FALLING
iii. NEVER BE ALONE
"CHRIS HUGS ARE ALWAYS THE BEST HUGS."
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"I promise that one day I'll be around
I'll keep you safe
I'll keep you sound" - Shawn Mendes [Never Be Alone]
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THE ECHO OF WATER SPLATTERING ON THE SHOWER FLOOR COULD BE HEARD THROUGHOUT THE SMALL NEW YORK APARTMENT. Fresh conditioner and body wash filled the small bathroom, the first scent you'd smell as soon as you'd walked into the bathroom. The taps squeaked quietly as they were shut off, only for the bathroom to go silent.

Amelia reached for her towel that had been hanging over the shower wall, only to realise she was reaching for literally air. Turning in confusion, she noticed that her towel nor the clothes she had left on the bench were where she left them. Growling, she opened the shower door and opened the bathroom door.

"CHRISTOPHER CHARLES WOOD!" Amelia's voice rang out around the apartment.

Small chuckles echoed from the lounge room, but Amelia was completely oblivious to the noise. Knowing there was no point in chasing after her best-friend, she sighed in annoyance. Flicking off the lights, she made her way into her dark bedroom, only to be wrapped around in a large towel by someone.

She let out a loud squeal, her heartbeat thumping against her chest rapidly. Quickly flicking the bedroom light on, she looked around to try and find who gave her the towel, but found nothing except for her clothes on the bed. Rolling her eyes, she dried herself off and changed into her nike sweatpants and the oversized t-shirt, before grabbing her phone off the charger.

Stepping into the lounge room, she jumped over the back of the couch where Chris had been sitting, only to curl up beside him. Chris looked down at her with a small smile, just as a pair of hands grabbed her shoulders, shouting, "BOO!" into her ears.

Jumping with a scream, she tumbled off the couch somehow. Chris burst into laughter, whilst the culprit did also. Glancing up at the figure behind the couch, she found a pair of glacier blue eyes staring back at her. It took a minute for her brain to register who they belonged to, and Chris watched in amusement, just as she grinned at the victim of the scaring.

"SMOLDY!" squealed Amelia, scrambling to get off the floor and over the couch into his arms.

"Hey Lia," greeted Ian, a chuckle escaping his lips.

Ian span Amelia around in a circle, causing an eruption of laughter to escape her lips, whilst Flash jumped around and barked at the two. After placing Amelia back on her feet, both Ian and herself walked over and sat on the other couch that was next to the one Chris was sitting on.

"Hey," whined Chris, obviously wanting Amelia to sit with him.

Amelia glanced over at him, noticing the pout on his lips. "Stop whining you big baby, I see you all the time."

An unfamiliar feeling sparked throughout his body, one he didn't really fully understand. His gaze averted to his sweatpants, where he played with a thread of cotton that was loose. Flash barked all of a sudden, catching the trio's attention.

Amelia and Ian glanced down to find Flash sitting beside the couch, wagging his tail excitedly at Ian's presence. A big goofy grin on the dog's lips, making Amelia laugh, whilst Chris just rolled his eyes and continued scrolling through his phone.

"Hey Flash, what's up buddy?" asked Ian, reaching over Amelia to pet the dog on the head a few times.

Amelia pet him and gave him a scruff on the head before he trotted over to the couch Chris was sitting on. Flash was a smart dog, and he knew a lot of things that homosapians wouldn't expect a dog to know. But, Flash knew his seat extremely well, and Chris was currently in that spot.

The brunette had his phone in his lap with one leg bent, his foot resting underneath his thigh, while his other leg was perched up on the coffee table in front of them. He was casually scrolling through Instagram when Flash barked, repeatedly, enough to snap that one little thing holding Chris' patience together.

One last bark, and Chris finally snapped. "FLASH! SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He yelled, catching the attention of the duo lying on the other couch.

Both Amelia and Ian's heads snapped over to where Chris was sitting, while Flash had his tail between his legs and his head down in fright as he walked over to his bed in the corner of the room, close to the TV. Chris rose from his seat, tossing his phone - in annoyance - onto the coffee table in the process.

Amelia's eyebrows furrowed once she sat up properly on the couch, watching as Chris disappeared down the corridor that led to his bedroom. Just a few short months after their friendship sparked, Chris found himself at Amelia's apartment more than his own, to the point where Amelia invited him to move in with her.

