Son of a Rouge

First Impressions [°14°]

[Aaden's POV]

I get up out of bed and head towards the bathroom, I need to shower now. I walk in and close the door quietly. I don't exactly know why I was trying to be quiet. I grab the towel I used yesterday and set it on the edge of the sink ready to grab when I'm finished. I go to turn on the shower but then I realize... I still don't know how to work it. "Ryder!" I call out. "What?" he yells back. "Can you come show me how to turn on the shower?" I say. He cracks the door, "You have clothes on right?" I laugh, "Yes dummy, I wouldn't have called you in here if I didn't." He shrugs and walks over to the shower and turns it on, I pay close attention to make sure I won't have to ask him to do it again in the future. It's always so weird going to someone else's house and not knowing how to work their shower. It's like they just expect you to know. "Thanks." I say. "No problem Ade." Ryder says while walking out of the bathroom.

I hurry to strip and hop in the shower, letting the hot water take over my body. I wash up as quickly as I can possibly move, there's no time.. or hot water.. to be wasted. Ryder has to get in too. So I have to be quick. I stare at all the nobs on the shower for a bit, trying to remember how Ryder turned it on, so I can just do the opposite to turn it off. After about a minute of staring I finally realize, I can just leave it on for Ryder. And he'll turn it off when he's done. I step out of the shower and wrap the towel around myself. I open the door and Ryder looks up from his phone. He grabs the towel from beside him and walks into the bathroom without saying anything. Well.. that totally wasn't awkward. I unwrap the towel from around myself and hurry to wrap myself with the blanket that's on his bed. I face away from the bathroom door so he doesn't see anything in case he comes out suddenly. I lean and grab my bag from the corner. I pick out a plain white t-shirt and jeans for my outfit. Nothing can possibly go wrong with that. I pick up the towel I just took off and dry my hair. I put on all my clothes and finally deeply look at my phone.

I furrow my brows. A news notification, and then a million text notifications from Amaya. Ooh, I should go to her house tomorrow and surprise her.

Now first I need to look at what the big news is, I'm curious, because it seems to be the main headline for this area.

⚠HEADLINES⚠: FUTURE ALPHA RYDER MOON SPOTTED WITH HUMAN BOY (SUSPECTED BOYFRIEND?? NEW LUNA?) Read more info

Ryder? I'm really tempted to tap 'read more info'. Because who could he have been possibly spotted with when he was with me the whole time for the past couple days. What if it IS me..? I click on the link to be bombed with a bunch of pictures of me and Ryder from yesterday. From both breakfast and the fair. At breakfast, I did my best to cover my face, and it worked. But at the fair, I was totally exposed.. for people to know who I am. I wasn't being wary of people having their phones out taking pictures because there were many people there and they could've been taking pictures of anything. I facepalm and look at my phone totally unamused. Do people even have a sense of privacy? Even if I was Ryder's boyfriend, what if I didn't want people to know. Since we're just friends, they're making assumptions and starting up rumors. I lay back down on Ryder's bed and stare at all the pictures posted in other headlines. I look terrible in all of them too, that's not fair. If you're going to take secret pictures of me, at least make sure they're good before you post them.

Ryder walks out the bathroom in just a towel. I continue to lay there looking confused as I keep reading. "What do you look so confused about?" Ryder asked. I cover my head with the blanket not caring about what he says at the moment. I look at one final picture and it's of me and Ryder on the ferris wheel. When I laid my head on his shoulder. How did someone even get that picture when we were way up there? They must have used a drone or something, that makes a lot of sense.

The blanket is taken from over my head and the light blinds me. "What are you looking at?" Ryder asks while tilting his head. "Just the news.." I say in a very monotone voice. "Oh... you saw?" his face quickly turns into a small frown. "Yeah, and it's very messed up." I say. "That I didn't tell you?" he asks. I shake my head, "No, that people can't respect privacy, as far as telling me, I just assume you didn't have the time since it was posted not too long ago." I say. He nods, "Some people are just weird like that, I don't know what I can do about it really."

"Anyway..." I say while getting up, "I'm ready to meet your parents." He nods and grabs my hand as he opens the bedroom door. We walk down the stairs to be met with both of his parents sitting on the living room couch. His dad looks very mad that he has to be there, but his mom just brightly smiles. I smile back at her, she seems nice, I like her already. I walk to the couch and stand before both of them. "Hi, my name is Aaden White, nice to meet you both." I say. His dad just looks away from me disgusted. "Hi honey, so nice finally seeing your face and actually hearing you talk, I'm so glad I finally get to meet you." his mom says while getting up to hug me. I look over to Ryder to just see him smiling, I'm glad I get to make him happy. His father clears his throat, "What makes you come here? All of a sudden spending so much time with my son? Are you using him?" I furrow my brows. Why would he assume such a thing about me? I haven't said anything much yet. I slightly smile, trying to keep my cool even though I'm annoyed, "No.. I am not, I would never. I'm here because staying at home would be very.. dangerous right now sir." I say and just shake off what he said and continue to smile. "Thank you Mrs. Moon for letting me stay here, I really appreciate it." I say. "Aw honey, it's no problem, also you can call me Anne, no need for formals." She says in a very cheerful tone. I love his mother already. His father let's out a deep growl, much like the one I heard from Ryder when I first truly met him. He gets up and goes to a room, which I assume is theirs, and slams the door.

His mom frowns, "Don't mind him, he just doesn't like changing things to often, he likes staying to traditions. He'll come around, he has no choice. Now come, come sit down." We all sit down on the couch, Ryder comes to sit right next to me, very closely. "So.. Aaden, you enrolled in school?" she asks me. I shake my head. She furrows her brows in concern, "Why not?" I just shrug, "I've never been to school, I'm planning to start for the first time ever once the break is over, me and Ryder will be going to the same high school." She smiles once again, I assume she's always happy. I haven't seen her not smile yet. "Sorry for all the questions, but I'm curious.." she starts, "Why is it dangerous for you to be home? I don't mind you being here of course, but I just want to know." I sigh and the tears start to well up in my eyes.

I take a deep breath, "My mother was and is very abusive. She would beat me every single day and night, leaving bruises and cuts all over me. She would sometimes bring random guys home too, and they would do the same. On the same day I came here, my mother and her now, so called, 'fiancee' beat me to the point of blacking out. One of my friends, Amaya, who is also Ryder's friend, had found me, and I assume she called Ryder. After they brought me to you guy's pack doctor they had both decided I needed to stay somewhere my mom couldn't find me. Staying with Amaya was the first idea but she lives too close to me. So the next best thing they could think of was Ryder, because my mom doesn't know who he is or where he lives." All my words spill out quickly. His mom makes an "O" with her mouth.

She pulls me closely and hugs me tightly, "I'm so sorry... you can stay here for as long as you need to, there will be no complaints."

We all of a sudden hear the door Ryder's father walked into, slam back open. It makes me jump. I look over to see him charging towards me.