See you again

Chapter 13

Why was he asking about something like dying? "Do you think that there really is a heaven? Or do you think that it's like sleeping without dreaming?" He asked.

"Sleeping without dreaming?" I frowned.

"You know. It's that blackness that you can't really explain. You don't really know if you're asleep or if you're dreaming. It's like the in between." He said.

"Well, I don't know. I've never died before," I said causing a chuckle to come out from the both of us. "Why do you ask?" He turned back to look at me and said, "I don't know." And just like that, his wall was back up again. I couldn't fall asleep. Maybe it was the fact that I was lying next to someone who I had been practically obsessed with for quite some time, or maybe it was just a little drafty. It definitely wasn't the first one...I glanced over towards the right side of the bed and noticed that Aaron's breathing was spaced out and even. I poked at his arm, testing how heavy of a sleeper he was. He didn't do anything. I said his name just above a whisper to see if he would respond. Again, nothing. I figured he was in deep enough sleep for me to make it out of his room without waking him up. I slowly lifted my limbs off the bed. Luckily he had one of those fancy memory foam beds that make no creaking noise and hardly disturbed the other side of the bed.

Once I was standing, I quietly and carefully made my way over to his door. Thankfully there was no furniture obstructing the path to the door because the moonlight shining the window provided hardly enough light to see a couple feet in front of me. I slowly opened the door and the hallway lights turned on as soon as I step foot outside. I gently shut the door behind me and quietly sighed in relief. I actually made it outside. I didn't even know where to start. I tiptoed my way over to the staircase. I figured that the first floor would probably be the safest place to start. Once down the stairs, the lights of the bottom floor illuminated just as they did earlier.

The lavish couches were large and seemed to be made of expensive leather. They were all placed accordingly with the focal point of the room being the glorious fireplace. The fireplace took up more the half of the wall. Just above the mantel was an extremely large family photo. Aaron and who I assumed was his sister sat in front of their parents. Aaron looked like he was about 12 in the picture and his sister looked about 8 .

His sister was absolutely gorgeous, practically goddess like. But their good looks obviously came from their parents. Aaron never mentioned anything about his mom or sister, I thought. A large book on the coffee table caught my eye. It was the only thing on the table. I glanced back to the staircase to check if anyone noticed I was downstairs before grabbing the book. I sat on the couch and placed it in my lap. "Our story" was written in fancy cursive on the cover. After flipping the hard cover over, I realized that it wasn't just any book. It was a photo album. The first few pages were of his parents getting married and a few pages after that were of his pregnant mother.

I skimmed through his sister's childhood until baby Aaron appeared. Unfortunately, there weren't any embarrassing photos of him. Only adorable ones that make the corners of your lips automatically turn up. They seemed to be an ordinary happy family with no worries. What worries could a wealthy family face actually face? Everything seemed perfectly fine until I turned a page and saw Aaron with his hand around a girl's waist and his lips on her cheek.

Jealousy burned inside me as I flipped through the pages.

He was with this girl for a while. Could it have been that he was still with her? Was he cheating on her? And I was the other woman? "I thought I told you not to go lurking through my house," a voice whispered right into my ear. I nearly jumped out of my seat. I let out a sigh when I saw Aaron walked around the couch and sat down. "That's Elina." His wall seemed to be down again. And it clearly showed in his eyes. I glanced down at the photo album in my lap. "Did you love her?" I reluctantly asked.

He nodded his head and brought his knees up to his chest. He leaned his head on them and said, "I still do." Ouch. There it was, that terrible feeling of a broken heart. But really, I only had myself to blame. He warned me. Was this what he was talking about?

"Are you guys still together?" He shook his head sadly and the pain inside subsided a bit. "So... She broke up with you?" I carefully asked. He let out a sigh. "Yeah, I guess you can say that." He placed his legs back down and sat up straight. "But I think I'll be back together with her soon." And then the pain was back...

"Come back upstairs," he said standing up. "You'll be sleeping through all you're classes tomorrow."

"Yeah, I'll be right up. I'm just gonna get a glass of water from the kitchen, okay?" He hesitantly nodded before ascending up the stairs. I waited for the sound of his door closing before looking back down at the photo album. "You are a lucky girl, Elina" I quietly said as I traced a finger over her face. So this was why he told me not to fall for him. He was already in love with someone else. He admitted that he liked me, but I guess that's all it would ever be. Like. He was even able to refrain from kissing me while intoxicated. I silently shut the album closed and placed it back on the coffee table. I placed a hand over my slow beating heart.

"I guess we had this coming, didn't we?"

***
"Wake up!" My eyes tried to struggle open, but as soon as it opened, the bright lights caused them to shut tightly. An arm shook me by the shoulder and I was forced to wake up. With sleepy eyes, I sat up, feeling an ache in my back probably from falling asleep on a couch.

"I don't really know why you're here, but we need to hurry out before my dad wakes up." I rubbed my eyes as I stood up and became more awake. Aaron was already in his uniform. Wait.. He didn't know why I was at his house? Did that mean he forgot everything that happened?