Nothing But Trouble(Aris Jones x Reader)

10) You Feel Like Home

Everyone was trying to sleep. We were all huddled outside again for warmth. I was next to Aris again. Most of the others had still shunned him. I refused to do that especially after hearing Flora's disgusting, despicable, and cruel idea. The fact that she thought I wouldn't speak up while I was right there was shocking enough to make me angry.

"Are you okay?"Aris whispered. In the dark I turned to face him.

"Yeah,"I shrugged.

"You don't have to be, you know? You're allowed to be worried."

I bit my lip thinking hard about his words. Being calm used to be who I was. Beth was an exception. Anything to do with these stupid scars were.

"I hope one day you can believe your scars aren't hideous."

"I tried at first, but eventually people who knew me stopped pretending I had any. It's even harder when the Blondie's stares aren't remotely subtle,"I shrugged.

Very gently he ran his thumb over the scar on my cheek. My breath hitched in my throat, but I didn't move his hand away. His fingers were almost freezing, but that wasn't the reason there were goosebumps on my arm.

I could still feel him shivering, not used to the cold here. I grabbed his hand and kissed his fingertips.

"You should get some sleep. We've got the biggest day of our lives tomorrow,"I whispered.

"I know,"He whispered back.

"I need you to keep trusting me, and I need you to keep your head held high."

"I know Y/N. You promised to get me out, and I trust you. I owe you that,"He murmered.

"You owe me nothing Aris. All I did was trust you."

"Not true. You trusted me from the start, and you made sure I was okay. Now I'm going to do the same for you."

I could hear the grogginess in his voice. With his hand in mine I shut my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

ᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗ

"Hey, lovebirds. Get up,"Sonya said, turning a flashlight on and off. I groaned and put a hand over my eyes.

"Stop cuddling up with Aris, and come help us,"She scolded. I sat right up and moved my hand out of Aris's. He woke up completely panicked.

"Sorry, but you need to get up. We have two more days until we have to leave,"I let him know. He shook his head. It was clear despite his earlier panic he wasn't totally awake yet.

"Here. One for you,"Sonya said, tossing me an orange. I nodded in appreciation.

"Here's yours,"She said, throwing Aris his. In his half asleep state it almost hit him in the face. I put my hand up and caught it before handing him it.

"Eat it all. The second day takes a lot out of you,"I warned, already using my blade to peel mine. He looked at me puzzled.

"It was in my pocket. It closes though so I don't die in my sleep,"I shrugged. He didn't take his eyes off it, and I knew what he was thinking.

"It's the same one. Since I carved my initials in it with Sonya I didn't want to give it up,"I explained.

"I didn't mean to-"
"It's fine. You can ask because you acknowledged it. If you didn't then I wouldn't answer,"I said quietly. I didn't want anyone to have a clue what I was talking about or be able to catch a full sentence.

"Are you sure?"He asked again.

"For you, yeah. I'm sure."

ᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗ

"That's good. Let's go over that turn again. There are a ton you need to worry about."

"I'm trying, but I can't keep the flashlight straight to see them."

I started thinking of some solution to one of our biggest problems. Not even the oldest, best, or current Skaters have had to do this before.

"I'm stuck there too. This is new to everyone,"I admitted. 

I kept racking my brain for anything that could help. After a little bit one thing was clear. Knowing how to skate was far more important than knowing how to hold a flashlight.

"We'll work on that in a little bit. Our goal is that every single one of us can skate. We're going to keep working on the turn. We're going to do it the same way as yesterday."

By now he understood what I meant and took my outstretched hand. At this point it felt natural to hold his hand. It was comforting. Dare I say it. It felt like home.