Breathe Me

17. Intoxicated

Charlie's P.O.V.

Little happened in the weeks following my first few days with Aiden and his friends. Not a word from my step father yet, which is understandably because he didn't know my new phone number (as I accidentally left my phone in the house when I ran away) and contacting the cops about my "disappearance" could provoke a search of him and prove he's not stable enough to "support" me. In school, I spend time with my group of friends while outside of school I hang around with Aiden's group. When I came to school that Monday, Pete apologized immediately. So we're cool now.

Aiden and I haven't talked as much as I would like. Ever since I asked him to explain the bruise on his jaw like he said he would, he's avoided conversation with me. Sometimes it's like he's not even here at all. In all honesty, I miss him. His presence is calming to me, but now just a glimce of him is hard to get. He's practically a ghost in my life now. In class, he doesn't speak to me, he doesn't hang out much with his friends and I as a group, he comes home after I'm already headed to bed. The most I get of him is in class when he catches my eyes. Despite the lack of words between us, when we do make eye contact, we'll hold it for minutes at a time. I've got a feeling he wants to say something but the words have fled his mind. His gaze makes me think he misses me the way I miss him. At first, I tried to get him to stop avoiding me, but he's good at it. So I'll be patient with him.

My bruises have healed, thank god. The pain that I once felt has loosened it's hold on me, so I'm back to normal. My scars and old bruises have faded as well. My thin form has thickened a bit to the point where I don't look like a stick. I've also gained some color to my skin, the paleness is slowly leaving my skin and a more healthy tone has showed itself. The best part to me though, is throughout my time away from home, I haven't picked up anything to hurt myself with. I'm extremely proud of that. I've been taking care of my old scars and it's nice to see a fresh sheet of skin without deep lines. 

So all in all, I'm not doing that bad.

Deep in thought, I'm acutely aware of something poking my cheek over and over again. My attention snaps from my thoughts and to the annoying feeling.

"Ace, quit poking me." I whisper. Why out of all the possible seats he could've sat in, he had to sit in the desk next to mine?

Our teacher drones on, but no one on earth is paying any attention. Ace chooses to ignore my words and pokes me again.

"I swear to god, Ace, I will kill you if you poke me again!" I said that too loud. Way too loud. Can I take it back? From the looks of all the eyes in the room that're on me, I can't take it back.

"Ms. Hail." No other words were needed from the teacher, I understood what she meant. Her hands went to her hips as her foot tapped the floor.

I gave a sheepish grin to her as Ace snickers beside me. "S-sorry..." Great, now I'm stuttering.

"Detention, both of you. After school." She points to Ace and I. Damn... I've never had detention.

I scowl at him. He's still laughing his ass off. His dumb ass. This situation doesn't even phase him, he's probably had detentions a hundred times. It's normal for him. I roll my eyes and the rest of class finishes out as usual.

When the bell rings, we walk out of class together. My eyes scan the sea of people, looking for Aiden. I just want to see him even though he won't talk to me.

Before I can think about what I'm doing, I turn to Ace, "Why won't Aiden talk to me?"

"Not my story to tell, Little Kitten. He'll tell you when he's ready. I know he seems like an ass sometimes, but he's got his reasons. It'll make sense eventually." I should've expected an answer like that, but my heart still sunk. I was hoping maybe I'd get to know something.