Growing Up

8.0

The car ride back up to upper Manhattan was a long, blurry endeavor as Kit nervously drove Aspen back to her apartment. The heels had been too much to bare, and she held on to both in one hand as he carried her back up the dark, narrow stairwell. Opening the door to the empty apartment, he walked her over to her room, gently laying her down on the bed and placing her shoes by the desk. He hesitantly looked back over to her small, resting body as it curled into a fetal position- a small, drunken smile spread across her face as her eyelashes kissed the tops of her cheeks. He walked over and softly brushed the hairs over her face back behind her ear and giving her a sad smile before turning to leave. 

Barely a step later, small fingers wrapped themselves around his wrist and stopped him in his tracks. He turned back around to see Aspen sitting upright on the bed- her big eyes reflecting like emeralds in the light casted by the city a few miles down through her window. 

"I'm sorry.." She whispered, looking down at her lap sadly.

"Don't worry about it- I wanted to go home anyway." He assured her, patting her shoulder and getting up to leave. 

"Not about that.. about the kiss."

"Oh," He breathed, sitting back down and running a hand through his hair. "You don't have to be sorry-"

"I do." She cut him off. "I shouldn't have done it- life has just been so confusing I have no idea what I want. You're a great guy and all and we were on our way to becoming really great friends; I don't want to ruin that." 

"I get it, don't worry." He said, ruffling her hair and walking over to the door to her room. "Goodnight, Aspen."

"Goodnight," She yawned back, laying back down and facing away out the window to hide her face. 

Once she heard the click of the door, small beads of tears glided down her face onto the sheets beneath her. What am I going to do? she thought.

-*-

The next morning was plagued by a hangover and the sound of vomiting echoed through the empty apartment. By noon she was eating a bowl of rice at the island in her kitchen writing away on her typewriter, her fingers rapidly typing the lines of the novel. Her cell phone rang from her purse and she jumped up out of her seat, pulling it out and holding it up to her ear. 

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hey- erm.. is your  big sister home?" the low, masculine voice asked.

"Who?" she asked, confused.

"Aspen." The voice clarified.

"This is Aspen." she clarified.

"Oh shit trap queen! It's Rocky- just checking up on you babe." he chuckled.

"Oh, Rocky! Yeah other than my hangover I got home perfectly fine." She giggled embarrassedly, looking around the apartment at the pieces of furniture she had drunkenly knocked over during her 'walk' over to her room. 

"Great great. Is Kit there?" he suddenly asked. 

Aspen could feel her cheeks heat up in embarrassment. "Erm, no. He dropped me off and then left."

"Ahh.. I thought he spent the night but nvm that then.. Anyway, glad you're all good and we'll talk later." He promised. 

"Talk to you later," Aspen politely mused, hanging up the phone and turning her attention back to the furniture- She had a lot of work to do. She put her Sun Kill Moon record into the player in the living room and started cleaning up to the music. Once she had cleaned up the last of the shattered glass, she decided that it was probably the appropriate time to take a shower, looking down at the outfit from last night. She slipped it off and jumped into the shower, washing off the smeared greasy makeup and detangling her long hair. When she walked out, she wrapped her hair up in a towel and another around her body. Checking her phone screen, she apparently had over 50 missed calls from Catherine. She made a confused frown before there was a knocking at her door. Obviously, her friend was desperate for her, and she quickly skidded out of her room in her towel to answer the door.