Before Your Eyes - A Novella

MINA

I’ve watched Aaron chug his tenth beer, and all I want to do is go back to our place and study for my exams tomorrow. Instead, I’m stuck babysitting him again. I’m the girlfriend, not the mother, but Aaron clearly hasn’t gotten the memo.

“Babe, babe!” Aaron calls out from across the room, waving to get my attention.

I give him a tight smile, crossing my arms over my chest as I watch him get lifted up to do a keg stand. This is the third night this week he’s gotten shit faced.

Mind you, we are in our first year of college, and I knew he’d let loose. But I didn’t sign up for this. He can find his own way home. I’ve had enough.

Turning to leave, I barely make it to the front door before Aaron’s running up behind me.

“Babe, where are you going?”

“Home,” I answer tightly.

“Awe, come on! You’re being a real party pooper again. Stay and have a drink with me.” He pouts his plump bottom lip, thinking he can sucker me into staying again.

I shake my head. “No, Aaron, I have exams tomorrow. I’m going home to study.” I don’t mention how I actually have to study to get good grades to stay in school. He’s lucky enough to have a full scholarship and a daddy who owns twelve dealerships in the state. Money speaks volumes—even when you’re about to flunk out of college.

“Seriously? Why do you always have to embarrass me?” he asks, pinching his brows together.

I scoff. “Embarrass you?! You’re doing that all on your own, Aaron.”

I’m done, turning to leave before he can say anything stupid. But again, he stops me near the bottom of the steps.

“Come on, babe. Have one drink with me. One drink, and I’ll walk you home myself. Then we can take each other’s clothes off and snuggle naked how you like to.”

My face has zero expression as I stare up at him. This is how our relationship has gone for years. I get frustrated with him, ready to walk, and he pulls me back in with the only way he knows how to show he cares about me—by taking our clothes off.

Aaron is my high school sweetheart. We’ve been together for five years now. We share many firsts together. He was supposed to be my forever, but I don’t know how I feel about it anymore.

“No drinks and you take me home now,” I say without compromise.

He squints his eyes. “We share a drink on our way home.”

Rolling my eyes, I turn and head out. “Fine, Aaron.”

I hear his victorious yes behind me before he rushes up, cracking a beer open. I’m not even going to ask him where he got it so quickly. He chugs half of it and hands it over before I finish it off.

“There’s the girl I know!” Aaron cheers, nudging me in the shoulder.

I try not to crack a smile, but I can’t help it with him. Even though he gets on my last nerve sometimes, I really do love Aaron. We have history. Hell, I have history with his entire family. His parents basically raised me after my mom took off and my dad got put in jail for drug trafficking. My grandma got custody of me, but she was old and didn’t have the energy for me. Aaron’s family took me in as their own. I even like his older brother.

Okay, I more than liked his older brother at one point. When we were sophomore’s, his older brother was joining the military for his first year. And Adrian is the kind of guy you only get to drool over in movies or in magazines. I might have had a tiny crush on him, but then he left and I got more serious with Aaron.

As far as I know, Adrian’s still overseas serving his time in the military, though he’s never really been close with his family. Aaron doesn’t talk about him much, and they’ve never been close. Not like two brothers should be anyway.

“Minaaaaaa,” Aaron whines, snapping me out of it.

We’ve made it home already and he’s currently sitting on the steps just inside the front door. He’s holding his boot up with a pouting lip. Does he expect me to untie his boots for him?

“Aaron, we’ve been over this,” I groan. “I’m not your mother.”

But I can see how glossy his eyes are. Those boots aren’t coming off unless I take them off myself. He’s about to fall asleep on the stairs and I’m so tired I don’t care. I’m tired of taking care of him. I’ve been taking care of Aaron for years, and a part of me knows I’ll be doing it for the rest of my life.

His light snores fill the foyer as I close and lock up the front door of our rented farm-style house near the heart of campus. We got lucky getting this place our first year. Again, it pays to have parents with money.

Taking Aaron’s boots off, I toss them with the others and try to lift him. He doesn’t budge. I’m not strong enough to even move him to the couch, so I’m going to leave him here. If he wakes up with a sore back, that’s on him.

Moving around him, I climb the stairs and enter our bedroom. Our roommates will find him in the morning like they always do. They’re starting not to ask questions anymore. Aaron is just being Aaron.