He Belongs to Her

~ Running

Fallon's POV

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The wedding is tomorrow. I met with Adam's father the day before yesterday and I haven't heard from either of them since. After I met with Craig I went to see Cassidy who had just gotten back from the garden venue, which she loved. I helped her make all of the calls so everything would be brought there.

When I got home that night, Ethan wasn't at my apartment. I texted him and he said he was at work and was probably just going to go back to his place tonight. I didn't think much of it. Kaia came over and I interrogated her.

"So Brad?" I smirk. She immediately turned red.

"What about him?" she tried to act nonchalant, but it clearly wasn't working.

"I mean, a couple weeks ago you were getting Ethan to kick him out, now he's practically moved in."

"I don't know." She sighed. "When we got back from the Hamptons and you were ignoring me, I started hanging out with him more. Slowly, he kind of just started sticking around." She shrugged.

"Is it serious?"

"Yeah...I think it is." She said, more to herself than me. I couldn't help what I was about to do.

We had already opened a bottle of wine so I grabbed the bottle and Kaia's arm and ran out into the hall. We ran up the stairwell and onto our roof. The roof was pretty bare, other than a small table and a couple of crappy beach chairs that other tenants left up here. I carefully climbed up onto the ledge, still holding the wine bottle.

"Fal, get down from there you're gonna fall!" She yelled at me. I looked down at her, laughing. The city is always so beautiful at night. All of the high-rises are lit up people are scattered about below us.

"Attention New York City!" I shout at the top of my lungs. "The one! The only! Kaia Alexander is no longer an eligible bachelorette!" I laugh as Kaia finally pulls me off the ledge. 

People on the streets probably can't hear us up here, but there were two or three people, probably drunk, cheering. We both laugh as we walk over to the beach chairs. I take a long sip from the bottle of wine before passing it to Kaia, who does the same.

"Your insane, you know that right?" She laughs at me.

"What?" I shrug. I had to let all of New York know that my best friend is now off the market." We both laugh some more before sitting in a comfortable silence.

"Hey, Fal?" She says, looking at the full moon. 

"Yeah?" I ask, looking over to her.

"When you were with Adam, before all of the abuse, did you love him?" I was silent for a long moment, thinking.

"I wanna say yes." I sigh. "I'm not really sure though. I always say that he was my first love, and I think he was, in a way. When we first met though, we were both so in love with ourselves that I don't think there's was room to love another." I pause, thinking again. "I don't know. Maybe he wasn't my first love? Maybe he was my first lesson. I'm not gonna lie and say there was only ever bad in our relationships, we used to have good times. There were these things, though. Things he would say, things he would do, that still stick with me. 

"They say your first love always leaves an impression and will change you, teach you. Adam did exactly that. He taught me how powerful money was, how it could dominate someones life, that money isn't something I want if it can change people like that. He taught me that, it may be the 21st century, but I still like chivalry. I still find it nice when a man holds the door open for me, or pushes my chair in, or covers the bill, taking care of and protecting me. I sure as hell don't need it, but it's nice. He taught me that beauty truly was in the eye of the beholder. We each have different views and perspectives and we can't change other people. Even if we can, we shouldn't. Adam has always and will forever be a power controlled, egotistical, sociopath,  but I never tried to change him. It wasn't my place. He may have been my boyfriend at the time, but the only person who could change him, or had a right to, was himself." 

"You do change people, though." She said, ominously, after a long moment of silence. "You changed me. Before I met you, I was the girl who always talked nonsense. No one ever payed attention to me, or what I had to say." She smiled, looking over at me. "Then, I met this drunk girl at a bar, who made me feel as if I was the only person in the room and I had a microphone, saying everything I felt. she wasn't just zoning out, but genuinely intrigued. Then she simply told me, 'speak your truth'. After that night, it was like I found my voice. I started talking and people actually started listening. It took one person to listen to me, and then everyone else did." 

It was true, that was the night we first met. We were both drunk, hanging around ice. Then we met and she started talking. She was, at first, just trying to make casual conversation but then she started talking about the planet. She was so passionate and solicitous, I couldn't help but listen.

"I'm not the only one, either. Before Spencer met you, he was the quiet nerd who liked to draw. You saw some of his art in the hall and snatched it out of his hand. You didn't just glance at it and tell him it was 'cool' like most people did. You took a long moment, studying it. Then you told him to never stop drawing. The very next day, he got his job, interning and worked his way up to being an editor. He may be stressed out right now, but he's doing something he's passionate about and loves. He's doing it all because of the girl who admired his artwork after he had been turned down by every job and was ready to move back home.

"Ethan. I know he's only ever told you, and you'd never tell anyone, but I think we all know he was going through a rough time when you guys met. I never told you, and I don't know if he even knows, but before we all met, I worked for a suicide hotline. It didn't pay much, but I really wanted to help people who were going through depression and other mental health issues.

" Ethan was one of the callers I dealt with. He called and was telling me how funny it was that a suicide hotline had him on hold. I tried comforting him and talking to him, but nothing seemed to work. Then, I asked him what would help. At first, he said more alcohol. I pushed though and he told me a 'light'. I was confused as hell but then he said 'there's so much darkness in every aspect of my life, I just need a light. A light that could be there for me and hold me down. A light so bright that it scares away the darkness and all of the monsters within it'. He hung up after that and I never thought I would cross paths with him again.

"My roommate introduced us to her friend, though. Her friend whose voice was very familiar, but  I couldn't pinpoint it. A couple months later, we all got drunk and while my two crazy roommates were dancing on the table, I asked Ethan if he was serious about her and he said, 'of course. She's my moonlight'. Then I finally realized he was the one on the hotline, and what he meant. 

"He may not have known, Fal, but he knew. He knew he needed you before he even met you. Since then, you've changed him in so many ways. The guy I talked to on the phone was emotionless and completely devoid of character. With you, though, you put his emotions on overload and make him the man he's supposed to be. You don't even make him, you force him. Neither of you realize it, but you force each other to be your true selves, and I think it scares both of you, which is why one of you always runs away before you guys can ever have something."

Well shit. This is why I love Kaia, why I told her the night we met to speak her truth. Because when she does, she captivates you. She helps you to see and realize shit about others, the world, even yourself, that you never would've imagined. I love her and Spencer, and I'm so glad I met and was able to impact both of them, but she was right about Ethan. So right that it scared me, because she made me see the truth. 

We've always been different when we were together. Better. We'd always be happy and starting to get our lives together. We'd always think 'this is it'. To some, that's calming, but it can scare the living shit out of others. Others like Ethan and I, who would run the second we thought that.

Maybe it's time to stop running...

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So Sorry I've been MIA the past couple of days. I've been so behind on my school and trying to catch up. Thank you guys for all interacting with the story! Next chapter will be up tonight! Comment and Vote!