This is Aria's POV, I hope you enjoy. I'll try get the next chapter out within the next few days. :)
Chapter named after Paramore - Hate To See Your Heart Break
I felt a nudge on my arm, I slowly opened my eyes to see Emily standing beside the bed looking at me. I leaned up to have a look around at my surroundings, completely in a daze, noticing Hanna packing away the DVD and cleaning the mess that we created. I smiled, sinking in that this wasn't a dream. I was actually back home. I turned my head to the side of me, looking at the figure who had also fell asleep, she looked so peaceful.
"We're just going to head out now" Emily whispered, trying not to wake the sleeping Spencer beside me. I nodded, walking out of the room to escort them both out. We parted ways after the goodnight hugs and I closed the door behind me. I glanced at the hallway hooks, acknowledging that my mother had arrived back but I couldn't hear any noise at all on the lower part of the house. She probably went straight to bed, after all the last few days had been really stressful for her.
I made my way back to my room, tip toeing around to my wardrobe to pick out some shorts and vest. I wasn't going to wake up Spencer from the sleeping slumber, as soon as she arrived earlier I could see that she hadn't been sleeping well. I flicked off the lights to the room and crawled into the warm sheets, listening to heavy breaths beside me. I welcomed the comfortable feeling.
My world had been so chaotic the last few weeks with everything falling apart, I tried so hard to avoid it but how can I when my mother is literally breaking with each day that passes? No, we aren't thinking about this right now, brain. Just let me enjoy the simplicity of the current state of my surroundings.
So I lay there, just listening to the sounds of Spencer inhale and exhale deep breaths, letting the tiredness summon me and take me far away to the land of dreams.
"Aria. Aria. Aria. Ariiiiiiiiiiia"
Go away, voice. Let me sleep.
"Ar. Ar. Ar. Ar. Aria!"
Please let me sleep, I'm tired.
My body began to shake, making my eyes snap open. Spencer's leaning over me, smiling innocently. My initial frustration swept away as I laid here watching her, my eyes fixated with hers. I've never noticed the mixture of brown colors in each iris. I could feel myself getting lost in the stare.
"It's about time you've woken up" she scoffs, playfully.
"It's a good thing you're you, I was about to plot your murder" I mumbled, pulling out of the stare I was previously in, looking away from the girl leaning over me and glancing at the time. I groaned at the sudden realization that it was early. Who even wakes up at 7am?
"I thought I'd say goodbye before I left for school" Spencer replied to my groan. Oh right, school. I somehow forgot that was a thing - I had another week till I started back at Rosewood High. Spencer got out of the bed sheets, a cold draft of air hit my body - I'm definitely not leaving these warm bed sheets just yet - a part of me wanting to beg Spencer to come back to bed to provide some more of a heat source. It wouldn't of worked though - she's so anal about education. Well, it's Spencer. She's anal about everything.
"So what really happened when I was away?" I asked, watching her put her shoes on. But she jumped, becoming quite startled from the question. There was something seriously going on here.
"A lot happened over the year, Ar. Hanna got her new make over with Mona, next day they came into school and then the popularity thing happened. Emily seemed quite distance after Alison left, so she spent more time with the swim team, which I'm glad about. It's nice seeing them both happy." She shrugged, like it was nothing important. But that was far from the story, I could see it in her eyes.
"And what have you been doing?" I directly asked her, watching her body tense up.
"Lot's of things. Listen, Ar, I've gotta go, I'll call you later" She mumbled, avoiding eye contact with me and shuffled out of the room. I could tell she was trying to avoid the conversation, but she wouldn't win this battle; I'll just call one of the other girls after school to ask them instead.
Every day of the year that I spent in Iceland was spent worrying about Spencer, she would never know that though. We had grown quite close since the first day we met so I dreaded the day I had to part from her. I hoped that the girls would look after her, she might be a Hastings and that comes with tough skin but I saw the vulnerability of the girl inside. It use to comfort me when Spencer would message me about everything being the same in Rosewood but after last nights conversation it was far from the story she had told me. Why would she lie?
