Open Your Eyes - Chapter Three

Three

Aaron Clark never wanted to be arrogant where women were concerned but since he graduated high school and experienced the best summer of his life, he was inundated with offers from college girls and high school seniors. He stood at a modest six feet and one inch, his black hair suiting his slightly tanned skin from many days spent lazing by the sea with Rosaline. He hated to tell them no, especially when his best friend had no qualms with dating. Her relationship with Daniel had been over for roughly a month now but another guy in her English class had caught her eye. Apparently he was new that year and she used to gush about how he was a great help and was fast becoming a great friend to her in Aaron’s absence.

It was the first time he had felt truly jealous. With Daniel it was a natural thing, it progressed in front of him and he hadn’t realised the full extent of his feelings until they had been doing that crazy, awkward dance before you commit to dating someone and by then there was no stopping them. They were a force to be reckoned with and he had to admit they were like two pieces of a puzzle. Initially anyway, it was only after a few months that Aaron began to notice the cracks, where Daniel wouldn’t understand Rosaline’s loss because she plain wouldn’t let him as well as various other parts of her personality. If Aaron was honest, he was really surprised they lasted as long as they did but still he wasn’t too jealous.
But now there’s another guy and anger swam through his veins as he tried to understand how she had jumped from Daniel to a new guy without even considering him in the middle somewhere.

“What you thinking about?” Rosaline asked as she did her homework upon his dining table.

Snapping out of his trance he turned to look at her, as she appeared slightly concerned. “Nothing much, just about all the offers from girls I’ve had since leaving school.” He smirked, studying her carefully as if waiting for a little flicker of jealousy from her, a sign that today might have been the day.

But there was nothing. “How many would that be? One? Two? Or are we talking like floods of women here?” She laughed.

“Maybe not floods but more than enough to help my self-esteem a-plenty.” He smiled to himself, sipping his drink.

“Why do you walk me to school every day, Aaron?” She had put down her pen now and closed her books, showing that she quite possibly wanted a serious conversation. He could never be too sure though. He didn’t know what was going through her insane little mind; the next utterance could have suggested something crazy like white water rafting.

He thought carefully about his answer, still desperately eager to keep his feelings under wrap. “To make sure you’re safe. We’re surrounded by woods; it would be so easy for something to happen to you.”

It seemed logical enough and she nodded in agreement, putting her bags away. “I only ask because Daniel mentioned something when I broke up with him. He asked me if it was because of you and then suggested you had ulterior motives to walking me every day. I can’t say I ever thought about it but you know all it takes is one person.”

Of all the people in the world, Daniel surely couldn’t have been her wake-up call?

“I guess they were just the words of a man who didn’t want to lose you.” He responded carefully.

“Maybe, but he wasn’t that devastated to be honest. I think he accepted it was time to split long ago. I think he was ready to let me go.” Everything he said she had a counter-argument for, as if she was trying to force a pre-planned answer from him but he couldn’t cave.

The pressure to just blurt out everything he ever felt thought or wished for her was overwhelming but he couldn’t break now. He had kept it quiet for years now; today didn’t have to be the day.

“Rosie, you know we’re best friends right? And if I really did feel that way, we’d be in a bit of a pickle? I wouldn’t destroy ‘us’ that way. We’re perfect right now.” As he said this he placed his hands on her shoulders and made sure she was looking at him directly. Although it was all a complete lie, there was not a chance he wanted her to think twice about that again. It seemed like it was all back to normal, back to square one... stick to the original plan. She finds out her own way.

“Okay yeah sure, I know. It’s just sometimes you know we’re very close so I wondered if maybe other people are catching onto something I’m not. But obviously, I’m just being a girl. I have to go now though.” She said gathering her belongings, neatly yet quickly.

“How come?” Aaron asked, helping her with her things.

“Jack asked me to go out to his place and I couldn’t say no. We get on so well, who knows what will happen.” She smiled, clearly more excited than she was letting on. This time it was more difficult for Aaron to mask she sheer jealousy. He exhaled loudly with despair, dragging it out as long as he could, before turning to her and smiling weakly, not quite reaching his eyes.

“Have fun.” He said quietly, trying to seem more upbeat like usual, but it didn’t work. He caught a look of slight confusion from Rosaline, before she seemed to shrug it off.

“I’ll call you tomorrow.” She said, standing on the tips of her toes to reach him. She gave him a light kiss on his cheek, her hand resting on his shoulder and within seconds she was out of the door.

