Grown ish: Zoey and Aaron, The Future (BOOK 2)

Part 12: Leave

Zoey narrates.

After pushing Aaron out of my room, and spending most of the night crying, I finally fall asleep by the bedroom door.

Waking up this morning, I feel numb. I feel empty without Aaron. I hate being apart from him. But at the same time, I was really mad at him.

I get up and open the door, and I'm shocked to see Aaron sitting on the floor in the hallway. Beside him, there's a pillow. He must have slept outside my room.

'Hey...' He says, getting up, as I stare at him.

'Can we talk about this? Please?' He asks, as I finally allow him to enter the bedroom.

He sits on the bed, and I sit with him, crossing my legs.

'Look, Zoey. Whatever happened was a huge misunderstanding. My assistant, well former assistant, seemed to have some inappropriate feelings and as soon as I found out, we asked her to leave the company. It happened so quickly, and I never told you because I didn't think it was that important. Nothing ever happened.' He says, taking my hands in his, as I let him.

Suddenly, I feel warm again.

'I'm sorry.' I say, looking down.

'I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions.' I say.

'Hey, it's okay. You weren't to know. It's just what you do.' Aaron says, as I look up at him, confused.

'What?' I ask, standing up, annoyed.

'It's just what I do? What are you trying to say?' I ask, folding my arms.

'I just mean...you don't ever ask what's going on, instead you just decide whether you're going to believe someone or not without hearing the other side of the story.' He says, as I grow angry.

'Oh my god, Aaron! See this is what your problem is. Instead of ever trying to understand where I'm coming from, you automatically put the blame on me!' I shout at him.

We then get into a very heated argument, as I pace around the room, shouting, as he follows and replies.

'Why are you acting so immature, Zoey?' He shouts.

'I'm immature? Me?' I reply, rolling my eyes.

'How do you expect me to trust you when you practically cheated on me in college?!' I say, to his surprise.

We continue shouting at each other, with lots of angry hand gestures, as I start to cry in the heat of the moment.

'This is what you do Zoey. You make it all about you. I did nothing wrong, and yet here we are arguing about the past now.' He says.

We now stare at each other, in silence, as the tears start to flow from my eyes, not stopping for even a moment.

'I need you to leave, Aaron. For good this time.' I say, quietly, but firmly, looking away from him.

He pauses for a moment, and calms down, sighing.

'Zoey, come on. You don't mean that. We'll work it out we...' He starts, but I interrupt him.

'Just leave, Aaron!' I shout.

At this moment, my dad enters the bedroom. I forgot the door was open. My family must have heard everything.

He comes inside.

'Aaron. I think you need to leave.' He says, as Aaron looks at me, and I avoid his gaze, before turning to leave as my dad follows him out.

'Just give her a minute. Come back tomorrow.' My dad says to Aaron, as I go over and slam the door, to show my frustration, before getting into bed, my head in my hands.

_____

As I'm lying in bed, not crying, but emotional and confused, my mom knocks on the door and enters.

'Hi, sweetie.' She says, as I sit up, and she sits on the edge of my bed, opposite me.

As soon as I look at her, I break into tears as she hugs me and consoles me.

'I don't know what to do.' I cry.

'What do you mean?' She asks.

'Aaron and I just keep clashing, and bringing up the past and it's just not going well.' I say.

'I just want it all to go back to normal. Like when it was easy.' I add, helplessly.

'Marriage is never easy, honey. It's hard. When you marry someone, you learn things about them that you might not have known before. But it doesn't matter. As long as you love that person, and you trust them, it all works itself out. Arguments are normal.' She says.

I take my hand and look at my wedding ring. It sparkles in the reflection of the light. It's symbolic of the promises Aaron and I made to each other. And the promises I never intend to break.

'I do love him, mom. So much. Every part of me aches when I'm not with him. And I do trust him. It's just...I don't know.' I say, as I fall into her arms, in a hug, wondering what to do next.

_____

After my head to head with Aaron, I couldn't stop thinking about him. I hate fighting with him like this, and all I wanted was to be with him.

My night started off with a glass of wine. And then another. And then some more. Until suddenly I was sprawled across the floor, drunk.

I hear footsteps in my room, as I see my dad standing over me, whilst I'm looking at him upside down.

'Aaron?' I say, confused.

'Zoey? What the hell is going on?' He asks, angrily.

'You look like Aaron.' I say, clearly unable to think straight.

'Zoey, get up.' He says, trying to help me, and taking the glass from my hand.

'Stop it!' I say, snatching it from him as it falls to the carpet.

'Look what you did, Aaron.' I say, frustratedly, picking it up, and wiping the spilled drink on the floor, although making the stain worse.

My dad shakes his head, and starts to leave.

'Where are you going?' I ask.

'You need Aaron.'

_____