I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror with my lips pursed, searching for a way to make my appearance look more together for when Lucas arrived.

After a brief analysis, I realised my goal was definitely out of reach.

Sighing, I struggled to pull my dirty hair back and looked up again to see a dozen stray pieces of hair falling out and into my bloodshot eyes.

Dayum! I'd tap that.

"You would," I huffed as I pushed my bangs out of the way of my vision. Accepting that this was the best it was going to get, I took a deep breath and pushed open the door. I blinked at the sudden light but moved forward slowly into the hallway. I figured I owed it to Paul to at least give him some warning about Lucas.

I walked to the stairs and bit my lip as I looked down them. I closed my eyes briefly before walking down to the living room. I paused at the doorway. I could see the back of Paul, who was looking very tense.

Biting my lip, I walked slowly toward the couch and sat down next to Paul, keeping a lot of space between us, not looking at his face once.

"Hey," I said dully, keeping my eyes trained forward. I knew that he wasn't looking at me either. I don't know how I knew that, but I did.

"Hi..." he uncharacteristically mumbled back.

Paul Lahote was mumbling? Stop the presses, folks! We've got a new front page!

Frowning, I wondered what would be the best way to break the news about Lucas coming over without him freaking out.

"How are you?" I said tentatively, wanting to slap myself for actually being curious.

Paul snorted and I almost sighed in relief. Having a quiet Paul around was so weird... it was much easier when he was himself.

"Shouldn't it be me asking you that question?" He almost growled.

I leaned back into the couch, keeping my eyes forward. "Probably. But I'm so sick of hearing that question that I'd rather you didn't."

"You didn't answer my question, by the way," I reminded him lightly. "How's it going?"

"It's… going." He replied shortly, unwilling to give away much information. I was struck at how similar his answer was to the one I gave Lucas minutes before.

"Yeah, that's how it feels like sometimes, doesn't it?" I sighed, my eyes darting toward the ceiling. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Paul shuffle away from me slightly. It hurt me more than it should have.

You never were good with rejection.

"Why'd you leave?" I suddenly demanded, fighting the urge to look at him.

"What?" He asked, startled by my question.

"Why'd you leave?" I repeated dully. "You know, that day we were working on that project for school?" I refused to acknowledge that day as Lexi's last day of living. "I mean, I turned around for one second and then you were gone." I continued, my brow furrowing.

"I – I left something at the library. And I... I went to get it, but... I then I got a call from Jared on my way back, about..." Paul mumbled, before quickly continuing "God, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to remind you... fuck! I'm so stupid..."

"It's ok." I replied. "You don't need to apologise."

"Yeah, I kind of do..."

"Why?" I snapped, narrowing my eyes at the wall opposite. "Am I too delicate, too fragile, too easily influenced, to even listen to someone talk about it aloud? Well, I have news for you... I'm stronger than you all think! I'm... I'm..."

The tears finally came.

I quickly positioned my hands in front of my face, desperate to hide the fact I was crying. I had made it a key point in my high school life to never let Paul see me cry, and old habits die hard.

Then something happened that shocked me. Paul pulled me into his chest and let me cry and blubber like an idiot, all while he stroked my hair. For the first time in over a week, I didn't feel cold.

Under normal circumstances, I would have rather cliff-jumped off the highest cliff in La Push than let Paul Lahote comfort me, but I didn't have enough heart to push him away... and also because of how much better I instantly felt when he put his arms around me.

I brushed it off as me just craving human comfort in a depressing time.

Yeah, right. You are so deep in denial.

It wasn't until I blurted out "This is all my fault!" that he finally reacted.

"No, it isn't." I heard him say firmly. "This will never be your fault, Aria, never. How could you say such a thing that you know isn't true?"

"Because it is!" I insisted, my eyes still watering. "I don't know how, but I just have a feeling I can't shake."

"Aria –"

Ding dong.

Paul sighed. "I'll get that." He mumbled, moving me to the side and getting up. I still avoided looking at him and focused on wiping my face with my sleeve.

I sighed as Paul left the room, before realising who was at the door and how I failed to warn Paul who it'd be.

Shit.

I almost tripped over my own feet in a rush to get to the door. When I got there, I saw a very angry Paul and a very awkward-looking Lucas.

For the first time, I looked directly at Paul's face and was shocked at what I saw.

He looked even worse than I did. And that was saying something, trust me.

