I Really Wish I Hated You

Famous Last Words

"Eddie...you remember my cousin, Aileen, right?"

Looking at Gareth, Eddie narrowed his eyes.

Aileen?

As in, Aileen Emerson?

The same Aileen Emerson who had clung to his side for a summer, had followed him everywhere...who had clawed her way into his heart before leaving?

That Aileen?

Slowly, Eddie turned to look at the female before him. There was no way. She couldn't possibly have been the same Aileen from his youth. She was in Colorado. Surely he would have known if she had returned. It just wasn't possible. Besides, wouldn't Gareth have told him if she had returned? After Aileen had moved away, Gareth eventually became one of Eddie's best friends. At that time in their youth, Gareth would occasionally mention Aileen to Eddie, but after threatening to beat the crap out of him should he mention her to him ever again, Gareth stopped. While he was grateful Aileen had opened up something in his heart, making it so Eddie wasn't afraid to let people in, the anger he felt at her leaving and the regret from never being able to say goodbye tarnished his mind when it came to her. He couldn't help but over time build up this increasing sense of betrayal within his mind at her absence. The only other times Eddie allowed Gareth to talk to him about Aileen was to warn him when she would be coming to visit, so he could make himself scarce, not wanting to see her.

Observing her, his eyes scanned over her entire being, starting from her feet and slowly making his way up. Shaking his head, Eddie thought again how there was no way this girl was his Aileen. Aileen had been a scrawny little thing. A twig. The creature before him was...voluptuous. Swallowing, as his eyes landed on her thighs and then her hips, Eddie ran his hand over his mouth.

There was no other way to put it.

The woman before him had a body that was almost hedonistic.

Her body had an incredibly erotic sense of softness to it, and Eddie cursed himself internally when the first thought that came to his mind when he roamed his gaze over her curves was that he wanted to sink his hands into her skin, to feel her body under his. Which just further proved in his mind that there was no way she was Aileen. He would have never had these thoughts for someone like Aileen. It had been almost ten years. Surely one couldn't change that much. Continuing his visual exploration over her body, when he finally got to her face, he was amused to see she was still glaring at him. But, staring into her eyes...he knew. He thought they had been familiar, and it was because he had only seen eyes like that one other time in his life. When he was ten years old, and he had saved a little girl from a couple of punks who thought it was okay to harass someone smaller than them.

"Oh, shit."

Staring at Eddie as he came to the realization as to who she was, Aileen half heartedly smirked. So, he really didn't recognize her.

No one spoke for a moment. The members of Hellfire looked between Eddie and Aileen in shock. With the exception of Gareth, no one knew what was really going on. The three freshman, who looked uncomfortable at the interaction, looked at the older teens, questions in their eyes. Jeff and the other member had no idea about Eddie and Aileens history either. For Jeff, it was a shock to learn that Aileen was not only Gareth's cousin, but she also had some kind of history with Eddie.

Eddie didn't know what to say now that he was face to face with Aileen. All he knew was he didn't want to outright admit that he knew it was her. As if his mind couldn't help it, looking into her eyes, he felt that same sense of abandonment from so long ago. Which he knew was stupid. But he couldn't help it. Crossing his arms over his chest, Eddie smirked at Aileen, discreetly clenching his fists. "I don't buy it. You're pulling my leg." Exasperated, Gareth looked at Eddie. "Eddie, I'm being serious. That's Aileen. I think I'd know my own cousin."