𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙏𝙀𝙉
—𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴—

     𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙀 𝙒𝘼𝙎 𝘼 story that Bryce's mother told her about many times when she was a child. It was Shakespeare, she understood now, but at the time the girl knew it as a fairytale— one that went wrong and made her think harder about her future. It made her believe that sometimes love didn't work out, or that not all problems could be solved by it; and that there was a certain possibility someone along the line wouldn't receive the happily ever after they deserved. In fair Verona, Romeo and Juliet were only meant to be together six feet underground.

As the Dylan girl sits on a bar stool, staring out to the beach waves outside, she hopes that Evelyn will never have to know that kind of pain— the one where she won't see Rafe again until she's gone too. And maybe Evelyn wasn't religious, but that didn't mean Bryce could be. And she hoped that if Evelyn didn't find another love in this lifetime, she'd one day see her true love again. But one day could be so long away, or possibly even tomorrow. That was the hurtful truth that Bryce decided she would never tell Evelyn. She didn't have the heart to.

"You look beautiful," Danny says casually, slipping into the barstool next to Bryce without a sound. "But that's not unusual for you, sweetheart."

As her eyes find his, she chuckles and shakes her head. He always knew just how to brighten the mood— especially with that award-winning smile of his. She wished that his grin would never go away, although the woman was almost completely sure it would fade away within the next few minutes. Even if she begged, it would never stay. His best friend just passed, and there was no reason to smile for that.

"You know, I think I almost just swooned." Bryce clicks her tongue, watching as he takes her hand in his. "But you have that affect on me just about every day, pilot. Tell me; how many hearts have you broken in your lifetime?"

"None. Don't worry, I don't plan on letting you down, sugar," he winks. "I won't disappoint, and that's a promise."

This time, she had most definitely swooned. There was a pounding in her chest, of which her heart decided that Danny was too much for her to take. His gorgeous complexion, his caring heart— every little thing about him made her fall even harder. And at this rate, the woman thought that she'd soon be scared. Scared of the four-letter-word that could make or break the rest of her future with the man of her dreams. The one that happened to be sitting right in front of her, placing an empty shot glass onto the hand-carved wooden table.

"Have you seen Evelyn?" Bryce asks, quickly changing the subject as her mind began to roam too far. This way, not only could she openly worry about her friend, but she could also stop thinking about Danny in such a way. "I haven't seen her since this morning, and I'm beginning to worry. Maybe I'm just being a tad bit dramatic."

"I'm sure she'll show up on her own terms," Danny shrugs, rubbing soothing circles across the back of her hand with his thumb. "Evelyn needs time to heal. She'll be here. I know it."

And then, as if that topic-changing-conversation were over, she began to examine Danny again. His eyes were deep and rich with color, contrasting against his perfectly tan skin. His hair was combed, but was messy at the same time due to the wind that constantly rushed past them. Danny's features symbolized those of a God-like figure, especially his sculpted jaw line. It was as if he were hand-crafted by an artist who knew everything of beauty.

He was the kind of man that could break any woman's heart— but they wouldn't mind at all. So how on earth had Bryce snatched him up so easily?

"Sometimes I think it'd be better if she didn't." The woman stresses, shaking her head with a sigh. "She's still holding on— like there's hope that he'll come back. And maybe she should keep that hope, because I'm not sure how she'd react without it. Evelyn is strong, and I believe in her, but this is a lot to take in right after moving to a new place with a new job and new people."

"Evelyn gets accustomed easily," he says, his honey-like accent seeping through his teeth. "I wouldn't do this if I didn't think she could handle it, Bryce. Now is the time that we need to have faith in her, and give her as much undivided support as we can."

"I know," Bryce lays her head on his shoulder, feeling more comfortable as he puts his arm around her and squeezes her waist. "I'm just worrisome for her. It's difficult to watch someone as happy as her crumble so quickly without being able to do anything to help."

And that was true— for the given time, Evelyn hadn't been herself. She had stopped baking sweets for the girls every day, and had taken to licking herself in her room instead. Occasionally, she'd leave it open. But all you could hear were the soft sounds of her cries from out on the balcony; the place where she chose to sit and stare and the sky, and hope that Rafe would come back to her. But he hadn't, and Bryce assumed he never would.

Assumed.

---

It took nearly an hour for the raven-haired girl to make an appearance, and by then, the ceremony had been held off far longer than Bryce originally expected. Although she knew Evelyn didn't intend to keep them waiting for such a time, a part of her mind didn't let go of the thoughts on what could've possibly taken so long. But as Evelyn swallowed down her pride and walked toward the hung picture of Rafe on the wall, Bryce noticed the folded letter in her hand, and found the answer she was looking for.

A goodbye letter, possibly— or maybe even one that said "until I see you again". Either way, the Dylan woman sank down into her chair, tightly gripping Danny's hand as her friend walked nearer to the picture. She pinned the letter to the boarded walls, before placing a gentle kiss onto her fingers. Evelyn proceeded to place those fingers onto Rafe's picture, before bowing her head for a short moment. It wasn't long before her shoulders began to shake, and she sunk to the ground, her tears falling freely.

"Danny," Bryce chokes out, nodding in Evelyn's direction. "I think it'd be best if you handled this."

Danny nodded chastely, before moving towards the woman. Evelyn was dressed in black, no sign of the usual red stains on her lips. She didn't wear makeup either, which also came as a surprise to all of the women that showed up to pay their respects for Evelyn's sake. Her hair was curled, but not in the normal way that she always wore; this time, it was different. Something about the curls fell flat, as if she had given up and been okay with the unusual drape of them. But Bryce knew, that if she were in this situation, she wouldn't have looked as put together as Evelyn.

"Hey, darlin'," Danny murmurs to the woman, wrapping her up in his tight embrace. "It's gonna be alright, you hear? Everything is gonna be okay. He wouldn't want you to be like this— he'd want you to remember all the good times, not dwell on what happened."

"I can't do it, Danny," Evelyn cries out, her hands frantically wiping away her tears, as if she were afraid of them. Of what they might mean. "I can't be strong, I can't do it anymore. It all hurts too much."

Bryce clutched her chest this time, feeling her heart break with every word as she continued.

"Every night I see him in my dreams, and every time I wake up thinking that it's real and he's back," she sobs into his shoulder. "But then I realize that he's gone, and I can't sleep. I can't think, I can't eat, I can't breathe the right way, knowing that he's not out there writing letters back to me. That somewhere along the way of saving lives and fighting for our country, he's hit rock bottom and died, and I couldn't do a damn thing about it!"

"It's so hard to live with myself, knowing that I won't see him again." Evelyn grasps onto his shirt, tugging down on it a bit, as if it were her lifeline— or possibly her lost future with her long-gone boyfriend. "And I have to sleep, and think, and eat, and breathe, and be okay with the fact that I'll never see the love of my life again."

Bryce dropped to her knees beside Danny, her eyes watering as she pulled Evelyn into an embrace of her own, and held her as close as possible. She prayed for Evelyn's pain to go away somehow, for her to be the happy-go-lucky nurse that rambled on about her patients of the day and baked sweets for the girls as soon as she arrived home; the one that murmured on about Rafe and their love story for hours, before disappearing to write a quick and loving letter to him.

But that side of Evelyn was gone now.

And Bryce wasn't so sure that it would ever come back.

_______