IDLE TOWN, jess mariano

¹⁸a film by kirk, a letter by jess

「 chapter eighteen 」
❝ here's this diary to write about how much you miss me and any love poems you have about me „

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

AN INCESSANT BANGING ON THE WINDOW caused Aries's heart to drop so much that three years were probably taken off her life. Not daring to move from her spot where she was sitting on the bed and writing in her notebook, she closed her notebook quietly and reached over to the phone.

"It's me," said an all too familiar voice, continuing to hit her window.

She sighed before rolling her eyes, putting her journal away in the bedside nightstand drawer, and swinging her legs off the bed. Walking over to the window, she did indeed find Jess to be the one knocking on it.

He finally stopped knocking on the window when she went to open it. A cool breeze wafted into the room as she opened and she stuck her head out to find Jess sitting on the second level overhang thing and leaning against the wall.

Aries peeked her head out, her smile fading as she realized Jess's somber expression.

She cleared her throat awkwardly even though she knew she had his attention, he just wasn't looking at her. "Wanna come in?"

"Wanna come out?" he asked, taking another drag of his cigarette.

Aries pursed her lips, before muttering a "Yeah" under her breath and going back inside to put on shoes. On the way back to the window, she also made sure to grab her hairbrush and leave it on the nightstand. Jess helped her as she crawled out the window and took a seat next to him. She reached in and grabbed her hairbrush, closing her window almost all the way and wedging the hairbrush in the small gap left to not get locked out later.

"Wanna walk?" he asked.

"Sure," she answered softly.

He scooted to the edge of the overhand before turning and shifting his body so that he was hanging on before dropping down. Aries peeked down to see that he had made it onto his feet before going to do the same. As she hung on to the overhang, she felt a pair of hands go to her waist and she let go, feeling herself be brought down.

"Thanks," she said when her feet hit the ground.

"Of course," Jess said.

The two walked in silence for a little bit, Jess leading them to who knows where before he broke the silence.

"Something bad happened earlier tonight, and I caused it," he said.

Aries looked over at him and raised her eyebrows. "Something bad? How bad?"

She took his silence and the refusal to meet her eyes was answer enough. She looked down at the ground before looking back over at him.

"Pretty bad then, I'm assuming," she said quietly. "What happened?"

There was a silent period after her question that made her assume she wasn't getting an answer, but a humorless scoff from Jess proved otherwise.

"You'll probably hear all about it tomorrow," he said.

"Ah," Aries breathed out in understanding.

A cool breeze blew past them, causing goosebumps to rise on Aries's skin. She rubbed her arms, trying not to make a big deal out of it. Apparently, a t-shirt and shorts would not suffice to keep her warm in the chilly night weather.