“Don’t say that, Aria!” Zoey practically screeched, nearly falling right off the couch. “Why would you get fired over something like this?”
I just stared at her. “They went off and got drunk when I was supposed to be watching them!”
Zoey sunk back down into the couch. “You’re right. You’re getting fired.”
Letting out a frustrated breath, I found myself running my hands through my hair. I was about to get in so much trouble and I hadn't even been the one to go out and get completely wasted when I was underage.
“Aria, calm down,” Parker tried to calm me, standing up from his spot next to Zoey and placing a hand on my shoulder gently. “Just breathe, alright? Everything’s going to be okay. You don't have to freak out.”
I tried to breath regularly, but it wasn't working. Annabelle was going to fire me the second she got the chance, and I was out of the best (and worst) job I had ever gotten.
“Breathe, Aria,” Parker repeated, and I continued to try. “Damn. You haven't reacted to anything like this since—”
“Don’t bring that up!”
Parker did as I asked, shutting his mouth and taking a step away from me. I sat down on the couch, refusing to look at the now muted television that continued to show drunken pictures and videos of the boys.
This was so bad. It would have been funny, if I hadn’t ever met them before and I was just some random girl watching the news, but now it wasn’t like that. I had lost my job because these boys decided to act like idiots the one day I wasn’t with them.
When my phone rang, I nearly jumped twenty feet into the air. I leaned forward and picked it up from the coffee table, only to throw it back when I saw that it was Annabelle that was calling me.
“Aria, you have to answer it!” Zoey shouted, lunging for my phone before I could throw it out the window.
As much as I didn't want to, I took the phone from her and answered it. There was no way I’d be able to avoid Annabelle for that long, so I might have as well just faced what I knew was going to come.
“Hello?” I gulped, afraid of being yelled at.
“Aria!” she cried, sounding breathless and frustrated. “Would you mind coming over, sweetheart?”
Okay, she didn’t sound angry. Frustrated and tired, yes, but not angry, and that was good. At least she wasn’t yelling and screaming about how I was a horrible babysitter and it was a huge mistake hiring me…
“Um… okay,” I answered, even though I had no idea where exactly she was talking about.
She then rattled off the address, which I was luckily able to get after I lunged for a piece of paper and a pen on Zoey’s coffee table. She was giving me the address to her house. Her and Grim's house.
After saying a quick goodbye to my two best friends, I hopped into my car and made my way to their house. I got there in fifteen minutes, and I couldn’t help but feel a little bit nervous during my drive. Annabelle didn’t sound angry over the phone, but what if she wanted to yell at me in person? She could have been coaxing me over by sounding nice just so she could get me to her house.
Annabelle let me in three seconds after I had rang the doorbell, and it made me jump because I didn’t expect the door to open so quickly. I stepped inside, trying to act as calmly as possible.
“Hi, Aria,” she greeted me with a tired smile, leading me into another room quickly. I soon realized it was the living room, where all the boys were sitting on the floor around the coffee table, swatting a plastic solo cup around to each other.
“Idiots,” I couldn’t help but grumble to myself.
Annabelle let out a sigh as she placed her hands on her hips. “I just can’t believe what they did.”
I gulped, knowing that it was coming. She was going to fire me. Here it comes…
“Do you mind watching them for a little bit while I take a few calls?” she asked me.
I just stared at her. She didn’t yell, she didn’t scream. She didn’t even hint at the fact that I was being fired. Was this some kind of joke, or did I somehow get off the hook?
“I’m… not fired?” I blinked, unable to believe that that wasn’t the first thing she had to say to me.
“No, of course not.” Annabelle was the one to blink now. “Why would you be fired?”
Did she somehow not understand how bad what had happened was? She was their manger, not to mention Grim’s mother!
Annabelle now smiled at me, as if she understood what I was thinking. “Don’t worry, dear,” she assured, patting me on the shoulder. “Ash explained how you tried to stop them from going to that club, but they wouldn’t listen to you and left without you.”
