2 months later -
"Did you have a good day?" Sophie's arms trailed around Aaron's neck, urging his face down closer to her own.
Nodding his head, he gave an extremely vague response before Sophie's lips pressed to his. Kissing her back, his own hands made their way around her back before he realised what he was getting lost in and quickly pulled away.
"Are you okay?" Sophie then looked back at him in concern, confused at his sudden change.
There was a few second pause before he actually said anything, instead just letting his eyes move from Sophie to the room.
"Yeah... I'm good." He responded yet that wasn't convincing enough.
"What's wrong, Aaron?"
There was something strange about this whole situation, something different. He was acting off and had been since the previous night. She knew he wasn't all that in favour of the plans she had presented him with in relation to buying a place in London, but this felt different.
"Aaron." Sophie repeated yet again when he didn't answer her.
"Can we sit down?" He asked, looking over to the sofas and trying to urge her over but she refused.
"No, tell me what's wrong."
No amount of stalling on Aaron's part was going to prevent Sophie from making him speak up. She could tell there was a problem yet she didn't understand why he was working so hard to fight against speaking up about it.
"Soph..." He breathed running a hand up the side of her face.
Closing her eyes at his touch, she wanted nothing more than to just collapse into his arms and enjoy their evening but that wasn't likely to happen until he opened up.
"We need to speak about us... our relationship and everything that's happening."
"What do you mean?"
By this point, Sophie had been removed from her daze and was listening intently.
"You getting a place in London is a big deal..." He began. "I don't think we can call this a relationship when we're moving backwards. You haven't even been living here that long."
She knew this was what it would be about. After last night and the way he had so calmly accepted what she had said, was strange. She knew he had secretly been hiding the fact that he hated the idea yet it had taken him a whole day of thinking to finally realise he couldn't keep it to himself.
"I'm not moving away Aaron. The place in London is just for some week nights... we've been through this."
With Sophie's work picking up and her hours going well over what was expected on many days, her work had offered to pay half her rent on a place in London. They wanted her there as much as possible so it was a good enough deal to make and Sophie had been all for it until a conversation with Aaron had put some unease over it.
"Exactly, you're not going to be here throughout the week! What was the point in you even moving in?"
Even though Sophie couldn't see the same issues as Aaron, he saw them clearly. It made no sense that after they had made the huge decision to live together, she would decide to rent a place in London a few months later.
Even though it wasn't a permanent home for her and she still viewed their apartment as her home, that wasn't enough for Aaron. He had promised that he was okay with her decision for the promotion and that he was supportive of it and he was however, he hadn't expected things to be like this.
He wanted her to do well at her job but he didn't see this whole apartment thing as being necessary. He didn't think it was possible to call something a relationship when the two people in it barely got to spend time together.
"Because this is my home." Sophie waved her arms around the room. "The place in London is temporary. It's a place away from here."
"A place that you will end up living in more than here." Was Aaron's knowing response with no argument on Sophie's part being able to convince him otherwise.
"That's not how it will be." Sophie still fought back anyway as she still viewed this whole thing completely differently.
"You know it will be Soph. You said you weren't going to work many Saturdays and you haven't had one off since then. I'm fine with that because you're happy but this whole apartment thing is a step too far."
She could see both the pain and hurt across Aaron's face and it broke her heart knowing she was causing it.
When Sophie had agreed to the apartment in London, she hadn't even viewed it as being a negative thing and it was now she was realising that it was her selfish mind that had caused that.
Making her way over to him, Sophie's hands trailed up Aaron's neck before bringing his forehead down to meet with hers.
"I'm going to be here, living with you. That apartment will just be a backup."
Then as Sophie began to close the gap between them, Aaron couldn't resist and let their lips meet and get completely lost in the kiss. He knew through every movement and every touch that he shouldn't be doing this. He was leading himself along the path of destruction and was only going to cause more backlash but he couldn't help it.
Her touch against his own was something he craved, even more so due to the fight it was to see each other nowadays.
"We'll figure it out." Sophie mumbled against his lips as they pulled away and it was then Aaron began shaking his head.
"No, we won't Soph. It's not possible to sort it out when our relationship just consists of a few nights together a week."
