All That We Could Be

Chapter Forty Two

The next morning Fallon was the first to wake up. Shivering slightly because of the cold, Fallon snuggled into her blanket, and closer to a warm Christopher. Surprised that he had stayed out the whole night with her, Fallon watched the day break. The sunrise was beautiful. Fallon watched the colours of day paint the sky. Like an artist’s brush stroking the sky.

She had some time to herself before Christopher woke up. It was a few minutes before she sat up with the blanket wrapped around her, careful not to wake him up. Thoughts from the night before flooded back into her mind. What am I going to do now?...-Fallon thought hopelessly. Daniel had moved on…Fallon sat there at a loss to understand…what would she do now?

She didn’t get anytime to think about it. “Good Morning.” Christopher said sleepily. He was shielding his eyes from the sunlight. “Morning.” Fallon replied. He slowly got up. “So what time is it?” He asked her. Christopher rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “Early…I’m guessing around 5:30…I don’t know.” Fallon told him, showing her bare wrists…she hadn’t worn her watch. “Why do I get the feeling you’ve done this before?” Christopher said with a laugh. Fallon cringed. The guards must have told him. “I…” Fallon started to tell him. This time Christopher cut her off. “I honestly don’t want to know.” It was his turn to say. He didn’t look surprised.

They were quiet. “So do you want me to take you home?” Christopher asked her. Fallon was puzzled. “Why? I can drive myself.” Fallon asked him, her confusion showed. “Well I thought after you got dressed we could get a head start with our project…before the rest of the guys and unfortunately William came along. Come on…it’ll be fun!” He said, trying to entice her. Fallon raised an eyebrow. “Are you serious…we spent the night sleeping outside…and you’re not freaking out on me…instead you want to drive me home and bring me back to work on some project you came up with for the guys?” Fallon asked suspiciously. “Yes.” Was all that Christopher said to her. “Okay…sure.” Fallon agreed. It would help take her mind off of things.

First Fallon and Christopher stopped at his house. He got washed and dressed quickly. Fallon took a moment to wash her face; luckily Christopher had a few extra tooth brushes. “Why do you have so many new tooth brushes?” Fallon asked when he told her not to worry about getting washed up. “A few years ago sometimes one of the guys would stay over or if they needed a place to crash because their girlfriend or someone was upset with them…I had to be prepared.” He told her, cutting a long story short. “So why do you still have these?” Fallon had asked, waving the brush at him. “Out of habit?” Christopher had said to her with a laugh.

When they had gotten to her house, Christopher had agreed to stay for breakfast. Cheryl had been happy to see them both. “Where were you last night?” Cheryl had demanded as soon as she saw Fallon walk in the door, but her voice softened as she saw Christopher come in behind her. “I was at the track.” Fallon had told her simply. “Doing what?” Cheryl had pressed. “Sleeping.” Christopher had piped up. “Sleeping? Where? At Chris’ house?” Cheryl had asked in confusion. Fallon had glared at Christopher for this. “Nope.” Fallon had told her simply before heading for her room, keen on avoiding whatever wrath Cheryl might have in store for her.

As Fallon got ready, she knew that Christopher would probably tell Cheryl…hopefully he wouldn’t tell her everything. It was still early; Fallon wondered why Cheryl was awake at this time. As hard as she tried to think of other things one image kept on appearing in her mind. Lénia kissing Daniel. Fallon was inconsolable, she was lucky she had turned the shower on…at least she couldn’t tell what was water and what were tears running down her face. She braced herself as she headed for the dining table.

Fallon had dressed in black capris, a long blue t-shirt, and had planned to wear her flip flops…even without the guys in the garage…Christopher would not be letting her do anything remotely dangerous…which was unfair…but Fallon wouldn’t complain…she needed every distraction she could find.

Fallon sat down at the table with two pairs of eyes watching her. “Okay what did he tell you?” Fallon said grudgingly. Cheryl was the first to mask her face. “Nothing. Just that you saw Daniel…so how did that go?” She asked Fallon. “What did you tell her?” Fallon ignored the question as she turned to Christopher. He grinned. “Just that you saw him. That’s all.” He told her. Fallon rolled her eyes. “That’s completely believable…coming from you.” Fallon muttered sarcastically, and with that she started to eat.

In the week after the encounter with Daniel, Fallon had been kept busy. Christopher and the guys had decided to rebuild a car and then auction it off for his late father’s charity. Fallon had loved the idea. Together Christopher and Fallon had found an old Mercedes Benz model in the junk yard which they all decided was wrecked enough to work on. Even William had asked to help much to Christopher’s displeasure.

