For Everything a Reason

Chapter 8: Same Mistakes

"Circles, we're going in circles
Dizzy's all it makes us
We know where it takes us
We've been before
Closer, maybe looking closer
There's more to discover
Find out what went wrong without blaming each other"

~Same Mistakes by One Direction

I stand up so fast that I momentarily go blind and begin to tip over. Tate pushes me upright, his eyes filled with alarm. "What is going on?" his voice goes up two octaves. I open my mouth but nothing comes out. This isn't happening. I'm dreaming and in a few seconds Holden will wake me up. I take a step back and feel a sharp pain as a dangerously pointed rock digs into my heel. Okay, so maybe I'm not dreaming. "I have to go," I choke out in a voice that doesn't even sound like me. I feel as if I'm having an out of body experience, except I'm not asleep. "No," Tate says as he moves to block my path. "Excuse me?" I blink in surprise. I can't even think straight. "You can't just freak out about I don't even know what and then just leave," he says, sounding kind of annoyed.

"I'm sorry," I sigh.

"I don't want an apology. I want an explanation."

"You might not like my explanation."

"You don't know that," he persists.

"Hi, my name is Aspen Hawthorne. My dad and your mom used to love each other until my dad may have dropped a bomb that killed, who would've been, your aunt," I blurt out in one quick breath. Tate just stands there and stares at me. "Go on then, say something," I insist. "I'm sorry, I just missed the part where that had anything to do with us," Tate retorted. "You're kidding right?" I ask in astonishment. "Not at all. Our parents have history, we don't. Look I probably should've been home twenty minutes ago; can we talk about this later?" Tate asks. "Later when?"

"Can you sneak out tonight? Say two in the morning?" Tate clarifies.

I consider this for a moment. "Yeah I can sneak out. Meet right here at two."

"Sounds like a plan," Tate grins before he disappears into the trees.

The walk home was a total blur. Well, it was more like a sprint-as-if-your-life-depended-on-it 'walk' home, but a blur none the less. I needed to tell Holden. Once he knew everything I'd be able function properly. I ran through the door into the living room to find no one there. "Hello?" I called out. No answer. "Helllooooooo?" I tried again. Again, no answer. "Where the hell is everyone?" I muttered to myself. I go upstairs to see if anyone is hiding out there. I check my parent's room. No one. I check Johanna's room. No one. I check Annie's room. No one. I check Declan's room. No one. I check Holden's room. No one. At this point I call it quits and head to my room. I was going to check Paisley's room, but then it dawned on me that it really didn't matter if she was home or not.

I open my door and lo and behold Holden is lying on my bed passed out. I quietly tip toe over to him, trying to make as little sound as possible. I gently climb onto the bed and stand up. Once I'm positioned right next to his head I begin to jump and down. "IT'S TIME TO GET UP!" I yell at the top of my lungs. "GAAHHH!" Holden screeches, covering his ears with his hands. When I don't stop jumping he grabs my leg to bring me down. "What is wrong with you?" Holden laughs. "I think the better question is why are you sleeping in MY bed?" I start to laugh, too. "At the time the help hadn't changed the sheets on my bed yet," Holden explained. "We have help?" This was news to me. "Apparently." Holden stretched out like a cat.

"Look I need to talk to about something important."

"More important than the help not doing their job?"

"Yes, Holden, more important than that."

"I kind of doubt that, but carry on."

"Tate is Katniss and Peeta's son."

"You don't say. Do you think he makes good pies?"

"Are you kidding me," I glare at Holden.

"What? One's pie making ability is crucial to their character."

"Oh my god."

"Take me for example. I bake a good looking pie, and not so coincidentally I myself happen to be quite good looking."

"I'm going to kill you."

"Oh come on Aspen, lighten up."

"You don't see how this could be problematic?" I ask in disbelief.

"I get where you're coming from, but maybe you're overreacting a little."

"Has it ever crossed your mind that you're underreacting?"

"Not possible, everything I say or do is just."

"Lord help me."

"Alright, alright. Do you plan on seeing him again anytime soon?" Holden inquired.

"Yeah."

"When and where?"

"The woods at two in the morning."

"Sneaking out, how Romeo and Juliet of you."

"Har har." I rolled my eyes.

"I'm coming with you."

I'm about to protest to that, but then I realize that having Holden there probably wouldn't be such a bad thing. "Alright, fine," I agree. "This could be fun," Holden points out. "Maybe," I admit.

By the time 1:50 A.M. rolls around everyone is sound asleep except for Holden and I. Our parents and Johanna got home at around midnight and they looked straight up exhausted. They gave us the whole goodnight love you spiel before trudging to bed. I haven't been able to talk to my parents much lately since they're always gone, but right now some space from them is probably what's best. We decided not to tell Paisley and Declan about the situation. Declan probably wouldn't care too much considering his whole world basically consisted of family and Fawn. Paisley didn't need to know because we couldn't find any benefit in telling her.

Our departure from the house wasn't near as exciting as I was secretly hoping for. We literally just walked out the front door and we were on our way. Since Tate and Holden didn't seem to think this whole thing was a big deal, I wasn't too worried.

When Holden and I arrived at the meeting place Tate was already there. He was standing with his profile to us, facing the water. The moonlight turned his flaxen hair light silver and his skin a creamy white. "Hey," I called so Tate would know we were here. He turned around to face us and smiled. He smiled a lot. "Hey, whose that?" he asked, gesturing to Holden. "Holden Odair," Holden walked up to Tate and shook his hand. At least he was being polite. "Holden insisted on coming, although I'm really sure why," I tried to explain. "I need some excitement in my life," Holden shrugged. Tate nodded in understanding. "I've come up with an easy solution to our little problem," Tate rocked back on his heels. "What would that be?" I questioned. "Let's just not tell our parents." Tate said. Holden laughed a little at the simplicity of his solution. "Why didn't I think of that," I said to myself more than the boys. "Because you overthink everything. I like his plan," Holden chimed in. "It shouldn't be that hard. I assume your parents are MIA all the time, too?" Tate said. "Yup," Holden and I said in unison. "You don't think this is a little weird?" I asked. "Nah, as long as we don't make the same mistakes our parents made everything should be fine," Tate assured.

"Tate, I promise not to blow up your sister," I said with a straight face. That got a pretty good laugh out of Holden and Tate. "Aspen, I promise I won't try to kill you," Tate proclaimed. "Guys, I promise… Actually I don't promise anything," Holden added. We all laughed at that one. "See nothing to worry about. What our parents don't know won't hurt them," Tate said, throwing a muscular arm around my shoulder. "Looks like this trip could be some fun after all, ya know if you stop being so uptight," Holden said, throwing his muscular arm around my other shoulder so I was sandwiched between the two. "Alright, starting now I promise I'll be my normal fun carefree self," I laughed. "Atta girl," They said together. For the first time since we got here I actually felt optimistic.