Box Shaped Heart Ch. 23

"There," Carter pointed at the house.

Aron took a long look in the direction Carter was pointing.

"And they let you live in the tree?"

"They don't know yet."

The babysitter had just left early, telling him to behave until his parents got home. She had seemed so much in a hurry to leave. But he had gotten bored, so he had climbed the tree.

"Will you tell them?" Aron asked him.

"When I see them," Carter replied.

"Are you sure you don't want to come to my house and eat cake? All my friends will come. I know you live here, now, but you can come visit, right?"

That was something Carter needed to process. Technically, people visited foreign countries all the time. Like his parents. Going to Aron's house to have cake was like that.

But that didn't change the fact that he had no idea how to get down.

Cake and visiting a foreign land, on one side.

Not knowing how to get down, on the other side.

"I can take you down," Aron said.

"What? Why?"

Aron just shrugged.

"And I can take you back. Since you live here."

Ah, that made sense.

The trip down on Aron's back was horrific, as his mother's shout, as his parents pulled their car in the driveway.

Carter shook his head. But he hadn't had cake that day. His mother had grounded him, on basis that he had done something dangerous, no matter how much he had tried to explain to her about his ambitions of becoming a tree person.

Yet, that evening, his mom had made a pie for him and hugged him, which had made him a bit confused about what being grounded meant since it had never happened before that day.

"Aron has always been there for you, hasn't he?" his mother spoke softly.

"Yeah, he has," he spoke, his throat dry.

Not only when they had been 7 years old. Later, too, in high school.

"Why do you hang out with that Carter guy, Aron? He's a weirdo," a girl commented.

Carter stopped right around the corner, waiting for Aron's answer, his blunt nails digging deep into his palms, his breath hanging by the next words that were going to come out of his best friend's mouth.

"Carter is not weird," Aron's stern reply came right away. "He is very smart. And he sees things we don't see. You know, like he has a deeper understanding, a different one, of everything."

The girl made a small sound, to illustrate her disbelief.

"That guy says magic should exist because it would totally be easy to demonstrate. Don't tell me you believe in magic, Aron," the girl laughed.

"I believe in friendship," Aron said back, in a curt voice.

By the way heavy steps were heard walking away, Aron must have left the girl standing there without another word.

Aron had been more than just his best friend if he was to think about it. He had basically taught Carter how to behave less like a weirdo, like that girl had said. And not by pressing Carter to be different, but by dragging Carter everywhere with him and teaching him by example. He could still be plenty of weird, aka himself, when he was with Aron alone. Otherwise, he knew exactly what to say and how to behave, although it had often felt like a learned lesson, not something coming from within.

"You should let Aron come see you," his mother interrupted his train of thought. "You can't be still upset. I know I shouldn't bother you with this," she hesitated for a second, "and we never talked, but why were you so upset Aron got married?"

I can't tell you, mom. Really, I can't.

You can't tell yourself.

Shut up, can't you see I'm busy?

Doing what?

Soul searching.

"I will see Aron," Carter exhaled. "And I should get back to my own apartment. I need to get back to work. If I lazy around your house too much, I might forget all the programming I've learned in my life," he told his mom. "Plus, you two should go on your expeditions and such."

His mom's hand was warm on his shoulder.

"All this time, we told ourselves that you would be okay," she said, with regret deeply set in her voice. "That you're smart, brilliant, and mature for your age. It is our fault," she sighed. "A kid should not find ways to cope with his parents always away from home."

"Mom, I'm not a kid anymore," he protested. "And you were right. I am okay."

"That you seem to be," his mother replied, squeezing his shoulder lightly. "But I cannot help but feel that we should have been an important part of your life, and we only filled that sparingly."

"Don't worry. I wasn't lonely."

"You had Aron," his mother said simply. "I remember how we tried to convince you to come with us on our expeditions, those that weren't in places with extreme conditions, and that you could learn for school remotely, but you just said 'no'. Just so you know, my boy, that is not something a mother takes lightly," she laughed. "Especially since you told me you could not leave Aron alone. Your father agreed that we should not force you and take you with us. We were lucky to have the Ruskin family as our neighbors. We still are," his mother looked over, at the neighboring house, as if she could see Aron's parents, standing in the lawn, like actors waiting to take their rightful place on a stage. "They are a bit upset you so far refused to see Aron. At least you had nothing against us having them over."