I gaped at her, now looking over at the four boys that were still very interested in pushing a plastic cup across the coffee table to each other. But when I looked at Ash, I couldn’t help but silently thank him. Even when he was drunk, he managed to save me from getting fired. I had to bite my lip to stop myself from smiling.
“You can go make your presence known to them now,” Annabelle sighed, patting my shoulder once again before pulling her phone out of her pocket. “I have to go make a few phone calls.”
I nodded, turning back toward the boys. I was thankful that I wasn’t fired, but still pissed that they’d gone off and done something so stupid. Did none of them even think about the consequences?
Ben was the first to see me. “Aria!” he cried, jumping up from his spot on the ground and nearly waddling his way toward me. He crushed me in a bear hug, nearly knocking me over. “Hello, Aria!”
“No, get away from her,” a new slurred voice now said, and Ben was suddenly being pulled away from me and replaced by Ash, who pressed me against him tightly. “Aria’s mine!”
“No, no fair,” Ben whined, trying to tug Ash off me, but failing miserably. “I want to hug Aria! I want to hug her! She’s mine, she mine!”
I really didn’t understand these boys, and I didn’t think I ever would.
“Get off of her, both of you,” Grim snapped at them, and the two boys did what he said and padded back over to their spots on the ground. “Dumbasses.”
For once, I couldn’t help but agree with him.
The boys went back to pushing the plastic cup around, and I just watched them for a minute or two. They really were the stupidest people I had ever met.
“Guys,” I started, but it didn’t get any of their attentions at first. “Guys!”
This caused them to jump. They all looked so out of it and it was really pissing me off.
“You guys are complete idiots,” I informed them, but they all just looked up at me as if they didn’t even know who I was. “I leave you alone once, and you go out and make fools of yourselves! Do you know how bad you look? I can’t even imagine how everyone else is reacting! Oh, I don’t even want to know…”
Ben smiled at me stupidly. “Oh, come on, Aria… It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Not that big of a deal?” I nearly shouted, not believing he had actually just said that to me. “It’s a huge deal! You guys could have gotten into a lot of trouble, or you could have gotten hurt! I wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself if something happened to you guys!”
They stayed silent after that, and even I was shocked that I had actually said something like that to them.
“Aw,” Sawyer cooed, practically crawling over to me and wrapping his arms around my legs. “You care about us, Aria! You care about us! You love us, don’t you?”
“I do not,” I blurted, crossing my arms over my chest as I tried to ignore my red face.
Ben now crawled over and wrapped his arms around my legs as well. “Who do you love more? Who do you love more?”
For some reason, I glanced at Ash, but then quickly shook my head before looking back at the two boys who continued to clutch onto me. I tried to shake them off, but this only made them cling on tighter.
“Answer us,” Sawyer whined now, shaking me.
“I don’t love any of you!” I cried, still trying to pry the two of them off of me. “Now let go of me! Both of you!”
I thought I was going to fall over when they just grabbed on tighter. I looked at both Grim and Ash, expecting them to help me somehow, but I then remembered that they were just as wasted as the two idiots clinging onto me, so they weren’t going to be any help to me at all.
“Boys!” a new voice now shouted, and this sure made Sawyer and Ben scatter away from me as all the boys sat back down on the couch. I joined them, even though there wasn’t enough room so I had to sit on the armrest.
I couldn’t help but feel bad for Annabelle. She wasn’t just the manager of the band, she was also Grim’s mother. I was sure she didn’t want to see her son doing stupid things like this. I was sure she didn’t want to see any of the boys doing stupid things like this.
“Even though all four of you are probably too drunk to remember what I’m about to tell you, I'm going to tell you anyway becasue Aria needs to know this as well,” Annabelle started, her arms crossed over her chest as she glared down at the boys menacingly. “Your tour that was supposed to start next month has been canceled. Instead of that, the four of you will be enrolled at Crosspointe High School.”
