Close Behind || Aaron Minyard

37

They told Naomi later, they as in Kevin, that Andrew had managed to only miss thirteen of the hundred and fifty or so shots against him. When she'd found out, Naomi had said she was disappointed Andrew hadn't managed to block a hundred and fifty of the hits she'd taken that night.

It earned her Andrew shoving her face away but Naomi grinned and knew he was mildly amused with her for it. As much as Andrew can be, anyway.

The entire team made it back to Abby's and got absolutely shit faced. Naomi attempted to take just one shot to feel part of everything but Andrew had grabbed the glass and thrown it against the wall while Aaron bodily restrained her.

Twins are annoying. Is that how people feel about her and Neil?

For the rest of the night she let herself sit next to Neil and just observe the impressive amount of alcohol that Abby had acquired and how it was nearly not enough for the group.

Kevin looked like he was trying to drown himself.

At some point Aaron falls into the couch next to her as Neil leaves for a new soda, his eyes follow to where she's watching Kevin. "He always does that."

"I know that technically speaking a person can only really asphyxiate when they're panicking and unable to use their nose to breathe," Naomi says slowly, watching Kevin in horror. "But I'm sure he'd find a way to manage it if it meant he could become one with the alcohol. Maybe if he drinks enough he could replace the oxygen in his body with alcohol and it would be considered hypoxia."

Aaron stared at her for a few seconds, Naomi looks over and his cheeks are very red and his eyes are very dark. He choked down a sip and looks away. "I didn't know talking about someone suffocating could sound like that."

"What?" Naomi mumbles.

"Nothing," Aaron says startled. He practically runs away and hides in the kitchen.

After a few seconds Naomi lets herself stare into the kitchen and wonder why exactly she's just startled him so thoroughly.

Sure, talking about drowning is unsettling in theory but Aaron usually doesn't get...flustered. Startled. He was startled, that's it.

It wasn't the kind that people got when she threatened them or turned out to have a sickening knowledge about something dangerous.

His eyes had been blown wide but not in fear and Naomi doesn't know what that emotion really was. It looked, in part, like an expression she'd seen on many men before but it was different in a way that she couldn't place. In a way that made her confused but not scared.

As she's pondering over it she gets kicked in the shoe and looks up to find a not high but very drunk Andrew glaring. He crouches down in front of her and watches for a few seconds. "What was that."

"I said something super clinical about how Kevin could suffocate from the way he drinks," Naomi says with furrowed brows.

"And?"

"He said he didn't know talking about suffocation could sound like that," Naomi tells him. Even if she wishes she wasn't, she knows how the lines work on Andrew's deals. "I don't know what "that" is but, he got all flustered and ran away."

Andrew watches her for a second then nods. "Seems Aaron sports one for a bit of medical talk."

"Sports one of what?"

"Oh," Andrew says lowly, and Naomi knows how not sober he is just by how it sounds. "You and Neil truly are twins occasionally."

Naomi openly frowns at him for a long time before she blurts out a question. "Are you scared of heights?"