She had never done that before.

Aaron could feel her kiss burning into the side of his face and the weight of her under her hand left a pressure on his shoulder, but he was determined not to read too much into it. Although her sudden show of affection had left him scarred, he knew he couldn’t think more of it than it was. It was just a friendly gesture, a small comfort when his best friend could tell he wasn’t feeling his best.

“What’s the matter with you?” Jane asked as she walked into the room, dumping her bag on the floor and sitting next to her brother. She broke him out of his trance, one he didn’t know he was in. He turned to look at her seeing that she didn’t really care, she just wanted some gossip. But right now, she was probably the only one willing to listen.

“What would you do if you really liked someone, but they seemed to go for everyone else?” He asked quietly, as Jane turned the television on. Slamming the remote control down to her side, she turned to face him, her legs crossed. She almost looked joyful, like she had heard the best news of her life. She had a smile that could not be wiped away and her long, black hair was pushed away from her face making it all the more apparent. “Come on, Jane. It’s an innocent question, what’s with the theatrics?”

“You’re talking about Rosie.” She beamed.

“Her name is Rosaline.” He mumbled, hating the sound of someone else using his name for her.

“Whatever, you’re talking about her. Aren’t you?” She persisted. He was beginning to regret asking anything now, but there seemed no point in denying it.

“I guess I am.” He felt a slight warmth rush to his face and he could only assume he was appearing slightly flushed with the idea that the secret he fought so long to hide was actually probably very easily found out.

“I knew this would happen. You two are scarily close; it’s amazing you’re not married already.”

Ignoring her statement he pursued where he wanted this conversation to go. His sister was a very handy tool in his investigating ‘Jack’, the new guy up at the school. “Do you know the new guy, Jack?”

Jane thought for a second or two, before a look of recognition fell onto her face. She looked at her brother with a slight pity for a moment before answering in a sympathetic tone. “Yeah, I know who he is. He’s really close with Rosaline at school. I hardly speak to her these days and we’re in most of the same classes. I’m sorry, Aaron.”

“So she’s drifting from her friends for the attentions of a new guy, who she’s known for less than five minutes.”

“That’s about the sum of it. He’s really weird too, like he doesn’t speak to anyone apart from Rosie-” Jane began.

“Rosaline.” He interjected.

“Whatever, he doesn’t speak to anyone else but her and they whisper a lot. I don’t get it, but clearly there’s something about him. He’s not exactly hideous to look at, let’s put it that way.” Sensing she was close to swooning over how good-looking this ‘Jack’ was, Aaron decided to put a stop to the conversation. Thanking her for the chat and making her promise not to say anything, he retired to his room wondering if he was doing the right thing waiting for her to graduate.

When they became friends he wasn’t immediately aware that he was a whole year older than her but as soon as they became best friends he knew he couldn’t leave for college unless she was there right by his side. So that was their plan, he would work for his dad on the farm for a year and then when she had graduated, they would go to college. It was flawless but it was all built on the assumption, on Aaron’s part, that they would have been together by then happily in love and ready to embark upon whatever journey college wanted to take them on.

Now, with the news of a new guy, after a year of Daniel and missed chances since the day he met her, he was wondering if it was time for a reality check and to take life into his own hands, to stop living his life through Rosaline when they had clearly hit their peak. She was never going to be his, would never fall into his arms and he was gutted that he was only seeing this now.

He lay there with his hands covering his face, exhaling deeply as he moved them down to his sides. He couldn’t deny the thoughts in his mind were knocking the wind out of him, shattering him and making him bitter but there was nothing he could do about it.

His phone began to ring next to him and he answered it without checking the caller ID.

“Aaron, hey! Is everything okay? You seemed a little off when I left earlier?”

Rosaline. He should have known.

“I’m just fine. I just needed some time to myself; I’m a bit overwhelmed with the whole work thing. It’s crazier than I thought. Are you still at Jack’s?” He tried to hide the disdain in his voice but it was difficult.

“Yeah I am.” She said simply, reminding Aaron of her tendency to only utter what was needed.

“I’ll talk to you soon, Rosaline. Good night.” It took all of his strength but before he could hear what she had to say, he ended the call. Shutting his eyes in defeat, a rage suddenly took over him as he threw his phone across the room. It broke into tiny pieces as it hit the opposite wall and he couldn’t help but think of what a convenient metaphor it had become for him. Crushed and useless.