Addicted to You

Chapter 17: Confrontation

Tracking Aurora down was a pain in the ass as once I actually did find her, she just kept trying to dodge me, rounding every corner she could find until I ran through the halls and caught her wrist, "could you stop running from me and just talk to me?"

She whipped around quickly, yanking her hand away from me as anger was boiling in her eyes," why? So I can sit here and listen to you judge me for my actions? Well I already got it, it was fucked up, so go back to your perfect little life and leave me alone." 

I rolled my eyes at her as she attempts to start walking away from me once more before I spoke my next words, stopping her in her tracks, "I know about Emily."

She stood motionless for several moments, the hallways beginning to clear as students prepare to head to their first period. She turned to face me, her features softened as sadness took over her expression. "Why does that change anything? It doesn't change what I did nor does it change this." As she spoke, she gestured between us, not knowing what to call us either as hurt was written all over her expression. And guilt.

I sighed in frustration, "Aurora. You know as much as I do that we could still be friends. Yes, you fucked up, but we were once friends. Before anything else. At least we could be if you even wanted to. Are you even sorry? For what happened?"

She scoffed, a laugh exiting her lips as she rolled her eyes, "you know for a fact I feel awful about what happened. If you know about Emily, then you obviously know how I feel and who I've been since then. That isn't an excuse, and I am sorry for what happened. I just don't know how to escape this. How to escape who I am. I'm so sick of blaming myself for what happened but whenever I try reasoning with myself, I always end up pointing the blame back at me."

I gently placed my hand on her arm, her body growing tense before relaxing to the familiar touch. She remains silent, never pulling away from me. "I know this may sound very cliche, but have you tried therapy? Getting help? Maybe you just need a little push in the right direction by an outside source until you can become who you are again."

"I can't do this alone," she looked down at my hand before adverting her eyes elsewhere. 

I smiled, tilting her chin up to make her look me in the eyes, "you won't be. You have me. If you two can not kill each other, you can have Ella by your side too."

She chuckled to herself, smiling at me as she nodded, "having you as a friend sounds nice. It'll be a little difficult adjusting to Ella, but I'm willing to do it. I want to be better than who I am."

I pulled her into an embrace, her body quickly reacting as she wrapped her arms around my neck, burying her face there as well. I could tell she was sobbing quietly into my shirt, so I allowed the silence to grow until she could compose herself. "Thank you, Avery. You have no idea what this means to me," she spoke it softly into my skin before pulling back, wiping her shirt against her tear stained face, a smile growing on her lips. "Now get to class, loser. You have a girlfriend to distract from schoolwork," she jokingly spoke before turning her back and walking away.

"Hey! We're just friends," I shouted back at her. Her only response was a laugh, her head shaking as she turned the corner. She was right though, I was already a minute or so late to class so I quickly sped through the halls before entering the classroom. I said a quick apology before sitting next to Ella.

She started scribbling on her notebook before pushing it towards the edge of her desk. The neat handwriting read this: 'where were you?'

I grabbed my textbook along with my pen and notebook. I immediately began writing a response before pushing it to the corner of my own desk: 'talk after class?'