Anger Management

Ch. 33: Aria

Aria

I make my way onto the stage, my hands shaking. I have never been so nervous. If you couldn't tell already, I'm not exactly the kind of person that gets nervous. Not even when that grumpy cop was interrogating me, his arm still bleeding from where I put a staple in it.

But as I make my way onto the stage, looking out on all my classmates, trying to keep my eyes anywhere but at Aiden as he makes his way through the crowd, I have never been more nervous in my life.

"Sup?" I say then clear my throat. Sup? Seriously? "I am not going to waste my time with introductions. Somebody once told me that I was very straightforward, so I'm just gonna get to it." I pause preparing myself for everything that I am about to say. All eyes are on me as I begin my speech. "There is somebody out there and he probably knows who he is. He said something to me, something that changed everything. He said those three little words. He said them to me even though I can be a mean, scary, hypocritical bitch. And he knows it to. He told me I was a hypocrite, more than once... but somehow he saw past that. He saw past all my bad qualities and somehow saw good ones. Ones even I can't see. And something I did or am made him say those three little words, that I have realized aren't so little after all. But do you know what I did when he said that?" A regretful laugh passes my lips. "I pushed him away and ran. I push everyone away, and I never even realized it. I didn't realize it until I pushed him away and then missed him like crazy. Yes, Aiden, I said it. I miss you like crazy. And I didn't want to and I don't know how, but I'm starting to think it might have something to with those three. little. words..." By now all the tears of frustration and sadness have welled up in my eyes beyond the point of stopping. "Those three words that I might never be able to say back. And I know you might hate me for it, so surprise, surprise, I'm going to push you away again." I make eye contact with Aiden in the audience, at some point somebody had put a spotlight on him. "I'm sorry," I say, the tears running down my face, and I run away.

I don't stop running until I hit the sidewalk outside of the club. Tears run freely over my cheeks like little rivers. The last time I cried I was five years old, and after all these years all of the tears have been building up and are now bursting free out of their confines. Rain started falling to mix with my tears and after a while I wouldn't breakaway was wetting my cheeks more.

"Aria!" I freeze at the sound of him calling my name. I don't turn. I'm dreaming. He wouldn't really chase after me. Or even worse, he is chasing me just to tell me that I'm right, he shouldn't love me, and I'm a complete idiot who he should have never hung out with, project or not.

All of that is ripped from my head when his fingers encircle my wrist, and he tugs gently to turn me towards him. "How can you seriously run away after saying something like that?" I open my mouth mostly just to gape at him, but I guess he assumes I was going to answer. "No, don't answer that, just listen. I don't care if you can never say you love me or if you push me away every chance you get, which so far you have. Because every time you push me away, I'll just keep coming right back. You can't get rid of me that easily Aria McCain." Before I could even process Aiden's words, his lips were on mine. As much as I wanted to push him away, at the same time all I wanted to do was grab him and kiss him back with as much passion as he had. Aiden seemed to make up my mind for me as he pushed me up against the rough brick surface of the club's exterio wall. I thread my fingers through Aiden's hair giving up on any other option. The rain starts pouring down on us from above, but it seems neither of us seem to care right now.

Aiden pulls away, somewhat reluctantly, and just stares into my eyes. "I love you, Aria McCain."

I take a deep breath. "I really, really like you, Aiden Matthews."

A laugh breaks its way out of Aiden's throat, and once it was out the laughing just didn't stop. What else was there to do but laugh along with him?

If somebody could see us now they would think we were crazy. And maybe we were crazy. Just the girl who had anger issues and couldn't admit that she was in love and the boy who loved her. Because in the end, only a crazy person could love another crazy person, right?

A/N YAY! I UPDATED. OKAY, I KNOW THAT WAS SUPER SUCKY AND SUOER SHORT, BUT WE'RE COMING TO A CLOSE HERE PEOPLE THERE ISN'T MUCH MORE TO WRITE. AND SPEAKING OF ENDINGS THIS IS THE LAST CHPATER! ... BEFORE THE EPILOGUE. WOO! I ALMOST GOT YOU THERE, DIDN'T I? NO? OH WELL...
HAPPY READING!