Aiden's POV
I've decided that I want to officially meet Clarissa, I just need time. I went to my mom house mid February to tell her I just needed to take things in and gave her my number. She seemed pretty happy when I told her. It's now the beginning of April, the start of Spring Break. Besides the last week things have been pretty normal since Christmas. Ryan and I have gotten really close as friends, as well as Alex and I. This past week or so has been a little off though. Ryan and Max have been fighting and Blake has been stuck in the middle of a lot of it. Blake has also been a little on edge and distant lately. He seems to be quiet. I texted him the other day asking if he wanted to go to dinner, and I got a "can't" back with no explanation like he normally will give. He's also been out late often with no word from him, when he usually tells me if he won't be home when I'm off work. I texted him at my break to let him know that I was planning to go to a BBQ at my moms house in a couple of days since he told me that he would go with if I ever go over there. I still haven't heard back from him.
Julie offered to pick me up today but I decided to walk home to clear my head. So I was getting home a little after seven instead of the 6:20 ish I'm normally home. I walked inside and Julie was sitting in the living room. "Hey. There's leftovers in the fridge."
"Thanks. I had a sandwich at the diner though. Is Blake home?"
"Yeah. He got back not too long ago." I nodded my head and went to walk upstairs. "Aiden." I turned to look back at Julie. "I see it too. Whatever is going on with him, I hope he snaps out of it soon as well. Just hang in there." I smiled at her and finished walking to the bedroom.
It looked like Blake was looking for something. Half the room was torn apart. "Hey." I called out and got no reply. "I texted you."
"Phone's dead."
"What are you looking for?" I asked as I stepped further into the room.
"Something."
"Blake, what's going on?"
"Nothing."
"Blake."
"For fuck's sake Aiden. I said nothing." The tone in his voice made me flinch.
"Please just talk to me."
"Fuck Aiden." He raised his voice, throwing the notebook he had picked up at the wall. The action sent my mind back into my dads house, the throwing of beer bottles that would fly just past my head. "NOTHING! I said nothing is going on! Now would you just get the FUCK OUT OF MY FACE!" My instincts told me to run, so that's what I did. I bolted down the stairs and out the front door. I could only hear the sound of my feet hitting the ground and my raised heartbeat pulsing in my ears. I didn't stop until I realized that I ran to the park, my safe haven for when I was living with my dad.
I slowed my feet and continued to walk around. Luckily I still had on the backpack that I take to work with a change of clothes, my charger, and earbuds. I plugged into some music and kept walking. About half an hour later I noticed that I wandered onto Ryan's street. I found his house and walked to the front door and knocked.
"Hey Aiden," Ryan answered.
"Hey. Is it okay if I crash here for a night or two?"
"Sure. My dad's on a work trip so it's just my mom and I around. Did something happen?"
"I guess you could say that." We walked up to his room as I explained everything that happened from the week.
"Yeah, I thought he was acting strange. But look, if Max and I were able to work through everything that just happened, then you and Blake can get through it. You two were meant to be with each other."
"I hope so. So you and Max are good then?"
"Yeah. He showed up at my door this morning, said he was ready to calmly talk, and we were able to talk everything through. I didn't want to bother you at work so I was going to call you tomorrow. I texted Blake though. I never heard back."
"He said that his phone died."
"Huh. Anyways, you can stay here until you're ready to go back. Or until Blake breaks down my door." I smiled at that.
"Thanks. And could you not tell him that I'm here please? At least not right now anyway."
"Sure."
Blake's POV
What the fuck did I just do? A lot has happened over the past week and it all just kind of slipped out. I can't even imagine how I made Aiden feel. I was frozen as I heard the front door shut, Anna standing in my door way snapped me out of it. "Shit," I mumbled and ran after him. "Aiden!" I called out as I ran out, but he was no where in sight. I pulled out my phone but then remembered that it was dead. "Fuck." I turned back and walked inside, my whole body was numb. I closed the front door and felt like I couldn't move.
"Blake?" I heard my mom.
"What did I do?" My gaze never left the floor.
"Oh Blake. He'll be back. Every relationship has fights."
I shook my head. "I need to plug my phone in. I need to call him." I walked past my mom and she grabbed my arm.
"Be patient." I nodded and walked upstairs.
I plugged my phone in and collapsed on the bed. What did I do? What if I can't fix this? I promised that I wouldn't hurt him. What do I do? I felt tears start to fall on my face. This week just got 100 times worse. I heard my phone revive and immediately tried to call him but got no answer. I started pacing the room as I tried to call him again but still got no answer. I texted him, hoping that he would call me back. After 10 minutes with no answer I grabbed my charger to plug my phone into my car and started to drive.
Where could he have gone? The park. A friends house. His moms? No. Ugh. I don't know. I drove to the park and didn't see him as I pulled in. I got out to walk around and tried to call him again. After not finding him and no answer again, I called Alex. "Hey man," he answered.
"Hey. By chance, have you heard from Aiden?"
"No. Why? Did something happen?"
"Sort of. I got mad at him and he left. I haven't heard from him since."
"Try Ryan. If anything Aiden probably went to his house. Hope you find him."
"Thanks." I hung up the phone and called Ryan.
"Hello?"
"Hey Ryan. It's Blake."
"What's up?"
"Have you heard from Aiden?"
"Uh. No."
"Damn."
"Did something happen?"
"I screwed up Ryan. Big time." I started choking up again. God, I hate this.
"What did you do?"
