I do not know Lucy Hale or Ian Harding. This story is purely fictional.
Ian looked at Emma. They were currently sitting in the dining room of her Egyptian style townhouse. Ian thought it was nice, but it wasn't Lucy nice.
Ian remembered the many long nights spent helping Lucy sample various colors of paint on the various bedroom walls of the house they had bought together. Sampling the colors turned out to be the easiest part for Ian. They had finished painting every single room in the house besides their bedroom. They had conflicting interests of what color would go with the carpet of the room, a subtle grey. But long and behold, Ian didn't have a fighting chance when it came to Lucy and her love for bright colors. He let her have her way with it. First it was yellow, then blue, then a blue-ish purple, before back to just blue, and then finally, red.
Ian was brought back into reality with the presence of a very known frown on Emma's face. He furrowed his eyebrows at her, his hands still clenched tightly with each-other. "What's wrong" He questioned, a hint of worry evident in his voice, or maybe it was annoyance. Emma nor Ian could really tell.
Emma shook her head, getting up off the wooden chair she had occupied. Clearing her throat, she walked into the kitchen area. Ian could hear her slamming various cupboard drawers, before he heard her get some sort of dish. She appeared a couple seconds later with a glass of iced water.
"I just.. Can't believe I didn't believe you were innocent" She finally answered, sitting back down. She shook her head once again. "I mean, what lawyer doesn't believe her client is innocent?" She continued, taking a drink of the iced water.
It was now Ian's turn to shake his head, looking at her, he grabbed onto her hand. "You only had what the police told you" He said, trying to somewhat console her. "I was a walking mummy. But, hey.. You got me off" He told her, letting out a grin.
Emma smiled back at him in response. Raising her glass up in the air, before bringing it back down. "I guess I better be showing you where you'll be staying" She said, getting up off the chair for the umpteenth time, and summoning Ian to follow her up a winding white staircase.
The first door on the right was the one Emma swung open when they finally reached the top of the staircase, flipping on the light, she walked into the room.
Ian stood still at the doorway, just observing the room. A twin bed with a plaid black comforter lay in the middle of the gray painted room. Not just any gray, though. The exact same shade of gray Lucy and Ian had once agreed on to paint their room.
"Do you not wanna stay here?" Ian heard Emma ask, as she walked out of the room to stand near him.
Ian shook his head at the woman, scratching his neck. "No, Emma. It's wonderful, and I honestly can't thank you enough." He began to say, snickering lightly as he did. "It's just" He hesitated for a moment before he said the next sentence, "A lot to process, I guess."
Emma nodded her head in agreement, placing her hand supportively on his shoulder. "It'll take some time." She said, "But, hey, I know a good therapist, if you ever feel like getting things out. I mean, three months in solitary confinement cannot be easy. I've seen what it's done to many people. You've taken it the best by far" She told him, taking her hand off his shoulder. "Get some sleep. Bathroom door is the second door on the left. I'm in the room next to it, if you need me" She informed him, before shoving him into the room lightly, and shutting the door.
Ian let out a sigh. Placing his head in his hands. He had no fucking clue what he was gonna do now. His job was gone, His fiance was gone, His house was gone. Practically his whole entire life was gone.
Only now did Ian find out, not seeing Lucy was the easy part; forgetting her was the hardest.
Ian was jolted awake by a shake on the very uncomfortable bed, and a bright light. Opening his eyes to see Emma opening the blinds in the bedroom, he squinted.
"Morning sleepy head" She said, placing a pair of clothes on the bed next to where Ian lay. "Take a shower. Breakfast is on the table. I have to go to the courthouse, ASAP. You can make yourself at home.. Just, don't kill anybody" She told him, winking at him before bidding him farewell.
Ian sat up, grabbing the clothes, before swinging his legs to the side of the bed, and crawling out of it. Yawning, he found his way to the bathroom. Taking a quick shower, and putting on the one size too large clothes Emma had given him, these were either her very stalky ex -boyfriend's, or Ian had lost some fucking weight.
He quickly found out what Emma meant by breakfast, meant a completely different thing to him. All he found on the table was an overripe banana, and a protein bar.
If Lucy was around, he would've woken up to the smell of coffee, and bacon burning on the stove. No matter how hard Lucy had tried, she just could not make bacon. Although, acoording to Ian she could make everything else magnificently. She refused to believe him.
Walking over to the cupboard, and pulling out a glass, Ian quickly got into the fridge, pouring himself a glass of milk. Grabbing the protein bar off the kitchen table, before sitting on the living room couch.
It must've took Ian at least twenty minutes to find the television remote, only to find it laying on the reciever, grabbing it and flipping on the television. He finally made himself comfortable, taking a bite of the protein bar, he didn't even get the chance to chew before he seen his once missing girlfriend Lucy plastered on the screen right in front of his eyes.
"I am so happy to be home. Safe. Healthy... With people who love me" Lucy told the crowd of reporters in front of her. She was looking directly at the camera in front of her, but Ian felt like she was looking directly at him.
Her hair had grown out, past her shoulders. She had lost her baby face, and she now looked like the normal 27-year-old woman. But, Lucy, and Lucy's whole entire story was anything but normal.
"What. The. Fuck." Ian said out-loud to himself, before the sound of pounding on the door made him jump.
Thank you for bearing with me while I was on my lovely shitty writer's block. I hope this slightly longer chapter makes up for it. I know this story is still quite confusing. But, it'll make sense by the end of it. This is only the beginning. Thank you for reading! If you have any suggestions please don't hesitate to let me know, becuase one again this is my first fanfic.
Dun. Dun. Dun. Sadly, no flashbacks in this chapter. But there will be many more, I promise you. Ian and Lucy's backstory is far from finished. I felt like I would now introduce present day Lucy in this chapter, even though she is far from the person she used to be before her disappearance, but don't think the drama ends here. Because it doesn't.
