"I'm so sorry Tyler," I felt the tears mixed with raindrops sliding down my cheeks. "I never meant to lead you on. I don't know what happened. This whole week has been crazy and I swear it wasn't my intention to hurt you. I'm so so sorry."

His expression softened and he swallowed hard."Y-you're leaving me," he said quietly.

"Tyler," I gulped. "I... we... you knew I was already with Cameron. We both knew this wouldn't work. We-"

"Had sex," he said bluntly.

"W-what?" I asked, wondering why he would bring that up.

"Were you just bored?" his facial expression changed to pissed off. "Were you tired of fucking Cameron so you just led me on so I'd bang you?! Is that it?!"

I flinched at his yelling. "No," I said. "That... that was never it."

"Then what was it?" he asked. "Cause I think I have a right to know whether it meant a heap of shit to you or not that I cared about you enough to make love to you!"

I took a step back. For some reason, I decided to fire back at him."Yeah! Behind my boyfriend's back!" I yelled.

He looked somewhat surprised at my outburst but held his ground.

"Oh yeah! Some boyfriend he is!" he shouted. "You've got a real keeper there if he sneaks around cheating on you everyday!"

I flinched at that but pursued our fight.

"What do you consider yourself then?!" I yelled. "I cheated on him too! The difference is, you talked me into it! We're all just as fucking guilty!"

He stepped toward me. "I didn't have to talk you into anything! You wanted to have sex with me!"Well... that might be true."You should consider your stupid ass lucky then! Cause I've only been with Cameron and I've never cheated or hooked up until I met you! You jerk!"

He pushed me back against the railing. I glanced over my shoulder to see cars speeding by beneath us. Yikes. I heard a loud crack of thunder and watched the rain fall from his hair. He leaned in close to my face, breathing hard.

"Call me a jerk one more time," he dared.

I swallowed, looking into his eyes. "You're... you're a jerk."

He glanced to my lips for a split second."Doesn't that make you a cheating slut?" he said in a lower volume.

"I... I guess."

"So," he said softer. "You and Cameron made up. Everything's peachy for you. Life's gonna go back to normal in perfect California."

I just looked at him, not sure what to say.

"But where does that leave your cheating accomplice?" he asked, referring to himself. "Oh that's right! You used me for a week and now you're kicking me out of your life!"

He pushed back away from the railing, stepping back from me.

"I didn't use you," I whispered.

"Then what the fuck would you call it?" he leaned back against the cement wall.

"Tyler," I swallowed. "I... I love you."

His expression completely changed. He looked vulnerable. I took a couple steps toward him.

"Tyler, I love you so much," I stepped in front of him. "And I'm so sorry I fell for you the hard way. I just... ever since I met you, I couldn't stay away from you. It's not that I wanted to cheat or I was bored of Cameron or anything like that. I was fine with how everything was going... and then I met you."

His breathing quickened as he waited for me to continue.

"I never meant to lead you on. Part of me wishes I'd broken up with Cameron and ran to you. I don't know what it is about you but it just feels... right," I breathed. "I didn't expect myself to gain all these feelings for you and my goal was never to have sex with you. I was terrified to do that with you but you made it feel right and I did it because... because I care about you. Because I love you. I wish I could do this all differently so everything wouldn't be so complicated but I can't. I don't know what to do. I just need you to understand that if I never see you again after tonight..."

I paused, nervous about my next line. He had concern written all over his face.

"I need you to know," I swallowed. "I don't regret being with you or making love to you because... I'm... I'm in love with you."

I immediately turned to run back into the hotel but a hand pulled me back once I reached the door. Tyler pulled me against his body and our lips met in the most passionate loving kiss I'd ever felt. He pressed my back against the door and deepened the kiss. I wanted to moan so bad but it didn't seem appropriate so I stayed quiet and kissed him back. Eventually he broke the kiss, breathing hard. His eyes met mine and I couldn't read his expression. He still looked hurt.

I gulped. "Tyler-"

"Don't let me wreck your relationship," he breathed.

I frowned. "You're not-"

"I am."

"H-how... why do you think that?" I asked, feeling nervous.

He brushed my wet hair out of my face and managed a small smile.

"I'm madly in love with you," he whispered. "But I can't be with you."

"But-"

"Go back to Cameron and continue what you wanna do with your life," he moved his thumb across my cheek. "We were both stupid to think we could somehow make this work. I guess sometimes you just can't control who you're attracted to."

"Tyler-"

"It's not worth losing him over," he said. "I want you to go back to whatever you were planning on with your life before you met me."

"But Tyler-"

"I was a mistake," he said with a miserable expression.

"No," I rested a hand on his chest. "You were never a mistake."

He glanced to where my hand was and then looked back to me.

"We just can't," he whispered.

"So I'm just supposed to lose you forever?" I breathed, feeling more tears on the way.

He swallowed, looking down.

"Please don't do this," I begged.

There had to be some way we could work something out. I didn't wanna lose him.

"Remember something," he looked back to my eyes, leaning closer to me. "Where there's genuine peace, there's all your answers."

