Storms of the Past (TBS)

23~Reunited

***Thomas's POV***

"And... ACTION!" Wes calls, as I move into position and begin the same scene we've acted out twenty times before. I'm exhausted, Dylan's exhausted, Dexter's exhausted - we're all exhausted. I think at this point we all just want to go back to our homes and hotel rooms and sleep forever. Not to mention that I still have Aria on my mind and that's taking away my concentration. "Ok, cut!" Wes sighs. "Look guys, we're all tired and I think we've done enough filming for today so why don't you all just head home? I'll see you back here, same time as usual, in the morning and we can reshoot this scene again." We all let out a breath of relief and grab our things before leaving. Dylan shares a taxi with me, since we're staying in the same hotel.

Once we reach the hotel, Dylan's phone starts ringing and he answers it, yawning. "Sup," he greets. "Oh hi, Ari..ana," he finishes slowly. I look at him in confusion. What's he doing? "Oh my god, really?! He's gonna love that!" He exclaims, his eyes lightening up. He looks at me out of the corner of his eye, like he's scared I heard him. "Yeah definitely! See you soon!" He grins, ending the call.

"Dyl, who was that?" I ask.
"Um, the pizza place?" He tells me, but it's more like a question.
"Uh huh. And does the pizza place normally ring you?" I ask, amused.
"Yeah, you'd be surprised how often they do it. Must be really desperate for business - they're super clingy, I can't shake them off."
"Sure. So why were they ringing you this time?"
"Uh.. to tell me about their latest offers! Yeah, that's why they called me!" He looks really pleased with himself for coming up with that excuse.
"Ok, well, I'm just going to go up to my room now..." I say slowly, backing away from him. "See you in the morning." Hopefully then I'll find out what he's being so secretive about.
"Hmm? Oh ok, see you in the morning dude!" Dylan gives me a really bright smile, watching me as I walk to the elevator with excitement radiating off every inch of his body. Why is he acting so weird?

An hour later, just as I'm climbing into the comfiest looking bed ever, there's a knock at my door. Groaning, I turn the lights back on and open the door. "What?" I snap, not looking at the person, who I wrongly assume is Dylan.
"Oh um, is this a bad time?" A voice asks, timidly. My eyes immediately whip to the speaker and I blink in confusion. Am I dreaming?
"A-aria?" I stutter, rubbing the back of my neck sheepishly. "What are you doing here, not that I'm not glad to see you! I most definitely am."
She laughs. "I kinda had to see you. I couldn't wait any longer, especially after finding out that you liked me to. I'm really sorry for not warning you, I can go if you want...?"

I stare at her in shock, my brain going into meltdown.
Her smile falters and she looks down at her shoes, tears forming in her eyes as she mistakes my silence for anger. "I'll just go then.." She gulps, turning away. I manage to snap out of my daydream at the last minute and grab her arm. "No!" I shout, wincing at how loud my voice is. Aria's eyes widen in confusion and hurt. "I mean, don't go, please," I whisper. Her eyes soften.

Suddenly I can't take it any longer and I pull her
into my chest, wrapping my arms around her small frame protectively. "I missed you," I mumble into her hair. She laughs, her head buried in my shoulder.
"I missed you too." Suddenly I lift her up under her legs, bridal style, and she gasps. I carry her into the the room and kick the door closed behind me. I lay her gently on my bed and lean over her, my arms on either side of her head. She giggles nervously. "What are you doing?" She smirks.
"Admiring your beauty," I answer truthfully. She blushes and bites her lip, causing my eyes to travel to them. I flick my eyes back to her widened ones. "Can I kiss you?" I ask nervously. She nods her head shyly, a small smile illuminating her face.

A swarm of butterflies in my stomach, I lean forward slowly and my lips brush against hers. I'm hesitant at first to kiss her any harder but then she shocks me, pulling me closer and wrapping her arms around my neck, her soft lips moving in sync with mine. Kissing her is even more amazing than I ever could have imagined, and as cliche as it may sound, it's like there are fireworks exploding around us.

I feel her smile against my lips and if possible, I fall for her a little more. Too soon, we pull away, our foreheads still touching and our eyes closed. When we open them her eyes are sparkling and I imagine mine are exactly the same. Our breaths uneven, I gently press my lips on hers quickly before standing up. She pulls herself up onto her elbows and watches me with curious eyes as I move around the room.

At last, I find what I was looking for and throw it to her. She picks up the t-shirt and looks at me, confused.
"Stay the night?" I ask, nervously, before seeing the alarm on her face and immediately trying to explain myself. "Not like that! I swear I didn't mean it like that. I just mean to sleep," I explain, flustered.
She grins at me. "I'd love to." She grabs the t-shirt and heads into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. I can't help but grin to myself. How did I get so lucky?

*****

I lie in bed, waiting anxiously for Aria to come out. She's been in there for more than twenty minutes. What could she possibly be doing? Suddenly I hear the lock click and watch her emerge, fresh faced with no make-up and wearing my t-shirt, from the bathroom. My t-shirt looks like a dress on her, but she looks more beautiful than ever. Hiding behind her hair, she places her clothes in a neat pile on a chair and shyly climbs into the bed beside me, but leaves a far too big of a gap between us.

"I won't bite, you know, love," I say, offering her a smile.
She scoffs, blushing. "I know that. I just.. I mean I-" she stutters, but I cut her off by gently pulling her over so she's right in front of me. "Relax," I whisper, tucking the hair she was hiding behind, behind her ear, exposing her scar. "I'm not going to do anything you don't want me to, ok? I won't hurt you." She nods and looks down. I guess that it's because she's ashamed of her scar. I gently tilt her head so she's looking me in the eye. I trace the puckered up skin gently with my finger and she shivers. "Beautiful," I whisper, kissing her forehead. She gives me a gentle smile and buries her head against my chest. I sigh in content, holding her close.

We fall asleep like that, and it feels different to the time before this, after the scary movie. I was comforting her then, now I'm doing it because I simply want to, because we chose to.

- - - - - -
Oh my god - thank you so much for all the reads and votes! This is insane, I never thought I'd get this far. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did writing it :-) Please keep up the amazing support by reading and voting.
Love you guys xx