Chapter 9
Warren lay in bed, one arm propping up his head, the other laying across his stomach as he stared at the ceiling. His mind was focused on Aryana. He assumed she was back for the reunion, the obvious reason given she had moved to the other side of the country. And it was all to get away from him. He remembered every bit of it, as clearly as it had just happened, and it still haunted him to this day.
Aryana had stopped by the Lantern to ask for suggestions about Tony's gift. That kid still amazed him. They spoke for a few minutes, Mrs. Yin giving them both the look he knew all too well. She had laughed under her breath before stealing a light kiss and leaving. He only smiled to himself and went about his work when Andrea walked in. She seemed slightly nervous as she walked to his side.
"Hey Warren," she whispered, Mrs. Yin moving to the back away from the young man. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
"Uh," he hesitated, looking around. "Yeah, I guess. What's up?"
She waved for him to follow her outside but he was still worried about the whole 'firing' thing. Still making sure she was gone, he followed Andrea outside to the front of the restaurant, wiping his hands lightly.
"Yeah, so what's up?" he asked, slightly annoyed.
Andrea was a sweet girl, but she made him uncomfortable. There was just something about her. She was Andy's little sister, so he was nice to her since he worked with the guy for about three and a half years, but he just didn't like the way she looked at him.
"Look, I was kind of hoping that, maybe when you get off work…"
Warren sighed to himself.
"Andrea," he said simply, the young woman looking up at him hopefully. "I've got a girlfriend. You know that. It hasn't changed. Sorry."
He shrugged indifferently, turning to move back in.
"What if you didn't?"
Warren turned to eye her for a moment.
"If I didn't, I don't know. But I do." he replied, a bit more annoyed than before. "Sorry."
She nodded solemnly and turned to leave, walking off with her head down. He shook his head. She was a pretty girl, but he wasn't looking and didn't plan to be. Plans, however, change. When Warren had turned to go back inside, his eyes caught sight of Aryana across the street, looking through the window of some electronics store. He smiled to himself when something else caught his eye. A guy, someone he didn't know, walked up to Aryana. The two looked overly friendly, something that began to piss the young man off and got worse when she looped her arms lovingly over the other man's shoulders.
Unfathomable jealousy and fury began to grow within him, a sensation that more than doubled, if possible, when she kissed him on the lips. Warren heard the rag in his hands burning, smelled the fabric char and ignite completely when she looped her arm with his and sauntered off to do god knew what while he was at work. When he got home, he was going to have a serious, serious talk with her.
The end of his shift couldn't come fast enough, the man unable to control his fire since seeing Aryana with someone else. He didn't remember how he had gotten home, or really much else other than slamming on his brakes, his bike shrieking to a halt in his drive way. He didn't even have the wherewithal to put up the kickstand, the bike falling into the side of the hedge instead as he rushed the door and threw it open. He spotted her immediately on the couch. Anger lapped within him but he wasn't going to fight in the living room. Instead, he walked to his own bedroom. Unfortunately, she followed him. He couldn't contain his anger, his arms lighting up the instant she walked through his doorway.
"What the fuck Peace?" she demanded angrily. "After everything I've done for you, given you and you just…"
"Don't turn this around on me!" he shot back. "I've gone out of my way to help you and you pull this shit?"
"I'm not the one running around talking to some blond whore!"
"Andrea?" he asked slightly confused.
"That's the bitch's name?" she growled, her eyes instantly darkening as the fire around her body grew. "How dare you say her name in front of me! After what you've done?"
"What I've done? What I've done?" he repeated in disbelief. "You don't deserve what I've done for you!"
"You know something," she laughed in furious disbelief. "You got me there. You're nothing more than a selfish, self centered, arrogant piece of worthless…"
"Where the hell do you get off calling me selfish? You're the one walking around like people owe you shit and all you do when is spit in their face."
"You deserve worse than spit. I can't believe I've wasted four years on you!"
"You wasted?" he laughed cruelly. "I could've done a hell of a lot better than something like you."
