Hidden Girl

34- Separate Ways

Alex's POV

We made every day count for the rest of break. Aurora and I did everything together and the others, including Azalea, Jenny, and Derek, sometimes Eric too. Eric really hit it off with Aurora too and they're close too now.

I gave him the same speech that I gave Derek and Sebastian about her.

"Aurora is off limits," I tell him firmly. I dragged him into the office in Azalea's house to talk with him about her.

"May I ask why?" Eric smirks at me.

"She may seem strong but she's been through more than anyone should go through," I tell him with a sigh. "She's too fragile anyway right now. She's been having more and more breakdowns and I don't need to put a broken heart on top of that."

Eric just stares at me for a moment.

"You like her, don't you?" Eric smiles again. "I can totally see that."

"No!" I tell him a little bit too loudly. I take a deep breath and continue. "She doesn't need a boy right now, she needs her friends."

Derek nods his head and leaves me in the room alone.

Sure I like her, but she doesn't need me like that. She just needs me to be the one to hold her at night, not to be the one to take her out on dates and stuff. I'd be a terrible boyfriend anyway.

I take a deep breath and head downstairs to where everyone is. They all sit in a circle just laughing at each other and having a good time. I see Aurora sitting next to Sebastian and she leans against his shoulder as she laughs at something he said. He wraps his arm around her and smiles. I don't think I have wanted to kill Sebastian as much as I do right now.

I come down the last couple steps so silently that no one should have known that there was someone coming down.

But Aurora knew.

Her head immediately spins around to look at me and a huge grin comes on her face. She shrugs off Sebastian's arm and gestures for me to sit next to her.

I do with a big smile on my face. I lean back with my legs out, sighing as I lean back against the couch as we all sit on the floor.

Without a second thought about it, Aurora climbs into my lap and leans against my back.

"I'm tired," she tells me quietly. My mom wanted me to come home so I did, but I had to sneak out at one in the morning. I had to come in through Aurora's window to comfort her.

"It's okay now," I tell her as I wrap my arms around her small body. "I'm here now."

...---...

We spend those last months together, trying to forget that we would be separated.

Jenny and Derek would be going together to California. Derek wants to surf as much as he can, and he is not leaving Jenny.

Eric will be studying in Florida, but promises to visit for break.

Azalea and I have both gotten accepted into New York University and we will be there, as close as we could be to home.

Sebastian, on the other hand, is going to Spain to study abroad for a year, but will then be attending New York University the following year with us.

And one day, I finally decided I needed to ask Aurora her plans.

I walk into her bedroom at Azalea's, just like I do everyday. I sit on her bed and lay there, just staring at her. She doesn't need to look up to know that's me.

As a late Christmas present, Azalea and I combined and gave her an easel stand and tons of canvases. We also gave her the best paints we could find.

She barely leaves her room anymore because she's so engrossed in her work. She sits there in her paint covered smock, painting a simple tan color all over the canvas, but it fades differently at different points. Aurora is so amazing that she can make even a simple color seem like an amazing piece of art.

She finished the color quickly, just like she always does. She gets a thinner brush and dips it in the black, and she write two simple words on top.

Bucket List

I pull a chair up next to her, wondering what she will write on it. As she paints out the words, I work on some homework that I didn't get to do since I was watching Austin and Rachel.

When she's done, we read it over together.

Fall in love.

Get married.

Have a kid.

Kiss in the rain.

Go to a concert.

Meet a famous person.

They were such simple wishes it seems compared to a lot of people, but it's just what she wants in life.

"It might get longer as I grow up," she says as she cleans off her work space. "But that's it for now."

"I like it," I admit and she smiles, happy that I do.

"So," I sigh, not really wanting to talk about this, but we need to. "What are you doing after graduation? It's only like 2 months away."

Aurora freezes and doesn't look me in the eyes.

"Um remember how my mom was arguing with my dad that night?" she asks me quietly.

I nod my head and her eyes finally lock with mine. She sits down on the bed, across from where I sit on the chair.

"She found me a couple weeks ago and I started visiting her apartment," she sighs. I stand up and am about to yell at her, but she talks before I can. "It's hard without a parent. You know that. And she told me the truth."

"The truth is that she left you as a child with that poor excuse for a man," I tell her harshly with a clenched jaw. This is wrong.

Aurora shakes her head. "He lied to me, which isn't really a surprise. He left her, taking me along with him. To her, we disappeared off the face of the earth."

I collapse back onto the chair. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have jumper to conclusions-"

"It's not your fault," she says as she takes my hand in hers. "And well we've both concluded that I should be with her."

"Where would that be?" I question as I pull my hand back, scared of her answer.

Aurora stands up from her bed and walks over to the window, looking out over the city.

"England."

I hear her voice crack and I can tell she's crying, but I can't bring myself to move.

"London to be precise," she says as she wipes her eyes. "We'll visit each other on holidays of course, but... How am I supposed to sleep at night, Alex?"

Aurora won't turn around and she brings her hands up to her mouth, terrified at the thoughts of sleeping without me to hold her. She lets out a cry and collapses to the ground.

I get off the chair quickly and sit down behind her, wrapping my arms around her body as she sits between my legs.

"We'll figure this out," I comfort her as I hold her crying body. I hold her so close, finally realizing that I'm losing my Princess, my favorite person in the world.

"I want you to go home tonight," she tells me once she somewhat recovers from her break down. "We need to start somewhere."

I nod my head but I don't let her go. 

"Your family must be missing you," she sighs. "I feel like such a brat for taking you away from your parents like that."

"It was actually my mom's orders to stat with you," I smile. "But yeah I think it's best  we start somewhere."

"Somewhere," she agrees, sadly though, as if she knows that she doesn't want to leave me.