DEDICATED TO ReedXD1

Keon got to know Aria's parents on a deeper level after Hunter's death. He went to see them at least twice a week and made sure to give them some much needed emotional support. They always did their best to carry on with their lives as normally as they could; however, their hearts were clearly broken beyond repair.

The weeks that went by certainly sucked. One of the things that broke Keon's heart the most was seeing how much Aria had changed after Hunter's death. Of course, it's expected that she wouldn't be as happy as she used to be after losing her brother, but it still hurt a lot to see her like this; and he missed seeing her real smile. However, he didn't mind that she had much less energy or willpower to do things, or that her personality had changed; there was absolutely nothing that could make Keon stop loving Aria. Even if she would never be the same, he was still smitten with her, and was willing to do anything to rekindle her spirits.

About two months after the tragedy, he decided to take her to watch the sunset at the Surfside beach; the place where they met for the second time, and also, the place where Keon met Hunter.

"I love this place," Aria mentioned. "I've made many unforgettable memories over here."

"I love this place too," he embraced her, nuzzling her neck.

"Hunter and I used to come here almost every week. This is where we began to have a close bond. The two of us loved coming to the beach..."

"Whoever doesn't love the beach is crazy."

"Yeah," she smiled.

"Ooh, made ya smile," he bumped her nose.

"You did... thank you for that, Keon."

"You don't have to thank me. You know that one of the things I love the most is seeing your smile, angel."

"I love that you always find a way to make me smile, even if it's just for a moment," Aria held Keon's hand, stroking it slowly with her fingers. "Believe it or not, it helps keep me sane."

"I love making you happy," he replied. "And I love you."

"Keon, how..." she released his hand, looking him in the eyes. "How can you still love me so much? I'm always sad, moping around... babe, I'm not the cheerful girl you used to know anymore. You know well that my mental health is all over the place, yet you chose to love me either way. How do you manage to do that, knowing how much I've changed?"

"Because there's nothing that can make me stop loving you, precious. I don't mind at all that you're not the person you once were, because being with you is the best decision I've made in my life," Keon kissed her hand. "I love you, Aria. You're my everything."

"I..." Aria smiled, holding back her tears. "I love you too, my bear... I love you more than words can ever describe. You're the light of my life."

"Is everything alright, sweetheart?" he looked into her eyes.

She smiled weakly and nodded before beginning to sob, after which Keon embraced her tightly. "It's okay, sweetheart. You don't have to be strong all the time," he whispered into her ear. "You're already one of the strongest people I know."

"Thanks, bear," Aria spoke, letting him go. "Ever since we lost Hunter I've been putting up an act at home so that my parents don't have to worry about me. I hide my pain for my parents' sake. For everyone's sake, in fact. I don't want people to know how weak I actually am. You're the only one that knows how hard it is for me to get out of bed. How hard it is for me to smile and laugh with my friends as if nothing happened. How hard it is for me to be..." she swallowed hard, her eyes puddling with tears as her voice trailed off. "Strong."

"Don't worry, my angel," he kissed her forehead. "It's good to let out your emotions whenever you need to. It's okay not to be okay sometimes. You taught me that, love..." he teared up as well, thinking about how Aria always told him the same thing after Cash died.

"I love you," she caressed his cheek. " You're the reason why I still smile each day... if I didn't have you in my life, I honestly don't know where I would be right now. I'd probably be laying in bed all day without doing anything. You motivate me to get up and live my life, just like Hunter would've wanted me to. I know he would want me to keep living each day as if it were my last, but doing it without him is hard, especially since he was such a big part of my life. But you... you always make me feel happy and loved. Like I said, you're the reason behind my smiles. You're my lover, my best friend, my rock... you're my everything, Keon."

Without thinking twice, Keon pulled Aria close to him and kissed her slowly. "I love you more than you could ever imagine," he whispered into her ear.

"I love it when you kiss me like that," she grinned.

"Say no more," he laughed out loud, before kissing her once again.

After their romantic exchange, Aria began to talk about the things she looked forward to doing in the following days, laughing genuinely for the first time in a while. There was nothing more enjoyable for Keon than seeing her laugh after such a long time; it gave him hope of having her finally find her happiness again.

It wasn't long before spring break arrived. One of the first things Keon and Aria did was go to The Burger Lab —the place in which they met for the first time— with the rest of their friends.

"To think that eight months ago, I was here eating dinner when I first saw Aria," Keon mentioned.

"We've come a long way since then," Aria smiled and held his hand.

"Indeed y'all have," Leah giggled.

"I remember you told us you were terrified when you met her," Austin told Keon, seemingly amused.

"Yeah," Devon smirked. "He was so terrified he forgot to ask for Aria's phone number when that was what he was initially planning to do."

"Shut the fuck up!" Keon cracked up.

"Thank goodness we ended up meeting again at the beach," Aria looked at Keon.

"Let me tell you, it was quite trippy for me to know that Keon knew Aria," Daniella admitted, widening her eyes. "Out of our friend group, I thought I was the only one who knew Aria and Estelle. What made it even trippier was the fact that they had met the day before."

