cigarettes [Leighton Murray]

art gallery

rue walked inside 'the extacy' at evening, as usual expecting to see the three of her mates but she was met with the campus security at the gates of the place, she spotted aiden and flynn and walked to him. 

"aid, what's going on?" she set her guitar case down

"what does it look like?" aiden dry chuckled at himself whwn quinn joined the two 

"they got us" she referred to the campus authorities 

"how- what- what's how did-" rue stuttered, this was her only happy place and now it wass being stolen from her 

"i don't know, i was in there when suddenly guys walked in, asked me to put my hands up then the professor walked in said they'll take care of this in a 'professional' manner" he airquoted "thanks to q they didn't find any *cough cough* thing" 

"that's a good thing" she looked around when the professor walked out with two other campus securities

"mhm" flynn agreed

"well, you kids are lucky we didn't find anything" he looked up a aiden "since this place was not taking the college's funding, you won't be affected but this place has to be shut down, immediately" he said as he walked off 

"what sir, no-" rue followed him but aiden held her back, he shook his head when their eyes met "aiden, i cannot lose this place. let me go, i can talk to him- i can convince him to let us keep this" she blabbered 

"how exactly? what are you gonna say to him? let us keep this place so we can fuck around and waste our time?" he tightened his grip on her arm

"we don't waste our time here-" 

"i know, but they don't" he ran his hand through his hair "we'll just wrap it up" 

"hell no" quinn made everyone look at her "we'll wrap it up, sure. but not so easy, i don't know about you guys but i am not going down without a fight" 

"i agree" flynn interjected "we're gonna show those people how much this place means to us and even if they don't agree, atleast i won't regret trying" 

"look, i am all with you on this but what are we even gonna do" aiden sighed "we're still students at this place, it's not like we can just rebel" 

"you can't. but i can" quinn said "i wanna drop out anyway and getting kicked out sounds way cooler" she chuckled 

"we can" rue looked around "throw one last party, and invite every one on campus, make it inclusive that way even the people who didn't know about this place will find out and-" 

"it'll piss the management off" aiden completed for her

"and everybody's gonna question how was 'the extacy' active right under their nose for so many years" flynn laughed in amusement 

"hey rue" aiden approached after everybody had left and rue was beginning tp walk away 

"yeah?" she turned around to face the guy 

"what are you doing tonight?" 

"probably rot in my room" she laughed 

"yeah well, if you don't have any plans join me. i am going to this party in an art gallery. it's a whole thing" 

"wow" she was amused "i did not take you for an art gallery guy" 

"yeah well. truth is, a friend of mine is hosting it and well my ex is gonna be there" he sighed "i do not wanna seem like someone who got no bitches" he shrugged 

"so you're asking me to pretend to be your date so you can make your ex jealous?" she looked at him and he nodded with guilt "yeah why not" she laughed "just text me the time and place, i'll be there" she walked away leaving him behind 

the evening arrived and rue met up with aiden, he wore a black turtleneck with a white blazer and leather pants. he looked... different. rue wore a leather jackt that was 2 sizes too big for her over a short white dress. 

"we're matching, huh?" she took his arm when they walked inside making him chuckle "wow" she said looking around the place "how did you find out about this?" 

"my friend, laird, he's an intern here so" he offered her a drink 

"aiden?" a guy with a mustache walked over as he side hugged aiden "never thought you'd see the light of day" he looked at rue "you're gorgeous" he complimented making aiden laugh 

"laird, less" he put his hand on the guy's shoulder when rue mumbled a small 'thank you' under her breath as she chuckled  "she's rue"

"okay but seriously i did not know you could pull that. thanks for being this pathetic man's date" laird laughed 

"she's not- we're not dating" aiden clarified 

"yeah yeah sure" laird said not believing the guy

"this party is amazing" she looked around diverting the topic

"i try my best" he looked around "oh there's tatum, c'mon i'll introduce you guys" 

"who's tatum now?" she whispered to aiden 

"wish i knew" he took a sip of his own drink when the two followed laird to two blonde women 

"tatum?" he greeted the girl when he hugged her 

"laird?" he hugged back "what are you doing here?" 

"fuck" rue mumbled nder her breath. only aiden heard her and saw her eyeing the other blonde woman 

"wait" tatum said "you're leighton's friend who planned this?" and it clicked for aiden. the other blonde was leighton, rue's ex. 

"we're just gonna check out the art around here" aiden informed laird when he put his arm over rue's shoulders 

"okay wait guys" laird stopped them "this is aiden, and his 'not date' rue" he laughed. aiden awkwardly chuckled before walking away. 

"you okay?" he assked once they were out of earshot of leighton

"yeah" she scoffed "why won't i be?" 

aiden dropped the questions and just decided to be with the girl for now as he occasionally tried making jokes but failed miserably. 

"aid" she sighed smiling widely "i know you're just trying to help me but, i would rather get my heart broken again than listen to your jokes" 

"oh that's a relief" he sighed

he found a secluded corner and walked with rue but alas, it wasn't so secluded after all, the two blonde women right there. tatum's palm pressed on leighton's cheek just like rue's used to be. 

"well" rue whispered as she walked away 

"i did what you told me aiden" she was now sitting at the rooftop, she somehow found the access to. the chilly wind making her goosebumps appear

"i know" he said, after she walked away earlier he did not follow her right away but after a few minutes and it took him forty minutes to find her 

"it was suck it up and tell her OR regret it"sh sighed "for me it's suck it up and tell her AND regret it" 

"things don't always work out" 

"yeah" she looked up at him with tears in her eyes which made his face soften 

"hey" he spoke softly as he kneeled in front of her and pulled her in for a hug 

 "i know but i really wished it would have worked out" she sniffled into his shoulder 

"i know" he spoke softly as she sobbed into his shoulder