Aidan O’Reilly (alwaysathief) wrote in the_dome, @ 2013-09-16 01:29:00 |
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Entry tags: | 04-10-2017, aidan, aidan and eily, eily |
Going to Hell in a Handbasket
Who: Aidan and Eily
Where: Their House
When: Night
Once Darcy left, Aidan was in serious need of a drink. He hadn’t wanted to go into detail about Sylvia with Darcy, but it had been impossible to avoid once she’d guessed what Sylvia was. She’d almost seemed more concerned with that than the whole werewolf thing, but he supposed that was because she was talking to him, not to Lochlan or Patrick. While he was hoping she’d keep her mouth shut, he wasn’t going to bet on it this time around.
“Eily, you still up?” he called as he came out of his room, only stopping to take a quick shower first. If he was going to drink, he wanted to be able to crawl into bed afterwards.
Eily was up. She was sitting on the couch, curled up on one end, already starting in on alcohol. She had a beer in her hand as she sort of half just stared into space, looking like hell. She had showered, but she hadn't bothered putting make up on yet for her date with Ben. Which she should cancel but she didn't want to. She couldn't just...crawl into a hole and stay there. When Aidan was talking to her, it took a second or two longer to get her attention than it should have. "Hey." she greeted.
“Hey,” he said, frowning as he caught sight of her. The last time that he’d seen Eily looking like that, they’d been outside the dome. “What’s going on?” he asked, walking over to the fridge and grabbing a beer for himself, then taking a seat on the couch with her. He knew she was probably stressed out about the werewolf thing, but this seemed more than just stressed out. Eily looked upset.
She leaned over and gave him a big hug. "You're gonna be my not-crazy relative, right?" she asked rhetorically. Then she sat back, and took another swig. "I don't know. That's what's going on. No one is on the same page anymore, people are up and moving out all of a sudden, Lochlan's being...he's being weird! And I don't know why, and I can't just...he's not supposed to be all distant and strange and shutting me out!"
“I don’t know about that,” Aidan replied with a little laugh. He was pretty sure he was crazy, but probably in a way that she wasn’t even considering. He nodded when she rambled on, picking one thing out of the bunch to focus on because that was about all he could handle at a time. “Lochlan’s always been a little weird, but maybe it’s just being a werewolf that’s not him all up in arms. I don’t know. Did he say why he’s moving out?”
Shaking her head, Eily dismissed that. "I know he's weird, this is different weird. This is...he doesn't shut me out. He's not like that. We're...close, we share stuff. And I don't even know if it is the werewolf stuff, he won't even tell me that. Which is the problem. Usually? We'd talk, and even if the solution was still him moving out if he felt like he needed to, I'd at least know what was going on so I could help. But it just feels like all of a sudden, he's gone. Just...poof. The rug got yanked out from under me." she drowned the rest of her beer, setting the empty glass on the coffee table. "And he just said he was moving out with Avery. Like, fifteen minutes after I reminded him that he had agreed to move in here." she reached up and pulled her hair back over her shoulders. "I don't know, Aidan. It's just...something's wrong, and I don't know what it is. But it seems like something's wrong with everyone lately. No one's even talking anymore. We're all on these different pages, and..." she trailed off.
“I didn’t even know until Darcy asked me to move in with her, which I told her no to, but that she could move in here if she wanted.” Of course, she’d immediately shot that down. Aidan wasn’t about to abandon Eily, even if he knew Darcy didn’t need to be on her own. People were shifting around for no good reason. “I think everyone just has a lot going on. We live in different houses, rather than a camp where we’re all without shouting distance. Maybe something is going on with Lochlan. Do you want me to talk to him about it? See if I can get anything out of him?” He wasn’t sure if it would be any help, but he’d give it a try.
