It wasn't a good ride home on his bicycle. He could still hear echoes of Chloe's friends making fun of him as he left school, "Oh my God he even rides a bicycle while Scott has a car. Why was Chloe even wasting her time with this church rat?"
"She never liked him. Chloe told me she only wanted to use him to get Scott."
"Really?"
"Of course. Chloe used to fuck with Scott while she was still dating that pathetic loser."
"How'd you know?"
"Chloe tells me stuff, and she used to swallow a lot of pills cos Scott likes it raw. And he ain't good with the pull out."
Aiden could remember every single word of that conversation.
"That girl used me! She used a fucking orphan. But I blame myself. Cos I'm just some poor stupid piece of shit!" He said angrily as he got closer to the one-room apartment he'd been living in. He'd passed by a tech shop to pick up a new flash drive, he wanted to complete something he'd been working on for the past three months. He'd been working so hard on his hacking skills, trying to break into secured networks of the most popular banks in Pritsel City. It was a secret he never dared reveal to anyone, not even Scott who he once believed to be his best friend. No one knew of his knowledge about hacking.
As he approached his door, he reached for the key he usually kept hidden in a flower pot outside "Gotta get my keys right here." His hand fumbled around, but he couldn't find it "What the fuck?" Panic prickled at the edges of his thoughts. "Where's the damn key?" He looked around confused. The only people who knew he used to keep the key in the flower pot were Scott and Rikki, the girl Scott had been dating before he snatched Chloe.
"Wait, is someone in my room? I see a figure in there." Aiden noticed a flicker of movement inside his apartment. Someone was definitely in there. "This better not be a thief. Cos ama fuck him up!" His pulse quickened as he pushed the door open, ready to confront whoever was in there. The apartment was quiet, except for faint noises coming from the bathroom, "someone's in there." He moved cautiously towards the sound, every nerve on edge.
"Maybe I should get a bat." He spoke to himself knowing the person might be armed.
When he opened the bathroom door, he was stunned to see Rikki, about to sit in the bathtub, she had already hung her towel and was stark naked with one foot in the bathtub.
"Shit!" Aiden wasn't expecting that.
She gasped in shock, "Fuck!" She tried to grab her towel severally but failed as Aiden's eyes got locked on her flawless skin. He couldn't move for a few seconds.
"You're supposed to look away Aiden." She yelled and grabbed a towel from the floor to cover herself.
"Oh shit I forgot. I'm so sorry." He wasn't sure if he was sorry. He liked what he saw. He hadn't seen something like that in a long time, especially because Chloe was never intimate with him.
"Aiden! What the hell? You should've knocked!" she screamed, clutching the towel tightly.
"Ah…" Aiden quickly looked away, holding up his hands in apology. "I'm sorry! I didn't know who was in here."
"You don't look at your friend's girlfriend like that Aiden. You didn't even look away."
"You should've called and told me you were coming over."
Rikki's eyes were wide with a mix of surprise and embarrassment. "I didn't think I needed to. I mean, I come around sometimes without telling you. And you don't mind."
"Well now look at this."
Rikki's face fell, but she ignored talks about what just happened. "I haven't been able to reach Scott for days. Do you know where he is?" She changed the topic.
"Scott! Punk!" Aiden's anger flared again, but he managed to keep his voice calm. "Scott's been busy snatching my girlfriend with his money. Seems like he's moved on from you, too."
"What? Are you kidding me?" The realization hit Rikki hard. Tears welled up in her eyes as she sank onto the bathroom floor, her towel slipping slightly as she sobbed. "Hey hey, don't do that. Don't cry." Aiden's heart ached, despite his own pain. He knelt beside her, awkwardly patting her shoulder.
"Scott did that to you? And me? He's your best friend."
"I'm so sorry, Rikki, for you," he said softly.
Rikki still wasn't so sure about it "it's not April, don't tell me this is some April fool shit."
