Sincerely, Sinclair || Sinclair Bryant x Reader ||

Chapter 25: The Odds of Fate

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Getting to Know You Question: What is your favorite Alan Rickman movie?

"I've heard it's lovely."

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Her face was priceless. I almost laughed at the way she looked as if she would faint right in front of me.

"Sinclair...." She croaked, her hands beginning to shake.

"You don't have to say it back. I don't want you to say it if you don't mean-"

"I love you." She echoed.

Now I froze, because I really wasn't expecting her to say it back. I had been confident that she loved me back, but I wasn't so sure that she knew it herself. I had never been so sure about anything in my entire life. I knew that I loved her, and I knew that I wanted to spend every moment of the rest of my life with her. 

I kissed her. I kissed her in the middle of the crowd, not caring if anyone was watching. I kissed her like it was the first time again. I kissed her like I meant it, because I did mean it. I wanted to taste her forever. I wanted to feel her forever. I wanted her forever. 

I held the ring in my palm. I was ready for this, and I was sure that she was as well. I moved my arm to bring my hand from my pocket, ready to present it to her to propose. But just as my wrist left the security of my pocket, I paused.

Her attention suddenly wasn't on me. Her focus was far from where I was. Her beautiful eyes were shining with wonder and disbelief as she stared over my shoulder, clearly preoccupied with whatever was behind me. I turned my head to look, half expecting something that was going to stun me to my core. Instead, I only saw the same crowd of people that had been there the entire time. I followed her line of sight until I landed on a man not too far from us. He didn't look familiar to my knowledge, and he wasn't honestly the kind of person that I'd otherwise be able to pick out of a crowd.

"Darling? What's the matter?" I asked, suddenly worried about her.

She didn't say anything, the look on her face was completely unreadable. She was making me nervous, because it was not like her to completely shut down like this. She was fixated on whoever this man was, and I couldn't think of anyone who would ever make her this stuck. 

Except for one.

**

There was no way. There was absolutely no possible way that this was real. I was dreaming or tripping on bad acid. If Sinclair were to pinch me right now, I'd wake up in his or my bed. There was absolutely, positively no way that this was real.

"Is that...." Sinclair trailed off, not even sure if he should finish his thought.

But he didn't have to.

"Travis." I breathed simply, my eyes never leaving the man standing just seven or so feet from me.

This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. There was absolutely no way that Travis was standing right here in front of me. In the time that Travis and I had been broken up, I had no clue or indication as to where he was. I hadn't heard a word out of him. I hadn't seen any of our mutual friends or any of his family members in the year and a half that Travis had left my life. There was no trace of him anywhere. It was as if Travis had ceased to exist. And in a weird, twisted kind of way, I had begun to think that he had just disappeared.

But now he was here. He was really right in front of me.

Maybe it was that unspoken sixth sense that kicked in, but I saw Travis' head pick up as if he had just been alerted that he was being watched. I needed to look away. I needed to turn my attention back to the glittering, worldwide phenomenon structure that I was standing in the presence of. I needed to look at Sinclair, the man who I knew hadn't taken his eyes off of me in the last 2 minutes. Sinclair was waiting for a reaction. He was waiting to see how this was going to affect me. The tables had turned, and now I was in the same position that he had been in just a few weeks prior.