I'll Just Stand Here and Watch You Go

Chapter 11

And the years went by. Everything grew. Everything changed. The knowledge shrank inside him, small enough to be inconsequential. He need only nudge it to check if it was still there.

Years upon years went by. His memories began to blur from running his hands over them one too many times.

And the pain became a shadow of itself. It lurked at the corners of his eyes – he refused to turn, to acknowledge it.

One day, David met Leda.  And memory rushed through him like a tsunami.

"Can you really not tell me anything else?"

Aurora lifted her head and laughed. "Are you ever gonna stop asking?"

"No."

She sighed and lay back down. "I mean. There's not much to say. Colin won an Oscar. I think."

"What the fuck?" He bolted upright. "That's amazing."

She shrugged as tightly, as obviously as she could when lying down. "I guess so."

"What about Davy? And Angel and Amy?"

Aurora sighed again, turning sad so quickly that it alarmed him. "Ohhh... God, David Range."

"What?" He lay back down, even though every bone in his body tensed.

"Nothing." She sighed for the third time. "He's an absolute sweetheart. The best guy ever. Granted, the bar is low, Hollywood is full of fucking monsters, but still."

"What happens to David?" He stroked the side of her face.

She closed her eyes. "He donates millions to charity. He raced for Formula One. He does whatever movies he wants and we don't even care if he's bad in them. Which he hardly ever is, but still."

"Aurora." She tensed. He ran his hand down her back to soothe her. "What aren't you saying?"

Aurora opened her eyes. The sorrow in them could drown him. "Eight years after you, his fiancee died in a yachting incident. He's not dated anyone since. And there's a queue lining up, believe me."

The violence of the memory had him rushing to the bathroom and throwing up everything in his stomach. Since then, Alec tagged along on anything he thought even remotely dangerous. It would have annoyed David if he had been capable of annoyance. Alec was lucky that Leda seemed to be a female David - dark-haired, soft-voice, absolute sweetheart. She loved him immediately. 

"You looked like you wanted to throw up when we were on that boat," he reproved when he was driving them back, Leda safely asleep in the backseat.

Alec turned his face to the window. "Yeah, a little. I'm not usually seasick, though. You know that."

"Yeah, I know," David conceded. Then he had to concentrate on the road, and that was all that was said.

Alec closed his eyes against the cool glass, trying to still his pounding heart.

Another day, Olivia called him, gushing. They had broken amicably, remained friends, and had little chance of rekindling anything. Alec knew this was entirely his fault.

"Alec, I found the perfect girl for you. Let me set you up, you will get along so well - "

"Ughhhh. Fine, but I'm only doing it for you."

"I'll take it."

Alec never thought it would go the way it did. And the way it went was Elise, who never saw him coming either. Turnabout was fair play.