Author's Note: I know I told a lot of you that the chapter would be up soon, so I'm sorry it's taken some time. However, as you can see, it is just shy of 6,000 words without this note. I just kept writing and writing. I had so much I wanted to get through, and I hope it doesn't feel rushed. This chapter is just the boiling point that needed to be hit for the real story to start. I hope you all enjoy it. I love talking with you all through messages. I think I've gotten back to everyone. You all provide some great insight, so thank you! So, read, enjoy, and review!

Chapter 2

Will you be here still after the echo of a scream?
Will you be here still after I come clean?

"I'm sorry about the traffic, Miss," the taxi driver apologized to her as they sat in a throng of traffic nearly halfway across town from JFK. "I hope you don't miss your flight."

"I haven't booked a flight yet," she admitted. That had required more planning than she was willing to do. She had to get out of her apartment as quickly as possible. Once Caroline and Bonnie found out about what happened, they would surely try to call her and then look for her at her apartment. She would simply look at the departures when she got to the airport and decide on a flight from there.

Maybe she could go back home to Mystic Falls. She hadn't been there since she was in college. Or she could go down to Savannah, Georgia, where her brother was in school. She could go back to Chicago and maybe stay with a friend for a few days. There were more than enough options, even the choice of going where nobody would think to look for her. She could fly down to Florida, far away from anyone she knew.

Or maybe she could go back to the beginning, make amends for all that she'd done in the past four years. She'd never intentionally caused anyone pain, but she had. She'd left a steady path of heartache in the wake of her path, and it all started with Matt Donovan.

"Oh dear God," Elena mumbled beneath her breath, leaning toward Bonnie so she could hear her. "If this is the engagement party I'm scared for this wedding."

Bonnie laughed as she looked around the grand ballroom filled with a couple hundred people dressed in their finest eveningwear. "I'm not. I'm just a lowly bridesmaid, not expected to do anything."

"You evil little witch."

"Just speaking the truth," Bonnie said unapologetically.

"Ladies." Matt appeared in front of both women, holding out two glasses of champagne for them.

"Oh, free booze." Bonnie perked up even more at the sight of the champagne and snatched a glass from Matt's extended hand. "You're a godsend, Matt."

Elena didn't respond nearly as enthusiastically as her friend, but she was grateful nonetheless. "Thank you." She grabbed the glass from Matt before folding herself into his side. "You know me too well."

"Actually, I think I know Caroline too well," he pointed out with a grin. "She's been looking for you for 10 minutes, but I pointed her in the opposite direction to give you a little extra time."

"Bonnie's right," Elena beamed up at Matt, happy that they were fully back to normal after the last fight. "You are a godsend."

She felt a sense of calm as Matt rubbed a hand down her back. Over the past year the fights had gotten worse, and sometimes her faith in them did waiver. Every time, Matt would come around, and things would return to normal, or at least return to the status quo. Bonnie lectured her all the time about settling with Matt, but she loved him. He was the best guy she'd ever met in her life. How could she walk away from that?

"Elena!" Caroline came rushing through the crowd, a worried expression on her face. "I have been looking all over for you." She threw a frustrated look in Matt's direction. "You really suck at keeping an eye on your girlfriend."

Elena covered her mouth with her free hand to try and hide the smirk pulling at her lips. "What can I do for you Caroline?"

"Did you bring your speech?"

"Crap!" Elena's eyes widened at the reminder that she was supposed to have her speech written out for Caroline to approve. She'd meant to write it down on a piece of paper, but then she'd gotten busy and forgotten. "I'm sorry, Caroline. It slipped my mind."

"Great," Caroline huffed out, rolling her eyes in the process. "First Damon and now you. This is a complete disaster."

"I hardly think it's going to be a disaster." Elena tried to diffuse the situation before Caroline went off the deep-end. "Damon seems charismatic enough, he should be fine. And I have my speech memorized; it's perfectly clean and acceptable. Everything will be fine."

The words of reassurance did nothing to calm Caroline as she practically whimpered in reply. "Why does nobody listen to me?"

"Because it's more fun to watch you freak out like you are doing right now." Damon joined the group along with Stefan, who hit his older brother on the back of the head at his comment. "Ow," he jerked his head away and rubbed gently at the spot where he'd been hit. "I was just joking."

"Be nice," Stefan chided Damon, but it was easy to see the strong bond between the two brothers.

