Love Heals by W.E.T.

"But love heals, love feels alive, 'cause love's here when you're by my side. And love frees, love's real this time and love sees the man here inside; love heals, love heals."

~~~

A sharp buzz from his phone wakes both of them up.

"Shit," James says, rubbing his head.

She looks over his shoulder and squints at his iPhone's bright screen setting. "What is it?"

"We're famous." He shows you a text from Kyle. It reads, "You two are well-known now! Good luck; I'm not helping you out with this one."

Above it is a picture of she and James kissing in the park.

"Fuck," she says, flopping over. It's going to be tough facing both the media and Tom.

"It was bound to happen, I guess. And if anyone doesn't like it, they can get over it," James says positively, wrapping his arms around you and falling back asleep.

~~~

An hour or so later, Lana barges into his room, eyes wide. "James. Get. Up."

"Media knows; I get it," he replies tiredly, shoving his face into his pillow.

"No, your brother is- he's here."

"Tom is her boss; it's okay."

"It's not Tom."

He's up in an instant.

Dave's here? What's wrong with that?

After dressing, Allison follows him downstairs into the living room.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" James growls at his younger brother.

"Look, I wanted to make amends with you," Dave explains, holding his hands up to show innocence.

James throws his hands up, frustrated. "Not happening. Get out of my house."

"James, at least let him explain himself," she says, butting in politely as she can. She looks around for Lana, but finds she has disappeared from the scene.

"Thank you, Allison," Dave says, nodding a small smile at her.

How does he know my name?

"After hearing about you two on Buzzfeed and just about every single news station, I decided I wanted to apologize," he continues.

Ah, that's how.

"For what, asshole?" James asks, knowing very well what Dave wants to apologize for.

"For helping her cheat on you. I didn't know it at the time!"

"You're just like the rest of them, Dave; always claiming you never knew!"

"Hell, James, I really didn't know!"

"Get out, David," James says gravely, pointing to the front door.

Dave isn't left with much choice but to leave.

~~~

Stroking his messy hair on his bed later that night, she tries to talk to him while his head lies on her lap.

"It's okay, James."

"It's really not, Allison." He closes his eyes and rubs his head like he has a headache.

She stops running her fingers through his hair when she realizes something.

"You're still hooked on her, aren't you?"

He doesn't answer.

"You can't be like that."

Again, no answer.

"Who do you really love, James, me or her?"

He looks up at her with glassy eyes and says, "You're not leaving me, too, are you?"

"A girlfriend isn't a nanny. I'm not just here until she comes back."

"I know that, but-"

"No," she says, "was I a rebound, James? Was I?"

He sits up. "Not-not exactly, no." He fiddles with his hands and never makes direct eye contact.

"I can't believe you!" She stands up to better convey her frustration. "No wonder this happened so fast! So, what, you just pick the first clueless girl to walk into California?"

"No, it's not like that!"

"Tell me what it's like, then, because I'm lost." She crosses her arms and bites back her tears.

"I don't- I don't know what you want me to say except I love you."

"That's not gonna work, not when you so clearly love someone else."

"Allie, don't go."

"I can't do this right now. I'll see you around, James," she answers sadly. She begins to walk out of the room, off to collect her things.

Another thought crosses her mind, and she stops in her tracks, but never turns around.

"One more thing: did you realize what you were getting yourself into? Is that what this is about? You realized that I have no idea what I'm doing, no idea if I'm even gonna make it here and that you'd rather have someone with experience?"

But she doesn't wait for an answer. Taking her pile of clothes and Gatsby, she heads downstairs to ask Lana to drive her home, since he'd driven her everywhere.

"You don't have to do this, Allie!" He shouts from upstairs.

"Maybe not, but right now, I think it's best."

~~~

Sleeping alone is harder once she begins to remember how comforting his presence was.

Gatsby, having quickly learned the layout of the apartments saunters into her bedroom, purring. He hops up onto her bed and falls asleep at her side after she meets his petting standards

She lies there, refusing to shed any tears, telling herself that she shouldn't have been stupid enough to love a man like that.

Did I even love him?

But she knows what the answer is and always will be.

Yes.

Unable to sleep, she gets an idea to help her pass the night's dark hours. She gets to work immediately on her first album. She already has an idea for the first song and she knows what the title will be.

She scratches a pencil on a piece of paper, writing the words "The Edge" and inserting it into an empty CD case.

Matted hair and red eyes are evidence of her work which lasts into the wee hours of morning. She spends countless painful hours composing tunes, recording voice memos and silently cursing James's name.

Worn and out of ideas, she sits back and listens to every recording, fixing things she doesn't like and rerecording them.

At six in the morning, her first masteriece is finally finished. She has her album cover sketched out and ten songs ready to go.

~~~

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