Back to the Future

[xknomex]

oooo intriguing!!

please tell more in update tomorrow!??

[maccaz]

Update soon.

[wrongturntaken]

OMG! This is so intriguing! You have to tell us what happened! I love the way you are writing this, the introduction to the first chapter was really... fitting. I think that's the right word, lol. and you're writing technique is really good too, i can't wait to read more. please update soon!!!

[jenlee]

I love your writing!! You know exactly what to write and where to put it, even when you helped me out the other day on a story you knew nothing about...you're basically amazing

[solaris]

I love your writing!! You know exactly what to write and where to put it, even when you helped me out the other day on a story you knew nothing about...you're basically amazing

Aww, you're so sweet!

Thank you to all who have left comments, I really appreciate them.

The next chapter has been written and will be posted this evening (UK )

[solaris]

Chapter 3

Aden watched as Belle made a dash for the door, he swallowed hard fighting back the sting of tears. Their parting might have been amicable, but it appeared that neither of them had escaped unscathed. He hated that Belle was hurting so much, yet in a strange way it made him feel less alone. For all that she had maintained a calm and controlled manner, the end of their personal road had hurt her as much as it had hurt him. Either that, or she just couldn’t stand to see him. Given that she’d almost been killed because of him, it would hardly be a surprise!

Looking at where Belle had been sitting, he noticed the portfolio she had forgotten. Picking it up, he took it to the kitchen so that Irene could return it.

As Aden started to turn around, Irene prepared to blast him for upsetting Belle. Roman’s hand on her shoulder checked her and she looked at him. With a subtle shake of his head, he indicated for her to leave it. Irene went back to preparing the orders they had and said nothing.

“Belle forgot this, I’ll leave it over here for you.”

Even though she knew he’d been headed for the kitchen, the sound of Aden’s voice made her jump. Looking over her shoulder, Irene saw that he held the portfolio and was waiting to show her where he was putting it. She nodded and thanked him, then returned to what she was doing. The emptiness of his tone troubled her, the same emptiness she heard in Belle.

“You ok mate?”

Aden’s head whipped round, the sound of Roman’s voice startling him. He nodded, not trusting his voice enough to speak.

“You sure?”

A snarl rose but he quashed it and looked at Roman.

“I’ll live, I’d just like to get back to work.”

“If you’re sure.”

Aden nodded and went back to clearing tables, he realised again how fortunate he was to have Roman looking out for him. He was pretty sure that Irene had been ready to let rip but Roman had stopped her, why he would bother to do so was something Aden couldn’t even pretend to understand. No-one had ever really looked out for him, he’s always had to fight his corner on his own.

When Irene was ready to leave, she sought Aden out. He steeled himself for the recriminations he was sure would follow, but they didn’t come. He was frankly shocked when she patted his arm, commenting that she was almost glad to see THAT grin again. Just as she reached the door, Aden called out to her.

“Irene?”

Irene looked round, one brow raised in query.

“Will you…“

He stopped and tried again.

“I hope…it doesn’t matter.”

He turned and walked away shaking his head, disgusted that he couldn‘t even ask a simple question about Belle. Irene could guess what he was trying to ask, but didn’t make an issue of it. Checking once again that she had everything, including the folio that Belle had left behind, she went home.

As the rush subsided, Roman waited for Aden to stop finding extra work to do. Eventually his patience was rewarded when Aden returned to the kitchen with his cloth and rinsed it in the sink.

“All the tables are clear and I wiped them down, is there anything else you want me to do?”

“Erm, stand still for two minutes? I’m not infectious but you’ve been acting as if I’ve got some horrendous disease!”

“What? No! I haven’t..”

Aden felt sick at the thought that he might have offended Roman, but Roman just laughed and interrupted.

“Well at least that got your attention. Relax! I’m joking, I just wanted a couple of minutes for a chat.”

He was joking! The sick feeling in his stomach receding slightly, Aden propped himself against the counted and crossed his arms. He was at a loss as to what Roman would want to talk to him about; as far as he knew he hadn’t screwed up during his shift, so unless this was about Belle…

Roman noticed the defensive posture but didn’t comment, Aden needed to find his own way back and his confidence would return with time - at least he hoped it would.

