— "ITS MID-SUMMER, BABY!" bella screamed into aria's ear.
"mmh.... what's with you guys and waking up at the crack of dawn." aria said groggily.
"or it's just that you need to stop waking up at 1pm." bella huffed.
"yeah yeah, what are we even doing anyways?" aria rubbed her itchy eyes.
"don't tell me you forgot..." bella frowned.
"....forgot what?"
"ariiii!!! you're such a buzzkill." bella said suffocating aria with her pillow. the girl was unnaturally strong despite her being so small.
"i'm sorry bella. tell me, what are we doing today?"
aria said midway through escaping bella's attempt at suffocating her.
"we have a road trip to the outer city before we go back to paris for fashion week!!" bella squealed. her excitement made aria happy. bella was like a ray of sunshine, she always knew how to make any one of the girls feel better no matter the occasion.
right... going back to paris...
she struggled to believe it was already august.
fashion week was this month.
the victoria's secret show was in three months.
the world cup was also in three months
aria hadn't spoken to kylian in almost two months now, it seemed like they just became strangers after that sickening night. of course he never stopped blowing up her phone, which was something that strangers didn't do to each other. he would be texting her everyday about how much he was sorry and how badly he regretted what he said. of course he regretted it, aria knew that. kylian and matteo were practically brothers by the way they acted, aria knew he would never intend to disrespect her brother, but some things you just can't take back.
he never ever gave up though, every morning he would send her an apology, telling her he loved her and to stay safe and call him if she ever needed anything. every night, he would send her a paragraph long message about how he thought of her the entire day and wants to speak things through so badly. kylian did make it clear that he understood that aria needed her space from him too. it was hard for her, it really was. when you love someone, you just give them up or ignore them despite what they did to you. aria would be lying if she said she still didn't think of him every second of the day.
"aria, you're crying...." bella said, wiping aria's tears with her cold fingers. bella's confused expression had aria feeling extremely ashamed; she had no idea how to express to her friend that she was torn on the way she felt about a man who had hurt her so much.
"i'm so stupid, i don't know why;" aria said sniffling and wiping her eyes as more tears continuously fell. "i'm sorry, bella."
"don't apologize babe, you have nothing to be sorry for. just let it out, i understand you and i'm here for you no matter what." she said smiling and wiping strands of hair away from aria's tearful face. bella's words just ended up making aria cry even harder as she started sobbing again. she had her emotions locked away for the past 30+ days. every photoshoot, magazine cover, interview, something always reminded her of him. for so long, she ignored it. when interviewers asked about him she'd give a quick meaningless response but her heart stung every time. she finally understood it now, her tears this time weren't towards her late brother, yet they were about coming to terms that the man she loved would still be kylian no matter what he did.
it scared her.
she loved him when he loved someone else,
she loved him when he broke her heart,
she still loved him to this very day.
"i hate myself, bella. even after what he did, i still love him." she cried.
"aria... look at me. wipe your tears and look at me." bella said, grabbing aria's shoulders
"you love this man i can tell, nobody would get this upset by a person's actions unless they truly loved them and valued them." she spoke softly. "i'm not telling you to forgive him, but just speak to him. if it goes sour, then you know what choice to make. i just don't want you to permanently lose someone you love truly before your career gets in the way." she sighed, looking down. aria could tell that bella wasn't only speaking from a kylian and aria perspective but also from the perspective of her and the man she once loved.
"you're right." aria said wiping her tears.
"now get your ass up!" bella said beating her with the pillow once again. this girl would end up driving aria absolutely insane.
— "I HATE THIS SONG, ROMEE." frida said, trying to get her finger to desperately reach the aux button, hitting anyone who dared to be in her way.
"my car, my rules." romee smacked frida's hand.
"bella, change the song." frida whined.
"nuh-uh, i'm not getting beat up for you!" bella ducked from frida's aggressive waving arms.
"hey, weren't alessandra and adriana supposed to join us?" aria questioned, looking up from her magazine.
"they were but it got canceled for both of them. something about having to watch their kids, blah blah." frida rolled her eyes.
"hey!! that's called creating an emotional bond with your kids!" bella whined at frida.
"who?" frida questioned.
"the ki—"
"...asked!! HAHAHHAHAA!" frida started uncontrollably laughing.
"that wasn't funny, frida!" bella pouted.
the joke itself was way too corny for people at their age to be using but something about the way frida executed the joke had aria and romee clutching their stomachs with laughter.
"how much longer?" aria asked.
"oh, don't start with this already, we just got in the car!" frida groaned; "you need to learn about how to really expirience and enjoy life, aria!"
"you say that as if i'm living like im on house arrest." aria rolled her eyes.
"you literally are at this point." frida said, making aria stick up the middle finger at her.
"it's only about an hour longer." bella smiled through the rearview mirror.
"wanna stop for snacks, you guys?" romee asked.
"pull over!" frida screamed of joy.
a small family-owned gas station was where romee stopped the girls at. a young man sitting in a lounge chair smoking an almost dead cigarette and reading a true-crime magazine looked up at the four women.
"anything you pretty ladies need?" he asked, killing his cigarette in the ashtray next to him.
"just some snacks." frida replied.
"aisle 6." he said rubbing his eyes.
"romee?" aria called out.
"yeah?"
"can you get me cheetos and an iced tea please?" aria pleaded.
"you not coming?" romee questioned.
"i wanna look at the magazine selection." aria replied.
"okay, no problem."
that was a lie.
in truth, aria needed to speak to the man.
"hey." she said grabbing any random magazine off the shelf to buy, romee had a habit of remembering everything so she definitely would've reminded aria about her magazine in case she "forgot it".
"hey beautiful, just the magazine?" he said, lighting another cigarette between his lips.
"and one of the prepaid sim cards, please."
"men over 50 respiratory health magazine?" the man questioned furrowing his eyebrows.
"yeah..." aria said looking over her shoulder.
"something tells me you don't want them to know about it, come on, what is it?!" he questioned.
"do you do this with all your customers?" she gave him a dirty look, he wasn't supposed to be in her business like this. he didn't even know her.
"sorry.. wasn't trying to make you uncomfortable." he apologized. her face softened, now she felt bad.
"i'm using it to call my boy—" she quickly stopped.
"your what?" the man questioned, sounding a little dense for a person who had just met her.
"my friend." she rolled her eyes at him.
"phew. i thought a pretty lady like you was already spoken for." he relaxed.
she faked a laugh before paying and leaving with her sim and magazine plus a little plastic bag and headed to the car.
she removed her current sim card from her phone and put in the new one to be able to communicate with family.... or kylian.
a few minutes after the switch was completed she saw the 3 other women leave with a huge bag.
bella and frida were play fighting while romee danced her way to the car.
"one bag of cheetos and one nestea for the pretty argentinian." frida extended her hand.
"you're too kind." aria said, blowing frida a kiss.
"who's ready to hit the road!!" romee screeched.
"hell yeah!" the three said in unison.
AUTHORS NOTE !
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