Getting the all clear from Nate, Aria spent the ride home arguing with Brax about how they should handle the situation and finally got him to agree to leave it be. She knew that he just wanted to protect her, but getting himself into trouble wasn't going to help and involving the police never did anything to solve the situation.

Waiting for school to finish, she headed down to the diner and immediately found herself pulled into a hug by Casey. Promising him that she was fine, she collected her school work from Dexter and dragged him to the surf club to play some pool.

"Aria," Romeo called from behind her, causing Aria to mentally groan as she turned to face him, "I heard what happened, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Aria replied, glancing over to the bar and spotting the girl that he'd had dinner with the night before watching them, "I think your date is waiting."

"She's not my date," Romeo told her as if it was important for her to know, "I'm glad that you're okay."

Staring at his back as he walked away, Aria returned her attention to the game she'd been in the middle of playing and ignored the knowing look that Dexter was sending her way. Sinking the eight ball into the corner pocket for the third time with a triumphant grin, she decided that it was probably time for her to head home for dinner and said goodbye to Dexter as they went their separate ways.

Taking off her shoes, she walked a little way along the beach and then took her usual shortcut to get back to the house. Spotting the police car parked up outside, Aria let herself in and walked straight into the kitchen without a word to anyone.

"Aria, can we have a word about the incident that occurred this morning?" Sergeant Buckton asked as she joined her.

"I have a word for you… bye," Aria stated, "If I wanted you sniffing around I would have agreed to let Brax ring you, but I have no idea who it was that attacked me and can't give you a description."

"We just want to help," Charlie added.

"Makes a change from you trying to pin stuff on my brothers," Aria argued, barging past and taking her school work to the room that she shared with Kyle.

It was late by the time she heard Brax come in from shutting up the restaurant and allowed herself to drift off to sleep, waking up early the following morning to go for a swim before facing school. Submerging herself in the salty water, she closed her eyes and let all her anxieties about the day ahead wash away.

Emerging from the water after twenty minutes of swimming, Aria headed back to the house and got changed into her uniform. Allowing Brax to drop her off, she made her way straight to her locker and was surprised to find Romeo leaning against it.

"Can we talk?" he inquired as soon as she was in hearing range, stepping aside so that she could dump her books inside and waiting for an answer.

"The bell is about to ring and I really don't want to be late for Mr. Copelands class," Aria mumbled, turning to walk away and glancing back over her shoulder, "I could meet you at the surf club after school though?"

"I'll be there."

Whispers and rumors followed her down the halls as she moved from class to class, but Aria had known how it was going to be. The day seemed to crawl by and she had repeated the phrase 'I'm fine' about three thousand times, but finally it was time to go home.

Deciding to go straight to the surf club, Aria walked as far as the diner with Dexter and then split off from their group to meet Romeo. Taking a deep breath, she went inside and found Romeo already waiting.

"Hey," she said as she took a seat, putting her bag by her feet and waiting for him to speak.

"I wasn't sure that you were actually going to turn up, but I'm glad that you did…" Romeo admitted, "Look, I really don't like the way things are between us right now and I need you to tell me how to fix it."

"It's not you that needs to fix things," Aria told him, knowing that he deserved the truth, "Do you know why I said no when you asked me out?"

"I kind of guessed that you didn't feel the same."

"That's not it at all," Aria said, swallowing nervously as she continued, "I said no because I didn't want to drag you into my life, the people that I let too close tend to end up getting hurt and I couldn't stand to watch that happen to you."

"Why didn't you talk to me?"

"Growing up I learnt that it was better to keep everyone at a distance, because if I didn't care, then it wouldn't hurt as much when they left," Aria explained, "I guess it's just hard for me to believe that anyone, other than my brothers, would want to stick around."

"If I didn't want to stay with you, I wouldn't have asked you out and I certainly wouldn't be here trying to put things right," Romeo argued, "Just give me a chance to show you that I'm serious… I'm not going to hurt you, Aria."

"What happens when something goes down that you don't like or agree with?"

"I've been friends with you and Casey for nearly two years, I've seen how bad things can get in your family… I'm still here saying that I want to be with you."

"I'll give it a try," Aria finally agreed, listening to her heart for once and ignoring the voice in her head that was telling her not to risk it.

Sometimes the biggest risks we take are the ones with our hearts.

Authors Notes: I just want to thank FrankElza and Bonnie Sveen Fan for their feedback, it means a lot. I hope you liked this chapter, I really didn't want to make things with Romeo an ongoing drama and I also wanted to give you a little deeper look into how Aria's mind works.