Everything Changes

Chapter 27: Fool me once shame on you, Fool me twice shame on me.

                                                   Aria's P.O.V

                      My lips still tingled the next morning as I touched them. The whole scene played over and over in my mind. The thought of going downstairs and seeing him made my heart race with excitement as well as being nervous. I could still feel his arms around me. How warm and safe I felt. AHHH I buried my face in my pillow. 

                   Come on Aria you got to calm down. What if he didn't enjoy the kiss? What if he didn't feel the same way? The insecurities that Zack caused were spilling over and making me feel like I was going to throw up.

            I knew I couldn't stay in my room forever. Doesn't mean I didn't try to but after about an hour I figured he was probably wondering where I was since I'm usually up around this time. The thought that he didn't want to see me kept creeping into my mind but I tried to push it back. My hands shook as I opened my door. The sound of it squeaking echoed down the hallway.

               As I reached the top of the steps it hit me. The house was completely quiet. There wasn't the usual sound of something being moved around in the kitchen or the tv being on. This isn't anything new to me. If anything it was the way it always had been since my dad died. Yet it didn't feel normal anymore. The new normal was Ryder. Even if he's only been staying here for a short amount of time. So the house being this quiet left me uneasy. He wasn't in the kitchen when I passed by it and my heart beat started to accelerate.

            The few steps towards the living room felt like forever. Why am I so scared? Was it the fact that I was now standing in front of the couch and the blanket was folded up like it had never been used? Or was it the note that was folded on top of it? Taking a deep breath I reached for it and without hesitating started to read. "Hey, Aria...something has come up and Erick needs me. I'm not sure when I will be back. I just have to take care of this. I'm sorry..."

             My heart dropped and my mind went blank. The only thing I could do was reach into my pocket and call the only person that would understand. She answered on the first ring. "Aria?" I tried to speak but I couldn't. All that came out was a whimper. "Aria what's wrong?" Still nothing came out but a whimper. "I will be right there okay?" The phone went silent before she hung up.

             He was clearly hiding from me. Why was Ryder hiding from me? Why was he lying? Did he regret it? That's the only answer here. The look in his eyes last night. Was regret, it was the only thing that made sense and when the realization hit me my heart dropped. I was holding back the tears as much as possible. 

            My hands itched to text him but I was too chicken to do so. I was questioning everything he ever said to me. What were lies and what was the truth? Did he actually believe that it wasn't my fault with the car accident or did he finally see that it was my fault and it scared him off?

             All these questions were floating around my mind. When the front door opened I jumped. For a split second I thought it was Ryder changing his mind. Yet the face belonged to Em and my heart broke all over again. She rushed over to me. "Aria, why are you crying? What happened?" I handed her the note. "Ryder left? He said in the note that he would be back. Why are you upset about this?" Yet he wouldn't be back. He realized the mistake he had made and got out as quickly as he could. "He's lying Em... Erick is out of town." She looked confused. "Erick told me yesterday that he was going out of town."

             She looked at me with pity in her eyes. I hated that look. I knew that look. Yet it felt like a warm blanket around me. My mind kept drifting back to the night of the accident and the months that came after. Everyone looking at me with pity. Whispering. "Yeah, that's the girl who was in a car accident that killed her dad." Now it's. "That's the girl that guy's feel sorry for so they pretend to care about her." No Ryder isn't like that. I have to believe that right? I felt like I knew him in the short time we spent together better than I ever knew Zack. If that were possible.