( THREE MONTHS LATER )

Arya's dress was gray, and though she really disliked dresses in general, the one that adorned her body was possibly Arya's favorite of all the ones she had been forced into. The weather in New York had begun to brighten up with winter finally coming to a slow and steady end, the March air rolling in with fresh rain and frequent sunshine. Even though there was still a leftover bite from the cold that often required Arya to step outside in a long-sleeved shirt, she didn't mind. This was her favorite weather.

Her dress, long-sleeved and flattering for Arya's small and thin frame, was perfect for this weather. It was plain, with no beads and no designs, but the more fitted top flared out into a rather flowy skirt that reached her mid-thighs, and the scooped neckline allowed the simple silver heart chain she paired with the dress to glint subtly on her neck. When Sansa had seen Arya walk down the stairs wearing the dress, she had even smiled.

Then again, Sansa seemed to smile a lot more often these past three months.

The air conditioner in the ballroom was on at full blast, but even with Arya's bare legs, she didn't mind. The drinks Aegon kept passing her managed to keep her quite warm throughout the night. Though everyone knew she wasn't yet twenty-one, it only took one look from Aegon to make the bartender forget her age.

Aegon had his hand resting comfortably on Arya's knee, and she found herself not minding the display of public affection as much as she used to, and when she turned to meet his eyes, it was only to offer a sweet smile rather than a biting remark.

That was how her days went now. For the past three months, every day, she'd wake up and greet her parents, and she'd either go to class or she'd spend the day with Aegon, or she'd spend the day, surprisingly, with Sansa. Sansa, who always made casual remarks about Gendry as they browsed stores and ate sushi. Sansa, who was currently smiling as Willas kissed her cheek across the room.

Arya found herself smiling at her sister's happiness, and Aegon squeezed her knee gently. She turned to face him fully, her lips wrapped around the straw of her drink.

"You look exceptionally beautiful tonight, Arya," he told her.

Arya smiled widely at him. "Thank you," she said. "You look handsome, as well."

But her compliment was lost on him. He had shifted his attention to the door, and when she saw his eyes darken, Arya turned around to see what had changed his mood so swiftly.

And then she saw Gendry for the first time in three months.

Their last interaction stung her memory, digging its claws into her mind with the bitterness that she'd felt as she'd walked away from him for what she thought was the last time. He'd been even more bitter, if she remembered correctly, and she was certain that she did. That conversation would always be seared into her memory, unfortunately for her.

Telling him she loved him while at the same time pulling herself away from him.

She had never wanted to punch someone in the face so much as she wanted to punch herself in that moment.

"Gendry's here," Arya said, murmuring the words under her breath as if she only meant to say it to herself. "I had no idea that he would be here." She really shouldn't have been surprised, but she hadn't been aware of any of his whereabouts for so long.

Just being in the same room as him, even though they were on opposite sides of it, brought back memories she didn't care to think about.

Their first kiss, standing in the middle of her house. Their first time sleeping together. Their many conversations traded between text messages and phone calls.

And then the bad memories, as well. His jealousy over Aegon. Her family telling her that he wasn't good for her. Him believing it and breaking up with her. Kissing her at Renly's house three months ago.

When their eyes met across the room, Gendry raised his hand slowly, hesitantly, in a weary wave. She did the same, a small smile gracing her lips. One more memory came rushing back to her: Telling him that they really couldn't be together until he learned to accept who he was because she couldn't always be his spine, his backbone. Some things you just had to do on your own.

Gendry made his way over to her and Aegon, and when he reached them, Arya immediately hopped off her chair, kissing his cheek. "Gendry," she said, allowing her lips to linger for several more moments against his cheek, definitely longer than necessary. "It's been awhile since I've seen you. How have you been?"

He kissed her cheek as well, the soft touch of his lips against her skin making her eyes close for just a few seconds as she thought of what could have been if they had been born in the same world. After they parted, he straightened and held out his hand to Aegon. Aegon regarded him coldly for a few moments before he saw Arya's look and brought out his hand. The handshake was stern, unforgiving—she could see from the way their knuckles turned white and the tendons popped that it hurt both of them.

"Arya," he said, turning back to Arya. "How have you been?"

She nodded her head slowly, looking around the room. "I've been good." It wasn't a lie. Somehow, her relationship with everyone in her family seemed to improve once Arya stopped allowing her bitterness to seep through into their home.

"I heard Sansa and Willas moved in together," Gendry said.

At this, Arya couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. Her eyes found them once more. Sansa looked breathtakingly beautiful in her long teal dress, her arm hooked securely through Willas's as they made their way around the room. It wasn't a coincidence that the Lannisters hadn't been seen in awhile.

"They did. Just last week. I've been at their apartment almost every day—it's absolutely gorgeous."

They stood there, the three of them, allowing the awkwardness and the tension to swirl around them. Gendry was looking down at his shoes and fiddling with his hands behind his back, Aegon had his eyes trained on Gendry, not allowing them to waver for even a second, and Arya was caught in between them, as she had been for what seemed like forever already, willing one of them to speak before she had to do it first.