Great, so not only have I got family drama, my best friend was also keeping things from me. Welcome back to Rosewood, Aria. Ugh.
I spent most of my morning lounging around in bed with a coffee by my side and my laptop in front of me, looking at the pictures that I took in Iceland. I did miss it there; I missed the people that I had met and I missed the time where things wasn't complicated and everyone in my family were happy. It breaks my heart seeing the pictures of my parents together, smiling and looking like nothing could break down their marriage. Tough and indestructible. Well, that was far from the truth.
"Morning sweetheart" I heard the weak voice from the door, I looked up, forcing a slight smile at my mother. The last few weeks has took it's toll on her, she was a broken down version of the Ella that I've always known. The dark circles around her eyes meant she wasn't sleeping well and the puffy red eyes indicating that she must of spent another night crying. My parents never told us about what the real reason for why their marriage was breaking apart, just tried to reassure us that they needed time to sort their selves out. Mike had took it pretty bad, he wanted to spend time away so he arranged to spend time with family just outside of Rosewood for the week so it could settle down and my dad booked a hotel near by, waiting for the storm to pass over and giving my mother some time alone.
It was breaking my heart seeing her like this. I felt so useless.
"Hey, do you want to grab some breakfast?" I asked, hopeful.
"I would love to, but our living room needs sorting. I want to spend the day moving out of the boxes, how about you go out and pick us some up?" she replied, I knew the real reason was that she didn't want to be seen in the state she was in, she was a very head strong lady and she didn't want to be seen as weak to the community. I nodded, accepting the fact this was as good as it was going to get.
I finally left the warm sheets that had been draped over me all morning, instantly starting to miss the warmth. I should be use to the cold now especially after living in Iceland for a year but I unfortunately was one of them people who was always cold. I took a shower and threw on some black leggings, a long grey band t-shirt and a leather jacket. After I finished applying the make up to my face and messing up my multicolored brown and red hair, I honestly looked like I belonged in a rock band. If Hanna was here right now she would be going crazy to give me a new make over.
I decided to walk today around Rosewood, it was a long time since I checked out the town. I felt like a foreigner exploring a new city, taking in everything around me; from the characteristics of the buildings to the old structured lamp posts that were molded into the pavements. Reykjavik was a whole different world to Rosewood - beautiful, yes, especially with the snowy mountains on the outskirt of the city - but Rosewood would always have the keys to my heart. This would always be my home.
I payed for the take away breakfast and thanked the lady behind the counter and walked back outside. I took one more glance around the small town, everything still looked the same as my memories before I left which I was grateful for; everything was changing in my life, so at least there was something familiar I could hold on to.
The morning lead to afternoon, my mother and I spent the day hard at work in our old home. We put away each object from the boxes and adjusted the furniture; everything in the same position as before, it looked like we didn't even pack up for Europe and had stayed here for the last year instead. At least it made my mom happy, it had been the first day I've seen an actual sincere smile on her face. And that was enough to make me feel happy.
We spent the rest of the afternoon watching films on the sofa, both of us curled up underneath blankets. My parents had introduced us to the era of black and white films and I've had such a huge amount of love for them ever since - "Casablanca" being one of my all time favorites. It was a peaceful afternoon - something that my mother had needed. Her mood had improved since we finished moving back in, she genuinely looked cheerful. We both agreed that tonight we would celebrate the pleasant afternoon by picking up a Chinese, I offered to go and be the pick up lady as my mother looked quite exhausted.
I'd managed to drive all the way to the parking lot of the restaurant before I realized that I came out without my purse. A sigh escaped my mouth, dawning on me that I would now have to make two trips. It was a good job that everything wasn't too far away from each other, these were the times I'm thankful for Rosewood being a small town. I pictured my mother's face on the drive back home - I bet she would be waiting by the door with the purse I had left behind, smirking. I had moments of being quite ditsy sometimes.
