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I don’t do well without family being nearby. Some might call that being codependent.
His grin grows impossibly bright. “If I’m Romeo, then you’ve got to be Juliet!” “You know that was a tragic love story, right?” I shout, smiling all the same. “Epic.” He turns, walking backward. “It was an epic love story!” He waves, and after a second’s hesitation, turns around. Noah Riley disappears into the darkness, and I stand there watching him go.
If I'm right on how this story ends then this is like the warning to a heartbreaking story.
“When the man above blessed us with wine, we indulged. It’s only fair his other masterpieces get the same treatment.”
Nothing forces a man to face his feelings for a woman more than the interest of another man. I’m not sure if that’s what’s happening here but bless you, Noah Riley, for your man knowledge. You might be the very reason I get everything I’ve ever wanted.
Today was horribly tragic and serves as yet another reminder that no matter the choices we make, anything can come in and stir up our lives at any moment. Chances are, we’d never see it coming, and that’s terrifying.
It’s hard when you realize you simply aren’t enough for someone, and it’s even harder when everyone you’re connected to is connected to that person as well.
“I never thought getting something you always wanted could be more painful than wanting but never having it. There really is no in-between.”
“I’m a smart man, Juliet,” he whispers, his gaze dropping to my lips. “Only a fool would let you go once they had you where they wanted you.”
“But a loss as big as you might be too much for me.” His voice drops to a whisper. “So I can’t do what you’re asking me… not yet.”
I don't want to find out how he loses her I alreaxy want to cry reading this :(
“For the record, that about killed me, and it was a one-time thing that will never replay itself.” His lips pull into a one-sided grin. “So next time you ask, be sure because I won’t deny you again.” “Say you swear.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. What you want is to give yourself over to the happiness of others. That’s selfless.”
“No, sweet girl.” She blinks away tears. “Thank you for breathing life back into my boy. It’s been a long time since I’ve witnessed all his shades of blue, but every visit lately, I’ve been gifted with a little more.”
“If you still love him at all,” he rasps. “If there’s even the smallest of chances for you and him, I need you to let me go.”
:(
What if I never get to tell her I love her? That she’s more than I knew existed, all that I could ever need, and everything I will always want. Arianna Johnson makes up my entire being. Without her, I’m nothing.
I don’t have a large family to love and adore her. I don’t have a home full of memories to take her to or a path to follow to make our own. I didn’t have what she did growing up, so I’m already at a disadvantage, but I do have the love of a mother who showed me what it meant to be a man. To work hard and to appreciate the things I have. To love with all you are, and I do. I love her with all I am, all I’m not, and all I’ll be.
I want to blackout. To shut down fully and completely because if my girl doesn’t remember us, I don’t want to remember anything. Not even my own fucking name. For the first time in my life, I wish I were someone else. I wish I were him.
That’s the thing about alcohol. It’s a temporary fix, one that leaves you more fucked up than before. And believe me, I am fucked up.
“Why do you think I gave her space in the first place? Why do you think I pulled back?” I don’t give him time to answer. “It was because he suddenly realized what he was losing and knew he had to at least try. It took him months, years really, to see what I saw the minute I met her, and I can’t even fucking blame him because the fifty-fifty chance is worth the risk if it ends with her in your arms.”
“She doesn’t remember me, Mom.” I look to her, her face blurry from the mess my eyes threaten to make. “She woke up, but she woke to a world I wasn’t a part of.”
Fuck this shattered my heart. Poor Noah🥺🥺
Mason tips his head. “Come on now. This is Ari we’re talking about. She’s still her, and you’re still you.” When I hesitate too long for him, his features pull. “Noah, please. I need to know she’s going to be okay, and the way I see it, she can’t be if she’s not with you.”
I strongly believe that if he was to go be by her side she would have remembered quicker but she got there all on her own
Sitting back this time means watching firsthand as my future grows blurrier by the day, but what she wants is what I want for her, so really, there’s no decision to be made on my part. I’m here until she’s ready for me. Or until I’m forced to let go.
He is willing to let her go be happy with another man when it’s him she is going to realize she wants
“I’m not asking you to push her to him. I’m just asking you to allow her the chance you took away if she decides she wants it.”
God, Noah. This is the worse decision you could have made but also the sweetest because you know she has to figure it out on her own without causing pain and confusion in her 🥺
“You were hurt, and it felt like the worst thing you could imagine.” Her lip quivers, but she doesn’t dare look away. “You cried a lot, hid away, and pretended things weren’t as bad as they were, but slowly…” I swallow. “Very slowly, the light slid back into your eyes.”
