Tick. Tick. Tick.
With every minute that passed and Isaac still hadn't knocked on her door, Alice felt herself grow more anxious.
Maybe he wasn't going to show up at all.
Maybe he wasn't rushing off the stage to run to Alice's. Maybe Alice was the last thing on his mind.
It wouldn't be that unbelievable.
The guy just quit his job on national television, after all. It would be understandable if he was a little preoccupied with the fact that he had just completely altered the rest of his life in front of thousands of people.
A sinking feeling pulled in the depths of Alice's stomach.
Isaac quit his job. Isaac threw away the most important part of his life...
Was it all so he could be with her?
Alice drove her fingernails into the arm of her sofa, feeling her heart race even quicker than it had been.
That was too much pressure!
How would she ever be able to fill that gaping hole in his life? Sure, she loved him, but her love wasn't enough to fulfill all of his needs!
Did Isaac even love her? He never actually said the words. Was she just being cocky right now?
Maybe his subtle whimsical hints during the press conference weren't even about her. Maybe it was directed towards someone else?
"Shut up, Alice." She groaned and pulled at the ends of her hair, throwing her neck back.
Regardless of what the hell was happening, Isaac needed to hurry up with an explanation before her head exploded.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Oh thank god," Alice muttered and jumped off the sofa, rushing to the door.
When she whipped the door open and saw Isaac standing in front of her, she froze.
He looked rather coy and sheepish, with his hand massaging the back of his neck. Their height difference forced Alice to crane her neck to make eye contact, finding herself entranced by his blue eyes swirling with emotion. A part of her wanted to throw her arms around his neck and press her lips to his, letting the passion building up inside of her overtake them both, but instead, she remained frozen aside from her blinking eyes.
"Hi," Isaac finally said once it became apparent Alice wasn't going to initiate the conversation first.
"You quit your job!?" Alice blurted out, practically shouting at Isaac's face, and she cringed at herself for not having a filter.
Isaac pulled his neck back, startled by Alice's abrasive response. "Yeah... umm... can I come in?"
Alice silently moved aside so Isaac could walk through the doorway. Her narrowed eyes followed him as he took a seat on the couch. It was obvious that Alice's incredulous stare was making Isaac uncomfortable by the way he rubbed the palm that wasn't constrained by his sling on his thigh.
"Are you alright?" Isaac asked and Alice finally broke her stare and shook her head.
"Sorry, yeah, I'm just..." she ran a hand through her hair. "I'm a little surprised, I guess. I... I wasn't expecting this."
"Yeah..." he said and looked at the ground. "I know it's pretty surprising."
Alice tightened her arms over her chest and slowly walked towards the couch, taking a seat beside Isaac. Fiddling with her thumbs, Alice tried to properly organize her thoughts before speaking so she wouldn't trip over her words.
She licked her lips, desperate for water, but she didn't want to waste any more time.
"Isaac... did you... " she started. "Did you quit your job so you could be with me?"
He turned to her and flashed her a smirk. "Now that's a little arrogant, don't you think?"
"I... I know! I didn't want to ask that because I didn't want to seem arrogant, but I didn't know how else to word it, and I -"
"Alice, relax, I was joking," he laughed and put his free hand on her thigh. The sound of his laughter and his touch instantly calmed her down. "No, Alice, I didn't quit my job for you."
Alice frowned. "Oh..."
That stung more than it relieved her.
"I mean, yes, you were a huge reason for me realizing that I had to quit," he said and Alice felt her face light up a bit. "But at the end of the day... I did it for me. That job makes me miserable and would put me in an early grave if I didn't do something about it. I just... don't think I realized it until you came around."
"Oh..." Alice said and scrunched her nose. "I don't get it, though... what are you going to do now? That job was your life."
Isaac's face cracked into a wide smile, looking happier than she had ever seen him, as if he had been eagerly waiting for her to ask that question.
"That's the best part of all of this," Isaac said, turning his shoulders so his body was square with her. "What have I always said that I wanted to do?"
"Umm... I don't know..." Alice shrugged her shoulders. "You said you wanted to try using handcuffs a couple of times..."
"No! Well, yes, I still want to do that." He sent her a flirty, shifty smirk before continuing. "Think harder."
"Ugh...I dunno, Isaac," she tutted her tongue in thought and shrugged. "Open a spaghetti bar?"
"Yes!" Isaac shouted and lept from the couch, startling Alice with his enthusiasm. "Except, not a spaghetti bar, no. Though, I can promise you that there will be the best spaghetti in the city served there."
Alice's surprised expression was slowly turning into a smile matching Isaac's. "Are... are you serious?"
