughts churning in her head and lifted her head to see the world as a clear blur. Blinking furiously, slowly the surrounding atmosphere came into view and she sighed so loudly that it almost sounded like a groan. Propping her hands up, palms down on the table, she lifted herself up and hailed at one of the bartenders. As a black shirt came into her line of vision from the left, she mouthed 'cab' to him after realizing the volume of the music surrounding her. With a nod, he left.
Atleast I remember where the exit is, she thought before stepping out of the door which a bouncer had held open for her. The cold late November air hit her and she shivered before folding her hands across her chest and rubbing them. Her feet staggered as she took faster steps in search of the cab she had called. However, the feeling of something missing didn't leave her mind. At first she dismissed it as the reaction to the music beats, but even after managing to control her heartbeat, something nagged her at the back of her mind. She stood there rooted at her place as she tried to remember what was missing.
Her handbag.
Cursing loudly she went back and knocked on the exit. After two knocks and one kick, the door opened outwards, making her almost trip.
"Yes, Ma'am?," the bouncer who had opened the door for her asked with an eyebrow raised.
"My pu-purse," Sheila shivered while pointing to the table where she had drowned all her sorrorws. The cold had done quite a good job of bringing her back to her senses.
The bouncer's face lit up in realisation and he offered,"Why don't you come inside and wait, Ma'am? I'll get that back for you."
With a nod she entered inside and felt her body warming up from the heat. Maybe they have good heating, she thought while continuously rubbing back and forth on her left arm.
When Sheila was drowning in vodka, Aaron was busting a major drug chain nearby. Of course after going through the stinkiest and druggiest place more than twice, his gas had to hit almost zero. He considered himself lucky when his car broke down in front of a gas station. He considered himself happy when he saw a bar beside it.
"Party time," he said grinning, while getting out of the car and signalling Bob, the gas station owner, by raising his right hand in a semi-wave.
Bob was nothing like his name suggested. He was a man in his mid-thirties, always clean shaven and had a routine which began with a protein shake and continued by a 2 hour rigorous regime of gym. He always wore a tank top that made sure that he was not a person to be messed with. Our Aaron here had received Bob's love in the form of a punch aimed straight at his jaw. His jaw was a sight for about two weeks. The most important thing was that Bob was being playful.
Bob saluted back with two fingers from the glass pane and went back to discussing about his car's deal with the owners.
Aaron however had stopped in his tracks and had not given a damn about Bob's reply. He was, at that moment, enchanted by the person walking out of the exit.
It's Sheila, it has to be her, he thought.
He took two more steps and slid onto his hood, not once blinking his eyelids. Aaron saw her going back inside while mouthing a very audible 'Fuck' and then leaving the exit once more, wearing a brown khaki coat and a chocolate brown handbag on her right shoulder.
Sheila was walking with her head held down, hair covering her face, as the coat did little to save her from the agonizing cold. She was supposedly walking towards her designated cab, that had a lean figure and wore a..police jacket?
Sheila was now two feet away from Aaron and had her face scrunched up in confusion. The car didn't resemble anything and anywhere near a cab and neither did the person sitting calmly with an amused expression on his face look like a cab driver to her.
Aaron, on the other hand, was waiting for her face to lit up in recognition, which not only lit up but exploded in realization and Sheila stumbled back.
"Aaron,"she breathed in, tightening her arms around herself.
Aaron found it astonishing how her voice still made shivers run down his spine. He straightened up, removing his jacket and handing it to her. Sheila extended her hand shakily, taking the jacket and draping it around her.
Finally, she breathed out, "Thank you."
"You're welcome, Sheila."
***
It had basically been the most awkward moment of Sheila's life. Her heart had skipped a bit and she had proceeded to hug Aaron while throwing her arms around him, but had stopped midair because Aaron was holding his hand forward. Both of them had glanced at each others hands and then their gazes had shifted to their eyes. Aaron had let out a chuckle but Sheila was standing frozen with her cheeks burning as if they had caught fire. He had noticed her red cheeks and had lifted his other hand making it look like a hug, at the same time Sheila had extended her hand.
This time both of them released a shaky breath while chuckling and had settled for a meek 'Hi'.
Of course, their conversation had not stopped there and that was how Sheila was sitting next to Aaron, both of them - in his car. He had noticed her delusional - drunk, as Aaron silently quoted - state and asked her if she wanted a ride home. Hesitatingly, she had nodded and sat in the passenger seat of his SUV.
On second thoughts, Sheila thought, "Take me to your place," she said out loud after turning her head to look at him putting the key in ignition. Aaron's head snapped in her direction with a confused look on his face. "It's the same place, right?"she asked with slight doubtfulness, that was clearly noticeable in her tone. Aaron just nodded and a full toothed grin made its way on his lips.
Not living in a city had its own perks. Daffidale was a small town in the middle of nowhere with peaceful nights and warm mornings. The heat wave hit it once in a while and did quite a number on people's moods. Not that anyone complained about watching people go insane.
Daffidale had a large lake, geometrically at the centre. The ground around it was raised by four or five feet and a road was constructed around it, which in turn spread out in rays - joining even the smallest house in the town. Aaron's house was on the opposite side from the road that joined the bar and the lake, which meant a semi-circle around the lake and then straight ahead to the end of the road.