"I certainly did not expect to see her there. But I'm glad I did," Keon told everyone, kissing Aria's cheek.

"Not only that," Amy chipped in. "You also brought us together, and now we're all like peas in a pod."

"True that," Aria grinned.

"Someone else we have to thank here is Devon," Joe added. "For introducing us to Dorian, and for finding Leah a boy–" he immediately widened his eyes and covered his mouth.

"Wait a second," Devon gasped, looking at Dorian in surprise. "You and Leah are an item now?!"

"Yeah," Dorian wrapped his arm around Leah, kissing her cheek. "We became a couple this week. We were actually planning on telling y'all today, but this doofus," he lightly slapped Joe on the head. "This doofus broke the news a bit too early."

"That's amazing," Keon smiled. "I'm happy for you two."

"Thank you," Leah replied, pulling Dorian in for a quick kiss.

After dinner, they went to the abandoned parking lot in Doral, a place they hadn't been to in months. They began to reminisce on the memories they had with their late friends, until Joe decided to play "Spin the Bottle", which everyone agreed to do.

"Remind me why we are playing this again?" Keon asked.

"Because we have nothing else to do," Joe looked at him. "And because some of us are single... which you seem to have forgotten right now."

"Hey, it's not our fault you guys are single," Amy narrowed her eyes and laughed.

"How dare you?!" Daniella glared at her jokingly. "Anyways... who knows if some of us end up in a relationship thanks to this?"

"That's why I wanted to play this game in the first place," Joe replied. "So let's begin."

The ends of the bottle landed on Keon and Aria after the first spin.

"We got lucky this time," Aria giggled as she kissed Keon on the lips.

"This could easily be the most adorable kiss," Amy gushed.

"Hey!" Devon laughed at her. "Just wait until the bottle lands on us."

When the bottle was spun for a second time, it landed on Devon and Amy, after which they shared their kiss in between laughs. At the third spin, though, the bottle landed on Joe and Scarlett.

"Oof..." Devon grimaced, looking down at the floor.

"This is awkward as hell," Daniella muttered.

"Really, Joe?" Scarlett asked. "Do we really have to do this?"

"I guess so," Joe stared at her. "I mean, that's the point of the game."

"Alright," she sighed, giving him a quick, weak kiss, before narrowing her eyes at him. "Wait a minute... did you ask to play this game, just so you could have an excuse to kiss me?!"

Joe was completely silent. Even though he wanted to say something to help his case, he was afraid whatever he answered would reveal his true intentions.

"Hmph," Scarlett raised her eyebrows. "Your silence says a lot, Joseph. I can't believe you still haven't gotten over me. It's been almost two years! Two years!"

"Scarlett, I..." he sighed sharply, shaking his head. "I could never stop loving you."

"Nonsense!" she stood up in anger. "If you loved me, then why did you make out with that girl at that stupid frat party when we were together?"

"Sheesh, I was drunk, okay?!" he yelled at her. "I was not in my right mind at that moment and you know that!"

"That doesn't justify anything! That makes it much worse!"

They kept bickering and arguing over their pasts until Scarlett cursed at him and ran away to her car.

"Scarlett!" Amy jogged behind her.

"Look at what you did," Daniella pointed at Joe, walking with Leah towards Scarlett's car. "This is all your fault."

"I'll talk to him," Dorian turned towards the others, before placing his hand on Joe's back and walking away with him.

"Well," Devon crossed his arms. "What a freak."

"He's a freak indeed," Estelle shook her head. "That's not the right way of handling things."

"Was he always like this, Devon?" Aria asked.

"Not really," Devon told her. "Not that I can remember."

"It doesn't surprise me, though," Austin spoke. "He always gave me that obnoxious vibe, to be completely honest."

"Austin!" Ronan shushed him. "Don't say that in front of them."

"No, it's okay," Keon reassured them. "I know he was obnoxious. And I know he never really got over Scarlett."

"Yeah, I can tell."

Keon struggled to focus on anything else for the rest of the night. The suspicions that he had about Cash being murdered had returned, and after seeing Joe argue with Scarlett and admit that he still loved her, he began to suspect that it could be Joe who committed Cash's possible murder. However, he decided to stay silent; he didn't want to make the situation worse than it already was.

Eventually, he could not bear his thoughts any longer. That's when he decided to have a video call with Aria.

"What's up?" she smiled at him after picking up. "Did you miss me?"

"I miss you always," he giggled softly. "Listen, angel, I need to talk to you about something, and I need to keep it a secret for now."

"Shoot."

"I strongly believe Cash was murdered."

"Wait, what?!" Aria widened her eyes to their limit.

"As strange as that sounds, yes. I had known Cash my whole life, and not once did I notice any signs of him being suicidal. I know that people tend to hide those signs, but given how I spent most of my time with him, and how exuberant he was, I highly doubt he committed suicide."

"Do you have any idea of who could've murdered him, if that's what truly happened?"

"If Cash was actually murdered," Keon sighed. "Then I think it was most likely Joe. Didn't you notice that he still hasn't gotten over Scarlett having broken up with him? Also, Cash told me he had planned to ask her to be his girlfriend a week before he died."

