The light from Aria's bedroom window woke me up. I sat up and rubbed my eyes and blinked quickly to get my vision back on track. But I couldn't seem to get the gunk out. I got up and walked down the hall until I found the bathroom to wash my face. I was so focused on the gunk in my eyes, that I completely ignored the running water coming from the bathroom. I opened the door without hesitation and approached the undermount sink. The shower curtain didn't even process into my mind.
I turned the tap to the warm setting and gave my face a good wash; Finally, the gunk is out of my eyes. Thank god. I looked into the circle-shaped mirror and gave a smile to myself. But then, behind me in the mirror I saw the shower curtain swish across the metal bar attached to the walls; I turned around quickly. This can't be real, no way in hell can this be real. Aria stepped out of the shower, her head was focussed on the towel next to the shower curtain. Just before the noticed me, I covered my face with my hands.
"Holy shit!" Aria squealed. "You scared me!"
"I'm so sorry," I said, I probably looked like a fool with my hands covering my face, "I didn't realise you were in there, I-I was just really focussed on getting the stupid gunk out of my eyes.".
"It's fine; You just scared me!" Aria shouted jokingly, "We're both girls, after all, there's nothing to be embarrassed about."
"Good point," I blurted laughing nervously.
"You can open your eyes, silly."
"It's ok, I'll just -" I asserted but the creaking in the tiles stopped me from finishing my sentence. Was she really coming closer to me? Like this wasn't awkward enough.
She touched my hands and pulled them away from my face. She had a towel wrapped around herself. I could feel my whole face heating up.
"Ha, you really thought I would be naked, didn't you?" Aria joked.
"What pttf? No." I responded, my face felt like it was about to pop off. Aria gave a smirk.
"I'll just get dressed...now," I said, walking out and shutting the door behind me. I leaned against it and gave out a huge sigh. Shit, that was really, really wierd, I thought. I tried to shake it off, but it was hard to shake off seeing someone naked, especially when they didn't know you saw it. But I walked off like I didn't see anything; I rubbed my head as I came into Aria's room where my clothes from yesterday were, on a painted wooden chair; I picked up my clothes that leaked the rest of the chair's painting. Of course, knowing Aria it was nature-themed. The legs of the chair laid painted daisies and on the seat of the chair, a forest; Colours of yellow, green and blue spread across the seat. I slipped on my jean shorts and my black T-shirt, looking exactly like I did yesterday except with a messy bun hairdo.
I walked calmly out of Aria bedroom and kept walking until I found Aria in the kitchen cooking up a storm. I stood next to her and saw the frying pan on the stove, with eggs and bacon being fried on it. I inhaled the scent of the food.
"Mmmm smells delicious," I said, still looking at the oil bubbling in the pan. Aria slipped her spatula under the eggs and put them on a piece of toast, along with the bacon. She grabbed a plate and handed it to me.
"Eat up," she said, as I collected the china plate from her.
"Wow, thanks," I thanked her, following her to the dinner table. "So, how drunk was I last night?" I asked. I just had to know how crazy I was; I never get drunk, so a tiny bit of alcohol get set me off.
"You thanked me for saving your face from the terrifying concrete road," Aria admitted, laughing a little and taking a bit from her egg on toast.
"What?" I almost choked on my bacon "Really?" I said laughing, almost choking on my bacon.
"You did, it was quite funny," she laughed. We sat there for a bit, still eating our breakfast,
"So, let's talk about your performance last night," I said, Aria still had eggs in her mouth, I waited for her to finish and then she said.
"Yeah? What did you think?" Aria said, taking a bite out of her toast.
"I don't think I've ever seen someone play the guitar that well in all my entire life; Then again, I haven't really been to a lot of places where they have live music," I scratched the back of my neck.
"Aw, thanks; I've been going to live music since I was a kid, pubs, concerts..." Aria said, using her fingers as a counter for how many different live performances she's been to. She went on for about a minute.
"...And finally, I went to see Dua Lipa perform in Queensland; that was my favourite I think." She snorted. I sat there stunned.
"Wow, I'm-" she cut me off
"Speechless, I know; That's what most people do when I tell them," she said, getting up off her chair and grabbing her plate with her, and held her hand out for my empty plate as well. I took the last bite out of my toast and gave it to her.
"Thanks for the breakfast, it was really good," I said putting my elbows on the wooden table and using my hands to hold my chin up.
"You're welcome," Aria said back to me, putting rubber gloves on and washing the dirty plates, along with some other dishes from who knows when.
"Well, I better get going. I've got to get back to work and to my dog,"
"You have a dog?" She said, looking at me while still washing some cutlery.
"Yeah, I have a dog. Her name's Xena." I said. I got my phone form the kitchen table, where I left it when I came in yesterday; I leaned my back against the wall next to Aria and showed her a picture of Xena
"Aw, how adorable!" Aria screeched.
"Yeah, she's pretty damn cute," I agreed, and putting my phone on the kitchen bench next to the drying dishes.
"Well, I hope to see you again soon," Aria said, putting the plates that we had our breakfast on in the drying rack next to her sink.
