CHAPTER NINETY-SIX
CONCERNS

The said person who had caught the group at the school just so happened to be Lucas Sinclair.

The Sinclair boy was stressed to say the least. And unlike usual, Aaron wasn't paying attention to anything his best friend was saying, never mind trying to help him with his problem.

He was much too concerned with Kimberley Jenkins to focus on anything else.

Truthfully Aaron had hardly paid any attention to anything what was actually said on the car ride home from the high school at all.

It was Nancy's idea for the group to head back to her house to go over everything, seemingly convinced that would be the best place seeing as they'd have the space and privacy of the basement.

Robin and Nancy were in Nancy's car, leaving everyone else to pile into Steve's.

Dustin was in the front of Steve's car once more, leaving Max, Lucas, Kimmy and Aaron squashed into the backseat.

Aaron didn't care - in fact he'd hardly noticed. He was too lost in his own thoughts, and he wasn't the only one.

Max and Kimmy hadn't spoken once since the group had left the school, neither had Aaron. Although he assumed it had been for different reasons.

Max was most definitely slowly creeping down the same road that both Chrissy and Fred had, there was no denying that.

However Aaron was fighting with every fibre of his being to convince himself that Kimmy would be perfectly fine. That it was nothing but an inconvenient coincidence - that it was his overthinking and nothing more.

He'd sat biting his nails with his gaze never once leaving the view outwith the car window as he allowed his thoughts to consume him while the voices of Lucas and Dustin blurred into the background.

The shock from earlier hadn't exactly worn off, in fact he could feel himself getting more and more overwhelmed with each thought that entered his head.

But just like before, he was so frantic that he almost appeared calm to the eye, he was feeling so much fear that he didn't know what to do with himself.

His usual frantic breaths that usually possessed Aaron while panicked were not present, just like his usual panicked opinions and objects. Rather, the only thing that told the blond just how worried he really was, was the worryingly swift rate of his heartbeat as well as the fact his body wouldn't allow himself to as much as form a full thought.

Everything was a fuzzy blur to him, he wouldn't have even known if they'd arrived at Nancy and Mike's house unless someone spoke to him directly and let him know.

He was aware that Max was in grave danger - and he was greatly worried about his friend. But he couldn't lie to himself and attempt to say that he was more worried about Max than he was for Kimmy.

Without a doubt, Aaron was more worried about Kimmy by a landslide. So much that he could hardly function.

Perhaps he should have felt guilty about this, and if he'd actually managed to calm himself down by even a fraction then maybe he would have. But he couldn't calm himself down, and he didn't have any more worry left in him for the said misplaced guilt.

He couldn't find it in him to blame himself for his feelings anyway. Of course he'd be more concerned for Kimmy, why wouldn't he have been?

He was friends with Max, yes. But the only reason he'd ever seen her that past year or the only reason they'd even exchanged words was because of Kimmy. Because Kimmy and Max were best friends - that was it.

And while he cared about Max just like he did all his friends, it wasn't the same, no where close. And it wasn't exactly like Max held Aaron to some great standard either, they were simply friends because Max was best friends with Aaron's girlfriend. Sure, good friends at that, but she still didn't come close to Kimmy in his mind.

But then again no one did. It was hard for him to explain, and he wasn't really sure if he knew fully why himself, but she was different to everyone else. At least to Aaron she was.

Yes, the entire reason they'd met and the entire reason their friendship had blossomed was because Aaron had tried to help her. To stop her from hurting herself any further.

And he had done so, he'd helped her in more ways than he'd most likely ever realise - that he'd saved her in a way.

But what Kimmy hadn't realised and what Aaron most likely hadn't realised himself, she'd also saved him in a way, without the boy even knowing he needed saving.

While he hadn't been as messed up as Kimmy was when they met - or perhaps he wasn't messed up at all, and yet, she'd still somehow managed to unknowingly better him.

It was only little changes, although when comparing himself in that very moment to himself when they'd first met during that storm, himself and his life had definitely changed over those years.

Looking back, Aaron decided that his life was much better in the spring of '86 than it was in the winter of '83.

But it didn't make sense. Now he was having a shit time at school and his friend group had all drifted in closeness.

But maybe none of that mattered, because he was now closer to Kimmy and Lucas than ever, and maybe that made up for it all on its own.

Even if his friend group never would go back to how it was three years ago, he couldn't hold it against anyone, it was simply a part of growing up.

