Always There

THREE:

"What the hell are you doing here, Ezra?" I quickly ushered him in.

His soaking hair was dripping all over the floor and his clothes hung on him like a empty sack of rice put out to dry on a washing line.

My heart was beating so furiously I could barely breathe. The knots in my stomach came right back.

Everything hit me all over again like a tsunami hitting land. Except this felt like multiple waves hitting over and over again, leaving me in tatters.

I didn't know what to do or what to say. My tongue felt like sand in my mouth.

"Annie, I'm so sorry for barging in like this. But, this couldn't wait." He said, out of breath. I assumed he ran here from his car.

"It couldn't?" I asked him with a scowl on my face. "I was going to talk to you Monday, Ezra. How did you even find me?"

His face flushed at my question. "I searched estate agencies and kind of found you through them and I..."

"What are you doing here?" I asked, interrupting him.

"I needed to talk to you. I know it's stupid but I couldn't wait any longer." He starts and for a moment he stopped to catch his breath. "Can I have some water?"

I nodded and retrieved a glass of water for him. When I got back he was on the couch and raking a hand through his ruffled hair.

"Thank you."He said politely when I gave him the water.

He took a huge gulp before he began and then he looked up at me and the slight frown on his face made me shift in the space I was standing in.

"I thought about what you said. I'm sorry for putting a girl like Bethany in front of you. You're my best friend and I don't want to mess that up. You're the only person who's ever given a shit about me and I love you for that."

For a moment my heart stood still in my chest. He's worried just about our friendship. I knew that.

I don't know why this is affecting me so much.

"Ezzie, I don't want to lose you either but you haven't spoken to me ever since that girl entered your life. She obviously got a huge impact on you. How am I supposed to know that you won't repeat that mistake?" I said instead.

"Because you're my girl okay? That will stay that way." He answered me with a desperate look on his face.

"I'll make up the couch for you." I answered him, ignoring the fact that he just called me 'his girl'.

"No." He answered me quick.

When I looked back at him, he suddenly looked shocked that, that came out of his mouth.

"What?" I retort back to him.

"No. I don't want you to make up the couch for me." He said with a determination in his voice I had never heard before.

"Where else are you going to sleep Ezra?" I ask him, half shouting at him.

"With you." He said, a look of something that looks like acceptance coming across his features.

"What? No, you're not. You're sleeping here." I said, against my own wishes. I wanted desperately for him to sleep next to me, to hold my body in his. My heart squeezed at the thought. But I knew that the moment I close my eyes he would be gone. It's the kind of person he is.

No hope.

"Annie. I'm sleeping next to you tonight." He said in a tone of voice that said that he wasn't going to argue anymore.

"Why Ezra? Is there a specific reason your being a hardass about this?" I said and he suddenly looked back at me with a pleading look on his face.

"Annie..." He started exasperated and I quickly interrupted him.

"No. I don't want to hear that. I want to hear a reason." I said rooted to my spot.

"Because Annie! It's high time that you see what's right in front of your damn eyes!" He suddenly shouted at me. "You're so bloody blind! Will you just see it?"

"See what?" I shouted back at him.

"I love you!" He shouts at me and for a moment I felt my head reeling. When he spoke again, his voice was soft and torn. "I have for years Annie. I don't know how you don't see it."

My throat dried up. I didn't know how to answer that. Just thinking of all the torment I went through the last years I was in love with him made my head ache. And all I had to do was open up? All he had to say were a couple of words? Then this would all be over.

"You're an idiot. You know that?" I suddenly burst out, infuriated.

When he looked up from his hands being in his hair his expression was shocked.

"What?"

"How could I not see it? All these years you've been hiding this from me and causing both of us an immense amount of pain and all you had to do was say it!" I said, almost shouting at him again.

"Annie? What are you saying?" He asks, the hope in his voice quite evident.

"I'm saying you're an idiot."I said and he gets a slight smile on his face.

"Annie?" He said, standing up. Each step he took toward me felt like someone was buzzing me with a tazer. This was happening. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that I love you too. So much." I answered him.

The smile on his face told me just how much he wanted to hear that. When he finally reached me, I could feel my heart stopping in my chest. His fingers touched my shaking lips, sliding down them and cupping my face in his hands.

His touch sent shivers down my spine.

And then, almost painfully, slowly, he kissed me.

***

A/N: 

Song is The Civil Wars' Talking In Your Sleep.