"Aron is ... just something else," Carter said softly.

"Carter, I've never asked you ... but could it be that you are in lo ..."

"Mom, stop worrying," Carter stopped his mom from saying it out loud.

She smiled as if that was the only confirmation he needed.

"I will go back to my apartment, and I'll contact Aron. I need to pay him back for the medical expenses, so don't worry anymore."

He kissed her gently on one cheek and got to his feet to walk inside. How the hell was he going to face Aron? But it was not like he could avoid the guy indefinitely.

***

It was quite strange to move around his small apartment, like a few weeks had been enough for him to forget it how it was like living there. The place felt too cramped, which had never bothered him before since he was against wasting space. And, while his home seemed too small for him, his own body seemed too large.

And clumsy. He was ready to blame it on the fact that he was still undergoing physical therapy for all the muscle cramps he was still suffering from, but that was not it. Being Alex Ruskin, if only for a little while, had left its mark on him.

But the devil always lay in the details, and not the big things were bothering him. Not the fact that he was no longer a twink with no hair on his body, who moved nimbly and definitely could suck himself, if he wanted to.

It was the sensation in his left ring finger. Or, better said, the lack of a certain sensation. While being Alex, he had found it natural to wear the guy's wedding ring, and it was rather weird that he would miss having it on his finger. Too often his attention was drawn to the naked finger, like he was always expecting to see something there.

He needed to call Aron and sort out everything.

Everything?

Look who decided to rear his ugly head.

I'm always here, thinking.

Yeah, but not what I commend you to think.

Could we just stop beating around the bush? What are we going to tell Aron?

Nothing about the body swap, that's for sure.

We can't say anything about Alex the cheater, either.

It's for the best just to keep our mouth shut, and make polite conversation.

Like what?

We can talk about the weather.

With hesitant hands, he took his phone from the table. Aron was not among his contacts, which he had erased a day after Aron's wedding. But he knew the guy's phone number by heart. The old one, and the new one Aron got after the New Entertainment incident. Since Aron had gotten his old phone from the scumbag reporter, Carter decided to go for that one.

"Hi," he mumbled.

His throat was dry, his palms were sweating, and the simple word he managed had sounded twisted, like spoken by someone who was drunk.

"Hey, buddy," Aron's voice came through, exhilarated and relieved. "How are you? Is that pain medication in full swing then? And how's your shoulder? The doctor told me ..."

He needed to stop Aron.

Fuck, I can't do this. It hurts just to hear him.

You have no choice. You don't want him to hate you, right?

How come there's no 'us' in this?

Frankly, I think you're doing this to yourself, and I don't want to be part of it.

"No, no, I mean, I still take some pills. Some are rectangular. I think. I mean. Aron, listen, I need to pay you back," he spoke, this time without drawling the words like someone on too much ibuprofen.

"Ah, don't worry about that," Aron said energetically. "When can I come see you?"

See me? Why?

"I need to see you," Aron continued, this time his voice getting deeper and serious. "You can't avoid me forever. I can't stand it. I won't allow it anymore. My mom and dad told me you're okay, but I need to see you with my own eyes."

"Why?" Carter asked the only thing he could think of.

A big question mark was stretching all over his brain, marking every nervous cell.

"Because I need to talk to you, and I can't do it over the phone."

"Can't or won't?"

"Both. I don't want people overhearing our conversation, for once, and I also want to see you. Say yes."

He gripped the cell phone hard in his hand. Aron was the same as always. Whenever Carter got caught in a long string of questions, Aron was always there to suggest the correct answer.

"Yes," he replied.

"That's great! I can come at your place after work today. Is that okay with you? Have you started working?"

"Yeah, but I can take a break," he admitted. "I work from home," he needed to explain.

Redundant information? Stilted conversation?

We're not handling this well.

Oh, fuck, we're heading towards a huge ass disaster, aren't we?

Yeah, but ...

Aron wants to see me. He will. End of story.

There was a short pause at the other end.

"I can barely wait to talk to you," Aron said gently. "It's been too long. Just ... know this, Carter. I'll always be your friend."

He didn't even say goodbye, and just cut off the conversation. There was just this much he could handle.

TBC