Chapter Two
..:Aaron:..
My eyes shot open at the annoying sound of my alarm clock blaring in my ears. Remembering Rachel lying next to me, I quickly turned the alarm off, falling back against the bed. Just as I figured, Rachel was still fast asleep. Her pillow was covering her head. I smiled as a devious thought popped into my head. I pulled the pillow from her, waiting to see if she would wake up, and threw it at her. She didn’t even stir, instead, she re-wrapped her body around mine, intertwining her legs around mine.
I felt her warm breath every time she exhaled on my naked torso. I closed my eyes, drifting off again to sleep. It easily encompassed me and before I knew it, Rachel was banging on my stomach.
“Aaron, oh my God, we have to get to school. Look what time it is!” she exclaimed, pushing the clock into my face. My eyes adjusted to the LED lights blaring into them.
“What time is it, I can’t see the damn thing when you shove it so close,” I said, pushing the clock away sitting up looking at her. She looked adorable with her hair a mess and sleep in her eyes.
“It’s almost eleven o'clock. Mrs. Jameson must not have thought to wake us up this morning!” she exclaimed, jumping out of the bed and leaving my room. As she left, her intoxicating scent stayed in the room. It made me want her that much more. I knew I should have told her my feelings a long time ago, that I was in love with her, but I couldn't find the courage to do that. Running my hands through my hair, I stood up and searched through my drawers for clean clothes. My stomach started growling before I managed to pull them on.
I made my way down stairs and rummaged through the cupboards for something to eat. As I sat down at the table and started eating my Lucky Charms, Rachel came barreling down the stairs.
“Aaron, come on! We are going to be even later than what we are now,” she exclaimed rounding the corner into the kitchen. Her mouth dropped when she saw me sitting there, still in my bed clothes, not even close to being ready.
“Seriously,” she groaned. I laughed at her standing there with her hands on her hips.
“What? I was hungry so I thought I would get breakfast before getting ready. We are going to be too late to worry about it anyway,” I said logically. She shrugged her shoulders and agreed. We sat in silence for a few minutes as she poured herself a bowl of cereal and started eating. After I rinsed my bowl, I turned around and walked out of the kitchen. It didn’t take but two minutes to throw on the clothes I had already set out on my bed and brush my teeth. I ran my fingers through my hair, flattening it down some and made my way back to the kitchen. Rachel had finished eating and was washing her cereal bowl in the sink. Just as I was about to ask if she were ready, she turned around.
“Hey, why don’t we ditch today?” she asked, wiping her wet hands on her pants.
I opened my mouth and closed it twice before realizing I wouldn’t be able to say no to her even if I wanted to. I furrowed my brows. “Pretty please Aaron, with a cherry on top?” she begged. Instead of arguing, I simply nodded.
She jumped up and down squealing like a pig, wrapping her arms tightly around me. I stood there dizzy at the thought of her pressed so closely against me. I could feel the strain in my pants as I cleared my throat. She pulled away, her face a bright pink. I loved it when she blushed. She looked so innocent, like when we were kids.
“Let me go change into something less boring and I’ll be right back,” she jumped up and down again before sashaying to her room. Rolling my eyes at her, I stood up and headed back to my room, putting my backpack back where it belonged and spending a few minutes tidying up my bedroom.
I walked into the hallway wondering what was taking so long. The door was closed and I thought nothing of it as I flung it open. “Can we hurry it up a little bit here Rachel?” I asked taking a glance at her room. Clothes were strewed everywhere. My eyes scanned her room only to find her scurrying to cover herself up. My eyes racked her semi naked body until I reached her fear stricken face. I quickly averted my eyes and turned around sure of the blush on my face.
“Aaron Michaels get out this instant,” she screamed, slamming the door. I hurried down stairs remembering every curve of her body, picturing her perfect breast, slim hips, and flat stomach. I rearranged myself and sat at the table, waiting for her to come down. About two minutes later, she came; her face still flushed, and slapped me on the back of the head.
“That was for spying on me changing you pervert.”
We spent the beginning of the day doing what Rachel wanted to do, walking around and trying on clothes that we didn’t have the money to buy. I had seen enough dresses to last me a lifetime but seeing Rachel in some of them made my mouth water, especially after seeing her practically nude two days in a row.
After lunch, we sat on the edge of the fountain, the one where people make wishes. There was no one around so I reached in and grabbed a handful of the money, of course with all intentions of putting it back. Rachel didn’t realize what I had done for a few seconds. When she did she slapped my hand and made me throw all the money back.
“Aaron, you can go to jail for doing that!” she exclaimed.
“Chill out Rachel, I wasn’t going to steal it,” I flashed a smile. I dunked my hand back in the water and brought a handful of water to the surface.
“Don’t you dare think about it Aaron!” she yelled, standing up and taking off running. I caught up to her easily. By that time, the water in my hand was gone. I pretended to splash her and she screamed, drawing the attention of everyone around us. Her cheeks flushed as we started casually walking again. Several people shook their heads at us like we were immature children, which we were.