“Hah, that’s funny, I go to Crosspointe,” I laughed, not realizing exactly what she'd said at first. Then it hit me like a train. “Oh, no.”
I looked over at the boys, only to see that they were all practically asleep. There was no way they were going to remember this when they woke up in the morning. I highly doubted that they'd even heard a thing she said.
Annabelle let out a frustrated sigh, taking out her phone and punching in numbers before making her way out of the room.
I groaned, standing up from my spot on the couch and just staring down at the four drunken boys. They were going to go to my school. I was going to have to deal with them during my seven hours of freedom
“Wake up,” I snapped, kicking Grim without even thinking twice about it. This immediately wokehim up, and he rubbed at his face as he let out a groan.
“What do you want?” he demanded, pushing himself up from the couch and swaying a little. I had a big urge to push him over—it could have been revenge for hitting him with the baseball—but I decided against it.
I scowled at him. “Nothing. I’m just angry.”
“And that gives you an excuse to wake me up?”
“I believe so.”
He took a step toward me, which caused me to take a step back. He took another step, and so did I. This repeated about ten times before my back was finally up against a wall and his hands were on either side of my head.
“You’re a bitch,” he said matter-of-factly.
I blinked at him, unamused. “Thank you for noticing. So are you.”
He glared at me, but no emotion crossed my face. I was angry at him, and I wanted to yell, but was there really any point? He was drunk, and he wasn’t going to remember anything I said. And I wanted him to remember me yelling at him, even though it wouldn't have been much different from any other time we were together.
“I want to kiss you,” he suddenly admitted.
I was about to say something sassy, but stopped when I realized what he had said. “What?”
“I,” he started, pausing between every word, “want. To. Kiss. You.”
Not expecting something like this from him, I gulped. I couldn't even think of a response. He had me completely trapped and I really didn’t want to kiss him. I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Scream for Annabelle?
“Every time you talk, I want to kiss you,” he continued, leaning his head closer to mine but not close enough for anything to touch. “Especially when you fight back with me. I think it’s incredibly hot when a girl fights back.”
I gulped again, still trying to be strong. “Do you?”
“Uh-huh,” he breathed, and I could feel his breath on my neck. “I’ve never met a girl who’s fought back before. Well, expect for Gwen, but Gwen’s like my sister. Oh, and Fiona, but Fiona’s a bitch. A different kind of bitch that I don't want to get near. But other than them, there hasn’t ever been a girl that’s fought back with me and made me... feel this way. Girls always just agree with everything I say because I’m attractive and in a famous band. I want a girl that can actually fight back. You might not dress like other girls, or act like other girls, but that’s fine. You’re different.”
He was too close. I couldn’t breathe. This was different from the time when he had tripped on top of me, or when he had tried to teach me a lesson in my room. This was scaring me a lot more, and I could feel the tears forming in my eyes.
“Grim, stop it,” I warned weakly, even though there wasn’t anything I could have done if he tried. He was so much stronger than me.
“I want to kiss you once, just to see how it feels,” he whispered now, and I had to squeeze my eyes shut to stop the tears from falling. Not again… “Just once, and then maybe this stupid feeling will go away.”
“Please, don’t,” I whimpered.
This seemed to snap Grim out of whatever kind of trance he was in. He blinked at me before letting go and taking a step back. Now he just stared at me as I stayed pressed against the wall.
“Aria…” he stammered, seeming to be confused about everything now. “I’m sorry.”
I didn’t know how to respond to this, but I luckily didn’t have to, because Annabelle then decided to come back into the room. When she saw me pressed against the wall as I quickly wiped at my eyes, Grim not too far away from me, she gave us a look. “Is everything okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I nodded, refusing to look up at her. “Everything’s perfectly fine.”
