The Little Bandit

It was raining outside. Aiden threw his jacket so I could use it to cover my head. I was surprised because I never thought he could be this kind. “Thanks,” I mumbled before running under the rain. I got on his car just in time before the thunder rumbled. I shivered.

Aiden sat in the driver’s seat. His white t-shirt was wet, exposing his sturdy biceps and his six-packed stomach. His hair was also wet, which made him looked more stunning. He was so sexy. I tried so hard not to jump on him. Oh my God, I must have lost my mind.

I shook my head.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

No, I was not okay. And that’s because of you. “I guess so.”

He scanned me for a second before turning on the engine. I sighed in relieve. Please don’t look at me like that, I said to myself.

I looked outside the window while Aiden was driving his car carefully. We sat there in silence, not knowing what to say. Me myself, I was too tired to start a conversation. I leaned against the passenger’s seat, thinking about Dylan’s offer. The sound of rain that hit the car’s roof created a nice symphony which made me sleepy. I yawned and closed my eyes.

The next thing I knew was there was someone poking my cheek. I opened my eyes slowly. The rain has stopped and it was getting dark. How long had I been sleeping?

“Oh, finally,” Aiden’s voice made me jump. I didn’t know he’s still here. Oh, of course he was still here, I was sleeping in his car. “You snored,” he smirked.

“No, I didn’t,” I snapped. “What time is it now?”

“Six,” he answered instantly. “You slept for like an hour.”

An hour? I looked outside the window. The parking lot was almost empty, there were few cars parked there, including mine. “Why didn’t you wake me up, then?”

“I didn’t want to disturb you, you looked so tired.” He didn’t look at me while saying this. I let out a small smile.

“Thanks, Aiden,” I said truthfully.

He nodded. “You’d better go.”

He unlocked the door and I got off his car. He opened the passenger’s window and said, “Please consider Dylan’s offer.”

He gave me a breath-taking smile before drove away. I looked at his car, smiling like a stupid person.

~

I stopped my car in the driveway, surprised to find Rob’s car was in the garage. He was home. Here it came, my own hell. I took a deep breath before open the door. Rob was sitting lazily in a sofa, watching television. His left hand was holding a bottle of beer and the remote control in his right hand. He was useless.

“Hi Alyssa, you’re late,” he spoke to me when he recognized me standing in front of the door.

And you were not wanted here, I said to myself. “Where’s Mom?” I asked him, acted as if I didn't hear his stupid greeting.

“She’s home, sleeping all day. She’s so lazy.”

“She’s sick!” I suddenly yelled. He startled.

Rob turned off the television and stood up. He was so tall, like a stupid troll. I had to stand my ground now, saved my dignity. I was the one who picked up the fight.

“Don’t you learn some manner, young lady?” he hissed, his eyes narrowed in anger.

“I don’t need it if I speak to you, unless you show me some manners too,” I replied.

“Rob! Alyssa!” Mom shouted behind me. She was standing in the corridor, still in her night gown. “Stop it!”

She was so pale, and trembling. She’s getting thinner day by day. I didn’t want to fight in front of Mom. I looked at Richard’s furious face and sighed.

“Sorry Rob, I shouldn’t have shouted at you,” I said.

He grimaced, made me want to punch his face. But again, not in front of Mom.

“Alyssa, go to your room,” Mom told me. I did what I was told to, I didn’t want to spend even one second in this room, together with that bastard. I went inside my room and sat by the window.

I thought I had made a decision. Since the first time I saw the number of money I would get each month, I knew I would agree. But, seeing my mom’s like that, weak, pale, and suffered from her cancer, made me want to take that offer even more. However, I sighed, wasn’t it dangerous? If I died, Mom would live with that guy. But Aiden, Dylan and Adam were still alive, with small injuries of course. I could take it, could I?

I stared the dark sky above me, and out of nowhere, I could see Aiden’s face there. His smile, his hazel eyes, and his biceps. Oh my God, I shook my head. I was getting crazy.

~

Adam was not coming to school the next day. I tried to act normal whenever I passed Aiden or Dylan in the corridor. Dylan was okay, he played his role perfectly. On the other hand, Aiden didn’t make it easy. He obviously stared at me, smirked, or even sat just one table away from mine. Didn’t it against the rules? Did he know I have this terrible crush on him? Wait a minute, did I just say crush? No, no, take it back. I did not like him. I-Did-Not-Like-Him.

The school was over, and as I was told to, I drove my car to a café where I would meet Dylan. It was not far from my school, I had found that café in ten minutes. I checked myself out in the rear view mirror before getting off.

I looked terrible. My hair was – as usual – messy and my eyes were swollen because I didn’t get enough sleep. Actually I wasn’t bad to look at. I had these bright blue eyes which were inherited by my father. But today, I really looked awfully hideous. I put on some powder and lip gloss, trying to make my face better. When I considered it’s enough, I got off the car.

I entered the café, and looked around, then I spotted Aiden was sitting on the corner of the café, looking outside the window. Wasn’t I supposed to meet Dylan? I walked toward his table.

“Hi,” I said, sitting in front of him.

He gazed from the window toward me. “You’re late,” he stated.

I chose not to respond. “So, where’s Dylan?” I asked.

“What do you want to order?” he questioned me back.

“What?”

“The reason why we meet here is to have dinner. Now, what do you want to eat?” he said while calling a waitress.

“Hi, are you ready to order?” she asked us.

“Aiden, I…” I tried to tell him that it was okay not to have dinner, we just talked about my decision and went home after that, but he glared at me.