Sheila had always loved the night. When the world would sleep, she would be wide awake, staring at the twinkling stars, counting them, memorizing them. By the time she was sixteen, it didn't matter that she couldn't focus on studies or couldn't gather up the courage to get up every morning. She had all her stars for her rescue. The sky mesmerized her. Around midnight, every ripple formed on the lake would stop still and you could see the moon amidst the sea of stars.
"I don't remember the last time I actually took in the view from this lake," Aaron said as he took a right and began the journey around the lake.
"Nine years ago," Sheila whispered before her body stopped still and then she rolled down the window, propped her elbow up and rested her head as she replayed her nine year old memory. "Nine years ago. When we drove towards the grassland," she finished and a small smile made its way on her lips as she turned her head back to Aaron, just to see him smiling as well. At the same moment, he turned to look at her and both their smiles widened.
Some moments later, the cold began to creep in and she closed her window. Laying her head back on her seat, she turned at him. "So, how's army treating you?"
"You're never gonna let it go, are you?"
With the click of her tongue she dissolved into a shaky laugh. "It was your dream job - saving the world, joining the army. Being a hero." The last three words merely a whisper which she was sure he had caught on. Apparently, Aaron had decided to ignore it.
"I wish my father understood that as well."
"Mr. Savon - always the control freak."
Both of them chuckled at that statement of Sheila's. Comfortable silence fell between them and after a while Aaron whispered,"I missed that witty little tongue of yours."
"I missed you," Sheila said.
"I missed you, too."
It was astonishing how those four words had managed to heighten up the tension in the car.
"It's weird how our teen is the only time that we remember distinctly," Sheila said while fidgeting with her fingers, then scratching her ear, and repeating it again.
"You're nervous." Aaron stated in an amused tone while pulling into his driveway and turning the car off. "Come on, let's get you a little more sober. I have hot chocolate," he continued while unbuckling his seat belt and opening the door.
Before he could get around the car to open the door for her, she was out and had closed the door shut with a thud.
"Seriously? You broke my truck's door by doing the same thing nine years ago. Spare my SUV, will you?"
"Oh shut up! It's freezing out here. Open the damn door," Sheila replied while bouncing on every step towards his door.
***
"I lost my job, broke up with my not-so-important boyfriend and had to drown in my sorrows,"Sheila answered to Aaron's question about her being in the bar before taking a sip of her steaming drink. Apparently, Aaron really had hot chocolate.
"You had a boyfriend?! Not-so-important?!" Aaron almost burned his tongue.
"Oh come on! You know how I am about my feelings about guys. Love and my ways are complete opposites. I still wonder when the day will come that I'll get up from my bed willingly. Love life wasn't really the highest priority, you know."
A moment of silence descended upon them. Both of them lost in their own thoughts. Eyes wandering over furniture, memories replaying, connecting the dots, painting the entire picture. High school had imprinted its own map in their minds.
Out of the blue, Sheila blurted out,"We wouldn't have lasted anyway." Her eyes trained on a lump of chocolate mix swirling in her cup. Lifting her gaze, she met Aaron's piercing blue stare, "You knew that, right?"
Aaron was speechless. He knew that he had to face his demons one day but didn't expect them to catch up so soon. He had not stopped running, and yet there they were, in front of him, answers written all over her face and the want to be understood in her brown eyes.
"I don't know what to say except that I understand, Sheila. I don't know what to feel except I know that what we had was real."
Sheila relaxed under the softness of his eyes, covering herself up from the harshness of the world.
"But, there are thousands of questions with no one to answer. You knew that. You knew that the moment I threw the cigarette and crushed it under my feet, once and forever."
"I'm still not over it Aaron."
"But,"he breathed out,"But I thought the meds were helping."
She sighed and shook her head.
"Do you think the old methods would work?" he asked after a moment of reconsideration, a wicked smile on his face, and a glint of mischievousness in his eyes - challenging her, daring her to say no.
"Maybe," she stretched out and slowly looked at him, before hastily getting up and walking towards the stairs. "If you catch me!" she shouted before running up.
And that was the beginning of something old, yet crude.
***
Sheila suffered from depression - not that she showed it. But, she hid it well under her bad girl facade. Inside, her world would fall apart. And the days when she used to wake with a carefree smile, she would pick up her broken pieces and hold them together with all her strength, just to be hit with another storm. Eventually, she stopped trying and began fading, slowly and then completely.
Until..
Aaron had entered her life as her tutor for Calculus. Sheila was amused by the way he combed back his ear-long hair with his fingers. With charming looks and a geeky personality he had managed to carve his way into her life. Her heart though? It was a completely different kingdom to conquer.
It began with a cigarette that Aaron shared with Sheila during one of the tutoring lessons, who had immediately hated its taste.
It continued with midnight drives around the lake, with her grazing the landscape and engraving it in her mind and snow fights early in the morning.
It ended with a kiss on her forehead and both of them snuggling and eventually falling asleep.
It ceased to exist when she left - to find herself and undergo a treatment that would change her life. Feelings were hurt. Questions arose. And hearts were crushed.
But now they were here. As Aaron held onto her sleeping figure, with a smile about his old methods doing good, he promised to just be there.
And never let her fade away again.