1.28.2014

I want to hide the truth, I want to shelter you

I want to hide the truth, I want to shelter you

I want to hide the truth, I want to shelter you by sassy

A pair of arms wrapped around my neck from behind, surprising me. "You're back." Ar said in a groggy voice as she nuzzled my neck, temporarily distracting me from my computer.
"I am." I said simply as I reached out to tangle my hand into her hair, forcing her to pull back slightly and enough for me to kiss her lips. After a whole day spent working away from her I was exhausted, beyond that, mostly since this had been the last day of filming and I was grateful for that. It had been a challenging project from day one, making a good movie out of a poor book was nearly impossible but I had been too stubborn to give up so I had tested myself, proving that, eventually, I could do it, only the price to pay was being higher than I had thought. The time I spent on the set was never-ending, once at home I kept going through the scenes I had filmed the hours before and took notes that would be crucial for the editing part and the little time left was all for sleeping. It was nothing different from what I had been through before, only the circumstances were. Now I lived with Aria, I had to think about her too.
She lifted her head up to furrow her brows as she stared at the screen in front of her, probably trying to figure what I was doing then giving up and burying her face into the crook of my neck again, "It's late Seb, come to bed..." She trailed off, her voice low and muffled against my skin.
I let out a deep breath, reaching for her tiny body and adjusting her on my lap, "In a while." I answered quietly, my eyes back to my laptop as I used my free hand to caress her back. I knew I had been up for something like 20 hours, and I had spent them all working, but I just couldn't stop. I was a perfectionist and I could never give up on anything unless it was done, no matter how small it was.
"No, now." She argued in a small voice as she closed her eyes, her fingers wrapping around the fabric of my shirt, "I haven't seen you all day, I missed you. Come to bed with me."
"I missed you too." I said back before kissing her forehead and meaning it, I genuinely missed spending time with her and all the things we were used to do that went from spending a whole day fluking our brains out to go hiking. "But you're sleeping already, you'd barely notice me." I added.
At that she pulled her head back, her eyes opening again to glare at me, "I can tell when you're next to me and when you're not." She said seriously, making me understand that I had probably said the wrong thing.
"I know, it's hard not to notice me." I smirked at her in an attempt to joke, I just didn't want her to get mad at me. Not now. I was already exhausted and still had work to do, sending her to bed mad at me wasn't something I could afford. It'd only distract me and make me feel worse.
She sighed and stared into my eyes, letting me know that she wasn't in the mood for my tricks to work, "Did you get my text earlier?" She asked instead.
I took a few seconds to recall that to my memory, but thank god I did. "Yes." I nodded simply. It was about her last movie, it was about to come out and it'd premiere in a month, even though I couldn't remember if she had told me where too.
"And?" She pushed, of course waiting for me to say more even though I wasn't sure what.
"I'm proud of you and I can't wait to see it." I smiled, once again meaning it. She was a terrific actress and it made sense, since she was amazing at everything she did. No wonder why she was my girlfriend.
A small smile appeared on her own lips as she looped her arms around my neck, "Does it mean you'll come with me to the premiere?"
I pursed my lips together, many reasons to say no coming to my mind. First of all? It was supposed to be on Valentine's day, because of course it was a romantic comedy, then I was so busy with my own movie that I didn't know if I had the time to follow her, I was trying to save time everywhere I could in order to take the break I had promised her and take her to Bora Bora. "Do I have to?" I asked carefully.
Aria took her time to answer though it was a simple question, her expression changing slowly. "No," She said eventually and dropped her hands to her side. "You don't have to go."
I stared at her skeptically since her face was giving me a totally different message, "I'm trying to finish my movie so I can take you on your vacation to Bora Bora." I explained.
"Then by all means, finish your movie so I can go on my vacation," She replied, looking even more annoyed and leaving me absolutely clueless about the reason. She pushed herself off of my lap and rolled onto her side to face the wall, her reaction an exaggerated one no matter what was going into her head, no matter if she was right or wrong, overreacting wasn't something that would help her case with me. More like the opposite.
"Aria," I said in a flat tone, guessing that whatever this was about it had to be planted in her mind way before tonight and that only annoyed me, I could take the blame for being the closed one always, but truth was she wasn't any better. She kept everything bottled then one moment, like now, everything exploded.
"It's fine. I'll go alone," She replied.
