"Pierce, please I'm trying to study." I let out an aggravated sigh as my eyes flickered upward from the white-colored pages of my textbook. Pierce approached closer to me, sliding the textbook out from my lap and throwing it to the side.
"Take a bre...
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Staring down at the photo frame in my hand, I ran my finger along the white edges of it. I felt tears prick my eyes as I stared down at the photo of Pierce and me were taken by Juniper. A photo we didn't know was being taken, but you could see the contentions we shared.
The photo was taken over the summer, on one of the year's hottest days. I was sitting, my back slouched as Pierce lay with his head in my lap. Our eyes were on each other, his hand holding mine. It broke my heart to look at the photo, seeing us so happy which is what felt so unachievable now.
I placed the frame up to my chest, holding it tightly to me as I squeezed my eyes shut and thought back to the day. It was hard to think of all the memories, all the good ones that came along with the thought of Pierce. Part of me told me I was being immature, but the reality was I wasn't.
I grew up without a mom, and he could've changed that. He let her suffer in captivity, not saying a word. Pierce lied to me from the day he met me, he was there when I cried in his arms about how much I missed her and needed her. He wasn't the guy I thought he was.
"Aspen." A voice spoke up from behind me, my eyes opening as I turned around to see Evangeline standing in the doorway. Her face softened when her eyes met mine, then landed on the picture frame that I held tightly to my chest. "I just wanted to tell you we got most of it in the truck, there are only about two boxes left."
"Right." I quickly wiped the tears away, setting the frame down on the nightside table and giving her a forced small smile, "Be right out." Aster and Evangeline had spent the night last night helping me pack all the way through this morning. With the gang on their way back from North Carolina, I wanted to be out of the house before Pierce had gotten back. I couldn't face him, not yet.
"Oh, Aspen." Evangeline sighed, stepping away from the doorway and walking around the front of the bed. She pulled me into a hug, engulfing my body in her arms as she held onto me tightly. It was at that moment my tears broke out in my eyes, not being able to fight anymore. I felt like a mess, nonstop crying which I tried to control but continued to fail over and over again.
"It hurts." I cried, mumbling the words as my voice cracked from my cries. I had gone through heartbreak before, but it was different this time. The heartbreak Cayde caused me was from the humiliation he gave me, but the heartbreak from Pierce was indescribable. I felt like I lost a part of myself, and I felt lost as to where I would go next.
Everyone always says that heartbreak comes from getting dumped, but that wasn't the only case. I hated to leave Pierce, it took everything in me to even say the words out loud. The pain that came along with it was nothing less than heartwrenching. I didn't want us to send, but I couldn't continue to face him after the betrayal he did against my family and against me.
"I know it does." Evangeline rubbed her hand up and down my back, not budging for a second. "But it'll get better, I promise you it will. It just may take some time and you're going to hate the adjustment but you got this Aspen. You have been through so much and you are so strong, do not let that boy break you. Nothing else has to this point and don't let him be it."
