France ran her fingers through her silky blonde hair. Her eyes closed and her head fell. As she fought back tears, she felt her long nails digging into her palms, the warm blood on her hands. The silence was deafening, and she began to shake. An unsteady hand reached for the phone and stopped but a centimeter away from it, lingering, and a salty tear escaped France's eyes. Damn. She couldn't win. Her mouth opened and let out a low cry of pain, a soft howl, followed by silent sobs and an unstoppable flow of tears.

He wasn't going to call.

Spain reached for the phone from his boss.

"Please sir! There is someone I have to call!" he pleaded, angry.

"You will not be covorting with that girl! She's…" his boss yelled.

Spain cut him off. "She's amazing!"

"I SAID NO! GO TO YOUR OFFICE!"

Spain ran to the hallway, passing by his office without a second glance, and collapsing in his be a few doors down at the end of the hallway. He couldn't fight it either. He began to cry silently.

France didn't sleep that night. Her mind was elsewhere, when she woke up as well. When the phone rang, a rush of hope surged through her, and then faded when she saw it was only her friend China.

"Hello? China?" France asked sleepily into the phone.

"Hey aru! How are you aru? Watcha doin' today aru?"

She sounded excited. France perked up a little, happy to hear from her friend. She logged onto her e-mail and saw her empty inbox. France heaved a heavy sigh and breathed back into the phone "Nothing."

Spain woke up from a night of restless sleep. His boss was on top of him as soon as his eyes opened.

"You have a press conference at 3, and you have to prepare your speech. The UN called, something about an Eastern German nation coming out of nowhere…but you also need to work on the budget and decide on where to build the new coffee shop." He said, annoyed.

"Yes, sir." Spain replied robotically, slunking into his office, not even bothering to get dressed.

Really the only thing on his mind was France.

"I'm sorry he hasn't called yet aru. That must suck aru." China said, pouring some tea into a cup and handing it to the distraught France.

She noticed she hadn't put her hair up into the buns today. China noticed her stare and laughed, twirling a strand on her index finger.

"I'm growing it out aru."

"Ah. Yeah it does suck, I mean, I love him and I'm dying to hear from him, its just, his boss, you know?" France said, sipping the tea.

"Well at least he loves you.." Ukraine said, looking up from her own cup of tea.

Tears began to form in her eyes, but she bit them back and smiled.

"At least I know I can move on now though! I mean, I won't be wasting my time anymore! And I'm still skating!" she said, breaking the tension she had created.

China blushed, embarrassed and sad.

"I feel so bad aru…you guys have it so bad and I have it so good with Russia but it seems I complain more than either of you aru."

Nobody said anything, so China nervously sipped her tea. The three women remained silent until Ukraine changed the topic to Maple leaves and Matthew.

Spain had done all the work he'd had to do today. He strolled out of his office beaming with joy and approached his boss.

"May I call her?" he asked.

"No." he said.

Spain's face fell and his heart cracked. He knew he shouldn't have gotten his hopes up.

"But…" he whispered.

"BUT NOTHING! I told you she's…"

Spain's fist clenched and he began to yell in frustration. He'd had enough.

"She's beautiful! She's crazy, funny, unique, pretty, and I love her! I LOVE her!" and with that he took off running down the hall.

France waited by the phone again that night until 1:00am, then collapsed from exhaustion and depression. Her mind fell a blank as she drifted into slumber, one lone tear falling down her cheek.

Spain looked out the window then back down at the small scrap of paper, holding his suitcase with a painfully tight grasp. As he shut the door behind him and took off running down the street, he felt no regret. How free this night air was. How refreshing. Paris. Now that sounded refreshing.

China and Ukraine shifted awkwardly in their seats when suddenly France broke out into a fit of uncontrollable sobs. She was in horrible condition, her bun sloppily tied and falling out, her hair basicallly a giant frizzy mess, her clothing wrinkled and mismatched, and wearing different shoes on each foot. She hadn't put on makeup or showered that morning. She looked dead. All they could do was hug her.

Then a sudden knock came on the door. Ukraine jumped and shrank in fear, France looked up, terrified, and China took a switchblade out of her pocket.

"Who the hell is that?" Ukraine said, scared out of her mind.

"I don't know anyone with that type of car." France whispered, shaking.

China looked up and gripped the knife. "I don't know who it is but if they even try to touch us aru…"

Ukraine peeked out the window as a second knock came, followed by a voice with a heavy accent.

"Oh. My god." She said, opening the door.

"ARE YOU CRAZY ARU?" China yelled, jumping in front of Ukraine with the knife.

Then she stopped, staring at the figure in the doorway.

"Hola!" he said awkwardly. "I-is France here? It's Spain…"