Paul was paler than me, looking like he hadn't slept in weeks. Purple bags hung below red-rimmed eyes, while his mouth seemed to be set in a permanent, unmoving line – even though I knew he'd been talking to me only moments before. He looked like he had aged another five years.

And he was shaking, but I was so used to him and Jared doing that by now I didn't think much of it. I had pretty much passed it off as a disease that they both had that made them have an irregular twitch.

Yeah, right. A twitch that just keeps going and going, right?

"Paul, I sort of... forgot to tell you that Lucas was coming over," I said sheepishly, watching his face carefully for a reaction.

It stayed the same as it was. Blurry, due to the shaking.

"Hope this won't be a problem," Lucas chipped in wearily, scratching his head, giving me an odd look which clearly read 'what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-this-guy'.

"There won't be a problem, because I'm outta here," he practically growled before shoving Lucas aside to walk away.

Lucas turned to me and shrugged, but I quickly darted past him and out the door.

"Paul, wait!" I called out desperately, but he was already gone.

I headed back inside to Lucas, strangely disappointed.

I found him in the lounge room, examining our DVDs – no doubt trying to get away from the awkwardness at the front door.

I plonked down next to him on the floor and looked at him. He was just the same as I remembered him. Tanned, blonde and effortlessly handsome.

Too bad I can't say the same for you.

"Thanks for coming over." I forced a grin. "I mean, we haven't known each other for that long and we've only seen each other once before, but... thank you. I haven't been in the best shape lately. Scratch that, I've been an absolute mess since it happened. And it doesn't seem to be getting any better, despite what they all say."

"Aria," Lucas said seriously, grabbing my hand, "I know that you've had a tough lately, but I know you're not helpless like everyone else thinks. You just need a way to say goodbye to Lexi properly, and when you do, I'll be there to help you." He paused and his mouth twitched slightly. "Besides, you've had me at hello... Well, more like that lame conversation starter where you asked if I liked sports."

He grinned as I pulled my hand from his grip. "Trust you to ruin the moment." I laughed, shaking my head.

"'Ruining the moment?'" Lucas questioned defensively, placing a hand on his heart. "My dear, I was simply making the moment more beautiful... did it work?" He raised an eyebrow in question.

"Oh, definitely," I told him solemnly, nodding.

"See?" He beamed, stretching out on the couch. "My charm is impossible to resist."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Don't try to deny it," he warned, his face quickly rearranging into a poker face. I attempted to do the same, but my grin kept slipping through.

He started laughing and pretty soon I was joining in.

"Seriously, though. Thanks. It's been... hard. Especially after the memorial and... and even in the newspaper. You know that column for deaths? Yeah, it somehow just made it even more real seeing it in black and white and written in ink, you know? I just wish that –"

I stopped talking suddenly, sucking in my breath.

Lucas quickly realised and frowned. "What?"

I was silent until… "I think I've just had an epiphany."

"Uh…"

"You have a car, right?" I demanded, reeling from my sudden idea.

"Uh… yeah…"

"Good." I said firmly, getting up and turning to face Lucas. "Because I've just thought of the perfect way to say goodbye to Lexi but remember her at the same time."

Lucas stared at me before a wide grin appeared across his face. "Where do we start?"

I grinned, already mentally counting how much spare money I had waiting in my travel fund upstairs.

. . .

"Are you sure about this?" Lucas asked, gazing up at the sign and frowning.

"Positive." I told him firmly, my eyes narrowed in determination.

"Cause when you said about finding a way to say goodbye, I didn't think this is what you meant," he continued, ignoring me.

"I know."

"Cause… uh… this is a very permanent way to say goodbye… you know that right?"

"Uh-huh."

"I don't think you've thought this through, to be honest."

"Maybe I haven't." I said before turning to face him. "But it's what I want to do."

Lucas must have realised by looking at my face that it was a lost cause, because he groaned and put his head in his hands for a minute.

"Alright." He quietly agreed a moment later.

"Alright?" I chirped, a smile spreading widely across my face.

"Yep. Let's do this." He said, his face still hidden.

"Great!" I squealed, before grabbing his hand and running into the building.

. . .

"This was a bad idea, Lucas!" I sniffled and whimpered as Lucas carried me from his car to my front door, my shoes in my hands. "Why didn't you stop me?" I demanded angrily, glaring at him through watering eyes.

Lucas snorted and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'damn women with their mood swings' and 'that time of the month'.

I decided to ignore those last comments in the interest of Lucas's health.

Because at that moment I really wanted to punch him in the face.

"What's that?" Lucas suddenly stopped and frowned.