"Well, she can't live by herself." Eily said. "And I don't know where Lochlan and Avery plan on moving, or even how they think they'll afford it all. Or how bills will get paid, because Lochlan..." they all knew how Lochlan got. "And I know we have a lot going on. All the more reason to pull together, not drift apart." She got up and went to get another beer. "Talk to Darcy, she can stay here. Or with Patrick, I'm sure. But she can't just wander off on her own, even if I'm sure she wants nothing more considering she hates us all." she sighed. "...except you."
“I don’t think they’ve really thought it through,” Aidan admitted. Lochlan and Avery was… a bad idea, at least in his head. He got it, since they were siblings, but that made Avery the responsible one. While he could get behind that part, they really couldn’t afford to get another house. It would make more sense if Lochlan moved in with Avery and Darcy moved out. “I talked to Darcy earlier this evening. No one had even told her about the werewolves, so I had to break that to her. She doesn’t really hate us, she just wants to do her own thing and doesn’t like people telling her not to.” He got that much when it came to Darcy. The idea of being left out hurt her, even when she denied wanting to be a part of them.
"I know, and that's part of my entire point. How did she not know? How did I not know until this morning? Jesus, this is just..." she shook her head. "Bad." she concluded. "Everything seems like it's just falling apart, period. Like the cohesion this family had is cracking. I don't like it, Aidan." she told him, eyes downcast. "And maybe you see that, but I can't believe it with how she treats everyone. No one is even trying that hard to tell her what to do. Why do you think she's living in a house with her cousin? It isn't to keep her under anyone's thumb, it's to give her a little space to breathe." She took a hefty drink of her beer. "But she treats us all like we're...like we're inconvenient. Like she hates us. She does a real good job with that part. And I can't stand it. Not with everyone we lost along the way, for her to be just so ungrateful for having anyone at all..." she trailed off, realizing belatedly that she was a bit drunker than she thought.
“Eily, I know things have been bad lately, but they’re not that bad,” Aidan said, shifting sideways on the couch so he could face her. “Yeah, we didn’t know what was going on right away, but they found out at night. I found out the next morning at work. And I probably should have told you sooner, but I’ve been distracted. Lochlan probably should have told you sooner, but he’s Lochlan. And Patrick… I don’t know what the hell is wrong with Patrick, but something’s been wrong a good, long time.” He hated seeing his brother so depressed, but it had gotten to the point where Aidan didn’t know how to help him. They barely connected any longer, but that wasn’t anything new. “Darcy’s a whole different issue. I think she’s just a bratty teenage girl who spent too much time with her family during the years that teens want their space, so this how she lashes out. Some day she’ll grow up enough to grow out of it.”
Eily gave Aidan a flat stare. "Really? Patrick and Lochlan practically get eaten by wolves, become werewolves, no one's talking and now people are up and moving out, and it's not that bad? You remember where we've been all day, right?" she asked, huffing a little. "And 'bratty' is slamming doors and smoking when you're not supposed to be. This is something else. And remember--she treats you differently than the rest of us."
“I mean that siblings and cousins in their twenties and thirties don’t usually live with or next door to each other,” Aidan said with a little laugh. “We’re still close, Sissy. And ‘no one’s talking’ is a little dramatic considering we did find out. I don’t know what the moving out thing is about, I really don’t, but maybe… maybe Lochlan moving in was more than he could handle. You know how he is about committing to something. He could just be right back to couch hopping.” He was trying to look on the bright side, something that was much easier to do when he was a few beers behind her. “Focus on one thing at a time. When everything’s sunny again, then maybe we can address Darcy’s piss-poor attitude. Right now, that’s one of the few things that’s normal.”
"Fine. I'm overreacting. Everything's just fine, and we should ignore it all until it all comes up 'sunny' again. Whatever. I'm going out." Eily said, not appreciating her concerns blown off like that. She grabbed her beer, spilling a little as she did so, and started to stalk to the door.
“Everything’s not fine,” Aidan said, catching her wrist as she stood. “Don’t storm off like that. Come on. I get that it’s a lot. Yeah, they’re werewolves, and that’s not normal. I just don’t think the world’s crashing down as much as you think it is. Or something in there’s bothering you more than the rest.” Aidan released her, but stayed standing beside her, not sure if she was going to try running off again. “Do you want me to wallow in your misery with you? Or try and put things in a better perspective? Because I can wallow, I swear.”
