She was just as good as I was at this game.
Chapter Three
Aria
I was walking out of class, disgruntled again from the second encounter in a row with my Statistics professor. It was beginning to be an every-class thing. Then, I heard someone call my name.
Dick.
“Excuse me?” a blond guy of medium build said.
I may have said Dick out loud. “That’s your name, isn’t it?”
“It’s Rick. But thanks,” my ex-boyfriend grinned. “I’ve been meaning to run into you, Aria.”
“Oh, that’s neat. You don’t even have any classes in the Econ and Finance building. I suppose this is a ‘run-in’ and not a stalking attempt. Go away, Dick,” I said, walking on.
He ran after me. “Listen, I tried calling you a bunch of times.”
I turned around and snapped, “Right. And me completely not answering any of those gazillion phone calls over the last few months did not give you the slightest hint that I want nothing to do with you?”
“It did, but I am still here, doesn’t that say something?”
“Yes, it says it’s really late and I have to get out of here. You’re just a dirty scumbag who cheated on me on our anniversary and is now stalking me outside of an evening class.”
“You never even gave me a chance to explain!” He was shouting now.
“Explain! What the hell is there to explain, Dick? I saw everything that needed to be seen. Do I care about your made-up sob story where you were doing a dying girl a favor or any kind of other bullshit that you can come up with? No.”
“But you still care about me! Or you wouldn’t be this angry,” he had the nerve to say.
I could almost slap him in that moment, and tried to ease my trembling fingers. “I cared about you once. You know that. But you hurt me, Ricky. It took me a very long time to recover from that. Of course I’m still angry for what you did to me! But that in no way indicates any remaining feelings for you. I have really, truly moved on, and I suggest you do the same. Though let’s be honest, you kind of already had before we even broke up.”
He sighed. “I am really, really sorry, Aria. I am not going to stand here and give you a long and twisted version of a lie you aren’t going to believe. I fucked up, plain and simple. I don’t have some grandiose reasoning behind it; I was just a stupid kid thinking with everything other than my head. And Sally – the girl you found me with – had been going after me for months, and I just lost control.”
“I’m sorry for you and your inability to keep it in your pants, but I am not sure how this is supposed to make anything better.”
“It’s not. None of it is supposed to make it any better. All I wanted to say was that I am truly sorry. I don’t think I’ve ever been sorrier about anything in my life. And I would have to be really stupid to think you’d ever give me another chance. I know I don’t deserve one, and you deserve better.”
“Yeah? Then why are you still here?”
“Because I love you.” He shrugged. “I have never loved anyone before or after you. You were the most inspiring person in my life, never letting me down, always supporting me through the hardest of times. And I let all that go, for what?” He shook his head.
“But I don’t love you anymore,” I said softly.
A frown fell across his face. “I know,” he said after a few moments. “I know that. Maybe we can still… I don’t know… be friends?”
“Why? What does that accomplish?”
“I get to be around the most amazing girl I have ever met, and have her in my life in some capacity, even though I will know for sure that it’s never ever going to be more than that.”
I sighed. “Never ever.”
“Ever?” He was breaking out a tiny smile.
“Never!” I said more loudly.
“Friends?” He gave me his hand and I took it reluctantly.