Chapter 13

So it's done. I no longer have a best friend. I no longer have someone who I can go to for help or even for some advice. Of course, I do have God. But around me, physically, no one. Absolutely nothing. It feels like I'm alone all of the sudden again—like Creek isn't even here with me right now. Everything just feels empty; my heart is beating slower than a clock's ticking. I just wish my heart would just stop beating, stop pumping blood into my veins. I wish I had nothing left anymore; I just wish I could just stop breathing at this moment. But I have to be careful for what I wish for, because it can really happen. And that means I'd leave Creek behind—all alone.

I try blinking the ton of tears I have away as I pull the sheets to cover my face. I don't want to look at anything right now. All I want to see is darkness, because that's how it all feels now. Everything has suddenly darkened again—I'm just grateful that it isn't bad like having to live with Gloss again.

"Alright. Good luck taking care of yourself and Creek. You're going to need it. And also, with that guy you just met… be careful. You don't want the same mistake to happen twice." The last thing she said to me—meaning, that she's warning me to be careful with Finnick. "You don't want the same mistake to happen twice." Mistake? Does she mean that Creek was a mistake? I know that he was unplanned; we didn't expect him to come so early, or to even be born. But that doesn't mean that he was a mistake. He's a blessing—having sex with Gloss was the mistake. And I still can't believe that he was my first when I absolutely for sure know that I wasn't his first. It'd be a cold day in hell if I was his first.

But why did Foxface warn me? Why was that her very last words to me? I know Finnick; I know I just met him but I know him. He knows me. He doesn't want me for sex only—he wants me because… because… he loves me. He said he loves me, and to this point, I still hardly believe him. Gloss only said that he loved me when we were dating. He told me multiple times on the first week, and told me right before it happened.

"You see that?" he pointed at one of the many stars that were all over the sky that night, that late night.

"Where?" I smiled as I leaned the side of my head against his broad shoulder.

"The one that reminds me of you," he then kissed the side of my head. "When I look at the stars, they all remind me of you. You want to know why? Because you're my star."

I couldn't help it but blush a little. I felt my cheeks reddening; a weird sensation traveling through many parts of my body. It felt like he meant it. I actually believed him and when I look at it now, it makes me want to harm myself. I think I should do that.

"Stop," I said playfully, "I find that very doubtful."

"I don't. I find it beautiful how you can appear bright on the sky," he said, "You're my star, Annie. You're my babe."

"Really?" I felt more chills. "You think I'm beautiful? Gloss, have you seen me?"

"Yeah, and I don't regret it. Every time I look at you, it makes me think about how impossible it is to have a girl as beautiful as you live in this planet," he said. I can't believe I actually fell for that. God, I was such a stupid idiot.

"Listen, Gloss," I looked up at his gorgeous blue eyes. "You don't have to say those things to make me feel better or good about myself. You don't have to make all those things up. I'm none of those things anyway; I understand."

"I'm not making any of these things up," he said, sounding serious. That's what made me believe him and it also made me fall for it. "Babe, I'm me and I think that you're the most beautiful thing living on this earth. I've never seen any other girl as attractive and sweet as you. Like I said, you're my only star… you're my babe and I love you."

My goodness, I thought to myself. I can't believe it. He actually means it. I bit my lip hard as he squeezed me harder and touched my lips softly with his thumb and index finger. His warmth soothed me and I felt his comfortable biceps from his arm. I also slightly touched the abs on his stomach and that's when I lost it.

"I love you too." I softly said before he slowly leaned in and kissed me softly. I kissed him back, running both of my hands all over his back, leading to the back of his head. Everything for me was unfocused on but him. My whole focus was on him—kissing my neck, my upper chest as he ran his hand all over my back, going all the way down until I had lost all of my control. I remember him lying on top of me afterwards; nude. There wasn't space for the both of us to share the seat, but I didn't care at that moment. I didn't care about anything, because I felt like Gloss actually really loved me. I felt like he was the one for me, and that I was the one for him. But obviously, it didn't turn out that way by the looks of me now. I got pregnant afterwards. We married. He treated me like a worthless piece of junk, like I was trash to him. And perhaps I am. He beat me, used me, and never appreciated me. In other words, he didn't treat me like his wife—more like his enemy. I ran away with our son. I lost my best friend. I know that he has already discovered me and Creek's disappearance. And I know that he's in full rage right now; he probably wants to kill me now. Honestly, I wouldn't mind at all if he did. I just want Creek to be safe.

"Mommy," I feel Creek shaking me. "Mommy, someone is outside."

I wipe my wet cheeks until they feel sticky and manage to get up. Indeed, someone is outside and I know the owner of the car who's parked right next to ours.

"Is it Finnick-Man?" Creek's face turns into a large smile. "Is it, mommy? Is it?"

I smile. "It is." I rub the top of his head and make my way towards the door. Every time I see Finnick, I have the urge to just smile nonstop for eternity. I'm not sure if it's something I should be worried about, or be grateful for. But Finnick always seems to make my days better, ignoring the fact that I just lost my best friend.

"Hey Ann," he smiles after I open the door and see that he's only wearing a tank-top, a black one. Goodness, calm down, calm down. I bite my lip as I greet him too and let him in. Like always, he goes up to Creek and picks him up in the air to spin him, pretending that he's flying.

"Wow, did you get heavier?" Finnick laughs after he puts him down and rubs the top of Creek's head. "You're becoming a man, little dude."

"But I am a man," Creek says, grabbing his action figure. "I am the man of the house."

"I know you are," says Finnick, smiling a little more.

