In My Veins Chapter 4
Okay please don't kill me for taking forever to post, I've been super busy as always and my practice was canceled so I decided to sit down and write a new chapter. I hope you enjoy
Aaron suddenly pulled away and looked deep into Tessa's eyes. She crossed her arms. "What?" Tessa asked, shifting uncomfortably. Aaron sighed. "Why are you doing this?" He asked her, still holding her hands. Tessa leaned back against the mirror.
"I was just sick of this game where I ignore my feelings for you and then I can't stop thinking about you. But then I think about how you left, and I know you wouldn't have broken up with me if someone hadn't forced you. I still love you, and that means you shouldn't have to prove anything to me." Tessa cupped his face in her hands. Aaron grinned and nodded, leaning in to kiss her again. "We should probably head back." Aaron whispered, their foreheads touching. Tessa sighed, but hopped off of the counter anyway.
They returned to the dance hand in hand, both smiling so widely that their cheeks hurt. They ignored all the questions that their classmates were asking them, and only stopped to briefly explain the situation to Sasha before they walked out of the gym doors together.
Tessa felt light on her eyes, and she sleepily forced her eyelids open. She was in a bed, wearing an oversized sweater that smelled like Aaron and pajama shorts that she remembered losing a long time ago. She sat up, memories of the previous night flooding back to her. She and Aaron had stayed up late in his apartment talking, and Aaron had explained every last detail of where he'd been.
Tessa got out of his room to look for him, and smiled when she saw him dozing on the couch. She went into the kitchen to find something to eat when she heard her phone go off in the other room. Tessa picked her phone up off of the bedside table and saw fifteen unread text messages, ten from her mom and five from Kira. She decided to scroll through her mom's messages, bracing herself.
"Where are you?"
"Are you with Kira?"
"Did you forget to charge your phone again?"
"Why am I even asking? I'll ask Kira"
"Kira told me you were sleeping over. Please tell me next time. Love you! Xx"
Tessa breathed a sigh of relief, silently thanking Kira for covering for her. Her mom and dad had gotten back late last night, and must have been slightly freaked out when she wasn't there. Her phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number.
"I told you to stay away from him. What are you doing in his apartment?"
Attached was a picture of Tessa looking at her phone in that very moment, a picture that could only have been taken from outside the window of his apartment. Tessa ran over to the window with her heart pounding, looking frantically for her stalker. Her phone vibrated once more.
"Nice try. I left you a gift in your boy-toy's fridge. Take it and get out of there before I make you, and I really don't want to do that "
Tessa rushed over to the kitchen and flung open the fridge, and saw a folded piece of paper propped up against a carton of orange juice.
"Lace uncoiled"
She frowned at the cryptic message, not knowing what on Earth it could mean. She closed the fridge door with the paper clutched tightly in her hand, trying to calm her racing heart. Someone had been in Aaron's apartment while they were sleeping, and they hadn't woken either of them up. What was she going to do?
"Tess? What are you doing over there?" Aaron asked groggily, squinting at her from the couch.
"I was just looking for something to eat," Tessa wrung her hands. She hated lying to him.
Aaron seemed satisfied with her reply, and closed his eyes again. She quickly scribbled a note to him and called Kira to ask to be picked up.
"What's up with you guys? Are you back together?" Kira hit her with questions as soon as Tessa had entered the car.
"Maybe? I don't know, but there's something I have to tell you."
Tessa explained the whole situation as Kira sat in the driver's seat with a slack jaw.
"Oh my god!" Kira practically screamed.
"I know," Tessa sighed.
"What does the note say?"
"'Lace uncoiled'. I have no idea what it means, or why it's so important as to leave me a note in my boyfriend's fridge."
Kira smiled despite the whole situation.
"Your boyfriend?" She giggled. Tessa rolled her eyes and lightly smacked her arm.
"Kira! This really isn't the time!" She cried, although she secretly loved to be Aaron's.
Kira shrugged as if to say, I have no regrets.
Tessa pressed her fingertips into her temples and rubbed her forehead, racking her brain for anything that she remembered with the words "lace uncoiled."
"What does that note mean?" She wondered aloud. Kira seemed to be deep in thought as well, and the pair sat in silence.
"I KNOW!" Kira yelled, making Tessa jump in her seat.
"Jesus Christ, Kira!" Tessa reprimanded her.
"The note is an anagram!" Kira exclaimed with one hand on the steering wheel and one hand shaking Tessa's arm excitedly.
"An anagram?" Tessa mulled it over. It made sense. "But what is 'lace uncoiled' an anagram for?"
Kira shrugged again, this time out of lack of the necessary knowledge.
"We should look it up in an anagram server and look over the results."
"That could take days," Kira reminded her.
"I know, but what choice do we have? It could be something important."
"Yeah, but it's most likely just something to mess with us, to keep us on edge. Tess, don't pay too much attention to this person."
"How can I get over the fact that someone was in his apartment, leaving a note in his fridge?" She asked, frustrated.
"I don't know, but the only thing you can do is tell Aaron, get the police involved, and avoid this whole mess. He needs to know, Tessa. Especially if you're together now."
Tessa sighed deeply. She knew that Kira was right. Her relationship with Aaron had just started again, she didn't want to start it off with lies.
Xxx
Back at Tessa's house, she walked through the front door, still wearing Aaron's oversized sweater. It made her feel good.
"Hi, mom," Tessa smiled and hugged her stylish young mom, then she pulled away and hugged her dad, apologizing for not being home the previous night.
"We understand," Caleb said, one arm around his wife. "It was the night after a dance and you wanted to spend time with a friend,"
Tessa felt grateful for parents like this, although she felt guilty for keeping her rendezvous with Aaron a secret from them. She was still confused herself about the day before. All she knew was that she believed him, and that she loved him.
"Is it okay if I meet a friend for lunch in a couple of hours?" Tessa asked, leaving out Aaron's name.
"Sure. Your father and I have lunch plans with Aunt Emily, but we'll see you later, ok?"
"Ok, mom. I'll be in my room," Tessa called out as she walked up the stairs to her room, thinking of anagram generators.
Xxx
A few hours later, Tessa tried to find any anagrams that made sense, but none of them did. She checked her phone for messages and brightened up when she saw one from Aaron.
"Hey, can we meet?"
"Of course (: I know a place where we can meet"
Tessa sent the message and then held her phone to her chest with a smile on her face. No matter what, seeing Aaron would always make her heart happy.
