Close My Eyes,and Fly

“Whats your favorite book?” Jack said, pulling up a piece of grass and tossing it carelessly onto Aaron’s shoulder. Aaron thought for a moment, “Because of Winn Dixie” she said finally with a grin, brushing the grass out of her hair.
It was mid lunch on friday and the two of them sat in the courtyard as they had the past few days, talking and laughing.
Aaron had gotten to know Jack a little better, but she was curious as to why he was the way he was. She was convinced that his macho persona wasn’t who we really was on a personal level, just a front he put up for the strange and unknown.
Jack was an only child, something she had discovered on their escapades into the background of each others home life and families. Jack lived with his mother in an apartment a few blocks from Aaron’s house. He didn’t spend much time at home because he didn’t get along well with his mother’s new boyfriend Frank. Everything else to Aaron remained a mystery, his posse’ that she had the pleasure of running in to on a regular basis, or why he was so keen on poking fun at every aspect of Aaron’s life.
“So whats the story behind your band of goons?” Aaron asked finally, taking a bite out of the apple that had been resting on her stomach. She was laying on her back, staring up at the clouds. Jack was leaning against the tree, a sketchbook in his hands, he was doodling quickly the outline of Aaron’s face.
“I mean, they seem to follow you around everywhere you go.” she continued, glancing up at him. “Don’t move your face!” he said, throwing more grass in her direction. Aaron laughed and rested her neck on her arm once more, taking another discreet bite of her apple.
“ They’re my family” he said finally, flipping the hair out of his eyes and glancing up at her. “They raised me and I raised them” He continued, violently erasing some misplaced line. “ We’ve been friends since 6th grade, and when my dad left they stuck with me, and my mom” Aaron smiled, and bit her lip, not taking her eyes of the slowly passing clouds. “ I couldn’t imagine losing a parent” she said finally, glancing at a silent Jack.
There was an awkward pause and Aaron sighed, wishing she hadn’t said anything. “It was a really hard time for my mom, when he left I mean.” Jack said finally, returning to his sketching. “ I stayed with my grandma for a month in Arizona while my mom looked for a job and a house out here.”
The bell rang and Jack slammed the book shut, hoisting him self from the ground. We walked over to Aaron and extended his palm, Aaron took it and he raised her from the ground. The two of them walked silently, to the classroom, both awkwardly staring at their feet. “ I’m sorry about your dad” Aaron said finally, as they took their seats. She could hear Jack’s face break into a smile, “Don’t worry about it toots, shit happens.” he said. Class began and the two sat silent for the remainder of the period.
“Hey you need a ride home?” Jack said, running up behind her as the bell rang. Aaron spun around in surprise. Jack smiled, motioning towards his black motorcycle that was parked at the far end of the parking lot. “Oh, I don’t know..” Aaron said, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear. “I’m pretty sure my mom would kill me if she knew I was on one of those things”. Jack laughed, “ I thought she was out of town?” He said. “Well, uh, she is, but I have this really nosey neighbor that she told to keep an eye on me.” she said sheepishly.
Jack smirked, “Cmon Aragorn where’s your sense of adventure?” he said. This of course by Aaron’s confession that she loved Lord of the Rings, a guilty pleasure she not often admitted to people, especially strange boys.
Aaron sighed and glanced at the disappearing group of students outside the front of her high school. She thought better of what she was about to do, but in a momentary fit of insanity she turned and followed Jack to his bike.
“Here, you better put this on?” He said, passing her a helmet, Aaron could see that it was the only one he had. “What about you?” she said, taking it hesitantly from his hands. Jack rolled his eyes. “I’ll be fine, mom, I’d be much more concerned if something happened to you anyway.”
He paused abruptly and looked at the ground, his face turning a slight pink. It was the first time Aaron had seen him show any sign of emotion besides cockiness since they’d met. She decided not to embarrass him and pretended she didn’t hear anything. slipping the helmet over her head she turned to him. “How do I look?” She said, striking a pose. “Super model status.” He responded, he had already mounted his bike, and he sat waiting for her to hop on.
Aaron hesitated and then climbed on the back of the bike, wrapping her arms around his waist. “You sure this is safe?” she yelled, over the roaring of the engine. “Totally, I wouldn’t put you in danger Aragorn” he said with a laugh. “Hang on tight” He then yelled, and the two of them took off down the road.
When Aaron and Jack reached her street she had him slow down, her idea was they could make the least noise as possible and then she wouldn’t get caught. “This is me” she said, pointing in the direction of her driveway, Jack turned in and dropped her off. “Thanks for the ride home, I owe ya one” she said with a smile, brushing her hair out of her face.
She tossed his helmet in his direction and then turned to go inside. “See ya Monday toots” he called out as he sped down the length of her street. Aaron laughed and rolled her eyes, escaping into the haven of her home.
