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Anxiously chewing on the skin surrounding her nails, Aiden sat with her legs tucked beneath her body on the living room loveseat. She had been waiting by her laptop for the last twenty-seven minutes.
She checked her wrist watch. Twenty-eight minutes.
It was the day that emails were to be sent out, informing all who had participated in the Rookie Showcase whether they had sold any of their work, therefore securing their contract with the agency. The emails were scheduled to be sent out at precisely one o'clock in the afternoon. it was going on one-thirty, and Aiden was starting to get a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Surely, she'd sold something? She worked on her paintings harder than she worked on any others. She'd used as many techniques as she could. They were some of her best if she were being honest with herself. She had even eased up on the creepy, though creepy paintings were her signature. She was a good artist. She knew it. It was a matter of convincing other people that her art was truly something of worth.
She refreshed the page for the sixth time and saw that there were still no new messages in her inbox. She huffed and threw her head back in frustration. What in the hell was taking so long?
Her phone vibrated on the coffee table. She took her time to sit up and glimpse at the screen. Elvis's name appeared on the screen along with a view of the living room's ceiling. She reached for it and positioned herself as she accepted the call. Elvis's face appeared and she was immediately concerned. His face was flushed; his eyes were a bit red; and he was sniffling. Aiden sat up straighter and gave him her full attention.
"Elvis? What's wrong with you?" She stared, bewildered, as Elvis swiped at a tear trailing down his face.
"My mom..." he whimpered. "My mom, she's..."
Aiden's heart stopped as she thought of all the words he could finish his sentence with. She tried to refrain from thinking the worst, but only one word lingered in her mind.
"What? What happened?" She pushed--trying, yet failing, to be patient. He was clearly distraught at the moment.
"I'm at the hospital and my mom got hurt-"
"Hurt how?"
"She was at the store and some dumb, stupid, fucking fucks decided to rob a fucking store in the middle of the fucking week," He ranted. "And in the fucking daytime at that! Who the fuck robs a store during the day?"
"Okay, but what happened to her, Elv?"
"The fucking idiots, Aiden, they fucking--you know my mom's stubborn. They told her to do some shit and she probably refused and they-"
"Holy shit! They shot her?!"
"No! They fucking hit her in the head. These whores won't tell me anything. Aiden, I'm pissed, I'm worried, and I'm hungry. It's all too much for me to handle." He choked on a sob once again. Aiden stood and found her shoes while he continued to vent. "Valence is in the waiting room, and he's great, he's supporting me as much as he can, but I need you here."
"I'm already on the way," she told him. After grabbing her sister's car keys and her own house key, she was rushing out of the apartment and down the stairs. She rushed to her sister's car--all the while, Elvis was on the phone debating on whether he wanted to buy a snack from the vending machine. "Do you want me to bring you guys something to eat?" He responded with a yes and informed her that he didn't care where it came from. Aiden started the car and rushed to her bestfriend.
When she got to the hospital, she found Elvis sitting with Valence in the waiting room. They were holding on to each other's hands and Elvis's leg was bouncing furiously. He no longer looked sad, but more so pissed off. She rushed to the two of them with Subway sandwiches, drinks, and cookies in tow. Elvis stood when he seen her and was quick to wrap her in a tight hug, allowing all his worries to pour into her.
"Hear anything yet?" Her words came out muffled from his shoulder. She felt him shake his head. "I'm sure she's alright."
"Then, why are they taking so long?" Was his reply. She had no answer, so she handed him his food instead.
She turned to Valence with a disheartened smile. "I forgot to ask what kind of food you wanted. I hope you don't mind, but I got you the same thing Elvis usually eats: turkey deluxe with everything on it."
Valence shrugged. "That's fine. I'm so hungry right now, I could eat-"
"A horse?" Aiden finished with a grin.
"I was going to say fish. And I hate seafood." He scowled at the thought as he accepted the sandwich. "Thank you."
Aiden nodded and took a seat next to her friend as they all began to eat. She settled with her three chocolate chips cookies and observed the TV, which had been turned to the news channel. Aiden let Elvis finish half of his sandwich before breaking the silence. "So what happened? Did they catch the guys?"
Elvis sighed. "Not yet. The surveillance cameras caught them, but they're waiting for someone to identify them."
"How many were there?"
