Any hope Fallon had of restraining her turbulent emotions vanished in a single tense moment. The room's echoed silence made it impossible for her to miss his whispered words, and suddenly her whole world shifted again. Lachlan loved her, he loved her and she loved him, and that ought to have been it. A single tear slipped down her cheek that she didn't bother to swipe away. Love wasn't supposed to be this complicated, it wasn't meant to hurt this much.
Time was the one thing she couldn't offer him, not in the amount they needed to catch up to where she and Jesse stood. They were only at the starting line, their future a jumbled mess of possibilities. Whereas things with Jesse already had a steady course. (Were they engaged now? Jesse hadn't posed the question but made it obvious he was ready to. Was asking her just a formality at this point? Fallon couldn't tell.) She took another small step towards him, wishing more than anything she could ease this grief. Lachlan loved her and she was ensuring he would lose her as he'd lost everything else. Nothing she could do would help him. Nothing aside from changing her decision.
"I love you, too." She admitted in such a soft whisper it might've gone unheard in any other situation. If nothing else, Lachlan deserved to know the truth. He deserved to know his feelings weren't one sided, even if such truths would only compound the grief. (What he truly deserved was as fair a chance as Jesse, but Fallon couldn't grant him that without sacrificing her relationship.)
Nothing could've prepared her for his panicked words. Lachlan had had his life upended in the past two months, and here she was pulling his only remaining support. They could still be friends, they could still support one another through their lives, but he wouldn't allow that. With Lachlan, it was all or nothing, always. He complained about her doing it her way all the time, but she wasn't the one to have presented the ultimatum. Fallon wasn't the one forcing a divide between them.
Only two feet separated them now, but it may as well have been a mile for how far she felt from where they once were. This couldn't be it. This couldn't be where they ended. Not after the journey they'd had thus far. "I love you, too," she repeated again, another knife wound to his heart she was sure. Squeezing her eyes shut, Fallon took a step back until her backside hit the sofa. Now, she couldn't retreat unless there was an awkward maneuver, fuck.
"He's just ... " What was Jesse that Lachlan wasn't? Stable, selfless, open. "It isn't hard with him," she settled on after a short pause.
Time was the one thing she couldn't offer him, not in the amount they needed to catch up to where she and Jesse stood. They were only at the starting line, their future a jumbled mess of possibilities. Whereas things with Jesse already had a steady course. (Were they engaged now? Jesse hadn't posed the question but made it obvious he was ready to. Was asking her just a formality at this point? Fallon couldn't tell.) She took another small step towards him, wishing more than anything she could ease this grief. Lachlan loved her and she was ensuring he would lose her as he'd lost everything else. Nothing she could do would help him. Nothing aside from changing her decision.
"I love you, too." She admitted in such a soft whisper it might've gone unheard in any other situation. If nothing else, Lachlan deserved to know the truth. He deserved to know his feelings weren't one sided, even if such truths would only compound the grief. (What he truly deserved was as fair a chance as Jesse, but Fallon couldn't grant him that without sacrificing her relationship.)
Nothing could've prepared her for his panicked words. Lachlan had had his life upended in the past two months, and here she was pulling his only remaining support. They could still be friends, they could still support one another through their lives, but he wouldn't allow that. With Lachlan, it was all or nothing, always. He complained about her doing it her way all the time, but she wasn't the one to have presented the ultimatum. Fallon wasn't the one forcing a divide between them.
Only two feet separated them now, but it may as well have been a mile for how far she felt from where they once were. This couldn't be it. This couldn't be where they ended. Not after the journey they'd had thus far. "I love you, too," she repeated again, another knife wound to his heart she was sure. Squeezing her eyes shut, Fallon took a step back until her backside hit the sofa. Now, she couldn't retreat unless there was an awkward maneuver, fuck.
"He's just ... " What was Jesse that Lachlan wasn't? Stable, selfless, open. "It isn't hard with him," she settled on after a short pause.