With your help, Noah, don’t forget that
I knew when I met her, she wasn’t free to be mine, as I knew when I fell harder, the climb back up would be rugged, if possible, but the knowledge of how things might end wasn’t enough for me to turn back. The path to the three-way junction is one I’d take ten times over, no matter where it leads because loving Arianna Johnson is worth the risk. Being loved by her is priceless.
That was her last sunny day. The last time her soul would shine over this cruel world before it took her from it. From me.
My poor Noah losing his mom too🥺
The ocean is much like life, ever-changing and unpredictable. I’ve always found that to be the beauty behind it, but lately, I wonder if that’s true.
Noah tips his head. His smile is tight, but his words are genuine. “I disagree, by the way. I think what you’re going through is brave. Anyone could have sat there and listened to someone else tell the story of their life, but you chose to live it instead. Regardless of the confusion I know you feel, and no matter the pain you can’t shake. You’re strong, Juliet.” He swallows. “So much stronger than you know.”
I think it was better for her to realize how everything was suppose to be but god was I so happy when Cameron, her best friend, told her what nobody else was trying to say and that was that Noah is the man she should be with.
My throat runs thick, and as I stare at Noah, my mind sparks. Like lightning during the day, the flashes are there, but by the time your eyes follow, there’s nothing in sight. No proof of what you witnessed, no sign of what was.
She is going to come around it’s just a matter of when
“Did you delete them from yours?” Noah hangs his head. “No.” “Why?” He closes his eyes, and when they open, they’re clear, and I’m captivated by the sorrow within them. “Because I needed to hold on to what you gave me with the last message you sent.”
Nooo 😭😭 WHAT DID THAT MESSAGE SAY OMG
She feels safe and calm. She’s at peace and taken aback by the fact that she senses no need to run, how she knows she has no reason to. Because with me, she’s home. I am home for you, baby. Please remember...
Please 😭😭
We’re back on campus now. Back to the hustle of college life, and I’m hoping everywhere she goes, everywhere she looks, she sees me as I do her.
I’ve loved her in secret, but I’m not so sure how much of a secret it was. I think she knew. I hope I showed her what she meant to me. What she’ll forever mean to me. If she isn’t mine in the end, I’ll still be hers. It’s torture. But it’s true. There’s no coming back from a girl like her.
He loved her so much🥺
My Juliet. A bitter laugh leaves me, and I shake my head. Maybe the answer to our ending was given from the start. If I’m Romeo and she’s Juliet, maybe this is the fate I put on us that very first day. Love forbidden, but in our story, we’re forbidden by fate. Maybe I was the placeholder, as Mason wondered.
This ❤️🩹❤️🩹 his realization that she would never regain her memories and that they were not gunna end up together in end ugh my heart broke for him
Maybe I’m not the man of her dreams but the understudy who did the noble work. Who befriended a broken girl. Who showed her what it meant to matter to a man, how it felt to be loved. She knows now that she’s worth the world and deserves even more. Ari is strong enough to demand what she’s always wanted now, and the person she still believes she wants it from is ready to give it to her.
You were a man, Noah. Such a man but god were you so wrong because all she ever wanted or needed was you 😭
Sweet, Arianna, my Noah became your Noah, and honey, he was your everything, just as you are his. You fell for him right back, and you never got up. Love, Lori, the mother forever in debt to the woman who loves her son.
Lori knew just the right words to say. I sobbed reading this letter. Her words making Ari realize what needed to be done all along.
Stitched along the front, where the seam of the football should be, is soft yellow threading that reads Little Riley.
My fucking heart 😭😭 they didn’t deserve this type of pain.
“Baby…” he mutters desperately. “Did you come back to me?”
“Don’t be sorry. Never be sorry. You just had to find your way back.” His eyes close. “I thought I lost you. Are you mine?” he worries, his voice lower than a trembling whisper. “Please… say you’re mine.”
YES, NOAH. YES 😭😭
His kiss is a promise from his soul to mine that no matter what happens, this is home. He is home.
I’m glad she realized this 😭😭 as heartbreaking as it was to get there she finally realized it.
Placing my palm over his tattoo, I recite its meaning. “Fear not the fall, but the life that comes from having never leaped at all.” I smile through my tears. “I’ll always leap if the jump leads me to you, Noah Riley. Always.”
