Page 55 of Eight Weeks
“I told your father he’d find you here, and I was right.”
Given that I’ve been hiding up here since we moved toBaierbrunn, one would think my father knows of it. I always come here to write. This barn has been my escape ever since. It’s cozy, warm. It’s quiet with nobody around. It’s just what one needs when they need to get away from everyone and everything. And well, nobody ever came up here, so I did instead.
“People are asking for you, Sofia,” Julia says, her voice scornful. “But I suppose they’re used to one of us being the disappointment of our family.”
“Julia,” my mother warns, drawing in a deep breath. Her patience-level must be through the roof with Julia and me recently.
Well,recentlyis an understatement. I’ve never been too fond of Julia, thanks to our age gap. She has always been more interested in other things, things that didn’t include me. She never made an effort in getting to know me. And as her younger sister, I didn’t thinkIwould have to be the one getting to knowher. Anyway, our mother had to be patient with us since I was born, and it only got worse when I found out she slept with my boyfriend and didn’t even regret it.
“Yeah? How does that feel?” I ask Julia. “I mean, you already took the spot for the bitch that sleeps with taken guys. Was wondering when your nickname will change from ‘the whore’ to ‘disappointment.’”
Before my sister gets the chance to let out the rage that’s burning in her eyes, my mother is escorting her away from me. Hopefully right back down the functioning stairs. A set of stairs I did not tell Aaron about.
“I didn’t think your hatred went this… deep,” he says as soon as our eyes meet again. “I suppose I should have guessed it would.”
I lean down, my forehead pressing against his shoulder as I let out a quiet laughter. My body shaking, chest rumbling with a chuckle so soft, I never knew was possible. “Wait until you witness my father and I interact,” I mumble, mostly to myself.
“What do you mean?”
I sit up straight, sighing. “I made sure he had a couple of difficulties with me ever since we moved here.”
“Why?”
“Because I was mad. I didn’t want to move here when I was seven. I didn’t want to leave New City. Being the age I was, I didn’t exactly understand why we had to move, and it made me furious that I had to leave everything and everyone behind just because my father had been given a better job in Munich.” Andtheincident, but there’s no need to tell Aaron about it.
He nods slowly as he processes what I’m saying. “So you turned rebellious?”
“Yeah, toward him. I only ever gave him short answers, if any. Or yelled at him. He had no control over me whatsoever. And by the time I understood why his job here was so important and far better for our family, I had no idea how to fix my relationship with him. So this time around, we’re just co-existing.” Though, I know my father loves me in some ways, and I hope he knows that I love him. It’s just difficult for both of us to approach one another without drawing out some rage from the other person.
All of a sudden, Aaron reaches a hand up to my face, his thumb stroking firmly along the skin right underneath my bottom lip.
I watch his face as his eyes linger on my lips. His features are soft, a glimpse of a smile tugging on the corner of his lips. His eyes full of admiration, and perhaps a hint of hope. Hope for what? I do not know, and I’m not sure I want to find out either.
“Red is not your color,” I tell him, taking in the bits of red lipstick smeared not only on, but also around his lips. “Did you try purple? It’s the complementary color of your eyes, so it should make them pop.”
“That’s what I have you for, Icicle,” he answers. “You’re all sorts of purple at all times.”
I hate, hate,hatethat he is right. I do wear a lot of purple every single day.
Aaron shifts underneath me, pulling out a tissue from his pocket. He unfolds it and starts removing the bits of lipstick on his lips without seeing where to wipe. Putting him out of his misery, I take the tissue from him and help him out.
Shortly after that, I have to deal with Aaron almost falling down the ladder while complaining about how insecure said ladder is, and that it should be put out of order, to which I remind him that this ladder is a simple ladder, not some fancy electric one that could malfunction.
31
Sofia
“’cause in a sky full of stars / I think I saw you”—A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay
“I heard they’ve been friendsfrom a young age. That’s probably the only reason someone like him would ever date someone like Sofia.”
I roll my eyes at the voice of one of the gossip girls in the village. Lena has always been a diva. She thinks she’s oh-so amazing, has an opinion oneverything, and is convinced she knows best. Always. She also never liked me, so I’m not surprised to hear her gossip about me.
But, hey, at least she’s speaking in a language Aaron does not understand. I’m sure if he heard her say this, he would open his mouth and say some wordsIwould end up regretting for him.
“Icicle.”
I turn my head away from Lena and herassistant, to look at Aaron. You genuinely can’t call Emilie her best friend, at least not when she does everything for Lena. Like, homework,chores, and more.