"That makes... a lot of sense, actually."

"I'm so glad we think the same way. I've been thinking about this for months. I even told my parents about it, but they thought I was crazy, so I never spoke about it again. Now that I saw Joe and Scarlett arguing, this makes even more sense to me."

"Well, are you gonna tell anyone else about this?"

"Not for now, angel. The only other person that knows about it is Devon, but we haven't said a word to anyone else because we don't have any evidence that can support our theory. I'll keep it in mind, though, in case more information gets revealed."

The couple kept talking until eleven, after Aria had fallen asleep during the call. Keon then hung up and went to sleep as well. But he later found himself waking up with her in his arms, which he thought was strange given that she was not with him when he first fell asleep. He found it even stranger that she didn't wake up at the sound of his voice, and that when he nudged her, she felt stiffer than usual.

"Aria," he spoke. "Did I– oh my gawd!" he gasped after noticing that she was not breathing. He slowly and fearfully checked for her pulse, only to find out that there was none.

"No... no!" Keon choked up. "No, Aria, no! It can't be! It can't be!" he cried, cradling her body in his arms. He then let out a bloodcurdling scream; the loudest he had ever screamed. The mere thought of spending the rest of his life without her was unbearable, and he refused to accept the fact that this was now his reality.

"Keon... Keon..." he heard a voice calling his name. He chose to ignore it before feeling a strong jolt that forced him to open his eyes. That's when he saw his mother standing right in front of him, with both hands placed on his shoulders.

"Where's Aria?!" Keon shot right up.

"She's at her house," Fatima told him.

"So this was all a nightmare?"

"Yes, it was just a nightmare. Aria is completely fine."

"Thank God," Keon sighed in relief. "I wish I could forget about it."

"What was it like?"

"She was spending the night. I woke up with her in my arms, and she felt stiff... so, so stiff. Her skin had also turned grey, and she didn't have a pulse. She was dead, Mom... she died in her sleep."

"Keon, that's horrible!" Fatima looked at him in shock.

"Tell me about it. I don't wanna know what I would've done if I actually lost her. I think I would've lost myself too."

"I think so too."

"I need to see her, Mom. I know she's fine, but I'm still traumatized."

"Yes, go and see her. Later after breakfast?"

"Yes, I'll go at that time."

After breakfast, Keon got inside his car and headed to Aria's house.

"Angel..." he slowly lifted her chin as soon as he saw her, after which he kissed her softly.

"What happened, bear? Are you alright?" Aria stroked his cheek.

"I'm fine," he giggled weakly, drying his tears with his sleeve. "I just had a nightmare about you."

"Come inside, let's lay down for a bit."

They both sat down on the couch, Keon resting his head on Aria's lap.

"Tell me... what was that nightmare about?"

"I remember waking up with you in my arms, which was weird because I didn't recall having you spend the night with me. I looked at you and noticed you weren't breathing... and your body was very stiff. That's when I noticed you were dead."

"That must've been horrible, bear."

"It was horrible indeed. I don't know what I would do if I ever lost you, my love... I would go insane, I'd probably be heartbroken for the rest of my life. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, I don't think I can live without you," Keon teared up once again.

"It's okay, baby boy, it's okay... I'm still here, I ain't going anywhere. Here, feel my heartbeat," Aria smiled softly and laid down, letting him rest his head on her chest.

"I love you so much..." he told her, wrapping his arms around her body. Listening to her heartbeat brought him comfort and relief, and it was exactly what he needed in order to finally leave the nightmare behind him.

"I love you more, bear. Come here, give me a kiss," she told him as he lifted his head to kiss her. He laid his head on her chest again and listened to her ramble on about random things until noon rolled around. Following that, they had a mushroom pizza for lunch and watched a movie.

"Mushrooms have really become our go-to pizza topping, haven't they?" Aria smiled.

"They certainly have."

"I'm glad. You're the only other person that I know, besides Hunter, that likes mushrooms as much as I do."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah... eating mushroom pizza was one of the many things we loved to do with each other. I'm glad that I still have someone else to pig out on mushroom pizza with... that someone being you."

"I'm more than happy to be that someone," Keon giggled, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"Likewise," Aria curled up next to him, having him stroke her hair.

After the movie was finished, they horsed around, had deep conversations about their plans for the future, reminisced about their favorite memories together, and overall had an amazing time in each other's company.

"Do you want to go out for ice cream tomorrow?" Keon asked Aria before leaving her house at four in the afternoon.

"You know I can't say no to that," she giggled.

"Alright. Take care, angel," he kissed her gently.

"You too, bear," she smiled tenderly, caressing his cheek.

When he arrived at his house, Keon told his parents about how relieved he felt after knowing that Aria was safe and sound. But all this peace was gone half an hour later, when he saw a newsflash about a car accident in Coral Gables and heard something that made his heart stop.

TO BE CONTINUED

A/N: Thoughts?

Things will get much more intense from here! What do you think Keon could have heard about the accident? 😥

Also, thank you so much for 500+ reads! Your support is what keeps me going ✨

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