Well, We're Not Alone Now - Book One - Alex Turner

Love's Not Time's Fool

-Love's Not Time's Fool-

"I let if it fall, my heart

And as it fell, you rose to claim it

It was dark, and I was over

Until you kissed my lips and you saved me"

-Set Fire To The Rain-Adele-

-27th February 2012-

Time is a funny thing. It drags when we want it to speed past and it passes when we least want it to. Over thousands of years many people have tried to come up with a straight answer to all the questions that it places before us, but many have failed. And you know what? Maybe that's the beauty of it, that's why people sometimes dedicate their whole lives to unwinding it's mysteries. They choose time as their partner, they have time to explore everything about it, about them. If only I also had that. Unfortunately time had other plans and the weeks had passed in a blink of an eye, filled with something new everyday. And now, sitting on the edge of his, our bed, my eyes tracing the lines that time had made in his bags, I felt detached from myself. From him. I had seen over the last few days, he had been distancing himself from me, I had felt it in the way he held me. He was readying himself to let me go, and in a way I was too. And yet, his way was to push me away, where as mine was to hold on to him, until the last minute. This had caused trouble and now as the minutes ticked closer to when we were to say goodbye, I felt like I was running out of time to do...something. I wasn't quite sure what. His bags were packed, as were mine, the flat empty. Last night we had made love until we'd fallen asleep from exhaustion, and yet, through the whole time, he wasn't there. He was already miles away from here, from me, carrying on his life without me. How the hell were we going to manage?

I scrubbed my fingers against my eyes in an attempt to rid them of tears that longed to burst forth. I had kept it together these last few days, a few more hours couldn't hurt. But it did, and as the sound of the shower stopped from the bathroom, my heart gave a heavy thump. I ran my hand down my neck, past the tangle of my hair, and into a clenched fist at my breast. Taking a breath, I stood and wandered once more towards my clothing that was neatly folded on the desk. I had yet to get dressed, having tried to make myself before, I just hadn't been able to. There was something about acknowledging the day by getting dressed, acknowledging that the day had started, and things had been pushed into motion. I picked at the first piece of clothing on the pile, and then let it slump back down with the rest. As I outlined a knick in the wood of the desk, the door to the bathroom was pushed open, and he padded into the room. I glanced over my shoulder, but looked away quickly, I didn't want to see him like this. Naked except for a towel around his waist, his hair wet hair hanging limply into his eyes, he watched me from across the room.

"You're still not dressed?"

I took a moment to reply, "No, I, er, got caught up in my own thoughts." Pulling myself up onto the side, I crossed my bare legs and watched him pick up some underwear from the side of the bed.

"You've been doing' that a lot lately." He said, his voice soft, eyes not quite meeting mine.

"You noticed." My voice was harder than I had intended it to be, and it made him look at me. At least I'd got his attention.

"Of course I noticed Rhea, 'ow could I not?" He frowned, and looked down at his hands.

"Oh I don't know. I just didn't think you had time to notice that sort of thing anymore."

He stopped what he was doing and started to walk towards me, "Rhea, I always 'ave time to notice stuff like that."

I stayed silent as he came closer, and leant back onto my hands that were flat against the hard, cold wood. "What's wrong?" He asked.