The One (2 page)

~Chapter 3~

Each night became less and less lonely as I
adjusted to sleeping in a small bed, alone. Ellie was a good roommate, though
she was overly enthusiastic when it came to hanging out at night. She treated
every night like we were at a sleepover watching movies and drinking wine.

I did my work during the day and did the best
I could not to think about Jason. As hard as I tried to forget him, there were
mementos of him everywhere. Every dog that came into the clinic was a reminder
of Destroyer, who was my dog too. Each dog that came in reminded me of the time
Jason and I met, tangled in a bunch of leashes.

I caught myself smiling at these memories and
quickly stopped, remembering that I had lost my best friend.

Focusing on work was a good diversion,
allowing me to get through the day, but the urge was always there to look Jason
up. Jason Powers couldn’t just disappear. If he popped up somewhere, the
paparazzi would know. There were always photos of him on the internet — new
photos, photos that could give me information. But my will was strong. I
resisted, not wanting to put myself through the hurt of seeing his face and
reliving the hurt I caused.

Jason
, I thought. If only
I could tell him what had truly happened. Hadn’t he seen? I asked myself that
question multiple times throughout the day. It was only when I was deep into
thinking about him and what had happened that I realized how much time I spent
devoting all my energy thinking about him.

Get it together, Sophia.

I couldn’t think about him if I wanted to move
on.

But I didn’t want to move on.

I blamed that little thought hanging on the
tip of my tongue and the edge of my thoughts on my unrealistic subconscious. A
couple times I had almost said this out loud to Ellie, but I held my tongue.
Ellie was all about moving on and healing from the past, but I couldn’t tell
her how much I missed Jason even though every day he became more and more of a
distant thought.

I sighed and packed up my stuff, making my way
home after one particularly long day in the office. A pug came in and it
reminded me of Pugsley, Nana’s dog. Thinking of Nana made me think of my trip
out to Montana,
where I got to meet Jason’s family and see the cowboy daredevil behind the
billionaire.

Gosh, he was so goddamn cute.

He was reckless and spontaneous — all the
things I never was. He taught me not to worry so much, and here I was worrying
away without him.

Sophia, you have to stop thinking about him.

I drove home, wondering what movie Ellie
wanted to watch tonight.

I wonder what Jason’s doing tonight.

Why did I torture myself with these thoughts?

I pulled into the driveway and walked into
Ellie’s place. It had been over two weeks and I now had my own key.

“Hi Sophia.”
Ellie stood just inside the entranceway, staring at me cautiously.

“…Hi Ellie.”
I eyed her suspiciously. “Are you okay?”

“Okay? Of course I’m okay! Are you okay?”

I raised my eyebrows at her. “I think so.”

She gave me a big grin and looked at me with
her giant eyes.
“Great.”

“What’s going on?”

Ellie looked down then quickly back up. Her
smile faltered.

“I’m just making sure you didn’t see anything
you didn’t want to see today.”

“Anything I didn’t want to see — Ellie, what’s
going on?”

Ellie let out a relieved sigh. “Okay, I just
want to prepare you for this.” Ellie picked up her pink laptop.

“Hold on — if this has anything to do with
Jason, I don’t want to see it.”

“It’s not — well.” She hesitated. “There’s a
little bit of Jason.”

“No.” I took off my shoes and marched past
her. “I don’t want to see anything involving him. I don’t even want to hear his
name.”

“But, I think you should really see this!”

“Ellie, I asked you not to tell me about
anything you see on those gossipy websites.”

“It’s concerning you.”

I stopped. “
What?”
Did I hear that
right? “It’s about me?”

Occasionally I saw my face on a magazine but I
was usually overshadowed by Jason and whatever he was doing. Tabloids didn’t
normally concern themselves with me.

Ellie nodded.

“Is it bad?” I asked.

She made a face that was a mix between ‘yes’
and ‘not really’. I wasn’t sure how to interpret it.

Clicking on the screen, she started a video.

“No.” I pulled away. “I don’t want to get
involved with this. Aren’t you the one who has been telling me—
”

The sound of my own voice came from Ellie’s
pink laptop.

“But… Jason.”

Grabbing the screen and tilting it towards me,
I watched in horror as Luke cornered me against a wall, breathing heavy on me.
It looked bad, but it felt worst. I could smell his sickening cologne from
here.

“Oh no,” I said.

“Someone must have been filming you guys,”
Ellie said as she watched the video. “Great shot, too. It almost looks like it
was planned.” She shook her head and wrinkled her nose. “That guy is a fucking sleaze-ball.
I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

“It gets worst.” I said it just as he plunged
in and kissed me.

“What the fuck!” Ellie was livid just as I was
then and now.

My heart beat hard in my chest because I knew
what I was about to see. I instinctively looked to the upper left corner of the
screen, where Jason appeared. Seeing him relaxed me for a moment and made me
forget about the horrific thing happening in the foreground. His face looked so
confused, so hurt. I relived all the shame and heartbreak of that day.

“How could you do this?”

Jason’s words broke my heart all over again.
Jason disappeared just as fast as he appeared.

