Protector

Chapter 3

Today was the day. I was gonna talk to him, for the first time in 8 years. I was so nervous, even though I had everything planned out perfectly. The company had rented a house over the road, opposite his own, and I was going to 'move in' as a new resident, and purposely bump into him. The 'moving van' had just pulled up outside the house, with me in the passenger seat. I'd been watching him this morning, so I knew he was still in; he'd notice this. I hopped out and watched as the driver and another two guys, who were both in the back, started moving things into the house. They worked for the company, so they were in on it all. I was genuinely going to live here during this case. I didn't mind, because it was a lot nicer house than my own.

Once everything was inside, and the delivery guys were gone, I began rearranging things. If I was going to live here for a few months, I wanted it to be warm and homely. Most things were my own furniture, but a few items belonged to the company. I was going to have a dog living here with me, who was due to be dropped off later. It gave me an excuse to go on walks all the time, and walk past Aston's house, which would cause me to 'accidentally' bump into him. I knew he was petrified of dogs, and I wasn't sure if that was going to work in my favour or not. And then, speak of the devil, a car pulled up outside, with a German Shepherd jumping up at the window, trying to get out. I smiled. I knew who it was; it was Shiba, the dog I'd brought up from being a puppy. She used to be my own dog, and live at my house, but it wasn't fair on her, because I never got to spend time with her because I was always too busy with work. So, the company took her off my hands.

"Shiba" I grinned as I walked out the house. Whoever it was that had brought her had her on a lead, but he seemed to be struggling as she was eagerly pulling forwards to get to me. I bent down to her level as she reached me. She jumped on me and immediately began licking my face.

"Ew, get off me" I chuckled, as I shoved her off of me. I thanked the man who had brought her, and took her inside. She was well trained, so she knew not to poop inside, not to chew furniture, and not to drink out of the toilet. I let her off her leash, and she straight away began running round, exploring her new environment. Whilst she busied herself with that, I sat down in front of the screens which showed me Aston. I sighed as I watched him, sat up straight, jumping at every slight sound. He'd been through so much, and seen so many things nobody should ever have to see. I felt sorry for him.

Just as I was nearly falling to sleep that evening, I finally found a chance to go out and see him. He seemed to be going out somewhere fancy. He'd spent an awful long time in his bathroom, having a shower no doubt.. I didn't put cameras in his bathroom, for obvious reasons, although I saw everything he had to show via the cameras in his bedroom when he got changed. But it didn't matter, I'd seen it all before. He was dressed up all smart. I had to make a move, quick.

"Shiba, walkies" I said, holding up her collar. She jumped up off the sofa and hurried over to me. I clipped the leash onto her collar, and dragged her outside, and over the road. We stood behind Aston's hedge, hiding from him. It was dark outside, so nobody was going to see us. I heard the gates in front of his house open, so I shuffled closer with Shiba. I then heard him rev his engine. I peered through the bushes, and saw him slowly accelerating up his drive. This was it, this was my chance. I took a deep breath, and stepped out in front of the car. He very almost hit us, as he'd sped up quite a bit to come out of his drive. Shiba yelped in fear. I pretended to look scared, although I wasn't.. Aston jumped out of his car, and approached us.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" he asked in a rush, putting his hand on my shoulder. My skin tingled at his touch, just like it used to. I still had it, I still had that same feeling in the pit of my stomach.. I was still in love with him, after all these years.

"Um, yeah, I'm ok" I said, putting my hand to my head, pretending to be confused.

"Chloe?"

The way he said that brought back an old memory. 

*FLASHBACK*

I sighed as I pulled out my pencil case from my bag. The first day back at school after the summer break was always dreadful. I frowned as my new music teacher began scribbling his name on the board. I already knew his name, as did most people, and it wasn't like it was hard to spell.

"Chloe?" I was knocked out of my thoughts. I turned around to see Aston approaching me. He took the seat next to me.

"Ast? Since when were you taking music?" I chuckled, hugging him quickly.

"It was what I put down to take if I didn't get to take one of the other subjects.. Turns out geography was full" he shrugged.

"So we actually have a class together for once" I smiled. Every other year so far, I'd been in the top classes, Aston in the lower classes. He wasn't quite as smart as me, so we'd never had a class together. But now we were 14, and we'd gotten to pick our GCSE options, so intelligence didn't matter, everyone was put together.

*END OF FLASHBACK*

"Chloe? Is that you?" I was snapped out of my thoughts.

"Oh my god, Aston?" I questioned.

"It's been a while" he half smiled awkwardly. We'd left on a really bad note the last time we'd seen each other, so I expected things to be awkward.

"Yeah, I guess it has" I shrugged.

"Well, I um.. I have to go" he said, nodding his head towards his car.

"Yeah, maybe I'll see you around. I just moved in over the road. You live here, I take it?" I asked.

"Yeah, maybe.." he sighed, hopping into his car. 

I crossed the road and stood outside my garden on the path, watching him as he pulled out of his drive. He kept his eyes on me until he turned the corner. Well, that actually went alright.

Here you go, another part! Vote if you enjoyed, comment and give me feedback, and fan me for more updates :)