Fighting For Life

by Kylie Alyssa Forte

  I just wanted to be alone with him.

  It was like Aiden read my mind because he turned to Tommy and Brandon with a shrug. “You two can go ahead and go. We’re going to stay for a few to ice Aubry’s hand and ribs. We’ll lock up,” he said, sort of dismissing them.

  I secretly smiled at how authoritative he could be. It was attractive. Then again, practically everything that he did was attractive.

  I bit my lip and looked up at him, only to find him already looking at me with desire in his eyes. I almost moaned; I was putty in his hands just from a single look.

  “Okay, we’ll see y’all later then,” Tommy said, looking back and forth between the two of us.

  “Bye guys!” I said, waving at them while still staring at Aiden.

  They both walked out, closing the windowless door behind them. We were finally left alone.

  Seven seconds, that was how long Aiden waited before he slammed his lips onto mine.

  The fact that no one knew about what was going on between us meant that for most of the day we couldn’t kiss, touch, or do anything of the sort because we were usually surrounded by people. That in turn, did make the kisses we share filled with utter desperation.

  In the midst of our kiss, I pulled Aiden towards me. He responded to that with a low moan. He slowly put his hands on my hips, then lifted me up with ease to help me sit on the counter behind me.

  I immediately wrapped my legs around his hips, locking him in place. It was I who let out the moan that time.

  We continued with our passionate makeout session without a care in the world. That is, until the door to the room slammed open loudly. Our lips froze on each other’s instantly. After a split-second, we pulled away from each other, both of us staring at the door in silence.

  Both Tommy and Brandon were standing there with dumbfounded expressions.

  I looked down at our position and swallowed hard. It looked just as bad as I thought—I still had my legs locked around Aiden’s hips, both of my hands were rested underneath his shirt and right on his abs, while one of his hands were on my waist beneath the shirt, the other buried in my hair.

  It definitely looked bad.

  I pushed Aiden away from me quickly while he cleared his throat. Both of us were completely embarrassed. Everyone looked around with wide eyes. It was painfully awkward and silent in the room.

  “Ha! I told you!” Tommy finally laughed out loud, slapping Brandon’s shoulder with a smile.

  Aiden and I looked at each other for a split-second. I knew my cheeks were bright red with embarrassment over the situation. We got caught, and it was pretty humiliating.

  “So, how long has this been going on?” Brandon asked with a lazy smile on his face.

  “None of your business,” Aiden snapped as he ran his fingers through his hair and shot me a nervous look.

  I cleared my throat. There was really no point in hiding it any longer, everyone was bound to know.

  “Since my birthday,” I answered awkwardly.

  “Well, it is about damn time,” Tommy yelled animatedly and laughed loudly.

  “For real! I thought you were never going to grow balls, dude!” Brandon said, looking at Aiden and laughing at his eye roll. “Briana is going to freak out,” he commented.

  I sheepishly looked down. Welp, there was no more secret, that’s for sure.

  I was partially happy to the extremes, but a part of me was sad. Happy, because Aiden and I would finally be able to kiss and hug whenever we wanted to. Sad, because . . . well, sneaking around was pretty hot and fun.

  I finally took a look at Aiden, who was already looking at me. I could tell that he was thinking the same thing that I was. It took everything I had to not attack him with more kisses at that exact moment.

  I let out a pent-up breath.

  “Okay well . . . We’ll give y’all some alone time now. Seeing as how we could cut the tension with a knife if we wanted. Just don’t have sex on the counter, please!” Tommy said, snickering at my expression.

  Aiden rolled his eyes at his cousin. Tommy ignored him and walked out the door, followed by Brandon who shut the door behind him once again.

  We were finally alone again.

  We looked at each other for what seemed like a long period of time. We both said nothing. I studied his face, even though it was already etched into my heart, he was breathtaking, the most handsome man that I had ever seen.

  “So, I guess the cat is out of the bag now,” Aiden finally said.

