GUILTY
1683 Words
“You just can't stand to be away from me, can you?"
"I'm dying to have you here with me...but that's not why I actually called," Adrian responded, his voice gravelly, completely laced with lust at the thought of being wrapped up in Arias' warmth again. But as he completed the second half of his sentence, his voice took a rather serious tone.
"And here I was thinking you were calling to tell me how you couldn't wait to have me in bed with you, again. What's up, though?" Aria sighed in response.
"You know, when I was booking the hotel, they were supposed to send out a confirmation booking email with the date and time we're supposed to be checking into the hotel, right?"
"Right." Aria yawned, carelessly slipping into her skin-tight floral playsuit after snapping yet another semi-nude picture of Adrian, as had become ritualistic since he'd left. She'd loved how each picture sent had slowly begun to unleash Adrian's raunchy side, letting the composed pretence melt away; slowly shutting off higher brain function and allowing the animal inside him to awaken. She just knew that the next two nights of passion were going to be utterly mind-blowing.
"Well, I actually thought they had not sent it to me because I usually get email notifications to my phone. But I just checked my emails right now, and they did send it, but I didn't get notified because the email had already been opened," he explained, the pace of his words becoming increasingly rapid, indicating his current tense state.
"Okay, and I should care, because...?" Aria droned, her boredom with the conversation increasing with each passing second.
"Because if I didn't open it, it means somebody else did!"
"Wow, you're really overthinking this right now. Firstly, does anyone else even have access to your emails?"
"Not that I know of. But sometimes I forget to log out of the laptop at home, and Isolde knows my phone password."
"Wow, Adrian, just wow. I'm constantly astounded by your level of intelligence." She clapped her hands together mockingly, loud enough for it to be heard through the phone line and for him to groan audibly. "Okay, so now that we've well and truly established that you're the definition of an imbecile, you can relax. If Isolde had seen it, she'd have said something by now, but I spent the whole day with her yesterday, and she was her usual annoying self. And if anyone else magically happened to see it, they'd automatically think it was booked for you and Isolde anyway."
"Yeah." He laughed nervously but gradually began to loosen up, "You're right, I probably opened it in a rush and can't remember."
"Exactly. Way to kill a romantic getaway, Adrian. This is supposed to be about me and you, so I don't want to hear a single word about Isolde or anybody else for that matter, okay?" She replied sternly, phrasing it more as a demand than as a question.
"Okay, just me and you." He whispered, an agreeable trace of huskiness lacing each word before he finally ended the call.
Aria bit her lip, placing her phone on the side of her bag and making her way downstairs speedily, before entering the kitchen, "Isolde, are you okay with giving me a ride to Mom's later tonight?"
The hotel was approximately a fifteen-minute walk from Helena's house, and she would've easily taken a bus down there, which would obviously have been the decent thing to do, but she had wanted to completely cover her and Adrian's tracks. So, asking Isolde to drop her off at her mom's would ensure that Isolde really did have no doubts as to Arias's whereabouts.
"Yeah, sure." She smiled a rather insipid smile; the grin not quite causing the usual miniature crinkles around her eyes to appear.
"Is everything okay?" Aria sighed, leaning her body weight against the kitchen countertop and giving Isolde her undivided attention.
"I just remembered I have my pregnancy scan tomorrow and Adrian's not going to be there."
"Oh...didn't he know it was tomorrow?"
"I told him, but he must have forgotten about it as I did. I just found the letter again today, but it's too late now, he's gone." She exhaled, holding out the paper in her hand and then folding it and slipping it into her pocket.
"Maybe...maybe you should call him? He'd definitely come back if he knew your scan was tomorrow. He wouldn't want to miss it." Aria felt the undeniable pangs of guilt in the pits of her stomach, but this time they were accompanied by a continual burning sensation covering every inch of skin, tainting her and leaving her with multiple metaphorical ugly scars, and she knew she would be wearing them for the remainder of her life.
"No, it's fine. He was excited about the research he was doing. But maybe you could come with me instead?" She asked gingerly, the usual grin resurfacing on her cheeks.