He wasn't so bad having around though. He kept the apartment clean, didn't leave towels or clothes lying around, helped with cooking and cleaning, washing his own clothes, and didn't complain about it. He sometimes even washed Amelia's without being asked, which she was glad for, because sometimes she'd get so busy and forget, or she'd be so tired she wouldn't have time to.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Ian, looking at Amelia.

She sighed, shrugging her shoulders in response. "I don't know. He's never yelled at Flash like that before."

"Maybe something's going on that he hasn't told you about?" Ian suggested, after he sat himself upright beside her.

"Maybe. I don't know."

"Well, I better go. Gotta get back to the "kids," and my fiancé," said Ian, standing up, putting air quotes about kids.

Amelia stood up with him, watching as he went to give Flash a pat on the head, but Flash dodged it. Amelia sighed at her dog, before she walked Ian to the door. After bidding goodbye, and Amelia telling Ian to give his cats a hug, and his dogs a pat each, he left.

Amelia closed the door whilst staring over at Chris' iPhone that was currently sitting on the coffee table. When the door was closed, Amelia made her way over to Chris' phone. Taking a seat, she leant over to pick it up, whilst the screen was lighting up with Instagram notifications.

She didn't understand why Chris was so upset. Maybe it was family issues, or journalists making up stupid stories about him again. She didn't really know, and she knew that if she kept annoying Chris about it, he'd get pissed off. He'd shut her out until the issue was over, or if she confronted him about it again.

Unlocking his phone with her fingerprint, the screen opened up to the last refreshed page of his Instagram feed. Scrolling through it, she couldn't find anything that would expose Chris' anger that he'd bubbled up so much.

A new notification however, had caught Amelia's attention immediately. It was a comment that Chris had been mentioned in by a fan, if you could even classify them as a fan. Reading through the comments, her brain was mixing in complete confusion.

Why was this fan talking about her? Why was Chris talking about her? Why were they arguing on her Instagram post? What the hell did the comments even mean? Why did a random "fan" say that Chris was sleeping with her? She didn't sleep with Chris, did she?

Rising from where she was sitting, Chris' phone still in her grasp, she decided to confront Chris about it all. Walking out of the lounge room, she made her way down the corridor towards Chris' bedroom. Knowing Chris wouldn't care if she walked into his room, she pushed the - already slightly ajar - door, open.

The room was only illuminated by his ipod dock that lit up with different colours as music played, which was currently playing soft music. A melodic sound radiated through the speaker softly, just enough to help Chris fall asleep somehow. When he first moved in, Amelia found that it was hard for him to fall asleep for some odd reason, only because she walked past his room and found him struggling to fall asleep without any music.

Averting her eyes from the speaker, towards the actor who lay half asleep on his stomach. His hands under the pillow, with his right leg bent up like he was resting his leg on someone's waist in his sleep. A blush spread across Amelia's cheeks when she noticed he was only wearing a pair of Calvin Klein boxers, showing off his ripped body.

Drift, his dog, had been asleep on his bed in the corner - of the room - for most of the day after Chris took him for a run at lunchtime, but awoke when he heard noises in the bedroom. Glancing around, he noticed Amelia walk into the bedroom, and it made him get up and stretch, before walking over to her.

"Hey buddy, could you wake up dad for me?" Amelia asked, bending down to pat the dog on the head.

If Drift was human, Amelia could've sworn that she saw him smile goofily at her, before he turned away from her and jumped onto the bed. A grunt rippled through Chris' lips when Drift stood on his back, and Amelia snorted, quickly covering her mouth to stop herself from laughing so loudly.

"Ow. Drift, you fat shit, get off me," muttered Chris, trying to push him off, only to be disobeyed.

Chris managed to get Drift off, chuckling as the dog fell beside him where he could wrap his arms around him and squeeze him in a tight hug. Drift happily laid there with his owner, whilst Amelia chuckled, catching the attention of the brunette lying in just his boxers.

Chris saw Amelia over near the door, and he groaned out loud playfully. "Please tell me you're not here to jump on me too."

Chris watched closely as a grin tugged at his best friend's lips, her eyes lighting up like she had just gotten an idea. However, Chris' eyes widened when he realised that he gave her an idea, and he held out his arms.

