The Way I Loved You | Tobias Eaton

sixteen

    Fallon

There's a sense of urgency in Tobias's steps as he leads me down a quiet hallway with my hand clenched tightly in his.

He doesn't slow down until he finds what looks like a mostly empty storage closet and guides me into it with a hand on the small of my back.

A resounding click rings through the small space as he shuts the door and turns to face me. Even in the scarcely lit area, I could make out his severe features as if they'd been branded into my mind.

"Tobias?" I urge him to say what he'd brought me all this way to.

There's a beat of silence as he simply stares at me as if he was drinking in the sight of me before he asks, "Do you have feelings for him?"

I frown at his question. It takes me a moment before it finally dawns on me that he was referring to Joey.

I've seen the way he watches us when we're with each other, always with a little wrinkle between his brows like the sight of it disturbs him deeply.

"I-I don't know," I stuttered, "Maybe?"

"Maybe?" He parrots like the word is foreign to him.

"Yes, maybe," I shrug, "I'm trying."

"Trying to like him?" Tobias questions, "Sounds to me like you're forcing something that isn't there, Fal."

"I'm figuring things out, Toby," I say with a firm nod, forcing myself to stick to my guns. "I'm trying to move on. I want to move on."

Tobias takes a step toward me at my words. Since we were cramped in such a small space, it brings us chest-to-chest. So close that I can feel his warm breath fanning against my cheek as he towers over me.

"And what about I want, huh?" He retorts in a low voice, "What if I don't want you to move from me? What if I don't want to just be a piece of your past that you think back on every once in a while?"

I can't help the tears that start to sting at the back of my eyes at his words.

Though it's been two years, the memory of him leaving me still stings like a fresh wound. And though I understood why he did it now, it still couldn't erase the rejection and betrayal I'd felt when he had come looking for me on the night that everything fell apart.

Tobias broke me that night and I'm not sure if I'm ready to trust him with my heart again so soon.

"Tobias," I sniffed, "Please."

Tobias reaches up, placing a heavy palm on either side of my jaw, "Remember what you said to me? That all you've wanted was me to be happy?" He whispers, "I was only ever really happy when I was with you. All I've ever needed was you, Fal."

"And like you've said," I breathe, "We were just kids back then, Tobias. Things change."

"It hasn't changed," He says vehemently, "It hasn't changed the fact that I am still in love with you."

Before I could even fully process what he's just said, Tobias swoops down and claims my lips with his.

He sucks in a deep breath as if I've somehow breathed air into his lungs just through our kiss, his fingers tangling into the hairs on the nape of my neck just like when we were younger.

For a moment, it feels as if we were transported back to two years ago with his body pressed up against mine as we lay under our tree. To the days when it was just us against the world. To when it felt like he'd always be mine.

"I've never stopped loving you," He whispers against my lips as they parted, "Not even for a second."

He presses a kiss to my forehead that was so tender it made my heart constrict painfully in my chest.

"I'll do everything and anything you need to help you figure out whatever it is you need to," He says, "But I don't want to lose you. And it feels like I might if I give you what you're asking for. So, I'm sorry that I'm not able to give you the space that you need, but I'm not taking any chances this time. This time, I'm here to stay."

"But, we'll take it slow?" My voice comes out more unsure than I would have liked it to and I don't even realise that tears were streaming down my cheeks until Tobias reaches out to wipe them away with his thumbs.

"I'll follow your lead," He says with a nod, "However slow you want to take it is up to you. As long as there's you're mine at the end of it all, I really don't care how slow we take it. The bottom line is that I'm not letting you go this time."

I gaze at him, taking in his grown-up features. It still boggles my mind how much he'd changed in such an arguably short period of time. Despite that, there are still parts of him that remind me of the boy I had fallen in love with, like the way the corner of his eyes crinkle when he smiles or the way he still looks at me as if I'd held his entire world in my hands.

"Promise?"

"I promise," He replies, "You really think I'm going to leave you again when it hurt so much the first time?"

I smile up teasingly at him, revelling in the feeling of having his arms around me once again. "Now you're just being dramatic," I said, though I knew he wasn't because I know first-hand how excruciating it had felt.

"You want to know what it felt like leaving you behind?" His eyes search mine and he continues when I don't reply, "It felt like my heart was being ripped out of my fucking chest."

The corner of my lips quirks up on their own accord hearing him curse for the first time. Oddly enough, I find that it suits him.

Tobias frowns down at me, "What are you smiling about?"

"Never thought you'd have such a potty mouth," I tell him.

He rolls his eyes at me, but a smile creeps across his face- the kind that makes his eyes crinkle- before he leans forward to rest his forehead on mine.

"It's always been you," He whispers, before he leans down and kisses me once again.