Under the Umbrella ✓

-25-

Aria hadn't had anyone else other than Sandra to talk about everything and nothing for the past ten years. It's not as if she hadn't had friends or dated anyone before her life fell apart, but no one ever showed any real interest in her life and stayed long enough as Sandra had. She was content having to trust only one person and never had the want to get to know anyone else, or she tried not to.

She lived her life like that. She was accustomed to avoiding closer relationships and she was used to being seen as a passing cloud, or even a stranger to people who knew her long enough - like her family. At first, she didn't know if it was right to let people regard her the way she had led them to believe. She felt as if her soul had taken turns whirling between storms and hurricanes so it was the only way she knew to evade anything closer to another disaster. 

She just wanted to be a person who didn't have to be embarrassed about her life, who didn't have to worry about money, and didn't have to feel responsible for anyone else's life other than hers. Anything and everything an ordinary girl yearned for could make it into the picture after that. She swore she wasn't asking for too much. 

Those were the kind of thoughts that had always manifested in the forefront of her mind. Those were the kind of thoughts that should have rung in her head like sirens. But right now she wasn't thinking. This time, the voice that gushed through her windpipe seemed to be louder than the voice in her head, and she didn't know it. 

She might have known something would have been different with Elliot the first few times she had encountered him. Maybe that was why she was so afraid to ask him about his life because then it would give him the right to ask about hers in return. Talking about herself made her feel like she was trusting someone else again. She felt nothing but restlessness from that thought.

But still, she did. She felt like she was having an easy conversation with herself in the mirror, with the only difference being that it wasn't awkward. Aria really liked his company. Something about their interaction made her happy and consoled. 

She didn't know how she ended up talking about the twins when the last she remembered, she had been listening to him talk about his first case as a lawyer. She couldn't stop talking once she saw one of his broader smiles and suddenly she was only trying to get him to laugh.

He had asked her about her college when they were setting off back to the living room and she replied with a brief answer because there truly wasn't anything more to it than her studying there. She didn't even have acquaintances in there like she did at the clothing store she worked at.

He didn't question it anymore but had only seemed slightly astounded when she mentioned where she studied. "You must be pretty smart to get in there."

"I told you not to trust those papers."

He smiled, the faint indentation near his lips appearing again. "I didn't." He sagged onto the couch as he got a hold of his phone on the coffee table. "I know we ate just a while ago but are you still hungry?"

"Not really," she answered. "Are you?"

He smiled sheepishly and Aria tried once again not to ogle at his face now. Questions weren't the only thing that went back and forth; so did her gaze between his face and his body. "I am. I'm going to order something, so can I order for you as well?"

"I'm okay," she automatically said.

"Are you sure?"

She faltered. She had been starving herself the entire day and those sandwiches had been the only food she had so she wasn't exactly full but she didn't want to impose either. "What are you ordering?" she asked despite herself.

"Chinese," he responded, his eyes vaguely sparkling in anticipation. "I can order something else if you don't-"

"Chinese is good," she cut in before she could even stop herself. Right before she could tell him that she was going to pay for it, she heard her phone ring. She reached for her phone inside her bag and just as always, when she saw Kierra's name flash on the screen, she stared at it uneasily.