A/N: I am so sorry for not updating in so long. I am going to try to start writing more, I can't make any promises though. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. Every time I check my email, I get excited and happy when it says a new review for Tell Me Why. So thank you, you don't know how much that means to me. This chapter is a little different, it is a memory, or well just Aria talking to you about what happened between her and Tom. Enjoy and please review, as I said before, it really makes me happy.
I remember the first time I met Tom. He seemed like the perfect man for my mother, oh boy was I wrong. He is a cruel jerk that sometimes I just really want to kill. I would never ever hurt someone, but him… I wouldn't think twice about it.
Mike and I were on our way to The Grille to pick up dinner. Ever since our dad died, we have eaten out more and more often. Most of the night it was at The Grille, so it was almost healthy. But I miss those nights we would sit around the dinner table talking about our day and everything.
I remember the first time for everything he ever did to me. I remember the first time he kissed me. It was while my mom was at the store, I was lying in bed texting Hanna. He knocked on my door and, if I would've thought what was about to happen was going to happen, I wouldn't have let him in.
He sat down on my bed as he said, "You know, you're really beautiful. Why don't you have a boyfriend?"
"I guess I just don't want one," I replied.
"Well, you don't want to waste that beauty, you won't be this young forever." Then he leaned in and kissed me forcefully.
I didn't know what to think. I didn't know what to do. I had never been kissed like that before. Well I had never been kissed before. He stole that first kiss from me. That was just one of the firsts of mine he would steal from me.
The first time he touched me. Now that I was utterly disgusted and surprised. I was lying on my bed, like when he kissed me, but I was reading a short story Mr. Fitz assigned us for homework. He sat down next to me on my bed, and he started talking to me like before.
"You are really beautiful, did you know that?"
"You told me last week I was. So yeah, I do know."
"Mmm, snarky. I like." I shot him a look that looked disgusted.
"What do you want Tom?"
"Now now. Don't get all frumpy on me." Then he got up and hovered over me. He moved closer to my face, I turned away. "Aria. Stop, or I'll tell your mother you aren't doing your chores."
He grabbed my face and pounded his lips onto mine. His hands explored my body in ways a stepfather should never do. Then his hands went under my shirt and to my boobs. I sat there wiggling trying to get away from him.
"No, stop it. Please."
"Shut up you ungrateful little bitch." That day was also the first day he hit me.
Then he put his hands in my pants, and I started crying. He didn't stop despite me yelling at him to stop. I didn't know if I should scream. I thought about it, but I knew I shouldn't, he could hurt me even more. Then the door downstairs opened and slammed shut.
"HONEY!? Are you home? I need to talk to you." That day was also the day my brother decided to move out. It was the worse day in my life.
The day I learned I was pregnant wasn't much better either. It was a month after he first raped me. In that time, he had raped me ten more times. Once when I was on my period, that was the most uncomfortable thing in the world.
I was sitting on the toilet staring down at the little white test. My period was five days late, and I was seriously worried. I had Spencer buy me a pregnancy test and I hurried to the bathroom at school. I sat at the toilet in tears when the little plus sign popped up. My life was over, I thought. I didn't know how I would explain it to my mom and Tom.
After school that day, I got home and Tom was sitting on the couch watching some sport. I sat down on the edge of the couch.
"Why are you late? Your mom is going to home soon. "
"I'm pregnant." I blurted out. I looked at Tom and he was speechless.
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
I shook my head.
"It's obviously not mine."
I sat there motionless. "Are you kidding me? Of course it's yours! I haven't slept with anyone by choice, ever! Fuck you."
I stood up and ran up the stairs. I could hear the slam of his footsteps behind me. I opened my door and slammed it shut. But it never closed. I turned around, there was Tom standing in the doorway staring at me.
"What did you say to me? You little worthless bitch!" He walked toward me and started punching me. This was the rest of my life, and my child's life.
Later that night when my mom got home, I asked her to come in my room so that we could talk. For the first five minutes, I squirmed around on my bed. Going from sitting to laying to standing. Butterflies flew around my stomach to my feet and back up to my stomach.
"Aria, what do you want to talk about?" My mom said as she put her hand on my lap.
"Mom," I took a deep breath, "I'm pregnant."
"What?"
"I'm pregnant."
"No, I understood that. But how?"
"Mom, I am pretty sure you know how."
"Who is the dad?"
"The dad is To-"
"The dad is Noel Kahn." Tom said when he popped his head into my room.
"I didn't even realize you two were still an item."
"We weren't, but it was just a one time thing."
"Wait… Why did Tom know before me?"
"Because Aria was visibly upset when she got home. So we started talking and she told me." He lied again.
"So Aria, are you going to keep it?"
"I DON'T KNOW! WHY SHOULD I MAKE THAT DECISION? Get out of my room please."
For the next nine months, I suffered bullying at school and home. Tom continued to rape me even though I was pregnant. He continued to beat me and treat me horribly. When Amelia was born, Tom didn't even wait a week to rape me again. It was non-stop from then on. The bullying got worse until I eventually just stopped going. And now I am here, in Ezra's apartment.
How did my life get so screwed up?
