The Fall of the Fainthearts

Chapter Twenty-Two: You're Not You Anymore

Axel: I had no idea that Jade had invited her. I didn't even know that she was out of rehab.

Figgy: I spent all of my savings on this gorgeous strappy silver dress just for the party and these gorgeous elbow-length black velvet gloves. I'd convinced myself that it was going to knock Axel onto his knees, that he'd realise what he had been missing all this time. I pictured what his face would look like when he saw me in my head for days, going over and over how I would make my big entrance.

That night was going to be a big night. It was supposed to be the night Axel fell back in love with me. And for a long time, I thought that maybe that was true.

Axel: I was happy to see her, of course I was. I thought she was sober. I thought she'd gotten her life back together and that I'd fulfilled my purpose with her. Our chapter was closed, and now I could really move forward with Flo and our new life together.

Figgy: He looked starstruck when he saw me. His jaw dropped and his eyes were wide. He looked mesmerised.

Axel: I was really shocked to see her, I think everyone was. No one knew she was out, yet.

Figgy: I walked up to him with my hands on my hips and said "Well, did you miss me?"

Bentley: I said, "Like you miss herpes. But it keeps on coming back anyway." What? I was drunk, I was having a laugh. I never got along with her. She didn't hear me, anyway.

Axel: I did laugh. I think she thought I was laughing at her, so I played it off and told her I had missed her and silently hoped she hadn't heard Bentley.

Figgy: He laughed at me. He'll say he didn't, but he did. He realised what an asshole he was being pretty quickly, though, so I thought that maybe we could brush over it. Until I saw Florence.

Axel: Florence came over to greet her, went in for a hug and asked her how she was doing. But when Figgy saw her, she just had the biggest bomb dropped on her. Her whole demeanour changed in an instant.

Florence: She saw the bump. It was still small, but she noticed. She didn't hug me back.

Figgy: I couldn't believe it. I'd never felt so betrayed in my entire life. To think I'd spent so long pining over him, daydreaming about the day he will finally come to some kind of sanity - and he was busy knocking Florence up in the meantime.

I'm not a fake person. I'm not always proud of it, but I can't hide my feelings or pretend to feel a way that I don't. And if he had shattered my heart into a billion pieces time and time before, he had just gathered them pieces up and set them on fire just to watch me burn.

Derek Barkley: The moment Figgy started to cause a scene was the moment I knew I had a fantastic story on my hands. It was all worthwhile. These types of parties always had their fair share of newsworthy drama, but you had to really dig it out. This was happening right before my very eyes - this could unravel into the scoop I was hoping for.

Axel: All she kept saying was "I was so stupid to trust you", over and over. She was welling up, panicking. I had no idea what was going on with her, especially when she shouted "You just aren't you anymore!"

It just seemed to all come out of nowhere. It always did with Figgy. One moment she was on cloud nine, the next her whole world had come crashing down at her feet. She was so unpredictable.

Florence: There was a part of me that started to wonder whether there was more to Figgy and Axel's relationship that meets the eye, yes. Her reactions were always so extreme - they were the reactions of a woman in love. But I chose to trust him, like I choose to still trust him now fifteen years later. What have you got if you haven't got trust?

Figgy: The party grinded to a halt and I started to cry. I just couldn't help it, I was feeling too much all at once. I was embarrassed but in the same breath I wanted Axel to know just how deeply he'd affected me. Jade quickly came to my side and took me away to give me some space to think.

It was the first time I'd felt genuinely cared for like that in so long. She had such a beautiful warmth to her. She was such an amazing woman. We sat on the doorstep, well away from the drama inside, and just chatted about everything that had happened.

I opened up to her about how much Axel meant to me, about the feelings I still had for him. I was so hung up on him and I just knew I couldn't let him go. He was my soulmate, I was sure of it, and seeing him run off with another woman had stabbed my heart with a million daggers. How could I just pretend like I wasn't feeling this inside? I'm human. People forget that.

Vince: Jade escorted her out so we could carry on having a good time. She really looked out for us, you know. She always had our best interests at heart.

Bentley: Jade always sacrificed herself for others. It was one of the things I loved about her. She was always so selfless.

Axel: With Figgy out of the picture for a little while, I decided to take some space so that me and Flo could talk about what was going on while the party kicked back off.

Florence: I will admit, I didn't handle it very well. There was always that little nagging feeling that Axel wasn't completely done with Figgy, and now she was crying bloody murder because she found out about the baby. She'd played a long waiting game, and she'd lost. And she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

You don't wait that long and have that much hope on a one-sided love. Unless she was completely delusional, of course, which was always Axel's defence. I'll never understand what goes on in Figgy's head, but perhaps that's a good thing.

Axel: Of course, I expected Flo to be upset, but things were different now. Nothing was happening between me and Figgy, and nothing was ever going to happen with us ever again. That chapter of my life was finally over and I felt like I could breathe again. There was no way that I was going to let my past come back to haunt me and take away everything I'd built for myself.

Florence: It was obvious that they needed to talk to each other. Once and for all, the cards needed to be laid on the table. I knew I couldn't be there for it, and it did make me nervous. But they both deserved closure and with me there it would be insincere.

It's not nice for me to say, but I was really starting to doubt that Axel was telling me the truth. This girl wasn't a knife-wielding maniac, she was a rehabilitated drug addict - we thought, anyway. Of course, we just assumed she was sober. She must've learnt to hide it well.

Or, we've just never known the real Figgy. Maybe we hadn't once met her without something in her system. With no 'normal' to base her off, how could we be so sure that she was out of control? We'd said 'that's just Figgy' for too long.

She had us all fooled. And I had a nagging feeling that we were all still being manipulated by her, after all.