Page 18 of Lilah
"Relax, Azzy," he smirks, "why so stiff?"
"I'm relaxed, I'm chillaxed, did you see what I did there?" I laugh, "y'know, combining 'relaxed' and 'chill.'"
"Genius," he gives me a dimpled smile, "beautiful and a genius."
"Aaron," I warn and he raises his hands in surrender.
I ease back into the couch and return my gaze to his.
"How are you, Azzy?" he questions softly, a concerned glint in his eyes.
I look down at my lap and close my eyes for a quick second in an attempt to clear my mind from the picture of when the crash happened.
"I'm doing okay," I plaster a small smile on my face.
"You can talk to me, okay? I know that it's hard for you, Azalea. You were the only one there; you were with hi-"
"Aaron," I stop him, feeling myself get shaky, "I'll talk to you if I need to. I'm fine, really."
No one knows what I saw.
Doctors tried to get it out of me. Aaron tried to get it out of me. Mr. Terrip even attempted.
I don't want anyone to know how bad it was. I want their mental picture of Jake to stay the way it was.
No one deserves to see what I saw, besides me.
His eye flicker between mine before he lets out a sigh.
"Areyouokay, Aaron?" I question. I'm not the only one that was heavily impacted by Jake's passing.
Aaron and Jake were inseparable all throughout their lives. They were best friends and had been for many, many years.
They were in their last year of high school and Jake's death shocked the entire school. He was loved by everyone, especially me.
He wasn't just my brother. He was mybest friend.
He would always look after me, even in school. When the kids would pick on me, he'd use what he and I would like to call the 'bark'.
He would 'bark' strong words at the kids and him being him, they would run off with their tails between their legs.
He would have to hold me back from attacking them as they walk away.
"Jake, I'm telling you," I start and he smirks down at me as I take a wider stance, "if you would've waited two seconds longer, I would've had all of them on the ground."
"You're wearing crocs, Azzy," he smiles and I look down at my admittedly cute periwinkle crocs.
How dare he insult me like this.
I bend down and move the strap from the front of my shoe to the back.
"Now I'm ready, I'm in survival mode," I giggle but instead of laughing like he should, he frowns at my shirt.
"Did they do that?" he looks down at the purple stain on my previously white shirt.
Joke's on them, they missed out on some delicious purple Gatorade.
"Well," I hesitate, "I guess they did, I didn't notice."
