Yes, terrible things happen, but sometimes those terrible things-- They save you.


-- Chuck Palahniuk

Sunday, March 10, 2013

30 - Shake It Out

(Some minor NSFW [sexual] content. )



Cash and Carlisle, YA


Four months passed. Winter turned into spring and Aria spent every waking moment with Bluejay. Her challenge was frozen at 60 children and it was oddly freeing not having babies all the time. Just having a life. Having fun. 

-----

"I don't know if I like this, Bluejay. It feels weird." Aria did a turn in the mirror, examining her new hair color. 

"I think it looks badass." Aria groaned. "It's definitely different. I am so used to the pink in my hair." She tugged at a strand and sighed. It was already done, and would look like this for a while. She should just get used to it.

She turned to face him. "You really like it?" 

He nodded. "It was my idea."




 She bit her lip and looked at her reflection once more, deciding maybe she liked it too. 
"We should probably go if you're done staring in the mirror." Bluejay chided and Aria scowled at him.

 "Yeah, yeah. I'll grab my shoes and we can go." She was making her way to the closet when he grabbed her arm, pulling her to him. She smiled as he traced her lips with his.

 "We have to GO remember. No time for kissing." She stuck her tongue out at him, but he kissed her anyway.


They were in Willow's vacation house in Bridgeport. Their old friend from school had invited them to some big party she was throwing. Bluejay had been hesitant but Aria talked him into it. Carter and Mila were going too. They had even brought dates. Mila's was an English dude Aria had never seen before that she was using as her next challenge father. Aria didn't like him. 

Of course. 

Carter's was another girl they grew up with, Jessica Foster. A rich chick who banged every guy on the football team AND every skater guy in their grade. Except Carter. Well, at least Aria didn't think they had... Hmm.

Bluejay pulled Aria on top of his lap where he was sitting on the bed and threaded his fingers in her hair, pulling her face to his. He kissed her roughly and Aria laughed, putting her hands on his chest and pulling away a little. "I don't think Willow would want us hooking up on her bed. " 

He grinned. "She doesn't have to know." 




Aria stood up, giggling. "She will KILL you. You don't know Willow. Also, what happened to rushing me into leaving?" 

He sighed and stood. "Yeah, yeah. Let's go."

The rest of them were waiting in the living room, scattered about. For being on a date, Jessica and Carter seemed pretty disinterested in each other. Jessica was making conversation with Mr. English Boy, whose name Aria didn't care to know and Carter and Mila were in a corner of the room, talking about who knows what. 




Bluejay interlaced her fingers with his and just stood there, feeling slightly out of place. 

"Hey, Will. I'm ready to go." 

She glanced up at her and cast a suspicious eyebrow at her. "You better not have been doing anything in there." Aria's cheeks flushed crimson and she coughed a little. 
Willow started laughing. "I'm kidding, Aria. Calm down." 

She and Austin both laughed again and then she shrugged. "Everyone ready to go? It's almost 7. I bet Claire is beside herself waiting for all of us." 


Aria rolled her eyes. Like she cared what Claire wanted. She was a snobby little rich girl who got whatever she wanted when they were kids. Aria was only here to spend time with her old friends. Willow was sweet though, and actually liked her. 

Gag. 



Aria nodded, focusing her attention over to the corner where Mila and Carter now seemed to be arguing in hushed voices. Those two were kind of starting to get to her. For some reason Aria felt like they were together. Not that she would care if they were. She just wanted them to be honest with her. 

Carter caught her gaze and looked away. He seemed really pissy. It was kind of annoying. And shouldn't he be with Jessica? Aria grew restless, moving closer to Bluejay. Her thoughts were madness lately. Seriously though, what the hell was going on between those two and why was Aria being left out of the loop?

Aria shrugged it off. She would talk to Mila about it later. Right now she was ready to drink.  A lot.




----
There were too many people. Aria leaned into Bluejay's chest as they descended the staircase. The last party she had been at with this many people did NOT turn out okay. Although she did make up with Danielle there. Willow immediately took off with Austin trailing her. It made sense that Willow already knew people here. Aria knew a few faces too. But that didn't stop her from being uncomfortable. Most of them hated her.


She put her lips to Bluejay's ear. "I need a drink." He nodded and she pulled him in the direction of the bar. She grabbed the nearest bottle to her, pouring some into a shot glass and downing it. Bluejay raised an eyebrow. She shrugged, pouring another one. "I like to drink." 



He nodded. "Uh huh." 

Her reached into a cooler located  by the bar and grabbed a beer. He twisted the top off and tossed it amidst a pile of others. It seemed like the music had gotten even louder in the five minutes they had been there. Aria grabbed a red solo cup from the counter and filled it halfway with the clear acrid liquid. 

