God damn I missed writing... I missed the feeling of satisfaction when someone favorites my story. I missed the freedom of being able to write about anything I wanted. But, this will be my last story for HH for the for seeable future. Sorry! I will not be updating unless I get some super motivation. AS ALWAYS... Review please!

No Spoilers about the meaning of this story...

I got off the plane and walked to the limo, not bothering to wait for Kelly. She would catch up, eventually. She knew I was pissed off. Hell, she knew not to mess with me at a time like this. Kelly knew that I didn't want to head home, especially not now. Not when I was finally happy and moving on beyond the last 3 years of my life.

I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I don't miss the simplicity of my life before the contest, but I love my life. I love looking out into a crowd and watching them sing along to the songs that I wrote, the songs that mean so much to me. Coincidentally, the contest also brought me to my first real love. Eddie was amazing. Key word "was".

The first year or so was perfect. He would pick me up from work and we would go out to dinner and hang out and just be there. Together. But soon things started to get in the way. All of the expectations from our label weighted heavily on our minds, and the time we spent writing and recording took away from our time together. So I really shouldn't have been so surprised when I found out about Lia.

I had always had an extreme dislike for Lia, from the moment I met her after we all returned from that festival in NY. She put on the polite face, but I saw through it. Eddie, however, did not. In his mind, Lia could do no wrong. To him, she was the woman who saved his life, and in that aspect, he felt eternally grateful. I guess that's why he decided to screw her.

We always had this thing between us, the trust we both needed, it was always there. I never felt as if he could be cheating, or if he was hiding anything. He must have gotten that from Chloe. I probably wouldn't have ever found out, if Ian hadn't fessed up. He had begun to date Melissa, and we were pretty close friends, so I guess he couldn't see me be played for a fool like Eddie was with Chloe.

I didn't believe it at first. How could this man I loved, this man I gave everything to, lie to me about something so huge? I denied it and denied it. But eventually, I saw it for my own eyes. Beyond the fact that I could see when they smiled at each other, or those quick touches when they thought I wasn't looking, I could just tell. I could tell that something was different between Eddie and I.

Before the whole scandal, Eddie and I were making love multiple times daily. Soon, however, it seemed as if he could barely stand to be in the same room as me, let alone be intimate. I blamed myself for his lies and cheating. One night however, I was coming home from recording at the studio, and she was there. She came running down the stairs in one of Eddie's shirts, giggling, and he came running after her, a huge grin on his face, wearing nothing but his boxers. I watched as he ran up behind her and kissed her neck, the same way he kissed me; I broke inside. When they saw me, I did nothing. I didn't yell, I didn't scream. I just stood there. I picked up my purse, not wanting to see his disgustingly beautiful face for another second, because I knew that if he asked me to stay, which he would, that I wouldn't have resisted. So I simply raised my hand, shook my head, and walked out. I sent for my clothes, and that was the last time I saw Eddie Duran.

I shook myself out of the memory and relaxed into Lincoln's arms. It was hard, moving on from the deception. It took me a while, but Linc was so sweet. He waited months before I was even ready to go on a date with him, and while he wasn't my first love, and it wasn't the same, somehow it was better. It was different between Linc and I. There were fights, a lot of them, but I never thought he would even think of straying. We got in each other's faces, we pushed each other to do our bests, but there was always this sensuality with us.

I met him at a bar in New York. He was a guitar player, a singer too. Pretty good at it.

"You ready for this Loren?" Linc's deep voice shook me from my thoughts and I gazed up at his warm light brown eyes. They were so much different than Eddie's, lighter, more expressing, less deceiving.

I chuckled. "No?"

He pulled me farther into his embrace. "Well, you knew this would happen eventually. He will be there, and I can't wait to put my fist in his face."

"It's my mother's wedding, not the damn fight house."

"So?" Linc grinned and I found myself easily returning it.

"It'll all be okay, you know that right?" Lincoln's eyes speared into me, like they could see through my soul. That's how it'd always been, him being able to see me and me being able to see him. That was one of the reasons we argued so much; we knew each other just a little bit too well.

"Yeah, I know that."