The Drifter

C H A P T E R 3 8

C H A P T E R  T H I R T Y – E I G H T
Out of Town

Aidan drove until we approached a parking lot in the middle of nowhere.

Parking lots were beginning to be represented in my mind with negative connotations since the fiasco with Olympia. I had one chance. Olympia had one chance. And I let her down. She died in my arms. But then Aidan turned up and became the voice of reason temporarily. He was there with Delia too, when we discovered her body. But being around Aidan now managed to quell the lump that had formed in my throat as I lingered when he reached into the backseats to retrieve the picnic basket.

"So I told you I was a picnic virgin," I announced, startling him at the mention of virgin, "but I suppose you're not a picnic virgin."

He raised an eyebrow as he locked the car. "What would make you think that?" he challenged.

Because you're so attractive. "Because your dad is a business man and to be a business man you must be charming so you must have inherited that trait," I bullshitted.

He let out a breathy chuckle as we meandered between two buildings. "I'm also a picnic virgin like you, believe it or not."

Scoffing, I said, "I'm sure there's an ex-girlfriend you just insulted by forgetting a date."

Aidan said nothing, so I wondered whether I had overstepped a boundary as we continued to amble in silence. We were led to a park that was vacant except for the middle-of-the-day dog walkers and new mothers strolling with their new-born babies. It was safe to say that Aidan and I were the only ones present in our age category, but that didn't deter me. It meant there would be little distractions, and with the note burning a hole in my handbag... would he still kiss me after that slipup by mentioning an ex-girlfriend?

Opening the basket revealed a blanket that Aidan fanned out to spread on the grass. As I placed my handbag down and stretched out my legs in front of me, he was rummaging through the basket and said, "I have a feeling you think I have more ex-girlfriends than I actually do. Ham and cheese okay?"

His words seemed to be a jumbled mess in my mind to the extent that it took me a few moments to process them. When I realised he was asking my sandwich preference and gazing inquisitively at me, I nodded hastily and accepted the saran wrapped ham and cheese sandwich. Peeling back the saran wrap, I asked, "How many do you actually have?"

He plonked another sandwich in his lap and extracted two bottles of water, leaning one against my leg when he realised my hands were holding the sandwich, poised to take a bite. "Two. It gets quite difficult to have girlfriends when you're flitting between towns, so I never bothered. They never lasted longer than a few months. Nothing too serious."

"Do you prefer serious or casual?" I asked, indirectly referencing "casual" as "hook-ups".

"I like serious when it's the right girl. Casual's just that bit of fun. And now I feel obligated to ask you about your past boyfriends." He paused, unscrewing the lid of his bottled water. "In a way that doesn't make me sound sixteen all over again."

"One serious boyfriend and a whole load of mistakes. Sophomore year. Does the name Stephenson Daniels ring a bell?"

Previously been swigging down some water, he lowered the bottle, leaving his top lip coated with water. He ran his tongue over his top lip and I found myself stuck in a trance until he cleared his throat. My eyes instantly raised to meet his gaze. "The one that died a year ago?"

"Yeah, that's him. We dated a year before he died. He was dating-"

"Isla when he died. I'm sorry about that. That was the day of the break-in at the cinema when he died, wasn't it?"