"Yeah, me too," I said, as Aria turned off the tap and put the patterned rubber washing gloves over the sink. We walked together to the front door; The hallway was narrow, both of us barely fit. Our hands brushed together faintly. We both pulled our hands away quickly.
"Ouch!" Aria said laughing, "you gave me an electric shock." I laughed along with her.
"Oh, and one more thing," Aria said briskly walking to the room right next to the front door. I opened the front door and the fly screen while I waited. She came back with a little pot full of soil. "This is for you."
"A pot full of plain old soil?" I questioned, confusingly laughing. Then Aria raised her hand above the pot, and then I realised what she was doing. There was a seed in that pot; A green stem slowly raised upwards; It stopped at around an index finger tall.
"A rose, for you," Aria said smiling at me. I was stunned. No one has ever really given me a rose before, except for Fletcher on Valentine's day.
"Wow, thank you Aria, I love it," I thanked her, as she passed the little pot into my hands and gave her a grateful smile.
"You're welcome, and make sure to water it a little bit every day. And give it some sun as well," Aria said back to me.
"I'm not that good with plants but I'll try my hardest," I said looking at the petals that were trying to bloom. She giggled.
"Say hi to your dog for me," she said laughing softly.
"I will," I rejoiced, laughing at her little joke. She's so funny, I thought. "See ya," I said walking out into the veranda. She grabbed my should and turned me around, I almost lost my sense of balance. She brought me to her chest to hug her. She gently wrapped her arms around me and so did I.
"Bye," She responded shutting the door. I exhaled as if I haven't taken a breath in a whole day when I was with Aria. I walked peacefully to my car and opened the door. I drove home quietly, no music this time which is very unlike me. Surprisingly there wasn't that much traffic, so I arrived home in under ten minutes. I parked my car and entered my uncle Groden's mansion that he passed onto me when he died. That bastard Serpine.
Home sweet home, I signed as I closed the flush door behind me. Xena came rushing down down the stairs and jumped straight onto me. I fell down with her; She licked my face and I patted her back.
"Did Skulduggery feed you last night?" I asked her. She barked. I knew we get each other. I laughed to myself. I held onto the edge of the couch to help me up off the ground; I walked to the kitchen, I saw a note on the ash wood dining table. It read:
Yes, I did feed her
- Skulduggery
I grinned at the message. He's so funny. I placed my keys on the bench next to the note along with Aria's plant at the centre of the table. I walked down to my living room and sat on the grey lawson sofa, grabbed my novel from short white marble coffee table in front of me and started to read.
When I finished the fifth chapter of my book, my mind began to wander a little; I miss Militsa so much, we had so much fun together and I don't know what I did wrong. Maybe I deserved to be cheated on. After all, I'm still this psycho woman that tried to destroy the world. Then that reminded me of when Aria to not worry, and how she did...something to me that just... washed all the hatred and sadness away; I could really use some of that right now. I miss her already and it's only been half an hour. I miss her long silky hair and her smooth skin. I signed. I suddenly became more alert when I head the car engine out the front of my house. I put my paper bookmark in where the start of chapter six was to marks where I was up to. I heard a knock on the door, I was expecting it to be Skulduggery but I soon found out I was wrong when I opened the door a creak.
"Fletcher?" I said surprised. What the hell was he doing here? He hadn't come to my home in months; I've only seen him around at Corrival Academy when I was with Militsa. I frowned at the thought. He was wearing a plain white T-shirt with a flannel shirt on top, along with some loose jeans and sneakers.
"I'm a good person right," He stammered opening the door so it was wide of and he walked inside. Sure, just...come on in. I thought to myself.
"Um... yeah you're a good person, Fletch. What's the matter?" I questioned him, crossing my arms and waiting for a response.
"You know Rebecca right?" I nodded to show him I did know who she was, that other teacher Corrival Academy, "I can't be a good person if she would just cheat on me like that," He testified gripping his messy blond hair; Looking at me like he was about to explode. poor Fletch.
"You and me both," I groaned, rolling my eyes. And I let out a sigh of relief that someone else knows what I'm going through.
"You-you got cheated on too," He asked, finally calming down a little. He sat on the end of the couch rubbing his arm.
"Yep, Militsa and I are no more" I answered, tapping my fingers on my arms. We stood there for a moment, looking at each other.
"Look," I said getting closer to him and putting my hand on his shoulder "none of this is your fault, you did nothing wrong. The next right thing to do is move on with your life, you can't change her mind, Fletch." I sympathised, giving him a polite smile.
Then he leaned in and our lips met. He grasped my dark brown hair and pulled me in. His lips were soft, and I forgot how good of a kisser he is. His eyes looked greener than usual, more beautiful. I completely ignored the situation here for a moment, I forgot about the world, I forgot about Aria; But when I snapped back into reality, we were already heading up the stairs to my bedroom. I was already committed. I broke the kiss for a second and gripped his dark blue Tshirt.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I yelled cursing under my breath, panting. I still held onto him.
"I think we both need this right now," was all he said to me. He had a point. We both got cheated on and we're both lonely as ever. Without hesitation, I started kissing him again.