Confessions Read online

  Aria sat there, eventually turning away from the phone in case her looking down at it added to his pressure. After a couple minutes of debate, Billy started flipping his phone over in his hands.

  “I want to tell her to leave me alone, but not in a way that will make it awkward for our friends to have us both over.” She saw him stop turning the phone over in his hands and she looked at him. He began texting out an answer but Aria didn’t try to peek at what it was. “I just told her we don’t have anything to talk about.”

  He laid back on the bed and left his phone lying on his chest, his hands reaching up to ruffle his head before he draped his arm over his forehead. Aria leaned back and swung her legs back and forth.

  “We don’t have to go to the party tomorrow night,” she told him. He sighed and pushed himself up to rest on his elbows. She looked over at him and saw he had a mix of emotions from the many thoughts running through his mind.

  “Let’s go,” he said.

  Chapter 10

  The following night, Aria received a text from Kay confirming they would still be going to the party. At the moment she received the message she had just finished getting ready and they were about to head out the door.

  Billy and Aria took a taxi to John’s so they wouldn’t have to worry about who would be the designated driver. Luckily he didn’t live too far away. Aria had a feeling both of them would end up needing plenty to drink that night. It would be a blatant lie if she said she wasn’t nervous about seeing Tina, especially nervous about seeing Tina around Billy.

  Back when she had met Tina she wasn’t with Billy yet so this would be a totally new experience. Aria placed her hand over his and gave it a reassuring squeeze, knowing he must have been feeling some level of apprehension at the thought of having to see and interact with the person who had caused him so much pain.

  “But it’s in the past,” he had mentioned off hand to Aria as they got ready. Of course she knew it was in the past and he had overcome that part of his life, but that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be some kind of hurt feelings involved. The cab pulled up in front of John’s apartment building and Aria could already hear the music coming from his place.

  Billy paid the driver and they both stepped out of the car and held hands before walking into the building. The elevator ride up somehow seemed short and extremely long at the same time. As they neared John’s apartment door, Aria automatically stepped in front of Billy and started to walk a little faster. She pushed the door open and was greeted with music, loud chatter, and the scent of alcohol.

  Before she was able to walk two feet in and start looking for John, she saw Tina standing right in front of her talking to someone she had never seen before. She looked just as stunning as Aria had remembered her, if not more.

  Aria immediately turned to look at Billy who had his gaze fixed on the floor. From the look on his face Aria was sure he had already seen her standing there. Aria tugged on his hand, hoping to find John or Kay but Tina had already walked right up to them with a smile fixed on her face. She had her eyes fixed on Billy. She didn’t even notice Aria until she almost bumped into her.

  “Oh,” Tina said stopping just before she ran into Aria. Her eyes looked from Aria, to Billy, and finally to their linked hands. “Oh,” she said quietly and Aria noticed she sounded something much too similar to disappointed for her taste.

  “Hey,” Billy said without making eye contact.

  “Hi,” Tina replied, sounding much less enthusiastic than she had looked when she first saw Billy walk in to the apartment.

  She then looked at Aria and asked, “We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

  “A few years back, yeah.”

  “Right,” Tina said and she forced the smile back on to her face. “Well, just wanted to say hello. Anyway…have fun you two.”

  With that Tina turned on her heel and walked away and out onto the balcony. Aria saw Tina pull the same person she had been talking to when they arrived toward her and whisper something in his ear. He tried to be subtle when he turned to look at Aria and Billy, still standing in the same spot, but failed.

  Aria’s blood boiled from the whole interaction and it certainly didn’t help that she was already on edge with this whole ordeal. She wasn’t sure how much longer she would be able to hold back for the sake of Billy. She pulled him along and scanned the room until she found John off in some corner talking to none other than Kay. Aria made a beeline for them and as soon as she and Billy were spotted, the two cheered and excitedly greeted them.

  Kay pulled Aria over to the kitchen with the pretense of getting drinks, something both she and Billy certainly needed.

  “Did you see her already?” Kay reached into the freezer and put some ice into a couple cups before handing one over to Aria. She nodded as she looked at the selection of alcohols and mixers. She settled on cranberry juice and vodka.

  “Did she talk to you?” Kay grabbed for the whiskey and poured a copious amount into the cup before reaching for the cola.

  “She saw Billy and went right for him. She only noticed me because she was about to run into me,” Aria said with annoyance. She took a sizeable gulp of her drink before continuing, “And then she stared at us. She saw we were holding hands and her expression just completely changed.” She took another big gulp and looked at Kay who had just set the soda back.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Would I want to make something like this up?”

  Kay chuckled somewhat nervously. “Of course you wouldn’t. I wonder what’s up with her.”

