Aria's Story

~ Chapter 5 ~

"Yeah, yeah. What you got if you ain't got love. The kind that you just want to give away. It's okay to open up. Go ahead and let the light shine through. I know it's hard on a rainy day. You wanna shut the world out and just be left alone. But don't run out on your faith," I sing along to So Small by Carrie Underwood as Hunter drives us to the beach. He looks at me in amusement and smiles before looking back at the road. "'Cause sometimes that mountain you've been climbing is just a grain of sand and what you've been out there searching for forever is in your hands and when you figure out love is all that matters after all. It sure makes everything else seem so small."

After the song finishes and continues to the next song, Hunter and I reach the beach. We get out of his car and make our way towards the beach, having a little running competition on the way. Hunter reaches the water first and I jump on him as he swirls me around.

"Can I talk to you about something?" He asks as we walk back through the sand and sit down on the bench near us.

"Oh, yeah. Of course. Is everything okay?" I ask

"It's not about me," He looks in my eyes and keeps it there for the longest time. "It's about you." I knew what he was about to say was going to be something serious so I just nod my head, telling him to continue. "I know you probably don't want to talk about this, but I need to and I think you should know something."

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you remember when I told you my cousin Ellie had passed away when we were in the eighth grade?" I nod my head and he continues. "People started bullying her constantly and she never felt good about herself. They often called her fat and said she will never be loved because she wasn't thin or good enough,"

This story reminds me of Savannah and knowing someone else had passed away because of how bad their eating disorder was and how bad they were doing. I met Ellie a few times before; she was such a beautiful and sweet girl. Hunter told me that she was only nineteen when she passed away. I hate that so many people suffer from an eating disorder and it's so heartbreaking to know it causes people to pass away.

"She started eating less and exercising a lot, which caused her too lose some weight, but she thought it wasn't enough so she kept going. She kept on losing more and more weight. She went from being 134 pounds to 83 pounds; she was way too thin, but she still thought she was fat. She was in one of her classes in school when she fainted and she was sent to the nearest hospital. She ended up okay, but we all were so worried about her. We all talked to her about getting help, but she would just refuse. We made her go once, but she ended up skipping it. By then, she was diagnosed with anorexia and bulimia. She stopped talking to everyone and stayed in her room all day after that. She somehow lost some more weighed and no one in my family knew what to do left. One week later, my mom got so angry at her for not eating that she yelled at her and told her to eat or she was going to get her sister to take her into rehab. She started sobbing really bad and then suddenly she couldn't breathe right and she was having heart pain. She fainted after that and we immediately called the ambulance, but that didn't matter, and we knew it. She was already dead."

He tries to continue on with the story, but breaks down crying instead. I put my arms around him and I give him a tight hug. He hugs me back and then I rub his back so that I could try my best to calm him down. "I was reallly close to Ellie and I miss her so much. I just don't want the same thing to happen to you, Aria. I don't want to lose you, you mean the world to me and you always will."

"Hunter," I say as I pull away from him. I didn't say anything after that, I couldn't. It was like my voice shut off and I just sat there crying and not knowing what to do. I wrap my arms around him and cry into his chest. We sat there in silence, hugging each other and crying.

~~

Hunter and I walk along the boardwalk and he smiles at me with a huge smile on his face. He grabs my hand and we start running through the boardwalk as fast as we can. Once we finishing running, he picks me up and puts me on his back while he takes me over to the food court. He orders us some corn dogs and walks us back to his car. He sits me down on the passenger seat and he closes the door and then he gets in at his side of the car. After we finish eating, he starts the car up and then drives off.

He drives onto the highway and he doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon. He looks over at me and smiles. I smile back at him and then rest my head back on the seat, getting comfortable because I know that we will be in the car for a long time. I like times like this; it's peaceful and I just love being around Hunter. He's adorable.

We've been in the car for five hours and we're basically going nowheres. He suddenly stops at the side of the road and runs out of the car to my side and opens my door. He reaches in and grabs my hand, helping me out of the car. "Walk with me for a minute," We walk a little bit away from the car and then he smiles at me again before speaking again. "Look, I really like you, Aria. I broke up with my girlfriend because I was too attached to you and she was way too bossy and demanding. I love you and I want you to be mine. Will you please be my girlfriend?"

I smile and stand there looking him in the eyes. "Of course, Hunter! I would love to be your girlfriend. I love you too," He picks me up and spins me around before wrapping me in a huge hug. He pulls away and smiles at me. I smile back and I didn't realize I could fall so hard for him just by that. Just as I thought nothing better could happen tonight, he puts his lips to mine and kisses me with so much passion that I can't help but kiss him back with a huge smile on my face.

Later that night, he drives us back to town. He drives me back home and we stop at my front porch right infront of the door. "I really had fun tonight," I say to him as he kisses me on the cheek. He nods and agrees with me.

"I had fun too, and I hope we can do it again," He says before hugging and kissing me goodbye and leaving before I could say another word. I open the front door and walk inside with a smile on my face.