"Fine," Damon rolled his eyes and released a deep, put-upon sigh. "Caroline, I'm sorry for forgetting to prepare a speech. If I promise to play nice will you take it down a notch?"

"Yeah, cause I'm going to believe anything that comes out of your mouth."

"Okay, look." Stefan stepped between Caroline and Damon, ready to try his attempt to broker some form of peace. "Damon should have written his speech out like you asked him to –"

"Cause it's not like I have a job or anything," Damon mumbled beneath his breath, which earned him a pointed look from Stefan that was clearly telling him to keep his mouth shut.

"But," he continued on with a hint of frustration. "He obviously got busy and forgot. We can't do anything about it, so let's just trust that he will be nice in his speech. He's my brother and he wouldn't want to ruin this night for me." Stefan moved his gaze back to Damon, a warning look in his eyes. "Right?"

Damon was silent for a moment before rolling his eyes. "Yeah, whatever, right." Stefan gave Damon a swift elbow to the side. "I'm sorry I forgot to write my speech, Caroline, but I promise to give a very appropriate speech that will not embarrass you or my brother."

Caroline was silent for a moment as she contemplated her options. Damon may have forgotten her instructions, but he had apologized. Sincere or not, he gave her one, and made an attempt at being nice. She could either accept it or continue on with the pointless argument.

"Fine," she finally conceded, but she held up a finger in Damon's direction. "If you get up there and say what you've been saying for the past month, you're out of the wedding. Are we clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good." A beaming smile broke out across Caroline's face, and all the tension left her body. It always amazed Elena to see how easily Caroline could shift gears. She could go from ecstatic to downright livid in less than five seconds. It was an art form. "Okay, you boys can leave now, we need some girl time." Caroline grabbed ahold of Stefan's jacket and pulled him in close for a kiss before shooing the boys away. "You too, Matt, run on."

Knowing better than to argue, Elena looked up at Matt, her bottom lip thrust out in a slight pout. "Sorry."

"It's okay," he told her softly. "I'll go get you some more champagne." He leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her lips before unwrapping his arms from around her and disappearing through the crowd.

"Nice to see that you and Matt are still on good terms," Caroline pondered after the boys had drifted away. "Think you'll survive the next fight?" she asked offhandedly.

"Caroline!" Bonnie exclaimed, eyes wide, but Caroline didn't even bother to feign shock. Subtlety was never one of Caroline's traits.

"I don't think your engagement party is the place to discuss the trials and tribulations of my relationship. We can discuss that over lunch sometime this week."

"Right, my engagement party," Caroline smiled dreamily and held her let hand in front of her face. "I'm getting married."

Elena smiled at the site of her friend admiring her ring. "Never change, Caroline, never change."

"Anyway," Caroline pulled her attention away from her engagement ring and looked back up at her two friends. "I have an appointment to go dress shopping on Thursday at 1, I request your presence."

"You demand our presence," Bonnie mumbled.

Caroline plowed ahead, ignoring Bonnie's comment. "And Stefan and I have decided for the engagement party to be in Las Vegas."

"You decided," Elena said this time, never one to pass up a chance to play this game with Bonnie. They'd been doing it since they were in middle school, and even though it drove Caroline crazy, they continued, because that was the fun of the entire game.

"Would you two stop?" Caroline groaned. "Stefan and I would like to have the party in Las Vegas, we've seen everything here. It's our last hoorah as single people. We have to go out with a bang."

"You have to go out with a bang."

"Ugh, you two are hopeless," Caroline huffed out. "I'm going to go find my family, maybe you two can find some maturity in the meantime."

They didn't even wait until Caroline was out of earshot before bursting into laughter. "That never gets old."

"She really is too easy," Elena agreed.

They both laughed quietly for a moment, basking in the simplicity of their friendship that sometimes seemed lost. Growing up in Mystic Falls they spent nearly every moment of every day together, but age and the real world had changed things. They might still live in the same city, but once they went to different colleges, they made new friends that weren't automatically friends with all three of them. Sometimes they would go two weeks without seeing each other, and there were no more sleepovers or 3-way calls that lasted until the early hours of the morning.

Life happened and they grew up, and even though the friendship had remained, some things had changed. So, when moments like that happened she cherished them, because they did not happen as often as she would like, even if Caroline remained as easy a target tonight as she was a decade ago.

"So, you and Matt really are good?" Bonnie asked after they both quieted down. "You're not just faking it so Caroline won't hassle you?"