He knew his words dripped with venom and hatred, something that she picked up on too, judging by her expression. Suddenly, before he even realized it, her fist shot out and landed fiercely against his jaw. Closed fist. Warren's head snapped to the side at the force, smelling some of his singed hair, knowing her hand had been lit, but did nothing to stop it.
"I wish I'd never met you Peace." she hissed, storming out of his room and into her own.
He stood there for a moment, too angry to do much of anything other than leave. Grabbing his helmet, he stormed out of the house and got back on his bike, determined not to come back until he was calm enough not to burn the air around him. Digging his bike out of the bush, Warren sped off to who the hell knew where. He just didn't want to be there until he could think. There was too much going on that he didn't understand.
By the time he did return, she was gone. Everything that had been hers was gone, nothing remaining but a note, letter really, that she had written his mother saying why she had left. He was thankful she didn't go into extreme detail but when he saw his room, he realized it was obvious. The walls were scorched black as though they had started a fire in the middle of it, his bed frame, dresser and desk charred and smoldering. The air around them had been so heated that without contacting actual fire, the room had nearly gone up in flames.
He never spoke to her after that, he and his mother on shaky terms given his lack of explanation about the situation. Eventually though, everything seemed to slip back into a normal rhythm, no matter how much he didn't want it to. He had even dated someone. He had been betrayed worse than he thought possible, letting himself trust someone and that was what happened, they threw it in his face. Andrea, still persisting on asking him out, was the one he eventually went on a date with. Why the hell not, he didn't give a shit anymore.
He had been fooling around with her, having his fun since nothing else really seemed to matter. But even that apparently wasn't meant to last. The two had only gone about two months before Warren just had enough of her. She had gotten clingy, trying to be a real girlfriend and he wanted nothing to do with it. He may not have admitted it to anyone, but he had actually cared about Aryana, loved her even, so he wasn't much in the mood to try and deal with someone attempting to be her replacement after what had happened. And then something interesting happened.
Andrea blew up. She hurled her insults, screaming at the man, accusing him of all kinds of things ranging from leading her on, to just being an asshole. None of which bothered him. It was hard to give a shit about what someone thought of you when you didn't give a shit about them. But then she said it, the one thing he had never said to her, discussed with her ever since meeting her.
"It's no wonder your girlfriend cheated on you, you dick!"
Warren have never told anyone, not even his mother, about the details of their fight. No one but him knew that he had caught her kissing someone else, Andrea already having left his sights before hand. Later he found out how she knew.
In the kitchen one day, Warren had caught Andy using his powers. He had never assumed the kid had any given he had never seen him at school, but there he was making the glasses move without touching them. When he confronted him, Andy had freaked out until Warren showed him what he could do. Andy seemed overjoyed, telling the pyrokinetic that he thought he and his sister were alone. Warren asked what he meant, Andy going on to say that Andrea had a power. She could manipulate people's minds and get them to see whatever she wanted them to. Jesus, she was a new Martha.
Everything began to make sense. Now he understood why Aryana seemed so angry with him, why Andrea had known what he had seen the day the two broke up. The bitch had put it there and god only knows what Aryana saw. The little wench had made them break up because she was jealous and wanted to date him. That's why she always asked, 'what if you didn't have a girlfriend'.
Warren had never felt so guilty before, as horrible as he felt right then. He had said things he didn't mean, her too, and destroyed anything they had managed to build through their time together. He wanted to call and apologize, to tell her he didn't mean it and explain the real situation with Andrea but the longer he put it off, the harder it got. Soon weeks became months, months became years and the years just kept passing. After a while, there just wasn't a point to call her anymore, no reason to say anything.
He laid in his bed, still staring at the ceiling as those first few months after she left played and replayed in his mind. That was the reason for the avoidance. That was why it was just better never to speak with her and why he never told anyone the particulars to their split. It was just better for everyone involved that she never know the truth. It was just better that she thought he was nothing more than a cheating asshole.
