(Fr)Enemies

Chapter Four

I made sure to get back home before midnight. I didn't want to start any new problems with Mr. Vincent unless it was absolutely necessary.

When I walked in the house, Aiden was watching TV in the living room.

His eyes went to me as I walked in and I quickly put a frown on my face. I expected him to say something, but he didn't, instead he gave me a once over.

I was used to being checked out- dressing the way I did and going the places I went. It was natural, even though it normally made me sick.

Aiden wasn't checking me out though.

The way he looked at me was more like how my mom used to look at me when I would fall off of my bike. Trying to see where I was hurt.

That pissed me off way more. "My eyes are up here." I said sarcastically, walking past him to the stairs.

"Where were you?" He asked casually, not moving his eyes from the TV.

"None of your business." I said which I'm sure he was expecting. I cursed myself for being so predictable.

He didn't seem bothered by my snarky attitude. "Right." He said casually still.

I stormed up the stairs instead of getting into an argument with him. Since he had interrupted my unpacking the other night, I went back to organizing my room. I hung the rest of my clothes and put all of my things away and then I binge watched my favorite YouTube videos.

I didn't notice how much time had passed until my phone began to ring. I looked at my screen seeing that it was nearly three in the morning.

Warily, I answered the phone recognizing Dorian's number. "Hello?"

"Maddy's gone." He said quickly not wasting any time.

My heart dropped as I quickly sat up in bed. "What do you mean she's gone?" I asked already reaching for my house shoes.

"She's freaking gone." He said, sounding stressed. "I have to find her before Mrs. Andrews wakes up."

If Mrs. Andrews woke up and found Maddy missing she would have to call the authorities and they would process her as a runaway.

"Do you have any idea where she went?"

Dorian sounded as if he was holding back tears. "I don't know, Grace. She told me she wanted to leave, and now she's gone."

I grabbed my keys off of my dresser before quietly tiptoeing down the stairs. I scanned my surroundings before slowly pulling open the front door.

"Are you serious?"

I let the door go, causing it to slam loudly as I quickly turned around. Aiden stood against his door frame, a frown on his face.

"What the fuck?" I hissed giving myself a second to calm down. He had scared the hell out of me.

"You're sneaking out?" He asked, accusingly.

I rolled my eyes. "I have to do something. I'm gonna be right back so don't get your panties in a twist."

He walked down the stairs, slowly. "Where are you going?"

I groaned. "I don't remember you being this nosy, Aiden."

That was a fucking mistake. Bringing up our past was a fucking mistake because it opened the floor up for him to throw it back at me. There was a lot of things about me that I was sure he didn't remember.

"Guess I changed." he said lightheartedly, walking towards me.

When I took a step back from him, his eyes darkened. "Don't do that."

One thing about Aiden was he wore his emotions on his sleeve. I could tell by his expression that I had hurt his feelings and dammit if it didn't make me feel like scum.

So I let go of the attitude for a couple of seconds. "I'm going to help Dorian out with something."

He raised a brow. "Who's Dorian?"

He didn't sound jealous, he sounded protective. I didn't blame him, I had been keeping questionable company since we'd stopped being friends.

"My foster brother."

It was an inside joke between us, since I'd only been at the house for a little while.

Aiden nodded, "Okay, I'll drive you."

Ugh.

"I'm capable of driving myself." I said. "Plus, it's a personal problem and I don't want to bring a stranger into it."

I didn't say it maliciously. I didn't even realize how Aiden would take my words until they were already out of my mouth and Aiden's expression fell.

I was fine hurting his feelings on my own terms, being my normal bitchy self, but this made me feel like shit.

"I didn't mean it like that." I mumbled, feeling two feet tall.

He bit his lip, nodding. "No I get it. We haven't' been close in a while."

I didn't know if he was playing me, trying to force me to feel bad, but it was working. I felt like an asshole. "Fine." I groaned. "You can drive me, this one time."

Immediately his puppy dog expression dropped and he sent me a blinding smile that I hadn't seen in years. "This one time." He agreed.

***************************************************

While Aiden drove to Dorian, I studied him. Discreetly of course.

He'd grown up.

He'd gotten taller, now sitting at about 6'3. His scrawny build had filled out some and now he had lean muscles, His wild curls that he used to wear long and careless were now freshly tapered on the sides. His face was still baby smooth with no traces of a mustache or beard. I didn't know if it was because he had shaved or if he still couldn't grow them.

We didn't speak. I scrolled through my phone, sneaking looks at him whenever I could get away with it, and Aiden kept his focus on the gps.

When we pulled up to the house, I quickly opened the door.

"I'll be right back." I mumbled quickly, not giving him time to respond.

I snuck around the outside of the house, pulling the backdoor open and tiptoeing into my old room.

Dorian was in there, going through Maddy's desk. He was still in his pajamas.

"Hey, let's go look for her at the park." I said gently, knowing he wouldn't find anything helpful in her desk. Maddy liked to go on walks.

He looked at me, arching a brow. "You have a car?"

I simply nodded, before groaning. "Well, my friend does. He's waiting in the driveway."

Dorian didn't know anything about my friends except for the fact that in the short time I lived under Mrs. Andrew's roof, I'd gotten yelled at twice for hanging out with them.

"Is your friend cool?" He asked, quietly following me as we walked out the back door.

"He's cool." I said as I pulled open the back door of Aiden's flashy car.

It felt weird calling Aiden cool. It felt even weirder calling him my friend.