"What's what?" I asked, not really listening because I was more focused on visualising him with a broken nose.

You're not violent or anything, are you?

"It sounds like someone's yelling." Lucas replied, squinting at the house as if it'd make him hear better.

However much I wanted to laugh at his squinty face, I decided to focus on the said yelling.

"You said you'd watch her! Out of all the people in the world who I thought I could trust with watching my sister, you were at the top of the list! But obviously I was wrong, wasn't I? Otherwise you wouldn't have called me to tell me that you'd lost Aria!"

That was definitely Jared. I had eavesdropped on him enough lately to recognise his voice straightaway.

"Fuck you, Jared! You were the one that ditched her in the first place for a date! You knew that I didn't want to come in the first place. If it's anyone's fucking fault, it's yours!"

Paul. You could easily tell from that deafening roar.

"Can someone just actually explain to me what is going on?"

Wow. I didn't know Kim had it in her to screech like that…

What the hell is Kim doing in your house?

She probably gotten back early and was waiting for me, I thought back to my Inner Voice.

"Um... maybe I should just leave..." Lucas muttered, backing up a few steps, his eyes flashing toward his car.

"Do it and forget about having children," I warned, glaring at him through angry eyes.

Lucas gulped and I smiled in satisfaction.

"Onwards!" I ordered, pointing to my front door.

Lucas looked at me oddly. I couldn't blame him; I think I'd gotten a little bit high off too much Advil.

"Uh... okay..." He trailed off, looking at the house as if it was going to eat him. I hit him the shoulder and he finally started to walk cautiously to the front door.

He bit his lip when it came to opening it and I wanted to laugh at his nervousness.

I rolled my eyes and pushed open the door, only to find a very odd scene in front of me.

Paul and Jared were in each other's faces, shaking and what sounded like… growling? Maybe grunting? Either way, it was the weirdest kind of throat clearing I had ever heard.

Kim was standing to the side, and I vaguely noticed that both she and Jared were dressed up nice.

Of course I only vaguely noticed that because I was too busy appreciating that the guy who had made my life hell was shirtless and had a very fine six pack.

When they heard the door open, they all turned and faced me.

That was when I became slightly scared.

"Where did you go?" Jared looked furious.

"What happened to your foot?" Kim looked annoyed.

Paul was glaring at Lucas.

Lucas was looking uncomfortable.

I was just confused. I was trying to decide on whether to yell at Jared for treating me like a five year old who needed a babysitter or to cry because my foot was starting to hurt.

Go with the crying! Then they'll do your bidding because they feel guilty. You could make them wear overalls and then they'd be your minions… like in Despicable Me.

"Aria... what happened to your foot?"

I was snapped back to reality when Kim repeated her previous question.

"Um..." I mumbled nervously, before tugging at Lucas's sleeve in a silent help me! motion.

Lucas, thinking I was communicating something entirely different, put me down on my feet.

After I had finished glaring at him, I sighed and turned back to the others.

"Now, don't get mad," I said wearily, not sure which one of the three I was directing this most at. "But I was talking to Lucas about remembering Lexi properly and... well... I had an epiphany!"

"Oh shit." Jared breathed.

"This can't be good," Kim shook her head.

Paul just stood there, looking concerned and angry and brooding.

That's hot.

"Take that back!" I half-yelled at my inner voice, disgusted at myself for agreeing with it.

"Sorry," Kim said apologetically, still frowning.

It took me a second to realise that Kim thought I had been talking to her. I decided to go with it.

"Um... yeah... so... uh, don't get mad..." I paused. "Please?"

No one said anything.

I took this as a yes and slowly bent down to my foot where a bandage covered my foot. I bit my lip before pulling it off so everyone could see.

Silence.

Absolute silence before...

"Forget Paul! Aria, I'm going to fucking kill you!"

That's a little bias coming from Jared. I mean, at least yours is on my foot... his tattoo is on his arm for the whole world to see.

. . .

**NOTE: I HAVE CHANGED MY PENNAME FROM 4eva Ninja-ard TO Sunni Dayze**

Woo! New chapter!... finally. Just warning you guys now that my updates aren't going to be that fast. My Twilight muse has gone... poof.

Anyway, thanks for the reviews, alerts, favourites, etc. They make this story. Sorry I didn't respond to the reviews this time, I'm too lazy. I'll do it this time, I promise.

Question of the chapter: What should Aria's tattoo be? And has anyone out there read the Hunger Games?