a Season to Remember (Book 1)

Chapter 3

I went into Josephine's room and sat down on the bed as I tried to calm my racing heart.

I was not ready to see Aizen. He seemed different from the last time I saw him. I noticed his voice was deeper when he was talking to Josephine's mom. He was a lot more handsome and seemed to have matured a bit.

I bit my bottom lip as I got lost in my thoughts again.

I thought that I could just delete his number and get rid of the chip and everything would be fine. I thought I could pretend like we didn't happen. I thought I could erase him, but I was only fooling myself because he had already put a hand print on my soul.

There were so many questions I wanted to ask him, but I was too afraid to know the answers.

Josephine came in the room before I could think any longer.

"Why are you hiding in here? Come say hi."

She grabbed my hand before I could object, and led me downstairs where everyone was still chatting.

"You guys remember Melody, right?" Josephine said, when we made it downstairs.

Her parents greeted me. Aizen said nothing as he avoided making eye contact with me.

Lindsey, Aizen's sister came and gave me a hug before she said, "Yeah, I remember you."

I smiled down at her. "You've grown so much since the last time I saw you."

"I hope we can be friends again." Lindsey said before pulling away from me.

"Of course! Who's going to be my buddy for amusement park rides if not you?"

Lindsey laughed.

"Melody, you're welcome to join us for activities this summer if you'd like." Josephine's mom said, looking at me.

I looked over at the middle aged woman and nodded. "Thank you, I will."

"Well, Josephine, why don't you take your cousins' luggage to the guest room and help them settle down?" Josephine's dad grabbed the luggages and put them by her feet.

"We can carry our luggages." Aizen's deep voice rang out.

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm sure Josephine can manage them just fine." Mr. O'Day said.

"Yeah, don't worry Aizen, I got it." Josephine grabbed one of the suitcases and started making her way upstairs.

Without thinking I grabbed the other suitcase and followed her.

"The suitcase you have is Aizen's. You can go put it in that room." Melody pointed to one of the guest rooms once we made it upstairs.

I made my way towards the guest room with the suit case dragging behind me.

When I made it to the room, I tried lifting the luggage and putting it on the queen sized bed but it was too heavy for me; I had to put it back down.

"Need help?" I didn't notice someone was in the room with me.

I turned around to answer when I came face to face with Aizen.

We stared at each other without saying a word. I could tell he was studying my face. His eyes moved to my lips. The way he was looking at my lips, made me nervous. I could already feel my hands getting sweaty. When it finally looked like he was going to say something, Josephine walked in the room.

"Okay Aizen, we're going to give you some space now."

He coughed and backed up a bit. "I just need a few minutes to settle down. Then we can socialize."

Josephine and I went back to her room in silence.

"So, remember when I said that I wanted to hook you up with Aizen? Well, he might have a girlfriend already, so I don't think it will work out. I'm not sure though; I have to get more information out of him." Josephine said as soon as she closed the door to her room.

My heart dropped at her words. I didn't know what I was expecting. I didn't think Aizen was waiting for me all this time, but I also didn't think he'd get a girlfriend.

I wanted to start crying again, but I knew that wasn't an option while I was here.

"I need to go." I said getting up and leaving the room.

"Did I do something wrong?" I heard Josephine say after me.

I was glad she didn't follow me as I rushed down the stairs and out the door of her house.

As soon as I made it outside, the tears started coming. That had to be why he ghosted me. He had to have found someone else. The thought didn't occur to me until Josephine said something in her room.

I quickly messaged my brother to come pick me up before making my way to the front of the neighborhood.

When I finally made to the park that was in the front of Josephine's neighborhood, I went over to the swings and sat down.

I cried as I thought about Aizen once again.

Was I really not worth an explanation?

How could someone not only just disappear from your life like that, but also replace you so easily?

Before I could spend too much time thinking about what Josephine said in her room, I saw Jonathan's car pull up in the parking lot.

I wasted no time going over to him. I just wanted to go home, curl up in bed and cry.