All She Can Take

O N E

The still in the aftermath of their activity hung over the room. Sidney's eyes fixed on the screen saver of her laptop as it changed over from the sands of some faraway desert to a sea of lanterns that floated over...Shanghai, maybe? The laptop was given to her not even forty-eight hours ago as an early graduation gift. She had not gotten around to customizing it. Anyway, the stock photos kind of intrigued her. Little slices of other places for her to experience even though she never left the confines of Brooklyn.

Well, there was that one time her family went to an amusement park five years ago. All she remembered was a long trip that involved two trains to get to a bus; one that had strict boarding times and threats of being abandoned in New Jersey. That was the same day her sister got sick and vomited all over her new jelly sandals. Total kill joy. Weird trip.

"You okay?" When Aiden spoke she held her breath. In movies, people usually fell asleep right after. She turned on her side to find his oval eyes wide, not a hint of sleep in them.

"Yeah. You?"

He nodded but didn't let a word escape his mouth. She looked at his lips illuminated by the moonlight through her window. His brown skin stretch over his face that was chubbier than he wanted but perfect to her. The pudge around his belly was comforting. She reached her hand to touch him but stopped short and waited instead. Wanting him to say more. Just say it.

"Did you like it?" She tugged at the comforter draped over their bodies. Covered her breasts a little more. When she was little she hoped to have small handfuls of breasts like her mother. Instead, by fourteen she had lapped her mothers' cup size and not at eighteen zeroing in on double D's.

That quiet and still settled over the room again. She should have put some music on. Chante told her that she always put music on. Maybe that was just Chante. She did a lot of things that Sid would never do.

"Yeah. I did." He finally answered. She knew when he was lying. He couldn't meet her eyes when he lied. She placed a finger under his chin, felt his stubble growing in, and turned his head toward her. Locked his eyes into hers.

"Did you really?" She whispered.

"Yes." He stared straight at her. He never looked away as he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into him. She melted into the space that felt like hers, tucked in the crook of his arm.

She claimed that space when they were little. Five-year-olds running around the neighborhood playing tag. Sid was a tough girl. Always had been one to run with boys. She remembered running after Aiden-- full sprint and gaining on him. White and pink beads strung down her braids and bouncing against her face with every footfall. Her white Reebok's she loved crunched on gravel.  But before she could get to him, the laces of those beloved Reebok's shook loose and she tripped. Went hurtling to the ground...hard.

Everyone else kept right running but Aiden stopped and turned back to her. Asked if she was okay and helped her up. And then hugged her. What five year old does that? The strange kindness of this boy tapped on Sid's tough heart — and bruised knees — and she found comfort burrowing herself in his tiny arms.  She hadn't found herself far from those arms since.

The front door slammed shut and shook the walls of the small apartment. A second later, Sid was out of the bed and hastily redressing herself in the clothes she discarded on the floor. Aiden followed suit and was dressed well before she was.

"Where should I go?"

"Closet! Closet!" She opened the closet and shoved Aiden into the empty confines of it. Cardboard boxes that were scattered around the room formed an obstacle course that she hopped over and around until she was out of the door. After a night out, her parents always peeked in on her. It was sweet. But right now she wanted them to avoid her room at all costs. If they so much as saw her crumpled bedsheets or smelled the body heat in the air, they would know what had taken place there. Her father especially.

She reached the end of the hallway of their small apartment to find her parents stumbling about the foyer.

"My Sidney! What're you doing awake? It's late." Her mothers' slur was thick. Sidney sniffed the air. Wine? Definitely wine.

"She was probably up talking to Aiden. They're going to get married, babe, and give us a load of grandbabies." Her father was two sheets to the wind as well. Hennessey likely for him.

"No, just can't sleep." Sid peaked back down the hall to be sure that she'd closed her door completely.

"Well, you need to get some sleep. We moving up out of here tomorrow!"

Her dad's eyes sparkled with talk of their new life. There were many nights that he stumbled home drunk but tonight he stumbled home drunk for a reason. They had just come from the opening of a restaurant where he would be an Executive Chef. At thirty-seven years old he'd reach a point in his career that it takes some chefs a lifetime to.

Her father was a workhorse and after promising her, her mother and her little sister that this apartment in the hood would be temporary, he was making good on it. They had a beautiful home out in the suburbs waiting for the. Sidney remembered walking through the open house a month ago and picking her room. It was only three months out from her going off to college so she wouldn't get to spend much time in it but having that space of her own to come back to meant the world to her.

She smiled and stepped to the side as her parents swayed and braced themselves against the walls. They navigated around the boxes that held all their family's possessions before they burst through their bedroom door and closed it shut behind them. A moment later Sid heard music come on. They used music too.

After rounding a wardrobe box in the living room,  she found her sixteen-year-old sister Whitney fast asleep on the couch, her headphones still pouring music out.

"Whit, you can come in the room now."

Whitney turned over in the chair but didn't make any moves to get up. Whatever. She went back into her room and pulled open the closet to see Aiden sitting crossed-legged on the floor typing into his phone.

"All clear." She told him. He shoved the phone in his pocket and followed closely behind Sidney as they inched toward her door and then down the hallway. They had almost cleared the hallway when a figure began to approach them. Sidney's short life flashed before her eyes. If her parents caught her sneaking Aiden out of here she'd surely be dead. Prom was still two weeks away. What kind of life is one without ever getting to go to prom?

"Goodnight, Aiden," Whitney mumbled as she made her way past them and back toward her and Sidney's room.

"Jesus!" Sidney yelled an angry whisper at her sister.

"Night, Whit." Aiden held a chucked in his throat. At the front door, he lingered even though it would be safer for him to make a quick escape.

"Love you." She offered as she watched him through the crack in the door.

"Love you too. Meet at the train?"

"My Dad's taking me since he's heading that way for work now."

"Okay, see you at school then."

Aiden started down the hallway. She didn't want him to go. Her brain clicked and whirred, desperate to say something that reinforced how she felt; what they experienced tonight. But with Aiden, she tried not to push. Over the years she'd learned that those arms, the ones that wrapped around her all those years ago, were also excellent at keeping those who pushed too hard at bay.

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It feels good to be back!!! All She Can Take is a roller coaster of a story and I hope you are ready for the ride. I love comments and feedback so give it to me.