I love seeing both of them interact—seeing them both happy. It makes me feel better, adding more to my happiness after I see Finnick. Seeing Creek happy blisses me even more, because it lets me know that he may not be missing Gloss. And I hope he definitely is not. Just hope.

"Oh I almost forgot," Finnick rushes outside and comes back in with a bouquet of flowers, beautiful, stunning flowers. "It's for you."

"Finnick," I smile and don't know how to react. He got me flowers. He's starting to spend money on me. Then, I realize that he paid for me when we went out to dinner. No, I'm sucking money out of him. I can't do that; I can't be letting Finnick spend his money on me. I can't. "You didn't have to get me these."

I take a close look at them and can't help it but keep smiling, letting Finnick know that I love them and want them. I do want them but I just can't accept them. Wow, I think. I can never accept anything. That's why I lost Foxface.

"Ann, I am not leaving with these," he says, "They are for you—they're special, just like you."

I feel like I'm blushing—wait, I am. I remember the last time when Gloss said something like that, and it wasn't a couple of weeks or even months back. It was years back, probably shortly after we got married. He didn't look too satisfied when Creek was born either, and he didn't tell me anything. To this day, I am still sure that he never wanted Creek in the first place; but if he doesn't want Creek, and he doesn't want me, would he try to look for us? Stop thinking like this. Stop thinking like this. I push my hair back and take in a deep breath. I know I can't deny these flowers, and I'm not planning to, but I still have second thoughts. Things are picking up.

"Thank you," I say and let him pull me in for a hug. I can feel his hard chest, his heartbeat, beating at probably fifty times a second! My head feels too comfortable against his shoulder that I don't want to take it off. I don't want to release him, or even let him release me. I don't want this moment to stop—why can't it just freeze like this?

"Listen," he releases me, ugh. "I haven't seen you in a short while and I know I've already said this, but I'm still really sorry for how Johanna acted at the restaurant."

I bite my lip at his sentence. I forgot that Johanna is his ex-girlfriend. I wasn't too shocked whenever he told me that one night, but it left me wondering on who dumped who. I honestly couldn't care less about that, but I'm still a bit curious. If Johanna is jealous of me, does that mean that Finnick is the one who broke up with her? She's obviously still not moved on from him, and if it's a problem, I don't see how I can keep on going through this thing with Finnick.

"Don't be sorry," I say and walk over to the bed. "It isn't your fault and it's not her fault either. I'm all the blame."

"What?" he walks over to me and sits me down on the bed. "Ann, it's not your fault. Look, I'm going to tell you this now. I don't feel anything like that for Johanna—she's the past. Things just weren't working out and I decided to just break up with her."

I rub my arm. "Why were things not working out?"

"They just weren't," he shakes his head and grabs both of my hands. "Ann, you're the only girl I see right now. You're the girl I'm interested in and… you're the only girl I want…"

Suddenly, I feel like I'm being lifted up from drowning in the middle of the ocean. It feels like the lights are lifting me before it's too late and I drown. Finnick is lifting me right now—he's saving me.

"You… you…" I quickly stand up and walk towards the mirror near the bathroom. I have to keep a look at my eyes, to make sure no tears form. Through the reflection, I see that Finnick is getting near me. Oh God.

"You okay?" he firmly and nicely touches both of my arms. I shiver.

"Y-yeah," I say while goose bumps scatter all over my body. He's touching me.

"I want you, Ann. I want to be yours, and I want you to be mine," he softly says. His hands are so soft as they feel against my skin—he makes their way towards the sides of my neck, nicely rubbing it, moving at a lovely rhythm. I close my eyes to let him rub me more, and that way our eyes don't connect. But I can't help it as I open my eyes and they automatically tie each other, making it impossible for me to look away. His smile is white against his tan skin, his hair just looks so wonderful right now; he looks perfect right now—his tank-top is giving me the advantage to see his perfect biceps. He just can't make me look away.

Creek is on the floor by the bed, playing his life away with every single action figure I brought with us. He's not paying attention to us, but I really don't want him to. I don't want him to think that I've quickly moved on from Gloss; then again, I think I just have, because for the most obvious reason in the entire world, I think I have fallen in love with Finnick Odair.

NOTES: Good afternoon, guys! So I was on FanFiction earlier today, and I noticed that I haven't been adding on to my stories lately. I also noticed that me and Juliet's Shadow's co-written story Candles, hasn't been updated since July! So I've been typing for like hours, and I worked really hard on this one. If it's crappy, I'm sorry. And I know that it's slow- nothing pretty much happens but I did decide to include a flashback of the night when Gloss and Annie... you know... yeah... But despite the slow chapter, I hope you guys liked it and I'm sorry that I took a while to update. The only thing I've been writing lately is Candles and that's not even a lot, and I've been everywhere this past week XD So thank y'all very much for being patient and please review:)

Catching Fireflies: Foxface will regret it- she'll get her lesson taught. And this chapter's slow, but I hope you liked it:) and I hope you like the next ones after this, because after this chapter, the story is going to start picking up even more:) (But beware: Gloss's search for Creek and Annie is coming really soon...)

krikanalo: I'm glad you like it:) thank you! And I hope you liked this chapter.

Fighting The Inevitable: I was really disappointed in Foxface- she was being a ****** but she'll get her lesson taught. And I hope you liked this chapter:) better chapters will come after this, and I'll try to update quicker!

MeaganOneDirection: Aw, I'm glad you liked the last chapter:) and it was pretty intense and sad. I hope you enjoyed this slow chapter and hope you're looking forward for the next ones:) they will be picking up the story.

MewWinx96: I'm glad you like this story, and it was really fun to write that bonus chapter for Graceland!:) Thank you so much for checking my stories out and I hope they get better and better for you:)