BOOK II.
Four months have passed since Ashton and Ria's relationship fell into ruins. He's convinced that she hates him and she believes he never loved her. Giving up on each other, they attempt to mend their loneliness in the arms of their past; Ch...
❝We left so much time to let hate fester within us.❞
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ASHTON HASN'T SEEN his friends in five months. The mere thought of being near them again sends an eternal light bursting through his dismal walls.
So Ria won't be here to see him as a new man? A man with a new purpose. A man who's fought his addiction successfully for five months.
So she's happy with Chris? So she doesn't love him?
Ashton can't expect the entire world.
He hastens to his room where Vivian is lying across their bed scribbling poetry and humming to herself. A smile graces him as she does the one thing that seems to make her happier than anything these days.
She'll write for hours and then have Ashton proofread and correct her spelling. Her large eyes will stare at him anxiously, waiting for his approval of her work. Her poetry is beautiful and depressing all at once. It's like she's trying to express her hope and sadness all in one twist of furious words.
"Hey." He softly grabs her attention and raps his knuckles against the door.
She greets him with a simper and taps her pen to the page she's working on. "Hi. I haven't finished this last one yet, but you can read it when I'm done."
"Actually, I was going to tell you that Jared and everyone else will be here soon."
Her pleasant smile vanishes and she stares at him as if he just spoke fluent Latin. "Huh?"
"Jared and the others are coming to see us," he clarifies. Pleasant chills cascade his body, loving her gradual realization.
Her jaw hangs open and she springs off the bed faster than he's seen her move in seven years. "What?" Her voice shatters the mellow atmosphere and she stumbles across the room until she's standing right before him.
"Yeah." He rubs his neck while biting back his amusement. "They've been saving up to fly over, I guess. He just messaged me and said he'll be arriving in like five minutes."
"Oh my god!" she exclaims and turns her attention to everything in the room with franticness. "I-I'm not ready! I have to look presentable." She looks down at her long-sleeved sweater and black tights, the same thing she's always worn. "Why didn't you tell me?" she demands and glares at him. "I look awful."
Vivian shoves past Ashton and scrambles into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. A second later, the shower is running.
"Oh wow." He chuckles and shakes his head. "How is she this obliviously cute?"
Anxious fingers knead through his hair a few times as he attempts to collect a reasonable amount of oxygen. It's beenfive months. Dea will surely tear him to shreds when she sees him, all the while telling him how much she loves him. Sophia might kick him into the next century and demand answers about their mother.