“How was the shift?”

“Ok I guess, need a bit of time to get back into it but…ya know.”

The corner of Roman’s mouth kicked up into a hint of a smile at the shrug which accompanied that response, at least some things hadn’t changed.

“You want to tell me what happened with Belle? Whatever it was clearly upset both of you!”

Aden cringed, talking about Belle was one thing he didn’t want to do, it was too raw. But maybe Roman could understand, maybe actually telling someone the whole story would help. Roman had helped him before… He started to talk but then,

“Dad!!!”

Roman cursed softly, just when he was making progress! His daughter’s timing was impressively bad, she had obviously turned the concept of ‘wrong place, wrong time’ into an art form.

“Dad, how long am I grounded for?”

“Don’t even bother Nic, cutting class is unacceptable and I won’t tolerate it. Your grounding is indefinite, ask me again in a month and we’ll talk about when the next review is!”

Aden barely covered the smirk, Nicole’s head whipped in his direction and pout marred her features.

“I don’t know what you’re finding so funny! You’ve been pretty much confined to barracks for the last few weeks, you hated it as well!”

The whining tone of Nicole’s voice was grating on his nerves, he just couldn’t deal with that as well.

“Am I done here Roman?”

“Sure, you take off! Nic can help me finish up.”

“Daaad!”

Aden took his apron off and picked his bag up, turning to face Nicole he decided to get in her face.

“Yeah, what?”

Now the tone was sulky.

“You’re right princess! I hated not being able to do what I wanted, hated being so weak, hated being ill. The difference between you and me is that I sucked it up instead of whinging about it, I didn’t have much of a choice.”

He stopped for a moment an d shook his head.

“Your dad’s a good guy who cares for you, you don’t know how lucky you are!”

He watched for the effect of his words, Nicole just continued to pout.

“Some of us, Princess, have more serious things to worry about than nail polish and face paint. Do us all a favour and just grow up!”

With that Aden left, not stopping to see if his words had hit home.

“Did you hear what he said to me? The way he talked to me?”

Nicole huffed! Roman just smiled an nodded, his daughter might be incensed but he was suddenly much more confident that Aden was going to pull through!

[MissOlivia22]

Yay an Update

Blooming Nicole.....

XD

Update ASAP

[xknomex]

yay you updated!!!

haha at what aden said to nicole!!

please update soon, i really want to know what happend between aden and belle

[solaris]

Thanks again for the comments, you're all so nice! Here's another installment!

Chapter 4

Back at the beach house, Irene was greeted by the sight of Geoff pacing around the living area. Clearly agitated, his hair was stood on end as if he’d been running his hands through it. He turned at the sound of the door opening, jamming his fingers back through his hair he tried to smile.

“Hi Irene.”

“Geoff, you gonna tell me what’s up darl?”

His eyebrows lifted in a questioning expression and he stopped pacing.

“What makes you think anything’s wrong?”

Irene laughed,

“Oh darl, it couldn’t be any clearer if you wore a sign! Now, what gives?”

The hands had once again arrived at her hips, Geoff knew that stance, he gave up the fight.

“Belle got home a while back, she’s locked herself in her room and she’s been crying since she got in. I can’t get her to talk to me, she won’t even acknowledge that I’m there!”

Geoff’s voice was rising, both in pitch and volume as his distress became more evident.

“I don’t know what to do Irene, I want to help but don’t know how!”

Putting her arm around the teen and giving him a hard hug, Irene realised that he’s seen through more of Belle’s act than she’d given him credit for. She rested her head against his for a moment and moved away. Sitting down at the table, she gestured for Geoff to do the same. Concern written all over his face, he followed her silent instruction.

“Belle came into the diner this arvo, Aden started back at work. Their paths crossed!”

Geoff folded his arms on the table and dropped his head onto them, his groan echoed Irene’s thoughts at the time perfectly. Tilting his head, he rested his chin on his arms and looked up at her.

“Did he do something to her? Say something to upset her? Why Irene? Why can’t he leave her alone?”

