Ch. 6: Helluva View
AARON WATSON'S POV:
Before we got in the beat up truck, that I wasn't 100% sure was road worthy despite Chloe's reassurances, Chloe reached into her back pocket. She cursed under her breathe as she fumbled around, trying to find something. I dreaded to think what she had in those pockets given the state of her truck. She let out a small shout of triumph as she pulled out two wristbands from her back pocket and held them out to me. "I have these if you want them." Without a moment's hesitation, I took them and put them on. I thanked her and I stepped into the truck.
Our first stop was Blackwell Academy. We pulled into the schools parking lot and walked towards the girl's dorm.
I glanced up at the looming red brick building as we walked. It certainly looked impressive, if a little overbearing.
As we continued across the grounds, I saw a lot of people lounging around and taking full advantage of the sunshine. The birds chirped cheerfully in the tall swaying trees dotted around in front of the building. A group of skaters sat on a wall near the road, blasting out music and showing off their skills. As Chloe walked past they called out to her. She stopped for a moment to briefly greet them and promise that she would swing by later, then continue on her way.
A sign just to my right read Prescott Dormitory. I tried to get a better look at it, but Chloe grabbed onto my arm when she realized I had stopped and pulled me along impatiently.
"Come on, slowpoke. No time for sightseeing now. Those who lag behind will get abandoned."
There were a couple of jocks throwing a football around on the grass to my left. Sitting on a bench not too far from them was a girl with purple hair completely engrossed in a book. Her proximity to the jocks was an accident waiting to happen, not that it seemed to phase her in the slightest.
Chloe stopped abruptly, making me almost collide into her.
"Okay Arron," she said gesturing to a nearby bench "you wait there while I get Max."
"Right," I said.
Chloe stormed off with purpose, seemingly excited at the prospect of dragging Max along for the ride. She was not in the building for a full minute before a girl with short hair approached me.
"Um…who the hell are you?" She asked.
I tried to talk to her, but all that came out was, "Uh…"
She stared at me, "I know everyone who goes here, so I know you don't."
I swallow hard. She continued to stare at me, her hand on her hip, tapping her foot impatiently. It should be easy to tell her, but my words kept getting in my throat.
"I asked you a question," she stated "well?"
I did not say anything. I looked down at my feet, hoping that the ground will just swallow me so I would not have to deal with this.
"Are you some creepy stalker or something?" She asked, her eyes squinted in suspicion
"This is turning bad really quickly. I need to say something…anything." I thought.
"N…no…" I managed to utter.
She crossed her arms, frowning at me. Her gaze bored into me, the intensity of it made me anxious. I grabbed my mother's engagement ring that I wore around my neck, put it on my index finger, and spun it.
"Then why are you here?" She asked continuing her onslaught of questions.
"I'm…I'm waiting for Chloe," I stuttered.
She scoffed, "Figures you'd be with her. I don't have time to talk to people like you." She spun around and walked away.
Just as she left, Chloe stepped out of the building. She noticed the short haired woman walking away, and she flipped her off.
She walked in front of me looking genuinely concerned. Her tone was gentle, "Are you okay? She can be a bit insensitive at times. Actually, that's kind of an understatement, she's pretty much like that all of the time. I don't call her the Queen Bitch of Blackwell for…"
I stood up and hugged her cutting her off, I was still getting used to people caring about me. It felt just as good when she hugged me back. She was warm and smelled of cigarette smoke. Just off to my left a flash went off, we both turned and saw Max with her camera.
"Scrapbook material," she said grinning from ear to ear taking the newly developed picture and put it in her back pocket.
"Really?" Chloe asked.
"Still haven't shown him the picture of you with the cat ears and tail," she said.
"Every time you say that I get more and more curious," I said.
"I know the wristbands are new, but is the necklace new?" Max asked.
I looked down and noticed that my mother's engagement ring was still exposed. I grabbed it and said, "Nothing, it's just my mother's engagement ring."
"Lemme see," Chloe said grabbing both of my shoulders and shaking me.
I took the necklace off and held the ring in front of me. Chloe and Max stared at the necklace as if they would never see it again.
"It's very pretty," Max said.
"Max-a-million here likes pretty things," Chloe put her arm around Max "what do you think attracted her to me?"
"Very funny," Max said. After a moment her brow furrowed, "Wait, this is your mother's engagement ring?"
I knew the topic would come up sooner or later. I had hoped for later, much later. There was no point in lying or hiding things from Max and Chloe. They were not asking to make me feel bad or anything. "Yeah… she died a few years ago," I said rubbing my neck and staring at my shoes like they were the only things that interested me.
She held her hand over mine, "I'm so sorry."
"It's okay," I said gripping her hand "if you're curious; she drowned." A lump formed in my throat at the mention of this and my eyes began to sting a bit. I took a deep breath and swallowed, try to remove it. There was a moment of silence between us as the information sunk in.
"Wow," Chloe put her hand on my shoulder "that must've been hard for you."
