Down Home Girl

Chapter 3:

Times like these I'm glad for Aiden's quick thinking. He swerved into the oncoming lane, dodging the truck. He cursed, out loud and pulled over.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, you?" I asked.

"I'm good," he said. "I'm really sorry."

"It's fine," I said. He started driving again, silently. I turned the music down, and looked out the window.

We finally made it into Baton Rouge, were there was a ton of traffic.

"Okay, where you wanna go?" Aiden asked me.

"Let's go to the mall," I said, "if you want to."

"Sounds good with me," he said.

"Alright," I said. We pulled into the parking lot, and he looked at me.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Yep," I said. I opened the door and got out. He looked down at me, disappointed.

"I was supposed to open it for you," he pouted. "Get back in."

I laughed. "Why? It's okay," I said.

"Get back in the car," he jokingly demanded. I giggled and got back in. He opened the door for me and grabbed my hand, helping me out.

"Such a gentleman," I smirked.

"You know it," he said. I laughed a bit, and we walked into the mall, hand in hand.

We walked through the mall, going into different stores. Finally, we went into a men's clothing store. I found a nice button up shirt in his size.

"Go try this on," I said. He looked at the price tag.

"I can't afford that," he laughed. "I'm poor remember?"

"Oh shut up. Just go try it on. I've got it." I said. He sighed, and went into the dressing room.

By the time he came back out I had a pair of jeans and another shirt picked out.

"Good Lord," he said.

"Take them," I said. "That shirt looks nice by the way. I like it."

"Thanks," he mumbled. I giggled. I knew he hated this, but I was loving it.

***

We sat in the food court with our gigantic burrito that we were going to split, along with small smoothies from Smoothie King.

"So when do you plan on moving out?" I asked him.

"Whenever they get up on their feet." He said, shrugging. I really wanted to help them.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked, "I could give them some money, and give you some too. Enough to get you an apartment and get you up on your feet. I could build them a new home- if they want one, and have them enough money to live off of until they retire."

"Sarah, no." Aiden said.

"Why not? The least I can do is help y'all out." I said.

"We don't need you to give us hand outs. We work for what we've got." He said.

"Exactly..and y'all need a break. I want to help y'all." I said. He sighed and looked at me.

"I can't stop you can I?" He asked.

"Nope," I smiled. "I want to help you."

"Thank you," he said.

"You're welcome." I said. He looked down and took a sip of his smoothie.

"So, I really need to tell you something," he said.

"Okay," I responded,"Tell me."

"It's gonna be hard for me for you to leave again." He said. "When you left the last time...it nearly killed me...literally."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I went into depression. I started self harming. I was ready to kill myself..and I almost did." He said. Tears threatened my eyes.

"Aiden." I said softly. "Because of me?"

"No, not because of you. It was because I didn't have you here to make me happy, so all that stress, sadness, and anger never went away." He said.

"Aiden I'm so sorry," I said, tears falling down my cheek. I knew I made him happy, but I never thought that I meant that much to him.

"Don't apologize." He said. "You didn't know."

"But I should have," I said, feeling guilty.

"Baby," he said softly. My heart fluttered when he called me that.

"What?" I asked.

"It's okay," he said, "You're here now, and that's all that matters."

"You're right," I said. He grabbed my hand.

"You do realize how happy you make me, right?" He asked.

"Yeah," I said. "You make me happy too."

"I'm glad," he said. I smiled a bit, and finished my part of the food.

After we were done eating we went back to the house, which was empty.

"They're at work," he said. "I took two weeks off, so I could spend time with you."

"That's sweet," I said, smiling. He grabbed my hands and pulled me towards him, wrapping his arms around me.

"I've missed seeing your beautiful face," he said looking down at me. I blushed.

"I've missed you too," I said.

"I wanna kiss you so bad." His eyes were sparkling.

"Then do it," I said. I couldn't help myself.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yeah," I responded softly. "Kiss me."

He took my face in his hands and kissed me softly. When we pulled away he whined. I giggled and kissed him quickly.

He sighed and pulled me closer to him, if that was even possible.

In this moment I felt so loved, and so wanted. I never thought I meant so much to him...and I never really realized how much he meant to me. His happiness is the only thing I care about...so how could I have the heart to leave him again? Looks like I've got a lot of thinking to do...