  I giggled and nodded in response.

  “Damn, I’m gonna miss sneaking around with you. It was pretty hot,” he said, walking forward to me and engulfing me in a kiss. After a few moments, we pulled away and looked at each other once again.

  “What does this mean for us? What are we?” I finally asked.

  I was scared of his answer.

  He won’t want you anymore. Who would want to claim you? The nasty voice in my mind yelled at me.

  “Well . . . That depends on your next answer,” Aiden said, resting his forehead against mine softly.

  “What do you—” I began, but he cut me off quickly.

  “Will you be my girlfriend?” Aiden asked seriously.

  Everything in me stopped working for a second. I stared at him, trying to see if it was a joke. I had never been a girlfriend to anyone before. Hell, I had never even been a friend.

  Without thinking too much, I lifted my head up and kissed Aiden passionately. It started off slow and sweet, but it escalated quickly. Before long, it was once again a full-on makeout session. Finally, after his hands made their way to my hips I pulled away.

  “Sooo yes?” Aiden asked shyly.

  I let out a short laugh. “Hell yes,” I answered strongly and smiled at him.

  I just hoped that I could be everything that he wanted me to be.

  Of course, you won’t, you never are, my mind reminded me.

  ***

  I woke up with Aiden’s arm holding me close to him. I knew it was later than usual by the way the light filled up his room. I could even hear Dana’s voice faintly carry into the room.

  Shit. We were late.

  “Aiden . . . Aiden! Wake up, we’re late.” I pushed him lightly. He groaned loudly and turned over, burying his head into my neck. He was obviously still asleep.

  “Aiden, get your ass up now! We’re going to be late for school. We’ve already missed training,” I said, rolling my eyes and pushing him off of me so that I could sit up.

  I glanced at the clock and it read 7 AM. My eyes widened at how late we had slept in.

  “Aiden . . . get up now!” I said loudly and nudged him hard with my foot.

  “Wha—” he began, but he suddenly rolled over, falling off the bed. I laughed out loud when I looked over the edge at him. He was a messy heap on the ground with his sheets tangled around him. It was adorably funny.

  Aiden quickly recovered and stood up. He looked around the room for a few moments, waiting for his eyes to adjust. Finally, his eyes widened.

  “Shit, we’re late!”

  “Great job, Sherlock! It’s not like I’ve been trying to wake you up for the past five minutes or anything.”

  Aiden chuckled at me and stuck his tongue out.

  I stayed sitting on the bed as Aiden began looking for some jeans to wear to school. I just sat there and watched him to do it. We still had an hour before school started, so I was not worried about getting there on time or anything.

  I was mostly just disappointed that we missed our morning training session. My fight was the next day, and I needed practice. The guys I had been fighting were getting tougher and tougher to beat. No doubt, the next guy was going to be even harder to beat.

  “We’ll go an extra hour or two tonight,” Aiden said softly to me.

  “Oh, so you’re a mind reader now?” I asked, teasing him as I stood up.

  “No,” he stated, coming up behind me and grabbing me by the waist gently. “I just know you so well,�
�� he whispered and kissed me on the neck intimately.

  I groaned and turned around to him in his arms. “We have to get ready for school,” I whispered to him as my eyes roamed around his body.

  He nodded but didn’t let go of my waist. “You’re not helping anything when you look at me like that,” Aiden said huskily.

  My eyes immediately found his at his statement. I smiled at him with a small giggle. “Sorry . . . I just can’t help it.”

  “Still not helping,” he groaned as he looked at me. After staring at me for a few more seconds, he pecked my lips and then dropped his hands from around me. “Well, at least we can have Mom’s breakfast now!” he said, excitedly.

  I laughed at his excitement and nodded.

  We both got dressed. He respectfully got dressed in the closet and waited for me to tell him when he could come out.

  “You can come out of the closet now!” I said, laughing at my choice of words.

