Everything Changes

Chapter 27: The Crash

                                                    Aria's P.O.V

My lips still tingled the next morning as I touched them. The whole scene played over and over in my mind. The thought of going downstairs and seeing him made my heart race with excitement as well as being nervous. I could still feel his arms around me. How warm and safe I felt. AHHH I buried my face in my pillow.

Calm down Aria, what if he didn't feel the same way? What if he didn't enjoy the kiss? The insecurities that Zack had caused were setting in. I felt as if I was going to throw up. Ryder wasn't him.

I knew I couldn't stay in my room forever. Doesn't mean I didn't try. But after about an hour I figured he was probably wondering where I was. Since I'm usually up around this time. The thought that he didn't want to see me kept creeping into my mind but I tried to push it back. My hands shook as I opened my door. The sound of it squeaking echoed down the hallway.

As I reached the top of the steps it hit me. The house was completely quiet. There wasn't the usual sound of something being moved around in the kitchen or the tv being on.

This was new to me. If anything it's the way it had been since my dad died. Yet it didn't feel normal anymore. The new normal was Ryder. Even if he had only been staying here for a short amount of time.

So the house being this quiet left me with a feeling of uneasiness as I made my way down the stairs and towards the kitchen. I hoped he was in there. To my disappointment he wasn't. My heart beat started to accelerate.

The few steps towards the living room felt like forever. Why am I so scared? Was it the fact that I was now standing in front of the couch and the blanket was folded up like it had never been used? Or was it the note that was folded on top of it?

Taking a deep breath I reached for it and started reading it without hesitation. "Hey, Aria...something has come up and Eric needs me. I'm not sure when I will be back. I just have to take care of this. I'm sorry..."

My heart dropped and my mind went blank. The only thing I could do was reach into my pocket and call the only person that would understand.

She answered on the first ring. "Aria?" I tried to speak but I couldn't. All that came out was a whimper. "Aria, what's wrong?" Still nothing came out but a whimper. "I will be right there, okay?" The phone went silent before she hung up.

He was clearly hiding from me. Why was Ryder hiding from me? Why was he lying? Did he regret it? That's the only answer here. The look in his eyes last night. It was regret, it was the only thing that made sense. When the realization hit me my heart dropped. I was holding back the tears as much as possible.

My hands itched to text him but I was too chicken to do so. I was questioning everything he ever said to me. What were lies and what was the truth? Did he actually believe that it wasn't my fault with the car accident or did he finally see that it was my fault and it scared him off?

All these questions were floating around my mind. When the front door opened I jumped. For a split second I thought it was Ryder changing his mind. Yet the face belonged to Em and my heart broke all over again.

She rushed over to me. "Aria, why are you crying? What happened?" I handed her the note. "Ryder left? He said in the note that he would be back. Why are you upset about this?" He wouldn't be back though.

He realized the mistake he had made and got out as quickly as he could. "He's lying Em... Eric is out of town." She looked confused. "Eric told me yesterday that he was going out of town." A tear escaped and started rolling down my face.