Heartburn (Matt Tuck/OFC)

Chapter 21

~Matt~

It felt empty.

Without Arial, it felt empty.

And not just the house, there was also an emptiness inside of me that made it feel like I was suffocating. I mentally kicked myself for taking so long to realize how much that girl actually meant to me.

It was then that I realized how badly I'd screwed up. And how just maybe not everything that breaks can be fixed. Maybe Arial and I can't be fixed, no matter how hard I tried to collect the broken pieces.

I needed to fix it though. I had to at least try.

I needed her more than I'd ever thought was possible to need someone.

Padge had left his new address on a sticky note that he placed on the fridge. He'd left it there so the guys and I could go down to visit him if anything band related came up, but I was just glad I knew where to find Arial. He had made it very clear to me that he only wanted to see me there if there was an emergency or something specifically related to our band, but I decided that maybe some rules were meant to be broken.

A part of me wanted to believe that I could just barge into their new apartment and that Arial would come running into my arms and everything would be fine.

But deep down I knew the story would be different, it wouldn't be such a fairytale.

So as I walked up to the second floor of the apartment complex, I tried to find the right words to apologize. I knocked lightly and hoped for Arial to be the one to come to the door, but me being me, I was lucky enough to have Padge welcome me with a not so friendly face. He rolled his eyes as soon as he saw me and sighed a loud, annoyed sigh.

"God Matt, what are you doing here? Go, you need to leave before she sees you." Padge whispered angrily as he peeked his head out from behind the door of their new apartment. I half smiled, he knew me all too well. He didn't even take two seconds to figure out why I was there.

"I need to see her Padge, you don't understand.."

"Look Matt, I don't exactly know everything that went down between you two, but the little I do know makes it obvious you're no good for her, you need to let it go, she's perfectly fine without you." He raised his eyebrow at me and looked at me expectantly.

"You know she's not, Padge."

"I love you man, but I can't let you hurt her anymore, i'm sorry."

He smiled sympathetically and closed the door. I stood there like an idiot for a minute or two, amazed by my lack of speech. I always had too much to say, and now that I needed to make Padge understand me, I didn't say anything. I shook my head angrily and decided I would just have to return later and with a better plan. A much better plan.

~~

-Arial-

Monday came around pretty quickly, and as I was getting ready, I couldn't help but feel the awful emptiness of being 'the new girl' once again. I hoped this time around I would be able to finish high school without having to change schools again.

But this time it felt worse, only because I wouldn't have anybody by my side to guide me, or introduce me to people, or take me to my classroom, or eat with me at lunch, or walk me home...

You're doing it again Arial...

I shook my head and reassured myself for the millionth time that this was a good thing.

A great thing actually.

"Arial, hurry up!!" Padge called from the kitchen. I sighed, grabbing my backpack from my bed and checking myself in the mirror one last time.