But the longer he thought about it all, he realised that he was definitely happier at home, even if he still didn't have a good relationship with his parents, his newly developed relationship with his brother made up for it and more.

Maybe through the eyes of his friends he hadn't changed at all, but then again, maybe in the eyes of his friends he hadn't helped Kimmy at all either. Aaron made the brief decision that his friends knew nothing on the matter of his internal growth.

But the longer he dwelled on it, the more he realised that maybe it was just Kimmy he was now different with. Aaron quickly shot down this idea.

Maybe his changes were more drastic with Kimmy, but that was it. He'd let her do stuff that he wouldn't let others do, and he definitely acted different with her than with others, but it wasn't like it was out of the blue.

He was so concerned with the brunette that he couldn't even turn to sneak a glance at her, despite the fact she was sat right next to him.

Aaron didn't want to think about what would happen if god forbid she did have some sort of vision, he didn't know what he'd do with himself if she was to die especially so horrifically.

"Aaron?"

The void voice of the girl next to him shook him from his thoughts, reluctantly shifting to look to her only to find her moving to get out the car behind Max.

Aaron hadn't even realised they'd arrived at the Wheeler's household.

He knew why she'd tried to get his attention, and still, he asked the first question that came to his mind. "What?"

His voice was almost a whisper, like he had to force his body to allow him to speak, to push down his intense worry for a moment and allow himself to function.

"Are you coming inside?" Kimmy asked him with a blank expression, yet, with worry still burning into her features.

Aaron nodded to her, and with that she left the car. However the blond didn't seemed to fully snap out of his daze until the car door slammed behind her.

In an instant, the boy got out of his brothers car and rushed after her as fast as he could, reaching out and grabbing her arm before the brunette could catch up with Max.

While Aaron expected her to look troubled or startled, she didn't. She simply glanced to him with an expecting expression, as if she'd already known he would want to walk with her.

"Listen, you, uh... it's just the headache right? And the... the nightmares?" Aaron struggled to get his words out, not even looking the brunette in the eye as he spoke. "That's it? You've not seen anything?"

Aaron wondered maybe if she confirmed this, he could finally relax a little, and go back to his usual routine of convincing himself he was overthinking.

"No." Kimmy shook her head, although Aaron could hear the fear present in her voice. "I haven't seen anything like Max did."

Aaron took a shaky inhale of breath, nodding his head frantically as he finally glanced up to meet her gaze.

"Okay." He sighed, a rush of confidence that certainly should not have been present flushing through him. "Thats good right? That's good. You'll be okay. You won't d-"

Aaron cut himself off quickly, shaking his head as he tried to think of something to say rather than the one word he hoped to avoid.

"You'll be okay." Aaron instead said in a rather firm voice, trying to convince both himself and Kimmy that his words were true. "You will be."

Kimmy didn't look convinced in the slightest, and he couldn't say he blamed her. But all he seemed capable of doing in that moment was telling her she'd be perfectly fine, like if he said it enough times it would be true.

"I don't know..." Kimmy trailed off, suddenly looking to her feet as she kicked a rock on the ground. "Max said the visions don't come until later, so-"

"I- but- but you could just be sick." Aaron tried to excuse, not wanting to hear the girls reasonings any more, even if they were realistic. "You'll be okay-"

"But I might not be-"

"No you will." Aaron interrupted her, an irritated expression on his face. "I- we are just overthinking it. You will be fine."

Angry, that was the word. Aaron was angry.

Why Kimmy? Why did everything have to go wrong for Kimmy? Why did bad things always have to happen to her?

Hadn't she dealt with enough over the course of the past nearly fifteen years? Aaron thought so. Aaron thought she'd dealt with enough for a lifetime.

Aaron was desperate in regard to whatever was going on with Vecna. The boy would have rathered anyone else. Anyone else but Kimmy.

Kimmy didn't deserve to die, the furthest from it. Although Aaron knew better than anyone that she'd accept her fate if that be it, she'd rather her than anyone else.

Despite it maybe being shallow and perhaps even a horrid thought, Aaron didn't agree. He would rather it happen to anyone else on the planet if it meant Kimmy would be okay. Himself included in that, he'd rather it happened to himself than her.

Many people said that, that they'd rather something happen to themselves than someone close to them - but they didn't necessarily mean it. It was simply words of reassurance, but if it ever came down to it, more often than not, they'd back out on their word.

Aaron felt this scenario was different. In a heartbeat he'd swap places with the brunette if it meant she'd be okay.

Despite trying his hardest not to think about it, he knew he wouldn't be able to cope if she did end up in the same state as Chrissy and Fred.

