Included is the lyric video for One Republic's Stop and Stare. Hope you enjoy it! Thank you for reading this story... I really appreciate it. 

-VIVKELLER23

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She could still recall the first time she'd laid eyes on him, so smooth and confident that he took her breath away...

She was a freshman in high school, a wide-eyed fourteen-year-old girl who'd forgotten her lunch in her beginner's choir class. That in itself was stupid because she was always hungry. Her stomach had the annoying habit of voicing its hunger during the most inopportune times. And it wasn't even a cute growl, you know? It was a loud, hyena-screeching-buzzer that always had her apologizing to the unfortunate souls sitting beside her.

So that's why instead of sitting outside on one of the uncomfortable cement benches lining the outside of her next class, Kaliah was sneaking down the abandoned hallway of the music building. The gray and white building with the white and blue tiled floor was by far her favorite. The walls were so high, she thought maybe the architect had designed it to give the music students the feeling of singing in a cathedral. The windows were beautiful stained glass designed by art students who had donated them with their graduating class. Sure, the colorful windows didn't go with the tiled floor, but that was part of its charm.

Kaliah ran her fingers along the white walls of the hallway, humming to Hakuna Matata because who didn't like a problem free philosophy? Also, because The Lion King soundtrack had been second only to her mother's collection of old church hymns. She'd just reached the door to her choir room when a voice drifted to her ears and cut her happy humming short.

Like the creepy stalker she was, she left her lunch to find the angel with the beautiful voice. She found him, but he didn't look like your typical angel. He had raven hair that was perfectly mussed, almost as if he hadn't tried to style it at all. She'd spent thirty minutes detangling her heavy cloud of hair and she still looked like she'd been struck by lightning on her way to school! From her place wedged against the wall, like every messed up sociopath ever created, she watched him. She couldn't make out the color of his eyes. but if she had to guess, she'd bet her life's savings (which was like twenty bucks she'd made from washing her brother's car) that they were green.

He was singing One Republic's Stop and Stare.

A fitting song to sing when that was exactly what she was doing. Stopping and staring at the raven-haired boy with the hypothetical green eyes. There was one other person in the room, a gray-haired man with a hunched back who sat at the piano. He looked like the hip version of Einstein.

Einstein grunted, actually grunted, and for some inexplicable reason she started to laugh.

Vivid green eyes flew to her red face.

And like a fool, she fist pumped the air for guessing correctly before she fled the building.

Her stomach had put God-freaking-zilla to shame that day.

***

Present:

Everyone else was asleep in her Mama's yellow house. She could hear Ronan's snoring from the living room where he'd settled on the couch for the night. Kaliah shook the lingering remnants of sleep from her mind and threw her legs over the side of her full sized bed. She found her unicorn slippers with her wandering toes before shuffling her feet into them. Ronan choked in his sleep slightly, and for a few blessed seconds it was completely quiet, before the snores returned with full force.

Kaliah smiled. Even while he slept, Ronan made her happy.

The retro cow clock on her bedside table read 3:30 AM. Kaliah hadn't woken up this early since the year after Dimitri had left. That entire year following his departure had been a blur for her. A haze of going through the motions and waking up at odd hours of the night to write; weekends spent at home while she anxiously waited for some sign that he meant to return. That sign had never come, but she'd learned to sleep through the night.

She knew that her restlessness this time was a result of having been reminded that Dimitri Hale wasn't ever going to be a man she could hold to her. He was a passing breeze in her life, wild and free. Devastating to her vulnerable heart, but he'd pass all the same.

Kaliah ran her fingers through her tangled nest of hair and groaned. She'd been saying for months now that she was going to chop it all off, but every time she got close to walking into a salon, she turned tail and ran. She actually loved the hated, curl infested mass of hair she had. It was a love-hate relationship that would last until her very last breath. But if her fingers came upon some scissors at the moment...

Kaliah's fingers itched to touch something else. Like so long ago, whenever Kaliah's dream had included him, she'd risen from bed with an overwhelming need to write her emotions down. They were private songs with a melody only she understood. Sad, heartbroken, and hopeful lyrics that had bled from within her onto papers she kept stashed at the bottom of her desk drawer. As if burying them under books and unwanted bills would keep them at bay.

She snatched her warm pillow off her bed and raised it to her face. She screamed, the sound muffled so Ronan wouldn't awaken from his beauty sleep. Then she straightened and stumbled her way through the dark to her bedroom door. She smirked as she turned the lock on the knob. Dimitri had honestly figured she'd allow him into her room with her just because a silly paper said they were legally married. Hah! The look on his face when she'd told him that Jesse's room was still in working order had been priceless. Mr. Popstar didn't seem used to the word 'no' but he'd catch on quickly enough.

He'd learn 'no' was all he would hear from her now that he had his celebrity girlfriend back at his side. Sydney Heard didn't seem like the type who'd refuse him anything.

