Pushing Forward

Sorry, I’m An Anti-Romantic

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By Authoress Kamara

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Chapter 5: Pushing Forward

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Aiden woke up, shivering.

He felt cold, as if all heat in his body had left him. Goosebumps rose from his skin, giving him a prickling chill from all over. 

He knew that a body's temperature usually drops during sleep so that might explain it. 

His tired eyes trailed over to the clock.

4:53 AM.

A bit annoyed by the sudden awakening, he decided to go back to sleep and get some more rest.

But as he readjusted himself in his futon, his head hit the flat surface. 

He looked down and realized that his pillow had gone missing, and next to him, Miles Parker slept comfortably with two.

Somehow in the middle of the night, his classmate had managed to steal his pillow from under him.

His pillow was tucked under his head while Aiden’s was embraced in his arms.

Already in a bad mood, Aiden grabbed the pillow and yanked it out of Miles’s hold, not giving a second thought. 

Unfortunately, his abrupt movement also caused the older to stir in his sleep, groaning. Miles began to move his arms around, his hands grasping at the empty space around him as if he was trying to take the pillow back. 

Aiden ignored him and laid back down, closing his eyes once again as he tried to fall asleep for the remainder of the night.

But as he tried to doze off, Miles’s groans became louder and he started to pull at Aiden’s blanket, grabbing at anything he possibly could. 

What's with him?

Suddenly, Aiden felt a waft of cold air before being encased with warmth again, though, it was a different kind of heat this time.

That was when he realized that the older had slipped under his covers and wrapped himself around him, his arm creeping around Aiden’s mid-section while his legs were overlapping his.

They were both in an awkward position now as Miles was pressing himself up against him.

"Hey....get off....” Aiden grumbled, almost half asleep with his eyes still closed.

He tried to wriggle and kick his legs to escape the older's grasp.

"Nnnnn." Miles groaned as his arms tightened around the younger's frame, bringing the two closer together. 

Aiden continued to push him away but with no luck whatsoever. After a few minutes, his attempts became weaker and weaker as his drowsiness began to overtake him making his limbs stop moving.

As he laid there, the heat radiating from Miles’s body suddenly began to feel nice against his cold skin. He began to relax underneath the older's embrace, no longer bothered by his presence.

Soon after, he had fallen asleep.

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"I'll give you two seconds to let go of me." Aiden warned.

Immediately, Miles’s arms retracted and he scooted backward.

The two had woken up in the morning to find themselves tangled up in each other, cuddling underneath the sheets.

Neither of them remembered how they had gotten into that position.

"Sorry." He apologized quickly. "I have a habit of hugging things when I sleep!" He tried to explain.

But Aiden wasn't listening.

He had already gotten up and headed to the bathroom to freshen up. 

It was already bad enough that his classmates slept over at his place, now he had to deal with them in the morning, a time too early for him to be having contact with other people.

At this point, his goal was to finish the project as soon as possible so that they could leave. 

After brushing his teeth, he headed downstairs to the kitchen. His classmates were already sitting down at the table eating breakfast. 

Aiden took a seat next to August and began to eat.

"Are you three going to finish up your project today?". His mom asked out of the blue. 

"Yes, we're already half way through so it should be done in a few hours." August replied.

She frowned. "Is that so? It's a shame that you'll have to leave so soon. It's nice having company over for once." She said with a sigh, deliberately targeting Aiden with her comment. "Will you two be doing anything the rest of this weekend?".

Miles scarfed down the rest of his eggs before answering.

“Mhmm, August and I are going to the arcade today." 

Mrs. Morales smiled before giving a look to her son. "You should go out too, you're always inside these days. Why not go somewhere fun like your classmates?".

She asked almost interrogatingly. 

Aiden almost rolled his eyes. Of course his mother would turn anything into a complaint about his social behavior.

"I'm going to study." He replied.

"But there aren't any tests next week since the field trips coming up." Miles pointed out, completely blowing his cover.

His mother turned back to him expectantly, waiting for another answer.

But Aiden was stumped, if he were to say anything else, it'd sound like another excuse. He stayed silent.

"Since you have some free time, get out of the house today. I'm going to be out doing grocery shopping so I won't be at home." She ordered, not giving him any other choice.

Where am I suppose to go?

He barely even knew his way around town. The only routes he had memorized was the one to his school and the public library.

Everything else was a mystery.

It sounded a bit concerning that he didn't know simple things such as directions but he never needed to learn since he had always stayed home on weekends. 

"You can come with us if you want." August offered kindly. "The arcade isn't far from here, it's walking distance."

Mrs. Morales beamed. "What a great idea! I'll leave him with you two." She said, pushing the responsibility of her son into their hands. 

Aiden clenched his teeth, holding himself back from arguing. He knew that his mother wanted to help him socialize but he really didn't need to.

In his opinion, he was fine just the way he was and his grades were proof of that.

Wasn't she satisfied with having an academically successful son? 

Aiden never got into trouble, always studied, finished his homework on time, and did his chores.

What more could a parent want? He was the perfect child.

"We'll take good care of him, you can count on us." Miles said reassuringly before getting up and heading up the stairs. "Come on, let's finish the project so we can go earlier!" He exclaimed excitedly.

Aiden lugged himself behind them, already mentally drained for the day. He was not looking forward to going outside, especially with people from his school. He could only hope that this would be over with soon.

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After a hefty two and a half hours of hard work, they completed their assignment but Aiden wasn't relieved at all.

"Have fun, alright?" His mother said as she put some money in his hand. "I'll be back in two hours so don't come back home before then." She said almost threateningly.

She had locked all the doors leading into the house so Aiden couldn't get back in.

Two hours? How long does it even take to shop for groceries? 

But he didn't dare question her.

