the way i loved you

breathe

  "Ugh," I groan as I hear the brain penetrating sound of my alarm ringing in my ears, "God, it's too early for this."

  I swipe across my phone as I read the time, 7:45. I never actually wake up this early, I'm not insane. But considering I have a dumb training session, I guess I have to.

  I get out of bed and nearly fall flat on my face. Goddamn iron deficiency. I walk to the bathroom and take a quick shower to wake myself up. I brush my teeth, wash my face and put on a little make-up. I throw my hair up into a high ponytail and put on a pair of jean shorts and a tank top with light blue flowers on it. I put on my Converse and grab an orange while saying a quick bye to my mom.

  I make the quick walk down to the beach while eating my orange and enjoy seeing the beautiful sunrise across the San Francisco sky.

  "Love," a deep voice says from behind me.

  And moment ruined.

  I turn around slowly letting out a breath and shove another piece of the orange into my mouth. Xander looks at me with a blank stare, clearly not making any sort of move to talk. Or even look like he's breathing. Satanic behaviour.

  "Can I help you?" I question raising my eyebrows at him. God, he's so annoying. God, he's so attractive.

  "No," he says and pushes past me.

  What the fuck.

  "Hold on," I say chasing after him. Well, I mean if you call walking extremely fast in sand chasing. "Why would you even call my name if you only wanted to stare and probably chant some weird spell in your head to turn me into a frog," I say questioning him.

  He smirks, "I thought you didn't like the name 'love'?"

  "I don't," I say defensively crossing my arms over my chest.

  "Then why did you say that it was 'your name'?" he says leaning in and still smirking.

  I let out a breath to try and keep my cool. All I have to do is not let him break me. I can hold up a strong exterior. I am a strong, powerful, and independent woman, I can do anything I put-

  "Do you like it when I call you that?" he whispers.

  Oh hell no. I throw my orange peel at his face and storm off towards the lifeguard meeting. I don't hear him behind me but I know he's there. I can feel his satanic aura radiating off onto me.

  I hate when he does that. When he makes me look all dumb flustered and makes my cheeks go pink. It's so annoying. He does it to me, or I guess did it to me, throughout the school year too. Always leaning in, breathing a little too closely, cornering me in places I couldn't get out of without kicking him in the balls. And yes, that last part happened on multiple occasions.

  Is that why Lizzy and Mia say we have tension?

  "Hey, Aria!" I hear my name being called and turn to look to my right. I see Dylan walking toward me and I smile. You know he's really cute.