11-The Storm
When Aria took off from Raven's house, everyone was worried and the air had become awkward, so Jax just driven everyone home in silence. Xepher had just gotten back to his house and noticed a note on the kitchen counter from his dad.
Xepher, looks like Blu took off on Grace, out looking for her now, please don't be too upset with her.
Xepher crinkled up the paper, irritated. He had saved up quite a bit to purchase a purebred white husky and Grace had let her slip through her fingers? The dog was two thousand bucks for crying out loud! How does she just 'take off'?
"Damnit." Xepher uttered to himself, taking out his phone. He shot Grace a text.
Xepher: Hey, tell Dad to drive safe. Be careful in the storm.
He tossed his phone to the side then and jumped at the sound of someone knocking on the door.
"What the-one sec, I'm coming!" He called out as he made his way back to the front door. The knocks came again, louder this time. He was already irritated so this person's impatience was pissing him off. He yanked the front door open.
"I said I'm co-Aria?" Xepher was shocked. He had just seen her less than an hour ago and now she was at his doorstep, soaking wet, shivering, and full of mud. Then he looked down and noticed the ball of white fur in her hands.
"Blu!" He said, shocked even more so now. Aria held the dog out to him and he took her, holding her shivering body to him. He turned back to Aria, who was halfway down the porch staircase by now.
"Wait! Aria." He called to her and she paused. That's when he noticed it. The tear in his leather jacket, even through his hoodie, then the blood. He quickly set the dog down and walked outside, closing the door behind him. The cold air whipped through his long sleeve and into his skin, making his teeth chatter, but he tried his best to ignore it.
"Aria, what happened?" He asked. She didn't turn and she tucked her head down, forcing him to go around her to face her. He put a finger under her chin and brought her face up to meet his. His chest tightened painfully. The bruises were visible once more, marring her otherwise perfect skin, her hair was sticking to her face as twigs and leaves poked out of her hair. She must've run through the forest behind their neighborhood. Her eyes were full of unshed tears and Xepher didn't know what to do. Then her eyes met his as she lifted the bottom of his leather jacket. Then her mouth moved.
'I'm sorry.' She mouthed, not even a whisper of a sound coming out. Xepher froze, that was the most she'd ever tried to talk before, and she was apologizing for, getting hurt? If it were anyone else that destroyed this jacket he would've been beyond furious, but this was Aria, she was so much more important than a jacket his grandpa gave him.
"Don't worry about it, Aria. What happened?" He asked, though he knew the answer. Her stepfather. A tear fell then, and he reached out to wrap his arms around her, his heart breaking, when the sound of thunder boomed around them. Before he could blink, Aria was on the ground, curled into a ball. Xepher cursed as lightning struck, thunder soon following, and she shook like a leaf.
Without hesitation, Xepher leaned down and scooped her up in his arms. He then went through the front door, closing it with his foot quickly, doing his best to ignore Blu's barking. He set Aria on the living room couch, thanking God it was leather and easy to clean, and grabbed his wireless headphones. He approached Aria gently, wrapping one arm around her while the other put a headphone in each of her ears, then set one of his playlists to shuffle. When she couldn't hear the storm anymore her body relaxed a fraction, then she looked up at him. His chest clenched again as he saw her red eyes full of fear. He held up a finger and she nodded.
Xepher ran upstairs, grabbing the First Aid Kit and running back down. The thunder came in waves, and Xepher counted, trying to make sure he knew the right time to pull a headphone out. When one boom ended, he pulled out a headphone and talked quickly.
"I have everything for you to patch up with. Do you need help?" Her eyes widened and pink flushed her cheeks as she shook her head. Xepher wanted to chuckle, though the seriousness of the situation weighed too heavily on him to do so. "I'll be in the kitchen then, okay?" She nodded and he placed the headphone back into her ear. He then proceeded to leave the room and let her handle the wound on her side.
Aria was confused and nervous. Here she was, in Xepher's house, in his ruined jacket and hoodie, and he was still taking care of her? He wasn't even remotely upset? Aria didn't know how to handle this situation, so she set to work on her side. The music playing in her ears soothed her even as the flashing lightning continued outside.
She winced as she wiped away the drying blood with a wet clothe, he'd gotten her along with the First Aid Kit. The wound wasn't as deep as it felt, but it was deep enough to cause bleeding, of which she put a big gauze pad over and taped it. She then put Band-Aids and ointment on other open cuts, ignoring the aches and pain in her body. Aria felt a thump next to her and jumped. She turned, still in a sports bra, to find Xepher crunched in pain beside the couch, clothes in one hand, his other covering his eyes. She smiled at his modesty and kindness. She pulled out a headphone.
"Mother f-Aria, here is a shirt and a pair of Grace's shorts, she said you could borrow. Also, a towel to dry off a bit."
She stood and grabbed the items. He turned back around and lowered his hand.
"Also, it looks like the blizzard got really bad out there, so they stopped at a friend of the family's house until it's safe to drive." As he said that, the lights flickered then went out entirely. He sighed.
"Damnit, let me go find a flashlight." He muttered and Aria took that time to dry off her body the best she could and put on the clothes given to her. The shirt was big and smelt just like Xepher, warming her. The shorts were a little tight, but she couldn't imagine putting on a pair of Xepher's shorts, they would probably fall right off. Aria giggled silently at the thought. A flash of light caught her attention and she saw Xepher's silhouette. She pulled out the earbud once more.
