Unexpected Love ✔️

T W E L V E

C H A P T E R  T W E L V E

 • A R I A N N A•

The hushed whispers outside my door bounce off one another like a game of ping pong before they finally stop. A moment later, Aria pokes her head around the door and sends me a sheepish smile, and appears with two mugs of coffee in her hand, closing the door behind her.

Wordlessly, she climbs into my bed, slides underneath the covers, and wraps the duvet around herself like a burrito. 

"I'm here Arianna." She whispers softly into the silence, wrapping her hand around mine and squeezing softly in reassurance. "Whether you want to talk or not it doesn't matter Ari. We can sit in silence if that's what you chose, that's okay, just know that I'm here" She offers with a shrug of her shoulders.

So, we sit in silence.  Because sometimes silence and faking a smile is easier than explaining what's really wrong. And because it's me and Aria. We've been best friends since we were five, playing together with our Bratz dolls on the playground. Sometimes silence is all we need to convey our thoughts and feelings.

"He wasn't meant to be there," I murmur out loud softly, with a sigh of frustration escaping me. "He wasn't meant to know, Ria." I sink a hand into the roots of my hair and tug.

"Hey, come on." Ria's hand fly to my hair, tugging the strands of hair free. Her lips curl into a frown as my shoulders wreck with sobs.  "Please don't do this to yourself." She wraps an arm around me, tugging me into her side. A soothing hand rubs down my back offering solace, I sink into the arms which hold me, screw my eyes closed and just... allow myself to feel... to cry. 

With a sniffle, I pull back and wipe away the tears underneath my eyes.  "Aria, I don't think I can do this anymore." I tell her honestly, not daring to meet her eyes, afraid of seeing the disappointment lurking behind her gaze.

"Do what?" She asks, shifting in her seat.

"Nate rang earlier." I tell her, referring to her older brother, who knows about the incident and has been building a case off the books for when I chose to come forward and report the incident.  He is the first person my parents and I reached out to, asking for legal advice, after I told them.

"Right...?"  She asks hesitantly, I feel her gaze roam freely across my face, looking for a clue as to what's happened.

"Lucas gets out this week,"

"How?" She asks, her voice rising an octave or two with anger.

"On Parole. Good behavior or something." I shrug my shoulder, gnawing at my bottom lip hard enough to be able to taste the metallic tang of blood.

"What are you going to do?" 

What am I going do to? Each day that I willingly stay silent and let him get away with what he did to me, is another day that the bastard gets to walk free. Another day where he can carry out another attack on another girl or woman in this country. Because believe me, I've seen the numbers. I shrug my shoulder in response to her question, "I don't know," I mumble, playing with the sleeves on my jumper. 

"Arianna, you can't be the only one the bastards done this to," She points out shifting in her spot to face me, "Arianna, your dad raised you to be a strong fearless woman who stands up and screams in the face of injustice, rather than cowering behind your safety net." She adds on, arching a brow.

 • A R I A   H A Y E S •

Closing the door to Arianna's room closed behind me, I arch a brow at the face that immediately greets me.