But that was a lie. It was hard to breathe, and all I could remember was that October night. That cold October night…
Annabelle was the one to nod now, even though she didn’t look like she believed me. “Well, I’ll drive you home, Aria. You came in your own car, yes? I'll drive that. It’s Friday, so you’ll be going to your father’s, correct?”
I nodded again. “Yeah."
She beckoned me toward her, and I quickly made my way away from Grim. I didn’t even look back at him. All I knew for sure was that I didn’t know how I was supposed to face him ever again.
It was silent on the entire drive there, and I was surprised that she was actually driving me. I was sure it was because she saw how I was not in a state I should be driving in.
She had the limo follow behind us so she'd have a ride home, and I couldn't help but feel thankful that Annabelle was willing to help me without asking any questions.
Instead of dropping me off like I thought she would, she ended up getting out of the car with me and making her way up the pathway to the front door. I didn’t know why she was doing this, but I didn't even think to ask.
She knocked on the door even though I had my keys, and my father let out a relieved sigh when he answered it and saw me. “I was just about to call you and ask where you were.”
I shrugged. “I was just with Hello Aria.”
“Oh, Annabelle,” my father greeted with a smile. “Hi!”
Annabelle smiled at my father. “Hi, Brad! It’s nice to see you again!”
My father invited her inside, and I quickly made my way upstairs before my dad could question me about everything that had happened. If he hadn’t heard it on the news already, I was sure Annabelle was going to inform him of everything that was going on.
When I got into my room, I closed the door behind me and pressed my back against it. I just stood there for a good ten seconds before sinking to my floor and letting out a sob. I bit my lip as I cried, not wanting to be loud enough for Sophie or even my dad or Annabelle to hear.
I wanted to call Zoey or Parker. They were probably both still at her house, but I didn’t want to bother them. I knew Parker cherished every moment he had alone with her, and I didn’t want to ruin it for him with my same old problems. They were used to me having breakdowns like this. They were used to me acting crazy at random times.
So instead of calling, I pushed myself up from my floor and over to my dresser. I looked at myself up and down in the mirror, trying to look at anything but my red, puffy eyes.
The blue sweater I was wearing was baggy, and my jeans weren’t too snug. There was a reason why I didn’t dress like Sophie, or Zoey, or even Mae. I used to, once upon a time, but then I stopped. Even though I didn’t really like revealing clothing all that much, I couldn’t help but miss them just a little bit. I missed being able to feel comfortable in them.
The last time I had worn revealing clothes was the night of the first Hello Aria concert. But that dress had been too revealing; much more revealing than any of the clothes I had used to wear. But now... I felt like it was time to change. I wanted to change myself. I didn’t want to have these panic attacks any longer, and I wanted to stop dressing like a grandma. I might have been a babysitter, but I wasn’t an old lady.
I quickly changed into my pajamas, turning off the light and crawling into bed. I shut my eyes tight, but all I could see were Grim’s blue eyes staring at me hungrily.
Grim had wanted to kiss me. He liked that I fought back with him. He wanted to kiss me, but that was the last thing I wanted from him. I didn’t want to go anywhere near him.
I scrubbed at my eyes before closing them again. I could hear Annabelle and my dad laughing from downstairs, and I almost wished that I was with them. I wanted to be happy and socialize, not miserable and locked in my room.
I opened my eyes again, and as they adjusted to the darkness, I saw myself in the mirror. It was time for a change. I was going to stop acting and dressing like a mother. I needed to act like a teenager again.
I couldn’t help but think about the boys. They had gone nuts, and I didn’t want to get anywhere near as bad as that. I wasn’t about to go out and get drunk. Bad things happened when people drank.
But bad things happened when people were sober, too.
Tomorrow, I was going to dig through my closet and find an outfit that I would have worn the year before. It was time for a change. It wouldn’t be too drastic, but it would still be… different. I had been dressing and acting like an adult for a year, and it was about to stop.
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Yay! The first post of the year! Let's hope 2013's a good year, yeah? :D
So... any ideas what happened to Aria?
Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :)