Sorry for not updating when I said I would. It's just that this chapter is really important and I was having the hardest time finding inspiration. Eventually I managed to get it finished but I must confess that it's not my best chapter. This kind of chapters are hard to write. So anyways, here's the answer to Heather's question. Please leave a review!
Chapter 29
Heather remained with one knee on the sand, in her face a hopeful look as she waited for the girl she loved to answer her question. Naya's face hadn't changed, she still had the same out of this world shocked face. She felt she had to say something, as millions of thoughts raced through her mind which actually made her speechless. She tried saying something but it was as if no voice came out of her throat. Naya struggled to keep afloat, when panic entered her body and made her surrender.
"Heather please tell me you are not doing this" she managed to get out eventually.
The smile that had been plastered in Heather's face disappeared immediately. "What... What do you mean?" she asked still in one knee.
"Stand up Heather, don't do this right now" Naya's voice sounded serious but faltered at the end showing her true state of mind.
"You haven't answered my question" Heather said quietly. All her hope had suddenly washed away completely.
"Stand up Heather, please" Naya pleaded, tugging on her arms so she would stand up.
"Not until you answer me" Heather felt that she needed to sit down rather than stand up, she was starting to feel sick.
"Please Heather, please" Naya begged as the first tears started to leave her eyes. Hemo gave in and stood up, only to sit back down in her chair and closed the ring box with her hand.
"Heather you can't do this to me" her voice small and broken.
Heather's mind really hadn't registered what was going on and she was having a hard time understanding what Naya was saying as her head started spinning. "I asked you to marry me."
"Yes and I can't do this" Naya kept repeating, all her fear and panic that she had felt at the beginning of the relationship came rushing back. Why was Heather doing this, they hadn't even talked about it. They had only been dating for 10 months and living together was going great, why did she have to do that and rush things.
"Is that you're answer Naya, are you telling me that you can't marry me?" Heather asked scared out of her mind.
Naya ran her hand through her hair in frustration; she didn't even know what to say. "Why Heather, why are you doing this to me?" The tears continued to fall down her cheeks.
"I'm doing what to you? I'm doing this because I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I don't understand what's the problem here" Heather's eyebrows were scrunched up together in clear show of everything she was feeling.
"Why now, we have been dating for only ten months, we were ok" Naya stressed, she didn't even know what to say anymore, she was losing her mind.
"Were?"
"It's too soon"
"We're living together, isn't it the next step?"
"No! Why can't we just stay like this, why do you need to make everything so damn serious!" she knew she shouldn't have yelled but the fear was taking her over.
"What have I done serious, Naya there are two people in this relationship" Heather felt hurt, Naya had never yelled at her before, they had never fought about anything.
"Everything! Ever since we started dating it's been a rush to you, we had only been dating for a month in Cabos and you were already talking about forever, you asked us to move in when we had only been going out for six months, and now this. This is too big, everything is too big!" Naya was clearly getting out everything she had been holding since that day in the beach.
"What are you even talking about? This is an adult relationship; it is expected for things to move forward!" Heather felt angry at Naya now, it was a feeling that felt foreign to her, she and Naya had always been so steady.
"Yes but not so fast! Why can't we just slow down and live in the moment, why do we have to rush into things! Heather, I'm 25 and for the first time things are doing ok, I like my life, I don't want to ruin it!"
"And being with me is going to ruin your life?" Heather's heart ached.
"No! This is not about you, this is about getting married. We are not ready!"
"I am! I have never felt more certain about something in my life. Naya I love you and I don't know why you are feeling like this, this was the next step!"
Naya felt even worse when Heather told her she loved her, she didn't know what to respond, so she remained silent, wiping the anger and everything tears that were still falling down her face.
"Don't you love me?" Heather was starting to feel depressed, she had woken up that day and thought it was going to be one of the best days of her life and nothing was going according to the plan, it didn't look like this was going to end ok.
"How could you even ask that, of course I love you" Naya closed her eyes with her eyebrows still knitted together.
"Then what's stopping you from doing this? I don't think you realize all of what I went through to be with you" Heather accused, the frustration getting to her.
"All of what you went through to be with me? Heather, you were the one that kissed me first, if you hadn't nothing of this would have happened!"
"Are you saying you would have preferred if I hadn't fallen for you?"
"No! Of course not!" Heather wasn't making sense and Naya felt that she could lose it at any minute, "I don't regret falling in love with you! I'm just saying that it happened for a reason but once I accepted what I felt, I went to you,while you went with Taylor".
"But I broke up with him, even though he promised a lot more than you are right now. I broke up with him because I knew you were the one for me. I knew I wanted to spend my life with you. I had everything Naya, I was going to get married soon probably, I was going to have a family. I gave it all up for you because I knew that I could still do all those things with you even though it wasn't ideal. And most importantly because I just couldn't live without you anymore."
More tears streamed down the Latina's face, how did everything became so messed up. "I can't do this Heather, please understand."
"No! I don't understand, why can't you do this, you were going to get married eventually, why wait if we love each other" Heather said stubbornly.
"It's not that easy; can't you see how it's killing me that I can't give you the things I would want to give you? But I can't do this, it's too soon, I'm not ready. It's just too much" Naya clenched her hands together while her eyes burned from so many tears.
