Falling Apart (GANG Series)

Chapter 21

Aria's POV

      My phone rings as I perform my ass off in my car. I look away from the road for a moment. It's Mar. I'll call her back when I get to the apartment. I turn the music up.

"And time is frozen!" I sing my lungs out.

I pull into the snowy parking lot and park in my old spot. I rush inside to get away from the frosty air. As soon as I'm settled I sit down at the dining table and call Mar back on my laptop. I pick at my nails until her face appears on my screen.

"Hi!" She cheerfully greets.

"Hi!" I reciprocate her energy. "Sorry I didn't answer, I was driving."

"That's okay. I can't wait to see you tomorrow. Just checking in to see if you're crazy double checking your luggage over and over again." She jokes and I laugh.

"Well, thank you but I'm not being crazy. I'm too excited so I'm probably gonna grab something to eat and then just watch television for the rest of the day. You have no idea how freezing it is here. You can see your own breath inside buildings." I hope it warms up soon. I turn the temperature up as soon as I got inside.

"Sheesh, I could never. I'm telling you, whenever I live has to be sunny." She seems to be analyzing my surroundings. "Are you home?"

Uh oh. I can't lie to her. She sees right through me.

"Um, no. I'm at Jacob's apartment." I timidly say.

"I'm sorry. . . Did you say Jacob? Your ex boyfriend." She says more to herself.

"Yeah, except he's not an ex anymore." I slowly say. I'm awaiting the overprotective lecture from my best friend.

"You got back together with him?!" Her eyes almost bulge out of her head. "Look, babe I'm sorry if this sounds insensitive but didn't he sleep with you for money?"

"No. He almost did. It's just, the month we spent broken up gave me a lot of time to think. I mean I spent most of the time in pain but I had decided I was gonna move on even if I knew I still loved him. But that night before my original flight I slept over at his house because I got snowed in and then we talked the next day. We had a long conversation about everything. It was emotionally draining. I knew he was telling the truth. He was also going through hell."

"In his case, he deserved it." She spitefully says. I just laugh even though I know she's serious.

"You trust me right?"

"Of course."

"Then trust me when I say that it wasn't a mistake to forgive him."

She stays quiet for a couple moments.

"Okay, okay. You may have forgiven him but I have not. Should've tortured him for a little longer than a month. So how did this all go down?" She asks.

I explain to her every single detail of the night I decided to forgive Jacob. She listens intently and inspects every single sentence I say to her. She still doesn't show any empathy for Jacob. I don't blame her. She's biased to me and the last thing she knew was that she hated the guy. All she ever wants for me is happiness and I love her for that. And of course our conversation doesn't excuse anything that Jacob almost did. But it was my decision to put it behind us and be with him again. I know Jacob still beats himself up over it sometimes.

"You shouldn't feel bad about what he went through, you know? Men are stupid. They need to learn. I love you so obviously I'll support you on your decisions. And this does seem well thought out. I still don't like him." She comes to her conclusion.