A/N: The song in the media box is Til My Heart Stops by Too Far Moon
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My sweaty palms that were clasped tightly together rested on my bouncing legs. I tried desperately to slow down my racing heart, but no breathing exercise I attempted was working. It certainly didn't help my growing anxiety that the waiting room Aidan and I were seated in was as dreary and depressing as a waiting room could get, what with the crying woman to our far left and the sick child resting in her dad's arms.
As soon as the words "she was shot" were out of Aidan's mouth I didn't hesitate in screaming my farewell to my parents and racing over to the hospital with him. We couldn't have been waiting for more than ten minutes, but I swear it felt like hours.
"Oh my god I'm going to throw up," I finally broke the silence that had been growing by the second between Aidan and I.
"It's okay," he said quietly, placing a hand on my back.
I shrugged him off. "Don't. Don't comfort me. You shouldn't be comforting me. I should be comforting you," I touched his forearm. "Are you okay? No, don't answer that. That's a stupid question. Of course you aren't okay. Why would you be okay? Your baby sister was just- oh, god. I don't understand. I don't understand how this could happen. Who shoots a five year old? What kind of sick, twisted individual has it in his or her heart to look a little girl in the eye and shoot her. Wha-"
"It's my fault," his voice was flat and dead.
I blinked. "Unless you pulled the trigger than I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one."
"It is," he nodded slowly. "It is."
"No, it's not," I disagreed, agitation making its way into my tone. "It's not, and I'm sorry but there is absolutely no way you can twist this to make it your fault-"
"I tried to quit," he stared down at the tiled floor. "Your words of detest about what I was in kind of stuck with me, and you were right. You were right. What I was in wasn't good for me, it wasn't good for my sister. I couldn't justify staying when I have made more money then I ever planned to make when I started...so I tried to quit."
"Oh," I breathed softly, sitting back in my chair. "When?"
"Sunday night.
I frowned a little. "But when I asked you on Monday about whether or not you saw yourself dealing drugs forever you said you couldn't leave-"
"Because you can't. You can't quit the mob," he waved a hand, motioning to our surroundings. "You obviously can't quit the mob."
I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Were...were you there? When Briella was...?"
"No," he shook his head. "I was working. Um working at the bakery. She was at home...with Joe."
"Well, then how do you know who shot her? You don't. You don't know-"
"I do," he nodded, running his hands through his hair. "I do because I tried to quit, and you don't quit the mob. You just don't."
"Aidan..."
I tried to touch his shoulder in comfort, but he leaned away in response. My hand dropped back down to my lap and a sigh parted my lips.
"Don't do that. Don't pull away from me. Not now. Mentally, I don't think you can handle it."
He studied his hands, not answering.
"You shouldn't feel guilty," I continued. "Because it's not your fault. It's not. Even if your...people did do this, it's on them. Not you. Just because you wanted to do what was best for yourself and sister and pull out doesn't mean they can go and shoot her-"
"But they did," he snapped. "They did shoot her because of what I did, and no matter how you twist it, Demi that fact doesn't change."
I wavered a bit, but shook my head. "Well, dwelling on whose fault it is doesn't do anything but make yourself more miserable than you need to be. Let's just focus our energy on Briella. She's going to be fine. She has to be fine."
"Briella Benson?"
Aidan jumped to his feet instantly at the sound of the doctor's voice, and I stood automatically as well. A new wave of nausea rolled over me at the grim look on the young woman's face.
"How is she?" Aidan asked desperately.
"Not too good," the doctor said honestly. "We're prepping her for surgery right now. We just need her guardian to sign off on it."
Aidan took the clipboard and pen she held in her hands and started signing his name at the bottom of the sheet of paper, barely scanning the content of it.
"This surgery," I spoke up, looking from the piece of paper to the brunette in front of me. "It's...she's going to be okay right?"
"We're going to try our very best to make sure she's okay, but-"
"What does that mean?" Aidan's pen paused on the paper, and his eyes flickered up to meet the doctor's.
"Well, as I'm sure you are well aware of, every surgery comes with its own risks. The risks may...amplify due to Briella's age," she explained.
"And what kind of risks would that be?"