Irene shook her head, and shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know Geoff, I really don’t. I don’t even know what happened between them today, one second everything was fine and the next Belle ran out. I’m going to try and get her to talk to me now.”

Geoff nodded knowing that he should leave Irene to it, he indicated that he had homework to do and headed upstairs. Irene waited for the click that said he’d gone to his room and stood up, getting some juice and tissues she knocked on Belle’s door. There was no answer, nothing to suggest the room was occupied save for the sound of muffled sobs.

“Belle. Belle, it’s Irene. Let me in please.”

There was a sound of movement, a snick of a lock and then more movement. Irene opened the door carefully and looked at the pitiful sight that greeted her. Belle was curled up with a pillow hugged to her; tears stained her face along with smeared make-up, the pillow was also stained with a combination of tears and make-up. Irene’s heart went out to the distraught girl, she looked more like an eight year old than the 18 years she actually was. Moving into the room, Irene closed the door and sat down on the edge of the bed.

For a long time she simply held Belle and let her cry, passing her tissues and waiting. Eventually the tears subsided and Belle sat up, scrubbing her face with her hands she wiped away the tears.

“’Scuse me.”

Belle slipped of the bed and out of the room, the sound of running water soon followed. After a few minutes, the bathroom door clicked shut and she went back into her bedroom. Irene was waiting for her and handed her the glass of juice. Smiling her thanks, Belle drank the juice and set the glass down.

“Now, are you ready to tell me just what happed at the diner?”

Belle’s head came up, the look on her face bordered on fear.

“You didn’t say anything to him did you? It wasn’t his fault!”

“No missy I didn’t say anything, althouth I think perhaps I should have.”

Irene was confused, if Belle was defending Aden then what had this afternoon been about? Belle nodded, she tucked her knees up and rested her arms on them. Irene deserved an explanation but how to explain what happened? Taking a deep shuddering breath, she tried to find a way to start.

“Aden didn’t say or do anything to actually upset me, he didn’t need to.”

Stopping for a moment, she looked at the older woman.

“He really didn’t say anything wrong! I was having my coffee and he came over to clean the table next to me, all he did was say hi and I flipped out. Seeing him, hearing his voice…”

The smell of his aftershave and that scent that was unique to Aden, she’d know it anywhere she added silently.

“All the memories came flooding back, the good times, the laughter, the love. It was too much, I couldn’t control any of it. I just…I ran, I’m sorry Irene I didn’t know what else to do. I know it must have hurt him but…”

Shaking her head in dejection she gave up, what was she going to do? This was a small town and she couldn’t avoid Aden permanently. Irene gave her another hug,

“What about a letter?”

Belle looked up in confusion.

“A letter?”

“Yes darl a letter, you obviously didn’t want to hurt Aden but you know you did. Maybe a letter would be the best way of telling him? You wouldn’t have to talk to him face to face, but you’d be able to explain what happened. Who knows? It might even a starting point to working through your feelings!”

Belle considered it for a minute, she really did owe Aden an apology and there was no way she could do it face to face. Maybe writing to him was the best thing to do.

The next morning found Belle on the beach, she’d already tried half a dozen drafts of the letter she was working on but nothing she tried was right. From a safe distance, Aden watched as Belle picked up the pad in front of her. He was desperate to know what had sent her running yesterday but didn’t dare approach her, he didn’t want to chance the same thing happening again. Dropping his head, he went to school.

Leaning back against the rock behind her, she closed her eyes. The memories came easily, ebbing and flowing like the tide. She remembered that first day, the day when Aden had started working at the diner. Flirtatious, exasperating, annoying yet not smiling had been difficult. Their had been times when he was an absolute pig - her opinions of Nicole had prompted a few comments of that type - other times when he had been a gentleman. The contradiction had caught her attention, intrigued her and although she had fought it at first, it had ultimately won her over. A shadow crossed her closed eyes, opening them she instinctively shielded then with her hand. Was that Aden further down the beach? She wasn’t sure. She decided to just write what she was feeling, she couldn’t be more honest than that.

Dear Aden.

[Taniya_K]

Dear Aden....

What?!? C'mon! I wanna know what happened! How did he almost kill her? Why did she break up with him?!

Please update soon!