— "ITS MID-SUMMER, BABY!" bella screamed into aria's ear.
"mmh.... what's with you guys and waking up at the crack of dawn." aria said groggily.
"or it's just that you need to stop waking up at 1pm." bella huffed.
"yeah yeah, what are we even doing anyways?" aria rubbed her itchy eyes.
"don't tell me you forgot..." bella frowned.
"....forgot what?"
"ariiii!!! you're such a buzzkill." bella said suffocating aria with her pillow. the girl was unnaturally strong despite her being so small.
"i'm sorry bella. tell me, what are we doing today?"
aria said midway through escaping bella's attempt at suffocating her.
"we have a road trip to the outer city before we go back to paris for fashion week!!" bella squealed. her excitement made aria happy. bella was like a ray of sunshine, she always knew how to make any one of the girls feel better no matter the occasion.
right... going back to paris...
she struggled to believe it was already august.
fashion week was this month.
the victoria's secret show was in three months.
the world cup was also in three months
aria hadn't spoken to kylian in almost two months now, it seemed like they just became strangers after that sickening night. of course he never stopped blowing up her phone, which was something that strangers didn't do to each other. he would be texting her everyday about how much he was sorry and how badly he regretted what he said. of course he regretted it, aria knew that. kylian and matteo were practically brothers by the way they acted, aria knew he would never intend to disrespect her brother, but some things you just can't take back.
he never ever gave up though, every morning he would send her an apology, telling her he loved her and to stay safe and call him if she ever needed anything. every night, he would send her a paragraph long message about how he thought of her the entire day and wants to speak things through so badly. kylian did make it clear that he understood that aria needed her space from him too. it was hard for her, it really was. when you love someone, you just give them up or ignore them despite what they did to you. aria would be lying if she said she still didn't think of him every second of the day.
"aria, you're crying...." bella said, wiping aria's tears with her cold fingers. bella's confused expression had aria feeling extremely ashamed; she had no idea how to express to her friend that she was torn on the way she felt about a man who had hurt her so much.
"i'm so stupid, i don't know why;" aria said sniffling and wiping her eyes as more tears continuously fell. "i'm sorry, bella."
"don't apologize babe, you have nothing to be sorry for. just let it out, i understand you and i'm here for you no matter what." she said smiling and wiping strands of hair away from aria's tearful face. bella's words just ended up making aria cry even harder as she started sobbing again. she had her emotions locked away for the past 30+ days. every photoshoot, magazine cover, interview, something always reminded her of him. for so long, she ignored it. when interviewers asked about him she'd give a quick meaningless response but her heart stung every time. she finally understood it now, her tears this time weren't towards her late brother, yet they were about coming to terms that the man she loved would still be kylian no matter what he did.