  He came out of the closet and laughed at my joke. “You are ridiculous, you know that . . . right?”

  I shrugged with another laugh.

  We both walked out of the room with our hands intertwined. Just as he was about to let go of mine before we made it through the kitchen door, I squeezed his hand in reassurance. I knew that it was not going to be a secret much longer—if it was even at all anymore. We might as well just embrace it.

  “Are you sure?” he asked, concerned.

  I shrugged. “I mean, everyone is going to know about us from Tom or Brandon anyways.”

  He nodded and smiled brightly at what I said. “Okay . . . I mean, only if you’re sure.”

  I nodded once, and we walked into the kitchen hand in hand.

  It seemed like everyone stopped everything that they had been doing the second we walked into the kitchen. Dana was sipping her coffee, Cece’s mouth opened in mid-bite, while Bri and Brandon were laughing at each other. However, they all stopped and stared at us as soon as we walked through the door.

  “Well if it isn’t the second cutest couple ever!” Brandon said, pausing. “Obviously, after Bri and I. I mean, come on . . . look at us,” he said, making Briana chuckle. It was so nice to hear her laugh, she was happy.

  “Brandon, what are you doing here?” Aiden asked, obviously annoyed at his best friend.

  I held back a laugh.

  “Uh, uh, uh, the real question is . . . Why are you here? I’m here every morning,” Brandon said in a playful tone.

  “Yeah, I figured that y’all already left like usual,” Dana said and took a sip of coffee. Her eyes settled onto our intertwined hands. “And what exactly is going on?” she asked, nodding toward us.

  “Um, well . . . uh—” Aiden stammered as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Was he blushing? “We’re uh, we’re . . .” he tried again.

  “We’re dating,” I stated bluntly as I held up our conjoined hands.

  His eyes widened, and he let out an uncomfortable chuckle.

  “Well it’s about time!” Briana said while munching on a piece of bacon.

  “And exactly how long has this been going on?” Dana asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Her birthday,” Brandon said, making me snap my head to him with an eyeroll.

  “Actually, we just started dating last night,” Aiden rectified quickly.

  “But y’all have been fu—” Brandon started but caught himself before saying the word. “—messing around since Aubry’s birthday.”

  “No, no! We haven’t been doing that!” Aiden inserted immediately.

  I nodded along with him. Stupid ass Brandon. I loved him, but he was an idiot.

  Dana was visibly shocked. She had worry etched onto her face and a crease in-between her eyebrows. “Well, I’m glad y’all finally came to your senses,” she said with a nod. “But I would really like to have a discussion with the two of you.”

  “You’ve already given us the S-E-X talk, mom,” Aiden groaned, spelling out the word for Cece’s sake.

  “It’s not about that specifically.” She sighed and ushered us out of the room. “You know that I love you Aubry. I think that you are very good for my son,” Dana clarified when we got out of the room and out of earshot from everyone else.

  “But . . .” I said under my breath.

  “I think you two need to take a little bit of a cooling period,” she said softly.

  Aiden made a shocked sound.

  “You two are together all of the time,” she said slowly. “I mean, you two work out all morning long, you go to school together, you work out all afternoon and evening long and then you two sleep together all night long. You both are eighteen. You two need space away from each other sometimes.”

  “Mom, we don’t even have any classes together at school. That’s a long while without being together.”

  “It’s not the same thing . . . Look, I’m just worried about you, both of you. I know that it’s different for the two of you because you live together, but you need to create some boundaries. You have two separate identities; you need to acknowledge that.”

  “We do! We understand that!” Aiden said quickly.

  “I really don’t think you do . . .” Dana said softly. “And because of that . . . I have made the decision that you two will no longer be sharing beds.”

  I opened my mouth to protest but shut it quickly with a small whimper.

  “You both need some space, and you two are obviously too young to give yourselves that. So, as the adult, I am making sure that happens.”

