Close My Eyes,and Fly

Aaron wasn’t in class the next day, instead she spent the afternoon on the couch of her living room, her head resting on an extra fluffy pillow that Jack had brought over. Jack didn’t go to class either, instead he spent the day tending to her ever need, no matter how ridiculous it was.
The two of them were enjoying a halloween movie marathon in the middle of summer and both were laughing at the ridiculousness of the victims stupidity. It was an unbelivably average day in light of the the previous days events, and Aaron was relieved to get back to some sort of normalcy.
her parents had called to check in on her later the night before and asked if she needed them to come home early to which she replied no. “I have Mrs. Caillage from across the street” She had said, she didn’t want to ruin their summer with such a stupid incident.
Madison was at her dads house for the day, trying to convince him to let her stay for another week or so. It was clear to Aaron that she had grown very fond of Jack, though her excuse was that she wanted to tend to her best friends fresh burn wounds.
“So does Madison had a boyfriend?” Jack said, as they switched between DVD’s, Aaron glanced over at him, raising an eyebrow. “As a matter of fact she doesn’t” she said, her voice trembling. “Why..” She continued, glancing over at Jack who was cleaning the movie on his shirt. “Oh I was just wondering, she seems pretty nice is all’ He said, sliding the disk inside the DVD player. Aaron remained silent, playing with her fingers.
“I was actually thinking about asking her out.. if that’s ok with you” Jack said finally, sitting on the edge of the couch at Aaron’s feet, glancing up at her. Aaron remained silent. “Yeah.. I guess that would be cool” She said finally, looking over at the menu screen of the final halloween movie.
“We should change out your dressing before we start the next movie” Jack said, changing the subject, Aaron glanced down at her burns. She was wearing a tank top folded up above her belly button, and shorts that covered just to her thigh. Her mother had advised her to wear anything that might irritate her skin, so here she sat in the most revealing outfit she had worn all summer.
“I’ll do it.” She said coldly, unwrapping the bandages from her torso. There were small bubbles where the water had singed her skin, and Aaron flinched at the site. She rubbed a healing creme the doctor had prescribed along with her pain medication, biting her lip as the cold ointment touched her skin. Jack sat silent, watching her, twiddling his thumbs as he looked away. “Actually, I should probably get going” He said, standing up from the couch. Aaron rewrapped her torso in new bandages, pinning them shut once again before rising from the couch.
“Ok.” she said quietly, limping over to the door in her robot stance. “I’ll see you then.” Jack said, kissing her forehead and leaving. Aaron felt tears welling up inside her as she watched him leave, she glanced down at her bandaged legs and sighed, she felt unbelievably disgusting and she knew that she looked that way.
“So does Madison have a boyfriend?” the words echoed inside her head as she lay back on the couch, barring her face inside the pillow. It smelled like Jack, and she threw it away from her, knocking an empty coke can off the coffee table.
Twenty minutes later the doorbell rang, “Come in if you must” Aaron called from the couch, her hand resting on her forehead. The door bell rang again, “I said come in!!” she yelled, sighing.
“I heard what happened.. are you okay?” Scott said, entering the living room. He had a boquet of flowers in his trembling hand. Aaron jolted up and then flinched at the pain. “Scott, what are you do ing here?” She said, smiling when she saw the flowers. “I just wanted to see how you were, are you in pain?” he said, walking over to the couch and sitting on the coffee table across from her.
“Jesus...” He said, examining the bandages over her torso and legs. “I’ll be okay” Aaron said, watching his eyes. “I know it looks gruesome now but I promise I’ll be okay” she said with a smile.”I think you still look beautiful..” Scott said shyly, glancing down at the flowers in his hands. Aaron blushed,“Are those for me?” she said, motioning to the flowers. “Oh yes, daisy’s I hope you aren’t allergic” He said, handing them to her and smiling. “They’re beautiful, thank you.” she said, smelling the largest of them.
There was a pause in the conversation, as the two of them glanced at each other and smiled. What happened next seemed like a blur in Aaron’s memory but the motion was permanently burned in her mind.
She blinked for what seemed a second, and the next thing she knew, Scotts lips were on her own. In a moment of pure euphoria Aaron forgot completely about her pain and surrounded herself in the serenity of this moment. When Scott pulled back, the two of them were blushing, but the tension on the room was relieved.
“I’m really glad you’re okay.. I don’t know what I would of done if something happened to you” Scott said finally, biting his lip. Aaron beamed, “I’m really glad you’re glad that I’m okay” she said with a laugh.
