Page 39 of Our Forever Starts Tonight

“What does it matter to you?” she asked.

“Well… what about me?”

Aria crossed her arms. “What about you? Your friends have already made that call.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“And I accept your apology, but that changes nothing,” she replied. “I told you nothing will happen between us, and I meant it.”

She gave me a quick, saddened look, then walked around me, leaving me standing in place shocked and hurt.

Nothing would happen between us ever?

Why did I feel like my heart would never recover?

I’d severely underestimated the strength of my feelings for Aria, and hearing her say something so definitive hurt me far worse than I ever could have prepared for.

15

Aria

It was difficult holding back tears, but I managed to do it until I got into the debate room. I bolted straight back to the last row, past Devario and my other friends, and dropped down into one of the seats and buried my face against the seat in front of me to hide my emotions.

“What happened?” Arden’s voice filled my ears before her hand rested on my back. “I’m gonna kill him.”

“No,” I whimpered. “It wasn’t him. It was me.”

“What do you mean?” Arden asked.

I sniffled in my pain, trying to get it to leave my face alone before debate was truly underway. “Devario kind of asked me out… right in front of Tristan.”

“Oh, a power move. I like it,” Arden said. “Did you say yes?”

I nodded against the seat. “Yeah, but Tristan looked like I’d just reached into his body and ripped his heart straight out of his chest. He was clearly heartbroken.”

“What does that have to do with you?” Arden said. “He had his chance and he blew it.”

“Yeah,” I whimpered. “I pretty much told him that. It just hurt. When I think of Tristan… I think of the future, ya know? I can’t shake this feeling in my gut that he’s… ya know… the one, or whatever, but that’s so stupid.” I looked up at Arden. “Why are my feelings so strong? We didn’t go out or anything.”

Arden slipped down into the chair next to me and wrapped her arm around my back. “I mean it’s not like you’ve just had these couple of months, there’s a lot of history behind you two. Sometimes those feelings are just there. You can try and try to get rid of them, but they never really go away.”

I looked at her. “You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”

She threw on a phony smile. “Me? No. I’m a roamer. A nomad. I don’t dedicate my heart to just one woman. Where’s the fun in that?”

“You’re not a very good liar,” I grumbled, feeling dejected.

All the fake confidence in Arden’s shoulders melted away. “Thanks for bringing me down with you.”

“Sorry,” I hummed.

“Look, you gotta put that stuff with Tristan out of your mind, at least as much as you can. People like him and Hannah, they’re not used to people not falling at their feet. They just don’t know how to take no for an answer.”

“So it’s Hannah?” I asked.

Arden recoiled then lifted a finger and stabbed it against my cheek until it stung. “Hey. What are we going to do if we’re both caught in depression’s well-spun web? What are you doing? Let me stay afloat at least so I can carry you.”

Her phrasing brought a little smile to my face. “I’m glad I met you.”

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