Losing Her Wings

Chapter 32

When that evening came, lives had been changed. All thanks to Skylar. Ryan sat in his dorm room, writing out a plan of action to turn his life around and be the man that she needed. He studied and planned and prepared himself for whatever was to come, knowing that if they could only be friends long enough, she would see that their feelings for each other were never going to change. They had had dinner that night, in his room, together but the atmosphere between them had changed. There was no longer a happy, carefree feeling of adoration and love just an intense weight hovering above their heads. He felt the chemistry between them much more than he had before, so much more that it had almost become unbearable. Now when they were alone, instead of laughing and talking like best friends, they stared at each other and endured heady silences that said that because of their decision their personalities were being forced aside in favour of the intense attraction they felt for one another. Skylar had found it so hard to ignore that she left long before she normally would have.

Angelo spent his night scouring the internet from his hotel room, looking up local real estate and planning his own life out in his head, trying to decide which road to take. Back at the Donna house, Paige and Danny sat round the living room of her parents house looking through wedding magazines and talking with Silvia about dresses and cakes and venues. Julius watched them happily from a corner of the room while he thought about Angelo. Dino and Simone were at home, watching an old romantic movie and discussing how happy they were that Angelo had decided to move on from Paige and the heartache she had brought him. Upstairs in the Donna household, Raya got dressed up for her date with Joey, the second of that day, after he had offered to take her to a club with his friends in celebration of her job at the hospital.

Devin and Pepper, meanwhile, argued their night away. As soon as she knew what he had said to Skylar and how she had argued with him, she knew that Ryan was somehow proving himself to be a different man to what he had initially seemed to her and there was no reason her new friend shouldn’t enjoy a little romance. The argument continued in the fraternity house when Niles began complaining about how Ryan was monopolising Skylar’s time only for Brody to step in and quiet him before Ryan heard his words. Everyone knew how upset he was after Skylar had left and how she had shared that sadness without it feeling like they had argued. Most of them thought the two had broken up after a brief, whirlwind romance and knew that Niles’s opinion was best left unknown to them both. Fraser and Mara were the only ones who enjoyed a happy night out of their friends. Mara was starting to feel better and Fraser was able to sit through the whole night, without worrying each time she coughed or felt warm or started to shiver, that she was going to end up in hospital. Somehow he trusted Skylar and her sense that everything would be okay. Just having someone to talk to, as he admitted to his girlfriend, was enough to ease his mind, and hers.

But the life most changed, was Jacob’s. He had taken Skylar’s advice, gone home and sat Sasha down to a long talk about his promotion and what it would mean for them. He explained how he would only take it if he could pick and choose his cases, if he could take on an assistant to help with paperwork and if he could have regular holidays and set hours. And instead of walking out that night, Sasha accepted his explanation with kisses and thanks for his honesty. Instead of a break up that night, an engagement with the promise of forever love and marriage.

*****

Paige couldn’t believe the switch in Angelo when she returned to the living room to find him flicking through her university prospectus, examining the notes she’d made beside the application form for the Masters in Criminal Justice course she wanted to do. All she’d done was go through to the kitchen to pour Raya a glass of water and send her off to bed, a little jealous of the way Angelo spent a few quiet minutes with her young sister and kissed her forehead goodnight, although she didn’t know why. But as soon as she came back through, and found him looking at the course catalogue, there was no mistaking that he looked furious. “What is this?” Angelo asked, lifting out the partially filled in application form as he glared at her angrily. But he really couldn’t believe it. Everything had been going fine and then he’d found that. It was without a doubt, going to ruin his night.