Close Behind || Aaron Minyard

31

Naomi skips night practice for the first time since Kevin had come knocking on her door. When she tells him to fuck off she goes back into her room and falls onto the couch.

She's doing her homework when a minute later Renee walks into the main room and points at the phone she's listening to. Naomi sighs, of course Andrew is being a busy body, she shakes her head.

"No, I think she went to sleep already," Renee tells Andrew seamlessly. It's a little weird to see someone lying for her that isn't Neil. "Yes, it's strange. I know. You can see her in the morning. Yes. I see. Alright. Sure, if he comes by."

Renee wanders back out of the room without explaining any of the phone call to Naomi but it's not her problem anymore it seems. Andrew is off her case for the time being, she can worry about Kevin's annoying fucking mouth in the morning.

Instead of worrying about any of that or thinking of what happened in the wall, Naomi shoves her face into her french homework.

It only takes her ten minutes because she's fluent in the language and she's taking an intro course like a plebeian.

So she forces herself to read ahead in her chemistry textbook so maybe she'll understand the next lesson without having to have Aaron or Katelyn explain to her what a covalent bond is.

There's knock on the door maybe half an hour later and Naomi gets up with a groan. She's expecting Matt to be looking for Dan but she opens the door and finds Aaron instead.

That's when she remembers that Dan is in Matt's room because Neil is at evening practice with Kevin and Andrew.

"Come on," Aaron nods his head down the hall impatiently.

Naomi closes the door behind her without a thought. She's wearing her one pair of pajamas and she's got no shoes on but she follows Aaron outside anyway.

They make it outside quickly because it's only three flights of stairs and for some unknown reason Aaron likes to jog up and down stairs. Maybe it's Naomi's fault for always matching his pace.

He doesn't say a word, just wanders over to the curb where Andrew's car isn't and sits down. Naomi follows him and sits beside him, she tucks her legs to her chest because it's cold out.

After a few seconds of silence Aaron reaches into his pocket and pulls something out. He warms it between his hands for a few seconds before passing it over to Naomi.

She flinches away and ignores the pain on the back of her legs as she scrapes them again the sidewalk beneath her. "Aaron, what the fuck?"

"What?" He looks over at her, raises an eyebrow. Naomi stares at his hand and tries to remember to breathe but she thinks she's failing. "Naomi, it's alright. It's just a phone."

"No," she snaps at him.

He takes his hand away and holds it closer to his chest. Aaron watches her for a few seconds before reaching one hand out and grabbing her by the hand. He opens it and puts the phone in her hand. Aaron stares at her hard. "It's a phone. You don't have to use it but you have to have it."

"No," she says, losing her voice the more firmly he presses it into her hand. "You don't understand, Aaron. The last time I had a phone..."

"You were, what? Ten? Scared for your life? Someone called and gave bad news?" Aaron isn't mocking her, he's just listening things and doesn't know how close he's getting to the truth. "You're a fox, Naomi. It's a requirement for something like that to be true. What's not required is for it to still have a hold on you. Take the phone. Keep it in your pocket, charged, and ignore Nicky's texts."