"Looks like the thunder and lightning are heading off. I got my laptop and some snacks from the pantry if you want to watch a movie? My dad knows you're kind of stuck here after finding Blu too." Aria was worried. What if Daniel contacted her mother and lied to her about her leaving? That thought was nullified when she heard her phone chime. She turned and opened it to see a message from her mom.
Mom: Xepher's mother told me you found his puppy? His father said you were stuck in the storm at their house, stay safe, don't worry, I trust you. Would rather you be there than stuck in the storm trying to make it home. I told Daniel, no worries.
"He caused this, didn't he?" The sudden closeness of Xepher's voice made Aria jump, but she froze when she felt his hand lay gently above her wound. Aria knew she couldn't lie, so she merely nodded. Her body tensed more than before when she felt his forehead rest on her shoulder and his arms encircled her waist gently. He was so careful with her, and it made her chest ache in a wonderfully painful way.
"Why won't you tell anyone?" He mumbled into her shoulder. She hit the home button on her phone, a picture of her mother and her together, and pointed at her.
"You're protecting her?" He asked. Aria nodded once more. He groaned.
"I can't, nor will I try to force you to speak up, but it hurts to see this happening to you." He said. Aria felt the tears in her eyes as he hugged her tighter, still careful of her bruises and cuts. This boy was making her weak, she knew that, but she also knew, that she wasn't going to be able to steer clear of him. So, she did the only thing she could think of doing at the moment. She turned and placed a kiss on his cheek. He paused, then looked at her, a smile on his face.
"Movie time?" He asked. She nodded, a small smile on her face as well as he set up the laptop on the glass coffee table in front of the couch and sat down, grabbing a blanket. He gestured for her to get under the blanket with him and she did, though slightly reluctant. She didn't see what movie he put on, but when she heard the eerie music playing in the background, she knew it was going to be terrifying. The jingle of metal caught their attention as Blue came running into the room, jumping up and diving into them. Xepher let out a grunt, taking most of Blu's weight as she sauntered over to Aria and curled up beside her.
"Traitor." Xepher muttered, though Aria could see the smile on his face. They turned their attention back to the movie then, and Aria felt her arms begin to bristle with goosebumps. Of course, he just had to choose a horror film.
Xepher was pleased with his choice in a movie to say the least. He wanted to distract Aria from the events of everything going on in her life, hoping that her time away from her stepfather would be healing. What he hadn't expected was for her to be scared enough to nearly end up in his lap with how close she was to him. When the movie had started, he was on the left side of the couch, leaning on the arm rest and Aria was in the middle cushion, followed by his traitorous Blu. Now, halfway through a demonic movie they watched, he still sat where he started. Aria however, with each jump scare, slowly crept into his side, her legs curled into her chest under the blanket, her arms wrapped around his in an attempt to squeeze him to death. She would suck in a breath with each scare, but that was the extent to which her vocal cords gave him, and though he wished she would speak to him, he was content with the level of comfort she felt around him.
Another jump scare occurred, and this time Aria jumped and let out a squeak. Xepher laughed and Aria turned to him with a frown so cute that he pinched her cheek.
"So adorable." She scrunched her nose at the statement even as he saw a blush form in her cheeks in the laptop's light. It had gotten dark almost an hour prior, and Xepher knew Aria, even in her current circumstances, was such an innocent and sweet girl.
"Come here." He held out his arms for her and she paused, her face tinting a darker red even as she slowly climbed into his lap, careful of her wounds. He wrapped his arms around her and then turned, taking up the space on the couch so they could lay down. Aria was so tiny, weighing near to nothing and she seemed to melt into him once he'd gotten comfortable. He looked down at her, noticing her cheeks were flushed red, her eyes wide.
"Is this okay?" He asked. Her innocent baby blues shot up to meet his as she looked up at him and her pink cheeks told him how aware she was of him. Good. She nodded gently before turning and resting her head on his chest. His heart pounded.
Xepher had never lacked in attention from the female population, and he'd always been confident in the way he handled such attention. However, Aria was a different story. She threw him off his game, made him rethink how to handle situations, how to process his anger properly, how to help someone, how to feel so strongly for someone so new to his world that it scared him. He looked down at her then. She absolutely terrified him. The few days he and his friends had known her already, everyone was hooked into her. Especially himself.
He wanted everything she had to offer him. He wanted her. It was terrifying, because logically he knew, Karen and his separation was barely a week ago, even if she felt like a distant memory, but that didn't stop his chest from pounding harder than ever before by Aria squeezing his sides in terror because of a movie. It didn't stop his stomach from flipping every single time she looked at him with those baby blues, nor did it stop him from wanting to pummel her step father into a bloody pulp for even thinking to put a finger on such a sweet soul.
He wanted her, more than he wanted anything. He realized he had from the moment they met. That realization made him wrap his arms around her tighter. Without thinking, he leaned up and kissed the top of her head, freezing when he realized what he did. She didn't react. At least, not at first, and not in an obvious way, but he was so in tuned to her as a whole, that he realized when she did it. She hugged his tighter by a fraction and tucked her head into him a little bit more. Xepher smiled to himself.
He knew this wasn't going to be easy. He knew he would have to be patient for her. He would have to be understanding. And he would be. He would be everything she needed him to be. Because all he wanted, more than anything in his life, was Aria Nightingale.