Annabelle held it together until she heard the latch click.
Then she crumbled.
She made it to the sofa before her knees gave out, folding onto the cushions as the first sob tore through her chest. It hurt. God, it hurt worse than anything she could have imagined, this horrible crushing weight that made it impossible to breathe properly.
She'd known this would happen.
She'dknownit.
From the moment Raven had kissed her back that first time, from the moment she'd let herself hope, she'd known it would end like this. People like Raven didn't stay for people like Annabelle. They moved on. They left.
And Annabelle had been stupid enough to believe it might be different.
She pressed her face into a throw pillow and let herself cry properly, the kind of ugly, gasping sobs that left her throat raw and her eyes burning. She cried until there was nothing left,until she was wrung out and hollow, and even then the tears kept coming in these awful little hiccupping waves.
Her phone was buzzing. Had been buzzing for the past ten minutes, probably. She ignored it.
But it kept going. Persistent. And finally, because apparently even in the middle of falling apart she couldn't just let someone worry, she picked it up.
Twelve missed calls from Lily.
Annabelle pressed the callback button with shaking fingers.
Lily picked up on the first ring. "Where the hell are you? I've been trying to… Annabelle? Are you crying?"
"Can you come over?" Her voice came out small and broken. "Please?"
"I'm already grabbing my keys."
THE TIME BETWEEN calling Lily and hearing the knock on her door felt both endless and far too short. Annabelle had managed to move from the sofa to the floor, her back against the coffee table, tissues scattered around her like casualties of war.
Lily let herself in with the spare key and found her there, cross-legged on the carpet, mascara probably everywhere, still crying.
"Oh, honey." Lily dropped to the floor beside her and pulled her into a hug without asking questions. Just held her, solid and steady and exactly what Annabelle needed.
"I knew this would happen," Annabelle said into Lily's shoulder. "I knew she'd leave."
"What happened?"
So Annabelle told her. About the article. About Raven showing up to apologize but really to say goodbye. About London and the solo career andI was always going to leave eventually.
"She wouldn't even try," Annabelle said, fresh tears spilling over. "I asked her about long distance and she just… she said no. Like it wasn't even worth considering."
Lily was quiet for a long moment, still holding her. Then, very gently: "Why did you think you needed to fix everything?"
"What?"
"The article. Talking to that journalist. You were trying to fix it, weren't you? To make people see Raven the way you do."
Annabelle pulled back, wiping at her face. "I was trying to help."
"I know. But you've been doing that since she got here. Bringing her biscuits. Recruiting her for the fundraiser. Organizing everything so it wouldn't be too overwhelming for her. You've been trying to make her want to stay by being… what? Perfect? Indispensable?"
"That's not…" But Annabelle's voice broke. Because it was true, wasn't it? She'd been trying so hard to be enough. To give Raven reasons to stay without ever actually asking her to.
"I was terrified," she admitted. "If I asked for too much, she'd realize I wasn't worth staying for."
"Oh, Annabelle." Lily's voice was infinitely sad. "You are worth staying for. But you can't make someone choose you by never asking them to. By fixing everything so they never have to see you struggle or need anything."