“Oh, Sophia.”
Ellie patted my back, rubbing it gently.

I fought hard to hold back tears, but I could
feel them forming, swelling in my eyes, threatening to tumble down my cheeks. I
swallowed back the hurt.

“Let go!”

The video showed me pushing Luke back and
spitting at him.

“Whoa, Sophia!”
Ellie smiled.

“It gets worst,” I said, wincing because I
knew what was coming.

*SACK*

I didn’t watch it because after feeling it in
person, there was no reason to relive it, but I could see the damage through
the pained expression on Ellie’s face.

“
Fucking
.
Awesome
.”
Ellie looked at me with a
look of respect and appreciation. “You showed that guy.”

I smiled. “It did feel pretty good.”

“Hell yeah it did.”

“And does it make me a bad person that knowing
a video of him getting kicked is on the internet?”

“And it’s been viewed over ten million times!”
Ellie chirped.

“And it
what
?” I shook my head. “Did I
hear that right? This has been watched over ten million times?” I put my hands
on my cheeks and shook my head, looking off into the distance. “This is
terrible.”

Ellie’s expression dropped to confusion.

“Why?”

“This is assault, Ellie! I kicked a guy in
the…” I looked around and lowered my voice. “I kicked a guy in the balls.”

“He assaulted you first!”

I ran my fingers through my hair and shook my
head. “No, this can’t be happening. Do you know how bad this video looks to my
clients?
And to Jason?”

“Please, Sophia.” Ellie grabbed my hand.
“Nothing in this video is your fault. Luke is a sleaze and he deserved what he
got.”

Breathing out slowly, I nodded. “You’re
right.”

Still, I couldn’t help but think about Jason,
and what dragging him into the media like this would do for his reputation.

My phone buzzed.

I groaned. My mother had been extra involved
in my life lately and I was getting tired of constant calls from her.

“Should I let it go to voice-mail?” I asked.

“Do you think she’s seen the video?”

“Oh shit.” I let out a sigh. “I didn’t even
think of that.”

Ellie pointed to my phone. “It was just a
text.”

“A text?”
I looked up Ellie with a question on my face.
“But
nobody texts me but you.”
And Jason,
my subconscious reminded me.

My fingers trembled as I reached for the
phone. I opened the message and my heart jumped at the name.

Jason Powers.

“It’s Jason!” I was a little too excited.

“What did he say?”

I opened the text and read the message.

Jason (7:15PM): Can you swing by the
penthouse? We need to talk.

“He wants to talk,” I said. My voice was shaky
and I wasn’t sure if this was a good or bad thing.

“About what?”

“He doesn’t say.” I looked up at Ellie. “He
wants me to go to the penthouse.”

“Well that’s good. He wants to see you in
person.”

“Yeah.”
My heart was racing in my chest.

“When does he want you to go?”

I read the text again. “He doesn’t say.”

“Maybe you should go now.”

“Should I?”

I wanted to.
But I reigned in my wild heart.
What if it was something bad?

What if he wanted me to gather all my belongings and
leave the penthouse for good?

What if he was suing me for that video?

There were so many ways this could go wrong.

“I think you should,” Ellie said, breaking my
concentration.

“Okay.” I swallowed. I got up and put my phone
in my purse. “I’ll see you later.”

~Chapter 4~

I drove slower than I ever had on my way to
Jason’s. My hands were so shaky that I wasn’t even sure if I should be driving,
but still I made my way into the downtown core of the city.

I still had my key so I made my way into the
elevator and pushed the button for the penthouse floor. My heart raced in my
chest to the point where it was buzzing. I fiddled with the key and nearly
dropped it due to my clammy hands.

Trying to breathe, I wondered whether I should
expect the worst. Was I getting sued? Kicked out? I didn’t know and a part of
me wanted to turn back, but the elevator was already shooting up towards the
penthouse and I wouldn’t get away before the doors opened onto Jason’s
penthouse suite.

Tears welled up in my eyes. I wasn’t sure how
ready I was to see Jason and be reminded of the hurt I had instilled in him.

There was no turning back now.

The elevator reached the top floor. The ring
of the elevator sounded loudly, startling me and putting my already racing
heart on edge.

I squeezed my eyes shut, not ready to see the
official end of this relationship. I heard the doors slide open. Still keeping
my eyes shut, I stood in the elevator for a moment.

“Hello Sophia.”

Jason’s voice.

It had been so long since I heard it that it
put my ears at ease.

He didn’t sound angry.

“Jason,”
I mumbled.

I heard a chuckle. “You can open your eyes.”

As soon as I opened my eyes the elevator doors
began sliding shut. In that split second I saw Jason’s sparkling brown eyes
looking into mine. The doors whooshed close. Jason and I simultaneously lunged
forward to put our arms between the doors and stop them from closing. His hand
brushed mine as we set off the censor, causing the doors to open again.

Jason stood in front of me. I could still feel
the area on my hand where he brushed me.

“Jason,” I looked up into his face. But he
stopped me. Taking my hands in his, he looked at me. He didn’t look angry or
spiteful. In fact, he seemed the opposite of all those things.

