Empathy

10- Milo and Sam

Chapter 10 

“Can I help you?” I asked the strange man, wishing Aiden would hurry up.

He narrowed his eyes. “Do you know Aiden Hence?”

“Yes,” I answered hesitantly. “He’ll be back in just a minute…”

The guy nodded slowly; his mood lightening. “Well, I need to go so you’ll have to give him a message for me. Tell him I figured it out. And tell him, in these words exactly, ‘he better stop playing games, because he’s running out of time’. Also, inform him that the answer is no. Oh and the name is Milo.”

“Okay,” I choked out. Why did that sound like a threat? He smiled contently and nodded at me once before finally leaving. 

Seconds later, Aiden came out of the restaurant with a bag of food in his hand. He joined me at the table I’d found, taking the food out of the bag and passing me a hamburger as well as fries. I smiled gratefully, but he didn’t buy it. “What’s wrong? Are you still upset that I wouldn’t let you pay?”

“What? No…” I answered quickly, making his suspicions grow. 

His eyes searched me for any injuries. “Then what is it?”

“This guy came over while you were inside,” I started, watching him get stiff and set down his hamburger. “He told me to give you a message. Something about how he realized something and an answer being no. And then he said, and I quote, ‘he better stop playing games, because he’s running out of time’.”

“Did he tell you his name?” Aiden ground out, his face contorted in anger.

I nodded and answered, “Milo.” He clenched his jaw and muttered a string of cuss words. “What’s going on Aiden?” I asked, interrupting his swearing.

 He fell silent for a few moments before replying, “I hate to be vague, but there’s really no other way to go about this… Milo isn’t a good guy and the less he knows, the better. What he said makes me think he’s planning something.”

“I got that much,” I said, rolling my eyes at his lack of details.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you any more than that.” He placed his head on his hands, avoiding my inquisitive gaze and making me slightly distraught.

I sighed. “Does this have anything to do with the reason I can’t sense what you guys feel?”

“Kind of,” he muttered, not looking at me.

“Alright… Are you going to eat?”

 Once we’d finished eating, we made our way back to the golfing place and found Chase and Keera who were waiting near the check-in desk. We met them and Chase gave us a confused look. “I thought you were still golfing…”

“We finished early and got dinner,” Aiden replied, looking uncomfortable. I felt the same way; I had completely forgotten about them…

Strangely, a small smile appeared on Keera’s face. “Well then, we should probably be getting home soon.” With that we all headed to Aiden’s car, Keera forcing me to sit in the front because she ‘got carsick’. It made absolutely no sense, but I didn’t complain.

When we pulled up at their house, Chase rushed out of the car after a quick goodbye, leaving me wondering if he’d actually wanted to go on this date in the first place. Keera scoffed at her brother and then asked me, “Can I talk to you for a quick second?”

“I guess so,” I replied nervously, glancing at Aiden. Was she going to tell me to stay away from him because she wanted to date him?

As soon as we were outside of the car, she started talking to me, “Please stay away from Chase. I think he might kind of like you and I know you don’t like him. I can tell you and Aiden really like each other. So date him, not my brother.”