“Oh you are going to pay you jerk,” she screamed as I picked her up, throwing her over my shoulder. She squirmed until I put her down. She looked around the mall and no one seemed to be watching. She took off running and I followed. She stopped running, but I didn't realize it until it was too late. I ran smack dab into her back pushing her into a cart full of glass vases and home décor. She had stopped to avoid hitting the cart, but I failed stop.
The operator screamed at us as we watched the cart tip over. We watched in slow motion as it went tumbling forward. The sound of glass breaking echoed through the mall. People stopped and stared at us as we jumped back. There must have been a million dollars’ worth of hand blown glass on the cart and we just ruined every single piece. We were going to be in serious trouble for it and we both knew it.
Offense number one, skipping school
Offense number two, causing millions of dollars in damage to the mall.
Offense number three, cussing out the security guard that tried arresting me.
Offense number four, lying to Mrs. Jameson that it was my entire fault to keep Rachel from getting into trouble. I was doomed.
When we were able to go home from the police department, Mrs. Jameson told us to go to our separate rooms and think about what we had done.
We hadn’t had much to think about. We caused so much damage. In reality, it was what Rachel and I did. We were always causing some sort of damage to something. As good as we were for one another, we needed to be apart, the only problem with that was, we couldn’t stand to live apart.
“Aaron, Rachel, get yourselves down into the dining room now!” yelled Mrs. Jameson up the stairs. Once we were seated across from one another, she started dishing the punishment.
“I have no idea what happened to you two,” she said shaking her head. “How could you do that? There is over $100,000 in damage and neither of you two can pay it off and this is not the first time you have caused damage to my house or someone else’s because you are childish,” she scolded. The air was thick and neither Rachel nor I looked up at her.
“Look at me God damn it,” she yelled. “I have had enough. Tomorrow you will be leaving this house. I have suggested that you two be split up to avoid any further destruction to property. Go back to your rooms now!” she exclaimed, making my heart stop.
Mrs. Jameson walked always, leaving us in the dark dining room. Rachel was crying and tears were rolling down her cheeks and her chest was falling and rising hard and fast.
“Aaron, I can’t live without you. I love you,” she whispered through her sobs. My heart stopped as those three words seeped through her lips even though she meant nothing more than as a friend.
“I love you too,” I whispered back, standing up and pulling her into a hug, kissing the top of her head. Her eyes were puffy and tears streaked her face. It pained me to see her like this.
“I have an idea,” she whispered. We sat there deciding what our plan was.
“Rachel, we have to run away. I can’t live without you any more than you will be able to live without me,” I admitted, a blush making its way to my face. We agreed that the only way to stay together was to run. We would find a place to stay and finish school since we both hadn’t graduated. I walked up to my room and packed a few changes of clothes, my toothbrush, and my parent’s wedding rings in my backpack. Although I didn’t remember my mother, my father told me that she loved me very much. On the night of our accident, they took the rings from my father and gave them to me. I wear them on a chain around my neck, close to my heart—where they belonged. I stood up and walked to Rachel’s room.
She was packed and ready. I felt a twinge of guilt for Mrs. Jameson for when she realized we were gone. More than anything, she would probably be relieved since she was shipping us away tomorrow anyway. We wrote her a note and left the house as quietly as possible. We started off casually walking, not to draw any attention to ourselves.
After walking as far as our legs would take us, we stopped at the cheapest motel we could find. We had enough money for the night. It wasn’t too bad inside. It smelled like someone had died in the bathroom and the bed was small. When I realized that there was only one rather than a small bed and two of us I told Rachel, who didn’t seem too thrilled even though we had slept in the same bed several times.
“Good night,” I told her, tucking myself under a blanket I had found in the closet.
“Night Aaron,” she said, laying down and covering herself up. I saw her throw off her bra and her pants before she turned off the light. Immediately, my hormones kicked in. I wanted to wrap myself around her and stay there all night. Even with the small proximity of the bed, she managed to lay as far on her side so that we were not touching. I was saddened at the fact that she didn’t even want to be touching me. I pushed the thoughts aside and drifted off into sleep after an eventful day.
“Aaron!” she screamed in the middle of the night waking me up from a dead sleep. “Aaron!” she screamed again. I jumped up, almost knocking over the bedside table. She was standing up on top of the bed hugging the comforter around her body wearing only a tank top.
I inhaled as my eyes scanned her, remembering that she had screamed for a reason.
“What?” I asked quickly looking around the room to see what she was screaming about. “There was a mouse! It just crawled over the bed,” she screamed, pointing at where she was laying. I felt dirty for a second before I looked up again and saw the look on her face. It was priceless. I couldn’t help but find the humor in the situation. I almost fell to the ground clutching my stomach. I was laughing so hard I thought I was about to pee myself until I realized Rachel stood there, half naked, scared to death. “I can’t sleep anymore Aaron,” she whined as she jumped up and down on the bed.
I assured her it was probably just her imagination and she laid back down, this time, her head resting on my chest. Her breathing fell in sync with mine and I ran my hand through her soft hair. I was at peace for a night’s sleep with her arms wrapped around my waist and her leg kicked over my lower body. I had to fight the urges to kiss her soft lips. They were calling to me the way they puckered as she slept