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Amari woke up the next morning in Derek's arms. Her head was still resting on his lap, but he had fallen asleep. She looked up at him and noticed that his head had lolled to the side and his chest was rising slowly as he slept.
His arms were hanging loosely around her, so it was easy for her to slip quietly out of his embrace. She made it off the couch and made no noise. Spencer and James were cuddled together on the other sofa, sleeping soundly. Emily was also asleep in the armchair, her legs hanging loosely off the side as she slept.
Amari threw the throw over Derek gently, trying to be extra careful not to wake him. She then headed to the bathroom and brushed her teeth and took a shower, throwing on a pair of lilac sweatpants and a white cropped vest. She washed her hair as well and let it hand loosely as it air dried.
Even as she exited the bathroom after taking a long, hot shower, everyone was still asleep. So she decided to go check on the one person she hadn't seen since the day before. Aaron.
The same Aaron who's marriage had just fallen apart only ten hours ago.
She knocked lightly on her guest bedroom door and after receiving no answer, she walked in and found him sprawled on the bed, his arms folded behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling, wide awake.
"Hey." Amari greeted him softly. "You okay?"
Aaron looked over at her before flicking his eyes back to the ceiling. It took everything in him to admit this, but he felt safe enough to be able to.
"No."
Amari closed the door to the room and walked over to him, sitting next to him on the bed.
"No, I'm not okay." He told her her softly, his voice breaking slightly as he tried to quell the inevitable onslaught of tears.
But he couldn't hold it in, silent tears slid down his face, wetting the bedsheet beneath him. He made no noise, he didn't move, he didn't speak, yet the tears carried on falling.
"Oh Aaron I'm so sorry." Mari muttered and reached out and smoothed his hair down.
It was messy from the night before, when he sat in this room and raked his fingers through his hair as he paced in the space in front of the bed.
He rolled over on the bed, burying his face in the comforter as his shoulders lightly wracked with sobs. Amari frowned sadly and stroked his hair lightly, trying to comfort him.
"Thank you." He replied a few minutes later, his voice muffled in the sheets.
Amari smiled and took her hand out of his hair. "Anytime. I'm going out." Aaron looked up at her questioningly. "Just to clear my mind, I'll be back."
He nodded and watched her leave then buried his head back in the comforter and stayed like that for at least another hour, during which that time, Amari still hadn't come back.