"Yes! And better yet," Isaac started, "I'm not just opening any bar. I'm buying my bar! Our bar! The bar we always go to!"
Alice tapped her fingers against her lips. "Does that place even have a name?"
"I honestly don't even know, but it will once I'm done with it!" he said. "Yesterday I talked to the owner and made an offer, and well, let's just say he was thrilled to have an early retirement and accepted right on the spot! I've got enough money saved up that I'm able to buy it and live more than comfortably during the rocky beginning years. Alice, this is what I've always wanted to do, and I'm... I'm ready to do it."
"Isaac, I'm so happy for you!" She jumped from the sofa threw her arms around his shoulders, melting into his tightening embrace as he picked her off the ground and spun. When he set her back down, she pulled away. "So... have you been... planning this for a while? All of this is so sudden!"
"I mean, it's always been in the back of my head. And this past month, especially since we hadn't been talking, well... I spent a lot of time there. Even more than usual. And I kept daydreaming about it... imagining the menu I would have, or the special events. But it seemed like an impossible fantasy.
"Then after you visited me in the hospital, and I realized that... I was a fucking trainwreck and this job was sucking the life out of me, I started thinking about turning that fantasy in a reality. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized I wanted to do it. I had to do it. I know it's going to seem ridiculous to everyone else, leaving a CEO position to be a bar-owner, and lord only knows my father is rolling in his grave right now... but I don't care. My whole life I've done whatever my father told me to do, whatever other people told me to do." He took a deep breath before finishing my rant. "So... I had enough of it. And I just... did it. I'm doing what I want to do."
Alice sat there in silence, absorbing and processing all of the information.
Then a daunting thought filled her head, and she grabbed Isaac's arm in fear.
"Do I get to keep my job!?"
Isaac let out a small chuckle.
"Yes, yes. Ensuring your's and Blaise's jobs were safe was one of the first things I did while arranging all this," he said. "That said... you might not want to smoke in your office anymore. Or drink with Blaise while you're working. I have a feeling any other boss in the world wouldn't approve of that."
Alice giggled lightly.
"I guess I can do that," she said and clasped her hands together. "Isaac, I'm... I'm really happy for you. I can't believe this is happening..."
"Me neither," he said. "But it feels right."
"Good," Alice said.
Isaac looked at his watch and his eyes widened. "Shoot, I've got to run. I've got another meeting with the bar-owner to figure out some more details before we start filling out paperwork."
"Oh..." Alice felt her face drop as Isaac was already walking to the door. "Alright, well, see you later then?"
"Yeah, for sure!" Isaac said happily and walked out the door, shutting it behind him, leaving Alice all alone.
"...Well then..." Alice said to herself with her nose scrunched at the door. With her hands shoved in her pockets, she slowly walked to her balcony to have a cigarette to numb her lowered and confused spirits.
That wasn't exactly the grand romantic gesture Blaise had predicted.
Just as she was about to step onto her balcony, her front door flew open.
"Alice! Wait!"
She spun on her heel and rushed back into her living room the second she heard Isaac's voice.
"I completely forgot the most important part!"
The sight of Isaac running towards with his face full of glee would forever be imprinted in her mind.
"Wh-what is it?" she asked and Isaac put his hands on her shoulders, lowering his eyes to hers, his exhilarating pumping through his hands into her.
He opened his mouth, then quickly closed it to clear his throat, then he opened it again.
"Alice," he said. "I'm so unbelievably in love with you."
Before he was done speaking, Alice's face had broken into the widest smile she could imagine and she pressed her palms to his chest. "R-really?"
"Obviously," he said and raised his hands to her face, cupping her cheeks in his palms. "Alice, you're... perfect for me. I love every little quirk you have, I love the way that you're not afraid to put me in my place when I'm being an idiot, and I love the fact that I can be completely myself around you. I've been with a lot of women in my life... but I never thought I would ever find someone who was also my best friend. Alice, you're the love of my life."
About halfway through his speech, Alice had tears in her eyes.
"Isaac, I... I..." she sputtered out but she had to pause to rub her wet nose. "Isaac I love you so much."
"You do?" Isaac asked with his smile just as huge as hers. "Even after I've screwed everything up over the past month?"
"Of course I do, you idiot," she said between sobs and laughs. "Isaac, you... you have helped me grow so much as a person. Not only did you get me an entire career, but before you, I was so... shy and insecure, and I had no backbone, I mean... I was dating Mark again! And it's not even like you did it on purpose, but this past year, you've always helped me feel so... good about myself, and confident, and like I can do anything. And when I'm with you I'm always so happy, and when you're not in my life I feel empty. And I... I just love you so much."
