Aurora Book 1: Soitera

9. Shoes

The boys are not hard to find. They're talking outside on a bench. At least they're not arguing anymore.

"Are you still alive?"

"YES. I am alive. The doctor said there's nothing wrong with me."

His mom takes my pills and papers. "Your dad and I are going home. I need to make sure everything is packed. Is your luggage ready and at the house?"

"Yea, they're packed and beside the door."

"Perfect. Be home by six."

"Alright." Everett pulls me away from them.

"Didn't you park over there?"

"I'm hungry and there's a taco place over here. We missed lunch."

We get seated, and they give us chips and salsa. "Is that?"

"They give them to everyone who comes in."

"It's free?"

"Yea."

I like free stuff. I have no problem eating this. I don't even look at the menu. "Everywhere should have something free for lunch."

"How do you feel about the changes lately?"

"Honestly, I hate them. Cruel people are nice all of a sudden. I have more stuff than I know what to do with. Everyone lies to me. And I miss my peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. You would think after twelve years of peanut butter, I would despise it. But I miss it. Everything is more complicated now. Sometimes I want to run to my secret garden and stay there. Life is simple there. Eat berries and read."

"What did you think about going shopping with the girls?"

"They've always been horrible. Then they were acting like we've been friends forever. I don't understand why. But shopping wasn't bad. I decided to make the most of it early in the night. Trying on clothes and getting my hair done was fun."

"Do you like them?"

"No."

"That was fast."

"They are liars. Regardless of how they act now. They were horrible to me for years. I have done nothing to no one. They were cruel because I was different. Now, they believe me to be important because of my school, so they treat me kindly. That will never be the kind of person I want to be friends with."

"What about the guys?"

I shrug my shoulders. "Most of them ignored me. They never did anything or said anything rude. Mostly they still ignore me. Brock talks to me a little bit."

"And me?"

"You wanted me to steal your name thing. That wasn't a big deal. Then you wouldn't leave me alone. I felt like one of the girls dared you to pretend to like me or something. It wasn't fun. Why would someone like you look at me? It doesn't make sense."

"What else?"

"I figured you might be pretending to want me because you thought I'm an easy trashy girl. Hell, the first thing my dad brought up to you was abortion costs. He wasn't helping me any."

"Yea, our first encounter shocked me."

"That brought up the last issue I have. You protect me a lot. You keep me safe and complain if I try to even go home alone."

"Yea."

"I guess I don't understand that. Why would someone suddenly care enough to be protective? It seems like an act sometimes. Why the hell would anyone ever put themselves in my house for a night? Maybe you have a death wish. Or maybe you like the adrenalin rush at getting jarred awake at three by drug addicts and alcoholics. Get some life experience and look cool to your friends. But this is my real life. I don't get to..." I stand up and walk out. That wasn't supposed to be emotional. I sit on the bench and wipe the tears off my face.

A few minutes later, Everett puts his arm around me. "Thank you for being honest."

"I don't know why I started crying. I'm sorry."

"Because you're still worried about those things and it scares you. What happens if everything ends between us?"

"I ignore everyone and try to live in my garden as much as possible. Mrs. Young takes me to school in the summer. I finally get to leave forever."

"And if it doesn't end?"

My brain goes completely silent. "I have no idea."

He smiles and kisses my head. "You're still waiting for one of your scenarios to happen. You're waiting for me to show you some ugly truth where you figure out this was all a game."

"It always is."

"I've had the biggest crush on you for a couple of years. I was always scared to talk to you. So smart and pretty. So very quiet too and I never saw you anywhere. You didn't go to the games or school events. I never had a reason to talk to you. Not a good enough reason, I guess. Then I thought about the name tag and figured I would ask. I didn't want to go another year without talking to you. Once you got that, I took you home. Your father..." He shakes his head. "Scared the hell out of me in the weirdest way possible. I was afraid to leave you there. I know that sounds weird, but I would have taken you home with me that day and never let you go back. I can't explain it."

"What happened after that?"

"I talked to my dad. I talk to him a lot. He told me about your parents and warned me to stay away from your dad. I still stay away from him as much as I can. But I'm not going to leave you with him either."

"I hate my father. He's an asshole. He doesn't care whether I live or die. He yells and is happy to get rid of me. But he's never laid a finger on me."