I gave him a confused look."What does that mean?"

He ran a hand through my hair and smiled at me, leaning in to kiss my forehead.

"You'll understand someday," he whispered, walking back into the hotel, leaving me standing alone and confused in the rain.

I thought that was the last time I would ever see Tyler Daniels.

After Tyler walked away that day on the roof, I broke down crying and stayed up there half the night until David found me. I wanted to go after Tyler and tell him I was sorry and we could fix everything but I thought if I did it would just make things worse. Cameron and I left New York the next morning. He signed a lease on a house in San Clemente and we moved in together. A month later we went back to my parents' house in Oklahoma to visit for July 4th and Cameron proposed to me on a bridge under fireworks. I said yes and we set the date for November 16th of the next year.

David and I stayed friends for a few months after the incident in New York and I would've loved to keep being friends with him but it was too hard to try to hang out with him or talk to him because he was still Tyler's best friend and it just made me feel guiltier every time we talked. Eventually David and I just grew apart and stopped talking. I still had his number and every now and then I'd think about calling him just to say hi and see how he was but I never could gain the courage to press 'call.'

Cameron's band did a couple more tours together and then they broke up. They all decided they needed to grow up and move on from their high school band idea. Zach and I grew apart also. He got married a couple months after the band ended. I missed talking with Zach. At one point he became like my best friend. I don't know what happened. We just stopped talking.

Cameron and I tried to work out all our problems, considering we were now engaged. We ended up fighting more. A lot more. I ended my friendship with Danielle since she couldn't get over her hate for Cameron. Plus I realized she was never really a good friend anyway. Rachelle and I are still best friends and plan on always being best friends. She seems to be the only one who has really stuck by me throughout all this madness and never judged me for my stupid emotional breakdowns.

My family trouble escalated. My alcoholic mom continued to find every reason to fight with me. Really there were no reasons. She just picked fights and made shit up to fight about for no reason at all. I still don't understand why to this day and she still does it. My dad would sit there and watch us fight for hours and then blame me. I never understood why I always got the blame when I never did anything wrong. It got to the point where I got blamed for everything and my mom and I would fight every single night and then I'd cry to Cameron and he and I would end up having a fight. It was a ridiculous cycle.

I got to where I couldn't deal with it anymore and I was diagnosed with chronic severe depression. I would sleep all day and stay up all night just to avoid everyone. I cried all the time and developed an eating disorder. I gained thirty pounds and then became anorexic. I felt miserable and it just kept getting worse so I decided to try out self harm. I never really could get the hang of wrist cutting but I tried it anyway. Then I considered suicide. It just kept escalating and I couldn't handle it so I checked into rehab and spent three months there trying to figure my life out.

Rehab helped some and when I got out I went back to trying to get my music career going. I switched producers and signed with a new production company. A month later I started recording new music and releasing radio singles. I still wasn't happy though. Cameron and I couldn't seem to stop fighting and he constantly brought up my fling with Tyler to make me feel guilty. Eventually I told him I couldn't deal with it and we took a break. We tried to patch things up and get back together on Christmas Eve but we ended up breaking up for good. I wanted so much to feel happy with him but after all the fights, it just never felt the same. It didn't feel right anymore. We stayed friends though but we don't talk much anymore. Maybe once every couple weeks. He still lives in California and I moved back to Oklahoma.

I tried to coast through everything and a few months later I checked into rehab again for another month. That time it didn't help at all. I signed a new deal with the label I was working with to record a ten track album. I wasn't sure what to do with my life anymore. The only money I made was off iTunes downloads every other month, which wasn't much and certainly not enough to be able to afford my own place. I went through the depression of not being able to find a job for a long time but I finally got hired with a law firm as a court runner. I was happy with that. Before I got into music professionally, I had intended to be an attorney. I enjoyed working in law so I was thankful to have that job.

I eventually got enough money to get away from boring Oklahoma and my argumentative mom. I was planning on moving to Nashville but something about it just didn't feel completely right anymore. Nashville had always been my dream city to live in and I spent years dead set on moving there but once I finally had the opportunity... I moved to New York.

I had never wanted to live in New York. Why the hell did I decide to move there? For some reason it just felt right at the time. I didn't move to New York City though. I moved to a small suburban town about an hour north. I didn't feel safe living in the city by myself. I had to quit my job at the firm and I got a new job working as a teller at a bank about a half hour between where I lived and New York City. I didn't really like the job but it paid good and frankly I had nothing else so it was that or go broke. I continued doing music but that was still a long shot. I just couldn't give up on it though. Music was - is - my real dream.

Present day. White Plains, New York.

"Olivia!" my boss called for me from her office.

"Yo," I answered, leaning in the doorway.

"I need you to do me a favor and take the elevator up to the top floor where the executive meeting room is and deliver this packet to the CEO," she said, handing me a thick manila folder. "I think they're just wrapping up a meeting in there so you can go ahead and go in."

I nodded, turning for the elevators. It took awhile to get to the executive floor. This was a really tall building. I finally reached the top and wandered around in search of the meeting room I'd never been to. After a good ten minutes of confusion I finally found the room I was looking for. I knocked and waited for a response.

