Jacob very dramatically put a hand over his chest upon hearing this. "Don't I even deserve to visit a friend now Aria? Have you taken that right from me also?" he said, trying very hard to control his laughter, and miraculously succeeding.
Aria rolled her eyes. "Of course you can. I'm just surprised to see you up so early after all. Did the sun rise from the west too?!?! I can't see!!!" she whined. Aria had decided not to pester Jacob to tell her what was wrong. And frankly, he had looked like he could use a laugh.
Her plan worked. Jacob let out a laugh and waved his hand in the air. "The pot calling the kettle black." he said, "Remember how much Sonia used to scold you for not waking up early? You think you're some big shot now?? Just you wait, she'll be here in a few days."
Aria closed her eyes and let out a dramatic groan. She dreaded to think about Victor and Sonia coming to the academy. They were very good people and Aria loved them both very much, but both of them were bound to worry seeing her in this condition, on top of obviously telling her that she was exerting her body too much. Which might be true, Aria thought with a sigh.
"Anyway, how are you feeling?" Jacob asked sitting down. Aria shrugged, "Better than I look." She had asked Miss Anhao for a mirror yesterday, and knew that she looked positively ghastly.
"That's good then." Jacob seemed hesitant, "Because you look . . . . you look . . . . . " "Come on, you can say it." Aria said with a smile and he shook his head. "I can't. It's not polite." "I can't believe you were thinking something that bad." Aria chuckled.
Jacob's face turned serious after a few seconds. "Aria. I . . . . ." He hesitated. As much as Aria would have liked to prodded, she waited patiently for him to continue. Which he did, after a few deep breaths. "Aria, I'm sorry." Jacob said. Aria raised her brows. "You're apologizing to the wrong person." she said.
Jacob nodded. "I know." he said, "But I just wanted to talk to you first. Make sure I don't further mess up when talking to Helen." Aria rolled her eyes, "I don't think an apology can be messed up. And no one can mess up when talking to Helen, she's too kind. Plus, I positive you've never messed up words in your entire life." she said.
"You give me too much credit." Jacob muttered with a pout, in a voice low enough for Aria to ignore as she continued, "But I appreciate you asking for help. Go on." Jacob shook his head. "I don't know what to say." he said.
Aria chewed her lower lip as she thought. "Let'stake it one step at a time. Why did you tell Helen that you couldn't even look at her face?"
Jacob looked positively horrified as he thought back to when he told Helen this. "I have absolutely no idea why!!" he exclaimed. But Jacob controlled his thoughts after a minute and continued, shaking his head, "No. That's not true. The reasons are . . . they're just . . . . aaaggghhh!!!"
Jacob held his head in his hands. It was usually quite easy for him to put his thoughts into words.