She suddenly saw one of the guys that Brian usually hung out with walk into the room and immediately started heading toward her as soon as he saw her, which made her freeze in her seat.
“You’re Aria, right?” the guy asked her as soon as he reached her table and she just nodded, not trusting her voice not to come out as a squeak since the boy standing in front of her was huge and intimidating.
“I just wanted to let you know that I don’t agree with what Brian did to you. I told him like a thousand times that you don’t seem interested in him, but he kept being a stubborn ass. And I am sorry that it had to happen, because have I known what he was going to do, I would have stopped him. So, if you need someone to verify your story in court or something like that, I will be happy to help you.” he said as Aria stared at him with wide eyes, completely surprised by his offer.
“But, what about Brian? I thought that he was your best friends?”
“There is one thing you should know about me, and that’s that I don’t like violence, especially if it’s directed toward a woman. After what he did to you, there is no way I am ever speaking to him again let alone calling him a friend.” the guy said and then took the empty seat next to her.
Aria looked at him with appraising eyes; he appeared to be a good guy, at least judging by his words, so she decided to do something that she hasn’t done since high school, if you didn’t count Nura; make a new friend.
“What’s your name, if you don’t mind me asking?” she asked him quietly, not sure if the boy was going to answer.
“Ethan.”
“Nice to meet you, Ethan. Maybe we could hang out sometime. I don’t know anyone on campus, and I kind of suck at making friends.” Aria said, feeling incredibly nervous and self-conscious, but Ethan just smiled at her and nodded.
So, not such a bad day, after all.
~
A month later Aria was sitting on the couch, finishing a presentation for a class and at the same time thanking God that after the end of the current semester they will be moving on to the actual work in the hospital, when her phone made a sound, signaling that she had a new message.
“Hey, baby. Are you busy?”
It was from Will and she instantly perked up, happy to think about anything other than school.
“Hi. No, I am not, I just finished my assignment.”
“That’s great, baby. Would you like to come to my place for dinner?”
“I would love to. What time should I be there?”
“Be here at 7, I want to talk to you about something. See you, baby.”
Aria looked at the last message and frowned. Those words never lead to something good and she felt her stomach starting to roll.
She hated it when people said something like that and then expected her to wait to find out. She was too curious and she knew that she wouldn’t be able to think about anything else for the rest of the day.
Glancing at the clock, Aria saw that she had more than three hours until she was supposed to go to his apartment and sighed. She couldn’t wait to see Will.
They have been together for a little over a month now and she was a little surprised by that fact. If someone had told her three months ago that she would be in a relationship with someone like Will, or anyone at that point, Aria would have laughed right in their face. But it was true, even though she still couldn’t believe it herself and the more time she spent with Will, the more she fell for him.
It should have scared her how quickly she was getting attached to the beautiful man, but all Aria felt was happiness.
The minute she had showed him her scars and seen the way the man had reacted; all her fears had disappeared. Will was a good man, who wanted her, and she had spent too much time alone and miserable to not enjoy it for as long as it lasted.
By the time Aria was standing in front of William’s apartment, she was a nervous mess. She couldn’t stop thinking about the talk they were going to have that night and the unknown reason behind it.
The rational part of Aria’s brain told her that it was not going to be something bad, but the small insecure part that she still couldn’t quite shake off was shouting that Will was going to finally leave her. Then the man in question opened the door and all rational thoughts flew out of her mind at the sight of him smiling and motioning for her to get inside.
“Hi, baby. You’re right on time.” he said while guiding her into the kitchen.
“I made salmon, I hope you like it.”, he added and Aria nodded shyly while taking off her jacket. Will approached her then, bringing his hand to caress her flushed cheek and then kissed her on the corner of her mouth.
“I missed you, baby.” he whispered into her ear, sending shivers down Aria’s back before he turned and led them into the dining room.
Once they were seated with glasses of wine in their hands and plates of delicious-looking food in front of them, Will cleared his throat.
“I wanted to talk to you about something, baby.” he said and she immediately froze.
Damn it!
