Sugar & Spice

22|battle vs war

To not be able to tell if a testimony had gone good or bad was the most difficult part for Aria Willows, as she poked at her fries, during the break. The room was mostly silent except for her lawyer and her father whispering in the background, she desperately wanted to know what they were saying but neither of them made themselves available to ask. Instead Aria was half-listening to her mother praising her for how brave she'd been up there but it just wasn't as assuring as getting a definite answer from someone who knew. Then there was knowing that Tom was lurking the halls out there and she had yet to speak to him because she didn't want to focus on their drama today, despite knowing that's not why he was here. Her eyes lingered to the door many times during the conversation with her mother until she'd nearly burned a hole through it.

"Aria, you haven't said too much since we got in here. Are you alright?" Her mother asked her gently.

"I'm not sure how I'm doing right now. I feel like he trapped me in questions that I should've seen coming from a mile away, but once you're up there it feels impossible to argue anything. God knows what taste the jury was left with after that." Aria answered in a defeated tone, pushing her plate far away from her. 

"If you get rattled now the defense would get what they want so I advise you to continue to stay strong. Do we know what's happening after this lunch break?" Catherine asked loudly to catch John and Peter's attention.

John walked over and gave his daughter a comforting kiss on the forehead but didn't succeed to remove the pain, like she'd hoped.

"Most likely Brody Jensen will have his time on the stand which is our moment to shine. I doubt anything major will be revealed and I doubt he'll confess to the crime, but if we're lucky we can catch small mistakes he'll make and hope that the jury sees through his act." John explained.

"What if they thought my testimony was an act? The fact that the jury could ever doubt the truth makes me scared, but Mr Pierce certainly made it seem like whatever I was saying wasn't wasn't it."  Aria continued.

"Listen to your mother and stay strong, Aria. If you look defeated there's a chance the jury might assume that you are." John lectured. 

Since the lunch break wouldn't be over for a while Aria decided to use the bathroom excuse to escape the room for a few minutes. By now she guessed that Tom would've either got back to work or eating lunch somewhere and she missed the chance to thank him for his support, even if she's still mad at him. People zooming by her and disappearing into different courtrooms and reminding her that everyone wasn't just here for the Brody Jensen trial. Aria disappeared among the masses and it felt good to do so, almost giving her hope that she could go back to being invisible once this trial was all over - no matter the verdict. The one thing that frightened her more than Brody Jensen getting out was being ostracized and she assumed Brody feared the same, him more than her. That's why she couldn't help but smiling when a wave of people passed her by without looking at her and she took comfort in simply being one of the masses again, just like she was in the halls of her high school before she made herself known on prom night. 

But there was one person who could spot her in any crowd and to that person she shined bright no matter where she went, because she felt the same way about him. From across the hall she could see Tom staring at her with uncertainty in his eyes as he wasn't sure if he could approach her or not. The anger she felt for him took a backseat as the yearning grabbed her heart and she moved through the crowds to get to him. She wasn't sure this was a good idea but when it came to Tom Landry her heart had a tendency to speak for her and this was one of those times. He looked better than usual even if she'd seen the suit he was wearing before, but to be away from him seemed to have increased her want significantly.