"It's been a bad week and I took it out on him. I'm such an idiot. I told him that I'll protect him and now he's probably thinking that, I don't know, I'm like his father or something."
"Don't say that. Give it time Blake. He loves you. He'll be back."
"What if something happens though. I don't know where he's at and if something happens to him..."
"This isn't the first time he stayed the night outside. I'm sure he has safe places to stay."
"I hope so. Please let me know if you hear from him."
"Okay. Night Blake." Ryan hung up the phone. I walked to my car and drove home. I tried calling Aiden a couple more times but still had no luck. I curled up in bed with one of his sweatshirts to try to will myself to sleep.
Aiden's POV
Ryan put the phone on speaker so I could hear what Blake was saying. I was torn. "You sure you don't want to go home?" Ryan asked me.
"Tomorrow."
"Okay." I got comfy on his couch, yes he has a couch in his room, and started to read through all the texts that were sent. "You know, he really does love you."
"Yeah. It just, this past week, I don't know. It's been hard."
"Something is going on with him, and he won't talk to any of us about it. But, if there is someone who can get it out of him, it's going to be you."
"He just gets mad when I ask him. Like earlier. So, I don't know."
"He knows he screwed up, and he doesn't admit that often. It's like almost never. Trust me, when you go home he's going to spill his guts at you. He trusts you more than anyone. The fact that he's going to all this trouble to look for you says that he cares. He wouldn't do that for just anyone."
"Yeah."
"Are you okay?"
"I don't know," I answered as a silent tear fell from my eyes. "I'm just torn."
"I'm sorry. Just at least promise that you'll go home and talk to him."
"I will."
"Good. Now get some sleep. You need it. Night Aiden."
"Night." I finished going through the texts from Blake and saw that I also had one from both Anna and Julie. I texted both of them in a group message to tell them that I'm at Ryan's and just need a little bit of time to clear my head.
Blake's POV
Morning rolled in and I didn't get much sleep. I couldn't when I was worrying about the fact that my baby is somewhere that I don't know where, possibly physically hurt, and it's because of me. I tried to contact him a few times throughout the night but got no answer. I decided to go on a run. I threw on my shorts and a sweatshirt and took off. I kept an eye out for Aiden hoping to see him somewhere, but didn't. I ran for close to two hours before I ended up back at home.
"Oh, you're up early," my mom said as I walked in. I wasn't really paying attention to time, just left as the sun started to rise.
"Didn't really sleep."
"Trust me honey, Aiden's alright."
"I need to at least hear from him before I can believe that." I walked upstairs to shower. When I got out, I realized just how much of a mess the room actually is. I started to clean it in hope to keep me busy as I still tried to get a hold of Aiden.
Aiden's POV
I woke up the next morning, having not gotten much sleep, exhausted. I've been reading all the texts and listened to the voicemails from Blake. I want to answer him, to hear his voice, my heart is breaking, I just don't know what to say. My moms BBQ is tomorrow so I need to go home this afternoon and the day seemed to go on forever. Blake never did stop trying to contact me. Max came over so we were able to catch up a little bit, we stayed in and played video games.
"I should probably head home," I said around 3:00.
"Do you want a ride?" Ryan asked.
"No. I want to walk. Thank you."
"Good luck. Let us know how things go," Max told me.
I took it a little slow walking home, my nerves picking up the closer I got. I walked inside the house and Julie was watching T.V. in the living room. "You made it back."
"Yeah."
"Blake's upstairs. Hasn't left his room all day. Is everything going to be okay?"
"I think so."
"Good. Tacos are for dinner."
I smiled at her and walked upstairs. The door to the bedroom was open and Blake had his back to it when I got there. The room was moved around. Drawers on opposite sides than they were, the bedding changed, pictures moved. "You re-arranged."
He snapped towards the door. "Aiden." I looked at him. "Yeah, yeah. Um, I did. Is it okay?"
I took a step in and looked around. "It's technically your room, so you can do whatever you want. But yeah, it looks good."
"Okay. Yeah. I just needed something to do."
I nodded my head. "Did you find what you were looking for yesterday?" His face fell a little.
"I don't remember. Can we also talk about that please?" I nodded my head and he sat down on the floor. I sat across from him and let him talk. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done that. It's been a shitty week. I'm failing science, my dad stopped by the school. The whole Ryan and Max situation had me stressed. Work's crazy, and I didn't know what to do. It all came out at once, and I know that I should've talked to you, and I shouldn't have thrown whatever it was. I was a complete dumb ass and I am sorry."
I reached out and grab his hand. He looked up at me and I could see tears in his eyes. "Thank you. Just talk to me next time please."
"I will. Promise." I pulled him into me and he buried his head in my shoulder. "I love you."
"I love you too." I pulled away from him. "And you are not like my father, not even close. So don't you say that again, ever."
He looked at me, like he was studying. "Ryan. You were at Ryan's house."
"Yes. I told him not to tell you. I didn't need you breaking down his door at the moment. So don't be upset at him."
"I'm just glad that you were safe. I was worried that you were sleeping outside."
"Nope. I was safe.
"Thank God." He kissed me hard. "I missed you."
"It was one night babe."
"I still missed you." He gave me a kiss. "I got you something."
"What?"
"As an apology gift. Hold on." He got up and walked to the closet. "I was hoping to hear from you so I got you something." He came back out with a bundle of red roses."
I rolled my eyes. "You're so cheesy, you know."
"I know."
"Thank you." I gave him a kiss. "Now, what happened with your dad?"