But neither of them were breaking, so Arya rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. "Anyway," she said meaningfully with an imploring look to Aegon, "there are still some people we need to greet. My mother and father worked hard to pull this charity gala together, and they've had enough of me avoiding all of them for a lifetime."

She took Aegon's arm in hers and walked away from Gendry, but it was clear that it wasn't over.

As soon as they were on the other side of the room, Aegon turned on her. "Do you still have feelings for him?" he asked.

Arya had seen it coming, so she took it all in stride, simply waving his question away with her hand and rolling her eyes again.

"Aegon, don't be silly," she said, not letting her eyes leave the sea of people in front of her. "Gendry and I have been broken up for four months, already."

But she could tell that her answer wasn't good enough for Aegon. His eyes were alight with a type of anger that she hadn't seen before, an anger that was mixed with tension, betrayal, and even a little bit of sadness. As far as she could see, all of his emotions were genuine. That, if anything, was enough to make Arya feel at least a little guilty. For what, she didn't know. She'd been loyal to him the entire time, except for the one kiss she'd had with Gendry on Renly's balcony, but Arya liked to think that was excluded from her list of horrible things she'd done, since she'd told Gendry to never do that again, and later told him they couldn't be together. She had never told Aegon about that kiss, out of fear for what he would do to Gendry, but she always wondered if somehow, Aegon knew. If he knew how Gendry had backed her up against the railing of the balcony, whispering in her ear about how he knew Aegon didn't satisfy her, how he had made a mistake breaking up with her, and how he wished he could take it all back so they could be together again. She wondered if he knew that when he kissed her, all thoughts of Aegon fled from her mind.

"Look at you," Aegon said, shaking his head at her. "You can't even look at me when you deny your feelings for him. The past three months, you've walked around, pretending to be the good girl your parents have always wanted you to be, but you forget that I know you. I know you want to go out at three in the morning like we used to do in the Hamptons. I know you want to run down the streets of Manhattan with no shoes on again." He paused, crossing his arms over his chest before he spoke again, as if he needed to build up the courage to say his next words. "I know you're still in love with Gendry."

And as she tried to force her denial out from between her clenched teeth, Arya wondered if she was truly the worst girlfriend ever.

But she couldn't get the words out, and she could do nothing but stand still, trying to avoid Aegon's gaze.

He scoffed. "You can't even deny it anymore, can you?" he spat before walking away from her.

Arya knew that her worst moment was the next few minutes, when she didn't follow Aegon into the crowd. She didn't attempt to search for him. She didn't try to plead with him, to make him understand that Gendry was her first love and of course he would always have a special place in her heart for the experiences he'd given her, the feelings he'd made her feel for the first time in her life. Instead, she stood back against the wall, still surveying the crowd in front of her, blankly taking them all in without really seeing them. She wondered once again if she was the worst girlfriend in the world, not giving a care when Aegon walked away from her, not knowing if it was for the last time or if it was just another fight, added to their list of many over the past three months.

But she didn't care when she saw Gendry again, only a few feet away from her. She approached him nervously, hesitantly waving at him again. "Hey."

He faced her, surprised to see her in front of him again, and without Aegon this time. He waved back. "Hey." They stood there in silence for a few seconds before a waiter passed by with a tray of champagne flutes, and Gendry quickly snatched two.

She took the second one he held out for her. "Thanks."

Silence again. Arya closed her eyes, regretting once more everything that she had done to hurt him the last time they saw each other.

"I'm sorry," they said at the same time.

Arya opened her eyes, eyebrows raising. "What are you sorry for?" she asked.

"For making you feel like I was pressuring you into something that you didn't want yet. What are you sorry for?"

"For hurting you the last time we spoke to each other. It wasn't right, the things I said."

"They were true."

"They weren't!" she said, even though she knew they were.

"Arya, come on. It's been three months—it's okay. You were right. I need to fix my issues with myself before I can hope to win you back."

His words settled deep within her bones, and Arya felt a shiver travel down her spine.

She wanted that, she thought. She wanted him to call her up at four in the morning and tell her that he still loved her, that he knew she loved him, too. She wanted him to kiss her again, right in front of all these people. She wanted it so badly that it almost hurt. But she knew that couldn't happen—at least, not yet. Arya took a deep breath and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, biting her lip nervously. "Well," she said, "why don't we start by trying to become friends again before we get to that part?"

He smiled at her, a real smile that she hadn't seen in a long time. Arya grinned back at him, and for just a moment, things felt like they could be okay soon.

Gendry nodded at her, drinking his champagne slowly as he contemplated his next words carefully. "I'd like to be friends with you again," he told her. "Things haven't been the same without you. How about drinks later this week?"

"Yes," she said before he had even finished his sentence.

Gendry smiled again, and she knew they were both imagining the moment when he finally did call her up and tell her that he wanted to be with her. She'd said she loved him—it was up to him to choose what to do with that information. It had been three months of radio silence on both ends, but now that they were slowly making progress, Arya felt like they didn't really matter anymore.