Heather started crying as the very slow recognition hit her, Naya wasn't going to marry her, but she needed to be sure. "Is that your final answer? Is that a no?" her voice sounded so broken that Naya's stomach ached.
"Can we do this later? I think we need to cool off."
"No! We can't do that; I need an answer right now!" Her voice sounding louder but equally pained.
"Why can't you let this go?"
"Because I'm not that person, you of all people should know that! I can't be stuck in the same thing, I need to move forward. This is who I am!" Heather shouted; she had never felt so impotent in her life.
"Please Heather" Naya begged.
"No Naya! Give me an answer!" she banged the table with her hand causing all the plates to jump and made a loud noise. The brunette flinched with the noise but remained quiet.
Naya brought her hands to her face, trying to control the sobs coming from her mouth. Her face completely broken, "I can't Heather, I can't".
A fresh load of tears streamed down the blonde's face, how could Naya do this to her. After all that they had been through, why was she so scared? "Even if that means us breaking up?"
Heather couldn't be doing this. "Can't we see past this? C'mon Heather"
"No, we can't. You need to decide" Heather said calmly but it was clear that if she said anything else she would break down completely.
Naya closed her eyes as more tears streamed, the cold ocean wind swept through her and she felt the wind penetrate her bones, ending the trip on her heart. She couldn't believe that all she knew for almost a year, was going to end like this.
"I love you, but I can't do this. My answer is no" she said quietly. She turned to look at Heather who had her gaze down, a tear falling from her eyes.
"Well then I guess that's it" she said so broken that Naya felt like she was going to surrender, but she pulled herself together.
"I guess so" she replied.
Heather felt extremely sick and she actually wanted to throw up. They remained silent for a minute until Heather couldn't bear it anymore and said, "You should leave".
Naya didn't say anything else, she just grabbed her purse and lifted from her chair, taking a step forward. She turned to look at Heather who had her gaze in the ocean. Walking until she was out of the beach, she looked back and saw Heather kneeling on the sand, her hands in her face, crying uncontrollably. It was over.
She was out the house and on the sidewalk, she just had to get out of there. But the problem was that she couldn't go back to her house because what if Heather returned there, it was unlikely, but being there without her would just hurt too much. She had an early flight in the morning to Toronto for a fundraiser event with the Sunshine Foundation and at that moment she was glad. She needed to get away, but she needed to spend the night somewhere. Unfortunately Heather had driven there with her car so she needed to find a way to get back to LA. She couldn't call a taxi because she didn't want any paparazzi to arrive, and she couldn't call Lea or even Kevin, they were too close to Heather. She dialed the number of the only person who could help her right now.
"Hey, I know it's late but I need your help" she waited while the other person replied.
"Can you come and pick me up?"
"Where are you?" The other voice sounded.
"Malibu" she answered apologetically.
"Text me the address, I'll be right there"
"Thank you, John, I don't know what I would do without you."
They hung up and Naya waited nervously for John, afraid that Heather would show up and see her there. Her head was spinning with everything that had happened in less than an hour. She was happy, how did it all get so messed up?
Fortunately for her, John arrived in less than 20 minutes; she guessed that he was relatively close. Heather didn't come out but Naya felt that those short minutes were the longest of her life.
"Hey, what's wrong?" John asked concerned opening the door of the car from inside as Naya stepped in.
"We broke up" she said broken.
John turned to look at her, trying to comfort her but he didn't know what to say. "Oh Naya..."
"It's ok, can we get out of here? I really don't want to be here, or talk about it"
"Yeah, sure let's go."
Naya stared out the window as she let all the tears she had been holding up, roll down her face.
Heather was in the sand, her legs wrapped up in her arms, rocking slightly, when Dianna found her, almost two hours after Naya had left. She had called her to see if everything had gone according to the plan and when Heather had picked up, thinking it was Naya, and the only thing she could hear where uncontrollable sobs, she knew that things hadn't turned out as expected. She took her to her apartment where Heather kept crying rivers and more or less, managed to tell Dianna what had happened.
Heather felt like crap, like her whole world was falling apart. Her heart ached for Naya, but she still couldn't believe what she had done to her. Why all of a sudden had she been so insecure of the relationship? Why hadn't she said anything? Why did it have to end? At some point she stopped crying and when Dianna offered her food, she declined it. Dianna was really worried about her and she let her crash in her bed as she cried herself to sleep. Heather had made her promise that she wouldn't call Naya to tell her where she was and that if she called she wouldn't pick up. Dianna's heart broke at the sight of her friend so broken and small. Heather had always been a very optimistic person, with a smile always on her face; it scared her that she wasn't going to be ok. But she needed to be there for her even if Naya was also her friend. She never imagined them breaking up and with so much hurt. She didn't know what was going to happen next, but she wished for things to get better.
A/N: I'm so sorry for this! Please don't hate me! *evades flying objects* I also hate our favorite couple broken up, but this couldn't be a story without some trouble. I am a big believer in happy endings so don't worry too much. The story has not been finished writing so I myself don't even know what to expect. But more chapters to come, I promise. Next chapter on Sunday for sure!
Please leave a review even if it's to tell me how much you hate me for doing this.
