The room was still completely dark.
I sighed, more than relieved, after I stopped breathing for a minute. What the hell was I even thinking?!
This was the worst idea I've ever had! Asking Aidan of all people to accompany me. I didn't even remember what exactly got into me but it was definetely not a concious decision I made there.
I didn't even notice that I hadn't been moving an inch since I threw Henry (the Happy meal rabbit, in case you didn't remember) against Aidan's window. Fortunately, he didn't seem to wake up and I closed my eyes just to shake my head in disbelief.
Oh, Ellie, how desperate have you been to come back to this offer?
At least my karma saved my bum this time and I turned around to quickly go to bed before I'd think of something silly again.
I took off my jumper to change into something more comfortable-
When I heard it. The sound of an opening window that was followed by a slow and raspy voice calling my name.
"Ellie?", he asked, still sounding rather sleepy, and I was sure I have never ducked faster in my life than in this very moment.
I kneed on the ground, like a scared rabbit hiding from a wolf, so he wouldn't be able to see me.
I didn't make a single sound- not even dared to breathe. The fact that I didn't have enough time to throw on a tee and was basically lying on the floor with nothing but a bra to cover my upper half, was, so to say, just the cherry on top.
"Hey, Smellie, I can still see your shadow so just come out and tell me what's up", Aidan told me and my cheeks felt like they just caught fire.
I had to put on something, anything would've been okay, so I wouldn't have to live with the fatal knowledge that Aidan, I repeat, Aidan Knight saw me in my bright pink bra that had a little dotted bow in the middle.
I crawled on the ground like some weird ninja and reached to a black top that was lying on the floor (I was lucky that I never cleaned up and my room was still a mess).
"What are you doing there? Are you playing some weird hide and seek games with me?", he said puzzled but amused at the same time. When I finally succeeded to put on the shirt without him seeing me, I decided not to run away this time as it probably would've been even more awkward then.
With my head held in shame, I knew there was no way out now so I slowly got up from my, admittedly hilarious, pose and turned around.
I didn't have the courage to look at him though so I just stood there with my messy hair, bright red cheeks and arms crossed in vain.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you", I muttered quickly, hoping he would leave it at that and I could go to sleep and forget this night ever happened.
But as you have probaby already guessed, he didn't. He was too clever and malicious to believe me so he grinned and giggled when saying:
"You haven't changed one bit, have you?"
His raspy laugh irritated me a bit, but I quickly snatched back to reality to realise what he just said.
"What do you mean?", I asked confused and put on a rather annoyed face since I could tell something silly was coming just by looking at his dumb smile.
"You've always been ashamed when asking for help. I'll never forget your face when we were seven and you just couldn't open that bottle of orange juice so you finally asked me and-"
"Okay, I got it! Stop! Please stop bringing up old memories. They don't mean anything anyway", I interrupted him harshly and the grin on his face disappeared in an instant.
I felt a bit bad but I couldn't stand any old memories from our past right now. I was in a bad mood and he was making it even worse when he talked about our childhood.
He looked at the ground, sighing slowly, and looked into my eyes again, now seeming a bit disappointed and annoyed.
"You really can't change, Ellie"
"Neither can you, Aidan", I replied grumpily though I was the one starting this whole conversation.
We didn't say anything for a few seconds and just looked at each other, both with their best shut-the-hell-up-face.
Now I was pretty sure he wouldn't be wanting to cope with me anymore after everything I said but then when I looked up, I could see how his eyes suddenly lit up and widened as he shook his head.
"Are you alright?", he asked out of nowhere in a soft and caring voice that confused me.
Did he want to make fun of me now?
But his voice sounded too serious for that.
"Why do you ask? I'm fine", I lied but I saw the worried look on his face and didn't know what facial expression to pull.
"Do you want me to come over and talk?", he asked and if I had drunk something before, I would have spilled it all out now, like in some cliché movie.
"N-no!", I shouted a bit to nervous and a bit too loud. I didn't want my mother to wake up right now. Trying to reduce the volume of my voice, I whispered angrily:
"What are you even thinking?! I'd never let you put a foot in my room, especially not when it's almost midnight!"