I took a deep breath, wishing she could stop being so dramatic and making a big deal out of nowhere. "You don't have to, if you want me to come with you I will." I said quietly as I stared at her back, waiting for her to turn around and look at me, but she didn't. Instead she just kept quiet, which was the worst. A quiet upset Aria was a million times worse than a yelling one. I reached for her, my hand brushing her arm. "Ar..."
She took a step back as she finally turned in my direction again, her face showing the feelings she wasn't able to put into words. I was the same though, so I couldn't really blame her for that, it was probably the biggest issue we still had. "I'm just tired okay? I need to go back to sleep." She said quickly, without giving me time to say anything back before she headed back to the bedroom.
I shut my eyes tight and rolling my hands into fists, the urge to scream a big one, one had to repress though. I wondered if I was missing something because for what I knew? She wasn't doing anything really these days, still she was really tired. Either I had to worry or I just didn't understand. Running one hand through my hair I stood up, using the other one to shut my laptop closed with a little more strength than necessary, then walked to the bedroom where Aria was, her body covered by the sheet to her chin. "Babe." I started, sitting next to her at her side of the bed as I set my hand on her hip, "If you want me to come with you all you have to do is say it."
"Do you really think I need to say it?" She asked back, her voice only telling me that I was in trouble for a reason unknown to me. When I blinked at her, she went on, "Forget it, your question was enough as an answer anyway."
"I only asked if I had to come because I have a s.hit ton of things to do and I know how premieres work, I'm not even sure if I'd be able to be with you half of the time." I said back, trying to defend myself even though in my opinion I had no faults. Mine had been a genuine question, not a tricky one.
She shook her head as if I was talking nonsense, "I shouldn't tell you what to do, you should know it yourself." She spat back, now looking on her way to get mad. What a great night I was about to face.
I raised one eyebrow at her, her annoyance only annoying me too. "What is that supposed to mean? It was just a question, if you had said yes in the first place we wouldn't be here arguing now." I reasoned, hoping she would too. Lately it was as if she was pmsing 24/7 and it drove me nuts because I didn't understand what was wrong.
"I'd given up my life to come here with you and support you and you? You can't even come with me to the premiere of my movie, that's what that's supposed to mean." She said as she lifted herself in a sitting position, her eyes flaming as they bore into mine. I couldn't remember the last time I had seen her like this, but I could remember how I didn't like it.
I processed her words, they sounding like an alarm echoing in my mind. This was exactly what I had never wanted to happen, the reason why I had asked her multiple times if she was sure about coming to Seattle with me. "Is that why you moved here? So that you could use it against me?" I asked back, slowly, my voice getting colder as I felt myself falling into my old habit of closing myself off when things could potentially get explosive. I thought she knew she had my support always, no matter what she did, that I believed in her more than I believed in myself...apparently I was wrong and all I had done so far hadn't been enough.
Her eyes widened instantly as she digested my words slowly, her expression vaguely menacing but I wasn't impressed. "Really Sebastian? You think I came here to hold it against you??" She let her voice match mine, her tone just as cold. "I put my career on hold, took off two semesters, I know no one here, and why? Yes Sebastian, I did all of this to one day use it against you. Congratulations, you've figured me out," She added sarcastically, her tone now bordering on bitter.
My gaze narrowed on her, since she wasn't getting my point at all. "Stop making a joke out of this."
"No really, I'm glad you think I'm capable of doing something so awful," She replied and looked on the verge of crying. Which was something that I couldn't stand, seeing her cry was the worst, I just couldn't handle it.
"I didn't -"
"I'm going to sleep," She cut me off before I could say anything.
I stared at her for a few seconds, shaking my head. Of course now she couldn't run away, but what was she doing? She was escaping to her sleep. "No, you're not going to sleep until we're done discussing this." I said seriously, refusing to let her do something so stupid. At least I was willing to talk.
"I'm done talking to you." She retorted stubbornly and rolled over onto her side, closing her eyes and making a point of ignoring me.
At that I stood up and set my jaw, taking a deep breath as I ran my hands through my hair, wanting to punch something but knowing I couldn't. After all, maybe I was too fucking mad to talk. "I swear I don't know what to do with you." I muttered under my breath, more to myself than for her to hear. But she heard it.
She got in a sitting position immediately, fast and with her eyes open again to glare at me, "What does that even mean?" She asked bitterly.
"Go back to sleep." I said back in a tone of forced calm, not even looking at her and taking all the things I'd need from the room since I doubted I could sleep after this. After a great day on the set I was going to have a great night on the couch, working. I was so lucky.