Kaliah felt blindly along the walls, yelping when her fingers brushed against a frame and nearly sent it to the ground. She was able to right it without tragedy and continue on her way to her Den. 

The Den was her haven. It was supposed to have been an extra family room, but her father had added glass sliding doors to make it into a type of office space. It was where she did homework whenever she felt like using the sturdy mahogany desk her father had designed. There were bookshelves lining the walls that were filled to overflowing with books she'd read and reread over the years. And in the far left corner of the room, right beside the one window that looked out into the back yard, was her grandmother's antique piano.

The piano was a bright teal color that was faded and worn, but it was beautiful all the same. It also offset all the other muted hues in the room a bit drastically. Whereas the walls were a gentle gray and the floor a classic tan tile, her beloved piano sort of overwhelmed the senses as soon as you entered the room.

Kaliah felt for the switch to her right and blinked her eyes to adjust to the light. Oh, yeah, real subtle. Kaliah slid the glass door shut behind her, allowing the cream and teal colored curtains to do their job and conceal. With a determined set of her chin, Kaliah marched purposely towards her piano and took a seat on the accompanying bench.

Her fingers ran over the familiar keys. This is where much of her healing took place. Whenever she felt so overwhelmed that she couldn't breathe, her feet carried her here. It was like her own altar, somewhere to lay all her burdens down and regroup. She hadn't needed to sit and spill her soul in so long, she almost feared too much would come crashing through the surface.

But there were worse ways to let off some steam than to create a sappy love song that made you want to vomit.

Wimp, she thought to herself. And almost as if accepting her own challenge, Kaliah closed her eyes and let the melody throbbing in her head control the dance of her fingers over the keys. This time, the music was simple. It wasn't so much an avalanche of emotions, but more like a gentle wave that washed away the layers of shattered hope she'd dragged along with her.

Once, long ago, I believed. A beautiful promise you gave to me.

It made me seek a miracle. Everything sweet and lasting.

oh, but here I am... waiting still for you.

The lyrics came easy when she lost herself like this. Too easy. Kaliah hummed along to the soft music her fingers created. Always before, it had taken hours to get the words just right. Yet now, she'd discovered something she'd never truly believed possible. That a broken and restless heart sometimes offered the best inspiration. That a song could be created in minutes and leave you shaken.

"Well, aren't you just full of surprises?"

Kaliah's fingers slammed down on the keys, ruining the lovely music from before. She turned wide eyes to the woman who'd burst her little bubble on the beach not 24 hours before. "I'm sorry?"

Sydney smiled, but the curve of her pale lips was too harsh to be considered friendly. "You sing, you play, you've got one man panting after you like a dog. And another one who kept you hidden from the public for years that I wonder just how much he's capable of keeping from me."

Kaliah shook her head. Had Sydney Heard just called Ronan a dog?! Sydney might be a sultry singer with more money than one person could possibly need, but she was a guest in her Mama's house. It wasn't a snazzy hotel, but if the woman thought she could speak and act as she liked in her mother's house, she'd find herself on the receiving end of another of Kaliah's surprises. "Ronan is my friend, something you are not," Kaliah replied tersely. "I'd appreciate it very much if you did not insult my friend when you are a guest."

Shock momentarily left the other woman speechless with her mouth hanging open. She recovered quickly. "I see the appeal you hold for someone like Dimitri. You're free spoken, girl," she murmured with something that sounded like awe.

Girl? Sydney Heard was only two years older than her. Kaliah took a deep breath to calm her instant retort and pasted a smile on her face. "I've a mouth and the Constitution to thank for that," she murmured.

Sydney didn't find her response very amusing.

"I'm sorry if I woke you," Kaliah offered. "Was there something you needed?" Perhaps a bed she'd fallen out of? Kaliah wondered, eyeing the haphazard way the woman's robe had been thrown over what looked like little more than a slip of red silk.

The smirk returned. "I'd like to know how a little nobody like you was able to take the ring I dedicated so much time into getting from Dimitri? And does he know that you pathetically pour your heart out for him like this?"

Sydney Heard was proving quite quickly that she was no better than the scorned other woman everyone secretly hoped would fall over a big cliff in most movies. "I don't know how I could have stolen your ring, as you put it, if it had been on your finger in the first place."

"Aren't you just a bi-"

"Sydney?"

This was the second time Dimitri had used that disapproving tone when saying the woman's name. He didn't sound too happy to see her. Probably because he'd been roused too early in the morning.

Kaliah felt her heart skip a beat at the sight before her. Dimitri Hale in his signature black ensemble was gorgeous. But Dimitri Hale in nothing but navy sweats riding low on his hips? A shirtless Dimitri with the muscles she'd suspected he possessed now bare for anyone with eyes to see...

That was the stuff dreams were made of.

"Uh, a beautiful, talented young woman?" Sydney improvised. The glare she threw at Kaliah left no doubt as to what she really thought of her.

