vertigo ; eden/jonathan ng fanfiction

three.

Aria's POV

I walk to the diner where my friends and I were suppose to meet up for Jon's big news. After talking with him yesterday, I went home and they were already having breakfast. When they left, I broke down into tears. It still hasn't completely sunk in that my best friend was leaving. But, I have to be strong. It's what's best for him. He's finally gonna be able to do what he dreamt of, living the life he's worked so hard for. If anything, I should be happy for him. But why am I so fucking broken?

I try to shrug off the sadness and put a smile on my face before reaching the diner to see everyone already there. I don't dare to look at Jon in the eyes, I just knew that if I did I'd just start crying again. I take the empty seat next to Megan and Alex, a confused expression on everyone's face because for the first, I decided not to take the seat next to Jon. Thankfully, no one said a word. After getting what we ordered, which was just some milkshakes and fries, Mikey decides to open the topic.

"What's the big news, Jonny? Did you get someone pregnant or something?" Mikey asks.

"I wish I was banging chicks as much as you, but no." Jon jokes, trying to play it cool. "It's actually quite a serious matter."

Jon tells them about the whole situation. How he managed to get a contract and that he had to leave tomorrow. Everyone was devastated. Kayla and Megan were emotional, trying their very best not to cry while Mikey and Alex were messing with him, trying their best to make him stay. We all wanted him to stay, we knew it would all be kind of different without us being complete. After Jon explained more about the situation and all that, we were all bidding our last fair wells until Mikey announced that we should all be at the airport tomorrow to have a proper send off for Jon. My stomach drops as I picture myself saying good bye at the airport but nod anyways.

"Need some company going home?" He asks just before I left. I realised this is the first time we've had contact the whole day. I stayed pretty quiet during the whole lunch or just talked to the others. I didn't know why I was sort of ignoring Jon when I should be making the most of the time we have together before he leaves until god knows when.

In response to his question, I just nod and we start walking towards my house. It was a pretty awkward five minutes. Neither of us were talking or even looking at each other until Jon steps up in front of me and blocks my way.

"Why are you being so quiet?" He asks, looking at me directly in the eye. He always does this when he asks a serious question, he checks my eyes if I'm lying about my answer or not.

Even though I know he sees right through me, I try to lie anyways. "I'm just tired."

He looks at me for a few more seconds before chuckling and moving along. After a few more minutes of not talking, I sigh in relief as we finally reach my house.

"Will you be there tomorrow? At the airport?" He asks.

I wanted to tell the truth and say no, because I can't. Instead, I lie again. "Of course."

***

Today's the day he leaves. He's probably on his way to the airport right now. Everyone's probably waiting for him to arrive there so they can give their final wishes and good byes. They were trying to contact me a few minutes ago and spamming my phone with messages asking me where I was, if I was okay or if I was coming so I just shut it off. No way in hell am I gonna be able to go to the airport, say goodbye and watch the guy of my life leave. All these years we've spent together was nothing to what he's going to experience in America. He'll be able to achieve all the success he wanted, live the dream he's been thinking of for years. He'll have his version of happiness. Something I couldn't give him here in England.

As I wipe a tear off my cheek, I hear a knock on my door. I open it to see one of our house maids, giving me the landline phone and saying someone was asking for me.

I thank her, shut the door behind me and put the phone on my ear, "Hello?"

"Remember senior year of high school? You were so scared because you didn't know what you were going to be so we made a detailed plan of what we wanted to be in the future. I told you I was going to be a big artist and you said you just wanted to get out of that dead beat city, out of reach from your controlling parents and living the life you've always wanted." Jon says through the phone. "Aria I'm so fucking sorry for all the pain I've caused you. I just hope you know that I'm doing this all for you and for the dream we've dreamed of. It might not make sense now, but it will in the future. I just hope you trust me on this. This is for the best."

"How are you so sure?" I say, not knowing where I got the courage to reply but I did.

"Because I know us. I know you, you're a strong person and you can go through this. I'll always be just a call away." He says. "I gotta go, they just called for my flight."

"Jon," I say before he left. "I wish you the best, genuinely."

"I know." He replies.

"Please don't call me again." I finally say with the last bit of courage I had left. I end the call and put the phone down.

He's living his dream and I'm a hindrance towards that. I can't believe it took me that long to realise that all this time, I was bringing him down.

***

"I understand where you're coming from, hun" Kayla says after I explained my side of the situation to her. After an hour of the phone call, the whole gang came by my house to comfort me knowing I'd be the person who was going to get affected by this the most. "But can you enlighten me why in hell you don't want him to call you?"

"Don't you get it? I'm weighting him down. I don't want to be the reason why he's holding back anymore. I want him to reach his full potential with or without me. It hurts so fucking much but if letting him go makes him free to do anything he wanted, then that's what I'm going to do. I'm his best friend. I should be helping him achieve all his dreams, not be the reason why he can't." I explain. Thankfully, she doesn't say anything and just hugs me.

After a few more minutes of crying and the gang doing their best to make me feel better, Mikey gets up from the couch.

"Alright that's it," He says. "I'm bringing it in."

I get confused about what he's talking about. Mikey exits the room, followed by Meg and Alex while Kayla stays beside me, a small smile on her lips. A few seconds later, Mikey and Meg appear again.

"Before Jon left, he gave us a small something to give to you. He told us to give it to you after you've calmed down but we don't think that's happening much sooner so, we're just gonna give it to you now in hopes of it making you feel better." Meg announces. I stay confused for a little while longer before Alex comes in bringing a box inside, a puppy's head sticking out of it. "He said that you once described him to be a Golden Retriever so he decided to get you one in hopes that it would bring comfort and love to you while he's gone."

Alex takes the puppy out of the box and places it gently on my lap. It sniffs me a little, looks up at me and jumps up to my face, licking my cheeks causing me to giggle.

For some odd reason, I instantly felt better.

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Quite a short chapter but I had to end it haha, it wouldn't make sense if I continued it soooo

Also, next chapter is gonna be a short one too but it's important for the future scenes xoxo

Also x2, I know it's a bit dramatic now but there are gonna be more humorous chapters in the future, just read on!

Also x3, tell me if the chapters are too long or short or just right or if you don't get some parts because of the wording. All kinds of feed back helps, thank you! Xoxo