My Only Exception

Chapter Two

I had shaved my head in a Britney Spears Manic Episode, soon falling into a depressive episode not long after. "Who needs hair? We live in a stigma where we need to be naturally pretty, with long hair so men will like us better. But fuck em." She claimed passionately, as the buzzers purred with every strip that fell off.

She ran her hands through her buzzed hair and glanced to me, "I am with you, always. Look, now we're trendsetters." I laughed a genuine laugh next to her that night in what felt like a million years.

Being with Aria, was always easy. She let me be me. I was super reserved, never opening up to anybody fully- terrified they would leave me sooner or later. Aria was my only exception, she knew everything about me; even knowing me better than I know myself sometimes.

Bipolar, abandonment and attachment issues. I was a baggage full of shit nobody wanted to take the chance on; besides Aria. I always let Aria see me more than I let anybody else, because she never made me feel like I needed to be coddled and looked after every minute.

I was brought back to reality, when she passed the bong back to me- entering a coughing fit as she spit over the balcony, sitting back down on her hind-end and taking a swig of the water.

I still hadn't replied, something she wouldn't let me get away with for long. "We don't ever have to talk if you don't want to, but you know that I will do anything with you. Maniac episode and all." I pulled back, laughing as she motioned to her wild curls.

My mind was slowing from the constant state of overdrive it was normally in; the marijuana effectively blurring out, letting me just be. These were the times I lived for, I spent most of my days high just to silence my raging thoughts.

I just wanted them to be quiet.

I placed the bong next to us as I cradled my knees, with my chin resting on the top. "Do you think I'm worthless?" I questioned lightly, my voice getting picked up and lost in the wind. I knew she heard me, when her sharp ocean eyes snapped to look at mine.

She pulled her body close to mine, squeezing her freezing fingertips between my cool cheeks. "You are worth so fucking much, Link. You saved me, when I didn't want saving. You are my only light." Her lips pressed against my forehead, causing me to release a shaky sigh.

She pulled back, sitting closer to me than she was before. I laid on my back, Aria joining me; our shoulders were pressed together tightly as we took in the setting sun. "I'm happy y'all moved back too." Her head rolled over to look at me as she grinned, her pearly whites on full display.

"It sucks we only get to spend our last year together though." I nodded with a slight pout. "Hey, I'll take one year with you over none." She agreed with a shrug of her shoulder. "Do you ever feel like you aren't entitled to being sad?" She didn't glance at me or even answer me for a while for that matter; She just simply stared up at the sky.

"We all go through shit, you know." Her voice was quiet, but my ears strained to hear every last word she had to say.

"-Like we all battle with something, whether it's our home lives or something deeper within. We can't help how we feel."

The slight pause in her voice cause my head to turn toward hers. She never met my eyes.

"Some of us aren't blessed enough to have a loving home life or chemicals that don't want to kill us."