"Now that you say that," taunted Amelia, letting a smirk spread across her lips.

"Amelia, don't - don't you dare," begged Chris, only to get jumped on by the brunette, giggles escaping her lips all the while.

"Too bad, Chrissy Poo," chuckled Amelia, glancing down at him with her hands resting on his chest, her body straddling his own.

"Ow. Amelia, you fat shit, get off," Amelia tried to imitate him.

Chris let out a loud laugh at her attempt of imitating him. "I don't sound like that."

"Whatever, that's not why I'm here," Amelia stated.

"Well then. Why are you in my bedroom, in your apartment?" asked Chris, a teasing tone to his voice.

Amelia smacked his head, only resulting in her flicking his hair slightly, causing a laugh to escape both of their lips at her attempt. Amelia let out a loud, disappointed sound that was mixed between a sigh and a groan, causing the both of them to laugh even harder. Chris imitated her sigh, only to make their laughter continue. Amelia was laughing so hard that she was leaning forward with her head resting against his chest.

Once Amelia pulled away, and their laughter faded out, Chris' eyes locked with her's. A small smile tugging at his lips, causing Amelia's eyebrows to shoot up in confusion. He shook his head whilst smiling, making Amelia frown in confusion.

"What are you smiling at?"

"Nothing." denied Chris, raising his eyebrows. "So, what did you wanna talk about?"

Amelia then realised why she was even in here at 9pm, still straddling Chris' waist for some odd reason. A small blush made it's way up to Amelia's cheeks when her brain finally registered that she was still on Chris' lap, and she climbed off, sitting beside him on the bed where Drift had been just minutes prior but wasn't anymore.

"Question, about the comments on my IG post," mentioned Amelia, not realising she still had Chris' phone in her hand all this time until she mentioned what she needed to speak with him about.

Chris suddenly froze beside her, but played it cool enough for her not to notice while she was unlocking his phone. She pulled up the photo, and the comments on the post, turning the phone screen towards him so he could read it.

"Did you sleep with me, Chris?" asked Amelia.

The tone in her voice alerted Chris that she wasn't happy with what she was finding out. He knew that if he told her the truth, it could destroy their entire friendship, and that was something he definitely didn't want. Not after everything they've been through.

"No, A, you really think I would sleep with you? I told you that I found you in the alleyway drunk, remember? I was the one who took you home, and left you that note. You rang me up just days afterwards, wanting to meet up," explained Chris, looking directly into her eyes, but saw no change of emotion in them. "Do you really think I'd give up our friendship for some petty rumour going around?"

"Then why is everyone saying that you slept with me Christopher?!"

She was mad, really mad. After years of knowing her, Chris picked up on her pet like peeves. She would always call him by his nicknames, not his full name. If she did, then he knew he'd crossed the line and pissed her off. Amelia found herself standing up, Chris following her as he spoke.

"I don't know, okay? Please just calm down. I promise you that I didn't sleep with you!"

Chris didn't know what he was expecting next, but he knew he wasn't -really - expecting Amelia's fist to collide with his cheek. A burning sensation ran up his cheek as it reddened - and probably bruised - from contact, and Chris brought a hand up to his face to feel it. Half surprised that Amelia had punched him, he looked over at her with raised eyebrows as if it was a question.

"Ouch," mumbled Chris.

"Shit, I'm so sorry," laughed Amelia, quickly grabbing his face to inspect it.

Chris pulled away from her, whilst she was trying not to laugh. "Jesus Christ. I didn't realise how good your right hook was," said Chris, laughing at himself in the mirror that was close by.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean-"

"-It's all good, A. I was half expecting it to happen sooner or later."

Amelia laughed, quickly wrapping her arms around his side. A chuckle escaped his lips, before he wrapped his arms around the brunette, hugging her gently. He moved over to the bed, where he fell backwards onto it, Amelia falling on top of him.

"Chris hugs are always the best hugs," mumbled Amelia, smiling at the warmth being provided because of him.

"Chris sex is always the best sex," replied Chris, causing Amelia to snort aloud.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever hot shot."

Chris watched as Amelia pulled away from him. His eyes following her as she walked away, before they unconsciously trailed to her ass. He bit his bottom lip slightly, remembering everything that happened just over 4 years ago. He knew he should've told her the truth, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Not now.