Forget Me Not

Chapter 15

"The future for me is already

a thing of the past -

You were my first love, and

you'll be my last."

-Bob Marley

Ezra

A loud slam of the door woke me up from my deep slumber. I looked to the side to see that nobody was sleeping soundly next to me. Aria was gone, and the sheets weren't warm all of a sudden. I heard the jingle of her keys as she threw them on the counter, her face was red and puffy. I was lost. She was clothed, but you could tell it was something she threw on within seconds. She sniffled and rubbed her head. I jumped out of the bed and walked to her, kissing her forehead. She was freezing cold.

"Where've you been? What's wrong, babe?" She flinched and backed away. Had I done something? "Is it me? I-I can go.." She shook her head at me and wiped her nose. If it were anyone else, I would see it as a gross gesture of sadness, but when Aria did it, it was cute, but a sad cute. I frowned as she walked away from me and sat on the couch. I sat next to her and pulled her into me. Hugging her close, trying to warm her.

"Is this about Alison?" Her eyes grew, but shrunk soon after she realized her quick reaction.

"N-No. I just found something that-" She was lying and it felt like Alison all over again. I didnt want to compare, but it felt repeditive.

"You don't have to lie. We can be honest with each other, Aria." I may have forgotten who she was, but the moment I saw her again, it was like reading an already opened book. Like cracking a code only I knew like the back of my hand. The way she paused before she spoke was always a dead give away, and the way she avoided my eyes and stammered. She breathed through her nose and grabbed my hands.

"I love you, alright?" I nodded. I wasn't sure I wanted to know where this was going. "But, please-" I stopped her quickly.

"If you don't think we should be together anymore because of Alison, or-or just because you don't think we would work, I understand and I won't force-" She put her finger to my lips to shut me up. She shook her head, and let a new batch of tears stream down her angelic face.

"No, no, no. I just want you to give me time to tell you, because this is big, and I want you to be in the best of shape and- and I can't spring it on you, so, I just need time, because I can't even comprehend it." I was speechless, what was one supposed to say? I nodded. She pressed a kiss to my lips and smiled sadly. Aria sniffled and rubbed my arm.

"So, breakfast?" She put up such a good front, if I didn't know any better and she wasn't crying, I wouldn't have suspected a thing. Which led me to believe that whatever she was hiding or protecting me from was big, bigger than even I as I writer could imagine.

Aria

We sat at the mini table and ate our chocolate-chip pancakes in silence. He was worried about me, because every time he would look at me, he would shoot me puppy dog eyes. The snow wasn't as bad as it usually was, and by the time we had both taken showers and were covered head to toe in socks and layers of clothing, we were ready to take on an extremely lazy day. I was buddled up in Ezra's Hollis sweatshirt and he wore a tight UCLA one. I thought back to just a few hours ago, at Jason's apartment. He was right, everthing he told me was big. Too big for someone like me to handle. And if I couldn't find someone I could trust to confinde in, I would explode and tell Ezra everything. Now I knew what I needed in order to take Ali down for good. But if I did, I would be taking Ezra away from me too, emotionally.

The Night Before

I slammed my fist against the run down apartment complex door, Jason had buzzed me up. My hand was numb from the cold, and I had foolishly forgotten to wear a swearshirt that could endure such weather. Jason's door swung open and his hair was everywhere, and it wasn't cute, nor attractive.