After turning off the ignition to the car, I close the door behind me and walked up the steps to the house, hearing raised voices as I approached. Panic had alarmed my body, I pushed open the door to the house and ran inside. My legs suddenly came to a halt and I listened in to the argument.
"You fucking cheated on me, Byron! How could you expect things to go back to normal?" She screamed.
"Please, Ella. It was a mistake. Think of the kids!" he argued back, his voice pleading.
"Did you think about their feelings when you decided to ruin our marriage?" she growled back in return.
I couldn't listen any more, my heart was becoming too heavy in my chest.
I had to get away.
I knew things were bad, but not like this. I couldn't understand why my father would cheat on the woman he's spent his life with?
I grabbed my purse from the hallway table and ran out of the house to jump back in the car with no fixed destination in my mind - so I just drove.
I drove around the neighborhood now for an hour, I didn't know where to go. I mean, I could of asked the girls if they wasn't busy, but I didn't want to burden this on them. Especially with how proud of a woman my mother was. Our moms all speak to each other so the last thing I wanted was them to seek out to help her - it was her business to tell, not mine. Besides, Spencer was acting weird around me.
I saw a sign saying "Bar and Grill" - perfect. I needed something to settle the sickly feeling in my stomach. I pulled up the car, checking that I still had the fake ID that I purchased in Iceland; I remembered feeling pretty bad ass when I brought it. I didn't really use it for what most people would use it for, mine was used for getting in to see certified restrictive movies in the movie theaters. Most of the people that I hanged out with didn't have this problem, but there are some serious disadvantages for being a tiny person.
I entered the bar and observed the room, there were very little people here and there was some quiet music filling the room. The place itself wasn't that brightly lit, but I didn't mind - as there was an over cast of dark emotions within my house hold. I propped myself up on the bar stool and waited for a bartender to come. Five minutes had passed by this rate and still no service, I could see the bartender at the other side of the bar talking to another customer.
"Hey!" I shouted, trying to get the attention of the guy. Success. The bartender walked down to the bar where I was sat and took my order for a burger and coke. I secretly hated myself for bringing out my car - so now I couldn't of had something alcoholic to suppress the unwanted feelings of anger. I began to process the events leading up to today, trying to understand why my dad would cheat. I imagined the heart break that my mother was going through, my mind was now replaying the nights where I watched her break down in Iceland.
"Hi, are you alright?" the voice broke me from my thoughts, I turned to face the man who was sat two stools away from me, a half smile appeared on his face. I took in the tiny details about him; the eyes of concern and the shaggy hair cut on top of his head. He was quite charming to look at.
"Yeah, I'm okay thank you. Just been a very long night." I spoke out, smiling back at him.
"Well, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you feel better, I'm Ezra" He smiled, leaning over to put his hand out, I put mine out too to shake his hand.
"Aria" I replied back, polite-fully returning back the smile. Ezra switched seats and was now sitting on the one beside me.
"So Aria, I noticed that you have somewhat mixture of accents. Are you from around here?" He asked.
"I've actually just moved back from Iceland" I replied, taking a sip of my drink. He nodded, thoughtfully.
"Great country, there's something about Europe that I love" He spoke with a smile on his face.
"So what do you do? College?" I asked.
"Actually, just graduated. I'm now a teacher." He replied, smiling proudly.
"Very interesting, what class?" I pried, wanting to know more of the mysterious man in front of me.
"I study English" He responded "what about you?"
"I'm hoping to major in English, actually. I also have a passion for writing" I replied, shyly.
"Wow, a writer huh?" He asked with a smirk on his face.
We spent the next few hours speaking to each other, it actually felt quite nice considering my night prior to the bar. He was just what I needed to take my mind off things. It was pleasant having someone to talk to about similar interests; about books and authors.
We got on pretty well..
So well that we ended up making out in the bathroom of the bar, with me propped on the sink with my hands wrapped around his neck and his body stood in between my legs, his arms supporting around my waist. This was the kind of distraction I needed in my life right now. Thank you, Ezra.