"Everything is bothering me!" Eily said. "And I just--I don't want to wallow, I just also think this stuff is valid! So, just 'it's not that bad' isn't helping me, and I'm just gonna go out, see Ben, and drink til I can't remember my middle name."
Aidan ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, not sure what he should tell her. She was the one that was closest to them all. He’d been distant with Patrick for years and, honestly, he didn’t feel like Lochlan had put any space between them, but he knew that was different for Eily. She’d take him moving out personally. And who the hell was Ben? “Okay,” he said, finally dropping his hands to his side. “Go on then. Go get drunk with Ben-- who, by the way, you haven’t told me about. Which is fine, but you should realize you’re doing it, too. Living a life that doesn’t include daily updates to your family.” At least he might get off the hook for Sylvia if she had a Ben.
And she instantly felt guilty. Her eyes widened. "Oh god, I didn't?" she asked. "Shit, I don't think I've told anyone, I was going to the other day...wait was that this morning, even? Jesus." she put her hand to her forehead and sighed. "I'm sorry, Aidan. Ben's a guy I met when I was checking Lochlan and Patrick out of the hospital, and I went to get an ice pack from the crack on the head I got during their tussle. He came to the bar the other night and we went for a walk and stuff, and I'm supposed to see him tonight." she explained.
“It’s cool,” Aidan shrugged. “I just wanted to point it out ‘cause you’re being really hard on everyone else. I know you didn’t do it on purpose. Hell, I’ve been trying to track down this girl I met, so I’ve barely been paying attention to anything else. You wanna tell me about him, or do you need to go meet him?” A part of him wanted to know about anyone his little sister had taken an interest in, but he also knew that if she stayed, she’d get the chance to ask him questions too.
"No, and you're right, and I'm sorry." she said, sighing as she dropped back down heavily onto the couch. She sat forward, though, head on her hand, staring at the floor. "He's...handsome, and nice, and he gave me a beautiful hair pin and scarf, and he's nice. And he's likes me. I know I'm not an ugly girl or anything, but it's been a long, long time since anyone's even looked twice at me." She paused and looked up, the hint of a smile on her lips. "Tell me about 'this girl'."
“What’s he do?” Aidan asked, finishing off his beer. He walked to the fridge, giving himself a chance to stall as he grabbed another beer for himself and returned to the couch. Her answer was so nice and simple. He was happy for her and hoped that this Ben was as nice as she thought he was. “This girl’s name is Sylvia. And my relationship with her is a little more complicated than the one you have with Ben. You sure you want to get into this now? I don’t want to keep you from seeing him.”
"I don't know actually? He was a trader, he got stuck here." Eily said. "So, I think I'm fuzzy on those details. I just know he seems really on the level." she admitted. She took another long drink, then looked at him. "Aww, what's complicated?" she asked. "Because yes, I'm sure. I'll still see him. Maybe me getting pre-drunk will be a good thing. And it'll give me time to be mortified and kick myself for being an unintentional hypocrite."
“I’m happy for you,” he smiled, taking a seat once more, glad to be starting up on his second beer. “You keep this up and I’ll want to meet him.” If he was treating her well, then that was really what mattered. Aidan never understood why Eily had so much trouble meeting a guy. They should be fighting over her left and right. “Uh… Well, for starters, she’s sixteen.” And that was probably all he needed to throw out there to get a full lecture, so he took a sip of his beer, waiting for it to start.
"I'm sure all of you will want to meet him. I'm not hiding him, maybe soon?" she suggested. "When I'm more drunk, because that'll be crazy at best." she decided. Then she shifted gears to listen to him. She laughed a little, then blinked, and stared. "...I--you're serious? She's sixteen?" she asked, clearly shocked. She didn't wait for an answer. "Oh, honey...that's soooo young..."
