If Only It Was That Easy

CHAPTER 6

IF ONLY IIT WAS THAT EASY

AIDEN.

TWO WEEKS LATER...

Brrrrrrr!!!

The cursed alarm chimes for the umpteenth time. I groan, reaching over to shut it off. I honestly cannot think of a time when I despised my alarm clock so deeply. I also cannot think of a time when I needed an alarm clock in the first place. For the last five years I have always gone to bed at exactly 11pm and promptly woken up at 7am. My alarm clock and I were always in sync with me waking just as it went off but today we are sworn enemies.

To be fair I have never spent nights out playing with a boy before. I have never spent the night out before period. because until recently I have never had a reason to.

I hop out of bed and stretch out my sore limbs. Jumping fences is not a skill I'm particularly good at but after repeated usage I have gotten better at it. After my muscles have loosened up, I feel less like a walking corpse. It's unnerving to feel so tired on the outside yet so alive on the inside, consequences of making a friend I suppose. I sigh, me, Aiden Stone, I have a friend. I honestly don't know if I'm dreaming right now. And if I am, I hope to God I never wake up.

I open the windows letting the fresh summer breeze in. From this angle I can see the wall Elian and I scaled l exactly four times in the past two weeks. A smile forms on my lips as my heart flutters lightly. I'm unsure of what to feel right now, fear? excitement? Hope? What should having a friend feel like? Is he even my friend though? Or is he just my swing partner? I chuckle, swing partner sounds much more fun than 'friend 'does. Also he said he will take me again today. Will he? Why would he lie? Why wouldn't he? well he hasn't for so far but what of today is his first?

My growling stomach forces me back to the present. I rush to the bathroom to take a shower trying not to think of blonde hair or bright blue eyes or swings or parks…

I change into something comfortable before strolling to the dining room. I usually have breakfast around this time everyday so at least my hunger hormones still work fine.

Today I sit at the place my father used to; at the head of the table. I suppose I should feel strange or at the very least some level of discomfort but I don't. It feels right. I feel right. I lean back against the chair sinking into the soft cushion. One day in the distant future a bunch of children will surround this table. They will tell me about their day. About their dreams, about the person they like. They will smile at me with blue eyes filled wi-

"Aiden! My sweet boy, I was just about to come wake you." Aunt Clara says with a warm smile as she catwalks in. The click of her heels against the tiles already gave her away.

"Hello aunt Clara," I greet as she drops a kiss on my forehead, "you look beautiful."

She does. The beige suit fits her like a glove. Too many times I find myself forgetting aunt Clara is already in her late fourties. She doesn't look a day over 30.

"You think?" She grins, arranging her already perfect hair, "I really want to look good for my first day as CEO."

I laugh albeit a little awkwardly. It should be my first day as CEO but unfortunately my father despises me.

"Oh don't give me that look," she says, pulling out the chair next to me and settling in, "I'm just keeping the seat warm for you. Once the Ball is over the company will be all yours again."

"Oh right the Ball I'm so very, very thrilled."

She rolls her eyes, choosing to ignore my sarcasm.

"You've been sleeping in lately, how unlike you. Are you sick? Do you need me to call the doctor?"

"No aunty, I'm fine." If you need to call a doctor though it should be a psychiatrist. I might be a little insane.

We lapse into comfortable silence as Janet brings in our breakfast; sausages, egg, fresh bread, butter, bacon and tea. The smell of the seasoned meat makes my stomach go into a frenzy. I didn't know having a friend could make one so ravenous? Or is it because I messed up my circadian rhythm? Probably the latter. I dig in sighing with pleasure as the flavours erupt in my mouth. There is a reason Janet has worked for us for twenty years.

"So," aunt Clara says, reaching for a slice of bread, "I suppose you are mad at me for asking the guards to watch you?"

I remain silent. She knows my answer to this.

"Aiden, you do know why I am doing this right?"

I wince, the sausages instantly turning to wood in my mouth, "that happened years ago aunt let it go."

"No, it happened multiple times over the years. Even after your mother-"

"She is not my mother. Please Don't call her that."

"Even after Evelyn passed you did it again on your father's birthday and again at the company anniversary. You can't just run away anytime there is a celebration, Aiden!"

"So treating me like a prisoner is the best solution you could come up with?" I snap my mood instantly ruined as it always is whenever that accursed woman is mentioned. "Seems like you're just abusing your power aunty."

Her eyes narrow into slits, "Aiden, do you have any idea what your father and I went through the last time you ran away!? Your father had a heart attack for God's sake!"

I grimace, I hate being reminded of that and she knows it, "I was fine, was I not?"

"Yes, after nearly a week in the hospital!"

I push the food away, "Can we not talk about this right now aunt Clara?" I stand, I'd rather burn in the fiery pits of hell than have this conversation.

"No Aiden!" Aunt Clara steps in front of me before I can take a single step, "we will talk about it. It's high time we talk about it. If we don't, nothing will ever change! Do you want to continue living your life like this?"

"There is nothing wrong with my life."

She sighs, "Aiden we have already gone through this! Denial will not-"

"I'm not denying anything Aunt Clara I have social anxiety not fucking cancer so please stop with the drama! I've told you a thousand times already, I'm working on it! Now if you don't mind let me through."

"How? Tell me exactly how you are working on it Aiden because I don't see it. You've stopped seeing your therapist, you've stopped going to golf, you barely leave the house! How can you run a company like this?"

"People run companies from the shadows all the time."

"People Aiden, not Stallion Automobiles."

"It will start with me."

"Oh? How then? Have you forgotten your father's ultimatum?"

"No I have not."

"So please tell me my dear nephew, what is your plan? when will you find a wife?"

"Soon."

"Soon? When is soon? Five years? Ten years? Fifty?!"

"Soon enough! As soon as I can! As soon as I am ready, aunt Clara. A wife is not a collectible that I can just go out and find!"

"But have you made any effort? At all?!"

"Aunt Clara-"

"Aunt Clara nothing! You've changed so much Aiden. Before you used to at least try but now…" She sighs, taking my hand in hers, "my dear boy you are not a child anymore. I know it's not your fault that you have this…condition but it is your fault that things have remained the same. It's been sixteen years already, something has to change."

I swallow. I want to refute her words, I do but I cannot. I have tried, doctor Ann has tried, my father has tried, aunt Clara is trying but nothing has worked. Nothing will work. I've accepted it, I'll never be good at talking to people, I'll never build any connections, I'll be alone forever. and no one can change not even God. maybe if God is blonde...

"Let's just start with this ball." She reaches up to stroke my hair like she has always does when she wants me to do something impossible, "Just attend it, that's all. If you don't, I have no other way of helping you and Stallion Automobiles will never be yours."

My heart drops. "But-"

"No buts Aiden you will attend it, and you will talk to some girls, you will find a wife and you will get married. End of story."

If only it was that easy.

"In the meantime promise me you won't sneak out or do any of those crazy things you did the last time? I'm too old to go through all that again."

Does sneaking off with a stranger at 12am count?

"Aiden promise me!" She urges when I remain silent.

"I promise." I won't let you find out this time.

She beams at me pulling me down to kiss my forehead. "I'll see you later my darling, Just think about what I said Alright? I believe in you Aiden you can fight this!"

With that, she walks away leaving me with one burning question; how can you fight something that has already won?