Sitting on the floor outside Fallon's locked door, Trent felt a mix of frustration, regret, and concern as he glanced at the clock on his laptop, 1:17am. The echoes of their argument in the kitchen still resonated in his mind, and he couldn't shake the feeling that he had let his emotions get the best of him. He knew he had to make things right.

With his laptop open on his lap, Trent tried to distract himself by typing away, attempting to focus on work. But his mind kept drifting back, he wished he could rewind time and handle things differently.

The hallway was quiet, and he could hear the faint sounds of the house around him—the soft hum of the ventilation system, the release of ice in the freezer, the occasional footsteps of the staff still around. Every passing minute felt like an eternity, and he couldn't help but worry about Fallon, wondering how she was feeling behind that locked door.

He had messed up, and he knew it. He had escalated beyond what he had intended, and he had hurt Fallon in the process. All he wanted was to make amends, to apologize and let her know that he valued their time too much to let it be tainted by anger.

Trent's fingers hovered over the keyboard, his eyes fixed on the screen but his thoughts consumed by the situation at hand. He considered sending her a message, but he knew that words on a screen could never convey the depth of his remorse.

Time seemed to stretch on, and Trent couldn't shake the image of the locked door in front of him. He yearned for a chance to speak to Fallon face-to-face, to mend the rift between them and let her know how truly sorry he was.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he heard the soft sound of the door unlocking. His heart raced as he looked up, and his eyes met Fallon's. Her expression was a mixture of weariness and curiosity, as if she wasn't sure what to expect.

Trent closed his laptop and set it aside, his voice soft and sincere. "I shouldn't have said what I said before, I shouldn't have pried, I let my emotions get the best of me. I'm sorry."

Fallon sighed, her gaze meeting his. "How long have you been sitting out here?" She sat crisscrossed next to him.

"A few hours, maybe."

"Why?"

Trent paused before he spoke, the question of why he would spend every and any moment trying to make things right with her made him wonder exactly what she was dealing with when she argued with Matt at home.

"Why did I sit outside the door?"

"Yeah."

"Because, I care about you being okay, not some stupid argument about where a bruise came from. I care too much about you to let anything keep me from being able to show you that. Is that not what normal people do?"

"I don't know what's normal anymore." She rubbed her face, overwhelmed with the need for sleep again.

"You've been awake this whole time?"

"Mhmm," she nodded. "You're working?" She pointed to his laptop.

"No, I'm done. Come on." He stood up, first picking up the computer and then reaching a hand out to pull Fallon off the floor. To his surprise, she didn't let go of it once she was standing. He led her down the hallway to his door, which was already open. He placed his laptop on the desk and turned on the small lamp that sat on the corner. Shutting off the room light, he continued with Fallon to the bed. As they reached the edge, she let go of his hand and turn to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. The sudden change in movement caught him by surprise, but he didn't ask her any questions, only embraced her.

Silence hung in the air between them awhile, only the sound of their breathing being heard. "I'm gonna go home on the morning," she finally whispered against him.

This caught him off guard and he immediately started to brace himself for another argument. "No you're not."

"Me dealing with all that I have to think about and work through and thinking I could just show up here to do it was selfish of me and I shouldn't have done it. I'm sorry."

He gently took her face in his hands, mindful of their placement and the bruising, "you, are the least selfish person I know. I told you to come back to me. You did." Suddenly he felt panicked, as if she was going to take off running or leave silently in the middle of the night, "I'll set up the office for you. You can work there each day, I saw your laptop, I know you love what you do, I'll make you a space where no one will bother you, not even me. And you can come and go as you please, no one is going to follow you or ask you what you're doing, explore town, see what's out there, use the house like your apartment. You wanted to get away and think and decide what to do, you can do that here, I won't get in the way of it. Choose what you have to choose. But please don't leave in the morning. Stay a week, stay for two or three or forever." He looked at her longingly, "you came here for a reason, figure out what that reason is."

She nodded, silently, her eyes fighting the exhaustion, "okay."