When Friday came around the corner, Cheryl asked Fallon to do a performance for her at Lively! on Saturday, since one of the bands had cancelled and there was an extra slot. Fallon didn’t have anything else to do or to use as an excuse so she reluctantly agreed to help. The performance would be after a few bands.

Fallon combed through a lot of songs to pick a few that she would do on Saturday. She already knew at least one that she would definitely do. Fallon looked through the songs she had done for her recent album and decided on two more. Once she had finally finished with that, Fallon decided to watch a movie.

On Saturday, Fallon spent most of the day with Christopher working on the car. Some of the other guys were going on vacations with their families so they left Christopher, Fallon, and William to work on the car. William also had other appointments, since his father had some work out of the country; William had been left to oversee the running of the company and its various operations.

For the most part Christopher had been quiet about Daniel, but Fallon was waiting for the façade to crack…and it did. “So you’re going to be at Lively! tonight?” He asked her as they were working on the brake lines of the old car. “Yea, Cheryl asked me to do a few songs.” Fallon had told him, holding the light up for him to see what he was doing. “You’re all set for it?” He asked her slowly, he was still facing the car. “Yea…why wouldn’t I be?” Fallon asked. She was getting tired of dancing around the issue. “Won’t Daniel be there?” At last Christopher had finally said what they both had been waiting for. “I don’t know. Probably. Why? Are you coming?” She asked him, suspiciously, she held the light down.

Christopher chuckled. “Obviously I’m coming. You’re performing and Cheryl told me to come. Is William?” He asked her, with a slight frown. “Yep, he said he’s going to try to make it. Which usually means yes.” She told him with a grin. The truce between Christopher and William was holding, but barely, since Fallon was better. Which was a small comfort to Fallon; she hated their tag teaming her. “Come on, hold the light back up!” Christopher told her, Fallon had forgotten, she had been busy contemplating the night ahead.

“It’s not going to be that bad…you already know Daniel has a girlfriend. So at least you’re prepared.” Christopher said he glanced at Fallon; Fallon just stared at the garage floor. “Yea, well…that doesn’t really help. Anyway, moving on…Why are you and Will back to sniping at each other when I’m not looking?” Fallon asked changing the subject. Christopher didn’t answer, she knew he had heard the question…she could even see him grinning, still no answer. “Don’t worry about it. William and I won’t fight just yet.” Christopher answered with a chuckle, before he reached to position the light in Fallon’s hands. The two of them spent the rest of their time in friendly silence.

Once Fallon got home, she changed into the clothes Ana had asked her to try out. After the music video and the tour, Ana had become Fallon’s favourite designer. Her designs were very much to Fallon’s taste. The two had become fast friends, and Fallon trusted Ana’s choices.

For tonight, Ana had provided a short black empire waist dress with long billowy sleeves that had slits running up the length of the arm. The dress also had a silver flat chain around the waist. Fallon took her time getting dressed. There wasn’t any rush, since she wasn’t opening tonight. She put on her favourite charm bracelet and ring. Her hair was out of its usual ponytail. As Fallon walked the length of the hallway, she saw a box labelled with her name. She opened it to find a pair of heels. Fallon couldn’t stifle her groan…her feet were going to hurt tonight.

Once Fallon arrived at the club, she could see that there were a lot of people who had turned up. The end of summer always brought a rush of partiers to the club. This summer was no exception.

Fallon entered the club and went directly to Cheryl’s office. She would join her friends later. Time seemed to fly and before she knew it, Cheryl had come to tell Fallon she would be up soon. Fallon took a deep breath. She was nervous, but it would be manageable.

Cheryl announced her name and Fallon came up onto the stage. There in the center was a stool. Thank you Cheryl!...-Fallon thought. “Hello!” Fallon said to the crowd as she sat on the stool. Fallon glanced through them. There was no crowd where the Manchester United players usually were. Fallon visibly relaxed. “I didn’t expect to be doing this so soon after the tour.” She told them. “Since I am, I just wanted to thank everyone who came to the tour and made it the success it was.” The crowd cheered at this. “So, Thank you.” She said to them.

The first song Fallon chose to sing was ‘Poison’ originally by Elise Estrada. It had also been a b-side for her last single. It was a pretty fast paced song, which was why Fallon had chosen it. She had been in the mood for something fast yesterday.

