I rose my head off the soft pillow, eyes squinting from the sudden amount of light entering my pupils. I whipped my eyes and sat up straight. Down on my pillow, black blotches covered the white cloth, my tears stained into it. I tried to recall what triggered my tears, then Aaron came to mind.
I got up off the bed and looked at the clock, the time read four-thirty. I looked around the room to see if anyone returned, but it was still as empty as it was before. I walked into the bathroom to take a look at my face. Thin, faint black lines trailed down my cheeks. I quickly turned on the faucet and whipped off the black streaks, new tears heavily forming in place of them. I couldn’t help it. I turned off the water and broke down. I held my stomach and just cried, my knees buckling beneath me.
The pain in my chest brought back memories from all those years ago, the first time Aaron Risoni broke my heart. It was a back and forth, on and off thing until the day he snapped at me and told me he didn’t care for me and never had. My mind refused to listen because at the time, I thought I was in love with him. This was during the summer of ninth and tenth grade, now I’m just about to graduate and I still am in love with him.
I slid down, one hand holding the top of the counter, the other clutching my stomach. I felt that if I ever let go, all my feelings and insides would pour out and I would no longer be able to breath, suffocating within myself. I cried even harder, not knowing what else to do. How was this pain bearable? I started to calm down, taking deeper breaths until I was able to hoist myself back up on my feet. I grabbed some tissues to dab at my eyes.
Aaron has my heart, that wasn’t the question. The question is that he knew he has it, and yet he continues to rip it to shreds. It’s been like this for years, I never manage to get over it. I walked over to the tub and started to let the water fill it up. I needed to relax, let all the tension in my body out.
*
“Hey it’s Brad, leave one.” Aaron grunted and snapped his phone shut. After being directed to Brad’s voicemail eighteen times, he was just about ready to call it quits and go chase down Evie. Aaron took a long sigh and sat down on the cushioned seats of the hotel. He leaned back and closed his eyes, clenching the small cellular device with all his strength without breaking it. Then, as if on cue, it vibrated.
Aaron jerked with surprise and quickly looked at the caller ID. Brads number flashed across the screen and Aaron took some time to calm down.
“Brad?” Aaron sat up and rested his elbows on his knees.
“Yeah, what do you want?”
“Where are you?” Aaron asked, scratching the lobe of his left ear.
“Um… about five minutes away from the hotel, why?”
“Could you stop by, I have to talk to you.” Aaron pulled down on his face.
“Why?” Brad questioned again.
“Just do it, I really gotta talk to you.” Aaron repeated.
“Fine.” And with that, Brad hung up. Aaron relaxed back on the seat and sighed. He didn’t know what he was going to say, but he had to think of something within the next five minutes.
*
I walked out of the bathroom, towel-drying my hair. I sat down on the freshly made bed, the maid obviously came in while I was in my bath. I looked across the room into the mirror at my reflection. I was so: bland. Boring. Well, maybe not boring, but I was in need of a change. I was a tall, fit girl. Pale skin, bleached blond hair that fell a little past my shoulders, and emerald green eyes. I needed to get out tonight, do something free and fun, where I can lose myself without the bustling of hot clubs and crowded boardwalks. I checked the weather on my phone and said that tonight it would be around the low forties.
I reached into my bag on the floor and pulled out my scissors. I made my way into the bathroom and took a long sigh as I starred into the mirror, thinking of what to do.
Then, I slid my fingers around the scissors, brought them up to my stringy wet hair and…
‘Snip’!
The sound made me cringe, hoping I didn’t mess up. I looked in the mirror and relaxed. The length was reasonable and right: mid neck. I continued around my hair at that length. When finished, I cut some layers into my hair that slowly met up with my short side bangs. I finished and straightened my shoulders, taking a good look at my new, short choppy hair. It really made my jaw line fit better, minimizing some of the roundness to my face. The light hair color against my dark eyes accented my face into a more serious look.
After my hair, I pulled out my tweezers from my toiletry bag and reshaped my eyebrows. I had a strong curve around my eye like my mother did, and when she shaped her eyebrows to go down by the bridge of her nose and then trace up and back around that bone, it looked good. That is what I exactly did.
I then applied my white eye shadow that touched from my lid to my eyebrow. The white slowly faded into a metallic purple which barely curved under my eyes. I took my liquid eyeliner and drew a thin line on my top lid, then did a little on the bottom. I grabbed out my white mascara which would show through against the metallic purple. After that, I took out some light purple lip liner and slowly traced my lips that matched my eyes and accented the light gloss that coated my lips. Last, I added some blush to tone out my cheek bones.
When I was finished with my makeup, I walked out to my closet and pulled on gray skinny jeans, zipped up my knee high boots, and then pulled on my black wool jacket. I zipped it up, then tied the scarf around my waist, and pulled up the collar that met the bottom of my now dried hair.
I looked at myself in the mirror and decided I was good to go.
I made my way down the docks and into the small floating dock office. It smelled of stale chips and gas. The walls were painted a cheep white and the lights swung back and forth. I walked up to the desk where a guy typed on his computer.
“Excuse me.” I stepped up to his desk. He looked at me through his glasses and smiled.
“What can I do for you today?” He scooted away from the keyboard to look at me.
“How much are boat rentals?”
+
Carly walked through the doors of the hotel lobby, looking high and low for any sign of Aaron. She hasn’t heard back from him all day and now that it was dark, she was curious. She rushed through the new hotel customers and the leaving ones, looking all over for Aaron. Carly pulled out her phone and searched in her contacts until she found his number.
“Hi Carly.” Aaron’s voice was dry and agitated.
“Hey, where are you? Have you talked to him?” Carly paid close attention to her feet as she walked around the lobby.
“I’m in a cab, going around. And… no. I didn’t talk to him.”
“What? Why?” Carly stopped, placing a hand over her chest.
“I couldn’t reach him. I’ll try again later. Have you seen Evie?”
“What? No. Why, is everything alright?”
“Yeah… kind of. I’ll talk to you later. Bye.”
Aaron closed his phone and sighed, reclining in the cabs seat. He did speak with Brad, but he didn’t want to tell Carly what happened. The truth of it all is that Brad is a cheating bastard and if he wants anything from Carly, he’ll have to talk to her himself. As Aaron thought about that, he realized the same goes with him and Evie.
“Stop the cab!” He sat up.
“What? The airport is just up the street.” The cab driver looked surprised.
“Screw the airport, take me back to the hotel!” Aaron got more frustrated, just wanting to reach Evie.
The cab made a u-turn and started its way back to the hotel. Aaron waited impatiently to be standing in front of Evie, to hold her hand, look her in the eyes, and tell her he loves her.
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