I Choose You

25. Time (Edited)

Edited 

Aiden hasn't spoken to me in days. And Autumn is with Blake.

So here I am, sitting in the café. Alone. Pondering everything that's happened between Aiden and I.

Maybe it was me, or maybe it was the fact that I was a complete and utter wreck at the moment, but the café looked rather dreary today. A couple sat in the back booth, the girl furiously shouting at the boy in front of her who was throwing his arms up in frustration. A young red—headed girl sat with silent tears trailing a river down her cheeks. And a boy in the booth across from her sat, staring into the distance as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

The entire atmosphere of the café had changed. The place that I had once come to seeking comfort and happiness had turned into a house of solace. Buckets of sadness and frustration tinged the air, leaving the entire room filled with a thick and suffocating atmosphere.

The place that had started to become the hang out spot for Aiden, Blake, Carter, Riley, Autumn, and I was now the place that was beginning to become my fortress of solitude. For the past few days, I've kept coming here, ordering my usual, and thinking about Aiden. Thinking about how much I hurt and betray him. Thinking about how much I wanted him to forgive me. But how many times was he going to forgive me for believing Evan over him? Aiden was right about him. How many times is he going to forgive me for choosing Evan over him?

The bell above the door gave its familiar jingle and I looked up, a part of me desperately hoping to see the one person I couldn't stop thinking about, but that same flood of sadness began to wash over me like a never—ending rain cloud, when all I saw was a young couple walk in, hand in hand. I suddenly felt my heart squeeze so tightly in my chest at seeing the two. The young boy sported a quirky grin as he stood and watched the brunette order herself a hot cocoa. The whole time, all he did was watch her, his eyes darting back and forth between her lips and her eyes, as if looking at her was the most important thing he could do. The way he looked at her...it reminded me of Aiden. That intense gaze only he could hold. Of how sometimes I would catch him doing the same thing to me. And that thought. That thought alone...broke me.

How could I ever think so terribly of Aiden? Especially after everything he's done for me?

I took a sip of my hot cocoa and wiped a tear that had fallen from my eye, turning my gaze towards the window, where just across the street lay Grand Central Park. The memories of the first time I had ever confided in Aiden flooded back to me. We had sat in that very swing set, sat on the same grass where I poured my fears out to him. I had confided in him at a time that I barely knew him, and I couldn't believe how far we'd come since then.

A lot has changed since that day.

Before I could think twice, someone slid into the seat in front of me, and as I turned my head, I caught the familiar glimpse of Riley's curled ringlets of hair. She looked at me sympathetically.

"Hey," she whispered.

I tried to smile, but it was limp. "Hey."

She looked at me.

"Are you okay?"

I let out a small breath.

"Not really," I whispered, looking up at her. I could tell she wanted to tell me something, and I wanted so badly to ask her if she knew anything about Aiden and the girl Landon had been talking about, but even if she did know I wasn't sure she would tell me. Riley has become so close with the boys I'm not sure anyone can break their bonds of friendship.