Disclaimer: I do not own House of Anubis or these characters.

Patricia

"Ryan, hi," I opened the door and smiled awkwardly at my boyfriend. It was the day after I'd seen Eddie, ., and I had to go to work in two hours.

"Hey baby," Ryan grinned, leaning in to kiss me quickly before walking in to the apartment. "How's my girl?"

I tried not to cringe down at the ground as he referred to me as 'my girl'. He had no idea what was coming…

"I'm okay, how're you?"

"I'm good," He smiled, sitting himself down on the sofa. I nervously perched next to him and made sure the obvious mark on my neck was covered with my hair. "In your message you said you had to talk to me…is everything okay?" He frowned in concern and leaned forward to put his hand on top of mine. Nervously, I looked down at his thumb smoothing over mine, and felt so bad in that moment. Guilt settled in my stomach. He was good; he was so good, and I was kicking myself for letting someone that good go. For a moment, I started doubting my decision, but then my phone buzzed in my pocket and I saw a text from Eddie. It said:

Still got my heart set on that trip to Paris, just so u know. Hope it goes well w/Ryan. Xxx

I had to hold back a smile as I put my phone down, pretending to have only checked who the text was from; and when I looked up, Ryan still looked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just…," I stammered out awkwardly, not able to look at him. "I just…I know we've been doing this for a month now, and I don't know how to say this but I just…," just. I needed to stop saying that.
His thumb had stopped moving, and I had to put my spare hand over his just to make sure he didn't pull it away. It was, after all, the last time we'd hold hands. And as much as I knew that I was in love with Eddie, I liked spending time with Ryan; I wished that doing this wouldn't ruin the fact that we would've made good friends.
I continued, my voice nearly shaking. I couldn't stand this. "…I don't think this is working out."

Tentatively, I looked up at him without moving my head and bit my lip. He was looking at me, his face straight apart from a few wrinkles on his forehead, and he was barely blinking.

"Wh—why…? What's not working?" Ryan asked, his voice quite small.

I raised my shoulders. "I don't know," my shoulders fell again, "I just…I have some old feelings that are left from a previous relationship, and I don't think it's right for me to be with you."

A part of me had hoped that he wouldn't fight for me; that it'd just be a quick and painless break up. Of course, I wanted him to act a little sad, but I didn't want him to fight like he did. Because all I wanted to do was get it over with.

"Patricia, I really like you, and I really don't want this to be over with you…"

"I know, and I really liked you too, but it's just not right. I can't go on like this anymore…"

"But I…I think I'm falling in l—"

"Don't say it," I stopped him in his tracks, holding my hand up. "Please, it's just too hard…"

He didn't say anything else to try and stop me. He tentatively leaned forward and kissed me; so gently and so slowly. I didn't want to stop him.

But I knew I had to.

"Stop," I said after I managed to bring myself to pull away. "Don't try and fight for me, Ryan. I'm not worth fighting for."

"Yes you are." Ryan said, looking me in the eyes so seriously. I knew he meant everything he was saying to me, and the painful guilt twisted in my stomach again, reminding me of how bad I'd been to both him and Eddie.

"No, I'm really not," I looked down and he pulled away. "Ryan, I'm so sorry…I led you on…"

"Did you ever have true feelings for me?" he asked suddenly.

I didn't want to look him in the eyes, but I knew I had to. Slowly, I nodded. "I thought I did."

"You thought you did? What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, I did have feelings for you, but I didn't realise I still had feelings for my ex…" Lies. I knew all along I still had feelings for Eddie.

Ryan looked at me for a moment, forehead wrinkled and eyebrows knitted together. He looked my face all over and then pulled his hand away from mine as he stood up off the sofa.

"It's great to know where I stand." He said miserably, not even bothering to look back as he bounded towards the front door and slammed it behind him.

For a few minutes I just stared at the door in disbelief. I couldn't believe what I'd just done, and I couldn't believe that was how it ended. I thought he'd be gracious about it.

I sighed and fell face-first on to the sofa before making a frustrated noise. Idiot, Patricia, I thought to myself, you absolute idiot.

"Patricia," my boss called from inside her office, a couple hours after my breakup with Ryan. "Could you come in here for a moment please?"

Frowning, I pushed my chair back and went in to her office. She was sitting at her desk and staring at her computer screen, wearing smart glasses. Her skin was tanned, as she'd just spent four weeks travelling Europe to do magazine stuff. That was one of the perks of Amanda's job; it took her everywhere, all the time, and she got to see so many places.

When I walked in, she looked up, smiled, and took her glasses off.

"Hi," she smiled. "Would you close the door for me?… Thanks."

I sat down on the chair in front of her desk as she shuffled some papers around.

"Is everything okay, Amanda?" I asked, frowning slightly.

She looked up at me for a moment and smiled. "Everything's fine," she said happily. "I'm just looking for a specific piece of paper. Just give me one… second…" And then she found what she had been looking for, and she settled it down in front of her before looking up at me properly.

"So, Patricia, what I'm about to tell you is confidential information. But I have to tell you and you'll see why in a minute."

