I observed the beautiful evening sky, watching as it split in half and formed colors such as maroon, orange, and lavender, which danced around the clouds. My feet dangled from the rooftop of the set building, about fifty dozen feet separating my petite body from the ground. I had no intention of jumping and splitting my head open, but nearing such danger animated me. I looked away from the sunset and down to where the parking lot resided. The cars looked like the size of caterpillars — different colored caterpillars, to be exact.

Days passed since Amanda's threat. I hadn't said a word to anyone about the situation. Not to Troian, not to Ian, not even to Shay. I'd conceal this secret like my entire life depended on it, and for that to happen, I had to stay away from Ian. The decision was challenging to make, but when I came home that day to see her weeping in her pillow, I knew I'd be classified as a devil for being the person to expose her. I couldn't do it, I wouldn't.

I kept my distance from Ian without making my intentions blatantly apparent. I enjoyed my time with him on set so it'd seem like nothing was wrong, and I'd decline his invites with excuses. I had my album to keep me busy, and more importantly, to cerebrate. I had no one to talk to. Speaking through my music was the only way I could express myself and write about him.

A breeze picked up, whipping me in the face and almost sending me back to the concrete ground behind me. It was a much smaller fall than from ahead of me, but hazardous nonetheless. I brushed back flyaway strands of hair from my face and tucked them behind my ear securely. I began humming one of my songs, looking back up at the sunset, which gradually changed a darker color to match the upcoming nightfall.

"Don't you know, I want you with me," I sang, "and it ain't just 'cause I'm tipsy."

She won. Amanda won. I hated saying it. I could barely say it all, more so because it made me sick to my stomach. But the truth was looking at me in the face. Evil prevailed this time, and she used my humanity as my weakness.

"You're not going to jump, right?"

I looked back, almost losing my stance on the edge at the sight of Ian closing the rooftop door behind him and approaching me. He slipped his hands in his jean pocket, keeping his gaze on me.

"No," I answered, almost stuttering in the process. "Just sitting."

I tore my eyes from him and back at the sky, where the moon was suddenly visible and there was a maximum of twenty minutes before darkness would engulf us and our shadows. It was beyond breathtaking, much like Ian. The difference was I could pour out my soul for my love of sunsets.

"Can I join you?" he asked, keeping an approximate distance away from me. Of course, I wanted him to join me. I wanted him to sit next to me, talk about life, share a joke with me. I wanted to tell him how I felt about him, I wanted to entangle my body with his and borrow a kiss. But I couldn't.

"I don't think that's a good idea," I shrugged, avoiding his imminent fixed stare.

"So... do you want me to go?"

"Not really."

I falsified my affinity of the air, looking around; looking anywhere aside from him. I knew he'd suspect something at that point, but what else was there for me to do? His girlfriend had paparazzi as friends and they were doubtlessly taking candids of us from the parking lot, more than prepared to cruise over to her place and hand over information in hopes of getting a chunk of her fortune. I wasn't going to risk it. I writhed at the thought of seeing Troian's name in the headlines, but I had to keep it in mind when I was around Ian, for my impulses weren't controllable when I was with him. They were unmanageable, even for me.

I shuddered when I felt his firm hand encircle my arm serenely.

"What's going on?" he asked, almost whispering. "Did I do something wrong?"

At those words, a pang of stigma and guilt hit me severely. I had two choices I could say, and either wouldn't work well for me. For one, I could tell him that he didn't do anything and make him a liability to my friend's downfall. On the other hand, I could tell him he did do something, which would force him to leave.

I closed my eyes and bit my tongue, attempting to compel my imminent tears away. When my eyelids fluttered open, I knew it was too late. They had escaped and were rushing down my face. I muttered a curse word under my breath and ferociously attacked my cheeks with the back of my hands to reduce the flow, but it didn't matter anymore. He had seen me cry. It might have been meaningless to someone that wasn't me, but my pride was held by my lack of emotion.

"Hey," he breathed, "hey, what is it? What's wrong?" He raised his hand to my cheek to wipe something away, but I instinctively swatted at him, almost losing my balance from the ledge in the process. My heart pounded faster than before, but I wasn't going to get off. He steadied me, slithering his arms around my waist from behind and bringing me into the heat and protection of his body. We sat for a while, the only sounds being heard were my half-muted sobs and the occasional buzzes from traffic in the distance.

"Whatever it is, I can help," he said, more pleadingly than advantageously, as if he owed me. I could feel the heat of his breath against my ear, nearing my neck as he furrowed his chin within. Whether it was on purpose or not, he was being completely irresistible. If I hadn't been thinking about Amanda — a real mood-killer — there's a chance I would have forgotten about my deal.

"You can't help." I pulled his hands away from my waist and gave him a nudge to send him back.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because you don't love me!" I exclaimed impulsively, turning my head to show him how serious this path was from my eyes. His tensed face softened a bit, but the startled look remained planted in his features.

"Who says I don't love you?" he asked in a demanding tone.

"But you don't love me the way I love you."

For a second, I could have sworn that time had stopped, just like the beating of my heart. The sounds of the blaring cars ceased to exist. My chest heaved higher than mountains and lower than the plates of the earth. The only thing that mattered was Ian and his speculation. How I managed to let that slip out, I had no clue. But it powered me enough to repeat what I said before — only more precisely.

"I love you, Ian."

One of my legs swung over the ledge so my feet weren't dangling from the ledge anymore, only straddling it and using my hands on the brick rim to support myself. I had to get a good look at him, and I almost scared myself from doing so. Nothing besides a couple of centimeters separated us. He reached for my hand, clutching it gently with two of his as a consoling smile crossed his face. He appeared to be gratified, unlike his tense condition prior to my confession. His chin was trembling, just like mine was.

"I—"

I heard a creak, followed by the sound of a slamming door. From behind Ian's shoulder, I could see a raging fiancee marching to take her utmost darkest steps she could possibly take. Before I knew it, I saw my fate suspend when she zoomed towards me, the deathly fire in her eyes blazing red, and used all of her strength to push me off the ledge of the rooftop.

A/N: okay, don't kill me for this cliffhanger (no pun intended). I had just figured i haven't done one in a long time and i wanted to bring that back because why not? i'm just going to leave it here and let you guys wonder what'll happen next. this is a really short chapter and i'm sorry, the next ones will be much much longer, i promise. for the shay/amanda questions and comments, you will definitely learn about their backstory in due time. there's just a lot of drama that i'm planning to add before that comes up, so watch out for that history in the later chapters. heads up, i'll probably either update really soon aka tomorrow or i won't be updating until this weekend because i'll be at small vacation thing with my friend for a few days. sorry this is a really long author's note omg ok bye for now