Face it, Macy

Chapter Twenty-One

Say I did kill Janie Anne, that I went into a blind rage and that's why I can't remember it well.

    Why would Jack not testify? He was very clearly there, and saw the whole thing. Why did he never tell me what happened? I kept telling everyone I couldn't remember, did he not believe me?

    "Macy?" Aaron poked his head around the corner. I've been on the couch all day, 'pouting' as he calls it.

        "I have a surprise for you, can I come over there?" He kept his body around the corner, hiding something. I haven't said a word all day. Just been in a trance.

    I nodded, scotching over as Aaron beamed at me. He strolled over to me, holding the surprise behind his back.

    "Hold out your hands."

    Already, I'm very annoyed. I held my hands out. Aaron placed a thin square wrapped gift box in my hands. Really? He nodded for me to open it, so I took the lid off.

    "Um, the fuck is this?" It was a fancy looking letter, like really fancy and elegant like. I pulled it open, reading the cursive writing.

    "You're invited to attend our annual auction?"

    "They invite me to every event, I'm popular." Aaron told me.

        "And I get to bring someone. Wanna go? They can be very entertaining."

    "An auction sounds boring as shit." I do see it's addressed to Aaron, by referring him as 'Scary Duckling'

    "These auctions are different, trust me." Aaron sat next to me, making me scooch again.

        "And you expect me to go to this fancy event wearing sweatpants?" Maybe if I complain enough he'll drop it. Instead Aaron let out a giggle,

    "I have something for you, it's not a fancy event but you'll look amazing." Why did he have to disgust me so much? I looked at the invite again, seeing the time and date. It's literally tonight.

XXXXX

    Aaron was right, it was definitely not a fancy event. The place was at a small building outside of town, maybe an abandoned hotel at some point. They fixed it up just enough to hold an event, new tables and chairs, bad lighting, and a podium that looked like it was in terrible shape based on the dark color spots.

    The outfit Aaron gave me turned out to be dark jeans with a dark pink Henley sweater. Least it was comfy, he even got me some simple sneakers.

    It's a nice change after living in sweats and the same shirt for days.

    Aaron held my arm as we walked in, I was too focused on everything else to be paying attention to where we were walking. There were quite a few people here, all looking shady. Some overdressed with suits, most wore very simple outfits.

    "Welcome, thank you for joining us, Scary Duckling." The man greeted us before letting us pick a table. It made me giggle, what a goofy alias.

    Aaron pulled a chair out for me, pretending to be a gentleman. After I sat, he signaled to me he'll be right back. I glanced around at all the people. Some looked to be like couples, a lot of them looked like they were here in groups or by themselves.

Aaron came back, holding two glasses of what could be champagne.

"They'll serve food later too, in case you were wondering." He told me, taking a seat and scooting closer to me. I shrugged, still not really in the talking mood. My chest still hurts from him literally carving into me like wood.

"Your number paddles, Mr. Duckling." A well dressed young kid came over to hand me and Aaron the number pads.

"Did you get to pick the number, Mr. Duckling?" I asked, lifting the paddle with the numbers '69'.

    "Actually I did, it was Ethan's idea." Aaron took mine, putting both on his side. Already, I'm bored.

"Who was Callum?" Aaron suddenly asked. I froze, that's a name I haven't heard in a while. I sat back, crossing my arms,

    "You googled me, didn't you?"

"Of course I did. I thought about it but wasn't sure until I caught a glimpse of what you were looking up." Aaron took a sip, keeping a smile on me.

"It's not that big of a deal," I started to glance around, hoping no one overhears and recognizes me or something.

"I'd like to know, Sunshine." He's just gonna keep pressing me, even if I ignore him.

    "An ex, he went missing around last year. Could be dead, could be fine." I simplified it.

"So, why did Janie think you had something to do with it? Girl really had it out for you, by the way." Aaron leaned back, keeping his full attention on me. Now that I think about it, I wonder what his opinion would be.

"Cal had his issues,"

    "Did he hit you?" Aaron stopped me. I blinked at him, how much research did he do on me?!

"Again, Cal had his issues."

"Did, he hit you?" Aaron sat up, eyeing me weirdly.

    "He hit me, I hit him. His dad was beating him at home, we were kinda using each other anyway." I explained. Aaron stayed quiet, letting me continue.

"Somehow, someone saw him getting rough with me. They told everyone he was an abuser, that I was being manipulated by him. So when he suddenly went missing, some people thought I killed him. Of course I had nothing to do with it, I figured he ran away."

"They never found him?" Aaron asked, but he already knows the answer.

    "After a while of no leads or any clues, the case went cold. I don't know if he's dead or not, it's not my problem anymore." I lowered my voice. It sounds awful saying it outloud. It's not like I didn't care about him, I really was using him to fit in more.

I went to take a drink, when Aaron stopped me,

    "How old are you?" He grinned at me.

"18 you prick." Slapping his hand away, I took a small sip.

    "Did you start school late?" He asked. What is with the 20 questions? I guess I keep asking him stuff as well, but not much personal stuff.

    "Something like that, me and Jack caught a nasty bug so we started a year late."

    Aaron watched me still, funny I don't think he knows how much I hate being around him. He's done nothing but treat me like his favorite toy.

    "Good evening everyone!" A man at the podium announced. Everyone settled down, quickly sitting.

    Finally this is starting.