"It's none of that."
"A prank maybe?" She didn't want to believe it.
"It ain't no prank."
She looked up at him, her eyes red and puffy. "How could he do this to us? I thought he cared."
Aiden shook his head. "Turns out Scott let the money get the best of him. I'm not gonna rest until I become rich. I ain't got a rich dad like he does and no mum like him, no inheritance or shit, but I'm gonna be a fucking billionaire before this god damn year runs. Mark my fucking words!"
15 minutes after Rikki left, Aiden took his laptop from the box under the bed. He always used to hide it because he knew his device had a lot of sensitive information. He pressed the power button and then got frustrated after a few seconds "Why's it taking forever to boot?" He looked at the flash he got from the store about an hour ago. "Sometimes I just wanna switch to MacBook." He said then realised he was used to the windows operating system and would be a learner if he switched to MacBook. "Shit!" He cursed to the realization. "Man… I gotta make this money, and I gotta make it fast."
The laptop was 'ON, and Aiden sat hunched over it, fingers flying across the keyboard. He wanted to hack Winxton Bank, the bank believed to have the strongest security system in the city, but he managed to find some weak points in the security system and he was ready to explore them until his hard work pays him in billions.
"Another Barrier? What the fuck man? These dudes really got security for real." The screen's glow illuminated his focused expression. Lines of code scrolled rapidly as he navigated through layers of cybersecurity.
"Oh yeah… Just a little more," he muttered to himself, his eyes narrowing. He paused to adjust the black face mask he had on in the hoodie, but before he could get back to work, a loud ringtone shattered his concentration.
"Shit!" He cursed under his breath and glanced at his phone," I knew it, oh shit I'm fucked again." He recognised the number immediately. With a resigned sigh, he answered.
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Aiden, it's Silas. Where the hell are you, man? Your shift starts in fifteen minutes," came the voice from the other end, laced with impatience.
Aiden forgot he needed to be at the bar where he worked to earn some little cash. He looked at the time, groaning. "Crap. I'll be there. Just... give me a sec."
"A sec is already over."
"Come on man, you know it's just something people normally say."
"You better be here quickly, haul ass, or Boss is gonna lose it," Silas warned before hanging up.
"Damn it! Damn it! Why do I keep getting distracted?" Aiden shut his laptop with a frustrated snap. He took off the mask, took off the black hoodie and threw on his jacket then bolted out the door, racing down the stairs of his apartment building. "Winxton Bank, I'm coming back for you." As he sped through the streets, his mind was a whirlwind of unfinished codes "B equals Q plus zero, zero seven." He said, trying not to forget.
He burst into the bar, slightly out of breath. "Look at the shitty ass dude, why' you sweating like a pig?" The manager asked immediately he saw him rushing in.
"I was running." Aiden said panting, and the manager shot him a withering look. "You're cuttin' it close, Aiden."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm here now, ain't I?" Aiden retorted, tying on his apron and slipping behind the bar.
"Keep this up and you're gonna lose this job."
The usual crowd of regulars was already settled in, nursing drinks and watching the game on the TV mounted in the corner. Aiden got to work, mixing cocktails and pouring beers with practiced ease. It was what he was used to, he'd been working at bars since he was 15 years old, lying to people that he was 18. It was better to do it than picking pockets as he used to do when he was a child.
A few minutes later, the door swung open, and a group of people walked in, laughing and chatting loudly.
"What the fuck are they doing here?" Aiden recognised them. At the head of the group was Scott, tall and impeccably dressed, with his arm around Chloe, Aiden's ex-girlfriend. They were followed by a few of their equally well-dressed friends.
"Hey, look who it is, Aiden the bartender" Scott called out, a smirk spreading across his face.
"Our favorite broke ass bartender." one of the friends said and everyone laughed.
"Hey man did you wash your hands or maybe take your bath today? Cos I wouldn't want you serving me some germs." Someone mocked.