When the fear of isolation pulls Ashton and Ria together, nothing can prepare them for the collision. An anomaly shatters the repetitive fabric of their lives, sending them on a journey of discovering themselves and one another.
Beneath Ashton's gen...
❝I haven't even scratched the surface of who you are.❞
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Chris: I hope you don't hate me...I know I messed up
Chris: I shouldn't have left you
Chris: When can I see you?
Chris: I love you baby.
Ria turns the screen off and pulls her knees to her chest. Her eyes drift to the rays of sunlight spilling across her apartment floor.
Why is he doing this to me?
For the past two days, her phone has been infested with his missed calls and text messages. Voicemails she refuses to check linger in her notifications. Text messages she fights to ignore pile up, waiting for her response.
It's not real, she tells herself. Merely a ghost masking itself as him. Testing her. Picking at her guard.
A guard she won't let down ever again.
Even as she tries to believe it, a sick desperation wraps around her muscles and seeps into her bones. The desperate need to hear his excuses. What if he truly is sorry? He is human after all. He's allowed to make mistakes, right?
Then that night sears her delicate memories.
The night she gave him everything and he left her with nothing.
Nothing but a black hole siphoning her emotions every time she thinks she's over him.
Clenching her fist, Ria attempts to swallow her grief. He's been in her life for nearly half a decade. He was more than her first love. He was her best friend. Two years of friendship and two years of love. He was supposed to be the one. Her forever.
Hot tears threaten her eyes and her chest shakes as she holds back a sob. "Dammit," she rasps. "Why do I still feel like this?" I should hate him.
A knock jolts her from her sulking and she jerks her head up. Wiping her eyes, she tosses her phone aside and scrambles to the front door. Throwing it open, she's met with the anomaly that's been invading her life for over a week now.
Her heart thuds.
"A-Ashton?"
He grins and leans a casual arm on the doorframe. "Hey, I thought I would stop by and-" He hesitates and takes in her expression. Ria struggles to smile, but her face contorts into a grimace and her eyes brim with tears again. "You okay?"
"Oh yeah." She waves him off and sniffs. "I'm fine. I was actually going to call you." She studies a loose stitch on the sleeve of her sweater and slowly unravels it. "I actually don't think I'll be coming in for our first lesson today."
"Ria-"
"So you can go on without me."
Ashton's warm fingers tilt her chin and electricity shoots over her skin. He peers at her tired face and she fights the urge to push him away and slink back into the confines of lifeless, but safe, apartment.
