ARIA
> Aaron: Can we talk? I miss you, Aria. I don’t want this to end.
Aaron’s message stayed in my head long after I dropped the phone.
The words burned into my mind.
He was the same person who had said he didn’t want us anymore—just because I wouldn’t send him naked pictures.
Same pictures I mistakenly sent to Adrian Cole and was in this mess for.
Because for once, I chose self-respect over pleasing someone else. And now he wanted us again?
I almost laughed, but the sound that left me was closer to a choke. There was already too much in my life to bear; I couldn’t afford to think about him or what might’ve been. Every time I let my mind wander there, the old ache returned, the kind that didn’t bleed anymore but still left bruises inside me.
So I pushed the phone aside and go
