Angels In Disguise

Chapter 7: Inevitable Situations

//EDITED//

(Aaron's POV)

I hear sounds of movement and feel myself gradually come out of my blissful sleepy state despite my many attempts to try and ignore the sounds. What does wake me up though, is the memories of the past few days and how this is certainly not the time to be lazy. As I'm still trying to get rid of my incessant drowsiness, I hear someone behind me. I turn my neck, stupidly too fast, to see what the source was and cause myself to clumsily fall off and hit my head onto the hard floor. I shout "Shit!!" without thinking and send an arrogant response to the stranger who made me injure myself.

Stupid. Idiot. Can't they see I was sleeping!!!! I'm gonna strangl....

My angry train of thought stops immediately, as I see who it was that I had been thinking about. It's Maria. I suddenly can't stop staring, she looks at me with an incredulous expression however I can sense her unease. Her glossy, long brown hair is pinned back, but that just makes her striking hazel eyes, stand out. I think she looks better with her hair down. Wait... What?? Where did that come from? Stop. You cannot think that about someone you barely even know.

I quickly stop the thoughts that keep popping up in my head about Maria. It takes me a while to realize that she had looked away from the compelling gaze we were in. Her eyes are just so... NO!!

At least I'm not the only one who seemed to find it hard to look away but she's not even looking at me anymore. Abruptly, I realize that she had asked me something, and was waiting for an answer.

"Well...I'm Aaron Matthews, I'm 17, you're Maria Carrera, 16."

Well done!! Real smooth, just go ahead and creep her out why don't you?

"H...how do you know that? Are you a friend of Tim's?" Her timid voice is so quiet I almost didn't hear it. What surprises me however is the fact that she doesn't seem to know about Tim. I unexpectedly comprehend the fact that I seem to be daydreaming a whole lot more during this conversation.

"You haven't been informed about his...never mind.Yeah I'm a friend of Tim's. Your school called him about you fainting but he was busy with something and asked me to pick you up from your school." I wanted to sound casual, but then I remember what it is that I'm about to tell her and those few words alone come out filled with emotion.

"Informed about his what?"Great, now I've scared her. She sounds really anxious...

"Well I just thought you would have heard from somewhere and that's why you fainted, but I guess not. The thing is...umm...he was shot in his cafe...yesterday afternoon. He was...dead on the spot." I reply pathetically, there was no way I could have said that any worse. The look of absolute pain on her face makes me want to comfort her, and help her. I felt more sympathy which I thought was long gone from inside me. Guess I was wrong.

"He seemed like a great guy, and I'm sure he'll miss you as much as you'll miss him." My pathetic choice of words made it seem like Tim had just gone on a long vacation; not been murdered on his very own Cafe floor, whispering his last words to some complete stranger.

Maria's body crumbles, her shoulders drop with the weight of her anguish and torment. Her face is transformed suddenly into something completely absent of any previous reaction; not a single trace of remorse. As her knees begin to shake, I instantly catch her unsteady frame, and she goes completely limp in my arms. She feels so fragile, like if I wasn't careful she might just fall apart. I delicately pick her up and sit down whilst still holding her shaking form. She digs her head in my chest and her shaking grows worse. I distinctly feel a tear drop and hear her barely audible, gasps of grief.