Twinkling in the Dark | ✔︎

Chapter 24

Alexander's POV

"Go on, then," she said, her emerald eyes sparkling with care. "I'm listening."

"Well," I sighed and captured her hand in mine, "her name was Alexis. We had the same birthday, same friends, same looks, same everything. She was my other half, you know? My twin. We did everything together. If we were going to a party but one of us was busy then neither of us would go at all. We insisted on sharing the same room, even when we moved into a bigger house with more rooms. We couldn't live without each other, but I've still managed to survive the past year without her.

It all happened on our sixteenth birthday, which was only a little over a year ago. Matthew Bradley, my friend and her boyfriend, had thrown us a full out party for our sixteenth at his house. I've never had so many drinks, but I guess I felt that I had to in order to celebrate being sixteen. Gosh, I was so stupid."

"You weren't stupid," Aurora said, tightening her tiny grip on my hand. "You were young and naive."

"It was a year ago, gem."

"You're a year older and more mature now."

"Anyways," I continued, "I-I guess I got caught up with some girl upstairs which left Alexis with no ride home. There was no sober person in that house, so I was dumb enough to get wasted and ditch Alexis. Long story short, the next morning I got a call to meet my parents at the hospital. Th-they said that she had- I can't-I can't do this, gem."

"You can, Xander. You can and you will." Her fingers wiped away stray, traitorous tears that fell from my eyes. I silently cursed myself for crying in front of the girl I undoubtedly loved.

"They- they said she had- she bled out during surgery. Bradley was just as wasted as her when he tried driving her back home, but they crashed into a tree on some road." A sob escaped my mouth. "He got lucky and survived it with only some scars and broken bones. She, on the other hand, b-bled out during surgery.

Bradley woke up from his surgery and when he found out, it was like all he cared about was her, and she was gone. She was gone, and there is nothing I could do about it now. He became a prick who banged ever girl in sight to try to get over Alexis. His and I's friendship disintegrated since he blamed her death on my not being there for her during the party. And he's right. It is my fault."

"He just doesn't want to blame himself so he's blaming you. He was the one who turned the key and started driving. It wasn't your fault, and it wasn't his either. Nobody could've expected that to happen, Xander," that green-eyed angel whispered, her voice hoarse from her silent cries.

"He was drunk, though. He had no sense of what he was doing."

"Neither did you."

"I should've stayed with her rather than being with some random girl upstairs. I left that school because I'm the villan. I was the one who lost all my friends. I ran away from it."

"Listen," she said and held my face in her tiny hands, staring at me directly in the eyes, "you were off living your life. Nobody could have prevented this. What happened happened, and you can't fix it, but neither can anybody else. You're brave for holding on, Xander, but you know what's braver? Letting go of it."

And then it clicked. This girl, this green-eyed jewel, was evidence that the stars light up the night for a reason. The stars accompany the moon when it's dark. And right then and there, I knew with no doubt in my mind that I was in love with her, my gem, my treasure, my stars.

"Alexander?" she whispered, looking up me and grabbing me from my thoughts. Her emerald eyes bore into mine, her brows furrowed.

"Yes, gem?"

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?" I asked, trying to act confused.

She sighed. "Like you're hunting, and I'm your prey."

"Because I want you," I said and rubbed my hands down his face in frustration. Why did I have to love such an oblivious girl. "Hell, I need you."

"You don't need me-"

"No! I need you because I love you for god's sake! I am so in love with you that I can physically feel my heart ache for you when you cry," I said, wiping her tears away. "You're not the only one with fire and ice running through your veins every time we kiss."

"Alexander I-I don't know what to say," she said awkwardly, looking down at her fidgeting hands.

There was a moment of stillness, her soft but harsh words settling into it. My heart momentarily stopped, and I didn't know if it was from my unintentional confession or from her not returning it. Hell, the one time I actually said what I was actually feeling I get turned down. Fabu-fücking-lous.

Ignoring her statement, I edged toward her gently. Aurora was scared of loving someone, I could tell. With her, she was like a fragile piece of glass; she'll hurt you if you shattered her, but if she simply dropped herself then she'd have nowhere else to place the blame except for herself.

"Can I please just kiss you?" I asked desperately, leaning forward, our lips barely in contact.

She sighed before looking up with a smirk on her face, the type of smirk she stole from me. "Fine, I guess so."

I returned her smirk before shutting my eyes and delicately placing my lips on hers. I forced myself to be gentle with her in order to keep any flashbacks from arising in her head. She'd hate it if I admitted to being more cautious with her, but that was what she needed: someone who knows precisely when to protect her and when to let her be independent.

I gently pulled away to which she frowned. It was short and sweet, all that it should be. But when I looked her in the eye, I could practically sense our desperation to mold to each other.

"Gem, you need to go to sleep."

"No I don't," she scoffed but a yawn followed shortly after.

I smirked at her. "Yeah, I think you are."

She rolled her eyes lazily as she stood up from the floor and plopped down on my bed and got under the covers. My heart warmed at the sight of her.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" I asked, sitting beside her. "Do you need your medication or-"

"Come here," she mumbled, her eyes half closed as she patted the space next to her on my bed. "That was a command, Xandy."

"I can set up on the floor, you know."

She shook her head, mumbling and patting the space beside her. "You're one of the people I trust the most. You only do good, despite what you might think of yourself."

I caught onto her underlying message, she trusted me, and I knew she didn't trust just anybody. After being what she went through, I can only imagine it would be difficult to trust anybody at all.

She gave me an expectant stare. I sighed in defeat and got under the covers beside her but not before turning off all lights except the lamp on the nightstand, I remembered that she could get scared of the dark sometimes. I'd never forget.

The single lamp casted dim gold in every shadow of every corner of my tiny dorm. I looked down at her tired form, sprawled out across the bed. With the dim light cas

"What if you have another nightmare, gem?" I asked.

Aurora slung her arm over me and rested her head on my chest to which I stroked her hair absentmindedly and hooked my arm around her.

She mumbled, "I won't."

"H-How do you know that?"

She shrugged, a small smile painted on her face. "I just know," she said drowsily and tightened her hold around me and nuzzled her face into my chest further.

Aurora could have one hundred and one night terrors in one night, but we both knew precisely why she wouldn't have any tonight: because I was simply her escape from that trap of her past keeping her hostage.

***

Guess who's out for summer? This gal! Hope you all have one hell of a summer!

-sophia