A puzzled expression crossed her face, but Cadence answered. After all, she had told him numerous times before there was nothing going on between her and Christian, so there was no reason to deny being with him. "He's okay," she said shrugging. "I don't think he's happy," she added, "but he'll live."
Aaron nodded, not saying anything at first. "Good," he finally said. "I'm glad he's okay with this. Of course, he probably knew all along what was going on, so he's had some time to adjust."
Cadence's confusion was growing. "What are you talking about?" she asked quietly, leaning slightly forward. "I just had some coffee with him--not a big deal."
Aaron leaned back in his chair, slumping as he did so. "True," he said shrugging. "That's not a big deal. No... no, coffee is not a big deal."
"Aaron, you're scaring me," Cadence said, her voice guarded. "Do you want to tell me what the hell is going on?"
There was another long pause before he said, "That's fair. I do think you should definitely know what's going on. After all, you know how important honesty is to me, right?" She nodded, saying nothing. "How many times have we talked about that, Cadence? About how important it is to be completely honest?"
"Lots of times..."
"Right, lots of times," he agreed. "And how many times did I ask you if something was going on with Christian?"
"Also lots of times..."
"Yep, lots of times. Because something just didn't seem right, and, in my experience when something doesn't seem right, it isn't."
"Aaron, what the hell is going on? Are you accusing me of something?" Cadence asked, defensiveness growing in her voice.
"No, no," he replied. "I'm not accusing you of anything. Because, in order to accuse you, there'd have to be some doubt in my mind as to what is going on, but since I know exactly what's happening... well, it's really more of a confrontation than an accusation."
Cadence was shocked. "Aaron, there's nothing going on between me and Christian. I promise you," she replied emphatically.
"Really?"
"Really!"
"Okay, then," he replied tersely, "explain this to me." He flipped the switch on his wristband and projected the make-out footage where Cadence could see it.
She gasped in shock, her hands flying over her mouth. "Oh, my God!" she exclaimed. It was extremely unnerving seeing herself from that angle, her eyes clearly puffy from crying over Aaron as Christian's hands and lips explored her body. "Turn it off!" she yelled, turning her head.
"What, you don't want to watch it either?" he replied, not looking at it himself, clearly becoming emotional again.
"Where did you get that?" she asked as he made it go away.
"Does it matter?" he replied, slamming his hands down on his desk.
She could tell by his expression that there was nothing she could say to explain the situation in a way that was going to make him understand. Clearly, he was about to yell or throw something, maybe both. She could no longer fight the tears herself and began to try to brush them off of her cheeks, barely holding herself together. He crossed his arms and spun his chair a bit, a sign that he no longer wanted to look at her. Finally, after several minutes she calmly said, "I can explain, if you'll listen."
"I'm done listening," he replied quietly.
"It only happened once, and it was right after you told me you didn't want to see me anymore...."
"If only I'd stuck to that..."
"Aaron, please! I didn't tell you because I didn't think it mattered!"
He spun around then and looked at her. "I asked you, Cadence! I asked you specifically! And you lied to me!"
"I didn't lie!" she insisted, slamming her hand down on her leg. "I just... omitted that part. Because it doesn't matter!"
"It matters to me," he replied.
"Why? We weren't together, and it's not like you haven't ever...."
"This isn't about me!" he interjected. "I didn't lie to you! I'm not accusing you of cheating on me, although I'm not convinced that you haven't because I don't believe anything you've ever said to me now; it's about the fact that I asked you repeatedly what was going on with Christian, and you lied to me. YOU LIED TO ME!"
Again, she sat in silence, not sure how to respond. After a very long pause, she finally said, "I'm sorry. I didn't think it mattered. It didn't matter to me."
"It matters to me," he replied, re-crossing his arms and leaning back as far as he could, as if trying to escape her.
The tears were still streaming down her face, and even though there was a full box of tissues on his desk, she didn't ask for one, and he didn't offer. Swiping them away again, she finally asked, "So that's it then? We're done?"
He nodded, his eyes looking beyond her.
"I guess it doesn't matter, then, that I told him to stop and kicked him out? That I've barely spoken to him since? That what you are really seeing is Christian taking advantage of me when I was heartbroken over you?" He said nothing, and so she knew his answer. After a moment, she finally stood, absently smoothing out her jeans. "Fine," she said. "If there's nothing I can say then so be it." He still wouldn't meet her eyes, and she took one more glance in his direction before turning to walk to the door. Once she had crossed the expanse, she turned again. "I hope you know you're making one hell of a mistake," she added before pulling the door open, flying through, and slamming it behind her so hard the pictures on the wall all tumbled to the floor, the sound of shattering glass filling the office space.
"Have a nice day, Mrs. Carminati," Cadence said as she passed the trembling woman, her hand clutched to her heart.
