Sick of the Sunsets

Those who say good things never last are liars. They only utter that sentence, which they seem to think is filled with fatalistic warnings, as an excuse to damp spirits and put the bright burning fires inside individuals out. It is a sentence that is only uttered when jealousy is the overriding emotion.

Hannah and Paul had to hear this sentence almost everyday. However they were more than happy to let everyone be jealous over them. The only people who refused to comment on the status of Paul and Hannah's relationship where the Happy and Flattered Giant and his long-suffering girlfriend.

They watched with delight on their faces at how Hannah and Paul's relationship shifted. Even from the very first slightly disastrous date, where to the utter shock of the Happy and Flattered Giant, Paul and Hannah walked back into the recently cleaned apartment dripping wet and smelling of lake, causing puddles of water to collect on the brand new IKEA carpet which the Happy and Flattered Giant rescued with a girlie screech from beneath their wet feet. Despite all of this Martin and Alexa knew that this was a special couple.

After the first date Paul decided to treat Hannah to evenings out which involved little threat to her own safety. Evenings out included going to the concerts of tiny and unknown bands in the dodgiest bars in town but having an amazing time, or open-air cinema screenings that took place in the various parks across Boston. Paul always had the best ideas and kept Hannah on her feet.

She enjoyed the spontaneity of their life; with Josh everything had been planned or already done before. He had been unwilling to go to new places and see new things, but this was something Paul thrived off. If in one place for too long he got jittery and wound up, something that was not necessarily a bad thing in Hannah's eyes.

Being part of the crazy ensemble that was Boys Like Girls and entourage, offered a whole new world of experiences. Together they worked towards one aim and one aim only; and that was to get their music out there. At first Hannah was dubious. Their dedication was unique and unmatchable, but their dreams seemed so much bigger than them.

However she was soon proven very wrong when Boys Like Girls, after hours of dedication, trials and plain hard work, occupied the number one spot on Pure Volume for Best Unsigned Artist.

The jubilations this created in camp Boys Like Girls shifted their whole lives into the fast lane. Overjoyed the Happy and Flattered Giant now the Almost Famous Giant invited everyone out for dinner. So it came that one of Boston's countless restaurants was invaded by a group of seven overjoyed and enthusiastic young people, all who had massive smiles on their faces and were ready to reach for bigger and better things.

The mood in the restaurant improved the minute the young people had taken their places and started chatting happily. The other people eating their dinner caught a whiff of their contagious happiness and slowly but surely every other customer in the restaurant grew a smile on their faces.

Everything was uncharacteristically blissful.

The Almost Famous Giant and Alexa were a picture of contrasting perfection, the petite and tiny Alexa sat next to the tall and lanky form of Martin. Usually they managed to bicker more than any other couple possible, but this evening they were holding hands and only had pleasant things to say to each other.

Paul and Hannah were sat together opposite Martin and Alexa, and were a mirror image of them. They were holding hands and ever so often Paul placed sweet and gently kisses on Hannah's cheek, causing the latter to positively glow with happiness.

That night Bryan also introduced another member into the Boys Like Girls camp, it was a girl whom he had been seeing for a long time called Kelsey, a brunette whom Alexa and Hannah took to straight away. John was the only who was without partner due to the fact that his girlfriend lived and worked out of the city, but he didn't let this bring him down and everyone talked with each other, being honest open and truthfully having a great time.

The scene and situation were too perfect. Something had to go wrong.

And it did.

It happened during the main course when Hannah happened to glance out of the window and what she saw caused her to drop her fork with a clatter on the table and resulted in everyone on their table to stop talking and look at her with questioning faces.

The change in Hannah was dramatic. Her face went ashen and panic flew into life in her eyes. Her hands that had previously been holding the silver cutlery were shaking uncontrollably. She muttered a single curse word under her breath and in total panic she stood up, almost knocking her chair over. She was out of the door before anyone could say anything to her, or even inquire as to what had just happened.

"Is she ok?" John asked Paul cautiously, even though the question was rather unnecessary as everyone had been laughing and enjoying themselves not even under ten minutes ago.

"I don't know," Paul said honestly and furrowed his brow in concern. "I'll go see if she's alright."

Everyone left seated nodded heartily in agreement, but could not help be worried about the situation.

Paul walked out of the restaurant doors and glanced either side of him before locating Hannah, who was sat on a bench under a streetlight, a few feet to his right. She was sat there with her head in her hands, the light fabric of her green dress fluttering around her knees in the lazy evening breeze. Even from where Paul was stood he could see her shaking.

He was by her side in a matter of seconds, arm wrapped around her waist and the comforting grip of his hand on hers.

"Are you ok?" Paul asked quietly, not wanting to provoke whatever feelings she was currently under.

Hannah at first nodded, but this then turned into an adamant shaking of her head, and Paul could not help but notice a tear trickle down her face.

"I just saw Josh."

What Paul felt in that moment could only be described as a blow to the stomach. He took in a sharp breath of heavy evening air and suddenly found it harder to breath.

"But Josh is in California," Paul tried to reason with Hannah. "You can't have seen him."

Hannah shook her head vehemently.

"I know what I saw Paul, he was there."

It felt as though her safe and comfortable world had just been invaded. Knowing that Josh was in Boston, her new home, was like the enemy marching in on land that did not belong to them. She wanted to keep him away from her, and regardless if Josh was in Boston to find her make her come back to California, or just for the fun of it, she didn't like the idea of his presence in her city one bit. Especially not now when everything was beginning to slot so perfectly into place not only with Paul but also with her new friends and their dreams.

She wasn't going to let some shadow of a man from a place she used to call home ruin everything for her, and neither was Paul.