Eternals

Chapter 7

As Aaron sauntered out of his home, Birch had to stop himself from smiling in case she turned back to look at him. He figured she wouldn't, since she seemed like a pretty proud girl, but she was also unpredictable. She went from calm and understanding to teen drama queen in less than a second. Birch didn't think he had offended her by correcting her grammar, but maybe he was mistaken. Things had changed since the last time he'd been out in the real world.

He thought about everything he said to Aaron and realized he had probably hurt her pride along the way, and knew that sometime soon he would have to apologize. Birch heaved a sigh and walked out of his tree home. He wandered around hoping to spot Scarlet or Aaron herself.

He found Scarlet outside of her house, on her rocking chair, like usual. She looked like the poster kid for serenity, with her book in her hand and a cup of tea occupying the other. He didn't want to disturb her, but he really didn't want to wait on that apology either, and come off as a jerk. "Hey Freesia. Do you happen to know where Aaron's at. I want to apologize for being a jerk."

"She's in the bronze house. But I warn you, you are not her favorite person at the moment," Scarlet replied, unfazed. "And stop calling me that flower name. It's so weird."

"Whatever floats your boat darlin'" Birch laughed as he walked away. He kept laughing until the bronze house came into view. In Eros Plaza there are three separate living areas, for the newbies that show up. The gold house, the silver and the bronze. Usually that determines what kind of person the newbies were. The gold for the super popular, super friendly, super everything's. The silver for the more average of us, and the bronze for those who are pretty low-key. Birch walked right up to the door and had his hand poised to knock before his courage failed him. He put his hand down and walked back down the porch steps. He paced back and forth wondering what the hell was wrong with him. He had never been this nervous over a girl. Except her, and Aaron. He sighed and started walking back to his tree. Soft whimpers stopped him though. Birch looked around, but didn't see anyone. Then he heard Aaron.

"Em, please. Just tell dad I'm at Sam's. I'll visit soon. I just need to figure things out." A sob escaped Aaron's mouth and her hand flew up to her mouth to cover it. "Please don't make this hard."Birch moved towards the rear of the house, just in time to see Aaron crumple to the ground, in a sobbing mess. Without thinking he raced forward to see if she was alright, not caring that she would know he had heard.

"Don't touch me!" Aaron screamed, as Birch's arms went around her. He recoiled instantly, but put his hand on her shoulder anyway. "What'd you tell her? It had to have been pretty bad to make you loose it like this."

"I told her I ran away. She called bull right away, but Scarlet said not to tell her 'for her own safety'. Why wouldn't she be safe?" She finished with a sob, that just about tore Birch's heart from his chest.

"Because we're dangerous Lilac."