Title taken from the song "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Walk off the Earth

Chapter 10: That Was Love and It's an Ache I Still Remember

They were sitting on the couch watching T.V. in total silence. The tension in the room was thick. She could feel it flowing around their bodies as they faced away from each other. Sarah glanced at the brooding black haired man sitting next her. Today was different than most days with him. Today he seemed more engaged in his thoughts. His brow furrowed as he concentrated, she was sure he wasn't really watching the T.V. but merely fighting some inner battle. The tone of his skin seemed more pale than usual. He always had this sun kissed glow to him but the paleness made the tattoos on his arms look shades darker than they were.

She felt this would be the last time she would look at him before he said what was on his mind. She studied his face, his posture, the rise and fall of his chest as he sat little ways from her. He was trying to stay indifferent. The conversation was coming and she knew, she knew for a long time. She took his hand in hers only to have it be pulled away. She had expected that but didn't press her actions further. To her surprise he instead pulled her over into an embrace. She let her head rest on his chest as she curled up next to him. The beat of his heart was steady. If this was going to be the end she would take this one last embrace. Sarah sat and waited for him to speak.

"I've been seeing someone else." His voice was composed.

Just as she expected no matter how much she prepared herself for the blow she felt her heart rip from her chest. It hurt.

"Annabelle?" She said trying to sound as nonchalant as he was. She didn't need to look at him to know that he responded with a nod. "How long?"

"A little after you're birthday."

She suspected as much. She knew exactly when they had started to sneak around. She came home one day and saw that he was more content than ever. The only time he looked that way was during the first two years of their relationship when they had new things to discover about each other back when she was the one he loved.

"Do you love her?"

Silence.

Her heart sank.

"Yes."

She didn't want him to see her cry. She rarely cried in front of people. Sarah was taught to be a strong woman and deal with her emotions in private or not deal with them at all and that was what she did. She would wait until she was alone but even by then she would probably rather not think about it.

Sarah moved away from his embrace and sat up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. He followed after her. She turned to face him not knowing what to say to him. He loved her friend. He probably loved Annabelle more than he ever loved her.

He spoke "I'm going back home in the morning to be with her. I have an early flight." From the look on his face he was waiting for her to explode to go off into a rant. She wasn't going to do that. She wasn't that kind of girl to cause a scene. She would let him go unscathed deep down she knew they were beyond talking this out. So she said her final word.

"Okay."

That was all she could say. They were drifting apart for the longest time. They were both unhappy with each other. She knew that it was impossible for two high school sweethearts to stay together. It was puppy love that should have ended the moment they had left school. At least he wasn't being a jerk about it. He retreated back into the other room and soon enough she heard the front door shut.

There she stood in the kitchen of her new apartment…alone.

The memory was still fresh in her mind. Everything she didn't feel that day came back to her ten-fold as she sat in her living room. Even after all those months that had passed by she was sure the whole ordeal didn't mean a thing to her. She was wrong; the wall she built around her heart that night was pouring every emotion she felt into her consciousness.

Tears stained the letter she held in her hand and all she could look at we're the two words that stuck out to her the most. Her mind was going a hundred miles a minute.

Married? Baby?

After only 5 months of being with her he was willing to take the plunge just like that? That didn't make sense. You can be with someone for six years and not marry them but be with someone for 5 months and marrying them is okay? Sarah stared at the letter she held in her hand. Jesse her ex-boyfriend had gotten married to her ex-best friend. Annabelle was going to have a baby.

She had been rereading the letter over and over again for the past hour. Sitting on her couch hugging her knees close to her chest Sarah sat in silence going over everything. From start to finish what had went wrong in their relationship. She had given up everything to be with this man and yet nothing she did was good enough for him.

After high school they were constantly together so maybe that was why the relationship had failed. They saw too much of each other. The first few months they had lived together they were in the honeymoon stage everything was okay. That was also when things had changed and he was no longer the sweet, caring, somewhat bad boy she had known back in school. No he turned into a complete asshole.

When it came time for both of them to get a job it was her that had to make the sacrifice of dropping out of school, to support them both. No matter how hard she had tried to tell him to get a job it always ended up in a huge argument. He had always told her that she wanted to change him into something he wasn't. Maybe she was but what was wrong with having someone to care for her unconditionally. That was all she ever wanted but every single time he would only care for her for something in return.

After six long years with him she just stopped trying to earn his love and except the relationship for what it was. She had intentions of leaving him every time he acted like a jerk to her. The way she felt about him, the love she had for him, wouldn't let her. He was something familiar, she was comfortable with him. To start all over again with someone else was foreign to her. She didn't want anyone to have to repair the damage that Jesse had inflicted on her, so she stayed.

