All this fic talk with Maddie got me in to mood to write.
Maddie is my number 1 muse! J This chapter is gonna be from Joel/Fiona’s point
of view.
READ HER FIC! Lol
Chapter 4 – Better Late Than Never
There was nothing good on TV, so I shut it off and laid in front of the tour bus staring at the walls. I can’t believe I made such a jerk out of myself with Fiona. I got up and walked over to the calendar. It was now May and Paul told me Fiona’s birthday was coming up. “Two weeks…three weeks…”
“Dude, if you want me to get her number from Patty, I can.”
“Nah, I don’t think she’ll want to talk to me. Did you see the look on her face when it all happened?” I looked down; upset because of the pain I caused her.
“What you did was an asshole-ly thing to do.” I looked at Paul with one of those ‘that isn’t helping’ looks. Paul laughed, “I mean—she might forgive you. It’s been what? You said, 3 weeks?”
“Almost 4.” I looked up, “You’re right, maybe she will forgive me.”
“Yeah, we’re almost done with the tour, so maybe you can go back to her and…apologize.” Paul was great to talk to in times like these.
“Better yet, do we have off tomorrow?” Paul nodded, “I think I’ll go tomorrow. Yeah. I will.” I jumped up and headed for the laptop to buy a plane ticket to New York.
“Don’t forget the lilacs!” Paul exclaimed.
“I wont!” I said while walking.
“Hammer! Be good!” Hammer always hated it when I tried to give him a bath. He was little, but made a big mess when he wanted to. Five minutes into the bath, I was more soaked then he was. He calmed down after a little bit, allowing me to quickly lather him up and rinse him. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, “Ah, I’m COMING!” I took Hammer out of the tub and tried to wipe him down, but he ran through my hands before I could. I gave up and started walking to the door. “Just one second.” I gave myself a quick look-over ((is that even a word?)) and without looking through the peephole I opened the door.
“Hey!” Joel’s voice exclaimed.
“Oh, Hello.” I rolled my eyes.
“Don’t shut the door, please?”
I cocked an eyebrow and leaned against the door. “Go on.”
“I’m really sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am. I have no idea why I even thought of doing that. I just…did.” Joel looked at his hands and held out a bouquet of lilacs.
“My favorite…” I whispered. I looked Joel in the eye, “It’s ok. I was just really emotional because of Evan and then that happened…it was all too soon. I’m sorry.” I accepted the flowers.
“No, you have nothing to be sorry about. It’s all my fault. I’m not asking for a relationship, or even friendship, I just want to know that everything is cool between us.”
“I’m a firm believer in the 3-strike rule. Consider yourself stricken.” Joel and I laughed at how stupid that sounded, and I invited him into my apartment.
“Wow...” Joel’s eyes widened when he saw my walls. I loved to paint, so I put murals on my walls. On one wall I painted the ocean with a shooting star streaming across the blackened sky. The wall with my fireplace had blue and purple flames on it, tracing up to a corner of the ceiling. The third wall was painted like a hole in the wall, with ivy creeping up the corners. It took me ages to paint, but it was worth it. “Did you paint this?” Joel looked over at my easel, “Of course you did…” he said to himself.
I smiled, “It took me forever.”
Joel walked over to the painting hanging up. “What happened?” he asked while pointing to it.
“You remember that boyfriend I was telling you about?” He nodded. “Well, he got me that last year. And when he broke up with me I slashed it.”
Joel had an interesting look on his face, “So why didn’t you throw it out?”
“Because I like the painting, I just hate how I got it.”
Joel smiled and took a seat on the couch, “Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“Nah, I was just giving my dog a bath.” Almost like it was planned, Hammer came running into the living room and jumped on Joel. “Hammer!!!” Joel started laughing because Hammer was licking his ears. I ran over and tried to pry him off of Joel. “I’m so sorry!”
“It’s ok. Hammer…what a cool name. What type of dog is he?”
“A boxer.”
“Cool. I have a boxer.” It was one of those moments like we were 12 again. Where you say anything because you think it might start up a conversation.
“I’ll be right back, I’m gonna get changed.” It looked like only then Joel realized that I was standing in my living room soaked and smelling like a wet dog.
