What It Is

Chapter 6

"Eat. My spaghetti is something that-"

"-will have you barfing once you're done." Aaron butt in to Ryan.

Ryan frowned and and smacked Aaron with a serving spoon, causing him to jump backwards behind me. I smiled as they both grabbed utensils from the kitchen and began throwing them at each other. I stepped back into the doorway and analyzed what they both called a kitchen.

The pale blue wood was spattered from different food stains, the wooden white cabinets were torn and dented. A single black stove top was in the right corner next to a barn sink and surprisingly a dish washer, brown countertops and red paint filled the rest of the area while a fridge stood lonesome. It wasn't much, but it obviously was enough for a home, and for fun.

Ryan and Aaron then began jousting with the serving spoons, fighting like those for a princess. I gulped and moved further backwards, looking for something to occupy my mind, maybe clean something. I turned around and glanced at the ground, my jeans and boots back on after Aaron had finished replenishing my cuts and scrapes, handing me a pain killer afterwards.

"Hey Aurora, can you bring one of the pots outside." Ryan spoke after tripping Aaron. "Agh!" Watching as Aaron snatched his leg and pulled him to the floorboards.

I giggled and smiled as I grabbed one of the pots of spaghetti, marching out of the kitchen. They each followed me one by one, both holding their own pots.

"Straight forward, there is a bench outside." Ryan barked at Aaron and I playfully, his voice bellowing above both of us.

"Aye aye Captain."

"Well well my little cousin-you have learned from my previous gatherings."

"I'm the older one!" Aaron shot back.

"By one day!" Ryan rebelled.

"Cousins?" I questioned stepping outside into the frigid air.

"Yes, can't you tell. We have the same nose." Ryan remarked placing his pot over a pullout countertop. I placed my pot next to his and inhaled the salty air, breathing deeply and fixing my gaze towards the ocean.

"I'll start the fire." Aaron spoke. "Aurora, help me get sticks to kindle it." Glancing up at me.

I followed him as we trekked our way out and back into the maze of trees. I shivered hugging my bare arms as we continued to walk forwards, the cold air nipping my skin. He noticed and held up for me, waiting until I was next to him.

"Cold?" He grinned.

"Y-yeah." I whispered.

"When we get back I can give you my sweatshirt." He stated promptly, wrapping an arm around me.

"No, no I have my jacket. You can keep your things for yourself. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you want to give your things away for me and I don't want you to-"

"Your leather jacket is ripped, the pleasure is mine, and you Aurora need to work on listening." He winked as I flushed once again. "No more apologizing, got it." He stated to me.

"Yes." I whispered.

"Good." He winked.

"Why are-are we making a fire?" I shakily exhaled.

"The same reason I made three pots of spaghetti. I'm hosting the bonfire tonight." Aaron rasped out picking up small twigs on the forest floor. "Grab dead leaves too." As I mimicked his actions.

"Okay." While I tried to stomach the new information given towards me about tonight's bonfire. "Someone hosts a bonfire every Friday?" I whispered while carrying a large cluster of twigs, pine needles, and good kindling materials.

"We usually volunteer. I did for this week's fire." Motioning for us to trudge back to the shack and the beauty behind.

"Oh, okay." I responded.

"Don't be nervous. I'll introduce you to the group." Snatching my load of kindling and carrying it with his own load. His shoulders were defined from the back, sculpted and toned as he carried a heavier load. I gaped and tried to keep my pace while not being more awkward than I was.

"Why are you-why are you so nice?" I stuttered failing my mission.

"Because it's always better to be good, than to not." He smirked. "I've always found it as my job to look over people, especially fair princesses." Glancing at me with his glistening seductive eyes.

I sheeply tried to grin before bowing my head away to the sand, staring off into the horizon of the ocean. Eye contact was always hard for me, I was so used to not having attention, or when I did it wasn't in a way that I wanted. It was almost like I was just a broken puzzle, there were no right pieces to place within the frame. Yet something was different here in this new place, and I didn't know what.

Little did I know that I would destroy myself in the process of that.

We reached the fire pit with our feat to try and run in the sand without falling. He laughed using his deep voice over mine while dropping the kindling load with a large slam. I gulped as he grabbed a matchbox, and a piece of crumpled faded, yellowish paper. When he took out a single match I stepped backwards, his eyes suddenly flickering to mine.

"Afraid?" Watching my expressions. I rubbed my arm and nodded stepping back further.

"Fire has never been kind." I spoke as he lit up the pit with a single match.

"Or it has been used in way to fear instead of nurture." The pit glowed a pale yellowish orange, sending smoke to spiral into the air like a whirlwind, the logs slowly giving in to the flames that would consume it whole.

"What?" I stated as his eyes searched mine, and found it.

"Nothing yet." He muttered. "Listen, I have to make a phone call. People will be arriving back here soon so don't be shy to interact with them and hang out, okay Aurora?" My head nodded as I continued to look at the flames. "And if worst comes to worst, you can hang out with Ryan."

"Ryan is nice." I stated.

"I know." He then grabbed my upper arms and lowered his face to meet mine. I sucked in air as I felt electricity and sparks cloud my vision, make my world spin over and over again. "Are you alright by yourself?" Pounded in my skull as he spoke again.

"Yeah, I'm used to it." I spoke too quickly.

Aaron fully glared at me with a face stone cold, hard and ready to rip something to shreds. The muscles tightened underneath his shirt as his grip became a bit more possessive and needing. I quaked and shook at touch as he burned his distaste towards that statement at me.

Aaron then suddenly stopped, and took a deep breath, never taking his eyes off of mine. I was paralyzed in the moment, the air was being sucked out of my soul and into the fire, into the air, out of me. He took a deep breath and rubbed my arms with his thumbs, his face softening, his eyes regaining color, his jaw less tense, his mind determining how to deal with the problem I was to him.

"Well, I guess I'm going to have to change that." He smiled at me.

--
Author's Note

If you guys are worried about Ryan, don't. He is still a very large piece of the story and will become closer to Aurora.

HOWEVER it will not be in a way that readers expect it to be.

Aaron is here to stay and I hope you guys love him as much as I do.

Please comment, share, and follow me :)

Thank you guys so much for reading my story! I'm almost at 150 reads and I'm so happy and grateful for that! :)