1. The trill of his cel phone should wake him because, after all, it is the middle of the night and perhaps if he had been able to shut his mind down long enough to actually sleep, he wouldn’t have felt the need to force himself to watch the small screen glowing in the darkness as the picture of her burned an image that remained sharp and clear even as he briefly closed his eyes, willing himself to let it ring out to answer phone until he felt more equipped to deal with this – with her.

He had seen the photographs of course because they were everywhere and though she was a free agent, he had been unable to prevent a lingering sense of disappointment, not to mention sadness, that she had allowed herself to be exposed in such a way. Her privacy, he had discovered over the years, was everything to her and in the space of a few days, everything she had fought so hard to protect from a public hungry for scandal, had come tumbling down around her. She would be hurting right now for sure, but surely she must know that he was hurting also?

He made it to the fourth ring before his resolve weakened and he snatched up the phone, swiping angrily at the screen to connect the call, waiting for her to speak first and the sound of her voice made his stomach clench as though sucker punched, the quiet desperation all too evident even across the ocean that had always formed a chasm between them that once they had believed their love could bridge, but now knew not to be the case. “I’ve done something so stupid….” She is trying not to cry even as she chokes out her need of him and even though he wants to resist, to not allow himself to be the emotional crutch she turns back to time and time again, he knows it is futile just as it has always been. Because he is powerless to resist her when she calls to him.

Long hours pass and the dawn streaks the sky as he rests his head against the small window, dark glasses and pulled-down baseball cap obscuring much of his face. He can only pray he can remain anonymous because he has no real wish to become embroiled in this whole sorry mess. But she is his friend and she is hurting so he has to go to her, hoping he can be as adept at hiding himself as he has always been. As adept as she *used* to be. They taught each other well. End

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oh that hurts so good! Thank you for this, anon!