The fact that her friend had known her since they were kids didn't matter. Annabelle always got what she wanted. Sarah didn't exactly fight for him either she simply sent him on his merry way.

She didn't realize how much she could hate a person. Could she really hate him? Could she hate him for finding love with someone else? Her answer: YES! She could hate he was cunning, egotistical, jerk who treated her like shit and just dumped her like nothing they went through for those last few years meant anything.

She wasn't going to let that happen again. She wasn't going to be anyone's puppet. She wasn't going to give her heart to someone and have them step on it again. She would break in two if it happened again. If anything were to happen this time she wanted to make sure it was real. For now she would remain independent in her love.

Sarah wiped the tears from her eyes as she threw the letter on the floor. Just because she was over it didn't mean it didn't hurt just a little to find out her ex had moved on. Moving from the couch she went to get paper and a pen. Other matters in the letter needed explaining, that, she wasn't sure she could do either.

It was always her mother that could make her feel the most contrite about her own actions. She had only written her a week ago and didn't expect a response so fast. She knew she would have to explain herself eventually but she didn't know how she was going to do that. Should she call her? She had her reasons for leaving but to actually voice her reasons why would make everything seem too real. She wasn't ready for that.

On her way to her room Sarah stopped mid step when a knock came from the door.

The day had just begun and already it was a bore. Jade was off at work and Tom was left in the big condo all by himself. The past few days were rather pleasant Jade spent all day and night tending to his every need. Tom had no idea what had gotten into her. She hardly ever spent the night at his flat but for the past four days she had been there sleeping in his bed. He would wake up to her in his arms and go to sleep the same way.

He would be lying if he said he hadn't thought about Sarah. He was surprised when Jade had told him she had given Sarah the week off. He felt a little crushed that he wouldn't be able to see her until the next Monday. He had been listening to his "birthday playlist" non-stop since that morning.

Every dream since then was about her. In his dreams he could smell her fruity scent and feel the touch of her skin on the tips of his fingers. The rush of blood to his manhood always caused him to take cold showers. He refused to take care of it while Jade was there. It was bad enough that he was dreaming about Sarah when Jade was lying in the bed next to him.

Tom got up from the couch and picked up the CD case. He missed her. Maybe if he saw her for an hour or two he could get through the rest of the week. Would that seem unprofessional of him to just go to her flat and say hello?

Setting the case on the shelf he sat back down on the couch and turned the T.V. off. The silence made way for his thoughts. He wanted to see her. He wanted to hear her laugh and see her smile. He felt like a school girl waiting for her crush to say hi to her.

He was going to go see her. Jade wouldn't be home until late that night so it wouldn't matter if he left or not. She wouldn't notice. He could just take Sarah out to lunch in appreciation for planning his birthday and nothing else would be thought of it. He didn't want to feel like he was going behind Jade's back, so if she asked he would tell her he just took Sarah out to lunch. Yes, he was going to visit Sarah today.

Tom got up from the couch and literally ran into the bathroom to shower. He turned on the water undressed himself and quickly washed. Once he dried off he wrapped a towel around his waist and began to shave. He hadn't seen Sarah in days and he wanted to look his best for her. With a clean shaved face he brushed his teeth and combed his hair, molding it to his liking with a little bit of gel. All the while he was getting ready he was wishing he really was a wizard for he couldn't get ready fast enough. He walked into his closet and picked out grey printed t-shirt, a black leather jacket and a pair of jeans and a pair of black converse.

After looking over his appearance for what seemed like the millionth time in the mirror Tom was in his car heading towards Sarah's flat.

XXXX

Tom paced outside her door for five minutes before getting up the courage to knock, he was so nervous to see her again and wanted to make sure his excuse to be on her door step was full proof. The door opened and there she was. All the excuses were wiped clean from his mind as he took in the sight of her. Her eyes were swollen and a little red. Had she been crying? She looked at him and smiled. It was the same smile she always gave every time she saw him so he knew that despite her melancholic appearance, she was genuinely happy to see him.

"Hey Thomas" She smiled with a little hint of pink rushing to her cheeks. "Not to sound rude or anything but what are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighborhood and thought I would just stop by and see how you're doing?" he improvised even though it was half true he did want to know how she was.

"Come in." she said stepping aside so he could enter.

