Before We Fall

Part 1, Chapter 18

Sky's POV

Liv

Don't you just love when fans
have such a lack of boundaries
you have no choice but to
disable comments

I love the fans but why are
they like this

I know right

ngl it's kinda funny since
I'm not the type to date

but I've had issues with that
specific one before so I'm not
surprised

What happened?

it was just a much milder
version of what happened on
your post

she just said smth like "are we
gonna talk abt sky being tagged
in this" on my ihop post

luckily no one else was really on
her side and everybody moved on

Yeah but that's still annoying

We are still people with actual
personal lives

true but this is kinda something
we signed up for when we took
this job

invasive fans come with any
entertainment job

I agree that "don't tell people
you don't know to date each
other" isn't something that
should need to be said but
here we are

well I gtg

see you at the theater

See you

I set my phone down on the nightstand next to me before laying flat on the hotel bed, trying to unravel my emotions.

So I have feelings for Alivia. What of it? Not like it's gonna go anywhere. In fact, it won't go anywhere. I'll make sure of it. She deserves better than me. 

She must know I like her. If people I've never met can deduce it, then she must have figured it out a month ago.

"Stop thinking so much," Ben said from across the room. He'd been assigned as my roommate his tour stop, and since my confession in the middle of the IHOP, he doesn't leave me alone about the Alivia thing.

"What am I supposed to do? She's on my mind for what feels like all of the time."

"Come on." He sat up and walked across the room to where I was laying. "Let's get milkshakes and you can talk it out. I'll listen."

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Turns out, there was a pretty good milkshake bar across the river from the theater. I got a plain vanilla shake, but Ben had the brilliant idea of going to a milkshake bar and not even getting a milkshake. They didn't have any raspberry milkshakes, so he settled for a raspberry-banana smoothie.

The second we got our drinks and sat down, Ben started grilling me about Alivia.

"How long have you liked her?"

"I'm not sure. Definitely a while. Maybe since right after I met her."

Ben froze. "You mean to tell me you've had a crush on her for..." he paused to count something with his fingers. "Four months? And you're just now doing something about it?"

I sipped some of my milkshake. "That's the thing. I don't think I'm going to do anything.' I saw him open his mouth to object, but I cut him off. "Hear me out. She probably doesn't feel the same way about me, and if she doesn't and I make a move I could ruin an amazing friendship I've spent months trying to foster. But let's say, hypothetically, she does like me. She's not the kind of person to date, and I know this because she told me. So even if she does like me, we won't date. But let's say, hypothetically, she throws that out the window for someone like me. We date. She learns, and I mean really learns what kind of person I am, or vice versa. One of us says 'fuck this' and throws in the towel, and I'm back where I started." We were both silent for a moment, letting my words sink in.

"Everything you just said was a hypothetical," Ben pointed out. "Not what you know for a fact will happen." He swirled his smoothie using the bright red plastic straw he was given. "You don't know what will actually happen unless you go for it."

"But what if it ruins everything?"

"What if it doesn't? What if you get everything you've wanted since August?" I leaned back in my seat, taking in his words. "Come on, let's take a photo for Insta." He propped his phone up against the wall and set a timer as we posed for the camera.

"Send that to me, I wanna send it to Alivia. And post it," I added quickly. He gave me a subtle side-eye, but I ignored it as I loaded the photo into Instagram. I typed out a caption and hit "post" and it only took a few minutes for notifications to roll in. After a bit, I checked the comments.

"Dude," I said to Ben. "I am, like, one bad day away from blocking this one fan."

"Why? What are they doing?"

"Newsiesfangirl16 finds a way to make every single post of mine about Alivia, and every one of hers about me. Boundaries do not exist with this girl."

"Just delete the comment and move on. We have a show to get to, like right now."

I glanced up at the clock on the wall. "Oh shit, we do." Per the employees' requests and having already paid, we threw away our trash, left our now empty glasses on the table, and left to get to the theater on time. 

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the way I'm 11 chapters ahead writing-wise

love you all lots!