“Bring him in to work one day,” Aidan grinned. “He can meet us all at once.” That would be intimidating, but at least he could get it over with, answer all the questions at once, rather than one by one. Aidan could see her shift gears and sighed, wishing they could have stayed on the Ben topic a while longer. “I know. Trust me, I know. I’m just not sure I care enough to let it stop me. Have you ever just felt like you clicked with someone? Because that’s where I am.”
She nodded to the first part, but her concentration was elsewhere. And she did really listen. "It's been a long time, but...yeah. I know what you mean." she told him. "You click with her?" She nibbled at her lower lip. "...tell me about her." she invited.
“Yeah, she’s just… so easy for me to talk to. About anything.” It wasn’t something Aidan found often. He could be quiet around people he didn’t know, or even when he talked a lot, it was more focused on them than himself. But being a good listener was different than actually making a connection and that’s what he’d felt with Sylvia. “She was in the pub one night, and I was subbing in since Lochlan and Pat had been injured. We just got to talking. About art, and opinions, and beer, and normality. She’s this little thing with blond hair and bright eyes and she talks like she spent too much time reading a dictionary,” he said with a little laugh. “She stole my lighter, so I stole her umbrella. Parasol. Because it’s for the sun, not the rain.”
Listening, Eily ghosted a smile. She was having a hard time with the sixteen thing, but the way he was talking...she didn't think she'd ever heard him like that. Aidan was someone she felt was well adjusted, but he didn't seem like he actually did find many people around that he really...she didn't even know. Make proper friends with, perhaps? Connect. That was what she was really thinking. The little correction and explanation at the end had her thinking that he definitely had invested time here, that he wasn't lying about feeling something. Who got picky over umbrella terminology? Him at the moment, apparently. "How's she make you feel?"
“Happy. Amused. Fiercely protective,” he said with a little laugh. Sylvia fell into the realm of protective that was usually reserved for family alone. He didn’t know if it was her special circumstances that put her there, or if it was just her alone. Aidan had the feeling he’d feel that way towards her, no matter what she was. “She’s interesting. One of those people I could talk to for hours and be engaged the whole time. If it weren’t for her age, this would be so much easier, but I know… I know how it looks.” If she were just a few years older, or him a few years younger, things would be easier.
"Okay, this isn't me naysaying, or anything, I just have to ask the question." she said, prefacing it first. "Do you think it's something really real? Or are you lonely? How much does the age thing mean to you? What's her stance in all of this...you said you have been looking for her...?"
Aidan sat back, taking a long sip off his beer. If he didn’t tell Eily the whole truth, it would likely just come back to bite him, especially since Darcy now knew. While that wasn’t preferable, he really couldn’t have them both teaming up against him, which was what might happen if he didn’t spill when he had the chance. “I think it’s real. She thinks… she thinks I’m under some sort of spell. Which sounds crazy, except for the part where she’s a vampire.”
Eily was back to staring and blinking. "I...huh?" she asked. "Vampire. Like...Twilight?" she asked, that being the only real experience with vampires she had, and she didn't even remember the books that well. They hadn't quite been her thing. She wasn't so much into the fantasy stuff before.
“Not exactly,” Aidan said. “More like Interview with a Vampire. The sun burns her.” There was a clear distinction in his mind. Even if he never read the Twilight books, he’d been of the age to hear all about them when they came out. It was unavoidable, and he knew that, in that world, vampires sparkled.
Eily downed the rest of her beer and set it down, giving herself a minute to process that. She drew in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "Okay...I...what does that mean?" she asked. "And she thinks you're under a spell becaaaause...?"
“It means she has to drink blood to survive,” Aidan said, since that was the key part of the whole vampire thing. “And I know it’s fucked up, but not much more than the whole werewolf thing. She thinks I’m under a spell because it’s the only way she can understand me being attracted to her. She’s a little odd. And I don’t think she has a lot of experience with guys. And I let her bite me.”
"You what?!"
