She's a Bullet in Russian Roulette

I was upstairs in my room, getting dressed after a warm bath to ease the fighting pains when I heard the door bell ring. I opened my blinds and peeked out the window. Unable to see a car parked in the driveway, I figured it was some kids playing ding dong ditch, or some mail man.

I pulled on some sweats and a t shirt as I went down the stairs to humor them. The door bell rang once more and I quickly wrenched it open not to see a mail man, or an empty porch, but a really surprised Ian with a canvas gripped in his hands.

“Aeron.” He muttered, looking me up and down. He looked at every cut, zoning in on every bruise, and his eyes fell upon the chunk that was missing from my neck.
Self consciously, I raised my hand to it, “Um, what are you doing here?”
“You haven’t been texting me back, or answering my calls Aer. I’m sorry that I couldn’t come back with you the other day. Dallas flew me out to New York. I didn’t even know I was going. I don’t know what I did to upset you, but I’ve been trying to get a hold of you and I feel like this is the end of our friendship. And, I don’t want it to be.”

He finished breathlessly and I stood there, in sweats with wet hair, covered in bruises, with no bra on, propping open my door. I looked up at him and his eyes held that of regret and apologies.

“I’m sorry I chose Hunter over you to begin with. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you when you told me what she was up to. I know that all along you just wanted me to be safe. And even when we weren’t on speaking terms, you still kept me safe. I got home today and I was thinking about you, and I painted this..”

The canvas was thrusted into my hands. I reluctantly peered down at it, only to see myself staring back at me. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I wasn’t that pretty, and this painting was completely incredible. I couldn’t believe that he had painted this for me. My eyes were in a down set gaze, and they were as blue as they always were, with specks of grey tacked into them. My bruises and cuts were in different places than reality, but it got across the point.

I looked sad, hopeful, and insecure in this painting. Ian captured me.

“Will you please say something?” He begged, bringing my attention back to him.
“This is beautiful. I love it.”

I mentally hit myself in the face for Ian. He just spilled his guts to me, apologizing three hundred ways from Sunday, painted me this amazing painting and all I could say is this is beautiful and I love it? Smoooooth Aeron. Real friggin’ smooth!

He shuffled his feet nervously and looked behind him at his car, “Well, um..”

I smiled softly at his nervousness and pulled him inside my house, closing the door behind him. I set the painting on top of our computer desk and walked towards the counter with Ian following close behind me.

“You hungry?” I asked.
“Um, sure.” He said quietly, looking around.
“What are you looking for?” I smiled.
“This is going to sound weird…” He paused, a sheepish grin creeping over his face, “But you didn’t keep Hunter’s body, did you?”

I looked at him as his eyes grew bigger, because I was prolonging my answer. I busted into a fit of hysterics and had to bend over to keep myself from shaking too much. Which killed my back and wasn’t too sweet on my arms either.

“Ian!” I laughed, “Are you serious?”
He chuckled lightly, “That was stupid to ask, huh?”
“Extremely.” I giggled, reaching for a couple of plates, “Ouch!”
“Do you need me to get those for you?” He said, standing up, “Its probably not a good idea for you to be moving around like that anyways. Geez. I should have thought about that before-”
“Ian.” I smiled, “Stop it. I am fine.”
“Sorry. I just feel really bad.”
“Don’t. Its not that big of a deal. Honestly. I was pissed about it for a while, but I’m over it now. Besides, I feel kind of bad for killing Hunter.”
“Why?”
“Well, she wasn’t exactly of the vampire variety.” I said quietly.
I watched as he spun on his heel and looked me straight in the eye, “WHAT?!”
“I was just really jealous and wanted you all for myself.” I whispered softly, inching closer to him.
“What the hell is wrong with you?!”
A smile crept upon my face as a small laugh escaped from between my teeth, coming out like a whistle, “Ian, you are so gullible.”
“Fuck Aeron.” He smiled, relieved, “You scared the shit outta me.”
“I tend to do that. Now could you get those plates, please?”