“Well doesn’t he seem nice.” a voice said, as she shut the front door. Aaron froze and turned around slowly, meeting eyes with her father. “Dad what are you doing here?” She stuttered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Well to tell you the truth kiddo, I half expected to come home to my little girl sitting on the couch, studying english, not on the back of some hooligans motorcycle” He said, his arms folded across his chest. Aaron stood still, biting her lip, “He was just giving me a ride home” she said finally, tossing her bag to the floor. “Is that why you were sneaking up the driveway?” he said, a smile playing across his face. “Dad!” Aaron said, slapping his arm playfully as she walked up next to him, hoisting herself onto the counter. “You scared the crap out of me! I thought you were actually mad!” she continued, kicking her legs through the air.
“You’re just lucky it was me and not your mother, she would of had a fit if she was the one that came back to check on you” he said. “By the way, what happened to the flu you supposedly had?” Aaron scowled. “Mrs. Calage called you huh?” she said, biting at her fingernails. “ I swear that woman is the next Mrs.cravitz, always getting into my business.” “She told your mother you had a boy at the house” her father said, cracking open the refrigerator and sighing when he saw Aaron had already emptied its contents. “ Your mother sent me to check on things, for some reason she didn’t find a call to be at all logical”.
Aaron laughed in spite of herself, that was so like her mother to send her dad out of his way to run an errand. She had to admit, she missed the woman, no matter how insane and over protective she was at times. However, she was glad it was her father that had showed up instead, her on the back of a motorcycle would have been the last time Aaron would of seen the light of day, had it been her mother on the other side of the doorway.
“Well everything is fine dad” She said, a smile plastered on her face. “Yes, i can see that..” He said, picking up an empty soda can that was littered across the floor. “Just make sure you clean this place up before your mom gets home.”
The evening was spent with her dad, and Aaron felt relieved to be in the presence of someone older, someone she could trust. She had missed her dad, and although they often butted heads on the simplest of things, she knew that he was the only person she could go to for her problems.
“So when are you going back?” She said, twirling spaghetti onto her fork and taking a monstrous bite. Her father had treated her to Olive Garden, it was just the two of them enjoying dinner together, for the first time in forever. “I leave sunday, so I figured we could spend the weekend together.” he said, his mouth full of garlic bread. Aaron smiled weakly.

She loved her dad, but she didn’t plan on spending her weekend with her dad after a long week at school. “Yeah, about that dad.. I kinda have plans” she said. rubbing the back of her neck. She wasn’t totally lying, she had told Scott that they would maybe go to a movie or something this weekend, she had to keep her options open.
Her dads face fell, “Oh, I understand, who wants you hang out with their old man anyway” he said, spinning more pasta onto his fork.
The rest of the meal was awkward and silent. The two of them sat sipping their drinks and clinking their forks against their empty plates. “Can I get you any dessert?” A voice said, Aaron glanced up. “Scott what are you doing here?” She said incredulously, whipping her face in panic of any stray sauce that may have accumulated there. “ I work here now, ya know after the fight and all they didn’t exactly want me working at the cafe’” he said. Scotts hair was pushed behind his ears, and he was dressed up in all black, including a black apron that was draped around his waist. “ Yeah.. sorry about that” she said, trucking her hair behind her ear and glancing awkwardly over at her father who was watching him intently.
“Is this the fellow with the motorcycle?” he said finally, glancing at Aaron and then back to Scott. “Uh, no dad.” she said, sending him a glare. Her dad stayed silent. as did Aaron and for a moment Scott stood still, his pen and paper in hand. “So how’s about that dessert?” he said finally, glancing at Aaron with a gleam of sadness in his eyes.
“I’m telling you Madison it was the most horrifying moment of my life.” Aaron said into the phone. She was laying on her bed, on a soggy wet Saturday afternoon, her dad was at the grocery store and Aaron had barricaded herself into her room for the entirety of the day. “I’m sure he’s fine, just call him” Madison said.
Madison would be home next week for three days and then she was off to some other exotic location that Aaron couldn’t even spell let alone remember. The two of them had made plans to go out shopping on her days home, and Aaron had hoped she might introduce Jack on the chance the two of them might hit it off. After all, in Aaron’s opinion, Madison was absolutely stunning.
“I can’t just call him and be like ‘oh and by the way, I was riding on the back of the motorcycle the dude you punched in the face last week, I hope that isn’t a problem”” She said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “Well you don’t have to tell him that, just tell him it was a relative”, Madison was growing frustrated and Aaron could tell by the tone in her voice.
