I opened my eyes slowly. My first thought was, I'm home, and safely in my bed. That was a good sign. The bad sign is, I don't have a clue of what I did last night.
My head was pounding. I could still taste the whiskey that I drank last night. And my body ached. Hangover at it's finest.
I stretched my arms across the bed. My arm hit Tom in the face and he jumped.
When I saw him, I jumped up and screamed. "What are you doing here?!"
Tom looked at me confused. "Why did you just hit me?"
Tom was in my bed. And I don't know what I did last night. This did not look good. I ignored his question. "Why are you in my bed?! Oh gosh, did we..." I cut off the sentence, assuming that he'd know what I meant by the question.
He sat up. "You mean, did I take advantage of you? No, I didn't. I walked you home last night and as we were sitting on the bed talking, we fell asleep. Nothing else happened."
I sighed with relief. "Oh, thank god."
He looked at me. "Wow, you know that's kind of, an insult to me."
I sat back on to the side of the bed. "I'm sorry, its just-"
Tom interrupted me with his laugh. "No I get it. You don't want to kiss me, you don't want to sleep with me. You don't have to explain."
But I did. He needs to know why I can't do those things. I looked at him. Trying desperately to change the subject. "So, what did I do last night?"
He grinned. "Where do I begin? Well, you basically danced all night, great dancer by the way." He said with a sarcastic tone.
I covered my face in utter embarrassment. I know for sure, that I'm a terrible dancer. "What else did I do?"
He thought for a moment. "Well, you drank a lot of whiskey, danced, and then I took you home and we talked for a few hours."
"We talked, what about?" I asked curiously. I needed to know everything about last night, or at least the important details.
He shrugged. "You asked me a bunch of questions about being an actor. And you told me that I'm a good friend."
I smiled.
"You also said one more thing." He added.
"What?" I said.
He looked into my eyes. "You said, that you hated... John?"
My heart stopped when Tom said John's name. I froze. I didn't know if the nausea I was feeling, was from the hangover, or John's name. "Is that all I said?"
Tom nodded. "That's it."
I took a deep, quiet breath.
"Who is he?" Tom asked bluntly.
I looked everywhere, but to Tom. I couldn't look him in the eyes and lie to him. "He's nobody." I replied.
Tom huffed. "I find that very hard to believe. Ariana, I've told you everything about me. I'm an open book. But you, I know NOTHING about you. Please, just tell me one thing, anything about yourself."
I couldn't. I couldn't say anything. It was as if my tongue was twisted, and the thoughts in my mind were all in a jumbled mess.
I looked over to Tom, he sat across from me, with anticipation. Waiting for me to say something. If only he knew what I was feeling.
I took a deep breath. "How about, you guess facts about me. And if you're right, I'll tell you."
His eyes narrowed and he smiled mischievously. "Okay stranger, game on."
He studied me. "Well, I know that your name is Ariana. And you are bad with directions..."
I laughed as he continued to speak.
"You are an, interesting dancer. You love whiskey, and you are would probably beat me in a drinking contest."
I nodded, still laughing. "You're right."
He smiled, then, peered into my eyes. His face slowly turned serious. "I know, that your favorite color is green, because you always have some artical of green clothing on, right now, its your shirt."
I looked down to my shirt, he was right. Green has always been my favorite color. But I never noticed that I wear it that much.
Tom continued. "I know, that you like nature, because every time I walk you home, you always stare at the trees, and your eyes begin to glow."
I shied away from his intense stare, but i listened to every word he said.
Tom's eyes followed me. "I know that, you push men away, which leads me to believe that you've had your heart broken. I'm guessing that John has something to do with that. And, considering the fact that your hands are trembling, I'm assuming that I was correct with my guesses."
My eyes began to water as I stared back at Tom in shock. "How did you know?" I whispered with amazement.
Tom ignored my question. "What did John do to you, Ariana?"
I closed my eyes. Trying to hold in my tears. I needed to tell him. No more hiding it.
"We had been dating for seven years, and one night, he asked me to meet him in the park, where we had our first date. I was assuming that he would propose to me. But he didn't. He did the complete opposite. He told me, that he didn't love me. He broke up with me, right there." As I spoke, I recalled that brutal night. Just a little over a week ago. Look how much my life has changed. A tear fell from my face and made its way to my green shirt.
Tom listened to every word. "I'm so sorry."
I shook my head. "Its not your fault."
He touched his palms to his face. "All this time, I've been flirting with you, and I never even stopped to think about how I was affecting you. You've been hurt. And all I did was make it harder for you."
I looked over to Tom. "No, if anything, you made me laugh, you made me have a little fun. You did nothing wrong."
Tom stared into my eyes. He looked as if he could cry. His jaw clenched. "So, that is why you needed a new start?"
I nodded. "There is nothing I could do. Its so hard to start over, when I'm still stuck in the past."
He looked at me with sympathy. "You can talk about it. Look, its not going to be easy, I mean... you were with him for seven years. But slowly, you'll start to move on. Ariana, I'm a good listener, you can talk to me anytime."
I shook my head, as my eyes began to water. "I couldn't do that to you."
"But I want you to. I want you to talk to me. I want you to open up to me." He said.
I looked at him, confused. "Why would you want that?"
He grinned. "I don't know. There is something about you, Ariana, that's special. I want to be the one who helps you. And the one who you turn to in your time of need." He explained. "You deserve every bit of happiness. And I want to be there, when you begin to move on, when you let go of your past."
I looked at him, trying to force a smile through the tears. "I don't even know if I can let go of my past."
He smiled back to me. "Believe me, you can. It may take a while, but you will."
I looked down to the floor.
He stood up, walked around the bed, and sat on the same side of the bed as me. "I promise I won't flirt with you anymore. But I'm here when you need me. So, can we be friends?"
I wiped my tears. "Yes. We can be friends. Thank you."
"No problem." He went to hug me. But I stopped him, and let out my hand for a handshake. He stopped, grinned, and shook my hand.
"So, you are no longer, Stranger." He said with a smile.
I laughed. "Good. I like being Ariana."
"I like you, being Ariana too." He replied.