Forgotten Past

Chapter Eleven

Jackson Taylor

It's been a few days since the kiss Aiden and I shared. To me, the kiss was amazing. I loved every second of it. I was really confused when he apologized because he hadn't done anything wrong. I'm very happy that he kissed me. Lately, he hadn't been showing up to school, and I was starting to get worried. I watched Sophia as she passed some of the graded papers out to my second-period class. I stared at her, wanting her to look at me so I could talk to her privately.

Finally, as if she was reading my mind, she looks at me and see's me looking at her. She furrows her eyebrows as if asking, 'Are you okay?'. I look at the door, not answering her question. I raise my hand and the teacher calls on me. I ask to use the bathroom, he gives me a quiet 'yes'. I get up and start walking towards the door. Sophia set down the papers she was handing out and started to follow me.

I start walking towards the boy's bathroom, knowing that Sophia will go in there. She has never been scared of the boy's bathroom like some girls. She has always gone to the boy's bathroom, even if someone told her not to. I go to the far end of the bathroom with the sinks on my right and toilet stalls on my left and sit on the floor. I came in the bathroom and did this a lot when Sophie died. It hit me hard. I would come in here all the time and write what I was feeling in my stupid feeling's journal. When Sophia finally arrived, she sat on the floor next to me and looked up at me.

"What's up, baby bro?" Sophia asks, patting my knee.

"Have you seen Aiden lately? I'm worried about him." I explained. Sophia furrowed her eyebrows, probably trying to remember that last time she had saw Aiden. Finally, she looks back up to me and shrugs her shoulders.

"I haven't seen him in a few days. What's got you so worried?" I looked down. I haven't told anyone about the kiss Aiden and I had shared just a few days ago.

"Well, you know how Aiden planned the date thing for me?" Sophia nods. "Um, when I was taking him home, we kind of, kissed." I looked up to see Sophia's reaction. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was wide open. I looked back down, fiddling with my fingers in the process.

"You like Aiden?" She asks. I nod. "Oh, my god! I'm so happy for you!" She yells, hugging the life out of my arm. I laughed.

"Thanks, but I'm still worried about him. He hasn't contacted either of us in the past few days. What if something happened? Oh, my god. What if he's mad at me!?" I explain, pulling myself out of Sophia's grip.

"I don't know, Jackson. Why don't you go check on him, later?" Sophia asks.

"I think I'm going to leave now. I need to know if he's okay. Cover for me?" I ask. She puts her hands over her eyes and smiles.

"I don't see anything." I smile and walk to the entrance of the bathroom. I check and see if there was anyone out in the hallway before running out to the parking lot. I walk to my car and get in. I sit there for a few minutes thinking about what situations that Aiden can possibly be in. I shake my head, pushing out all the bad images of Aiden that popped up. I turn on my car and start to drive to his house.

~

I was sitting in front of Aiden's house, wondering what the hell was going on. His truck was here, so he has to be here, right? I get out my car, closing the door behind me, softly. I walk up to his front door and knock, hesitantly. Almost instantly, I hear voices in the house. The voice sounded older. His dad.

"Get the door, you fag!" I gasp. Was his dad homophobic? Had he seen us kissing and that's why Aiden hasn't come out of his house? Does that mean that he was going to beat Aiden more? I knock on the door again, getting a little impatient. I hear his voice again. "You piece of sh*t, get your a** up and open the f***ing door!" I hear scrambling and then the door slowly opened. It was Aiden. He stared at me for a few seconds. I look at Aiden's appearance. He was in his normal outfit, nothing seemed out of place. Only, there were bruises all over his face and arms. I could also see many fresh cuts showing through the top of his shirt, on his upper arm. I really hoped he was going to stop that. His eyes widen when he realizes it's me. He attempts to shut the door in my face, not wanting to cause any more trouble, but I stop him. I pull him into a gentle hug, not wanting to hurt him, just in case he has bruises on his upper body. I wrap my arms around his waist and lean down a tiny bit and whisper in his ear.

"I'm going to get you out of here. Go get your stuff and go out one of the windows. I'll be there to help you down. You aren't going to get hurt again."

"Okay." He whispers back. I smile and pull away, kissing him on the cheek gently.

"Be careful. I'll see you in a few minutes." He smiled and walked back into his house, closing the door behind him, and getting ready to face his dad once again. He is going to be okay, though. He's got me and his friends.