I Choose You

19. The Moment of Truth (Edited)

Edited 

I gulped, staring at the door in front of me. Staring at the dark brown door that seemed to be intimidating me more than anything. I could feel a slight breeze coming and a rush of cold air hit my face, but still I stood, with my hand half raised.

Just tell him the truth.

What if the truth isn't good enough? What if he hates me forever?

Then at least you tried.

I bit my lip as another gust of cold rushed through the air, blowing my hair softly. This was it. This was either the moment everything was going to be okay, or the moment that Aiden decides he never wants to speak to me again. Just the thought of it had tears wanting to fall from my eyes as I continued to stand on his front porch, debating whether or not I should knock. I don't how long I'd been standing there, but not even the cold gusts of wind could convince me to knock on the door. I'm so afraid of what's going to be waiting for me on the other side of it.

When I did finally decide to knock, before I could even press my knuckles against it, the door opened wide, and for a split second I almost had a heart attack upon realizing that Aiden might be the one standing behind it, but I was instead greeted by his mother.

The once, bright smile I had remembered her by was no longer lingering on her face like I had seen a few weeks ago. It was instead replaced with a worrisome look and permanently furrowed eyebrows, but upon realizing that I was standing in front of her, a small smile broke out on her face, replacing her saddened features.

"Emery!" she cried. "Oh, it's so good to see you! I'm so happy you're here. It feels like we haven't seen you in a such a long time—!"

She threw her arms around me, rubbing my back as I politely returned the gesture. She continued to speak as I looked around, wondering where Aiden could be. There was no trace of his presence anywhere, no shoes next to the door, no loud banging noises coming from upstairs, everything was completely silent and that terrified me to no end.

I heard the tinking! of claws against wood, before Charlie emerged into the foyer, his head hanging low in sadness, but when he looked at me his tail immediately began to wag and he raced towards me, nudging my legs.

"—I've been asking Aiden when we might see you again—Charlie stop that!—but he hasn't really been particularly conversational lately and—Charlie!—I've actually been—!"

I don't think anything she was saying was really registering in my mind. I was more or less just politely nodding my head and semi-staring off into the distance, waiting for Aiden to pop up out some corner and scare the living daylights out of me, but there was no sign of him.

"—hoping that you—!" she stopped abruptly as she laid eyes on me, no doubt registering my worried expression. All I wanted was for Aiden to come out and show himself, and tell me that everything was going to be okay between us, but nothing was happening. Amanda's voice was laced with concern, "—are you alright, sweetheart? You seem a little flustered?"

I looked over at her, nervously biting my lips. "Is Aiden here?"

I don't know what it was, but her normal, bubbly personality closed off for a moment and she nodded in understanding, a sympathetic smile on her face.

"He's upstairs." she rubbed my arms soothingly. "You can go on up, sweetheart."

I nodded but said nothing else as Charlie began whining and nudging me towards the end of the hall with his nose. It seemed like he knew exactly where I wanted to go and was guiding me in that direction. I was grateful for it, because if it hadn't been for him gently nudging me up the stairs, I don't think I would have made it to Aiden's door.