"I'll be at Mom's tomorrow, you know that." Aria clamped down on her lip again, threatening to draw blood. It wasn't just that she wanted more than anything to spend the next couple of days with Adrian, but more so because she couldn't bear the thought of having to watch Isoldes' face light up brighter than a toothpaste commercial and have to fake the elation beside her at the scan images. Envy had always been Aria's greatest sin when it came to Isolde, and she knew she would sit there, wishing once again to have what Isolde had and not having to receive the worst end of the bargain.
It was true that Aria hadn't particularly wanted a child. When she had accidentally fallen pregnant over two years ago, she'd instantly warmed up to the idea of the life that was growing within her. The memories of that time – still raw and beyond tender — remained her soul torturer.
"It'll only be like an hour max. I'll even collect and drop you back home," Isolde pleaded with her friend.
"No, Isolde. I can't." She retaliated weakly.
"Why not, though?"
"Because I can't. I already said I can't, okay? Why don't you ever listen to me?!" She shrieked involuntarily. She hadn't meant to shout, but she could barely even begin to control the voice that escaped her lips.
"Oh, Aria! I'm so sorry, I completely forgot." Her eyes brimmed with tears as realization finally hit. She closed her eyes for a second, pressing the palm of her hand against her forehead in frustration with herself.
Aria held her hands out directly in front of her as her friend took steps towards her, "Just stop, please. It's fine, seriously."
"It's not, though, is it? I've been such a terrible friend to you. It's obvious that you're still hurting from everything that's been going on, and I've not even been there for you properly." Isolde jabbered on and on, slowly moving closer to her friend in an attempt to console her.
"I'm here for you. Always."
"I don't need your sympathy, Isolde, and I don't need you to be 'here' for me, okay?" Maybe it was just the guilt of talking, or maybe this was the first time Aria's true colours were finally surfacing because she spoke each word with such a bitter coldness. The same coldness that resembles a blade that carves aesthetic patterns into your body with every syllable spoken.
"Aria...what's wrong?" Isolde asked, worried at her friends' sudden, strange outburst.
"You really want to know what's wrong? You. Isolde, you're what's wrong," Aria answered bluntly, before quickly turning on her heel, ignoring Isolde's gentle pleas behind her and leaving the house.
Isolde watched blankly as the front door slammed after Aria. She turned and climbed up the stairs slowly.
Slowly beginning to make her way to the top floor of the house, to the loft room. To Aria's room.
Entering the room filled her with an avalanche of strange feelings. She searched the room's space with her eyes, absorbing the deep colour of the walls, of the carpets, of the bedsheets.
It felt eerie to be standing in that room for the first time in nearly two-and-a-half months. She reminisced about the moments she and Aria stood at the doorway; at the time, a completely joyous moment for the two of them.
"So, this is the largest guest room and your bedroom for the next six months."
She staggered towards the doorway of the room as she felt her stomach tighten tremendously. She recognized the feeling of the warm liquid rising through her chest, for she'd experienced it nearly every morning for the past month. She barely reached the toilet bowl in time before the cream-coloured chyme emerged from her mouth. She sank to her knees, and for reasons beyond her understanding, she began crying. The muscles in her chin trembled uncontrollably, and sobs ripped through her very being with excruciating pain.
She couldn't explain the emotions that had consumed her whilst she stood in that room, but she put it down to hormones.
A bang sounded from downstairs, disturbing Isolde's thoughts, and she quickly wiped around her mouth and wet eyes and made her way downstairs.
"Aria, you're back."
A completely unreadable expression was plastered across Arias' face.
v
"What took you so long? You were supposed to be here two hours ago," Adrian groaned, opening the hotel room door to allow a dishevelled-looking Aria inside.
"I got sidetracked." She mumbled weakly in response.
Before Adrian had a chance to complain further, she slipped off her long black trench coat that she had decided to wear after she'd left the house for the second time.
She revealed her completely bare body beneath the garment.
The right side of her naturally rosé-colored lips dragged upwards, mimicking a sinister but sensuous smirk on her tanned face, casting her spell of desire to Adrian's lust-filled eyes.
As the two of them melted into each other's arms once again, Isolde's body lay unmoving at the bottom of the staircase at home.
- Writer
