Aries

Chapter 2

Nova

When Lily told me she saw him in the park two years ago, I thought she had him mixed up with someone else. It's not like the Graysons didn't live in this city, but there was much talk about them moving from town to town, city to city, and never settling down.

There was much talk about the Graysons around town. It wasn't gossip as much as it was news whisperings here and there about the many accomplishments they've done. It really wasn't until the eldest, Alex got married and settled down, and then Aden followed in his footsteps.

The only unsteady one that was left was Aries, the youngest. I hadn't seen him since high school, and I couldn't believe it's been that long. It's been almost eleven years. The boy with a crooked smile that would read books under the bleachers blossomed significantly.

I had blue eyes, but they were nothing like his. His resembled angry and stormy nights, unresolved tension and resentment, yet they were magnificent and so vividly beautiful to look at. So mesmerizing.

I remember how short his curls were in high school, but they seemed longer almost past his ear, and they were as disheveled as always. The last time I saw him in a suit was prom....and I wonder if he remembered that night. If he even thought about it. If he knew how much I regretted every word I spoke, that sometimes his face of pure hurt haunted me at night.

I never in my life thought we'd bump into each other, but then again I never thought I'd ever move back to this godforsaken city. When my father's drinking went from a few weeks binge to full-on abandonment, my mother took us, and we left New Jersey.

Now, we were back in this city, and the memories of who I was and what I did haunt me everywhere I go. I couldn't take back who I was in high school, and I couldn't erase the pain I caused him. I could just be the evolved and bigger person and hope that no one held any grudges.

Besides Aries. It was obvious he wanted to kill me when he saw me. I could see that look in his eyes. A look that was too murderous for someone as soft and sweet as Aries, but maybe I didn't know him. Maybe it was all fake. I had insisted on it, so it had to be true.

Right?

That was the odd thing about the whole ordeal. It didn't feel fake. None of it did. Aries...was real, genuine, sweet, and innocent. Every emotion, feeling, and word he offered me came from his heart and it didn't matter how many times I told myself it was all fake, it wasn't. It could never be fake.

What I had with Aries; I've never had with anyone else. Every man that I've ever hooked up with or even spoken to was stupid, couldn't keep their eyes off my rack, or automatically assume that since I smiled at them I wanted to sleep with them. It wasn't like that with Aries. We never got intimate.

Never even shared a kiss. I used to tell myself it was platonic, a way to use him, to take advantage because it was funny. Even if everyone in high school was stupid, pranks always resulted in hurting someone in the end.

I hurt him. I lied to him. I broke his heart, and the worst part was that I laughed while doing it. I knew it was real to him. I knew he liked me, hell he may have even loved me at one point, but I didn't have that anymore. I didn't have the right to have that ever again.

The Aries Grayson that I saw today wasn't the Aries Grayson who used to know the answers to everything and always have his hand raised. The Aries Grayson I saw today was more aloof, chill, laid back, and oddly stoic. I couldn't decipher a single emotion that washed over his face.

Despite what I couldn't see, I could feel everything. I could feel his anger, his distaste, his resentment but maybe that was all I deserved to feel from him. He didn't owe me anything. I should apologize, but it's been years and maybe he's forgotten about it.