"No, things really are good. I figure we'll just keep having the fight until I finally decide what to do with my life."

"Or until he decides he's had enough? Do you think he's tired of having the same fight?"

Elena was thrown off by the bluntness of the question. That was a territory typically occupied by Caroline, a territory that Bonnie was more than happy to let her have. She'd offer advice when asked, but she didn't tend to try and pull answers from Elena or Caroline. That was why the question was so unexpected. Bonnie didn't ask questions like that, which could only mean one thing.

"What are you getting at?"

"Nothing, just wondering," Bonnie quickly insisted before swallowing the rest of her champagne.

"Bonnie," Elena warned, moving so she was fully in front of her friend. "What's going on?"

The petite woman looked like a deer caught in headlights for a moment, before her face fell and she confessed. "Matt might have said something to me the night that Caroline and Stefan got engaged."

She instantly perked up at the news that Matt had said something to Bonnie. He liked her friends just fine, but she wouldn't say they were good friends. He had his friends from school, his own group. He didn't talk about their relationship to her friends; she did that. "What did Matt say?"

Bonnie glanced around to make sure that Matt wasn't anywhere nearby before she leaned in toward Elena. "He'd had a couple drinks and we were talking about Caroline and Stefan getting engaged. We were just joking around and trying to figure out who Caroline would go psycho on first, and he said that he used to be scared of Caroline trying to take over your wedding when the two of you got engaged, but then he said he obviously didn't have to worry about that anymore."

"What does that even mean?"

"That's what I asked him, and he told me that he used to believe you would get married, but now he doesn't think so." Bonnie's words drifted off toward the end, and she could barely hear her, but she heard enough. Matt didn't think they would get married. He didn't think they were going to last. She was just thinking a few minutes ago that her faith had begun to waver with them, should she really be surprised that his would begin to waver as well?

"Do you think he wants to break up with me?"

"No, absolutely not. I think the last thing that Matt wants to do is break up with you."

"Well then why would he say that? I know he's not backing down on the moving in thing, which means he isn't backing down on us getting more serious one day. And if he's not backing down on those, he's backing down on me."

"Like I said, he'd had a couple drinks," Bonnie attempted to defend him, even though most of the time she told Elena she was settling.

"Alcohol is like his truth serum, Bonnie. Unless he's had more than eight drinks, he says the hurtful, true things that he wouldn't say completely sober."

"You don't know that."

"I've been with him for four years, Bonnie, I know him," she snapped, sounding more harsh than she should. "I cannot believe he practically told you that he wants to break up with me, but he's spent the past month acting like everything is fine."

"He never said he wanted to break up with you," Bonnie insisted, reaching forward and placing a hand on Elena's arm. "But, would it really be a surprise if the two of you did break up? You've been having the same fight for months, and it never gets resolved."

Elena stepped back, causing Bonnie's hand to fall from her arm. "I don't want to talk about this here." She started to walk away, but before she got too far, she turned back to Bonnie and said, "You should have told me sooner."

"You two made up, and I thought it was the alcohol talking. I just didn't know how to tell you." She could tell that Bonnie genuinely felt bad, and she honestly didn't even blame Bonnie, she was just the easy target of the moment. She was really angry with Matt and with herself, but she wasn't ready to unleash that anger yet. Instead, she was going to settle with walking away, she would apologize to Bonnie tomorrow.

"Whatever, I'm going to go get some air." This time, when she turned to leave she actually did leave. She wove through the crowd, purposely avoiding Matt or Caroline. She needed a few moments to process the thoughts going through her head. Assuming that Matt really was considering breaking up with her, she had to figure out how she was supposed to face him. Could she really leave with him tonight, and possibly spend her night with him, knowing that he was probably figuring out when the best time would be to end things?

The soft summer breeze met Elena as she stepped onto the grand terrace outside of the ballroom that Caroline and Stefan's engagement party was being held in. If she was lucky, this would buy her 10 or 15 minutes away from everyone. She had to figure out how she would face Matt for the rest of the night. She also had to figure out how she was now supposed to stand up there and give a speech about love when apparently she sucked at it. It didn't help that she wasn't the biggest believer in it all at the moment. Once upon a time she'd thought she had the most solid relationship a person could have.