"Come on in!" a man yelled.

"Nancy wanted me to drop this off for the CEO," I said, standing in the doorway, holding the folder.

"Mr. Daniels is down the hall with someone right now but you're welcome to wait in here til he gets back," a man who I thought was the VP said. "It should just be a few minutes."

I made my way over to the long meeting table and plopped down. A couple minutes later the door opened behind me and the CEO walked in.

"What do you have for me?" he acknowledged me, looking toward the folder I set on the table.

"Nancy asked me to deliver this to you," I said, handing him the folder.

He took it, flipping through the papers inside. I caught a glimpse of a pie chart. Another progress report I guess. I scooted the chair back, turning to leave.

"It's Olivia right?" the CEO said before I reached the door.

"Yeah," I answered, turning to face him.

"By the looks of this report, it appears you're doing a really good job downstairs," he said.

"I hope so," I smiled. "I'm trying to."

"How'd you like to be promoted?" he proposed.

"What?" my smile got bigger. "You're kidding."

"A position just opened on our executive floor here," he said. "It's yours if you want it."

"Heck yeah!" I accepted without hesitation.

He smiled. "Go downstairs and let Nancy know and then come back up here and see Jennifer down the hall for what you need to do next."

"Thank you so much," I smiled.

I heard the door open behind me and I turned to pass whoever it was and go downstairs. I didn't look at the person, focused on leaving, but then Mr. Daniels spoke up again.

"Oh Olivia!" he said.I turned back around.

"While you're here, I want you to meet my son," he gestured to the person who just walked in. "This is Tyler."

Looking at Tyler, I felt every nerve in my body go "what the hell!" as I reached out to shake his hand as if we'd never met before. He smiled and as soon as our hands touched, I got a flashback to the night we attended the ballroom party almost two years ago.

"Nice to meet you," he smiled.

"Y-you too," I managed.

I quickly turned back for the door and went downstairs to tell Nancy I'd been promoted. I spent the rest of the day filling out some paper work with Jennifer and moving my junk up to my new office on the executive floor. I was thrilled about my new position but I couldn't get my mind off of seeing Tyler again. What the hell kind of twist of fate was that?!

When the work day ended I decided to take a drive to clear my head instead of going home. I drove around for about two hours before I found myself parked over by the lake. The same lake Tyler had taken me to almost two years ago. I don't know what made me come back here but I wanted to for some reason.

I wandered down the hill through the trees to the water and sat down in the gravelly grass. I tossed rocks in the water for awhile and then I just sat there thinking about everything. Tyler had been right. This was a great place to just sit and think. I looked out over the water enjoying the calm. Then I heard what sounded like rocks moving and realized it was someone walking up behind me.

"I thought I'd find you here," he said.

I couldn't bring myself to turn around. He sat down next to me and I continued looking at the water.

"Are you not speaking to me?" he asked.

I pushed my bangs away and played with a rock in my hand.

"I guess so," he said.

I wanted to say a million things to him but at the same time I wanted to say nothing. Finally I spoke up.

"I don't know what to say," I mumbled, looking at the rock in my hand.

I watched his hand take the rock from mine and toss it aside.

"That's alright," he said softly. "The last time I saw you, I told you something that you didn't understand..."I frowned at the ground, still not able to look at him and not sure what he was referring to.

"...Maybe it'll make sense now," he said, standing up and walking away.

I sat there for a few seconds, confused. What was that supposed to mean? And why did he just walk away? I looked back to the water. It was so calm and peaceful out here. Wait... peaceful... genuine peace...Then the flashback came to me...

"Remember something," he looked back to my eyes, leaning closer to me. "Where there's genuine peace, there's all your answers."

I gave him a confused look."What does that mean?"

He ran a hand through my hair and smiled at me, leaning in to kiss my forehead.

"You'll understand someday," he whispered.

That's when it clicked.Where there's genuine peace, there's all your answers.

I came here not knowing what the hell to think and not really sure what was going on with my life. I only came here to relax a bit but I got the answer I needed.I immediately jumped up, running after him through the trees.

"Tyler!" I yelled once I reached the road.

He turned around with a somewhat confused expression.

"I understand now," I said, standing on the other side of the road.

His expression turned to a smile. "What are your answers?"

I couldn't help smiling. I ran across the street into his arms, hugging him like I'd never let him go. I didn't intend to let him go ever again.

"You," I smiled against his shoulder.He pulled back to look at me."It was always you," I whispered, looking into his eyes. "I wish I'd realized that before I lost you."

He breathed out with a small smile, tucking my hair behind my ear."You didn't lose me," he said softly.

I didn't know what to say.

"But I need to know something," he said.

I nodded, waiting for his question.

"Do you still... love me?"

I felt a grin take over my expression.

"Tyler," I smiled. "I never stopped loving you."

Once our lips touched, I felt like all my worries went away. All the pain and misery and depression over the past two years was gone. It didn't matter. Nothing else mattered but what I had right here, right now. Everything was right in the world.

"I didn't either," he whispered.