Love-Love || OLD DRAFT

eight - six

A/n

I couldn't wait the wait, so an early update lol.

I hope y'all like it. Check out the song, it goes just about perfectly!! It's As Long as You  Love Me by Sleeping at Last.

....

I bought Roux a bracelet for her birthday, one I knew she really wanted. It had been on display for a really long time, probably because it was too expensive for its own good but didn’t look nearly as expensive.

If Roux wanted to, she could’ve easily stolen it. But I knew her, and I knew she did not want to steal it. All our lives had been about stealing – the world stealing from us, us stealing from the world. This year, I wanted to surprise her on her birthday by buying it for her.

“Cash or card, sir?” the cashier asked me.

“Cash,” I said, pulling out a stack of money and placing it on the counter.

She counted it, and once satisfied, handed me a prettily decorated packet containing the bracelet.

I wasn’t sure why I was doing it. Roux was gone. I asked her to leave. But it was her birthday today and the pain almost overwhelmed me when I realised how, for the first time in years, the two of us would be alone without the other.

“I’m sorry, Lin,” I whispered to the day as I stepped out of the store. My feet led me through the crowded streets towards an empty bench in the city square. 

I sat down and got lost in a flurry of memories. Roux’s birthday had always been a big deal for Linden – her self-assigned brother. He would go through any lengths to get her whatever she wanted and more. The year before he vanished, the three of us had gone to Paris. I used to think Roux suggested the place because she wanted me and Lin to have a good time, but clearly, as I had come to realise recently, I thought wrong.

I placed my head on my hands and let out a sigh I felt I had been holding on for years. I wanted to cry, to shout, to rage, to destroy. Gravel hadn’t made an appearance since the Haynorr incident and though it had just been around four days, the stress was building up. The need to let out the pain was overwhelming, but somehow Super Storm’s words had gotten to me – ‘Why do you do this?’ he had asked. ‘The money? Or are you just a psychopath?’

I looked up at the buildings in front of me. They felt like card houses. One flick and they would collapse like –

Had my phone not rung in that very moment, I might have ended up doing something incredibly stupid.

“Hey, Aspen,” I winced when my voice came out cracked and ragged.

“Where are you?” he said on the other end.

“Uh, in the Square. Doing some casual shopping.”

There was a small pause. “Oh, alright then.”

“Why?” I asked, mind barely on the ongoing conversation. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” he chuckled. “No, nothing’s wrong. I was just, you know, practising and it hit me that I haven’t played with you for a while. I just called to ask if you’d like to join me for a game.”

“I –” A game of tennis was the last thing I wanted to do right now.

“It’s fine if you’re busy,” Aspen added immediately. “I just wanted to ask, so I called –”