Things with Matt had always been so easy, until he graduated. It was like the diploma changed everything. He started thinking about all the big things that she wasn't ready to consider, and then he was mad when she'd tell him she wasn't ready. She'd always thought it was better to be honest in a relationship instead of doing something that you don't really want just to please your partner. Apparently, Matt did not have the same idea.

"You have some nerve showing up here, Katherine." Elena froze at the sound of an angry voice on another part of the terrace. She turned to apologize and leave when she realized that it was Damon's voice she'd heard, and thanks to the trees that divided the terrace into two sections, they couldn't see her.

He was dragging a tall brunette behind him who was struggling against his grasp. "Let go of my arm," the woman snapped. "That hurts."

"Stop being dramatic," Damon rolled his eyes, but he dropped her arm nonetheless. "What are you doing here?"

"Congratulating your brother on his engagement, of course." She looked and sounded much calmer now, almost seductive. "I've known Stefan for a long time. It would be rude of me to not congratulate him."

"Well send him a fruit basket. Actually, don't send him anything, because if you think I want nothing to do with you, Stefan wants even less to do with you."

"Aw, has Stefan gotten all protective over his big brother?" the woman that she was assuming to be Katherine leaned closer to Damon and ran one of her hands down his chest. "I thought you had the market cornered on the protective sibling front."

"Yeah, well, he doesn't take too well to women hitting on him when they know he's in a serious relationship. He also isn't too fond of it when the woman is married to his brother. You went barking up the wrong tree, Kat."

"Miscalculation," Katherine shrugged. "Sometimes it even happens to me, although not very often. Then again, you know all about that."

"Yes, I'm perfectly aware of what your extracurricular activities have been." He grabbed Katherine's hand and pushed her away from him. "Get off me. That game doesn't work anymore."

"Really?" she taunted. "Because I think it still does."

"Why would it? I'm not naïve to your tricks anymore. You can't stand me, and don't think for a second that I can stand you. There's a reason you're banned from my building now."

"My building too," Katherine snapped, all pretenses of lust or attraction now gone from her voice and eyes. "I lived there for three years, Damon. You can't just decide that it's yours."

"I had it before I even met you, Kat. My penthouse is completely off-limits. You can go after my money, but you're not getting my house. And you're certainly not getting much of my money. Thanks to me, you make more than enough money to survive. I didn't prevent you from working; I actually helped get you work. You're young; your career is still viable. We were only married for three years, and there are no children. You're not getting spousal support."

"I know how much you make each year, and don't you think for a second that I'm not going after it. I may make a decent living, but it's nothing close to what you make. I've grown accustomed to this lifestyle over the past three years, and that argument actually does hold up in court."

"And how exactly are you going to afford to go after my money? Yeah, you make good money, but you're right, I do make more than you, which means my lawyers are better than yours. And don't forget that everything you have is because of me. I can take it all away." Damon was now the one doing the taunting. "You were just some low-rent model before you met me. You hadn't had a job in two months before I got you a real agent. I gave you everything, and this is how you repay me? Cheating on me? Lying to me? Going after my brother?"

She couldn't see this woman that was apparently Damon's wife very well, but she could see enough to tell that she was furious. Her body was totally rigid and her breathing looked haggard. She knew that Damon wasn't making idle threats, and Elena might not know Damon well, but even she could tell that his threats were the real deal. He wasn't scared to ruin her.

She'd put the pieces together in the last month that Damon had serious issues bubbling just beneath the surface, and knew that he was going through a breakup, but she hadn't pictured this. From the way he acted, she didn't think he'd ever give the idea of marriage a second thought, much less actually marry someone. Yet, apparently he was married, and the divorce looked like it was going to be anything but clean.

"What can I say, Damon? You were an easy mark. Once the game got boring, so did you."

Unable to take any more, Elena slipped back into the ballroom through a different door. She hated to think it, but after hearing that argument and what Damon was dealing with, she'd be a pretty crappy person to be around too.

"There you are!" Caroline came bounding over to Elena moments after she entered the ballroom, pulling Stefan behind her. "Everyone is starting to sit down for the dinner, and Matt has been looking for you everywhere."

"Sorry," she quickly apologized. "I was outside getting some air."

"Oh well, it doesn't matter. We just need to all go sit down." Caroline craned her neck to try and see through the crowd. "Now if only we could find Damon."

At the mention of Damon, Elena looked to Stefan, who was also searching the room for his brother. "He's actually outside too."

"Damon went outside?" Caroline questioned, perplexed by the piece of news. "He never separates himself from the bar."

