When the doors opened, I forgot that I was leaning against them. I squealed, steeling myself for the fall that I was about to endure, but surprisingly I never hit the ground. Instead, a pair of strong familiar arms caught me just under my own, and pulled me to my feet. I opened my eyes, and spun around to face my savior.
“Owen.” I blushed.
“Unicorn.” He said, arching a brow.
Derek stepped off of the elevator then, and Morgan poked her head out from our apartment.
“Maintenance is on- oh!” She yelled down the hall, stopping when she realized that I was standing there.
“We heard a couple in the hallway talking about the elevator not working, and we got worried.” Owen said. “Morgan called maintenance just in case, but it looks like you were doing just fine.”
“We were. Isn't that right, Baby girl?” Derek asked, with a wink.
“I should have fucking known.” Owen scoffed, before pressing the button to bring the elevator back up.
“Should have known what?” I asked, reaching for his arm.
“Don't bother Ronnie. We both know that I was only a distraction. I don't fit in here with you. Go on, and go back to hooking up with pretty boy here in the elevator.”
“What?” I asked, incredulously. “We were not hooking up!”
“Yet.” Derek said snidely. “She's got a little more class than that.”
“Fuck this.” Owen said, before marching towards the stairs.
“Owen, wait!” I yelled, but when he didn't stop I started to go after him.
I felt a hand on my wrist then, stopping me in my tracks. I turned to face Derek with so much anger that he instantly let me go. I took off running as fast as I could down the hallway, and I could hear Morgan tearing into Derek as I did. When I entered the stairwell, I could just see Owen's head disappearing as he headed towards the second floor.
“Owen!” I called out desperately as I moved my legs as fast as I could.
Somehow, by shear luck I managed to catch up to him. I grabbed a hold of his arm with both hands and clung to him as hard as I could, in an attempt to stop him. He tried to shrug me off, but I held tight, and he rolled his eyes before turning to face me.
“Whatever you have to say Ronnie, I don't want to hear it. I know what I saw. He had you pressed up against the elevator door, with the emergency stop on. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to put two, and two together.”
“In this case I think maybe it does!” I snapped.
“Face it. We had our fun, but we were never meant to be long term.”
I let go of his arm then, and shoved him as hard as I could. Tears were threatening to fall, and all I wanted to do was scream at him. I tried my hardest to keep it together. I didn't want him to see me weak. To see the effect he had on me. I didn't want to grovel, but the fact that he didn't believe me was heart breaking.
“I hate you.” I whispered, with my bottom lip trembling.
“I told you; you deserved better.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“I'm not doing anything. This is all on you.”
“Bull shit!” I said, my voice shaking.
“Just... go back to Derek, I'm sure he's still waiting for you.”
“I don't. Want. Derek! I want you; you idiot!” I yelled, the frustration building up inside of me.
“He fits into your life here, I don't!” He yelled back.
“What life?” I tossed my arms up in exasperation.
“Your perfect life! The kids, the wedding, everything you wanted! Those kinds of things don't just go away, Ronnie!”
“Stop calling me Ronnie!”
“It's your name, isn't it?”
I couldn't hold back anymore. The tears that I had been struggling so hard to contain suddenly came pouring out so fast that I could no longer control them. He looked at me as if he wanted to say something, but at the last minute changed his mind.
“You're a coward.” I sobbed, as I lifted my chin a little higher.
“I'm a realist.” He said, setting his jaw. “I won't be your back up choice.”
“You're my only choice!” I said, wiping the tears from my cheeks.
He turned to walk away then, and I knew that it was now or never. He was taking the easy way out. Ending things before they got too complicated. Before it got too deep to just back out. But I wasn't going to let him off the hook that easy. I watched as he made it down one step, and then two, before finally getting the nerve.
“I love you!” I called out, stopping him dead in his tracks.
“I know it's too soon, and I know that you're scared-”
I never even had a chance to finish my sentence. The second the words left my lips, he was turning around and bounding up the steps he'd just gone down. My words were cut short by his lips pressing against mine, and I smiled against them with relief. I put my arms around his neck, and then he lifted me in his arms. My legs were crossed around his waist, and he carried me up the stairs, and through the door that led to my floor, setting me down just inside of it.
“I'm sorry.” He said, resting his forehead on mine.
“Did you really not believe me?”
“I don't know what I was thinking. I just... I saw you with him, the way you were with him, and I just saw red. A part of me thought it was better this way. You're going to wake up one morning and realize that you, and I are too different. I guess I was just trying to save myself some heartache.”
“By making me the bad guy?”
“I never thought that I- after Abigail died I just- why is this so damn hard to say?” He stammered.
“Just say it.” I
