and it was perfect

Chapter 23

          - the intimacy of being understood -

I didn't know if his punches triggered me, but in the middle of the night, I woke up screaming again. Nate's head was above me, his pretty face torn to an evil grimace and screaming what the hell I was thinking by continuously shaking me.

Clara, Josh, and Aiden were the only ones home that night and stormed inside again to wake me up. "Jenna, hey, it's all good. You're here." I heard Aidens voice, and I started shaking, still trying to get back to reality. "I'm here; we're all here. You're not alone." I slowly looked up, tears running down my face. "It had gotten so much better." I sobbed, and he took me in his arms. Clara and Josh sat beside me, patting my back and hand. "Maybe you should see somebody about those nightmares." Clara mumbled. I shook my head. "I don't want to." I whined, still holding onto Aiden.

We sat like that for a few minutes until I finally calmed down a little. "I'll handle it; I've done it before." Aiden let the others know. "You're sure, man?" Josh seemed pretty unsure of what to do. Both Clara and he hadn't been there the last time this happened; they had just heard of it. "It's fine; go to bed." Aiden promised. After checking in on me one more time, they left, and we were alone.

"I'm sorry." I quietly whispered. He sighed. "What for, Jen. Demons are Demons. There's nothing you can do against that." He sounded bitter, and I looked up to see his eyes. He looked away and got up. Then he went to my closet and threw leggings and a hoodie at me. "Get dressed. We're leaving." I looked at him in disbelief, wiping the tears off my face. "Where are we going?" He shrugged. "You'll see."

Alright, fine. My head was pounding from exhaustion, but I was too curious to find out what he was up to. Plus, it was Aiden; I would've followed him bringing out the trash if he asked me to. I got up and quickly dressed, and he left, returning fully dressed two minutes later.

We quietly headed to his car and got in. Aiden turned up the volume of his music, and we started driving. The sounds of Mac Miller filled the silence. He didn't seem to want to talk, but that was fine by me. I was way too busy trying to wipe away Nate's face anyway. Soon we were out of town, though, and I really started to wonder where we were headed. We turned left, and a long straight lane appeared in the headlight, heading towards the motorway.

As soon as we were around the corner, Aiden pressed the pedal all way through. Any sane person would've probably been scared that he would kill us or wondered if he turned crazy. I loved it. The car kept accelerating, and the trees and grass around us seemed to fly by faster and faster. It was like a movie, and I loved every second of it. I couldn't help but smile a little. I looked towards him. His eyes were pressed on the road, a pain on his face I hadn't seen before. I put my hand on his thigh. He stopped staring for a second to look at me. When he saw me smile, the corner of his mouth also lifted a little.

Then he turned his attention back on the road and held my hand. We still hadn't said a word, but I felt closer to him than I had ever done. Finally, we hit the end of the road, and he slowed down. Then he took the exit to a small hidden path. The perks of having a Jeep, I guess. "Where are we going?" I finally asked. "Five more minutes." he simply answered. I couldn't wait.

We took one last turn, and there it was. A wide field with a giant rock in the middle of it. It looked surreal like some giant had just thrown it there. It was at least twenty feet wide and majestically stretched into the sky. With only the light of the moon and the stars falling onto it, it reminded me of a fantasy movie. "No one has any idea how it got here." he quietly said. "It's beautiful." I whispered, still in awe. "It's my favorite spot." he simply answered.

This warmed my heart. His sharing this with me somehow felt more intimate than actually sharing his bed with me. He pulled back his seat and opened some blinds above us. His car had a roof window. I gasped. How cool was that? I did the same and gasped even more. Now we had a perfect view of the stars, even better than the one we had in the city. "Wow." I whispered. He didn't reply. He just stared out of the window, deep in his thoughts. I leaned back even more and did the same. And the power of looking at the stars rushed right through me. Their power of making you realise how tiny and unimportant we and our problems actually were. I understood what Aiden liked about this place; it grounded you and gave you space to think. I could feel the wave of pain rushing through both of us, and we kept quiet, both fighting our own demons, as he'd called them earlier.

At one point, I started crying again; he just put a hand on my thigh and let it happen. When I started to freeze, he reached behind me and threw one of his hoodies on me. I immediately put it on and started drowning in his scent. It was heaven.

I don't know how long we stayed there. When the first hint of dawn started crawling in, he finally turned his car key and reversed. When we were back on the Main Street, I looked over. "Thank you for bringing me here. It's a real special place." He nodded. "I thought you might like it." I loved it. "I really do." Then we stayed quiet the rest of the way, not even music playing this time.

Back in the house, he just stroked my arm for a second before heading back into his bedroom. I didn't know how I felt. Way too many emotions had been running through me in the last couple of hours. "I hope you know how special you are." I quietly whispered. I wasn't even sure if he had heard me. Or if I even wanted him to hear me. His hand stopped in the air for a second before he turned the knob. Yes, he heard me.

Back in my own bed, I stared at the ceiling. I took off my pants and hoodie but pulled his black one back over my head. His scent once again filled my nose, and I started reminiscing about last night. How he did something impulsively, and it turned out to be the exact thing I needed. He was my personal hero. And there was one thing I couldn't deny no more. It was scary. And dumb. But undeniable. "I love you, Aiden Stewart." I quietly whispered into his hoodie.