“Sophia.” He stopped to collect his words.
“Come in.” He stepped back a few steps and pulled me inside. It wasn’t until
then that I noticed the rest of the apartment. There were bouquets of flowers
everywhere — red, white, and purple roses, daisies, sunflowers, baby’s breath.
Bouquets of all different colors and sizes filled the room. There were flowers
on the tables, by the windows, and all over the floor.

“What is this?” I asked as I looked around the
room.

“Look at me.” The way Jason said those words
commanded my undivided attention. “I owe you an apology.”

“An apology?”

“That day I saw you — I wasn’t thinking and I
acted purely on emotion. If I had actually stayed behind and spoken to you, I
would have understood the situation.”

Tears welled up in my eyes.

“Jason.” My voice shook. “I needed you in that
moment and you left. You didn’t even want to hear me speak.”

“What I did was wrong. I left you alone when I
should have been there for you. Sophia, I’m so sorry.”

The tears silently trailed down my cheeks.

I let out a sigh. “You really hurt me, you
know that? I love you. I love you more than anyone I’ve ever known. But you
deserted me. And you know what really hurts? You doubted me. I thought we loved
each other and were in this for life. But you assumed I was capable of cheating
on you days after saying yes to your proposal.”

More tears streamed down my face and I wiped
them away. I was surprised at this outburst of emotion but it had been bubbling
deep inside me over the past few weeks. Jason’s eyes flashed down to the floor.

“I would never do that to you, Jason Powers. I
would never abandon you. And I would never cheat on you.”

His caring eyes looked up at me. He wasn’t
moping or ashamed.

“I know you wouldn’t, Sophia Fletcher.” He
stroked my cheek gently. “As soon as I left, I knew I was making a mistake. I
wanted to call you, but I wasn’t sure whether you wanted me to, or if you’d
even want me back.”

I put my hand out and touched his arm. He
immediately moved his hand so that he was holding me back. The slight but firm
touch electrified me.

He shook his head. “I couldn’t wait any
longer. I needed to see you.”

“Did you watch the video?”

Jason nodded. I let go of him and reclaimed my
arm. I scratched my head and looked away.

“When I watched that video it told me what I
already knew. You would never do that to me, I know that. And what that man did
to you…”

I looked up at him. There was a pulse in his
clenched jaw.

Seeing Jason get angry over what Luke did made
me feel good. “Don’t worry.” I smirked. “I got him for you.”

Jason smirked devilishly back at me. “I saw
that. You got him good.”

Relief flooded through me.

“As soon as I watched that video, I knew it
was a set-up,” Jason said.

“A set-up?”

“Tabloids like to meddle in peoples’ lives to
get new material. In this case, they hired someone from your past to cause
drama in our relationship.”

I gasped. “People do that?”

“What a world we live in, huh?” Jason shook
his head. “Before I even watched the video, I knew you wouldn’t do that to me.
And as soon as the video came out, I knew what was going on. Trust
me,
you won’t have to worry about Luke or the tabloids for a
very long time.”

“Well, Luke won’t be coming near me anytime
soon.” I let out a weak laugh. “When I was entering the building earlier,
someone recognized me and shrieked.”

“I don’t blame them! Frankly, even
I’m
a little scared of you.”

I laughed.
Wow
. It felt good to smile
and laugh again.

“I missed you.”

We stared at each other, each wearing goofy
smiles.

“I missed you too.”

Jason pulled me in and kissed me slowly on the
lips. He held my head as his thumbs gently stroked my tear-stained cheeks.

Yes
. His kiss was like
a breath of fresh air as I felt like I’d been holding my breath underwater for
weeks
.
He gave me life again. Jason was in my life again.

I kissed him as deeply and passionately as I
could,
showing
him how much I missed him,
how much
I wanted him
.

He pulled me in closer, wrapping his arm
gently around my waist. But despite how amazing the kiss was I couldn’t get rid
of that question that seemed to be bouncing around in my mind.

Jason pulled back.

“Are you alright?”

I nodded. “Do you — I mean, is there a chance
that you still want to marry me?”

Jason’s face fell serious and for a moment my heart
sunk.

“Because if you want to take it slow and
restart this from the beginning, I can do that too.”

Jason put his finger up to my lips and I fell
silent. The corners of his lips turned up into a sly smile. He took my hands in
his.

“Of course I’ll marry you, Sophia Fletcher.
I’m in love with you.”

My heart fluttered enthusiastically and I
willed myself to calm down.

“Really?”

“Absolutely.”
His dark piercing eyes stared deep into mine. “You’re the one.”

My stomach did a somersault.

The one?

A rush of emotions and hormones gushed through
my body and I pulled Jason back in, kissing him wildly.

Jason walked me over to the bedroom, which was
strewn with flowers. He pushed them off, sending petals floating to the ground.
He pulled me down onto the bed with him.

Neither of us could stop looking into each
others eyes. After every kiss, every touch, we looked to each other as a way to
reinforce to ourselves that we were still there — that we were still with each
other.