"I love you, too, Alice," he said and lowered his neck to press his lips to hers. After convincing herself for so long that she would never feel his lips again, the sensation ignited a spark through her body, and she pulled him closer.
She never wanted to let him go again.
He was the love of her life. And she was the love of his life.
When Alice hungrily pulled at his collar, careful to not hurt his injured arm, and began to guide him towards the couch so she could indulge in the cravings she had desperately been trying to ignore, Isaac broke away.
"You have no idea how badly I want to continue this," he said with his jaw clenched together, visibly annoyed with himself as he glanced at his watch. His hand moved underneath her shirt and rested on her waist, the feeling of his skin on hers making her whole body tingle. Moving his thirst eyes from her chest to her eyes, he finished talking. "So, so badly... but my meeting is in twenty minutes and I'm going to need all night with you."
"You'd better get back here fast, Isaac Hanes," she said, biting her lip coyly as she tugged on his tie. "I think it could be argued that I want this even more than you do."
"Absolutely impossible," he said, this time removing his hands from her waist and putting a foot of distance between them. "Alright, I seriously need to go...wait, actually..."
"What?" she asked.
"Do you want to come with me?" he asked. "I'd love for my girlfriend to see what I have planned for the bar before anyone else."
"I'm... I'm your girlfriend?" she asked with her eyes wide and beaming with her hands clasped to her chest.
"I really hope so," he said and Alice happily nodded, wiping the remaining tears off her face.
Isaac held out his hand to Alice and she grabbed it, embracing his warm, tender touch.
The two of them walked out the door in broad daylight, their bodies magnetized to each other and neither attempted to contain it.
They were together.
And everyone was going to know it. There would be no more secrets or sneaking around.
It had been a year since Isaac offered her the position at Hanes Pharmaceuticals. In that year, Alice felt herself shift from sheer hatred to love towards Isaac. A year ago, if someone had told her that she was going to fall in love with the arrogant man who was obsessed with spaghetti and loved pharmaceuticals, the thought would have nauseated her.
But as they walked hand-in-hand, she couldn't imagine her life going any other way.
Every hardship they experienced led them to where they were.
And she wouldn't have it any other way.
----
A/N: AHHHH.
Is it over yet?? NOT QUITE! I lied a bit when I said this would be the last chapter, buuuuut, THERE IS AN EPILOGUE!! I didn't want to say that there was an epilogue, because epilogues usually mean there's a happy ending, and I didn't want to spoil anything! But yaaaas! I'm not exactly sure when it'll be done.... either tonight or after Christmas haha. Depends on how much my coffee wakes me up. Can't just end the story without seeing good ol' Blaise and Emily one last time though, right!? Maybe even a little Simon and Mark.... whooooo knows.
I do. Tehe.
BUT YEAH!!! Guys! Please please please tell me what you think! Oh my gosh, I can't believe I made it this far. I've been writing this story since November 1st of last year, and my god, I just can't believe it's (basically) over.
Sooo... What do you think of it!? Do you love the ending or hate the ending!? Please, constructive criticism is so welcomed! I feel like the writing of this chapter wasn't amazing, but I'm just SO EXCITED to get it done that I don't even careeeee. This is the rough draft, so I'm hoping the second draft will be better! But, please don't hesitate to give any feedback so I know where to make edits! <3
I know this is asking a lot, but I so hope at least one of you wonderful readers re-reads this whole story now that it will all be posted. SO MANY chapters that were a part of this story I feel were meant to be binged, but because my schedule is so damn wonky, sometimes there would be weeks in between a chapter. Which I haaaaated doing. But I feel like it would be a more enjoyable read for those who have been able to read the whole thing in one sitting.
Also - fun fact! I never really made an outline for this story outside of my head, but when I had it all planned out in my mind, I only thought this story would be about 15-20 chapters long. ...Fifty chapters later...heh. Funny how that works.
One last thing - I have to give a HUGE thanks to @ElisionEditing and give so much credit to her for the success of this story. I'm going to have a hundred other people to thank and give shout outs to once the epilogue is over, but ElisionEditing is probably the most important because... well... she helped me shape my writing than anyone else ever has. She wasn't my editor for the entire thing, but she edited chapters 7 to 14 (I think?), and just in that short amount of time she taught me more about writing than anyone, even Stephen King, has. If you don't believe me, you can look at the major difference in writing between the 6th chapter and 8th chapter. Sooo, go and follow her username because she's amaaaaazing.
ANYWAYS! Gonna drink more coffee and try to get this epilogue finished! If not, it'll be after Christmas! I cannot express how much I appreciate you all.
Happy Holidays! <3 .