He wasn't sure if she was agreeing because she was too tired to argue or because she genuinely believed what he was saying. All he knew was how badly he wanted her here. "You need to sleep, come on." He pulled her back towards the bed, letting her lie down first, as he pulled the sheets and blanket up around her.

When he finally slid in next to her, she conformed her body to his, filling each bend and curve of hers to fit around each piece of him. Her head rested comfortably in the crook of where his shoulder met his arm, and he thought for sure she had already fallen asleep. She looked peaceful, and it seemed like sleep was the only place she ever found peace. Her breathing was deep and even, her face and body relaxed, and he hoped that somewhere deep inside of her, her thoughts and worries faded too.

He found it odd how in just a few weeks, he could suddenly piece together what he wanted his future to look like. Marriage wasn't something he had ever planned on when he was young. After watching his parents fall apart, it didn't seem worth the effort. This was part of what he meant when he had told Fallon during their weekend together that she had wanted a life he couldn't give her and that's why he never pursued a relationship with her. She always talked about marriage. Wanting to be married to someone who knew her better than she knew herself. Who knew that two people working as a team were stronger and more solid than anything in this world. And she talked about how badly she wanted children, a girl specifically. She had spent so many nights telling Trent about names she had filed away in her notes app, just in case. Or always making a point to walk through the baby section of any store they would shop in, pointing at different outfits and saying 'oh this would be adorable!' It had made him laugh then. They were young and dumb and anything seemed like a possibility when you're nineteen and just starting out.

Now, laying here with her curled against him, he was once again brought back to the days when life felt easier. She had spent so many nights in bed with him, it was hard to convince anyone that they weren't actually sleeping together. When she first moved to campus, and he had already spent a year living in the fraternity house, she started coming around and staying the night. The boys gave him shit for 'screwing the freshman' until he punched one square in the nose and told them to never look at, touch, or talk about his best friend ever again.

They all took the hint.

Most of the time, their overnight visits had to do with hardships, drunkenness, or late nights. And only once did they cross the boundaries of their friendship into uncharted water. That night, he decided he loved her. They never talked about it. It never happened again, as if they had made a silent agreement to forget it ever happened. They simply flirted with the idea, walked a tightrope of friendly and friendlier. But Trent knew everything she wanted, someone else would need to give it to her. It didn't matter if he loved her or not.

And even though she never mentioned it, Fallon knew that too.

When she started dating Matt, he was quick to put a stop to it, and Fallon, being the loyal and ever caring person she was, obliged.

"I'm sorry," she had told him, "just imagine if you were dating a girl who slept in another guy's bed a few night a week. How would you feel?"

He understood completely, but met the challenge with as much sarcasm and contempt as he could.

"Depends, is she fucking the other guy or getting a restful eight hours?"

"Trent," she was annoyed with his response, "I just don't want to ruin this."

"Ruin what? Your relationship with him or your friendship with me?" He asked, already knowing what she meant, but hoping to shift her perspective.

"Don't act like I'm choosing one of you over the other, I'm trying my best to be the best of me for each of you."

And that's when he started to pull away from her. Because at the the end of it all, Matt could give her what she wanted, what she deserved. He wanted that for her. He just wanted that for her with him in the picture.

When he once again glanced at the clock and saw the 4:12am lighting up the screen, it occurred to him that he could recreate that picture now, but make it even better. He turned on his side towards her, careful not to disturb her position. He draped an arm over her waist after pushing the hair that had fallen into her face, behind her ear. He stared once again at her peaceful state of existence and wondered what he would be met with in the morning. Would it be the fiery and feisty version of her he had experienced in her office the day he returned her ring? Or would he get the sad and broken woman he had experienced today? Either way, each possibility excited him, pure for the fact that it meant her waking up with him again.

He very quietly whispered to her, despite her state of sleep,

"I thought I knew what was best for you all those years ago, but I never knew that I would lose you in that. I was wrong, and everything you've ever said about love and life, is right, I just couldn't see it because I didn't have you in those parts of my life. But Fallon, I'm still so incredibly in love with you."

His words were met with silence, but he swore he saw a smile come across her face.