“I let her bite me,” Aidan repeated, his lips ticking up into a small smirk. It was rare to surprise Eily like that. He enjoyed the moment while he could, sure a full blown lecture was soon to come. “She was hungry, and she’d never fed off a human before. So I let her bite me, and now she’s afraid I’m under some kind of spell.”
"I would really hope she doesn't have a lot of experience with guys, at her age!" Eily said, that clicking into place probably super late. "And...and...why?" she asked. "Did it hurt? Did she coerce you with crazy vampire hypnotism? Because--that could be a thing! And...you let her?! As in you thought it was a good idea at the time? How was that a good idea?!"
Aidan could feel himself beginning to laugh, even if he was pretty sure this was a serious conversation. It just felt so comical to him. Was this going to happen every time he told someone about Sylvia? “There was no crazy vampire hypnotism,” he smiled. “I offered, and no, it didn’t hurt. It felt pretty good, actually. And I dunno why I thought it was a good idea. I guess I was just curious.”
Eily swatted his shoulder. "Don't you laugh about this, Aidan Quinn O'Reilly!" she said. "...why did you offer, though? You didn't think it would be dangerous? And now you'll tell me that it totally satisfied your curiosity so well that it won't happen again, right?"
“I’m sorry,” he laughed, her protestations only making it worse. “It’s just such a bizarre conversation. I’m sure I sound like I’m out of my mind, but it all felt right at the time. I offered because she was hungry, and I liked her, and yeah, I knew it was dangerous, but isn’t everything? And yes, it’ll happen again because it was fuckin’ amazing.”
She gave him a glare, but it wasn't quite her usual strength. And she had a hard time keeping a grim line of her lips when he was laughing, it made her want to laugh too. So, in the end she smirked and looked away. "This is serious!" she told him, before cracking and laugh. She flopped back against the back of the couch next to him, and sighed. "...do I even want to know about 'fuckin amazing'?" she asked. "And...you can't really do that, can you? Give blood all the time? That's not healthy. Also, please learn the difference between 'it's dangerous, I could get hurt!' and 'it's dangerous, I could die of blood loss!'"
He was glad she was laughing with him, since it seemed to lighten the mood she’d been in. Yes, they were having a serious conversation, but it didn’t have to be all doom and gloom, especially since he didn’t see it that way. “When I say the bite felt good, I meant it,” he grinned. He wasn’t going to go into detail with Eily, but she could use her imagination well enough. “No, I can’t give blood all the time. I know that and she knows that. But there’s also a difference between giving a full pint of blood and giving, like, a tablespoon.”
Eily wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, okay, don't tell me anymore, I retract the question!" she said. She gazed at him sideways. "Just a little bit?" she asked. "You promise? Like, super duper pinky swear promise where I'll haunt you even if you're the ghost if this goes bad?"
Aidan snickered, but let it drop, preferring not to detail his sex life with Eily. He wasn’t all that pleased that Darcy had overheard what she had. “I promise,” he said, offering his pinkie with a smile. “Now I just have to find her. Darcy got into an argument with her and managed to run her off.” Which still annoyed him, no matter how good Darcy’s intentions might have been.
Eily took it, shaking their hands to seal it. She did actually believe in the pinky swear. "...that happened how?" she asked, confused. Was it a school thing? Oh god. Her brother was dating a highschooler. Oh god. She was younger than Darcy. And Avery. Jesus.
“Darcy followed me to her house one night and listened in on a private conversation,” Aidan said, sipping his beer. “When I wouldn’t give her the answers she wanted, she went to Sylvia. Darcy makes her sound like some kind of pariah, but I just don’t see it.”
Sighing and making a face, Eily shook her head. "Okay, she really needs to learn how to conduct herself." she said. "Let me guess. She doesn't see a thing wrong with anything she did." she said flatly. She'd die of shock if the answer were different. "And apparently highschool is still highschool even after the apocalypse. There's always people that get ostracized." She sighed. “...it’s disappointing that Darcy’s perpetuating that.”