Her fingers laced together. "Typically putting any young child under anesthesia is a pretty high risk within itself, and we try to avoid it as much as possible, but seeing as Briella is in critical condition we really don't have much of a choice here. Now, we have the best team set to work on her, and I really do expect things to run smoothly. We should be able to stabilize her."
"But...?" Aidan pressed, clearly sensing there was more to the statement.
"But...," she hesitated a bit. "I don't want to lie to you, Mr. Benson. There is a very good chance that, even with the operation going smoothly, she might not wake up."
At that moment I swore the world flipped upside down. My heart, that had been slowly settling back down, took off at an even faster rate than before. I glanced over at Aidan who had gone dangerously pale.
"She's not going to wake up?" He repeated in a deathly quiet voice that actually sent chills down my spine.
"Might. She might not wake up, but that could be said for anyone-"
"But more so because she's five?"
She nodded, a twinge of sympathy breaking through her professional mask. "Correct."
Aidan stared at down at the board. "And if she doesn't get put under?"
"Then we can't operate, and she will bleed to death."
"So basically you're asking me to pick which way she dies?"
"Aidan," I said quietly.
He paused for a few moments before letting out a long, drawn out sigh. He finished signing the paper and handed the clipboard back so he could take a seat in the furthest corner of the waiting room.
"He's your boyfriend?" The doctor asked, examining the board in front of her.
I pulled my gaze away from Aidan to look at her and nodded. "Uh yeah."
"Then I expect you'll be watching out for him. It's best not to deal with this kind of thing alone," she sighed and shook her head. "It's a messed up world we live in huh? Shooting a little girl? And to think this isn't the worst thing I've seen."
"Yeah...," I quickly grabbed her arm as she started to turn away. "Um, Doctor...?"
"Smith," she supplied helpfully.
"Doctor Smith, can you...you really need to save her," my voice dropped down to a whisper. "She's his entire world. He really can't live without her."
She nodded, a small smile playing on her lips. "I'm going to try my very best."
I watched her walk off, and then trailed over to where Aidan sat. I quietly took the seat beside him, racking my mind for what I could say to comfort him, but I was drawing a complete blank. I was absolutely no good at comforting people. I always managed to say the wrong thing that, more often than not, ended up making the situation worst.
"I'm going to kill them," Aidan said softly, staring at his hands.
I ignored the icy feeling that clutched at my heart at his quiet vow and gently touched his forearm. "You mean that, like, metaphorically right? Like, when I say I'm going to kill my brother I don't- I don't actually want to kill him-"
"No, I'm being pretty serious," he nodded, standing up. "You stay here. I'll be back."
I quickly stood up and stepped in his path. "Where are you going?"
"I'll be back, Demi," he repeated firmly, gently pushing me aside.
"You didn't answer my question, Aidan," I grabbed his arm to stop him in his tracks. "Whatever you're thinking about doing, don't."
"You think I'm just going to let them get away this?" He hissed furiously.
"That's exactly what you're going to do," I snapped back. "Don't be an idiot. You can't just go start a street war with the mob. Especially not now. You need to be here when Briella gets out of surgery. When she wakes up."
"You mean if she wakes up," he asked bitterly.
"No, I mean when," I pushed him back to his seat. "When she wakes up because she's going to wake up. So, sit down and stop being ridiculous."
Aidan sank back down in his seat, an irritated look on his face. I sat down next to him and grabbed his hand.
"Take a deep breath," I suggested. "That should help you calm down."
He inhaled deeply and exhaled sharply, not looking any less annoyed.
"Better?"
"No."
I sighed and lowered my eyes. "I didn't think so. I'm sorry, I'm not doing a very good job helping you deal with this. I don't know how to comfort people."
"No, you're fine," he pulled me over to kiss my forehead. "You're fine. Really, I'm glad you decided to come with me. I would be worse off if you weren't here."
I smoothed my hand over his face. "It's going to be okay. It is. Briella is going to get through her surgery, and she's going to wake up. The only thing you need to be worried about is how you're going to keep her on bed rest. That girl is way too energetic for her own good, I can see her trying to escape at some point in time."
Aidan laughed a little which made me perk up.
"Yeah, you're probably right," he nodded. "I'll focus on the positive and...wait."