As he watched her car roll out of the driveway, he stood motionless at the front door, contemplating on whether or not he could climb up to the second floor and crawl in through an open window.

He did have the strength to do it if he really wanted to, but the neighbors might rat him out or call the cops to report a burglary.

"Come on Aiden, what's with the hold up? Hurry or we'll leave you behind!". Miles yelled from across the driveway. 

Aiden huffed. 

Then leave.

But being obedient to his mother's wishes, he left the front steps and ran to catch up with his classmates.

He planned on just walking around and doing nothing while he was with them.

"What kind of games do you like? There's tons of stuff at the arcade, I like the claw machines the most but they're so rigged, I've never won once!" Miles rambled on and on. 

But Aiden wasn't listening. He was taking in the scenery, pausing for a second to look around.

It was a large city but he had never truly realized that until now. As the three of them walked through the streets, dozens of shops and centers lined up and down the roads.

Flashy signs and lights were posted everywhere, making it a lot to take in.

There were also tons of people. It was packed which made sense since it was a Saturday.

They walked by many different people. Business men, vendors, families, teenagers. It was loud and the atmosphere felt hectic.

It wasn't what Aiden was use to at all.

"Here it is." August said, stopping them in front of a brightly advertised building.

The three of them entered and Aiden was hit with a strong musty smell. The majority of people here were teenage boys--- teenage boys who brought in a lot of body odor. 

This is why I hate the public...

They went up to the front where the exchange machines were. 

Miles put a few dollars into the slot and out came coins which were used to play games. As soon as the coins came out, he grabbed them and hurried over to the claw machines, too excited to play.

"Watch, he's going to come back with nothing," August laughed, "let's go look around at the other games." He suggested and led Aiden away.

As the two of them walked deeper into the arcade, one game caught Aiden’s eyes, peaking his interest.

It was a strength meter which had a spherical punching bag suspended in the middle, about four feet up from the ground. 

He watched as a boy swung his fist at the bag before the screen flashed and displayed a score of 6595. 

In Aiden’s eyes, it seemed like it'd be worth a shot. He thought he might as well do something while he's here.

Walking over to the machine, he took out one of his coins and slipped it in.

"The highscore is tough to beat, it's been at 8960 for weeks and the punching bag kind of hurts when you punch it too “. August said as he stood aside to watch.

But Aiden wasn't planning on using his hands. After all, he didn't take taekwondo as a kid for nothing. 

Taking a few steps back he got himself into a good position before launching forward.

He brought his leg up and did a spinning hook kick. The back of his heel hit the target squarely and the soft punching bag flung back the opposite direction with amazing force.

Once he was done, the screen flashed and four neon numbers lit up. 9010.

He had gotten the highest score on the charts. 

Aiden sighed as he had hoped for a higher number but at least he was first now. Tickets began to suspend out of the machine rapidly, piling up on the ground below him.

"Woah what have your parents been feeding you?" August asked before a devilish smile slowly spreaded across his face. "With you here, we can definitely get some prizes!" He exclaimed, revealing his ulterior motive. 

After that, August led the younger boy around, making him play all sorts of strength related games. Whack-a-mole, grip tester, a hammer machine, everything.

August told him what to do and he did it, not really minding that he was being controlled as he was just here to burn some time anyway.

After each game, they earned massive quantities of tickets as they managed to get the highest scores, completely dominating the arcade with Aiden’s endless levels of skill. 

He was good at almost everything which made it easy for him to win. 

After a good hour, they exchanged their hundreds of tickets for prizes.

Together, they got two giant stuffed animals, candy, gadgets, and some action figurines. It wasn't a bad haul. 

"Where were you? I've been looking for you guys”. Miles appeared, ticketless and empty handed.

It looked like he hadn't been very lucky with the claw machine. Aiden smirked a bit, finding it amusing that the older boy had criticized claw machines to be rigged but still spent all of his money on it.

"Look what we got!" August exclaimed, showing him all of their prizes. "Aiden is a monster, he won every game we played!" 

Miles marveled at all the things they had won, his expression slowing turning into a pout. "What? How come you only helped August? I've been struggling this whole time and you two go off and leave me?" He frowned.

"Your fault for always playing those stupid claw machines. I bet the elementary kids could do better than you." August teased, making his friend glare. 

But seeing how Miles hadn't been able to win anything, Aiden walked over to their stash and took one of the giant stuffed animals.

He tossed it at the older boy's feet. “You can have mine, I don't want it." Aiden said.

It was true, stuffed animals weren't really his thing, he wasn't that childish. The Marvel figurines were a collectible, they were different.

Miles’s eyes lit up and he hugged the soft bear. "Aiden, I love you!" He exclaimed, wrapping himself around the younger boy affectionately.

"I gave it to you out of pity, don't take it seriously." He replied deadpanned as he tried to squirm out of his hold.

But Miles’s smile didn't falter, his grin was just as wide and bright as before.

He was happy by the small gesture, even if the bear meant nothing to Aiden, he was still grateful that he got it. 

"Stop harassing him and let him go. We have to bring him home." 

August said responsibly as he tugged Miles off.

The three of them headed back, carrying their earnings from the arcade. 

Aiden lagged behind, watching the older two in front of him. They were talking and laughing loudly, not seeming to care about those around them who would stare.

They seemed like good friends.

As he walked silently by himself, Aiden  somehow felt better than usual.

He wasn't as tired or stressed as he would be on a regular basis. 

Even though he was outside-- the place where he wanted to be the least, he wasn't as bothered as he'd thought he'd be. 

Maybe going out relieved him a bit, though it sounded unbelievable in his head.

But Aiden had to admit, he had fun today.....

Just a little.

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TBC

Written by Authoress Kamara