Growing Pains Keeping Me Up At Night - Chapter 8 (Early Access) (Patreon)

Aiden

It hadn’t been Aiden’s intention to eavesdrop. Kira’s voice had carried down the hallway to him, and like a siren’s call his body had followed on instinct. It led him to a lounge room on the Western side of the Bonnet mansion. As he got closer to the door, his footsteps became creeping, slinking toe-treads.

“-sure this has nothing to do with Aiden?”

Aiden froze at his name, halfway-hidden by the partition that cut the lounge room into two areas - one with the fireplace and one with long windows and a door to the gardens. It had been Auntie Sariyah asking the question.

Kira’s sigh sent a shiver over his skin.

“Maybe a little.”

No one spoke for maybe ten seconds, waiting for Kira to continue.

“I’ve known for years that when I went to university I wanted it to be far enough away that I get a real taste of the outside world, even if it’s temporary. But the issues with Aiden have just sped up the process.”

“What are the issues with Aiden?” His mother speaking this time. Not accusatory, genuinely curious. It made sense, they had been best friends all through their childhood, their parents didn’t know them to have any problems. He had wondered if Kira ever said anything about their new… dynamic… to their parents, but clearly not.

An awkward little coughing noise sounded like it came from Kira. “I don’t want to go into it, but I just think we need time apart.”

The shifting sound of hair told Aiden they were nodding along with Kira’s words.

“We were always so close, and now we’ve grown up and things are different but we’re still… crammed in together under this roof. It’s making our relationship… tense.”

“I’m sorry if he’s been getting in your way, and especially if you’ve tried to put him right already,” his mother said, in the quiet tone she saved for serious conversations. “You have a good head on your shoulders, so I’m sure you’ve already tried talking to him. But my boy has always had a… strong personality.”

Aiden frowned. He heard Auntie Sariyah snort.

“We spoiled him, I cam admit it.” His mother sighed. “And we all know Elijah is a pushover when it comes to his baby boy. God, the mischief he used to get into. I thank god everyday he had you at his side, or I don’t even want to think what he would have turned into-”

Auntie Sariyah jumped in, returning the conversation to its original point. Away from his mother’s rant about what a naughty little boy he was. “I think time apart will do you both good. It’s time to untangle the roots a little. When you come back, you will both have grown up even more.”

“It’s not like I won’t visit,” Kira reminded them, although she sounded a little sad.

“And we’re glad to hear it!” said his mother. “But don’t worry about us. We have the rest of eternity to enjoy your company, don’t let it stop you doing what you need. This is your time to be an individual, not part of the cul- I mean clan!” It sounded like his mother caught a shove off someone, probably Auntie Sariyah. They both laughed. “What I’m really trying to say is: it’s better to take a step back and sort things out than trying to force something to work that just isn’t. Because you can’t let it reach the point of no return - that boy needs you.” She scoffed and Aiden felt his frown deepen. “So does the clan if he’s taking over-”

“We’re with you, whatever you decide,” Auntie Sariyah finished for her.

“Thank you, I really do appreciate it,” said Kira. “I’ve been second-guessing myself every other day since I started all the applications.” The women hummed understanding tones. “But now I think I can let myself start to get excited.”

“It should be exciting,” Auntie Sariyah’s voice was filled with gentle pride. “My baby is all grown up!” The shift of couch cushions. “And your baby is a man now!”

“They both still look like babies to me,” his mother replied. “Toddling around, followed by the sound of shit breaking.”

The older women laughed together again. Aiden’s frown finally lifted.

Kira groaned and it sounded like she was stretching and pulling herself free from her seat. “I’d love to stay here all day but I have an essay to finish.” A yawn was failed to be restrained. “And if I stay here any longer I won’t be able to force myself to get up again. It’s way too comfortable.”

“We’ve been afflicted with the same problem,” Auntie Sariyah agreed.

His mother laughed quietly. “We need more deadlines in our lives,” she announced.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Lucia, Bonnet women don’t work,” Auntie Sariyah replied, full of mirth.

“Oh, that’s right, we are to lay about and look pretty, no?”

“Exactly.”

“Well, what a bloody good job we’re doing!”

The three women laughed, and then his mother and aunt bid goodbyes and good luck to Kira as she left. Silence followed her departure for a few moments.

In a volume barely above a murmur his mother called out, “come out, come out, wherever you are, my little Leo.”

Aiden jolted - Leonardo was his middle name. He’d been sensed. He resigned himself to his fate and stepped out from behind the partition. His mother and Auntie Sariyah beckoned him to their collection of lounge seats and sofas. The pair were sharing one, sprawled over each other languidly.

When he stood before them, his mother gave him a knowing look. “You may have been a carajito but I thought I raised you better than to spy on your own family.”

