It was evident in the way he gazed at her even though his heart shattering was still echoing through his mind. It was clear in the way that he still was going to give her the benefit of the doubt because she was young and just didn't know what she truly wants. It is plain to see that he is willing to forgive her because everyone makes mistakes, he is a prime example of that. It was obvious in the way that he would wait for forever if he had to because he knew they were an inevitability.

He gave up his pride for her.

He held her to the brightest candle and refused to let her outside its beauty.

He made sure that she was more important to him now than anything, especially fame.

And still, his heart was shattering as she gazed into the eyes of another.

As she let herself grow giddy over that man.

As she gave up on who she was just to make him happy.

But she'd come back to him someday, she had to.

-RJ-

She was lying to herself, she always had been. It wasn't surprising or new to her either. She'd known it from the start. She was continually trying to convince herself that he was the right choice but it was more for the fact that he was safe. He provided her a security that couldn't be found elsewhere. She'd always feared her true love, always felt that he'd come to hurt her in the end.

But now she was hurting him.

She thought that it would feel better than this.

She thought she'd get some kind of relief.

The kiss on stage, the kiss in the library; they were meant to erase him from her mind.

Instead, it only built up the guilt until she could no longer take it.

And so, she ran.

-RJ-

His goal was to get out of Ohio, leave this state and her behind. She'd come back to him someday, but he couldn't be around her when she wasn't his. He couldn't do that to his heart.

So he bought the first plane ticket to New York he could.

Reserved an interview with the first waiting job he'd contacted.

And he prepared himself for months of living a penniless existence all because the love of his life broke him.

If he wasn't so distraught, he'd have written an award winning play about his agony.

-RJ-

He was leaving that morning, he was going away and she wouldn't be able to contact him. His sister had told her everything she needed to know, knowing that both of them were two dramatic for their own good to fix their relationship on their own. And so again, she ran. She sped to her car, drove the fastest she could to the airport and did the most cinematic thing she could think of. She ran through security and the waiting passengers to find his gate.

She ran even as they screamed at her to stop.

She ran ever when the boarding began flashing beside his plane.

And she ran until she could see him standing at the gate.

-RJ-

He didn't know what possessed him to turn around. He didn't know why he thought he'd seen her standing there. But when he realized that she was, in fact, before him, something in him wanted to turn and get on the plane before he did something he'd regret.

But she wasn't going to let him get away.

For before he could erase her from his mind, she was standing directly before him, passengers filing in behind him as she stood. "I'm sorry."

It was the simplest phrase, but it was all she could think to say. Words left her, they couldn't express everything she wanted in the short time they surely had before security got there.

So she grabbed either side of his face and kiss him. And she didn't part from him until security was taking her away and leading her out of the airport.

-RJ-

He still teases her about that day, even now. He still brings up the fact that three security guards had to pry a five-foot-two girl from him. He still laughs at their dumbfounded expressions when he left the gate to follow them out of the airport. But most of all, he's still with the girl he loves.