  “Well,” Aria said as she took another swallow and nearly finished her drink, “There is something else you don’t know. She called him twice yesterday. He picked up because he didn’t recognize her number, but then he said he couldn’t talk and hung up. So she ended up sending him a text later on.” Aria knocked back the rest of her drink and started to make another one right away.

  “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Kay said. She looked over at the balcony where Tina was still talking to her friend and a couple other people. “What the hell is up with that?”

  “I don’t know, but it really bothered me. I just haven’t said anything about how frustrated I am with this because it’s hard on Billy.”

  “But you can’t just keep holding everything back,” Kay reasoned.

  Aria sighed and shrugged as she sipped on her drink. Her gaze drifted over to where Tina was standing. That’s when she noticed Tina’s friend was watching her. He wasn’t even trying to be subtle about it any more, not that it would have mattered given how terrible he was at it. Aria drained the contents of her cup and shoved it into Kay’s hand. Enough was enough and this was just completely ridiculous. She marched right out to the balcony and stepped in front of the man.

  “Can I help you with something?” Aria stood in front of him with arms crossed and a serious look on her face. It was bad enough she had to put up with nonsense from Tina even though it had just been a couple days, but this was too much. There was no reason for her to keep her mouth shut about being stared at so shamelessly by a person she had never even met before.

  “Is there a problem?” Tina came into view as she took her place by her friend’s side.

  She was trying to come off as a friendly person. Aria wasn’t going to fall into the trap. She wasn’t going to come off as the crazy, jealous current girlfriend of someone else’s ex and end up losing her friends. She could feel the alcohol already starting to affect her. Aria looked at Tina and forced a fake smile onto her face.

  “We don’t,” Aria said before turning back to her friend and saying, “But maybe he has a problem with me. Or do you just really like my T-shirt?”

  The guy cleared his throat and looked at Tina as if Aria were behaving completely out of line when he had been the one staring at her for no reason. He wasn’t just staring at her but looked to be studying her every move.

  Aria scoffed and said, “You know what? Whatever. If this is how you want to act,
I’m not even going to deal with it. So childish.” Aria stalked off and went back to find John and Billy, but saw they were no longer in the same spot.

  Instead, they had gathered around the entrance of the balcony along with Kay and had witnessed the entire exchange. Billy stood there, expressionless, looking at Aria. She had no idea what that meant so she just pushed past them and walked out of the apartment.

  This was a nightmare. She honestly thought she would be able to play it cool and had high hopes for the night running smoothly. If anything she thought she might find herself comforting Billy while calming herself down internally with reassurances that his feelings and behavior were completely understandable. Instead, she had polished off two drinks in less than two minutes and had caused a scene. This is exactly what she wants, Aria thought with disgust. She had to hand it to Tina, she hadn’t really done much yet had managed for this to be the turnout of the night. The more she thought of it, the angrier she got. After some time, Kay came out to join her in the hallway.

  “Billy thought you might not want to see him right now,” she said quietly as she leaned against the wall.

  Aria looked over at her in total confusion. “Why the hell would he think that?”

  Kay shrugged and responded, “He muttered something about this whole ordeal being his fault. I don’t know, he didn’t really clarify. He just went off with John to the room and they locked themselves in there.”

  Aria grumbled and sunk down to a crouch, burying her head in her hands. This really was a nightmare. She had no way of knowing why Billy thought she didn’t want to see him right now and she didn’t think it was the best idea to go back inside and ask. Instead, she decided to stay out in the hallway for a while and cool down.

  “You don’t have to stay out here with me.”

  Kay shrugged, “I know. But I’d rather stay her with you anyway.”

  “You know what? This is stupid. There is no reason I should have to stay out here like this. Let’s go in a get a drink.” Kay helped her up and the two of them went back into the apartment. They went back into the kitchen and fixed their drinks before stepping into the living room. Aria scanned the room and noticed Tina was nowhere to be found, but she did see her friend who was looking at her again. This time, however, he turned away when he met Aria’s gaze. She could have sworn she saw him smirk before taking a sip of his drink.

  Then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed John talking to somebody who wasn’t Billy. That’s when Aria started to feel uneasy. She set her drink down on a table and swallowed the lump in her throat. She had a nasty feeling sinking into her. She looked around and saw neither Billy nor Tina anywhere. She immediately walked off to John’s bedroom thinking maybe Billy had wanted to be alone. As she approached it, she noticed the door was ajar and she heard voices coming from inside. She paused with her hand on the doorknob debating whether to just walk in or stand outside and listen.

  She settled on the listening.

  Chapter 11

  “I told you to just leave me alone,” Aria heard Billy say. She felt her stomach sink. Who else would he be saying that if not to Tina?

