Tides

11 | you are mine. forever.

At this very moment, she's been fighting two sides of herself. A side that desperately wants to leave Chris and endure the pain of Ashton in a healthy way, and a side that is terrified of hurting Chris but wants to hold on to the hope of having Ashton back.

Snow crunches beneath her boots as she leaves lonely footsteps behind her. Well, lonely wouldn't be the right word. Chris' are right next to hers, but even with his physical presence, she still finds herself wandering around the hollow abyss that is her emotions alone.

She hardly notices that he's slipped her hand into his, their cold fingers desperately providing warmth to each other.

Her head is ducked low, watching the white flakes glisten before she shoves her black boots into them, creating more footsteps. If she thinks hard enough, she could easily replace Chris with Ashton.

Ashton's hand is in hers. Ashton's footsteps are next to hers. Ashton's soft breaths are breaking the silence. She smiles and inhales the fragrance of her scarf — Ashton's scarf — and shivers as his presence manifest with them.

"Where the hell is this idiot taking you?"

Ria shrugs, biting back a grin as she imagines Ashton's annoyed deep voice in her cold ears. He said it was a surprise.

"We both know, I am the surpriser of this relationship. How many things have I done to drop your pretty little lips? This tool can't even dream of comparing to my romantic gestures."

She grins at her own imagination. Her teeth show and it's almost a foreign feeling, smiling. At least he's trying. That's more than what I can say about you.

"What if I didn't leave you? What if the letter was a lie?"

I saw your handwriting. I recognize my sketchbook paper. Don't you think I've gone over this theory a million times?

"Try harder, princess."

Ugh. Ria shakes Ashton from her thoughts. Jared was right. The way she thinks of Ashton all the time...it's sick. Unhealthy. She's just torturing herself pretending that he never left.

If her therapist knew, she'd probably agree. In fact, she'd wonder why Ria still hasn't left Chris. Am I that afraid?

"We're here, baby." Chris' excited voice shatters her frivolous thoughts.

Footsteps freeze and she blinks rapidly. Bringing her head up, she finds Chris standing before her. They've stopped in the middle of the frozen wonderland. Thin flurries rain between them and nothing but snow and trees laced in ice surround them.

Warmth resides in Chris' cocoa eyes. Eyes that try to pierce into her heart. Warmth that makes it hard for her to break up with him.

"Where are we?" Ria speaks in a swallowed voice. Her gaze flicks to the frozen water fountain sitting behind them and memories come flooding in.

"I couldn't think of what would be more romantic." He shrugs and grabs her other hand as a boyish grin stretches across his lips. His teeth chatter and he shivers a few good times but carries on. "Should I do this on our one-month re-anniversary at the place we had our first date or wait a couple weeks for Valentine's Day and do this over a candlelit dinner?"

Do what?

Ria chuckles and glances back over to the water fountain. Twenty-year-old versions of them become visible, running around the fountain like lovesick teenagers. They tease each other, tossing handfuls of water into the other's face.

At one point, Chris had fallen in the fountain and was devastated to find Ria snorting and giggling and grabbing her camera to capture his embarrassment. Of course, he retaliated and pulled her in and nearly destroyed her cheap camera.