Dusting Off A Heart

Chapter 3

She opened the message and read it.

It's from Cindy.

What else could she be needing from her?

'Hey Laury. Sorry for earlier. I already told Jaden to not tell Dane.'

Lauren chuckled and replied sarcastically, 'Yeah sure, Jaden is clearly not a blabber mouth'

Cindy, clearly oblivious to the sarcasm, replied sweetly, 'Yeah, he is not! He is the most trustable man I've ever known'.

Lauren laughed at her reply. It seems stupid to Lauren that Cindy can't see the devil behind Jaden's perfect face.

A few seconds later, Cindy texts her again. It's amazing how fast she can type. 'I'm bored, Laury. The party's over early'

Meh, she wonder why the party's over early. It's usually last until 3 am in the morning, why with the sudden change? Are they suddenly realize that it's disquieting other?

Goodness, that's a freaking miracle.

'Dane's home early after he bought those beers. Every one follows his path after that.'

Oh, not a miracle after all.

'Wonder what happened to him'

'Jaden said it probably has something to do with you'

Lauren run her fingers up and down her temples, it's when the alarm on her phone started ringing, indicating that her shift is now over. She gathered her bag and turned off the lights. As she exited and closed the door behind her to lock it, she saw a car stopped.

The car looked familiar. A scan through her memory bank and she realized its Aaron's. The head of the school newspaper's committee.

As he came nearer, his face features and his black hair became clear.

What could he possibly be needing here?, Lauren thought to herself.

"It's closed" she half-shouted at the person.

"Well, I need something. Open it up" he said as he approached closer, towering at Lauren's figure.

"Well it's closed. You better find another convenient store" she turned to the left to walk past him. But before she could get far, Aaron catches the fabric of her hoodie and turn her around to face him.

Aaron's face look pissed and his nose fumed with anger. He opened his mouth to say something, "Look, I need something and I gotta get it fast". His voice was stern.

She stand her place and refusing to open back the store. They both argued quite a while until a little girl's voice stopped their argue war. The voice came from the car and it sound indistinct, but Lauren could hear it well.

"Arry..." the voice gasping for air, "Arry... please be hurry"

From his face, Lauren knew that Aaron could hear it too. His face suddenly turned into a worried one. "Who's that? And is she sick?" Lauren said with a confused face. "It's my sister, and yes she's sick, now open the damn door!" he said sternly and demandingly. Lauren mumbled a 'why-didn't-you-said-so' and unlocked the door.

Aaron hurriedly enter the store as the door was open. Lauren clicked the switch on and the lamps blink on. He ran left and right searching for the medicine, looking confused.

"What do you need?" Lauren offered her help. "Uhh.. an asthma medicine?" he said unsure. "You mean an inhaler?" Lauren asked, jogging over to the medicine side.

"Yes, yes, that." He said as he swiped off the sweat from his forehead.

Lauren hurriedly grabbed a few bucks from her pocket and place it on the counter. She turned off the lights as Aaron exited the store. She gave Aaron the inhaler and turned around to lock the glass door while Aaron is already gone to his car, giving the inhaler to his sick sister.

His sister grabbed the inhaler from his hands and put the mouthpiece into her mouth and pressed the push button on top of the inhaler. She breaths in and a few seconds later, her breathing steadied. Lauren approached the car to checked the situation and found out that everything is okay. She sighed with relief and turned to walk away, but before she could get away far, Aaron stopped her by calling her. He realized had seen her somewhere and search for her name, but it looks like he forgets about it.

"Hey..." he walked to her. Lauren turned her head and her body follows.

"Thanks." He said with a small smile, and took his wallet from his pocket. Opening it to reveal a few dollars, he took one of them and handed it over to Lauren. "Here's some bucks to change the money."

Lauren pulled out her hand from her hoodie's pocket and took the money hesitantly. She stares at money for a second and confused whether to accept it or not.

You need it, said her mind affirms her. Your father needs it.

She took the money hesitantly. The amount was not the same as the inhaler costs, but Lauren don't really mind. Aaron probably doesn't know how much it really is and Lauren didn't actually bother to tell him.

"Thank you." She mumbled.

He gave her a sincere smile. A line of white teeth flashing towards her. The sincere and the relief on his green eyes makes Lauren feels comfortable in some weird -instant way.

"You're welcome" he said.

The silence hovered above them for a while until Aaron decided to break it.

"Hey, do you want a lift home? It's late. My sister won't mind. Heh, Poppy?"

A little girl's head popped out of the window. "Nah, I won't! It's not that fun being alone with Arry." She stick her tongue out. It's hard to believe that the same girl was whimpering in pain a few moment ago.

Aaron ruffles Poppy's hair and turned to Lauren. "So, you're coming?"

She hesitated for a moment but then she thought a small ride wouldn't hurt, then she nodded for a sign of reply.

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Thank you for reading! (or just viewing :P) Please comment and be active because...why the hell not.

Bye beautiful bros!

-Deedee