Chapter 3:
"A New Life"
Sollux reached the tour bus out of breath. He had run as fast as he could just to get away from Eridan. Why did he have to drive him so crazy? It made Sollux hesitate about his decision of leaving the band, but no it was already made. He couldn't stand another second around that jerk.
The jerk he deeply loved.
He entered the bus and saw Gamzee and Karkat watching TV. Their eyes shifted from the screen to Sollux's face. A tear slid down his pale cheek from under his ovaled shades and dropped on his shirt. He was crying, tears that Eridan's stubbornness and foolishness had caused. Hadn't he promised himself he wouldn't cry for him? He passed both of his hands through their respective cheeks, wiping the salty tears and ran to the bunk area.
He got his duffle bag out and shoved as many of his belongings as he could inside. Karkat and Gamzee just stared at him, not knowing how to react. Finally, Karkat decided to speak, "Why are you packing?"
Sollux just looked at him, with rage ablaze in his mismatched eyes, which were barrely visible behind his dark shades. "I can't take that asshole anymore. I'm leaving the band and moving as far away from him as possible," he announced and zipped his bag. His head was now aching from so many accumulated emotions.
"Sollux, what did Eridan do to you?" Karkat asked, concerned about his friend's decision. He had never seen him in such a condition before.
"He fooled me, that sick bastard fooled me in the worst way possible." The kiss they shared meant nothing to Eridan. Sollux felt offended, he felt like such an idiot. Why did Eridan have to make him feel this way? Wasn't he satisfied with everything he had done to him over the past years? "GZ, KK, I'm sorry, but I just can't take it anymore."
Maybe he was being melodramatic, but that didn't matter to him right now. All that mattered was that he had to go far away.
He grabbed his bag and quickly left the bus, not saying another word too his band mates, not even saying goodbye. Outside, he found Eridan standing there looking straight at him. "You weren't kidding, you really are leaving the band Sol?" he asked. Of course Sollux was leaving the band; Eridan made it a toxic environment.
"You'll regret everything you've ever done to me," Sollux uttered and walked past him. Eridan turned around and grabbed his arm. "Let go..."
"No Sol! You can't do this to me!" Eridan whined.
"To you? I'm doing something bad to you?! Am I hurting you any way Eridan?!" Sollux started screaming, trying to get Eridan to just let him go before he said even more maddening things.
"Yes you are Sol!" He held the grip around Sollux's arm tighter. "Why the fuck are you leaving? What did I do yo you? I thought we were friends, b..." Eridan was interrupted by Sollux's lips crashing into his. He remained still, not sure what was happening. His hand let go of Sollux's arm and he stopped the kiss. Eridan's blue eyes stared deep into Sollux's shades.
"This is what you did to me," Sollux stated, removing his sunglasses and revealing his mismatched eyes. The left one was a warm mahogany color, the other was a deep dark blue, Eridan rarely got to see them. There was so much emotion in those eyes, he didn't understand it.
Eridan was left speechless as Sollux continued walking away.
…
Sollux had everything planned now. He would leave go somewhere unknown and start a new life. A life away from Eridan Ampora was what he needed. It was the smartest thing to do right now. From now on, Sollux Captor had to be the smartest human being. He couldn't let anyone fool him. He had to stay confident, chin up.
As he decided were to go, he sat on a chair in the airport looking at the screens. He had to pick a place where neither Eridan nor Alternia would ever go. His iPhone started to ring. The ID said KK, he probably wanted some explanations, after all they had been best friends since they were little kids. He answered it, but it wasn't Karkat. "Don't you dare call me again!" Sollux screamed.
"W-wait! Just tell me, w-what did I do to you?" Eridan asked from the other line, he was stuttering. That only happened to him when he was scared or nervous. It made Sollux feel a little good, but he wasn't proud of it. "I'm really w-worried Sol."
Sollux took a deep breath, that idiot hadn't notice. Sollux had practically exposed his true feelings and Eridan didn't notice. "You're blind Eridan Ampora. Today I showed how I felt for you. If you didn't notice that, you're just an asshole."
"W-what do you mean w-with show-wed me how-w you felt for me? Sol! Explain!"
He was exasperated. "You figure it out you idiot," he finally muttered and hung up. He looked back at the chart. Augusta, Georgia. That seemed like the perfect place to start a new life away from Eridan.
