Aaron pulled Cadence’s apartment door open abruptly, causing Eliza to stumble forward, as she had been attempting to eavesdrop. He sighed in disgust and headed back to his apartment. She followed, wondering just how much damage was done and if she could repair it.
She got her answer shortly. As soon as Aaron entered his apartment, he turned to look at her, an expression of outrage on his face. "What in the world possessed you to answer my door--dressed like that--and let Cadence believe she had interrupted...something you know we weren’t doing?"
“What? You can't even say it, Aaron? Do I repulse you so much that you can't even think about the possibility of us having sex again? The words won’t even form in your mouth?” she spat, her temper preventing her from employing the damage control technique she had intended to put into practice.
"Eliza," he began, one hand on his forehead as he took deep breaths and tried to keep his pulse from racing. "Don't you think I know what you did? What you've been trying to do for the last month?"
"Sleep with you?"
“Use your abilities as a siren to seduce me!” he corrected. "Explain to me why--why--would you want to be with someone under false pretenses that you created? Did you think that what we had was real? That it could ever be?"
Her expression changed to that of a wounded puppy as her mouth protruded and her eyes drooped. "I thought you wanted to be with me..." she pouted, sticking her bottom lip forward in an expression he knew all too well.
"You know that's not true," he replied in an exasperated sigh. "You know what you're doing just as well as I do. There’s no reason for either one of us to pretend we don’t know the truth."
"But, if I was using my talent, it would be working, wouldn't it? Isn't the fact that you're not sleeping with me proof that I'm not being underhanded?" she attempted.
He placed his hands on his hips and shook his head. "While I applaud your use of backward logic, no, it's not proof. The fact that I have taken precautions against your special skill might be a reason."
"What!" Eliza exclaimed. "Who..." suddenly, she had a realization. "Hannah! That bitch!"
"Eliza..."
"She told me she would never meddle with love! She wouldn't do anything for me when I was ready to kill myself the first time you broke up with me."
"She didn't change anything. She just counteracted your own attempts. She didn't make me uninterested in you. She just allowed me to keep making my own decisions. And, Eliza, you know--you've known all along--I don't want to be with you."
The tears were falling from her eyes now, big splashy raindrop sized tears that cascaded down her face and landed on her folded arms. "How can you say that?" she asked quietly. "After I was the only one... the only one who told you the truth?"
"The truth?" he asked. Though he hated to see her cry, or to see any woman cry, for that matter, and had been avoiding this conversation for weeks partially for that reason, he had done a bit of his own investigating that afternoon after leaving Cadence's apartment. "I met with Christian today," he explained. "I tried to tell you earlier--before you took your pants off. I saw the entire recording, including the last fifteen seconds you omitted. It makes much more sense now that I have seen Cadence pushing him off of her and ordering him to stop."
Eliza swatted at her tears. "I never saw that part," she lied.
"I don't believe you," he said calmly. "Now who is lying to me?"
"I'm telling the truth!" she proclaimed, though it was obvious by the exaggerated expression on her face she was continuing to tell stories.
"Eliza, you manipulated the recording and the situation to make me break up with Cadence. You know what you did..."
"But you broke up with her for lying to you! Remember? It had nothing to do with making out with Christian; it was the fact that she didn't tell you!" she reminded him.
"Eliza, you set it up so that I would be angry at her and find an excuse to break it off..."
"That's not true!" she screamed. "You broke up with her on your own because you can see what a lying, manipulative, little bitch she really is!"
"God, I can't keep having this same conversation," Aaron said looking up at the ceiling. "Eliza, let's say you're right. Let's say I don't date lying manipulative bitches; there's the door. Would you like your pants back before you go?"
Panic was beginning to settle in as Eliza realized she might actually be losing him for good this time. "I'm going to kill myself!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
Aaron had heard that threat many times before. Picking her pants up off of the floor and tossing them at her, he calmly said, "Please do it in your own apartment. I really don't want to clean up the mess."
"I'm going to kill that bitch!" she shrieked, catching her pants and shoving her legs into them.
"You can't," he reminded her.
"I'm going to kill you!"
"You already are. Get out, please. Just go," he implored.
"You are going to be very sorry!" she screamed walking toward the door. "When you have my blood on your hands, you'll be sorry."
He followed her to the door. "I suggest you go have a conversation with Hannah. She is a psychologist, after all. I'll let her know you're coming." He opened the door and guided her out as sternly as he could without actually pushing her.
"You'll regret this," she continued as he slammed the door in her face.
Resting his head against the barrier, he sighed, "I already do. "If you only knew...."