  “Oh come on, Billy,” she heard Tina say much too flirtatiously. “Are you really going to tell me you don’t miss me?”

  Aria heard feet shuffling and more feet following behind.

  “Billy…”

  Aria tried to peer in through the crack in the door and was actually able to spot them. There was Billy, standing between the wall and Tina. He looked excruciatingly uncomfortable. Tina, meanwhile, was shamelessly trying to get close to him.

  She placed her hand on his shoulder and leaned in close to his ear, “Come one, Billy. Tell me you don’t still think about me. I know you can’t have replaced me with her.”

  Billy looked right into Tina’s eyes with nothing other than disgust. He placed his hand on her shoulder and pushed her away.

  “I didn’t,” he retorted, “Because what she is to me was something you could never compare to.”

  Tina scoffed and finished up her drink, tossing it off to the side.

  “I highly doubt that,” Tina said in a low voice as she charged forward and practically shoved her face against Billy’s in an attempt to kiss him. Right as he pushed her off and wiped off his lips, Aria burst into the room.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing here?” Aria was livid and was completely done holding back. She hadn’t been imagining the look of disappointment in Tina’s eyes when she saw her and Billy were together. Aria wasn’t wrong to think there was something off about her trying to contact Billy so insistently. None of this had been in her head.

  Tina laughed and looked at Aria with something akin to pity. She was looking at Aria as if she were a bug she could easily squash.

  “Be honest,” Tina said quietly and dangerously. She stepped close to Aria and stared her down. “Did you really ever think he was really over me? Did you really think you could pull me out of his heart?”

  Aria laughed, truly realizing how pathetic Tina was. It had been years since they broke up and she had been the one to end it. Tina had been the one who just disappeared after breaking Billy’s heart. And now she had shown up out of nowhere thinking she still had a chance with him. Whether or not Aria was in the picture, she felt sure Billy would have never gone down that road again.

  It was sad that Tina behaved this way though not nearly as sad as her actually believing it. Aria grabbed Billy’s.

  “Think whatever you want. We know what the truth is and that’s really all that matters.”

  Aria turned to head out the door and that’s when she realized most of the people at the party had gathered around to watch what was going on. Kay and John were at the front of the crowd. Kay had her arm thrown out in front of John as if she had stopped him from going in and interrupting. Aria’s heart swelled up with gratitude and she gave Kay a nod as her and Billy slipped past them.

  They went right out into the hall and stopped by the elevator. Aria pulled him into a hug. Billy relaxed in her arms. This must have been such a terrible ordeal for him. If she had thought it was a nightmare, she couldn’t even imagine what Billy must be feeling at that moment. She wondered how long Tina had him cornered in the room before Aria arrived.

  She ran her hand down his cheek, “why didn’t you just walk out?”

  Aria was genuinely wondering why that hadn’t been his course of action. He looked almost defeated.

  “I just couldn’t.”

  Aria pulled him back into the embrace and he nuzzled his face into her neck.

  “Can we go home now?”

  Aria nodded and told him she just wanted to let Kay and John know. Billy said he would wait outside and try to get a cab.

  She walked back into the apartment and saw Tina was sulking off in the corner of the balcony with her friend leaning back against the railing. He met Aria’s eyes and held her gaze briefly before looking down at the ground and muttering something. She saw Tina shrug. Aria shook her head to snap out of it and looked around for John and Kay. They were in the kitchen. She walked over and saw them talking quietly in the corner with their drinks in hand.

  “Hey, we’re going to head out now.”

  They both looked disappointed, but were understanding. Aria looked at John apologetically and said, “I’m so sorry for causing a scene at your party.”

  He held up his hand and shook his head. “You did no such thing. Really, don’t worry about it. I know it was definitely someone else who instigated it all. You’re not the one who should be apologizing.” He took a sip of his drink and shot a glare in Tina’s direction. “Are you okay though?”

  He looked back to Aria and waited on her answer. She nodded and reached out for Kay to get a hug. They both asked to send their goodbyes to Billy and Aria walked out feeling heavy and exhausted.

  When she stepped out onto the street she was relieved to see Billy had already hailed a cab. She slipped into the back seat and immediately leaned
her head back against the headrest, letting her eyelids slide shut. They felt heavy the way they do when you feel emotionally exhausted. The silent cab ride back to their apartment went by quickly and before she knew it, she was already in her bedroom changing into her pajamas.

  Billy sat at the edge of the bed looking absent-mindedly at Aria as she changed and put her clothes away. She ended up just throwing the night’s outfit in the hamper before sitting next to Billy. She turned her head and looked at him wondering what she should do or say. Before she had a chance to act, he turned around and pulled her into a tight hug.