Long Distance

Speechless.

"YOU DID WHAT?" Madison exclaimed upon hearing the news of what had happened just an hour ago.

"Mads, hear me out!" I calm her down.

"Are you just going to forget what he did Aria?"

"No, but I also can't forget everything good he did," I argue. "We were together for four years."

"Yeah and you were engaged too but that didn't seem to stop him from hooking up with that girl!"

"I know, I know, but hear me out." I beg her. "Say this was you and Matt. Would you forgive Matt?"

"I-i don't know, maybe," she shrugs, quieting down.

"You see? I haven't forgiven Mason completely yet anyway, I've just agreed to try."

Madison stays quiet for a bit before standing from my bed and turning to me.

"If he hurts you again, I'm fighting him," she warns and I nod my head amused at how protective she was.

"Only if you let me fight him with you."

She lets out a laugh before wrapping her arms around me.

_____________

My parents had dinner plans tonight which meant I was home alone. After showering and changing into some comfortable clothes, I decided to put on some Netflix.

It seemed impossible to focus on the show when my mind kept traveling back to everything going on in my life.

I had just graduated high school. My ex fiancé, who cheated on me, was back in town. We had sex in the back of his car, but I still haven't forgiven him. I've agreed to give him another chance, but no one knows except for Mads since everyone kinda hates him.

I'm interrupted from my thoughts when a knock resounds through the house, and I instantly become alert. I reach for an empty flower vase in case there was a burglar standing on the other side of that door.

I slowly approach the door and open it a notch, peeking out to see who it was.

"Ethan?" My eyebrows knit together as he stood there in a plain white long sleeve and black jeans. His hair was tousled in a messy, yet attractive way and his face looked bright and happy?

"Hey," he breathed, taking a step closer to the door that I had widened upon seeing it was him and not some man ready to rob me.

"What are you doing here?"

He reaches behind him and retrieves my graduation cap.

"How do you hav-"

"It was in the school parking lot. I imagined you must have dropped it."

"Thank you," I smiled wider. "I hadn't even noticed it was missing."

He nods at me, and it's like he wants to say something else but something isn't letting him.

"How have you been?" He asks and it takes me a bit by surprise. Ethan was never one to engage in such casual conversation. I think about my answer, really think about it, before replying.

How was I? I was happy, but there was a smudge of pain still stuck on me. It was like a stain that I couldn't wash out no matter what I used. I had my friends, but things were different now. I wasn't engaged anymore. I would be starting college in the fall with no one by my side. My life had took such a turn and I didn't understand how or why.

"I don't know." I answer honestly, not even caring that it's Ethan I'm talking to. "Things have been wild."

"You wanna talk about it?" He asks, placing his hand on the back of his neck nervously, as if he were scared of saying the wrong thing.