Ties That Bind

Chapter 2

Aria sat in her classes throughout the days following the whole 'Evan thing.' She was unable to focus on much of anything except for songwriting and crying.

After pulling into her driveway and getting out of her navy blue Camaro on Friday afternoon, Aria slammed the door and ran to the kitchen. She then proceeded to pull a gallon of Candy Cane Oreo ice cream from the freezer and a ginormous can of Extra Creamy Reddi Wip from the fridge. As she was spraying the whipped cream onto the ice cream, Aria's mother entered the room.

"Eating your feelings today, sweetheart?" Aria's mother, Lydia, asked her.

"Mhm." Aria hummed whilst trying to swallow the sugary goodness in her mouth.

"Is it about Evan, or...?"

"...Yes." Aria uttered reluctantly and softly.

Lydia walked closer to her daughter and hugged her from behind. "I know how much you loved him, sweetie."

Aria began to let tears fall from her bright green eyes. "That's the thing, mom. It's not that I did love him. It's that I still do love him. He said he's going to come back and he still sees me as a princess, but I don't know whether or not I should believe that, seeing how many times I've been lied to by people very near and dear to my heart."

"Well, from my perspective, he's a good guy and I would believe him, Aria. He seems very honest and very sweet."

"I mean, I guess so. I'm just scared of getting hurt, you know?"

"Well sometimes you have to fall before you fly...Wait a second, if he really loves you as much as he says, why is he leaving at all?" Lydia questioned.

"I am not sure, mom. I think it's because he wants to start over. Clean slate. And I can't say I blame him with the way things happened this summer."

"Well no matter what happens between you and him, I hope you end up happy, baby girl."

"I hope so too. I hope he does as well." Aria agreed.

"Okay, I'm going to go order some takeout. Don't eat way too much ice cream before then." Lydia left the room with a slight grin and a little giggle.

That night, the two of them sat on the couch in the living room watching Christmas movies and scarfing down as much orange chicken and Chow Mein as was physically possible.

After the closing credits for Elf ran on the screen, Lydia checked the time and looked over at her beautiful young daughter. "I know it's Friday night and you're only 16, but it's 3:30 am. You should get some sleep. Especially since I have cleared the weekend so we can shop to our hearts' content." Lydia explained.

"Yeah, I'm pretty tired. I'll head on up to my room. Goodnight, mom." Aria told her mom, giving her a quick peck on the cheek before heading upstairs to her Tiffany blue bedroom.

Aria fell asleep, but not for long. Around 4:30 am, she was awake again. She kept thinking about Evan. She couldn't make herself think about much else. She decided to listen to her favorite playlist, consisting of Panic! At The Disco, Troye Sivan, Justin Bieber, and some Taylor Swift.

She closed her eyes during June Haverly by Troye Sivan and just focused on the music. This didn't make her stop clutching her stuffed elephant, but it did make her stop sobbing. Sure, some tears still fell, but mostly because the song was so beautiful and she couldn't help but be emotional.

Regardless, she got to sleep pretty quickly and got the best rest she'd had in almost a week. FINALLY.