Ms. Unlucky & The List

Chapter Five

Chapter Five: Something Is Always Wrong

I tried to get Aiden out of my mind but I just couldn't. His stormy guilt ridden eyes while he stood in the rain, getting soaked, plagued my dreams. I wanted to see him again but I had no idea how to find him. I knew there was little chance of me finding him at that park again but I thought I could give it a shot. I pulled on my hat and made my way to the foyer.

"Oh, there you are, Nix," Lauren called to me. I smiled at the woman and watched as she made her way to me. "I see you're going out again."

"I just wanted to go for a walk," I told her.

"Well, I could always take you to get a car," she said.

"It's fine. I like walking, it's calming," I reasoned.

"Well, alright," she said. "I'm going to be gone for the weekend and so are Ashley and Braxton. So it will be just you and Chase for two days."

I nodded and waved goodbye to her. I wasn't sure I wanted to be alone with him. He had been rather cold to me and I didn't blame him but that made for awkward situations, which I wasn't too eager to be in the center of. I hiked up my worn guitar in the soft, shabby case and walked to the park. It was a lot brighter than it had been the past few days and I was happy for the nice weather. I walked through the park to the lake and sat down on a lonely bench.

I pulled out my old guitar and tuned it. I had several acoustics but my favorite and most cherished was sitting on my bed at home. It was the last guitar my mother bought for me. I was always going to keep it safe. The one in my arms was the first one she gave me. It had been hers when she was young and she hadn't taken very good care of it, so it was pretty beat up already. I had two other ones that were also hers but this one was the one I freely walked around with in it's shabby, worn case. I strummed a little bit of Bob Marley and then went on to play some more difficult songs. I was so lost in the song that I didn't notice the boy sit down next to me until I was done.

"You're pretty good," he told me. I smiled at him.

"Don't sound so surprised," I told him, sarcastically.

"Well, you skate and you play guitar. It's just not girlie," he told me.

"I'm not really that girlie. You did mistake me for a boy, remember," I told him. He nodded, looking out at the lake.

"I'm sorry about your parents," he told me.

"It's not your fault. My mom died five years ago in a car crash and my father died of cancer," I explained. "There isn't much that could be done in either case."

"I should be more careful about what I say," he mumbled.

"We all should," I said.

"Chase wants me to stay away from you," he informed me.

"I know and I wanted my mother to live, but we don't always get what we want," I declared.

"Too true. But I'm not a good guy to be around. You already know why," he told me.

"I know exactly why I shouldn't be around you and yet, I found myself walking to this very park in the hopes of finding you here," I stated, thoughtfully.

"Oh really," he asked with a smirk.

"Don't look so pleased. You've been haunting me," I told him.

"I have?" He seemed perplexed.

"I couldn't get that drowned puppy look out of my head," I said.

"Drowned puppy? Really, Nix," he asked, flatly. I shivered at the sound of my name leaving his lips.