warning
mention of weight and implied eating disorder. the theme isn't as strong as the last chapter, but i feel like its mentioned enough need a warning. there's one conversation about it and then the chapter continues as normal.
"Should we tell them?" Tristan whispered to Aria, looking over at their friends who they were sat a few metres away from in the park.
"What do we say?" Aria asked.
"I don't know, surprise we're dating?"
"Okay."
The two walked over to the rest of the group, sitting down next to each other.
"Guys-" Tristan began, before Aria interrupted him.
"We're dating," she said.
"We were supposed to be surprising them, not me," Tristan said, surprised at Aria's bluntness.
"I wanted to get it out."
"I bet Brady already knew," Mason rolled his eyes as Brady nodded.
"He always knows something," Miguel said, "Always."
"I'm happy for you guys," Becca said.
"Me too," Maddy agreed.
Tristan held Aria's hand, finally feeling like he didn't need to hide it. It felt weird, though. As if he'd hand had gotten smaller. He looked down, noticing she wasn't wearing rings like she usually did. "Where are your rings?" He asked.
"They don't fit," Aria said casually before turning back to the group and continuing her conversation.
Tristan's eyebrows furrowed. He wanted to mention Aria's new eating habits to her, but he didn't know how without causing an argument. He could tell it would make her upset.
He stayed quiet for the rest of the day, until it was time to go home. "Come to my place?" Tristan asked Aria.
"Sure," Aria said, "Can we got to my house so I can pack a bag, first?"
Tristan nodded. He wrapped him arm around Aria's waist. He felt her tense up for s split second. "Do you want me to get off?" He asked. Aria shook her head.
Once Aria had been to her house snd packed a bag, they went back to Tristan's. They watched The Notebook in his bed. Aria looked up at Tristan once the movie had ended. "Are you crying to the Notebook? Tristan, that's was twelve year old girls and thirty year old divorcees do."
"Being a divorcee at thirty is embarrassing."
"So is crying to The Notebook."
"Remember that time you sent me pictures of you crying because Frankie died in Monster High?"
"Shut up, that was sad. She was like, my childhood."
"She came back to life!"
"How do you know that? I didn't tell you that."
"Shut up."
"That's so cute."
"You're cuter."
Tristan pulled Aria into him, cuddling her. He could feel that she'd got thinner. His facial expression became a mixture of sadness and worry. "What's up?" Aria asked.
"Nothing. I'm gonna go to the bathroom real quick," Tristan said, grabbing his phone and heading to the bathroom, leaving Aria confused. He locked the door and texted Brady. He wanted to text Tatum, but he didn't wanna interrupt her date with Miguel.
private messages
TRISTAN
i'm gonna ask ari about the
eating thing
i don't wanna make her upset
but she's already lost weight
and its getting worrying
BRADY
i think u should before it
gets too out of hand
let her know we're all here
for her
Tristan left the bathroom, preparing what he was gonna say to Aria. "Babe, can we talk?" Tristan asked.
"Only if you never call me babe again. Thats a weird word," Aria laughed. Tristan smiled, but she could tell it was fake. "I'm kidding, you can call me what you want."
"It's not that. It's you. Aria, you've lost weight."
"Thank you."
"No, Ari. I'm worried. The comments you've been getting lately, and you've barely been eating, I just-"
"Tristan. I have been eating. I promise, I eat a ton at home. I've been working out more. The comments have made me a little insecure. They've made me stop earring in front of people, but they haven't made me stop eating completely."
Aria seemed sincere. It made sense. Her weight wasn't worrying, really. She wasn't underweight. The working out thing made sense. "Do you promise?" Tristan asked.
"Yeah, I promise. If I ever felt the need to do something like that, you know I'd tell you."
"Okay. I'm sorry."
"It's fine, let's forget it."
Aria cuddled back up to Tristan and he smiled, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He kissed Aria on the forehead, noticing that she was starting to fall asleep. He checked the time. Eleven pm. He hadn't realised how late it was. "Goodnight, Ari."
"Goodnight, Tris."
The next day, Aria lay awake as Tristan stayed sleeping. He always woke up later than her. She lay on his chest while scrolling on her phone, ship edits of the two flooding her for you page. They still hadn't made an announcement on social media, but they'd made it pretty obvious the past two weeks.
She looked in the comments of one of the videos.
USER27502: I didn't realise how ugly she was until she got put into slow mo, lol
She sighed at the comment. She looked up at Tristan, noticing he was awake and had saw what she was reading. "Don't listen, you're hot as fuck."
"Good morning to you, too. Don't sorry, I'm not listening. Not enough for it to affect me, anyway. How did you sleep?" Aria changed the subject.
"I always sleep well when you're here," Tristan said. "Thats not even me being sappy, like I actually sleep better when you're around. I think you, like, ground me."
"God, you're so cheesy."
"Cheese is one of your favourite foods," he said. Aria smiled. It wasn't. Not anymore. "I think we owe it to everyone to confirm our status, don't you? I mean, look at all those ship edits."
"Are you sure you don't just wanna show off that I' your girlfriend."
"Oh, no, I totally do, and I'll admit it. I still can't believe I managed to get such a beautiful girl," Tristan said. Aria felt butterflies in her stomach as she leaned up to kiss Tristan.
As the kiss started to get heated, the door burst open. "Hi guys. Oh, shit, sorry." Mason had barged into the room.
"Is everyone here? How the fuck did you get into my house? My parents aren't home," Tristan questioned him
"Shit, they're not? God, I dont even wanna know what I just interrupted."
"Mason, don't be gross. How did you get in?"
"You left the door unlocked. That's dangerous. Come on, get dressed. We're going out."
"Thats annoying," Aria said, getting out of bed and grabbing her clothes for her bag, heading to the bathroom, "We'll continue this later."