"That's all we can do," I agreed. "All we can do is wait and pray."
"Wait and pray," he repeated slowly. "That shouldn't drive me insane."
"I'll try to keep you sane," I paused. "Try. Don't hold me to it. No offense, but you seem a little unstable right now."
Aidan smiled and shook his head. "Look at the pot calling the kettle black."
"The only reason I won't hit you for that comment is because you're not in a correct state of mind."
"Because I was so scared you were going to seriously hurt me," he said sarcastically.
I made a face and sat back in my seat. "Funny."
We fell silent, and so began the wait.
Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes into hours. The anxiety and nerves were rising with every passing moment to the point where it was becoming difficult to breathe. I tried to diffuse the tension I was feeling with conversations with Aidan, but the talk was small and not enough to satiate me.
"How long as it been?" I asked, my legs beginning to shake again.
"Over an hour I think," Aidan said, his eyes trained on his hands. "You want to go get something to eat?"
I shook my head. "I'm not hungry."
That statement caused Aidan to look up, a disapproving look on his face. "Maybe I wasn't being clear. Go get something to eat."
"Maybe I wasn't clear," I said, an edge to my tone. "I'm not hungry."
"Demi-"
"Aidan, even if I wanted to eat I wouldn't be able to keep it down. I'm too unsettled right now."
"Are you implying you keep it down when you're settled?"
I paused and diverted my eyes. "Well, that was mean."
His hand reached over to rest on my back almost instantly. "Sorry. You're right, that wasn't nice. I didn't mean-"
"It's okay," I waved him off. "You get a pass, but only until Briella wakes up."
"And if she never wakes up?"
"Stop saying that," I snapped. "She's going to wake up. You can't just give up on her, Aidan. She deserves better than that."
He nodded slowly. "You're right. Sorry."
"You don't have to apologize."
"I'm just scared."
"I'm scared too," I reached over to twine my fingers with his. "But maybe it'll make the wait easier if we think about her opening her eyes when it's all over."
Aidan nodded again. "Maybe."
I used my free hand to rub his shoulder and kissed his cheek gently. I opened my mouth to offer him more words of comfort, but before I had the chance another voice was speaking. Another, dreadfully familiar voice.
"So, how's my daughter?"
I looked up at the large figure towering over us, and my heart sank as it did whenever I saw Aidan's dad.
His entire look was messier than I personally had ever seen it. He was sporting a nine o'clock shadow and the clothes he was dressed in were horribly wrinkled, as if he had been wearing them for weeks without washing them. His stance was unsteady as he swayed slightly in place, and from my seat I could smell the alcohol coming of him in waves.
I shifted in my seat and gave Aidan, who tensed up noticeably, a nervous look.
"How is she?" He repeated as if he had misheard his father's words. "She was shot. How do you think she is?"
"Hmm. Yes, she was shot wasn't she?" He mumbled, not sounding as concerned as he should have been in my opinion. "What a shame."
"It's more than a shame," Aidan said through gritted teeth. "And you know what? You have a lot of fucking nerve coming here when partial blame lies on you."
"Me?" Joe chuckled. "I didn't shoot her."
"No, he jumped up so abruptly I winced. "You just made it that much easier."
"Aidan," I whispered, but he didn't seem to hear me.
"I was told the paramedics found her out in the middle of the street," he continued, his voice raising with every word. "My baby sister. Out on the cold fucking street in a pool of her own blood like she was a piece of roadkill."
I cringed at the mental image that flashed before my eyes and briefly shut them, trying and failing to block out the conversation.
"What the hell was she doing out in the street in the first place?" he shouted, his voice carrying an anger I had never been exposed to before. "You were supposed to be watching her!"
"Okay, so the kid slipped out without me noticing," he said nonchalantly. "She'll live."
"You better hope she does," he shoved him. "Because I swear on my mother's grave, if she doesn't, the next person who will die in this family is you."
I guess that push from his son set something off in Joe because he immediately shoved him back so hard it had him stumbling back. I jumped up, my panic flaring.
"You guys," I squeaked, but I went unheard.
"Don't put your hands on me," Joe snapped.
"Why?" Aidan laughed humorlessly. "Why? Do you not like it when someone puts their hands on you?" He began pushing him to my great distress. "Hmm? Does it make you feel some type of way? Does it make you angry? Uncomfortable? I wonder how that feels. I wonder how it feels to have someone put their hands on you every fucking day."
"Aidan, come on," I tried to grab his arm, but he threw my hand off. "Don't do this right now. Not here."
"You'd do well to listen to your girlfriend," Joe said, pushing Aidan's hand away. "Before I wipe the floor with your ungrateful ass. You think because we're in public I won't? Try me."
I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants and looked around. Where the hell was security when you needed them?
"Oh yeah?" Before I could stop him, he punched his dad square in the jaw.
I gasped, my jaw dropping. "Oh my god."
It took a minute for Joe to react. I think he was just as shocked as I was that Aidan hit him, but when he did come around to reacting, a full out brawl broke out.
There were a couple of screams from the few bystanders in the waiting room, one of those screams being mine, as Aidan and his dad crashed to the floor punching and kicking at one another.
"Oh my god, you guys- Aidan! Stop! You have to stop!"
I looked around wildly for some form of higher authority, and my eyes landed on the receptionist who was seated at the desk on the opposite of the room who was staring in shock along with everyone else.
"Well, call someone!" I shrieked.
That snapped her out of her trance fairly quickly and she snatched up the phone to ring security. I turned my attention back to the fight that was literally going on at my feet, and winced when Joe punched his son across the face. Aidan pushed him off him and then he was pummeling him in the face with such relentlessness that it didn't look he planned on stopping anytime soon.
Now, I suppose me surging forward to attempt to stop Aidan wasn't the smartest nor most realistic idea I ever had, but in my defense I really wasn't thinking so much as what could and would potentially happen if I put myself in between two men fighting, and more about stopping my boyfriend from killing his father.
What did end up happening was me flying back when Aidan's elbow made contact with my face and a whole lot of pain. Like a whole lot.
I groaned at the pain that shot up my nose and instantly grabbed it. "Ow," I whimpered pathetically.
My small noise must have caught Aidan's attention, although I don't know how, none of my other words or screams did. Then again, there was a good chance he had been ignoring me...
He turned around and froze as he took in the sight of me, which from the look on his face must not have been pleasant. He looked horrified, and so did everyone else in the room.
"Oh, Demi," he breathed shoved his dad away from him and came over to me quickly. "Jesus Christ, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"It's okay," I assured him quickly. "It's fine. I'm fine. Really, I don't even feel anything."
I must not have been very convincing in my lie with the way he was continuing to stare at him. That and the immense amount of blood that was streaming down my face and my hand. I quickly brought up my other hand to try cover it.
"Baby, I'm sorry," Aidan repeated, carefully helping me to stand up.
He looked absolutely crushed. So crushed it actually struck a chord in my heart.
"It's okay," I said firmly. "It's seriously okay. It's not like you did it on purpose.
"Let me see," he moved my hands away from my face and gently lifted my chin up to examine my bloody nose.
I winced when he softly prodded at it and leaned back. "Does it look bad?"
"Yeah," he paused. "It looks bad."
I opened my mouth to comfort him once again, but I was interrupted.
"What's going on here?"
I turned around to see two big men in security uniforms, big enough to break up a fight, standing behind me. I scoffed a little bit at their timing.
"Oh, yeah," I nodded. "Now they show up," I pointed at Joe who pushed himself off the ground. "You need to remove him. He started the fight."
"I did no such thing," Joe scoffed. "I reacted in self-defense. If anyone should be removed it's him. He started it."
My eyes narrowed when he pointed at Aidan. "I don't think anyone here could attest to that."
As if on cue everyone, including the receptionist averted their eyes from the scene and went on to busy themselves.
"Don't bother," Joe snapped at security when they took a step towards him. "I know the way out," he glanced at Aidan. "We'll finish our conversation at home."
And with that, he was gone.
Aidan grabbed my arm and began pulling me over to the reception desk.
"What are you doing?" I squirmed in his hold.
"Getting you a doctor."
"I don't need a doctor. I'll just-"
"You're getting a doctor."
I pressed my lips shut and decided that given the tone his voice took on it would be best not to argue.
¥ ¥ ¥
"Alright, you're good to go," the graying old man smiled as he removed the plastic gloves he wore and tossed them in the bin. "The injury really wasn't as bad as it could have been, and by that I mean nothing was out of position. You might see some swelling in the next few weeks, but that's nothing ice can't fix, and I do I expect you to keep it properly iced. If the pain gets too much, some over the counter pain medicine should do the trick."
"Thank you," I smiled back.
"I suggest you get some rest. Lie down," he picked up his clipboard and began to scribble something down. "If you're not feeling any oncoming headache, it's best to prevent it. Yes?"
"Yes," I nodded. "I'll do that."
"Good. Oh, and do try not to get in anymore fist fights."
I chuckled weakly. "I'll try."
He smiled once more and nodded at Aidan, who was sulking in the furthest corner, as he exited the room.
I started to climb off the examination bed, but Aidan was over in a second and helping me down as if I was one of the seriously invalid or something. I shrugged him off and gave him a look.
"It's a nose injury. I didn't break all the bones in my body, and stop looking at me like that. I told I'm fine and the doctor agreed I was fine, so you can stop acting like you, I don't know, gave me some kind of terminal and incurable illness."
"Well, I basically did," he studied me, looking incredibly unhappy. "I broke your nose."
"You didn't break it. It's just bruised. The doctor said it could have been worse."
"I'm sure he says that to all his patients to calm them down," he brushed off my words impatiently.
"Aidan," I brushed his cheek with the back of my hand. "I'm fine. Honestly. You shouldn't waste any energy worrying about me. Save it all for Briella."
He nodded, but I could tell he didn't agree with me in the slightest.
"Sure. Come on," he took my hand. "I'll take you home."
"What? Why?" I pulled away. "I don't want to go home."
"The doctor said you should rest," he told me, a disapproving frown in place.
"Well, I can't rest given the current situation."
"Demi, come on-"
"What am I going to do at home? Work myself into a panic? I want to wait here with you."
"I'll call you as as soon as there's a change," he promised me "There's no difference between waiting here and waiting at your house."
"Yes, there is," my eyebrows knitted together. "The difference is that I'm not with you."
Aidan smiled for the first time in a long time and pulled me closer to place a kiss on my forehead. "You're such a sweetheart, Demi."
"Does that mean you'll let me stay?" I wrapped my arms around his waist, hope sparking in my chest.
"No. It means you're a sweetheart."
"Aidan," I began to whine.
"I'll call you," he kissed my forehead again and then my lips before pulling me out of the room. "I promise."
"The second you hear something," I urged, since I knew arguing would get me nowhere. "Like the very second. Not half a second after, or a a quarter of a second after. The very second."
Aidan nodded. "The very second."
"Okay," I nodded with a sigh.
"And, again, I'm so-"
"If you apologize one more time you'll get a bloody nose to match mine."
"Yes, m'am," he chuckled softly.
¥ ¥ ¥
It was well past midnight when my phone finally rang.
I was curled up, completely wide awake and panic was swooping down on me as it had been since Aidan dropped me off.
When I saw his name flashing across my screen I grabbed it immediately, but hesitated for half a second. I was scared I would answer and not hear the words I was so desperate to here.
I shrugged off the fear and with shaky, sweaty hands I slid my thumb across the screen and placed the phone to my ear.
My quick greeting was followed by words that caused a fresh batch of tears to slide down my cheeks. I became so shaky and choked up that I ended up dropping my phone.
I placed a hand on my heart and promised myself to never again question God's existence as He had clearly heard my incessant prayers.
He had to have, seeing as Briella had actually woken up.
¥ ¥ ¥
Days flew by after the great news. So many, in fact, that soon it was the day before winter break.
There hadn't been much progress between my parents and me, or Deacon and me, or Kenzie and me. I hadn't expected there to be. I was pretty sure Kenzie would never again speak to me in her natural life. I could only count on Deacon eventually coming around as he was my brother and he had no choice in the matter.
I hoped.
Talk of rehab was still popping up, thanks mostly to my father, but I chose to ignore it. I was much more concerned with Briella who plowing ahead like a champ in her recovery. Sure, she was recovering slowly, but as far as I was concerned that was pretty amazing seeing as she had been so dangerously close to death.
I went to visit her as much as I could, bringing her presents with each visit. Aidan complained I was spoiling her, but I could tell he didn't really mind. He just liked to complain.
I hadn't seen or heard much from Aidan apart from hospital visits, a few text messages, and phone calls, but that was to be expected. He was glued at Briella's side every waking second, and I couldn't blame him. Briella was the love and light of his life. If he had lost her he would have derailed in a fashion that I suspected he'd never recover from.
I sat at the kitchen counter eating from a bag of pretzels as I scrolled through my Instagram feed. I glanced up when Deacon walked in and back down just as quickly, not in any particular mood to receive any of his silent attitude.
"Where are the car keys?" He asked impatiently.
I paused and looked up, my eyebrows arching. "Oh, so you speak? Or is it just because you want something?"
"Where the keys?" He repeated after a short pause.
I glanced at my bag on the chair beside me, and then stuck another pretzel in my mouth.
He grabbed my purse and pulled out the keys before starting out.
"No thanks?" I asked, rolling my eyes.
"Nope. Although, I do have some words of advice. Try to keep those pretzels down. You know, like a normal person?"
I crushed the pretzel I had picked up in my hand and threw them back in the bowl as he walked out of the kitchen.
I didn't get a chance to hurl any curse words at him, as the front door slammed shut when I opened my mouth. I heard it open once more, and then in walked Aidan.
"Hey," I said, a little startled.
"Hey, your brother said I could just walk in."
"Yeah, of course," I smiled and leaned over to kiss him. "I'm glad to see you out of the hospital. Surprised, but glad."
"I just needed some air," he leaned against the counter. "So, I thought I would get some with you."
"You most certainly can," I nodded, beaming.
He took my chin in his hands and examined my face. "How's your nose, sweetheart?"
"Perfect," I touched it lightly. "Although I think it kind of looks crooked. Do I look deformed to you?"
He shook his head. "You look beautiful, Cupcake. Absolutely gorgeous."
"Well, you have to say that," I giggled.
He smiled a little and studied me for a lingering moment. Before I could ask him why he was staring at me in such an offish manner he pulled me over to give me a fervent kiss that caught me completely off guard. Not that I was complaining or anything.
When he finally pulled away, I laughed a little confused. "What the hell was that? You going off to war or something?"
He smiled a little. "Or something...you want to go out?"
"Sure," I jumped off the chair and grabbed my purse. "Where are we going?"
"Wherever," he pulled me to the door. "I just wanna be out."
I nodded and after yelling up the stairs to whichever parent was in, I followed him out the door.
Out turned out to be Aidan's safe haven.
I hadn't been in the small clearing for quite a while, and I was kind of happy he had chosen this place to come to. It had a very calming vibe to it, and God knew I needed calm.
The car ride over had been kind of quiet, but I hadn't thought much of it. Sometimes quiet was good. However, when the silence stretched out after Aidan had parked his car I got a little edgy."
"So," I said to try and break the ice.
"So," Aidan repeated.
"How's Brie?" I asked, hoping the topic would get conversation rolling.
"She's good. Really good. Hyper as ever," he smiled a little. "It's like the gunshot wound isn't there."
I smiled and nodded. "Nothing can bring that little girl down."
"Unless you tell her the Disney princesses aren't real," he shrugged.
"Don't even entertain the thought," I warned him.
"She'll figure it out eventually," he waved a hand, and then his smile dipped suddenly as a serious look cast across his face. "Demi?"
"Yeah?"
"I think...we should talk."
"We are talking," I said mindlessly, glancing at my phone.
"No, I mean really talk. About us."
I glanced at him warily. Normally, I would have gone into panic mode at those words, but it was Aidan so normally didn't apply.
"That doesn't sound good," I leaned my head back against my seat. "Whatever it is you think I did I didn't do it. Probably."
He smiled a little. "No, you didn't do anything. You're perfect. You're absolutely perfect."
"Okay...then what?"
"I think...," he paused. "I think that we should end this."
I tilted my head, confused. "End what?"
"Us," he said slowly. "I think we should end us."
I sat straight up, disbelief and slight panic washing over me. "What?"