"But why did you call me then?", he whispered back, this time obviously irritated.
And that's when he got me. I didn't know the answer either. All I knew was that I felt bad and wanted to take a walk in the dark and couldn't go alone so the only person I could ask would be him but-
"Tell me, Ellie. I won't judge you", he assured me and I couldn't understand why his words made me feel so bad about myself and forced me to spill the truth. I forgot how angry I just was. I knew the wall that I just set up to hide my feelings broke down into small pieces when he was giving me that look.
Did I even have a choice?
"I-...I had a terrible day. And, I swear, I wouldn't have called you, really, if there was any other person who could possibly help me right now", I admitted in a soft voice when I suddenly rememberd my "fight" with Beth.
"What can I do?", he asked.
My head felt so heavy and without further thinking, my answer erupted from my lungs, a lot faster and a bit more desperate than I had originally planned.
"Come with me. To the forest, near the corn field. You don't have to talk. You don't even have to listen to what I say or mumble but please, please just go there with me. I don't want to be alone right now"
Surprised by my words, he nodded and turned off the lights in his room. Though it was dark, I could see him putting on a jacket, a scarf and shoes that seemed to be a pair of trainers.
And then a well-known sight appeared in front of my eyes.
He was climbing out of his window and gave me the hand sign that meant "start".
I quickly put on some warm clothes and boots when I did something I hadn't been doing since a very long time.
I climbed on the big branch of the tree that was connecting my room with Aidan's. It was a funny coincidence that there was a tree growing between our houses, just high and solid enough to become his and my "bridge" (at least that's what we called it when we were younger).
Though it's been such a long time, my body rememberd every move, every branch I should hold onto next, every step to arrive to his window frame where he would be waiting for me with his arm fully stretched so he could pull me into his room.
We always did this when we were younger (before our big fight that made me realise what douche he really was) when we wanted to play together but our mothers wouldn't allow us. We just sneaked into each other's rooms and then got up to every nonsense rebellious kids could come up with.
This time was a bit different though.
We were older now. Some things happened between us. I was an emotional mess, and he was a jerk. I was thankful for his help but I couldn't forget who was standing in front of me. I couldn't forget the past just yet.
"Okay, now give me your hand", he whispered carefully when I almost reached his window.
I nodded and grabbed his arm, slighty embarassed, and let him pull me into his room.
The situation got a bit more awkward when, how to put it, my body was all over his as we slipped and fell onto the floor in his bedroom. It didn't hurt though, since he caught me just in time and wrapped his arms around my waist.
My heartbeat reached its maximum when I noticed our faces were only inches apart and how his crystal blue eyes were piercing mine.
"S-sorry", I said quickly and released my grip from him to get up.
"It's okay", he answered quickly and got up as well.
The atmosphere became pretty weird when we both stared on the floor and didn't dare to look at each other.
"Should we get going now? My mom is asleep and I don't think she will notice if we're quiet", he suddenly whispered and I nodded promptly.
He lead the way out of his room and I watched a loose strand of his scarf moving from left to right. I forced myself to resist from pulling it out.
"Aidan", I whispered when we passed the stairs.
He was in the middle of opening the front door when he turned around to look at me.
"What's up? Have you changed your mi-"
"Thank you", I murmured weakly and walked past him, into the cold and dark night so he wouldn't see my face.
He didn't reply though, and it made me ask myself if he even heard me, but when I saw him following me silently, just a few steps away, I knew he understood what I had said.
With my burning cheeks and my beating heart, I couldn't decide if asking Aidan for help was either a good idea- or maybe the worst choice of all.
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A/N: Hey, everyone!
It's been such a long time since I updated To Be Honest. Still, I hope you have fun reading and I apologize for the long wait! School has been absorbing my whole leisure so I didn't have any time to come up with a new chapter. Have fun reading now though! The next chapter probably won't be 5 months away so don't worry! :)
And leave a comment if you like and have time, I would really appreciate it! <3
All the love!