• P R O L O G U E •

Those Precious Words

"Where's the birthday girl?!" The girl in blonde asked the English man in front of her.

"I'm not so sure! Last I heard from Chloe, she was upstairs getting ready." Tom replied back and glanced at his watch.

It had been nearly thirty minutes since Tom had heard from his best friend and he certainly was beginning to get worried. "I'll go and check up on her, see where she is."

As Tom pushes through the mad hatter of a party, he constantly asked the people around him if they had seen Chloe-- but no-one had.

Pacing up the stairs, Tom peeked his head around every door, until he finally found Chloe: standing in the front of a full length mirror.

She smiled at Tom, who slowly stepped towards her.

That was when Tom sensed sadness in her eyes. One that he had seen before and had promised himself that if he saw it again, he would bury it completely.

"Chloe..?" Tom inched towards her and pressed his arms against her shoulder. Immediately, Chloe bowed her head and Tom wrapped his arms around her. "Chloe hey..."

"I... I'm sorry Tom... you've thrown a great party for me and I guess I'm ruining it..." Shaking his head, Tom unraveled his arms from Chloe and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

"No, it's fine." Tom confirmed and simpered at his best friend. "A lot has happened over the last week and it's fine." Chloe patted her eye.

"Yeah, but... you did go through a lot. It sounds great down there."

"I did, but..." Tom licked his lips. "... right now you matter and... nothing is your fault."

"I... I just miss Dad, that's all-"

"Chloe, it's fine. You don't have to hide your feelings."

"I'm no-" Tom shushed Chloe.

"I know you Chloe Wright. And, I know you're not okay." Taking a few steps back Tom tucked his hands into his pockets. "You can come down when your ready or, leave it for today. No-one will say anything..." On removing his hands, Tom pulled out the one thing that would give her hope.

Chloe let out a light gasp. "But just remember..." Tom walked back over to her and opened her smooth, small hands. "... you're never alone."

With those words, he pressed the hopeful necklace into Chloe's hands and allowed her fingertips to close over it.

Tom pecked the back of her hand and left Chloe in peace to choose.

For a moment, she sobbed, but took her best friend's words into account.

Because, they were precious words.

And as was that moment.