“Of course not,” Aidan said, shaking his head. “She says she was looking out for me, which I get, but that doesn’t make it okay.” And maybe in the end Darcy got that, but it was only after Aidan pounded it into her. “Yeah, well, now Darcy knows she’s a vampire, which she guessed after I laid werewolves on the table. I think she’s scared of her now, which doesn’t really help things. They’re scared of each other. Sylvia’s run away from home and Darcy’s on the brink of it.”
"You need teenage girls following you around to look out for you?" Eily said, sighing. "...Aidan...I love you. You know that. But really? You should be looking out for her, not the other way around, especially not since obviously she's a girl with no sense of responsibility for her own actions, or y'know. Other People." she said. At the rest of it she groaned and covered her face with her hands. "It sounds stupid!"
“I didn’t say I needed it!” Aidan protested. “I am looking out for her, you should know that. And I’m trying to look out for Sylvia as well. They’re just both making it difficult for me.” In so many ways. And yes, it sounded stupid. Aidan finished off his beer, hoping it might solve the problem for him. Wouldn’t that be nice. “I do the best I can with her, but she’s eighteen. She does what she wants, just like I did when I was her age.”
"Well, don't 'get' that she follows you then and apparently...what, spies? Or something? You don't find this disturbing?" she asked, though it was rhetorical. She pulled her feet up onto the couch cushion with her, silent for a few long moments. "...she's eighteen, going on fifteen. Same with Avery. And I get it, their maturing years were spent in the middle of zombie land. I don't think what either one of us did at that age is even in the right caliber. I get the comparison, just..." she trailed off. "I'm sitting here, thinking about counseling for both of them."
“Yes, I find it disturbing. I told her not to come, that I could handle it, but she came anyways. That she stayed and listened in once she realized I was having a conversation inside really doesn’t make sense, and seriously pissed me off,” he said, the anger from that night coming back to him. What he’d shared with Sylvia was so personal, so private, and Darcy had to go put her nose in the middle of it. He wanted to strangle her for it. “I’m pretty sure there’s a counselor here in the dome. Most people need to be seeing one.”
"What do you think?" she asked. "Should I make a call, or something?"
“She hasn’t run away yet,” Aidan said. “If we did that? She most definitely would.” It would be overkill, no matter what they said to Darcy. She’d never forgive them.
"She can't go far." Eily said. "And I'm worried about her. Period. And sometimes you can't just shut your eyes shove your fingers in your ears and hope it gets better. Especially with teenagers. If I didn't have mom and dad on my ass when I was her age, I could have turned out differently too. And this stuff you're talking about, along with her 'I hate my family' bullshit, and everything else...does that not sound like time to step in and do something to you? Because it sounds like spiraling, to me. And let's not forget that she survived with all the rest of us, so who knows what damage that's still doing."
Aidan ran his fingers through his hair, not liking where this was going at all. He got what Eily was saying, but Darcy would see it as hardcore betrayal. “Let’s talk to Patrick about it. She might take it better coming from him than us. Because I don’t really think she hates her family, and I don’t really think she’s trying to be a super bitch. And I can’t touch her without being the biggest hypocrite ever.” He was obsessing over a sixteen year old girl. Yeah, they all had issues. Maybe Eily was the only normal one left.
"Well the fact that she's saying she hates her family and for all intents and purposes treating us as such, is just more my point. And so is the fact that if this is her not trying to be a super bitch? Jesus christ I don't want to know what kind of sociopathic fucked upness would come from her if she was." Eily looked at him. "And whatever! You're not out following people around listening in on stuff! Or hating the people who love you most in the world, or at the very least trying very hard to make people miserable! Until you start in on that, then no, actually, you aren't a hypocrite. I get that you identify with her, Aidan, but please, please try for a second to look at this from the perspective of one of her only remaining parental figures, who want to freaking help her before she so far off the rails she winds up...I don't even want to know. I'm worried. And I know for a fact nothing I have to say to her will even be heard. So time for maybe someone else to give it a shot."
