You’ll Hate Me–1
I look down at the text on my phone.
P: Can you come to Melview Park? Aiden’s not doing so well.
Parker never texts me, so when I saw the message pop up, I knew something was wrong. The air is cold on my face and when I reach the park; I see Parker approach me as he
shakes his head.
My heart lurches in my chest. “What’s going on? Where is he?”
“He’s fucking drunk.”
He looks angry, upset and not to mention that I’ve never seen Aiden drunk. It makes my stomach twist with worry and I frown. “What?”
Parker presses his lips together. “I can’t get him to leave and he keeps mumbling your name, so I texted you.”
I swallow. “Where is he?”
He runs his hand on the back of his neck and points to a bench. I see Aiden’s figure slouched on there, his shoulders shaking as he… cries?
Parker puts a set of keys in my hand. “His car is over there. I don’t know what else to do.”
My eyes are still on Aiden. “It’s okay, I’ve got it from here.”
Through he looks reluctant, he only nods and says goodbye. He places a hand on my
shoulder, a pity pat.
I hurry over to Aiden, his head hanging low and my footsteps echoing against the quiet night.
As I reach him, he looks up with a glazed expression, his eyes red–rimmed and unfocused.
“Hey,” he says, his voice thick, and a little slurred. “Where’s Parker?”
He looks over my shoulder, his head bobbing as he looks for his friend.
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You’ll Hate Me 1
“He left,” I huff, lowering myself onto the bench beside him. I have to press my lips together and hold my breath when the bitter smell of alcohol slaps me in the face.
It reminds me of mother and her terrible drunken nights. It makes me want to throw up all over the floor in front of me, but I manage to hold it back.
“You don’t have to be here,” he whispers, running his hand over his hair. “I don’t want you to see me like this.”
“Of course I’m going to be here.”
He groans, leaning back on the bench.
“Aiden, what’s going on?” I ask. “You smell disgusting by the way.”
He lets out a low, humorless chuckle. “Yeah. Well, I needed something to take the edge
off.”
I blink, looking around the park to make sure we’re alone in the darkness. I have a gut feeling that something it goin to go wrong and the lump in my throat worsens.
“You have no idea what it’s like, knowing he’s coming back.”
That knot in my stomach, tightens so hard I might as well be physically crumpling to the floor. I return a wary gaze to him.
“Zaid?” I ask cautiously.
His head dips in a stiff nod. His entire demeanor changes; his jaw clenches, hands turn into tight fists and he leans forward, pressing his elbows onto his knees and dropping his head on his hands.
His fingers dig into his hair and he pulls on the strands until he grunts.
I realize then that it’s worse than I thought. This isn’t just some tension between them. It’s something more and part of me is scared of figuring out what it is.
Aiden stays where he is, his voice muffled and distant. “I didn’t always hate him.”
I know that, but it stop the words from leaving my mouth. “You hate him?”
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You’ll Hate Me–1
His shoulder shake with an incredulous laugh. “My own brother. Hate him my whole life.”
I swallow, uncertain what to say.
Aiden scoffs, leaning back to look at me with an unreadable expression. “Did you know he was in the car with my mom when she died?”
I’m struck silent, my heart sinking. My body wants to fail, to stop breathing all together. I close my eyes for a moment, taking that in.
Zaid of all people knows what it feels like.
And all those times I threw it in his face that my family died in a car accident.