"I think we should end-"
"Yeah, I heard you," I said, my voice shaking a little. "Wait, so...what?"
"We've had a good run, but umm...I don't know. I'm just not feeling it anymore. I'm not feeling you anymore."
I swallowed the lump that began to form in my throat and tried to take a deep breath, but seeing as I was finding it hard to get oxygen in my lungs it didn't really help.
"You're not feeling me anymore?"
It felt like someone had just cracked open my skull and scrambled my brain like an egg. I was utterly lost. Not to mention, I could feel a panic attack coming and my heart was beginning to crack in an all too familiar way.
"You're breaking up with me?" I whispered, not bothering to hide my tears when the decided to rain down.
He glanced away from swiftly. "Yeah. I guess."
"You guess? What the hell does that mean?" I almost snapped. "You either are or you aren't."
"I am," he nodded. "I'm breaking up with you."
I inhaled sharply and looked out my window. Darkness had randomly swooped down on us despite it only being five o'clock. The clocks had been turned back some weeks ago, and I was still getting used to the switch.
"Why?" I finally asked after God knows how long. "Why? Why are you breaking up with me? Can I have a reason? Did I do something wrong?"
"No," he shook his head. "No. It's not it's-"
"I would think," I cut him off. "That you would have a little bit more respect for me than to feed me that bullshit line."
"What do you want me to say, Demi?" He sighed. "I don't want to hurt your feelings-"
I laughed at that, although there was no humor in the situation.
"I think it's a little bit too late for that," I wiped my eyes. "Don't you?"
"We weren't going to last forever," he said, sounding tired and very unsympathetic. "We're in high school. The odds weren't with us. Might as well end it here."
More tears started to stream down my cheeks, and my heart cracked even more.
"But this doesn't- I don't understand. We were fine. We've been fine all this time, and we were fine not even twenty minutes ago. What are you doing?"
"Demi, don't make this harder than it has to be-"
"Are you kidding me?!" I shrieked. "I am not making this harder than it has to be! I'm asking you a question! I want to know why!"
"I just told you why-"
"No, you didn't! That was such bullshit! Tell me why," I shoved his shoulder. "Tell me why right now! Now! And don't give me some half ass answer. I want to know why, and I want to know righ n-"
"Because I don't want you anymore, Demi," he finally snapped. "That's it. That's all. I. Don't. Want. You. I no longer find you useful, okay? Are you happy?"
I faltered and averted my eyes quickly. A strange heat began to overtake my body right along with a hurt I had never felt. More intense than my worst heart break, and even more painful than when he smashed my nose in.
I grabbed my bag and fumbled with the door before managing to push it open.
"I'll take you home," he began softly, but I was out and had slammed the door shut before I could hear the rest.
I only got a couple step away before I stopped myself in my tracks. I stood there for a while before wiping my face of my tears and turning back around to walk back over to the car. I yanked the passenger door open, and Aidan looked over at me.
"Contrary to popular belief, I'm not an idiot Aidan. I know what you're doing. The whole Briella getting shot by your mob or mafia or whatever freaked you out, and now you want me as far away from you as possible. And, you know? Maybe, one day, I would have been able to forgive you for that, but you know what I will never forgive you for?" I swallowed hard to try and keep my emotions at bay. "The fact that you knew exactly how to angle the knife to cut me the deepest, and doing just that. That goes beyond cruel. You were supposed to be the one person who never, ever hurt me. You were supposed to be different, but I guess everyone's right about me having poor judgement in boys."
I slammed the door shut and started off, but found myself stopping once more and turning back around to open the passenger door again.
"I could have loved you forever, and I would have...just so you know."
The door slammed shut for a third time, and I walked off again.
That time, however, I didn't go back.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A/N: Don't kill me. Lol.
Sometimes it all has to go straight to Hell. It makes a good plot.
Sorry for my absence. Finals are coming, and in between hours of studying I have been contemplating jumping out of my dorm window. Both very time consuming as you can imagine.
Tell me your thoughts on this chapter, and don't hold back. Criticism helps me grow as a writer.
Vote if you liked, and even if you didn't like I don't see the harm in voting anyway!
xxx,
Jess
P.S. THREE MILLION FUCKING READS. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH STAY FLAWLESS!