She was right. Aidan hated that she was right. It made things so much more difficult because he’d pretty much had enough of Darcy lately and this was going to make things so much worse. “So what do you think I should do? Talk to her? If I point out that she might need counseling, she will flip and that will be the end of the conversation.” It wouldn’t matter if it was true or not. He could see her making it out the door before he even started on anything else.
Eily shook her head. "No." she said. "I want to help her, not make her even more alienated. I'll keep you out of it, even, I want her to still feel like she's got an...ally, I guess." she said. "I mean, don't actively work against me or anything, but I'll take the hit. I honestly do think she hates me anyways. But I don't want to take you away from her. Or Patrick, or anyone, honestly, if she decides to like someone else and concentrate on detesting me, I can deal with that, so long as she gets...I don't know. Better." As frustrated as she got with Darcy, she still loved her. She was family. And to Eily, that was everything.
“I’ll back you,” Aidan said. “I want to help. But I also think you’re right, that if I start it, she’ll feel like she’s being ganged up on. I don’t really think she hates any of us, though. Not even you.” He couldn’t see how anyone would hate Eily. He knew Darcy got frustrated with her because she was an authority figure, but frustration and hate were two different things. Aidan took it all better now because he was older, but he tended to think he’d be just as bad if he’d been in Darcy’s place at her age.
"I know you're trying to make me feel better there," Eily said and shook her head. "But just stop, okay? I feel how I feel, don't sit and keep invalidating it. Darcy and how she talks to me is why I feel it. It's easy for you to say shit like that when she actually likes you." she said, starting to grow weary of Aidan's insistence on that, when he had no way of knowing what it was like on her end. "But, okay. I'll talk to her...soon. After the moon." Because that was top priority for the second, and it they would know more after tomorrow night. It wasn't that long a wait.
“Okay,” Aidan said, looking down at his empty beer bottle and debating a third. He wasn’t trying to invalidate Eily’s feelings; he just wanted her to know that, just because she felt that way, didn’t mean it was true. But he got it. Darcy would have to be the one to patch that bridge. He couldn’t do it for her. “After the moon,” he agreed with a nod, then rose, deciding that yes, another beer was a good idea. “Want another?” he asked on his way to the fridge.
"I'll take a roadie." she said. "I should get going to see Ben. But...what are you going to do about your vampire?" she asked. "You said you have to find her and she ran away, but...it's still a closed area. Are you still going to look for her?"
“Of course,” he said, opening a bottle for each of them. “She ran off because of Darcy, and because she thinks I’m under a spell. I talked to her friend, who she also bit, and confirmed that’s not the case. She needs to know.” Even if she turned him away, she still needed to know.
Eily took the bottle. "That's all you're going to do? Tell her you aren't under a spell?" she asked, sounding skeptical. She couldn't see that being it. Not with how he'd talked about her earlier.
“No, I’m going to try and bring her back home,” Aidan said with a little smile. It was hard for him to say exactly what he was going to do when he saw Sylvia because that had never been predictable. “Convince her that she has nothing to be afraid of. Protect her, if need be. I doubt it will be a five minute conversation, if that’s what you’re asking.”
"That's what I'm asking." she said. Standing up, she sighed, and then gave him a peck on the cheek. "Be careful with this, okay?" she said. "With all of it." She watched his eyes. "And remember I'm always here for you. No matter what."
“Of course,” Aidan said, giving her a little smile and a hug as she kissed his cheek. He was always careful in his opinion, which might not be completely accurate. “And thanks. I hope you know I’m here for you, too.” Even if he wasn’t as comforting as he should have been.
"I know. And I appreciate it." she said. Then she drew in a breath, let it out slowly, and turned for the door. "See you later, if you're up." she said, disappearing out the door. She could go, be with Ben, and forget about everything for just a little while.
“See ya,” Aidan said, giving her a wave before settling back down on the couch. With Eily gone, the silence began to close in. Had shit hit the fan yet or was the worst yet to come? It was bad enough that he almost drained his beer, hoping that at least tomorrow could be better than today.