  Aiden raged, but I stayed silent. I knew that she had made up her mind already. To be fair, it was a gesture full of good intent. She was just trying to look out for us and make sure that our relationship was a healthy one. However, she didn’t understand the reason that we slept together . . .

  It was because of the nightmares, both of our nightmares.

  “I really am sorry, Aiden, but it’s my house, my rules,” she spoke with finality in her voice. “It’s for the best.”

  Aiden rolled his eyes. “Where’s Pawpaw? It’s technically his house.”

  My eyes widened at his words, and I shook my head at my furious boyfriend.

  “He’s in bed because he doesn’t feel very good. You are not going to go bother him! What I say goes. I am your mother. If you continue to talk back at me, then you will not be going anywhere except for school and this house for a very long time without Aubry!” Dana said angrily. Honestly, she was kind of scary.

  Aiden was mad.

  I was also mad, but it was at myself. I was driving a wedge between Aiden and his mother. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to calm him down before he said something he’d really regret.

  Aiden grumbled about to say something else when I caught his hand.

  “Hey,” I whispered in his ear. “It’s okay. I’ll be in the next room over, okay?”

  He looked at me with sad eyes then he sighed and nodded. “Fine, let’s go,” he said obviously still annoyed.

  ***

  Aiden

  She didn’t want us to fight. That much, I could see. Her eyes basically pleaded with me to stop.

  “Fine, let’s go,” I grumbled, still annoyed at the situation (and the fact that I didn’t get any breakfast). However, I didn’t want to upset Aubry any more than I already had.

  The ride was silent, but it was not awkward. We both just had a lot on our minds. That’s what I loved that about Aubry, we could just sit in silence, and it was never weird.

  As soon as I parked the car, I turned to her and spoke, “I’m sorry that we didn’t get to have breakfast. I am also sorry for losing my cool on my mom like that. She . . . she just . . . she doesn’t understand.”

  “Hey, you don’t have to apologize to me,” she said as put her hand in mine. “You need to say that to your mom.” She sighed and pursed her lips. “Look, I know that you think she doesn’t understand, and maybe she doesn’t. However, she is right, Aiden.”

  My eyes widened at her statement. Righ
t? How could she say that?

  “We need to create boundaries in our relationship. I have been with you practically twenty-four-seven since I moved in. You barely even hangout with your friends, and it’s never without me! Should that mean that we don’t get to share a bed? No, but I do feel bad because I feel like I smother you. Maybe it’s for the best. I don’t want you to lose out because you’re with me all the time,” she said gently as she looked me in the eye.

  It was difficult for me to wrap my head around that because I never even thought of her as smothering. I loved being around her.

  Was I smothering her?

  “And as for breakfast, you can make it up to me with a lot of lunch!” she joked with a kiss to my cheek.

  “B-But that’s not fair! I mean, I know that you haven’t had as bad of nightmares since we started sleeping together. And guess what? I haven’t either! We help each other. I don’t understand how stopping something that helps both of us could be “for the best”. I just . . . I don’t get it. I love being around you.”

  Did she not love being around me?

  “Aiden . . . I just,” she began after a short pause. “Your mom has done so much for me. I understand where she’s coming from. She’s afraid that we’re becoming unhealthy. Which begs the question, are we? I want to say “no,” but the way that I feel when you’re not around is scary, so are we in a healthy relationship? Or are unhealthily codependent upon each other?”

  I paused. I didn’t think so, but I also had never been in a relationship before. So, truthfully, I didn’t know.

  “Let’s just do what your mom says to placate her. We’ve made it this far in separate beds, we’ll be fine. But I would really like for us to think about what your mom said . . . start hanging out with your guys more, spend some time alone, play with Cece. We probably need to find identities outside of each other. It really can’t hurt.”

  “Okay, we’ll do as she says and think about it. Although, I’m still not happy about this whole not-sleeping-together thing. I mean, you’re not the one that wakes up to your screams. I can’t even imagine what’s in your dreams to cause the screams.”