Swallow

Chapter 1.9:

I stood at the top of the steps for fifteen minutes hoping Riley forgot something in Aiden's room or decided she wasn't leaving after all. It's not like it would have mattered if she did or not; my fate would still be the same either way. I would still be obsessively thinking about how her hands would feel touching me and unable to do anything about it.

Just when I was about to give up, there was a noise down in the living room. Footsteps started heading in the direction of the stairs. I leaned back against the wall, trying to look like I wasn't standing there like an idiot waiting for her.

"Shit!" Aiden jumped in the air when he saw me at the top of the stairs. "You need to start wearing a bell or something. "

"Or you should just pay more attention to where you're walking." I snapped.

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting the not-so-jolly green giant to be lurking upstairs in a dark hallway by himself. What are you doing anyway?" Aiden gave me a suspicious look like l didn't belong here.

It was somewhat true; I didn't hang outside my room very much when I was home. If I wasn't in there, I was usually in the basement with a guitar in my hands. I wasn't much of a "surround myself with people person" unless I was using. I was always in my own head too much when I was sober to really enjoy anything.

I stayed glued to the spot I was standing, not knowing what to say to him as he stared at me.

To say it was an awkward exchange between the two of us was a massive understatement.

"Where's Riley?" Aiden asked, immediately forgetting about the weirdness. He leaned past me to look for her in his room. His head jerked in the opposite direction to look towards my room too.

If only I were so lucky to have her in there right now. I'm not sure what I would have done if she was in there. She would probably just be sitting on my bed fidgeting while I stared at her some more.

"She said she had to go to work and then ran off." I shrugged at him.

"Oh, ok. Seriously, what are you doing standing in the hall alone?" He eyed me like he knew I was waiting to see if she would come back. It was probably just my paranoia.

"I heard your ugly ass coming up and I wanted to talk to you about the first verse of the song we were working on last night." It wasn't a complete lie. Aiden and I had been working on a few songs together and the one we were writing wasn't half bad. Aiden had an ear for creating a hook in the lyrics and harmonies that I could latch onto and create some complex melodies from. I actually did some of my best writing with Aiden around.

"I just got up. Do you ever think about anything other than music?" Aiden grumbled, rubbing the corner of his eyes.

Drugs, pussy, and music. That was about it. In fact, I thought about those three things quite often. My idea of heaven included all three at the same time.

He shook his head and walked around me when I didn't answer him quickly enough. I turned and started to follow behind him into his room. When I stepped inside, my foot landed right on a pair of his dirty boxers in the middle of the floor. I gagged as I shook it off my foot. Aiden was such a fucking slob.

"Do you need something?"Aiden asked.

"What's the deal with you and JD's sister?" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

"What do you mean?" He answered in a strained voice. He rubbed at the reddish five o'clock shadow he was starting to sport on his chin. He was hiding something that he didn't want me to find out.

"You two were all over each other last night. How long have you been fucking her?" I asked, placing my hand on his dresser. It slid across the four-inch thick layer of dust growing on the top of it. I picked up my hand and looked for something to wipe it with when my eyes landed on the boxers again.