"He's out there with Katherine."

Stefan's head snapped in her direction, his eyes wide. "Katherine's here?"

"Yeah, they're kind of fighting."

"How did she get in? She wasn't even invited." Elena could now see that Damon wasn't exaggerating when he said that Stefan wanted nothing to do with Katherine. He looked livid at the thought of her at his engagement party. "Caroline, go get security; I'm going to go make sure nothing gets out of hand."

Stefan raced off toward the terrace looking like a man on a mission. She was used to seeing him completely calm and poised. Caroline was the one in that relationship that got angry and upset, not Stefan.

"I can't believe she actually showed up at my engagement party. She threw herself at my fiancé, and really thinks she can show up? Stupid bitch." Caroline turned on her heel and marched off in the opposite direction.

Elena sighed and made her way toward the head table that the bridal party was designated to sit at. She could see that Matt and Bonnie were already seated, along with a couple that Elena didn't recognize. At the painful clench in her stomach, she immediately knew she would need another drink. Stepping outside and getting some air had done nothing to make her feel any better. In fact, after what she just witnessed, she felt worse. With a swift hand, she snatched a glass of champagne off of a passing tray. Between the drama going on with Damon and his divorce and the news that her relationship with Matt was coming to a close, this night was not going well.

"Finally," Bonnie sighed when Elena dropped into the seat next to Matt. "We were beginning to think that everyone decided to ditch the party and forgot to tell us."

"Nope, still here." Elena tipped her head back and finished off the champagne in her glass. "Excuse me," she held up her finger for the waiter passing by. "May I have another?"

The waiter appeared at her side and retrieved the empty glass from her. "Certainly, Miss."

"Great, keep 'em coming."

"Elena," Bonnie hissed and leaned over Matt to be closer to Elena. "What are you doing?"

"Having fun. Why settle for an average party when I can make it great?"

"Caroline is going to kill you."

"Well, at least I won't be able to feel it."

"Where is the damn waiter? I need a drink." All eyes moved toward Damon as he removed his tie and threw it down on the table.

Stefan wasn't far behind him, and was soon sitting down next to his brother, leaving an empty space for Caroline between himself and Elena. "I really don't think that's a good idea right now." Stefan attempted to deter his brother from a drink, but he looked like he could use a strong drink himself.

"Well, I think it's the best idea right now," Damon countered, a challenging look in his eye. He was daring Stefan to tell him not to drink.

"Just do not get drunk," Stefan sighed after a silent standoff with Damon. "Caroline will kill you and then me."

"So, Mason," Damon drawled out, turning his attention to the couple that Elena was not familiar with. "How is married life treating you?"

The man turned to look at the small blonde to his right before looking back at Damon. "Better than it's treated you, or so I've heard."

Caroline slid into the last empty seat at the table, a frustrated expression on her face. "Well, now that that's been handled."

Stefan reached out and ran a comforting hand along her back. "You okay?"

"Well, I didn't slap her and she didn't make a scene, so I'm good. Now, the rest of this night just needs to go off without a hitch." Elena could see Stefan cast a worried glance in Damon's direction, and she could feel Bonnie and Matt eyeing her warily. "Think we can all handle that?"

"Yeah," everyone swiftly answered. Well, everyone minus Damon.

"As long as the booze keeps coming, I'll be on my best behavior, Blondie."

"Don't you dare get drunk, Damon Salvatore," Caroline threatened menacingly. "I will march you back out onto that terrace and throw you off the edge."

"Only if you promise to let me bring Katherine along for the ride."

"I can't believe she had the nerve to show up here."

"Okay," Stefan quickly intervened, desperate to end everything before it started. "That's all over, and we are here to celebrate Caroline and me getting married. Let's just be happy, okay?"

"You know what?" Damon asked. "You're right. You're my baby brother, and you're getting married. I think it's time for my speech."

"Wait," Stefan quickly grabbed Damon's arm before he could stand up all the way. "What are you going to say?"

Damon removed Stefan's hand from his arm. "The truth. You're my brother and you're getting married. I know I'm getting divorced, but that doesn't mean I can't offer some advice."

A tense silence fell over the table as Damon tapped his knife against his glass. "Oh god," Caroline groaned and leaned her head on Stefan's shoulder.