"Okay…"

"When I was in Paris last week, the chief of the magazine over there told me how happy he was with my work over here. He then went on to tell me that, thanks to the success over here, he thinks I've done all I can do in the UK branch of the magazine…"

I frowned and crossed one leg over the other. "So…you're leaving the company?"

She bit her lip for a moment, looking up at me from under her eyelashes. "Not exactly," she said before picking up the piece of paper and holding it between two fingers on each side of the paper. "The chief told me that he is now resigning from his position there, and he needs someone to take over. Someone experienced, someone successful…and…he chose me."

My mouth dropped open and my eyes widened. I grinned. "Amanda, that's amazing! Congratulations!"

Amanda laughed lightly, "thank you. I'm really excited."

"When do you go?"

"Well…that's what I wanted to talk to you about," she paused for a moment and I looked at her expectantly. "He wants me to start in two weeks. But that means that I wouldn't leave enough time for this company to find someone to replace me, which is against the rules. Unless, of course, I already have someone to replace me; someone experienced, someone I trust…"

I frowned at her and gave her a sideways look. "I'm not sure what you're implying here…"

Her mouth spread in to a small smile, and she finally turned the piece of paper around and handed it to me. I took it tentatively.

"I want you to take my place, Patricia," Amanda said, smiling gently.

"Wh…what?"

Amanda's smile grew. "I want you to take my place as chief magazine editor for this country's branch. Your pay will at least triple, and you'll be taken around the world every month to all these exciting places. I believe you can do it, and I trust you to take good care of this magazine once I leave."

"Amanda, I…" I laughed slightly, staring down at the contract in front of me. "I don't know if I could do this…"

"I know you can do this; I have total faith in you. Since the beginning, you've stood out to me. Not only does this job have extremely good pay and amazing travel opportunities, it also is guaranteed to last for three years."

I covered my mouth with my hand lightly as I kept my eyes down on the paper. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
Me? A magazine editor? Stuck at this job for three more years?
I mean, I know I wasn't particularly keen on the job itself but the pay is amazing, and the travelling…

"I know it's a big decision, so I'll give you some time to think about it."

Finally, I looked up at her to see she was still smiling, and I started nodding slightly.

"Okay, I'll let you know soon."

"Great."

As I walked out of Amanda's office and closed the door behind me, I took a deep breath and then let it out slowly and shakily.
The job opportunity was incredible, and a once in a lifetime thing. The pay was amazing, and so was the travelling.

But then I realised that despite the fact I didn't really care about the job, there was really only one thing holding me back from this job…

Eddie.

When I got back to my apartment that night, I knew Eddie was already there. He'd texted me to tell me.
And at the time I got the text, it made me feel relieved.
But now, after Amanda gave me this news that I wasn't sure how to feel about, I felt bewildered and like I just wanted to be alone. I had to tell him the news and I didn't know how.

"Hey," Eddie grinned at me when I got home.
I smiled lightly and put my bag down on the floor, my keys on the table, and walked forward in to the living room. He was waiting there for me, his arms spread wide. I smiled gratefully and walked forward to hug him, pressing my face in to his chest.

"Are...you okay?"

"Yeah," I tried to sound convincing, but my voice actually sounded bewildered, and I knew I had to explain it to him. "It's just…my boss just told me something and it's kind of…big."

"What is it?"

"It's, um…I don't know how exactly to tell you this, but, uh…," I faltered, letting out a short, exasperated breath before leaning away from him and taking his hand. I led him to the sofa and we both perched on the edge of it next to each other. He looked at me expectantly. "My boss just told me that she's leaving…for Paris. In two weeks. And…she wants me to take her place."

Eddie's eyes widened. "What!? Patricia, that's great!" He took my elbows but I soon shook them off, looking down because I couldn't stand to see the excited look in his eyes.

"No, it's not great; the job will take me all around the world. Every month, I'll be taken to a new place. And I can't be away from you anymore. We only just got back together, and I can't risk us falling apart again, Eddie. You know that. It's an amazing job, with amazing pay, but I…" my words trailed off when suddenly there was a knock at my door. In a way I was kind of glad because Eddie looked like he was going to tell me to choose my job.

We both stood up.
And when I opened the front door and stared at the familiar guitar-playing boy in disbelief and dread, and saw the look on his face as his eyes found their way to Eddie, I wished I hadn't answered the door. Why couldn't I just rewind ten seconds?

A/N: So, what did you think of Ryan's reaction to the breakup? A lot of you guys were saying you didn't think he was going to take it well, and you were right:') Thanks for reading! Hope you liked this chapter. It was a bit of a dull chapter I guess, but very important to the storyline. Just a fair warning, I think this story is only going to have a few more chapters before I finish it.

I'm nearly at 50 reviews!? Wow...you guys are so wonderful! Thank you so much. Please let me know what you thought about this chapter too; what you liked and what you didn't like. I appreciate every single review.

Hope you all have a wonderful, peaceful Christmas (if you celebrate it!) and a happy New Year. Don't forget the reason for the season! :)

Love :* xxx