"Don't you want a chaser?" Bluejay asked loudly, some Ke$ha song blaring through the house.

She laughed. "I'm good." 

A squeal came from behind her and she felt arms squeeze her tightly. "Aria, oh my God!!!" She laughed, recognizing the voice instantly. Kimari's big blue eyes lit up and she smelled faintly of Sprite and Bicardi. "Did you hear the news?!? I'm getting married!!" Kimari was obviously drunk and hanging on her arm was another familiar face. 


Aria grinned, pulling Aperille into a hug. "Hey you!! I missed you so much!!"

 They all three giggled and Aria finished her drink in one breath. Aperille leaned in close. "So I see Levi isn't here. Did you finally dump his sorry ass?" 

Aria stiffened. "Yeah, I did." She grabbed Bluejay's hand, tugging him bewildered over to the two of them. "This is Bluejay, he's here with me."

Kimari squealed. "He's cuuuuteeee. Is he your boyfriend?" She shouted the question even louder in her drunken state. Aria looked at him and he stared at her, his eyes wide. She wasn't exactly sure what he was. She ignored the question.

"Where are your men?" Aria asked, grabbing the bottle of alcohol and sloshing even more into her cup. Aperille and Kimari started laughing again at her question. They had to be wasted. 



"Girls night!" Aperille managed through her laughter.

The two of them got distracted by someone else they knew and Aria looked around, none of the people she had came with were anywhere to be seen. Bluejay lit a cigarette and leaned against the bar, looking at her. He was being really quiet.

"What's wrong?" She asked, drinking out of the cup again. 

He shrugged. "It doesn't matter." 

She moved over to him, getting on her tip toes to place a kiss on his cheek. "You want to go socialize? There are lots of people here, maybe we can make some friends."


She winked at him and he smiled, putting his hand in hers. "This isn't really my scene, Aria." 

She laughed. "It is tonight. Come on, it will be fun." 

Bluejay looked over her shoulder at the mess of bodies. "I had a different idea of what we could do for fun, but okay." She rolled her eyes, kissing him. She turned around, pushing a couple of people out of the way so they could get through.

Mila was across the room, locked in a make out session with Mr. English Boy. Aria still wasn't sure why she didn't like him. She just didn't. Maybe it was the overprotective sister part of her talking. Bluejay seemed to be slightly uneasy since he didn't know anyone. And he was probably one of the only ones here who wasn't old enough to be drinking.


She held his hand tighter, moving into a corner where there weren't as many people. He finished his cigarette, tossing it in some random cup left on a table. 

She scanned the room, but couldn't see Willow anywhere. Although she did see a few people she recognized from high school. Ones that even liked her. Until graduation that is. She wasn't sure where their loyalties had lay after that. 

A pair of girls appeared in front of the two of them. Aria hadn't even noticed them approach. Was she really that drunk? She recognized both of them and it made her instantly nervous. They had been best friends in high school and two of her friends for most of it too. But she hadn't seen them since graduation. Which is of course the first thing that was brought up.


"So, Aria. It's been years. We missed you!" The dark haired girls voice was musical and she sounded genuine. Aria relaxed a little. She was pretty sure her name was Angie. The blonde girl nodded in agreement and leaned closer, raising an eyebrow.

 "Is it true that you and Darian Hutchins were a thing? Kora pretty much blasted you at graduation and hardly anyone has heard from you since."

Aria shifted her weight and Bluejay looked at her curiously. She sighed, rolling her shoulders. She was 22. It was 5 years ago. Why not just admit it? 



"Yeah, we hooked up. Twice. I was 17. And stupid." Both of them started laughing. 

"Nah, I think it's kinda hot. We all wanted him. You just got him." Angie said this in a tone that was almost envious.

Aria was relieved. "So wait.. You two don't hate me?" 

They both shook their heads. "No, you were always cool with us, Ar. The only thing that sucks is that you didn't keep in contact." Anna, the blonde, reached into Aria's skirt and pulled her cell phone out. She grinned, entering both of their numbers and putting it back where it was.


"Now you don't have an excuse." She winked and grabbed Angie's hand, pulling her away with a wave.

-----
The wood of the door was cool against Aria's flushed skin as he pressed her up against it, capturing her lips with his. She sighed, pulling him even closer. Kissing him wasn't like kissing anyone else. 

The music was so loud Aria's ears were ringing, but she heard what Bluejay whispered easily. She interlocked her fingers around his neck and her heart raced as he pressed against her even harder, his lips at her neck. His hands slid from her waist to her hips and he lifted  her up, kissing her again. 

"What are you doing?" Aria, asked, her voice rough. "We're in the middle of the hallway, Jay." 

He smirked, kissing her again. "So?" 

