Make Me Stay

Chapter Ten

Choke ~ One Republic
Atlantis' hair whips around her face as she stands at the balcony of the hotel room, overlooking the city. The tears that pinprick her eyes don't compare to what she is feeling on the inside. She would never break down in front of Aaron, by that fact that he currently isn't in the hotel room, Atlantis let it all loose.
She pulls at her hair, kicks the railing and then slides down to the floor, the impact of loneliness swallowing her. It made no matter where Aaron was, but the fact that she had no one to talk to, much less the fact that she would actually talk to Aaron about her problems.
Her hair is tangled now and her mascara runs down her cheeks. She probably looks like a mess, but who is she to care at the moment? The memories of her life before she ran away had flooded back to her. The way her parents had treated her, would she ever tell Aaron the things her parents had done? No, not until the time is right.
Letting out a cry of inner pain, Atlantis curls up in a ball on the cold floor of the deck. After struggling from depression for many years of her life, she had finally been able to suppress it, and many other problems. But it seems, as she goes through her days in her mind, many of these problems have began to come back, exploding in her brain.
She doesn't hear the door click from across the room and she definitely doesn't hear Aaron step inside. All sound is pushed out by the pounding in her ears. Aaron, from the other side of the room, calls her name once, twice, three times. After realizing where she is, his caring instinct kicks in and he crosses the room to the broken girl. He touches her shoulder lightly and she jumps away from him, a terrified look on her face. Upon seeing that the touch came from Aaron, her features relaxed and the tears began to stream down her face once again.
"Hey hey," he cups a hand to the young girls cheek, lifting her face to him. The dark circles under her eyes are evident, even with all of the redness and mascara. Her skin looks pale and it doesn't go unnoticed to Aaron at the nail marks on her skin, like she had been angrily clawing at herself. Her closed eyes open to look into his and the look of pure sadness radiates from the once bright eyes.
"Atlantis, its okay, darling its okay." Aaron doesn't hesitate to pull the young girl into his arms, rubbing her back in a soothing manner. She cries into his chest, soaking his dark grey shirt in tears and make up, not that he cares. He holds her closely, not letting go until she's cried the tears she's needed to cry.
"I'm here, I promise," he whispers into Atlantis' ear, straining her hair. She calms down soon after that, pulling away to look at the man before her. He cups her cheeks with both hands, thumbs running soothing circles along her skin.
"Are you alright?" The accent bounces off his tongue, the evidence there in the sentence he chose to speak.
"Fine... better." She offers him a small but he could still see the sadness behind her eyes.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She pulls away from him and takes his hands in hers.
"No, I mean, yes, I mean.." she sighs and glances around the balcony, into the room, and then back towards Aaron. "Yes."
Atlantis takes a shaky breath, still recovering from the amount of time she had been crying. Her chest hurts, face stings, and heart clenches, but looking at the man before her, she forgets all of those things.
"My past.. Aaron.. it wasn't a easy one." He doesn't look away from her, but holds her hands in a caring way. Atlantis shakes her head and looks down.
"I can't do this."
"You don't have to." Aaron stands and pulls Atlantis with him, pulling her into a close embrace.
"Gather your strength and feel better, okay? We have a big night tonight." He rubs soothing circles into her back again and she looks at him for a second before contacting their lips. They hadn't kissed since New York and the sensation of Aaron's lips on hers causes the heat to rush to her cheeks. Aaron's hands move to the young girls waist as he pulls her closer. They pull away for a second before Atlantis reconnects their lips. Maybe this is Atlantis' way of healing, and Aaron wouldn't question it.
They stand in the door way, hugging and talking of the night for many moments before Atlantis collects herself and decides that it's time to fix her make up. She pulls away from Aaron and makes her way to the bathroom the the pair share. Aaron stands in the doorway as Atlantis takes off her make up and then reapplies the beauty cover.
"Your so beautiful," the words slip from his lips as she applies some blush to her cheeks. A glance over at him and she's already drowning in how attractive he is.
"I could say that same to you.." she states simply before moving onto mascara. He can't help but smirk.
"What did I do to catch and deserve you?" He walks into the bathroom and wraps his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder and looking at her in the mirror,
"You read a book," she states simply, the memory of when they first met playing in her mind.

So it's a few hundred words short, I'm sorry, I just wanted to put more of her emotions and such in. Sooo yeah. Please vote and comment. xx.