Brave (Sequel to Beside You)

Chapter Twenty Nine

Aria's POV
It's 3:30pm and Ashton is due over in 30 minutes. I didn't sleep a wink last night, I'm so nervous. I know Andy is a good guy, but I also know due to past experiences that looks can be deceiving. I trust Andy though.

30 minutes seemed to fly by and soon enough there was knock at the door. I quickly went to open it. I was met by a very smart looking Andy showing his full set of teeth.
'Hey, why are you looking so worried?' Andy asked slightly panicked.
'It's nothing, don't worry about it. I'm just being silly.' I half smile, as I gesture for him to come in.
'You know you can tell me anything right, I won't judge and I'm good at listening.' he says, pulling me into his warm body.
'I know, i'm just scared.' I whisper back, leaning into his chest and wrapping my arms around him. He pulled away from me, and looked me directly in the eye.
'You don't have to tell me, if you're not ready. I won't mind.' he replies, his eyes continuously flicking between my eyes and my lips.

'I don't think i'll ever really be ready to tell anyone. But I trust you and I want to tell you.' I ensure, a smile appearing on his face. He closes the gap between us and places a gentle kiss on my lips. It felt weird, almost foreign. I liked it and it was nice, but he wasn't Ashton. That's when it truly clicked for me. As much as I liked Andy, I couldn't date him. I could never love him the way he needs me too, because i'm still in love with Ashton.
I pulled out of the kiss and Andy looked concerned.
'Come with me.' I say grabbing his hand and leading him up the stairs to my bedroom.
'I've only ever told the first part of what i'm about to tell you to a handful of people. Most of them fled after. The second part happened 8 months ago, 8 months ago today actually.' I explain, already a little tearful.

'I personally haven't told the second part. It's only ever been fully told to the people closest to me and always by someone else.' I say, taking a deep breath.
'Take your time.' Andy encourages, looking a little worried.
'Okay, I guess I'll start at the very beginning.' I begin. I tell him all about what happened when I was younger with my parents. About being brought up by my brothers and sister. I told him about Stephen's death, showing him the pictures on my dresser. I continued on to what happened with my ex boyfriend Cory and my self-harm. I had a bandana covering one of my wrists and had bracelets covering the other. I removed the bandana to show him exactly what I meant. He looked a little shocked but I didn't give him too much time to mull over it. I moved on to tell him about what happened when Terri was killed. Finally explaining about meeting Ashton and winning the singing competition, before I stopped briefly. I managed to explain all of that without stopping too much. I shed a few tears but I was more worried about telling Andy the next part.

He encouraged me to carry on.
'Okay, this is the part of the story I have never told anyone, so bare with me. Only a select few know the full story.' I take a deep breath before I continue.
'A year after me and Ashton met. I found out I was pregnant. I told him on our anniversary. We were both so thrilled. It's what we always wanted. A family. Skip to six months down the line and I had felt something was wrong all day. I just had a feeling. I made a appointment for the next day. It really was only meant to be a routine check up. When I was waiting to go in I started bleeding heavily. I fainted. I can still see Ashton's face before I blacked out. It was full of terror. I woke up a day later and they...' I stutter, the tears streaming down my face as I relive the memory of that day in my head.

'They told me she was gone.' I finished, breaking down completely. Next minute Dougie burst in, wrapping his arms around me. I found this a little weird, as we still haven't spoken since the other night.
'What's going on?' he asked, looking slightly angry.
'She told me.' Was all Andy had to say for him to understand. Dougie released me from his grip and took a step back letting Andy take over.