Sugar & Spice

12|the art of moving on

The guilt of which consumed Tom Landry was right now his greatest distraction and there was only one thing he could do to make it stop; he had to call Aria Willows. The news about the trial had been out for days now and he had yet to speak to Aria about it, instead he had 'enjoyed himself' with another woman's company. The evening at the bar had quickly escalated to countless drinks and Tom had later agreed to escort one of the women home, a lousy excuse for sex. There were little regrets about the time spent with the woman, who's name he'd forgotten by now, but that's also where the guilt stemmed from - that he didn't regret it. To some degree this felt like cheating to him, because his heart still belonged to Aria, but he couldn't keep her emotionally hostage for the rest of his life and vice versa. One day he knew this would be a reality for both of them and the guilt would have to take leave, but for now he still felt guilty. The one thing that would set him free is the truth, but he was too cowardly to speak it out loud and especially after all this time - what if Aria had already met someone at college or what if she would try to pursue him again? Of course being pursued by Aria was his deepest wish and to allow himself to love her out in the open, but he was firm that she needed her college experience without an older guy to hold her back. 

There hadn't been much done at the office today as he stared at his phone and wondered if calling her now would be silly or if he should wait until tonight, she could be in class. Tom contemplated telling her the truth about his night and why he hadn't called her but he advised himself against it, knowing that it would only hurt her, but he did want to offer some type of explanation. The more he thought of it the more he drove himself crazy and instead decided to leave the office as he knew he wouldn't contribute that much more for the day. Unfortunately for him it wasn't only Aria he'd failed to call, he hadn't called his parents either. Trisha and Harry were waiting for an appropriate date to visit their son but he hadn't provided one yet - and he desperately needed to. 

He smiled when he thought of the glazed ham he would potentially surprise them with, although he might need some help with it. There were countless YouTube video's that he could get his assistance from but all he could think of was Aria. To have her in his home was playing with fire but it was hard to fight temptations when it came to her. 

Well at home he dumped his laptop bag on the sofa and headed straight for the showers, thinking that the water would give him some advice before he called Aria. The comments he'd  read about her were alarming to say the least and he was concerned that she had read them also. Not knowing which Aria he'd be getting on the phone Tom took his sweet time to call her and extended the shower until his hands looked like raisins. He stared at the clock, wide-eyed as it displayed 9:30 pm and in his navy cotton robe he sat down on his bedside and pressed the dial button. 

"Tom; is everything alright?" Aria's voice sounded stressed. 

Tom couldn't help but smile. Here he was being worried about her and now she was worried that something had happened to him, he assumed that calling after a certain time warranted that something bad had happened. 

"Well hello to you too, and yes I'm fine. I'm sorry that I worried you--" He chuckled a little to prove that everything was in order.

"It's just that--you rarely call this late. How are you?" She quickly returned to the cheerful Aria he'd hoped to talk to.

"I was just about to ask you that but not before I apologize for not calling you within the last few days; I saw the news about the trial...are you okay?" Tom asked.

Aria sighed, "I'm okay, but of course everyone at college knows about it too and they can't stop talking about it. I suppose I'll always be 'that girl' to some of them." 

It was tragic that people were so careless about what they said and instead of supporting Aria they made her feel ostracized. She wasn't wrong though; other people would most likely always associate her with the tragedy that happened, just like they would with her friends, but it didn't mean she had to define herself that way.