The next song Fallon had chosen was ‘Sing’ by Theo Tams. She had always enjoyed singing this song. It had been one of those songs that had immediately caught her attention. It had been another b-side to one of her singles this year.

The last song Fallon had decided to do was the first one she had chosen yesterday. ‘Crush’ by David Archuleta, was her final choice. She had been on tour with this one and it got a good response. Also it had been released as her last single from her album. It was up there with her all time favourites.

Once Fallon finished, she thanked the crowd and left to find Christopher. The crowd was bigger than she thought; looking at them from the stage and going through them were clearly two different things. Fallon couldn’t seem to find Christopher. It was someone else who found her.

“Hello Fallon.” Came the voice from behind her. Fallon froze at once. She turned to face the source of the words. Daniel stood there looking slightly cheerless but still gorgeous. Fallon couldn’t understand what had upset him. He was dressed in black pants and a black collared short sleeved shirt.

When Fallon didn’t say anything, Daniel spoke again. “Nice performance. You looked amazing on the stage.” He told her, smiling. Fallon snapped out of her temporary muteness. “Thank you.” She told him, before turning her back to him. She was about to move through the crowd again, in search of Christopher, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

“Fallon, please just hear me out.” Daniel said. Fallon turned to face him, in spite of herself. “Okay, fine.” She told him, reluctantly. “I really meant what I said, the last time we met, I do want to be friends with you…I want us to hang out.” He told her. “Really?” She asked him, her voice didn’t sound as though she believed him. “Yes. I’m serious.” He told her. “And when you told this idea to Lénia, what did she say?” Fallon asked him. “What?” Daniel asked her, perplexed. “Well I’m guessing that we’ll all be hanging out, so what did she say when you told her about hanging out with your ex?” Fallon asked, she wasn’t about to get involved in something that could hurt someone else.

When Daniel didn’t answer Fallon decided she would leave. “I figured just as much. So much for being friends.” Fallon said as she walked away from him. “Fallon!” Daniel had taken hold of her arm, he held her lightly. “Fallon, please listen.” He pleaded with her. “No, Daniel. You need to listen.” She said furiously. “I’m not going to do this. You’re with Lénia; I’m not going to get involved.” She told him. “Do you really think that it won’t be noticed…that all of a sudden we’re hanging out? I’m going to get killed by the media! They’ll think we’re going out…that you’re cheating. I’m not going to be made out as that person…the home wrecker. Thanks but no thanks.”

“So that’s it. We can’t even be friends?” Daniel asked her. He looked at her in despair. There was a solid part of her that wanted her to change her mind and say yes. He looked as broken as she felt. What if they were friends and the media said nothing? Another part of her scoffed at the idea. When had the media been so kind with anyone? Hold on…-Fallon thought. Why should I care about the media?...When have I ever cared what anyone else thinks?...- She thought. It was an excuse…but she still didn’t want to play the part of ‘The jealous ex-girlfriend who ruined the relationship’. She couldn’t live with herself if she was to blame.

Fallon stood there with Daniel holding her, his hand had dropped from her arm and was holding her near him by holding onto her hand. Fallon had missed him for so long, her hand seemed to fit into his. She didn’t want to be the one to leave.

“How can we be friends when neither of us wants to be friends?” She asked him. “It’s better this way.” She told him lamely. Fallon hated herself for doing this. “You should go find Lénia.” She told him. Before she could untangle her hand from his, he pulled her in towards himself. “I’m sorry.” He whispered. Daniel kissed her forehead, she let go of his hand and walked into the crowd. Fallon tried hard not to look back, but she lost that battle. She saw him standing there in the crowd, he looked alone, soon he turned to walk away.

“Fallon! There you are!” Christopher said, as she came into view. Fallon looked up. He was standing there with William, Cheryl, and Keith. He looked visibly relieved to see her. “Hi.” She said, trying to muster up a smile. “Only three songs, I was hoping for more.” Keith teased. Cheryl had gotten him to come along, since Cheryl would be staying late. “Yea? I didn’t think anyone could handle anymore since I got back from tour a little while back.” She told him. “It was good though.” Cheryl told her. “Thanks.” Fallon said quietly.

“So what do you want to do now?” Christopher asked her. Fallon contemplated staying at the club. She didn’t want to run into Daniel again. “You know what? Let’s go catch a movie.” She told him. “See you later then.” Cheryl told them, heading towards her office with Keith in tow.

William and Christopher lead the way out of the club; it was easier following them since they were taller than her. Fallon straggled behind. As she left Lively!...Fallon couldn’t help but look back.