God forbid if Kimmy did end up dying, when the day did come, he would be beside himself. He would completely flip out - he knew he would. Whether that day would be the next day or years from then, he would flip the fuck out. He would not know what to do with himself.

Aaron tried not to think about it, despite knowing it was a realistic outcome that would play out in the next week.

"You're right." Kimmy surprised the blond by saying, although one look at her face confirmed that she was trying to force the thought into her head. "I'll be okay. It's just a headache, right? I'll be fine."

Aaron hesitated before nodding frantically. "Yeah. See? You're going to be fine, everyone gets headaches, you've just got one at an... inconvenient time."

"Yeah." Kimmy forced herself to agree with an almost reluctant nod. "And... and everyone gets nightmares now and again... right?"

"Definitely." Aaron nodded, the look of panic never leaving his face.

Kimmy didn't say anything else, and neither did Aaron.

Aaron tried to tell her something reassuring, tried to send her a reassuring look. But he couldn't. His mind failed him.

"Um... don't- don't tell anyone else about this." Kimmy sighed worriedly, biting the inside of her cheek as she looked to him almost pleadingly.

Aaron furrowed his brows in mild confusion at her words, and while he didn't really know why she'd asked that, he agreed anyway.

"Yeah, alright." The blond agreed. He wanted to leave it like that, but he couldn't help himself from asking why during all this that was her concern. "I won't mention it, but why don't you want the others knowing?"

"I just- there's more important things to worry about." Kimmy rushed to explain in a stressed tone. "It's- I don't know for sure if it's the same with me, but it definitely is with Max. I don't want to worry them about me for no reason."

Aaron figured that he should have known that would be a worry for her. She cared more about others than herself, especially her friends.

"I won't say anything." Aaron nodded, although he couldn't lie to himself and say he sounded convincing, because he knew that he didn't.

He wasn't going to say anything to the others if she didn't want him to, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't worry about her. Even if she didn't want him to.

"You'll be okay." He told her once more that night. Still not sounding particularly convinced himself. "The others won't need to know because nothing will happen, you'll be fine. You haven't seen anything, haven't had any... visions or anything. You'll be fine."

"Yeah," the brunette sighed.

"But you'll tell me if you do see anything. Won't you?" Aaron stressed while doing his best not to show her just how stressed he actually was.

"Of course." She nodded at once, sticking her pinky out for him to take. "Promise."

Despite the circumstances, Aaron let out a breath of a laugh before sticking out his own pinky and connecting it with hers. "Promise."

For the first time since leaving the high school, Aaron watched as the tips of Kimmy's lips pulled up in an almost amused smile, even if it was only for a brief moment.

Aaron forced a small smile in return, but it was had more sadness laced within it than anything else.

Kimmy must have noticed because whatever small smile lingered on her face had dropped and her eyes had softened.

"I'll be fine, remember?" She told him in a hushed tone. "Don't need to worry 'bout me so much."

Aaron rolled his eyes at the last part of her words, knowing he couldn't have done so if he tried.

With another look of pity that left Aaron unsure if she had meant it for him or herself, she leaned up to press a soft kiss to his cheek.

Aaron was puzzled, unsure why it was her trying to calm him down when it was clearly him who should be calming her down. But on the other hand, he was glad she had, because he was already well aware that he would be more worried about her over the next few days than he'd probably ever been in his life.

"Kimmy?" Max yelled from the front door of the Wheeler household, catching the twos attention. "Quick, come on!"

"Yeah," the brunette muttered to herself, nodding frantically as she reached out and grabbed ahold of Aaron's hand, tugging him behind her.

Despite not needing to, Aaron gripped her hand tight, already knowing he would not let the girl out of his sight the next few days unless absolutely needed.

...

NOT PROOF READ

SO SO SORRY for the lack of updates the past week, I've be so busy and on top of that wattpad went and glitched out on me whenever I was on the app too long.

Not so much anymore, but it was completely logging me out whenever I left the app and then sometimes wouldn't let me log back in for quite a while after so that's also reason why I haven't posted this past week.

But I will be trying to post quite a bit this week (at least 3 updates hopefully!!) so hopefully this will make up for it lmao.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great day and is enjoying the story!!!!

ALSO 31K READS?!?!?!?! TYSM I AM SO APPRECIATIVE OF EVERY READ, COMMENT SND VOTE!!! I love reading the comments so please don't hold back if you want to comment lol

- AJ :)