"No, answer to me!" Her voice raised, her gorgeous eyes flaming with anger, something I rarely saw in them. I was tired, exhausted more like it, I was mad too, but seeing her this close to cry and yell still made me feel awful.
I turned in her direction to finally look at her, going against what I knew it'd be wiser and telling her what I was thinking instead, "It means what it means Aria." I paused to keep my voice in check, "Do you think I didn't notice how you've been since we came back from LA?" I asked, even if I wasn't expecting any answer. She parted her lips, then closed them again, looking a little surprised, "You're always so...I don't even know what's the right word. Upset? Sad? And I know that it has a lot to do with doing nothing all day, I know you can't do that. But then why don't you do something? Why didn't you stay a little longer in LA like I had told you?" I went on, the thought of her at home alone being depressed one that never left me when I was on the set. But she knew it'd be like this, she knew me, and while I was genuinely happy to find her waiting for me when I came back from work, if the price was her own happiness then it didn't make sense.
Aria blinked and stared at me, trying to find the words to speak. "What?" She said finally, her voice not as angry as before but still.
"Why don't you do something?" I repeated without missing a beat. I thought I had been pretty clear, but sometimes the truth was hard to hear.
"Do what??" She asked, finding her voice again. "The classes at the theater have ended, I can't enroll in school since I'm not in LA. Should I hang out with all the friends I've made?" She added in a flat tone that only pissed me off. We weren't in a place at the end of the world and we weren't kids either, she was supposed to spend her free time as she liked to, be independent enough to be alone too.
"If you're so unhappy here, then why didn't you stay in LA?" My voice grew louder to match hers. We weren't yelling at each other anymore, but we weren't calm either. We were both exhausted and this wasn't the best time to pick a fight.
"Because you're here," She said simply yet flatly.
"Apparently I'm not enough." I said back just as flatly, feeling defeated. I wasn't perfect, I knew that, but I had been trying so hard to be better for her, only there was only that much I could do, I couldn't change myself because she was my opposite.
"I never said that." She retorted as she shot me a glare, probably about to yell again. At this point I didn't even care if she yelled, at least I was saying everything that was on my mind.
I shook my head, leaning against the door frame and looking at her, "You don't need to. You're here, clearly unhappy-"
"But it's not because of you."
"Don't cut me off Aria." I said in a low tone, hating when she did that, mostly if we were having a serious conversation, "I'm not enough because I can't be enough with you and there's nothing I can do about it. You should be independent enough to find a way to keep yourself busy when I'm working, I know this is not your city but we're adults and we should make it work anyway. You could do anything, literally anything, but you don't because you don't want to do it alone." I paused to breath, feeling as if my head was about to explode, needing to go for a run or something to let all my frustration out. "If you want to go back to LA and join a class, if it would make you happier, then go. I'll fly to you during weekends...I can't do more than this Ar."
Aria stared at me, speechless and looking hurt even though I had never meant to hurt her. Her lips parted and she reclosed them to take a deep breath before opening them once more. "You want me to move back to LA," She said in a monotone. It wasn't a question, but more of a statement. And it wasn't what I had said, at all.
"I want you to stop being so unhappy," I retorted, wishing she could see where I was coming from. "If it were up to me -"
"I don't want to hear it Seb," She cut me off,  "I should've just gone back to sleep when you told me to."
"You're right, it's not like you're listening anyway." I said flatly, pissed off for so many reasons. We still couldn't keep a conversation, she heard what she wanted to hear and I was always the bad guy. It was like living the same things again and again and I hated it.
She reached for the sheet and pulled it over her body, glaring at me in the process. "That's not true." She said bitterly, acting like a kid.
"I never said I wanted you to move back to LA. I don't want you to move back to LA, don't you ever stop thinking about how it is for you and think about how it is for me instead?" I asked, not bothering this time to control myself, not my voice, not my words.
"Don't put it all on my now." She spat back.
I just shook my head, at this point refusing to go on. I just wanted her to be happy, and she wasn't here. Her happiness couldn't depend on me, because I couldn't always be there for her, I had a job and even though I knew that sometimes I was too obsessed with it I also knew that if the roles were switched I'd never make such a big deal out of it. But I was independent, Aria wasn't. "Goodnight Aria." I said simply, feeling defeated as I headed for the balcony, needing some fresh air to cool down.
 

1 comment:

  1. *puts on sad songs and sighs* oh those two :|
    i loved this boo :3

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