"No. He left that to his friend. Was it that guy that's always there, John?"

"I thought you didn't want to know?"

"I changed my mind."

I don't know whether to tell him or not. I lay my head on his shoulder. "Yea. But please don't cause any problems. I get to leave forever in eight months."

"Let's go get you a swimsuit since the store is right there."

"I thought we were going to do it on the island?"

"We will, but if you want to swim right away, you'll need it when we land. We'll get you a better one on the island."

"Ok."

He holds my hand and leads me to the store.

Dinner goes as well as can be expected. We're all excited, and his parents are trying to make sure everything is done. I get my pills back and put those and my swimsuit in my luggage. Then I get ushered to the guest room. It has a big bed and a private bathroom. I take a shower because I'm not trying to do that at one in the morning. Then I wrap up in the blanket and sleep.

An alarm wakes me up and Everett shuts it off. "My parents are getting everyone up in fifteen minutes. I need to go to my room, so they don't find me here. Sleep a little more, baby."

Sure enough, fifteen minutes later, his mom comes in. "Time to get up. Dress comfortably for the trip."

I put shorts and a BlackRock tee shirt on. Everett told me that would be good. Then I brush my teeth and pull my hair back.

I get to the living room and someone yells, "Shoes." at me.

I try again. This time I make it to the shuttle. Everett lays in the back seat with me. I think both of us sleep the entire three hours to the airport.

"Everyone, out."

Security takes an hour. Then we're finally where we're supposed to be. Everyone lays on chairs. I take a chair over to the window and watch the planes. I've only ever seen this in movies. Or on the news when a plane crashes. It's different watching it in person. Slowly, people fill in the other seats.

Then an intercom dings loud as hell. Or maybe I'm just sitting under it. "Now boarding first class for flight 1108. Gate 23."

I run to Everett because I can't think of anything else to do. "Is that here?"

"Yep. That's us. Go to the gate. I have the tickets." His dad points.

I wrap around Everett's arm, and he half drags me to the gate.

Andy laughs after a minute. "Stop being so nervous. They're going to think you're smuggling drugs or something."

"Don't say that in the airport." His dad smacks him on the back of the head. "Never say that in the airport."

"Sorry."

"Follow the tunnel to the entrance." A lady points at a hallway.

I have a death grip on Everett. I am not getting lost. Then I trip and nearly make him fall while we're trying to walk.

He puts his arm around me and keeps walking. "You're fine. Relax and we'll have our seats soon."

The seats are nice. Lots of cushions and roomy. There are two seats per row, and I get to sit by Everett. He lets me have the window seat. I watch the planes take off and land while he talks to his parents.

Then it's our turn to take off. I nearly piss myself. This is not the most fun experience.

"Welcome to flight 1108. Feel free to unbuckle your seatbelts and get comfortable. We will be landing in five hours with nothing but bright sunny skies ahead of us."

"I have to pee."

"Bathrooms are at the front. Right there in that walkway."

"Thank you." I'm kind of mad he didn't offer to take me. But that would be really awkward if he did.

I stand up with shaky knees and manage to find them. I am proud of myself for this. It's kind of weird though. I've always done everything on my own. Why am I suddenly so dependent on him? Do I want him to see me as weak? I'm not weak.

I get back, and he's watching a movie with headphones in. I guess he needs some space. I shouldn't be shocked by that. He went from a seventeen-year-old kid with no attachments, to pretty much acting like a husband. No wonder he needs space. I shouldn't have come on this trip. I'm going to make the most of it though. I can see a beach in person. They said his uncle can give me information about school too. That'll be nice. I'll be fine. Maybe I can find a secret garden there.

"What are you thinking?"

"Maybe I can find a secret garden there."

"Why?"

"I don't know. You interrupted my train of thought. Now it's gone. What are you thinking?"

He kisses my fingers. "You always play with your fingers when you're overthinking something. Relax please. And you're not going to need a safe spot. You'll be safe no matter where you are. If you don't feel safe, find me."

"You say that like I'm not going to be stuck to you like glue for this entire trip."

"I'll gladly be your safe spot." He kisses my fingers again. "Stop overthinking, baby. Everything will be fine."

I lay the seat back a little and watch his TV with him. I end up falling asleep fairly quickly.