Kaliah gasped, feeling her cheeks flood with heat as Dimitri's alert green gaze caught her ogling him. She placed a hand to her chest and fluttered her lashes. "Why, I'm so happy. Truly, two celebrities in my humble home? And Sydney Heard calling me beautiful?" Dimiri's face darkened with a scowl as she continued her little act. "I think I should clarify to the world that you really aren't such a heartless has been," Kaliah finished.

"Excuse me?!" Sydney shrieked as Kaliah rose to leave the Den.

Kaliah bit her lip, avoiding even a glance at Dimitri's face. "Oh, no. Excuse me, Miss Heard." She brushed past a momentarily stupefied Sydney and managed to bolt down the hall before Dimitri's outstretched hand could stop her. Kaliah didn't need him touching her or reminding her of her indiscreet fascination with his sculpted chest.

"How dare you!" The woman sure could screech.

"Shut up, for the love of all that is good and fluffy in the world!" a male voice groaned. Poor Ronan had been roused from his beauty sleep.

***

Ronan glared at Sydney as she picked off the edges of burned bacon from her plate. He'd spent the past three and a half hours trying to get back to sleep after Sydney's screeching had startled him from his dreams. He'd given up when Kaliah shuffled into the kitchen at 7AM to make breakfast. "Why not just stuff the entire thing into your mouth like you know you want to?" he grumbled.

Sydney lifted cool eyes to his scowling face. "I'm allergic to pork."

"Oh, well, I'll definitely keep that in mind," he murmured, but Kaliah caught a glimpse of a spark in his eye that suggested he wouldn't mind conveniently forgetting that bit of information. "So is it just pork? Do you foam at the mouth if you eat some turkey, too? How about eggs?" He glanced at the untouched eggs on Sydney's plate.

"Ronan," Kaliah began, feeling a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"I just want to know, in case she starts convulsing or something!" he defended.

"Sydney likes her eggs scrambled."

Kaliah felt her fingers tighten on her fork as she raised her eyes to see Dimitri enter the kitchen. He'd remembered to wear a shirt this time. "I should have asked," Kaliah murmured.

Dimitri lifted a dark brow while he turned his attention to her. "Why bother? Sydney will be leaving in thirty minutes."

Sydney slammed her hands down on the old cherry wood table. "Sydney is right here! Sydney can talk and hear perfectly fine! And Sydney can make her own decisions!" she hissed. Her smoky eyes flared with anger as they glanced from Kaliah's shocked face to Dimitri's bored one.

Ronan whistled, snatching a piece of bacon off Sydney's plate. "Sydney needs to see a therapist," he quipped.

"Shut up!" she roared.

"The first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one, Sydney," Ronan pointed out.

Ronan sounded like Dr. Phil. But he had a point.

Kaliah bit her lip to try to keep the laughter at bay. But her eyes began to water with the effort. A snort slipped through and turned into full fledged bursts of laughter that quickly became hiccups. Kaliah saw through her tears that Ronan was proud of himself for making her laugh so hard. Ah, she couldn't breathe!

Dimitri pushed off the kitchen wall and smirked. "Careful, Sunshine, or you'll rupture something." He took the jar of ice water she'd set on the center of the table to pour some into her glass. "Drink up," he told her, placing the glass in her shaking hand.

She raised the glass to her lips. She sipped and nearly sputtered. "I'm-" hiccup! "Sorry," Kaliah gasped.

"Laugh away, my dear!" Ronan exclaimed.

"I can't believe you prefer to shack up with these people, Dimitri," Sydney snapped. The way she said these people was an insult in and of itself.

Dimitri heard it, too. He tensed beside her. "No one asked you to follow me here," he reminded her in a voice that was laced with carefully controlled rage. "Which is why your taxi will be here in thirty minutes."

"You can't just get rid of me!"

By now, Kaliah's fit of laughs had passed. She could breathe again and her hiccups were few and far between.

"You'll go willingly or I'll toss you in there myself!" Dimitri warned.

Oh, snap! Kaliah had rarely seen him lose his cool. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't impressed. She doubted anyone had ever dared to raise his voice at Sydney Heard.

"You wouldn't!" she sputtered with wide eyes.

"Don't push me, Sydney. You've already managed to ruin my wedding day. I told you I'd go back to the studio on my own time. And. I. Will." Dimitri punctuated every word. "So, please, just go."

Sydney huffed and stomped from the room. She slammed the door to the guest room she'd occupied for the night.

"I really don't like her," Ronan offered around a mouthful of bacon.

While Ronan's dislike was fairly obvious, Kaliah was surprised to find Dimitri so furious to see the woman he'd apparently been linked to for years. She'd have thought that seeing Sydney and having her sleep under the same roof would have convinced him to go back to his high celebrity life. He didn't act like a man in love with the other woman. He glared at Sydney as if he could make her disappear with that alone.

His green eyes weren't nearly as jaded when they turned to meet her questioning gaze.