We took a walk to Lido Beach; I always loved playing on the playgrounds during the summer. But something about it always reminds me of Evan. I remembered when we used to come here when we got bored and he’d push me on the swings or us laying in the sand watching the stars. It was the first time I had been here since we broke up, and I wasn’t sure I could handle it yet. Joel held my hand as we walked, and I started to get shaky.
“Are you ok?” Joel asked me.
“Yeah I—I just…” I started to breathe shallow and stumble across the sand.
“Fi? What’s wrong?” Without saying a word, I led him over to a metal park bench in the shade. He sat down next to me, and kept asking me what was wrong. I looked at him and then the bench and pointed. “FM & EG? What’s that?” he asked.
“Fiona Murphy and Evan Gross.” I turned my attention to my feet.
“Who’s that?”
I honestly wasn’t surprised that Joel couldn’t make the connection. “Think about it.” After a few seconds his eyes brightened, “Yes.” I said before he could say anything.
“So what happened?”
“Well…where to start. We met a few years ago at my friend Emily’s party. We clicked instantly. The timing was off though, we were both in relationships at the time.” I looked Joel in the eyes, “So we decided to be friends for a little while. We got closer and closer over the next year and a half and then he broke up with his girlfriend Nicole so we could be together. Honestly, I was ready to leave Matt and wanted to. Evan and I started dating a little over two years ago.”
“So what happened?” Joel interrupted. I started to feel the tears welling up.
“Everything was amazing for the two years, but we also moved very fast. We moved in with each other within the first year and a half. I loved him so much, I actually thought we were gonna get married someday.”
“But?” Joel asked. He put his arm around me for comfort.
“But a month ago he decided he didn’t want me anymore. He left one morning like he always does, but that day it was a little different. Like I almost knew I would never see him again. I came home and found a note on my pillow and his things were gone. He said that we could still be friends and what not, he just felt like he was being suffocated or something.” I started crying on Joels shoulder.
“I’m so sorry—”
“It’s like...it’s like I didn’t even matter! How could he have done that to me? With just a letter for an explanation! Like that would make everything ok?!?” I continued. I was finally getting out everything that I kept pent up inside me.
“Shh…it’s ok...” Joel kissed me on my forehead. He made me feel loved and safe…everything Evan didn’t. I turned towards him and smiled, he smiled back and then kissed me on the forehead again. “How about we get a closer look at that sunset?” he asked me.
“I’d love to.” We walked down to the shoreline hand-in-hand and watched the most beautiful sunset I’d ever seen.
We spent the next four hours lying on the beach watching the stars and reminiscing about anything we could think of. Unfortunately, even though it was summer, the beaches of Long Beach ((haha, that sounds funny…)) got pretty cold. Joels cell phone rang; it was Billy, probably telling him to get back on a plane to Cincinnati.
“Oh shit!” Joel jumped up.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh man, I completely lost track of time. I was supposed to be back in Cincinnati two hours ago. Oh man, I’m so sorry Fi.”
“Don’t be. I had an amazing night. Thank you.”
Joel stopped jumping around long enough to look me in the eyes, “You mean it?”
“Of course.” I stood up and gave Joel a hug, “Come on, let’s get you back to the airport. It’s at least an hour drive.”
“Ok.” Joel and I walked back to my car, and I drove him to the airport.
Joel clenched my hips as the boarding for his flight began. I had the most amazing night in the last month. Everything was looking better, like Maddie said.
“You know, I’m gonna miss you…” Joel started to say.
“Shh, you’re acting like we’re never gonna see each other ever again.”
“I know; I just…don’t want to let go…even though I want to, it seems like I might not get to talk to you that much. Just remember, no matter what, I’m here for you and I always will be. That’s what’s great about friends.” Joel let go and gave me a kiss on the cheek. He saw a tear escape my eye and wiped it away with his index finger. He placed his forehead against mine and whispered, “Goodbye Fiona…”
I sniffled and then smiled; Joel was perfect. Absolutely perfect. I watched him walk up the terminal and fade away into the darkness. I couldn’t help but have a smile plastered on my face the whole ride home. When I got into my apartment, I picked up the phone to call Amber, but it was 2:30am, it could wait until later.