"It wont be like that!" Sophie was straining her voice at this point, desperately trying to get through to him but it wasn't going to work. "You can stay in the apartment too. It will be ours, not just mine."
As Sophie's fingers trailed the back of his neck once again, sending shivers throughout his body and a sense of want, he let their lips meet once again.
Aaron's hands ventured around to her lower back, pulling Sophie as close to him as possible before he moved the kiss from her lips down the side of her neck.
Then as her hands began skimming up the bottom of his top, capturing the material in her hands to remove from his body, he stopped her.
"I can't do this." He warned making her suddenly still her whole body, confused at the sudden change in mood.
"What's wrong?" She let go of his top, before looking up at him with soft eyes.
Aaron's prevention in what he desperately did want was though guilt more than anything else. His plan for tonight and what he had spent his day at work prepping for was not something that should be presented after taking the pleasure first.
So dropping his hands from her body, he let out a long sigh, knowing he had to just come out and say it.
"I can't do this anymore." He repeated once again. "I can't work at a relationship when you're barely around. I can't be a part of this when you separate your home life with work... as though they are two different worlds."
Sophie's body suddenly turned cold in fear of where he was going with this as she took a step back.
She wasn't saying a word, just looking back at him while he painfully recited everything he had practised over and over in his head.
"I don't think we should be together. This isn't a relationship; it's just fucking around yet keeping one another chained to commitment."
Those words hit Sophie with a pain that felt like a knife being stabbed through her chest. Her eyes began to water from not only the hurt but the shock too, as if she had just stepped out into a winter's night.
She wanted to speak but she couldn't. She was completely stunned on the spot, having not expected this night to turn out the way it was.
"Sophie." Aaron spoke up, desperately trying to get her to say something and it was then that she finally did.
"You're breaking up with me?" She asked, feeling the need to have it clarified for her to accept it.
Sophie dealt with these kinds of situations in two very different ways and it was always so unpredictable as to which she would take.
"Yeah..." He breathed, wanting to say something else to make it come across better but he didn't know how.
Nodding her head, Sophie bit down on her lip as she looked anywhere but him. She felt physically sick and numb due to the two complete opposite plans they had both placed on tonight. Aaron hadn't realised but he was soon to see when she rushed off to the kitchen.
She had hoped he wouldn't follow, wanting to cover up the evidence of her pathetic actions before he saw but she should have known better.
Following after her, Aaron's heart sank when his attention focused on what he was faced with in the room. The dining table in the corner had been set up neatly, with everything laid out ready for the two of them. Then glimpsing around the kitchen there was mess upon mess where Sophie had put in a huge amount of work and struggle to put together an edible dinner.
She had various cookbooks laid across the counters and even her laptop set up in the corner too. Just looking at the mess held so much effort and meaning and here he was, breaking up with her.
"Soph..." He trailed off yet not wanting to look her in the eyes, knowing it would break his heart.
"Don't." She bit, before making her way over to where she had the food ready to serve.
"I didn't realise you had done this..." He began before Sophie interrupted him.
"Forget it. It was all shit anyway." She grabbed the plates and began scraping the contents of the food in the bin.
One by one, she grabbed everything that she had laid out and made every effort to get rid of it. She even included the plates and cutlery, throwing them all into the bin too with the smash echoing around the room.
"Soph, stop." Aaron wrapped his arms around her body in attempt to prevent her from doing it but she shrugged him off, all while trying to fight back the tears.
"It was shit. Completely shit. I don't know why I even bothered trying!" She was lost in trying to fight against the hurt, avoiding every bit of eye contact Aaron was now trying to get from her.
Tonight had been planned out perfectly on her part and her reasoning's behind doing it had been too. She had spent hours upon hours trying to prepare a dinner that was edible for them to eat. Considering she wasn't much of a cook, it wasn't something she did with ease.
However, she had wanted to cook for Aaron. She had wanted to create the perfect night for them so for the first time in so long she could open up.
She wanted to finally confess to the feelings she had been fighting back due to her tough demeanour.
She wanted to finally tell Aaron that she loved him, yet the words he had expressed to her tonight had caused that all to come crashing down.
*
I warned you that the fast forward would bring drama and this is the beginning :)