Chapter 284: Forever
God.
I would give anything to go back to that kind of naïve.
I let my head drop back against the worn seat, my voice low. "Remember that week I failed the stats midterm and convinced myself I was going to die a failure?"
Sarah snorted. "You wrote a will in your notebook. Left me your electric kettle and your Spotify playlist."
"You’re welcome."
She laughed. "You were so dramatic."
"Says the girl who fake cried during finals so the prof would let her retake it."
"I wasn’t fake crying," she said with mock offense. "I was simply using my tears strategically."
I chuckled... softly, quietly.
It almost felt good.
Almost.
We stayed like that for a bit. Warm in memory. Cozy in the past.
And then Sarah said something that made a breath freeze halfway in my lungs.
"You know..." she began, her voice almost dreamy. "Sometimes I wish I could keep you like this forever. Just... stuck here. With me. No Kael. No Sylas or Ash. No running off into someone else’s arms. Just us. Like it was meant to be."
I blinked.
"What?"
She turned her head and smiled. That same sweet, easy smile I’d seen a hundred times before. "I mean... like it used to be, you know? Back when we didn’t have all these people complicating everything. Back when it was just you and me."
I nodded slowly.
Just us.
Like it was meant to be.
I didn’t think too much of it. Not really.
Just Sarah being nostalgic. Sentimental.
But something... tugged at me.
A strange little thread that didn’t quite let go.
The stage was cracked and the paint was peeling. The red velvet curtains hung like tired bones, but somehow Sarah had still convinced me to get up there and act like it was freshman year again.
She’d found a busted microphone and was doing a dramatic reading of a cereal box label like it was Shakespeare.
"Contains iron, calcium, and emotionally repressed tendencies," she declared with a sweeping bow.
I snorted into my chips. "You’re so stupid."
Sarah grinned, tossing an empty candy wrapper into the crowd of empty seats. "And yet you’re still laughing."
She was right.
For the first time in days, I was actually laughing.
Mouth full of junk.
Eyes a little blurry.
Shoulders not so heavy.
She jumped off the stage and strutted toward me like she was accepting an Oscar. "I dedicate this performance to my dearest Aria, the love of my life, the woman of my dreams, the one who always... "
"Chokes on M&M’s," I coughed, nearly dying mid-sip of soda.
Sarah burst into laughter and pulled me into a warm, sideways hug as I wheezed dramatically.
"Don’t die on me," she said. "Not before we hit the gas station again."
We stayed like that a while. Just... sitting there in the abandoned theatre, surrounded by snack wrappers and ghosts of ourselves.
Eventually, the stillness settled, and she tugged me by the arm.
"Come on. I’ve got one more cliché left in me tonight."
The car hood was warm from the day’s sun, even under the pale night sky.
I laid on my back, the stars scattered across the heavens like forgotten glitter, and I let the breeze kiss my skin. It smelled faintly of asphalt and something metallic. Maybe freedom. Maybe rust.
Sarah lay beside me, her fingers absently combing through my hair.
It should’ve been comforting.
It was comforting.
But something itched beneath my skin.
Eric’s message had faded into my notifications hours ago... but it was still there. Lodged like a splinter in my ribs.
Sarah isn’t who she says she is.
She came on to me first.
I wanted to laugh at the absurdity. But instead... I asked.
"Hey," I said quietly, eyes fixed on the stars.
"Mhm?" she murmured beside me.
"...You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?"
She stilled.
Only for a breath. A second.
But I noticed.
Sarah didn’t answer right away.
Her fingers paused in my hair, then smoothed over again gently, like nothing had happened. "What kind of question is that?" she whispered.
I turned my head to look at her.
Just a little.
She was staring up at the sky, her profile glowing in the starlight. Her smile was small. Unreadable.
"I just... I don’t know."
I didn’t have the words to dress it up. "Just wanted to hear you say it."
Sarah didn’t look at me.
"I’d never lie to you," she said finally. "You’re all I’ve got."
And then she smiled again... soft and full of something I couldn’t name.
But somewhere deep down, under all that junk food and starlight and half-laughter, my gut twisted.
Just a little.
I thought that would be the end of it... just a strange question under the stars.
But of course... it wasn’t.
Sarah’s fingers moved slower now through my hair, as though something heavier had started pressing on her chest. I glanced sideways, and she was still looking up at the sky, her eyes unreadable.
"You know..." she began, her voice quieter now. "I think I should be the one asking that question."
I frowned. "What do you mean?"
She exhaled through her nose like she’d been holding it in for a while. "You’ve moved on."
"...Sarah."
"No, listen. It’s okay," she said quickly, trying to smile like it didn’t ache. "You’ve got new friends now. Ash. Sylas. Kael."
I sat up halfway, turning to her. "It’s not like that... "
"It is," she said gently, eyes meeting mine. "Ever since he came into your life, it’s like... we stopped being us. Like I got replaced or something. I know I never said anything, but I always wondered if one day you’d just... vanish from my life completely."
Her voice cracked at the end, and the guilt hit me square in the lungs.
"Sarah... "
"I don’t blame you, Aria," she continued, her words pouring out fast now, "Kael is this big... shadow. He’s dangerous and magnetic and he takes up so much space. I’ve watched you be swallowed by everything around him. I didn’t want to compete. But... I guess I’ve always been scared. That I’m losing you."
I reached for her hand, my stomach churning. "You’re not. You could never lose me, Sarah. You’re... you’re my best friend."
She looked at me then. Properly looked. That soft, angelic expression on her face made something in my gut twist. I couldn’t tell if it was comfort or warning.
"Then why did you ask me earlier if I’d lie to you?" she whispered. "Have I ever made you feel like you couldn’t trust me?"
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Because I knew anything I said now would sound like an excuse. And I was too tired to untangle truth from suspicion.
So instead I murmured, "I’m sorry."
She blinked.
"I’ve been a shitty friend. You’re right. I never meant to make you feel this way. I just... I’ve been drowning, and Kael... everything with Kael... just kept swallowing me whole. I didn’t even notice how far I drifted. I’m so sorry, Sarah."
But Sarah shook her head with a sad little laugh. "I didn’t say all that to get an apology out of you."
Her hand tightened around mine.
"I just wanted you to know how much I love you."
She paused. And then continued. "You know I love you right Aria? Nothing will ever get in between us right?"
Something in the way she said it... so soft, so final... sent goosebumps up my arms.
Her eyes didn’t look away.
They just held mine, waiting.
And for a second, I thought I saw something flicker behind that smile. Something that wasn’t grief or affection. Something darker.
But I told myself it was nothing. My mind playing tricks on me.
So I smiled back.
And I whispered, "I love you too."
Even as the words left my mouth, my pulse wouldn’t slow down.