“Eat,” he mouthed.

“Oh, okay, I will have this steak with marinara sauce,” I told the waitress. She wrote down my order.

“And you?” she asked Aiden.

“Make it two,” he answered.

When the waitress went, I asked again, “Where’s Dylan? I am supposed to meet him here.”

Aiden was annoyed, “If you really want to meet him, why don’t you call him and ask him here, I can go now.”

I was surprised by his reaction. “Oh, no. I just, I think Dylan is the one who in charge in this matter, not you.”

“Relax, I can take care of this matter as well.”

His eyes observed mine, I pretended that it didn’t affect me at all but in fact, my heart raced so fast it could jump out my chest. Why did he have to look at me like that? Was there something wrong with my face?

“Please,” finally I said weakly, “don’t stare at me like that.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I make you uncomfortable?”

No, not the “bad” uncomfortable, I loved the way you looked at me, but, it was me, I would get heart attack if you kept doing that. “Yes.”

God, I was useless.

He showed me the breath-taking smile again. I was about to cry. Why, why did you act like this? Couldn’t you be just Aiden the cold-hearted one who never paid attention to me?

Ten minutes later – for me it felt like ten weeks – the waitress came with our food. Saved by the waitress.

I pretended as if I was busy with my steak. We didn’t speak during that time, but after I finished my dinner, I had to face him, and spoke. I should throw a joke or anything to ice breaking.

As usual, I was not really good in conversation.

“Listen Aiden, I want to talk about the offer-“

“Why don’t we have fun and not talking about that?” he suggested.

“I’m sorry, what?” I couldn’t believe my ears.

“There’s a carnival not far from here. Let’s go there.”

I didn’t have a chance to refuse because he had pulled my hand and made me got on his car.

~

“Here,” Aiden gave me large taffy.

“Why?” I asked, puzzled.

“Because taffy is a trademark of a carnival,” he explained as if I was stupid. I rolled my eyes.

“C’mon, let’s explore this place,” he took my hand. Again, my heart beat quickly. Okay, relax, breathe, breathe, you’ll be all right, I said to myself.

This carnival was not too big; it was typical carnival with regular game, such as, Dime Pitch which you had to toss a coin onto a horizontal board that had random marks on it, The Birthday Game, Ping Pong Ball and Fish Bowl, Cross Bow Shoot, Milk Bottle Game, Balloon and Dart Game, Ring the Bell, and many others. There was also Ferris wheel of course. According to the poster, there would be fireworks at midnight.

I was suck at most of the games so I let Aiden played – or showed off. He was so excellence, and his favorite was Cross Bow Shoot.

“Choose the prize that you want, Al,” he told me.

“I want that big teddy bear,” I said.

“Big teddy bear, here it comes,” he winked at me before shooting.

Ten minutes later, we walked off from that booth with me holding the teddy bear. “You really are able using weapon, aren’t you?” I said.

He smiled. “Yeah, I can do this and that.”

“Yeah, this, that, and arrogance,” I added.

He laughed. I looked at him, smiling. I loved the way he smiled.

“What?” he asked me when he caught me smiling.

“Nothing. I never see you as happy as tonight,” I said.

He didn’t answer but I swore I saw his cheek blushed.

“Oh shoot, it’s almost midnight,” Aiden said.

Oh yeah, midnight. It was like a dream, like a fairy tale. All the happiness would disappear at midnight. I felt as if I was Cinderella; I had to go home before everything turned into ashes. But I wanted this night to be eternity, Aiden, me, and this carnival, the colorful lights, the music, sound of laughter everywhere. Could I stop the time? Because I knew for sure, tomorrow Aiden would change into cold-hearted Aiden.

Suddenly, I held his hand. He was surprised, but he didn’t jerk his hand. So I thought it was okay.

“Thanks,” I whispered but I knew he could hear me. He didn’t say anything but his fingers squeezed mine.

“Why don’t we wait until midnight and see the fireworks from the Ferris wheel?” he said.

I agreed, well, it was the only way to extent this moment. We sat side by side on the Ferris wheel, enjoying the view.

“Err, Al, you kind of hurting my hand,” Aiden said.

I realized that I was still holding his hand. I suddenly released his hand. He laughed, “That’s okay Al,” he said, “Here, let me show you how to hold someone,” he took my hand and put his fingers between mine so our hands fitted together. He caressed my hands with his thumb.

“It’s been a long time since the last time I went to a carnival,” I told him, just trying to be normal.

“When was it?” he asked.

“I was six. At that time, my father – not my step father – was still alive. After he died, we never have fun anymore.”

“I’m sorry,” he said slowly.

“It’s all right,” I told him. “How about you?”

He sighed, his thumb stopped moving. “I used to go here with my mom. But not anymore.”

“What happened? Did she…?”

“No, she’s still alive. It’s just… impossible to speak to her.”

“Why?”

He looked at my eyes, and smiled, “Let’s not ruin this moment by talking about my mother.”

I forced myself to smile even though I was still curious. We were on the top of Ferris wheel now when the giant wheel stopped. I screamed and without realizing what I did, I had hugged Aiden. I wanted to pull myself back, but he held me there.

“Look, it’s the fireworks,” he whispered.

I could hear the shooting sound of the fireworks, and the cheers from people below. But at that time, the only sound that I heard the most was the sound of Aiden’s heart. I closed my eyes, and enjoyed the rhythm of his heart.

No matter what would happen, I would treasure this moment. Forever.