Maybe her inhibitions had lessened a little in the amount of alcohol she had consumed , because she relented, her fingertips grazing the edge of his shirt, and she tugged it off, pulling his face to hers as his hands found their way to her neck where her shirt was tied.

Just as the ribbons loosened, spilling from her shoulders, every light surrounding them went out, casting everything in pitch black darkness. 

"What the fuck?" Bluejay muttered, putting Aria down. She retied her shirt, still spinning from the situation that she had been in moments before.


Aria watched Bluejay pick his shirt up from the floor and slip it back on, sticking his head around the corner. "It's so dark, I can't see shit. Do you want me to see what's going on?"

 Aria could hear people's voices and goosebumps rose on her arms. She was kind of freaked out. "You can't just leave me here." She whined softly. 

He laughed. "You'll be okay." He kissed her forehead and she sighed, still uncomfortable, as he made his way down the hallway. 


The door she was leaning against suddenly opened and she almost fell. A soft chuckle sounded from above her and she scowled, squinting in the darkness. It almost looked like.. 

Fuck. It was him. 

"You were in there?" Aria questioned, embarrassed and backing up a little, to allow him to exit.

Carter looked confused. "Is that an issue? What are you doing out here? And why are the lights out?" He rubbed his forehead, shaking his head a little. "I passed out. At a party. Who does that?" Aria smiled. That was actually kind of cute. 



"You really shouldn't be by yourself during a blackout Aria." He stated, moving closer to her. She crossed her arms over her chest. 

"I wasn't alone. Bluejay was with me.  He went to go see what happened." 

Carter shrugged. "My best guess is a blackout, like I said." 

Bluejay's voice proceeded him as he came back into the hallway. "City wide power outage. They don't even have any candles. Who doesn't have fucking candles?" 

He sighed, walking over to them. "Hey Carter. Where did you come from?" Carter pointed over his shoulder into the room; Bluejay looked at Aria, barely concealing his grin. 

She rolled her eyes. Of course he would think it was funny.

They were quiet for a moment when they all heard a noise coming from the room down the hall. Aria had thought she had seen a couple making out go into the room when she and Carter were talking and did NOT want to know what was happening now.

She looked back at the guys, sighing. 


Lovely. There wasn't even any music to drown it out. There was a squeal and then a crash, followed by laughter. Now this was getting awkward. The girl giggled again and Aria groaned. It was almost like getting a play by play. 


Bluejay laughed quietly. "At least someone is having fun."

Carter nodded, smirking. Aria crossed her arms over her chest, leaning against the wall. "Well, I'm not leaving this area. There are so many fucking people here. I would probab-" She abruptly stopped talking. The guy in the room had spoken. And it was a voice she recognized. 

Well. 

She left the wall, taking a step closer. Now that she thought about it, she thought she knew the other voice too... 

She walked to the door, putting her ear next to it. That was definitely his voice, but he was using a fake english accent. What.

And seconds later....

It was her. Mila.

In a moment of insanity, Aria put both hands on the door, shoving it open. They hadn't even bothered to close it all the way. The instant the door made it all the way to the wall, the lights came back on.

"You've got to be kidding me." 

Aria just stared at the scene before her. Levi and Mila were wrapped in each other, completely oblivious to the fact that lights had come back on. When Mila heard Aria's voice, she looked up at her completely confused. And then she looked down at Levi. She shot off the bed, pulling her dress back on once she got to her feet.

Aria spun on her heel and left, pushing Bluejay and Carter, who had been standing behind her, to the side. 

"Aria!" She heard her sister's voice from behind her, but she didn't stop.

 She just kept walking until she was out of the house and on the rainy streets of Bridgeport.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?!" Bluejay caught up to her, grabbing her arm. "Aria, I'm sorry. He was a fucking loser and you knew this. I'm actually not surprised he would do something like that." Her eyes stung, but she refused to let any tears fall. 

"I get him doing it, but that's my sister. One of my best friends. How could she do this to me??" 

Bluejay pulled her into his chest, looking down at her. "To be honest, Aria. I think he tricked her. She didn't look happy."

It started raining harder, and Aria shivered a little. She didn't even have words for how she felt right now.

 So instead, she pushed Bluejay up against the wall behind him and crushed her lips against his. He was surprised, but he instantly relaxed, his hands on her hips.


He turned her, smirking. "You have a problem doing this in a hallway, but not in the middle of a park?" She shhhed him, kissing him again. 


The rain fell in sheets and it didn't matter. It didn't really ever matter with the two of them.


A few blocks away, everything Aria believed was slowly changing. Situations are not always what they seem. Things are not always how they appear to be. And the people you once thought you knew, were never really who they said they were.


And Aria had no idea.




To see Mila's side of the story, you should click here. <3 <3

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