Tom observed her flat from where he stood. It was big but smaller than his condo. In the small hallway where he stood were a small room that held her washer and dryer a little ways down you entered into the kitchen and dining room area. On the right was the kitchen, it had nice black marble counter tops with a small island, stainless steel appliances and cherry wood cabinets. The other side of the kitchen held a breakfast bar set for three. To the left stood her kitchen table and a door leading to her room he guessed.

She led him into the living room. Tom noticed three steps separated the living room from the kitchen/ dining area. He followed Sarah to a huge sectional couch; two people could lay comfortably next to each other and still have enough room to move around.

Sarah motioned for him to sit down as she bent over to pick up a piece of paper off the floor placing it back into the envelope and set it on the coffee table. This went unnoticed by Tom. As she lay back on the couch she rubbed her eyes, her smile was gone. She seemed a little glum. There must have been some bad news on that paper.

"Are you okay?"he asked fighting every urge to comfort her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her body and just hold her.

" Yeah, why do ask?" she said turning to look at him.

"You seem a little sad." He looked at her and saw her eyes turn glossy. She was trying hard to hold back her emotions. Seeing the pain in her eyes made him hurt for her. He wanted to know why had got her down.

"I'm just a little home sick that's all, but it's nothing I can't handle." She laughed as her smile surfaced again. She blinked her eyes and all her hurt was gone. Like a switch she was back to being happy again but with a glimmer of hurt in her eyes. Tom was not falling for her sudden change of emotion be he would let it go for now.

"Come on" he said as he got up from the couch with much enthusiasm.

"What?"

"I'm going to help you not be homesick." Sarah stared at him like he was a crazy person but humored him with a response.

"How do you plan on doing that?" she said swiftly removing herself from the couch coming face to face with him. He had to admit she had a gorgeous look to her post cry.

"Well first I'll need you to get ready for a day out." Tom steered her in the direction of her bedroom.

"Tom really! It's okay I'll be fine. I-" She pleaded before being cut off

"No, now come on. I haven't got all day." He pushed her into her room and shut the door.

Tom couldn't help but smile at the fact that he was going to be the one to cheer her up. If she felt homesick he didn't want her to feel like she had to return to the states. He wanted to show her everything that London had to offer if it would keep her with him longer.

Tom looked a little more at her flat the walls were bare save for large picture of France placed above her couch. Beside two large French doors sat a bookshelf. The bookshelf held a couple of books, CDs, movies, small flower shaped tea candles, and a small ceramic elephant. Of all the things on the shelf he noticed there were no pictures. Not of family or friends.

After being shoved into her room she decided it was best just to get ready. She didn't want to feel down the whole day and was glad that she was going to be spending the day with Tom even if he did think he was cheering her up for being homesick.

Sure she should talk about what was going on but she wasn't one to burden other people with her troubles. There were only two people she could trust and they were both miles away. Sarah found that only friends could bring trouble and every time she found one they always proved to cause drama. Girls were deceiving, telling them personal things would only lead to disaster especially if it was something that was only meant to be kept between two people. Girls would go to extreme links to make other girls feel like they had to fear them. Sarah was done with that she trusted who she wanted to trust and there were very few people that had that trust.

She had no problem being friends with Tom for two valid reasons, one being that he didn't ask too many questions about her and another being that there was zero drama. Sarah had been through too much over the years and had finally come to point of peacefulness. She was happy where she was which is why she couldn't let her little crush become anything more. She was sure that someone else would come along and help her forget about being interested in a man who was taken.

Sarah quickly got ready for the day out not being sure on what to wear. She figured she would go by Tom's example of casual attire. She picked out grey washed skinny jeans a black off shoulder top that hugged her waist and fell a little loose on the top added with a tank top underneath and black flats with cute little bows on them. She fixed her hair in big loose curls bunched to the side in a side ponytail with her bangs falling to the side; she only put on a small amount of make-up on and was ready to go.

Stepping out of her room she saw Tom sit on the couch fiddling with his phone. Once he looks up he stands quickly and smiles at her. That smile always made her heart skip a beat.

"Are you ready to start our adventure?" He asks.

"Yep all ready. So what do you have planned?"

"Oh you know a little bit of this a little bit of that." He says not elaborating on what this or that is.

Sarah looks at him for a moment wondering what he was up to. She hadn't ever really spent much time with him outside his flat. It was going to be an interesting day. A day she could use to forget about everything else.

"Alright well I guess I'm yours for the day."

A/N:Thanks for reading now please Review! Hopefully I will have time to put the next chapter up next week. I know this chapter was uneventful but the next should be to your liking I hope. Happy Reading unitl then!