( O O O )

People were crowding around Arya, their backs brushing up uncomfortably against her arms and shoulders. The force with which they were trying to push past each other made her feel claustrophobic, but she didn't say anything to Gendry, though he was also looking very uncomfortable in his seat across from her.

She didn't think it was all because of the annoying people surrounding them, though.

When the waitress set their drinks down on their table, placing them on top of a napkin and disappearing with the tray, Arya took her drink gratefully and took a long sip from it, eyes trained carefully on the table until she set the glass down.

When she looked back up, Gendry was still drinking from his own glass, his eyes focused on a spot somewhere behind her head, where he had been staring for the past ten minutes.

Arya cocked her head to the side and leaned her cheek on her hand, studying him as he tried to ignore her. "Gendry," Arya said slowly, waiting until he had his eyes on her to continue. "This isn't going to be easy, is it?"

Gendry opened his mouth, looking like he was ready to deny it, but then thought better of it.

"No, I don't think it will be."

Arya sighed disappointedly. She wanted to be in Gendry's life again. She wanted him to be in her life again. It wasn't fair. They'd spent months—months—coming together, and then they broke apart. And now, though Arya was sitting right across from him, she felt like they were farther apart than they'd ever been.

She could tell Gendry was thinking the same thing. He was fidgeting, his index finger tracing the rim of his glass, his knee bouncing uncontrollably under the table. "Maybe...I should go, Arya. You should get home. I'll drive you."

Arya's eyes shot up to Gendry's face. He was already rising from the table, taking his wallet to throw a few bills next to his drink that he barely touched. She blinked a few times in surprise, and finally shook her head. "No," she said. "Sit down. I'm not going to let you walk out of here. Do you know how badly I've wanted to talk to you for the past three months? Hell, do you know how long I've wanted to talk to you since you broke up with me?" She extended her hand across the table and pointed her index finger at his chair, which he was now simply standing next to. "Sit down, Gendry. Sit down and be my friend again, finally."

Gendry had a small smile on his face, a smile that said he'd missed her, missed this. Arya had, too. What she'd just said, her little speech, had been the most Arya-like thing she'd said since they'd broken up. It felt good.

Just as he was about to take his seat again, Gendry looked behind her once more, and immediately tensed up. Arya looked behind her to see what it was, and froze.

"Arya?"

Arya took a deep breath and looked at Aegon hesitantly, her hand gripping the back of chair tightly. Her knuckles were turning white, and she loosened her hold slightly. "Aegon," she said simply, "what are you doing here?"

She didn't say it in a nasty way. It came out as if she was simply wondering what her boyfriend's plans were for the night, and asking how coincidental it was that they ended up in the same place.

Aegon crossed his arms across his chest and raised his eyebrows at her. "I was supposed to be meeting an old friend for drinks tonight. I see that you had the same thought in mind for tonight, in the same bar."

"It's a small world, isn't it?"

"A bit too small," Aegon retorted with a look at Gendry, who bristled.

Without another word, Aegon turned on his heel and walked away from them. Arya exhaled sharply, and looked back at Gendry with panicked eyes. He looked tired already, motioning for her to follow him. He looked pained as he did it.

Arya followed Aegon out of the bar, only catching up to him when they were outside. He turned around to face her, the expression he wore showing anger and betrayal. Arya walked out of the bar's door, letting it swing closed behind her slowly. She stepped off the front stop and came to a stop in front of Aegon.

"Why?" he asked simply.

Arya sighed exasperatedly. "Why what?" she asked. "I didn't do anything. I was having drinks with my friend, the friend that I haven't seen in three months, the friend that I haven't properly talked to in four months. It was two old friends catching up after not speaking for too long. There's nothing to ask why about because nothing happened."

Aegon shrugged. "I don't believe you," he said plainly.

Arya was taken aback, jerking back as if she had been struck across the face. "You don't believe me?" she asked, eyebrows raising.

"I don't."

Arya scoffed and shook her head. "That's pathetic," she told him. "It's pathetic that you even think that I would cheat on you, that I wouldn't have the decency to tell you to your face that I want Gendry more than you."

Aegon regarded her coldly. "Did you rush to tell me what happened on the balcony between you and Gendry three months ago?"

Arya froze, her breath catching in her throat. Her blood was ice in her veins, her heart stilling in her chest. "That wasn't anything—"

He cut her off. "There is nothing friendly between you and Gendry. There never has been."

With that, he turned around again, and walked away from her. She had no idea if it was the last time he'd do it. She didn't know if she'd wake up tomorrow morning and see a text from him, or get woken up from a phone call from him at three in the morning. But what Arya did know was that she simply didn't care anymore, and she hadn't really cared in a while now.

Arya stood there for a few more moments, watching as the back of Aegon's head disappeared within the crowds of people on the streets. She didn't call out to him. She didn't attempt to get his attention so she could apologize as she probably should have done. She just walked back into the bar and made her way back to the table she'd been sitting at. Gendry, thankfully, was still there. His glass was empty, and there was a new one sitting next to it, the straw clasped firmly between his lips. When he noticed her standing next to her chair, he raised his eyes to her and motioned for her to sit down.

She did.

He slid the glass over to her, and she drank.