“You can relax ya know” She said as she watched him awkwardly reposition himself on the coffee table, she felt bad that she was taking up the length of the couch, but she couldn’t manage to maneuver herself to create enough space for the two of them. “ I’m fine, Air, don’t worry” he said, brushing his hair out of his face. “Do you need me to get you anything? something to drink perhaps? some how water?” he joked, a smile spreading across his face.
“How did you even find out?” Aaron questioned, she hadn’t even thought about the strange situation she’d been in for the past two days, first Jack now Scott.
“Madison called me, told me that you’d had an accident and that you needed someone to come take care of you while she was away” he said, brushing his thumb against Aaron’s cheek. She laughed and rolled her eyes, “Sounds like Madison, always trying to be the motherly type.” “She just cares about you I guess” Scott said with a shrug.
That was the thing about Madison, she always had a way of making herself seem like the motherly type but in actuality it was always Aaron that turned out to be the babysitter. Whether it was for a party or even when they were just hanging out together. Madison would be the one that would get totally hammered, and need someone to hold her hair back while she was puking up everything, including her dignity.
Aaron was always the one that would supply the ride home, and she was always the one that took the blame when things went wrong. Thinking back on it she never understood what kept them friends for all these years, all she knew was that without Madison she wouldn’t have anyone else in the world to talk to, and that thought terrified her every day.
“Yeah she’s a peach” Aaron said finally, snapping out of her train of thought and smiling. It was easier for her to lie and say that everything was dandy in the friendship of Maddie and Air Bear, rather than disclose the bitterness she had held against her for all these years.
The rest of their evening was filled with casual flirting and occasional hidden kisses. Aaron felt more comfortable than she had the last couple of days and she liked how safe she felt snuggled up against Scott on her living room couch. She no longer feared that Mrs. Caillage would stop by because she considered the two of them friends, or at least on friendly terms, and she had no fear that Jack would drop in either because he was too preoccupied with Maddie.
It was a quiet peaceful evening and when the time came for Scott to depart, Aaron felt a small pang of sorrow in her chest. “Hey Aaron, I wanted to ask you something before I left” Scott said, turning around and facing her as the two stood at her front door, Aaron leaning against the wall to take the weight off of her singed legs. “Yeah sure, anything” she said, brushing her bangs out of her face.
“Well I was kinda wondering if maybe you wanted to go out with me or something, ya know, if that would be something that you wanted to do” He said, tucking his hair behind his ear and looking down at his feet. Aaron smiled and pushed herself from the wall, pressing her lips gently to his. “I would love to” she said in a whisper as she pulled away, her face a light pink.
Scott beamed and kissed her forehead. “ I’ll see you later sweetheart, try and get some sleep” He said, before disappearing out into the darkness of the night.
“You will never guess who Scott Weston’s girlfriend is” Aaron said excitedly into the phone to her best friend who was filing her nails carelessly on the other end. There was a pause and then a squeel. “No way.” Madison said, gripping the phone against her ear.
“I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried” Aaron said, her face in a full blown smile. “I’m so happy for you Air bear!’ Madison replied. “Hey so I was thinking we should celebrate, ya know maybe order a pizza and hang out tomorrow night?” Aaron said, flipping through the television channels
. “Oh.. Aaron I can’t” Madison said, pausing between words. “Ya see.. I kinda have a date..” she continued. Aaron froze. “Oh.. with who?” She said, twirling a strand of hair as she turned on Iron Chef America. “Well ya see... you’re friend Jack asked me for my phone number while you were in the hospital, and then this afternoon he called me, and we got to talking, and then it just kinda happened” She said, her tone nervous.
Aaron suppressed a sigh and put on a happy tone. “Oh well that’s great!” she said, her voice dripping with fake happy. She loved Madison but she didn’t think in any way shape or form she was good enough for Jack. “You better call me and tell me how it goes” She continued, laying back onto the arrangement of pillows she had concocted over the hours stranded in her living room. “I will, but are you sure you’re okay with this?” Madison said skeptically into the phone. “Yeah totally, you two will have a great time” she said.
The truth was , rage was building up inside of her. For reasons unknown to Aaron, she felt the unexplainable urge to scream into the phone at both Maddie and Jack. She wanted to tell them to knock it off and get back to their separate lives. The two hardly knew each other and here they were going on a date.
Aaron felt the rage suppress to jealousy and resentment. She knew Jack better than Maddie did, so why did she feel so entitled to go out with someone she just met. When the two best friends hung up Aaron unplugged her line for the night. She didn’t want to hear any more details about the romance emerging from her two closest friends.