Ian pulled out two plates for the both of us and I reached into the fridge for two foil wrapped breakfast burritos, which I popped in the microwave.
Once they were done, I set one on each plate and pushed one towards Ian. He pulled apart the tortilla and looked at the sausage and bacon like it was poisoned.

“Jesus Ian. Its not going to grow arms and choke your ass.” I smiled.
He looked up at me, a grin in his eyes, “I know. I must have forgotten to tell you that I’m a vegetarian.”
“Oh shit. I’m sorry. Let me get you something else. You like salad?”
“Yeah, I love salad.”
“Okay.” I said. I went to the fridge and pulled out a bag of salad and a bottle of ranch. I set them on the counter and grabbed a bag of sunflower seeds, “You may have to get your own bowl. My arms kinda hurt.”
“No problem.”
“How come you never mentioned you were a vegetarian?” I asked after Ian had sat down with his salad.
He shrugged slightly, “I dunno.”
“I always thought about being a vegetarian.”
“Why don’t you become one then?”
“Ian.” I stated, “I’m a freaking werewolf. I can’t live off of rabbit food.”
“Yeah. I kinda forgot about that.” He laughed.
“Its quite the shocker.” I mused.
“I’ll bet. How many people have you told?”
“Well, Jas and Austyn know, cause they’re both wolves. My dad knows, Dallas cause I burst into it with him there, and you. That’s about it.”
“Wow. How come more people don’t know?”
I shrugged, “I don’t know. No one has really ever gotten that close to me before. I mean, the only reason you know is cause Hunter came around. If she hadn’t, I would have kept it from you.”
Ian turned to me, “Why would you keep something like that from someone?”
“Because. When people find out, they don’t want to stick around. Being a werewolf is disgusting. I mean, at least Hunter was hot. Vampires are sexy. They’ve got the fangs, the nibbling of the neck, and they can kick ass in a fight..” I said, peering down at my bruises.
“Aer. I know, and I’m not going anywhere. Just because you’re a werewolf doesn’t mean you’re not gorgeous. Sure, Hunter was hot, but she was fucking nuts. You’ve got a cute personality. You do cute things, and your eyes are enough to make some guy drop to his knees.” He said, running a finger over the cut on my forehead, “And besides that, you saved my god damn life. How could I not like you?”
“I don’t want this to be some kind of relationship where you’re only friends with me because you feel guilty about me getting hurt. You don’t owe me anything.” I spoke quietly.
“I know that I don’t. That’s why I’m sitting here with you, eating a salad and talking to you. Because, I really like you Aeron. I like you a lot.”
I looked up at Ian and caught his gaze. His green eyes staring straight at me, “I like you too Ian.”
Suddenly, the door flew open, cutting off what Ian was about to say, “Aer! You home?” My dad’s voice bellowed.
“Yeah Dad. I’m here.”
“Oh, hey Ian!” He smiled, walking into the kitchen.
“Hello Brian.”
“What’s this? You’re eating a salad, but not my amazing breakfast burrito?”
“He’s a vegetarian Dad.”
“Oh, I see.” He grinned, “Me and Aer here, we can’t do that. We gotta get our meat and what not.”
“Dad.”
“Yes Aer?”
“Stop being such a freak.” I smiled.
His face took on a serious tone as he said, “Alright. Well, I gotta talk to you ‘bout something. So, let me know when you’re ready.”

With that, my dad made his way upstairs and left me and Ian downstairs.

“Well.. I should probably go talk to my dad.” I sighed, “And its going to be a long talk. So, I’ll see you tomorrow?”
He nodded, “Um yeah.”
“Okay. Well.” I said, standing up, “Bye.”
“Can I have a hug?” He smiled.
“Yeah.”

I hugged him lightly and showed him the front door.

Once I heard his car leave, I grabbed my sweats by the waistband and danced all the way upstiars, singing, “He likes me. Ian likes me. La la la la.”

Mature, I know.