"Yeah," I said "since then, I have had a crippling fear of the water." It was at this moment that I realized that I was sandwiched between the two girls. Part of me wanted to pull away out of the sheer embarrassment of being so close to them. Under normal circumstances I probably would have, however this time I didn't. Something about this situation made me feel safe and cared for. The fact that they were here made the pain in my chest at remembering that horrific time less. It was still there, but it didn't feel like my heart was being ripped out of my chest as usual when this memory was dragged up from the depths of my mind.
Besides, it would probably be more awkward to pull away. Max and Chloe were trying to comfort me; I should just let them.
I can't keep shutting people out, I needed to start letting someone in, so why not Chloe and Max? The tour of campus was short, I could not go into the girls' dorm and the girls could not go into the boys' dorm.
MAX CAULFIELD'S POV:
When Aaron went to the bathroom, Chloe grabbed my shoulders and pulled me in close, "Max, you've got to tell him about your magic time rewind thing."
"It's not magic," I sighed, rolling my eyes at her. I wasn't really sure what caused my powers, but magic seemed a bit far-fetched. Chloe stuck her tongue out at my dismissive tone.
"Even so," she said, "you have to tell him."
I found it difficult explaining my powers. When I told Chloe I felt like a complete basket case and she had a hard time believing me even though we knew each other. What would a stranger think? Still, it would make life easier to tell Aaron. Worst case scenario, I could always just rewind the conversation and it never would have happened.
"I will," I said, "I feel like we have to be honest with him."
"I agree," she let go of my shoulders "the last thing he needs is for his new friends to be untrustworthy. To change the subject, we're driving to the lighthouse next, and you're sitting in the middle."
Chloe crossed her arms and leaned against a nearby wall.
"No," I blushed a little, "the gearshift always ends up in my crotch and it makes me feel… uncomfortable."
"It's either that or Aaron," Chloe shoved her hands in her pockets "and I think he'll be a bit more uncomfortable with a gearshift in his crotch."
I groaned in defeat, "Fine, but no funny business."
Chloe had a mischievous grin on her face, "You have my word."
I've learned from past experience that Chloe usually never keeps her word if there was fun involved.
The ride to the lighthouse was not fun for me, Chloe enjoyed the look of discomfort on my face as the gearshift vibrated between my legs. Aaron looked out the window the whole time, he seemed to enjoy the wilderness.
"You enjoying yourself there, Max?" Chloe taunted, unable to keep the smug smirk off her face. She always did love to watch me squirm. I shook my head.
"I am so going to hit you," I said.
Chloe seemed amused at this notion, briefly glancing over at me, "Oh, don't make promises you can't keep. You'll get me all worked up for nothing."
I sighed, trying to re-position myself to ease my discomfort. After several failed attempts, I gave up, resigned to my fate and ran my fingers tiredly through my mid-length brown hair.
"You are impossible sometimes. No, make that a lot of the time," I said correcting myself.
This only caused the impish grin on Chloe's face to widen, "It's part of my charm."
I shrugged, "If you say so."
Chloe squinted her eyes at me a bit, her tone teasing, "Hey, anymore of that talk and I'll change gear. You know what happened last time when I did that."
Chloe was having too much fun at my expense with this. She had claimed it was an accident the first time, that she 'forgot', but I wasn't so sure. The ride was uncomfortable enough without Chloe's input.
The truck finally stopped we all spilled out of it, and I was thankful for that.
"This is the lighthouse where Max and I first re-connected after she moved back from Seattle," Chloe said motioning towards the looming beacon.
"'Re-connected'?" Aaron asked.
"We sat on that bench over there and talked about our time apart," I said pointing at a nearby bench.
"Hmm," he looked at the lighthouse "I'm guessing we can't go inside."
"Nope," Chloe said seeming a little sad at the notion "but we don't need to when we have this awesome view."
He walked over to where Chloe was, and I followed him. After a few minutes of admiring the view of the Pacific Ocean and the town, I had an idea.
"Let's get a picture of this moment and put it in the scrapbook," I ran to the truck and grabbed my camera. As I was walking back, I could hear Chloe and Aaron talking. They seemed to be getting on well.
"Does she always take pictures?" Arron asked.
"Mostly," Chloe said jokingly "sometimes she sleeps… when I let her."
Chloe winked at Aaron, making a point of her obvious insinuation. He cleared his throat awkwardly shuffling his feet, an action which appeared to please Chloe. I could hear her light teasing.
Chloe always made it her mission to embarrass those around her whenever possible. Even though I was starting to get used to it, sometimes she would catch me off guard. I placed the camera on the bench and set the timer. "Ten seconds," I said.
I stood on Aaron's right side, and Chloe stood on his left. We all smiled and Aaron held up a peace sign. The flash went off and the picture shot out of the camera. I grabbed the picture and the camera and showed it to Aaron and Chloe.
"I really like it," Aaron said.
"It's fine," Chloe said grinning "I could think of something better the three of us could do together." She licked her lips, and Aaron blushed.
"C'mon," I said gesturing to the truck "it's lunchtime."
"I will tell him," I thought "I will tell him about my powers at the dinner."
Thank you all for your support.