“Sorry, Mama,” he said with intense sincerity.

“And that’s how he got away with it all those years,” his mother said to Auntie Sariyah with a weary smile. “Sit,” she ordered Aiden. He climbed through the circle of furniture gingerly while the current generation of Bonnet matriarchs watched him with all the patience their immortality afforded.

“Now, tell us what happened with you and the esteemed Grandma Bonnet,” Auntie Sariyah drawled.

“Mum first,” he grunted, flopping into the newly free armchair. It smelled of Kira, the material warmed by her body. “I heard singing and banging and crashing,” he added with an eyebrow raise.

“If Grandma Bonnet didn’t want her antique vases smashed, she shouldn’t boast about them so openly. Have we learned nothing from all the celebrity robberies over the years?” His mother shook her head and tutted disapprovingly with a grin flittering at the corners of her mouth.

“I’m the only one who doesn’t know exactly what the old bat did to deserve it, though,” Auntie Sariyah complained.

“Can’t we agree she would have deserved it regardless?”

Auntie Sariyah rolled her eyes, but she was smiling at his mother. When she turned to him, she wasn’t.

“Aiden, darling, please tell me what happened.”

Aiden shrugged and slumped further down in the chair. “We had an argument.”

Auntie Sariyah looked to his mother, who also shrugged. “I don’t know exactly what happened, I just heard Aiden yelling something about her being racist and knew I had to break her face or her valuables.”

Aiden sighed. “She invited me to tea and I figured it would be boring small talk.” All of his conversations with his grandmother were boring small talk, the woman wasn’t interested in anything about him as a person. As long as he existed, and caused no public drama, that was enough. Which should feel good, like you’re accepted, but he wasn’t. There were plenty of things she would improve about him, and she decided to make these things known while sitting behind an empty tea set. “But then she started telling me that the family aesthetic had slipped a little off-course, and it was my responsibility to bring it back.”

His mother was grinding her teeth angrily. Auntie Sariyah patted her arm and nodded at Aiden to continue.

“I didn’t really get it at first. But then she asked about my plans for finding a wife…” He couldn’t look at them anymore, especially not Auntie Sariyah. “And I said there was someone I… like.” If his heart still beat it would be hammering.

The women had gone deadly still out of the corner of his eye and he could tell they were restraining coos and excited interrogation.

“But Grandma said she doesn’t fit the Bonnet aesthetic.” That was the mild version. “And that I need to find someone that looks like Auntie Eden, or my dad because he was perfect, which I thought was creepy as fuck.”

“Your grandma is creepy as fuck,” his mother agreed.

“And then I realised what she was getting at… and I just started yelling.” He glanced back at them and shrugged again. “Oh, and she said I needed to learn to speak properly before I have children so we don’t end up with another generation that can’t pronounce their vowels.”

His mother slowly rose from the sofa, a menacing look in her eyes and a sadistic smile holding her mouth. She dusted her hands on her jeans and then clapped them together. “I’ve just remembered the location of another set of incredibly rare dust-collectors,” she announced. Her eyes flashed at Auntie Sariyah. “Please excuse me.”

Auntie Sariyah sighed and the blur of his mother was gone. She gave Aiden a weary look. “Your mother needs to let off some steam.”

“I did, too,” Aiden replied. Remembering how he had let off that steam… with his fingers dipping into the soaked folds between Kira’s legs… it almost gave him another hard-on.

“There is nothing wrong with having an accent,” Auntie Sariyah said softly.

“I know.”

“It’s a good thing to take pride in your heritage.”

Aiden nodded.

“You shouldn’t take a word that old woman says to heart. There’s a reason she’s kept locked up in here.”

“I know.”

“So, who’s the lucky girl?” The question was thrown so fast that Aiden flustered.

“Um-” He looked away. “I-”

“I’m assuming we know her,” Auntie Sariyah teased. “You were never that interested in sneaking out amongst the clan. Is it the daughter of a staff member?” She wriggled her eyebrows in a faux scandalous expression.

“It’s Kira,” Aiden blurted. His body had gone rigid, clinging to the material of the armchair as though gravity were about to be switched off.

“Oh.” Auntie Sariyah blinked slowly, although she didn’t need to blink at all, and climbed off the sofa in the same dazedly-angry way his mother had. “It’s my baby she has an issue with?”

“Please don’t tell anyone,” Aiden begged as quietly as he could get the words out.

“Your secret is safe with me. But now I need to go bust up some of your grandmother’s most precious belongings. So, do as I say, not as I do, and always try to use your words instead of your actions, okay?”

“Yes, Auntie.”

Auntie Sariyah stalked out, cat-like and predatory.

Her parting words sat with him. Words instead of actions.