Damon waited until the room quieted down and he had all the attention. "We are all here tonight to celebrate the engagement of my brother Stefan and his gorgeous fiancé Caroline." He paused for the polite clapping before continuing. "Many of you might be thinking that they're a little young, Stefan is only 24, but my brother has always done things on his own timeline. If you don't believe me, ask him how old he was when he started driving."

"No one needs to hear that story," Stefan insisted to the laughing crowd.

"But anyway, a little over a year ago Stefan showed up at my house, telling me about this girl in the English class he's a TA for, and how she practically threw herself at him. So, when he asks for my advice, I tell him to crush her, make her understand that she has no chance. Well, cut to two months later, he shows up on my doorstep again, rambling on about how he thinks he might be in love with the most amazing girl he's ever met. Come to realize, he completely bucked my suggestion, and he's talking about the same girl he was scared of a few months ago. It would appear that big brothers do not always know best, because it seems like it's worked out pretty well for my brother. Really, it just goes to show that first impressions aren't everything. Hell, I'm the poster child for that, right? Meet a girl, think she's nice, turns out she's just biding her time until she can take you for all you're worth. So, word to the wise, get a good prenup, cause believe me, the hotter she is, the dirtier she fights." A collective gasp emanated through the room as Damon raised his glass in the air. "To Caroline and Stefan. May marriage treat you better than it treated me."

"You are such an asshole." Caroline pushed her chair back from the table so quickly, it was almost a blur of blonde hair and blue fabric as she jumped from her chair and rushed from the room.

Stefan was stunned into silence for a moment, his eyes darting between his brother and the door his fiancé had just disappeared through. Finally, he stood from his chair, making the decision to go after Caroline. "Thanks a lot, brother," he coldly said to Damon as he passed by.

Any other night Elena would be shocked into silence, and then thrust into outrage on her friend's behalf, but tonight, she understood where Damon was coming from. She'd heard his argument with Katherine, and she was staring down the barrel of a horrible breakup herself. Sure she believed that Caroline and Stefan were as perfect for each other as two people could be, but most people didn't have that luck, and that sucked.

"Did I miss something?" Matt whispered into her ear as another glass of champagne was deposited in front of her.

"Yeah, relationships suck and people don't always surprise you in the way you want them to."

"Cheers to that." Damon held his glass out in her direction, which she happily clinked her champagne glass against.

Matt pulled the glass from her hand as she was pressing it to her lips, causing a few drops to spill down her chest. He set the glass down on the table and turned to face her. "What has gotten into you?"

Elena rolled her eyes and grabbed her glass of champagne back from the table. "One, never steal a bartender's alcohol. Two, I don't want to have this conversation right now."

"Getting wasted never ends well when you're pissed, Elena. Contrary to what you think, you're only a fun drunk when you're not angry beforehand. Sadness, being upset, you're fine, but any anger, and you're miserable, so put the drink down."

"You don't tell me what to do." She downed the remainder of her champagne and set the empty glass on the table. "But wait, that's our problem, isn't it? I never do what you want me to do. I don't move in with you. I don't get engaged. I don't get married."

"That's what this is about?"

"I don't know, why don't you tell me." She turned cold eyes on him, but the moment she saw the confusion and pain in his gaze, something broke free past the anger. When she looked at him right now she knew that he loved her. There was no doubt in her mind that Matt loved her more than anything, but after hearing what he'd said to Bonnie, she was realizing that no amount of love in the world meant that their relationship would last.

She knew that the fights had been hard on him, they were hard on her as well, but she'd thought they were worth it. She believed that she would wake up one day and be ready to take that step with him, but the reality was that he might not want to wait around for that day anymore. He didn't want to wait around for her, and that was on her. Matt's wants and needs for the relationship had changed, but she couldn't be mad about that. He'd graduated law school, and was moving on with his life. She was the one stuck in a holding pattern and wanted him to stay there with her.

All this time, Bonnie had been telling her that she was settling with Matt, but wasn't she asking him to settle for her too? She just expected him to wait for her to be ready. She was expecting for everything to happen on her time schedule. She was perfectly content to brush the fighting under the rug as long as he came back to her with the answer that she wanted to hear, but she wasn't the only one in this relationship. Maybe it was time that she truly understood that.

"Hey, talk to me." Matt's worried voice pulled her out of her thoughts, and it was only then that she realized she was crying. She could feel the tears falling from her eyes, and Matt was looking at her like she was going to breakdown at any moment.

"I thought we were happy," she finally choked out. Before he could respond, she pushed her chair back from the table and rushed from the room.