"Two," Elvis and Valence answered. They sat in silence once more, then Aiden spoke up again.
"What were you doing when they called you?"
"I had a doctor's appointment and Val was at a job interview. I was getting blood work done and literally right when the woman pricks my arm, my phone starts buzzing. So, I ignored it the first two times, then the third time I answered it and the lady tells me that my mom's been hurt; I call Val and we rushed here as soon as we could." He let out another sigh, a bit breathier this time, with his shoulders slumped and a tired look on his face. "I'm getting full..."
The three sunk into another moment of silence. Elvis seemed to become tired as Aiden and Valence began to engage in small talk. Aiden was beginning to like Valence the more she spoke to him, and the more she hung around with he and Elvis. She had been assured more than ever today that she and Elvis were true friends. It warmed her heart that he had called and pleaded for her company even in the presence of his boyfriend. At long last, the fog that had came with jealousy faded away and she realized that she had a special place in Elvis's life that no one would be able to take so long as they lived on Earth.
She knew how much it scared him be in the hospital while waiting for word of his mother's condition. Aiden could feel in her heart that Ellis would be fine, yet this experience was probably triggering for her closest friend. Long before he moved down south, Elvis, his mother and his father were involved in an accident while traveling up a hill; it had winding, slippery roads that were dangerously covered in ice and snow. Elvis's father was driving and he was suddenly confronted with what they later discovered was a bobcat in the middle of the road. Startled, his father panicked and swerved off the road. The accident had left Ellis and Elvis with plenty of sore body parts, scratches, and permanent scars. Elvis's father, however, had the brunt of the tragedy. His injuries had cost him his life.
Elvis had lost one parent and now possibly faced the fear of losing another. Aiden wrapped an arm around his shoulders and hugged him close. Not much time passed before an older, Hispanic woman approached the three.
"Family of Ellis Nilsson?" They stood and Elvis took a step forward. "I apologize for the wait. Mrs. Nilsson suffered a mild concussion due to head injury, but she will be fine-"
The three of them collectively sighed as the words left the doctor's mouth. Aiden tuned the rest out as she gathered the trash and her personal items. As she expected, Elvis asked to see his mother and the doctor lead them to her. When they got to her room, she was speaking with a nurse. Elvis rushed to his mother's side and tenderly grabbed her hand. He bombarded her with questions, and Aiden had to remind him to give his mother a bit of space. She knew concussions could cause slight memory loss; Ellis didn't need to be bothered with remembering the events just yet.
They kept his mother overnight to monitor her brain activity and to be sure that her injuries weren't more than a concussion. Elvis, of course, wanted to stay with his mother--when Aiden offered to stay overnight as well, Elvis practically pushed she and Valence out of the room.
"You guys don't need to be here. Seriously," he insisted. He kissed Valence and gave Aiden a brief, bone-crushing hug before returning to the arm chair close to a sleeping Ellis. "Go get some rest, I'll keep you updated."
Aiden was hesitant, but she figured that Elvis would be fine. Besides, she had a feeling that Valence wouldn't be leaving anytime soon, so she opted to let the boyfriend takeover as the emotional support. With one last, light kiss to Ellis's cheek and a wave to the couple, Aiden made her way out of the hospital.
She drove home in silence. Her phone buzzed with text messages from Everett and Jenna, but she ignored them. When she reached the apartment, her sisters were lounging on the living room love seats with the TV set on the LMN channel and snacks occupying the coffee table. They turned to her with concern in their eyes as she closed and lock the door.
"She alive?"
"Everything okay?"
They voiced at the same time. Aiden rolled her eyes at them and explained everything. Once she reassured them that all was well, she returned Everett's keys. She grabbed her laptop and an unopened bag of chips before running off to her room, narrowly missing the impact of a throw pillow.
"Bitch!" One of her sisters yelled as Aiden closed her room door. She chuckled and bellyflopped onto her bed; her laptop sat in front of her as her stomach churned. The event with Ellis had been a distraction from her fate. She inhaled and exhaled slowly before unlocking her PC and login into her email account. Four new messages appeared, one of which from Grotesque Art Studio & Gallery.
Excitedly, she clicked on it and with sullen eyes, read its contents:
Dear Aiden Richter,
Thank you for your contribution to Grotesque's Rookie Showcase! We regret to inform you...
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