“I can’t, my dad asked who he was right in front of Scott” Aaron said, sighing, brushing her bangs out of her face. “Aaron! I’m home!” She heard her dad yell from the bottom of the stairs. Aaron didn’t answer, she hoped if her dad thought she was asleep he wouldn’t bother her. “ That’s my dad. Ugh I swear he did it on purpose” Aaron whispered into the phone, sliding under the covers of her bed. “I should go, but remember just call him and talk to him!” Madison said from the other end, hanging up before Aaron could say another word.
Aaron groaned and lay back on her bed, pondering whether she could obtain enough courage to call Scott and explain to him that Jack didn’t mean anything to her.
Aaron wandered down stairs to greet her father, despite her best efforts to avoid him. He had brought home pizza for dinner, and Aaron felt bad avoiding him for the remainder of his visit at home. “Hey kiddo” he said, shuffling through the cabinets for paper plates. That was something that Aaron and her dad had in common, the mutual distain for doing dishes.
Crossing the kitchen she plopped down onto one of the wooden stools that stood next to the island in her kitchen. “I’m sorry for the way I’ve been acting” she said finally, picking at her fingers. Her dad smiled and slid a paper plate in her direction. “Don’t worry about it kiddo, I was a teenager once too.” He said, dealing out slices of pizza.
It was times like this that Aaron loved her dad unconditionally. There was no need for constant conversation between them to fill the silence in between bites. A characteristic of their relationship that Aaron relished in.
On the even of her fathers departure back to the exotic land of Cancun, Aaron and her father enjoyed a quiet evening inside, watching old horror movies they had picked out on a whim at Blockbuster.
“Do you think maybe you would wanna go out to dinner tonight?” Scott said, Aaron and him had been talking on the phone all afternoon and after Aaron explained that it was just a friend from school that had given her a ride home all was forgotten.
“Yeah, that would be great.” Aaron said, dancing happily around her room. Her father had left earlier that morning for the airport and the rest of her evening had been filled with a steady pace of laundry and Hells Kitchen. She was preparing for company in the upcoming week, madison to be exact, and although she didn’t care about the state of her best friends house, Aaron felt that through Madison’s lavished life she had grown up accustomed to fine furnishings and clean hardwood floors.
“Okay, I’ll pick you up around 7” he said, Aaron could here him fumbling around in the background, searching for a piece of paper to jot down a reminder. “I’ll see you then” She said, hanging up and tossing the phone onto her bed.
“You’re beautiful” Jack said, tucking a piece of hair behind Aaron’s ear, his hand brushing so gently against her ear it was almost . “No, I’m not.. not really” Aaron said, glancing down at the ground shyly. “Well i think you are, Air.” Aaron glanced up and Scott was standing in front of her, a grin on his face and his hands dug into his pockets as usual. Aaron awoke, as the branches from the tree outside slammed into her bedroom window. She glanced at the clock, 6:30 . It had all been a dream, a strange and beautiful dream.

“Right on time” Aaron said, opening the front door to a grinning Scott. She had changed into a pair of black skinny jeans and a dress shirt. She was afraid she might of over or under dressed, but she was relieved when she saw that Scott was dressed in jeans and a dress shirt. “perfect” she thought.
“Ya know, I like to be on time” Scott said with a grin, sarcastically popping his shirt collar up. “We should get going though, our reservation is at 7:30” he said, holding out his hand.
In the driveway there was a silver ford pickup truck, hanging from the rear view mirror there was a black feather worn and frazzled at the end. Aaron smiled, and made her way down her porch steps, zipping up her hoodie. It was a surprisingly chilly night for the summer time, and Aaron hadn’t anticipating wearing her grey hoodie over the outfit she had spent the last half hour compiling.
The car ride was filled with awkward polite conversation and Aaron was unsure whether the entirety of the night would proceed like this. “Uh last name Weston, first name Scott” Scott said to the hostess, who was checking her roster for such a reservation. Aaron had taken her to chinese restaurant on the other side of town, she wasn’t aware they even needed reservations there.
“Ah here you are, right this way” the hostess said, guiding them over to a table on the far end of the room. “Your waiter will be right with you” she said, handing them each a laminated menu with fancy black lining.
The restaurant itself was surprising compared to the outside appearance. Each table was lined with a dark blue table cloth, and a tea light candle sat in the center. There was a small fountain in the center of the restaurant tiered with basins of cascading water. Aaron and Scott were sat in a booth, in the corner of the room. The wall directly next to them were covered in oriental paintings and fine gold moldings on the ceiling and floor. It was, as you could expect, the typical furnishings of a chinese restaurant.
“Can I get you some drinks?” a friendly voice said. Aaron didn’t glance up from her menu, “Lemmie guess, an ice tea perhaps?” The voice continued. Aaron glanced up. “Jack, what are you doing here?” she said, glancing over at Scott who was frozen in his tracks. “I work here.” He said blankly, staring over at her companion across the table. “Well, this is just like old times” He said, clenching his pen tightly. “So what’ll it be.”