Sugar & Spice

05|all for one

If it was possible for feelings to blossom even more after only a few months, without having seen or spoken to someone, Aria was certainly feeling it. She had kept her cool in the car ride here but the minute she saw him peeking in to her mother's cafe her feelings bubbled to the surface and then flooded over her. He looked as good as ever and especially wearing that suit that flattered his broad chest significantly and then there was that look in his eyes. It was a look that told her that he had missed her more than he wanted to lead on, a look that she'd only seen in the most compromising situations between them and it was stirring up all kinds of things inside her. All of these feelings had led her to talk about what was happening at Hudson as an ice breaker, a sad one but one nonetheless, but it was only a smoke screen for what they needed to talk about.

She hadn't known what to call them or whatever was between them but the second he had uttered the words 'us' she knew that they would be sticking with that. Aria wasn't going to lie; she still held out hope for there to be an us in the future and with his yearning eyes looking right at her she kept the hope alive. A lot of words were going to be sent back and forth and she knew that at times it would become uncomfortable but she was going to push through it just like she had anything else that made her feel that way. 

"I'm sure you're wondering why I haven't reached out to you until now but I have a feeling that you know--" Aria said and lingered on the truth.

"I still would like to hear you say it because I don't want to make assumptions." Tom said quietly.

She put some distance between them as she remembered the hurt she had felt the last time she had seen him. Even if she loved him she was still walking around with a broken heart that had yet to be mended and it hadn't been an easy road to try to mend it either. The few lips she had kissed had only been a painful reminder of a kiss that she wasn't sure would ever happen to her again and to admit the truth to Tom caused her chin to tremble - but she wanted to be honest with him just like she had when she admitted her love for him.

"There hasn't been a day when I haven't thought of you, Tom. The whole summer I spent pining after you and crying because I was heartbroken, so when it was time to leave for University I needed to try to move on from what had happened between us," Aria began, "I didn't contact you because it hurt too much. I had to know if I could ever stop needing you." 

Tom kept quiet but she could tell it was hurting him to hear what she had to say. He had seen how much she had hurt that evening and must've known that recovering from it wouldn't be an easy road ahead. Aria wanted to be sympathetic to his feelings but right now she needed to tell him about her own, just so he'd understand that the road back to him had been equally as hard as the one she traveled from him. 

"I can't believe that I'm the one who put you through all of that--" Tom mumbled and cursed a string of curse words after, thinking they were lost on her. They weren't.

"Don't blame yourself, I was the one who confessed my feelings to you after I knew you didn't feel the same thing. I had never said it out loud before and I felt like I needed to, because otherwise I'd regret it." Aria explained with pain stuck as a lump in her throat.

"I thought you had moved on completely and left this place behind," Tom said without looking at her, "I knew that you needed time but when time stretched longer I was certain that what I'd said had ruined any chance at seeing you again. I felt so guilty..." His voice faltered and he turned around and walked further away from her.

"I didn't tell you for you feel guilty, I told you this because I don't want there to be secrets between us that will keep us from...being us again. Although I know some things will be different I hope we won't let that come between us." Aria said.