…
It was a small town, the perfect town. There's no way anyone would ever suspect he had escaped to this place. Augusta was one of those small towns you read about. It had no buildings, just houses and there's only one mall. Sollux was satisfied with his choice. He started thinking of his future. An Eridanless future at that. He maybe could meet a nice girl and settle with her. After all, everyone seemed really nice here.
Sollux had never liked boys before. All of his crushes and dates had always been girls, but Eridan seemed to be an exception. Even after he realized his feelings for the boy, he had never found other men attractive, but girls, many had caught his eye. None of them compared to Eridan though.
If he was going to start a new life, he needed to stop thinking about him.
He entered his new apartment in a small community he had found. It was a beautiful grouping of houses that had 4 apartments each. He lived in house 6, apartment A. It was a small two bedroom apartment. As soon as he entered the house, he felt the fresh spring air. He loved it instantaneously. The place was completely empty. There was only a fridge and a stove in the kitchen and carpet on the floor, the rest was empty. He had to buy things to settle on his little apartment, hopefully until he had kids.
He exited the house, just wearing a red hoodie, jeans and his mismatched black and white sneakers. He locked it and looked at the view. The house was down a green hill that led to the street. Sollux suddenly realized he was alone in this town. How was he going to make friends? Joining a gym maybe, but he was really skinny, so what now, build muscles? Yeah right.
Sollux began thinking of many ways he could meet people, until someone tapped his shoulder. He turned around and saw a skinny and short girl with long wavy red hair, big brown eyes and wearing practically the same as he just that her hoodie was a darker shade of red and it had Alternia imprinted in it in black. "Excuse me? Are you new here?" she asked pursing her lips.
"Yeah, I just moved over there," he answered, pointing to his apartment. Well, this seemed like the start of meeting someone new. He inspected her closely, she must know who he is, she had a hoodie from his band. Maybe she doesn't recognize him? Or maybe the hoodie was just a gift.
"Do I know you?" she asked, looking at him with curious eyes.
"You might know me, but I don't know you," he answered. "Sollux Captor," he introduced, offering his hand. He was glad he had managed to control his lisp through the whole conversation, he was kind of embarrassed of it and he did want to make a good impression.
"Oh right! Nice to meet you!" she shook his hand. "My name is Aradia Megido," she said. "Sorry to ask, but what the hell are you doing here?" She was looking at him with those big brown eyes and chewing on her red bottom lip.
"As I said, I just moved over there," he said, once again pointing to his apartment.
"Yeah, I know that, but I mean, you're Sollux Captor, what are you doing living in the crappiest town ever and not on tour with your band?" she asked harshly. Well, she definitely knew who he was.
Sollux thought for a second about his answer. He had to make friends eventually, why not her. She seemed nice. "Can you keep a secret?"
She raised an eyebrow, "Yeah."
"I left Alternia, I got tired of being around Eridan Ampora," he answered.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Man, I thought you guys were best friends."
Words that Sollux hated were spoken, but he chose to ignore them. They meant nothing now. "We were, but I just had to go," there was pain in his voice. There should be no soreness in his voice. He was now happy and free.
Aradia looked at him and noticed the pain. "I bet you don't want to talk about that. So, umm if you need anything, I leave in the apartment next to yours," she said and walked towards her apartment.
"Wait!" Sollux called, she turned around and looked at him. "I could use some help."
She gave him a bright big smile. "Well then I'm at your service Mr. Captor," she said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"Mind if I call you AA?"
"Not at all."
…
I want this to be so much longer but since this is already written I try to unite chapters that make sense together, but some just don't and blah. Why did I write such short chapters when I was younger? Boring.
There's a few things about this. For starters, Aradia's character used to be a self-insertion of me in the original story, so she might not act so much like her because I need her to remain mostly the same for later on. It won't be much, Aradia and I are very similar in many ways. Another thing is, I'm trying to make Sollux and Eridan, as well as other character as much as them as possible, but again, since this story is already written, it can get really tricky when it comes to changing some things. Usually, if I change a little detail, I have to rewrite the whole paragraph or two to make it fit and I'm afraid if I do this too much it might ruin something later on.
Okay, that was long. Thanks to those that reviewed! You are awesome! I love you!
