Saving Aidan

Chapter 3

After my session of standing outside and staring at the direction that Aidan had left in, I decided that I should probably go home to help my mother with her hangover.

 I sighed and got into my car, wincing as the door got stuck. I jammed the key into the engine and twisted it to the right, hoping that it wouldn’t get stuck again. I heard the revving of the engine and then pop!

I screeched a little as the entire car shook with the pop. I saw smoke coming out from under the hood of the car like in all those B-rated TV shows where the female gets out of her car and then is taken by a serial killer. Great.

 I hurried out of the car and try to find the little lever thing to open up the hood of the car. The smoke is making everything hard to see and when I finally get the freaking lever, I swore I was going to get lung cancer.

 I fanned out the smoke as best as I could and then peered at all of the different parts of the car. I had no idea how cars work and I probably didn’t even have enough money for the car guy to come down here to look at the damn thing.

 I slammed the hood down and ran a hand through my hair. Figures this would happen to me. I faced away from the car and then took a deep breath. There was no need to beat the crap out of my hair just because my car wanted to give me a hard time.

I turned around and went to get the keys out of the car when I realized that the car had locked itself with my keys in it. Now, I blew up. I kicked the tire of my car and then grabbed my foot as I realized how hard the tires were.

 I was jumping up and down holding my foot while saying “Ow, ow, ow, ow.” A low chuckle came from behind me and I turned around.

Aidan was there, grinning at me. I let go of my foot and stood up straight while blushing cherry red.

 Aidan said, “Wow, how can you help other people when you can’t help yourself?”

 I glared at him and picked my bag up from the ground. I didn’t say anything to him and began the thirty-mile walk home.

Aidan jogged up next to me and said, “Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I meant it more of as a joke. Like, you know, it being ironic.”

 I still didn’t answer him and continued walking home but with a little bit more speed. Aidan didn’t seem to notice and continued walking next to me.

He said, “Oh c’mon, Abby. I apologized, didn’t I? The least you could do would be to at least acknowledge that I did it.”

I stopped and he bumped into me a little. I turned to face him and my eyes came to his shoulder.

I tilted my head back and said, “Actually the least I could do would be to continue walking and ignore you. But I’m being a better person than that by actually giving you a response.”

 I turned back around and continued walking. I peered out at the cars driving by and wondered if I could make it across without pausing.

 Aidan sighed and then said, “If this is more than me being an ass a minute ago tell me. I mean, I get that you read in the library but still, I had no control over how fast I bled. I didn’t even notice it, really. I just—”

 I took that as my moment to run into the road. I took one-step out into the street and then saw this giant truck come towards me, going way over the speed limit. Even though a part of my brain was screaming to get out of the street another part thought of how stupid this person was, they could totally lose control and hit someone.

 The sunlight reflected against the car and I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see myself getting hit by the car.

 Strong arms wrapped themselves around my waist and pulled me out of the road.