Authors Note: After like a year long wait... here it is! A warning, I am into veterinary terminology but I am not certified and this information and order of events may be incorrect. I apologize in advance if it is. This is part two but can probably be read as a standalone. I have linked part one below!
Read part one HERE
It's been two long years away from Chase. At first it felt like the end of the world. You'd laid on your bedroom floor unable to move. It had felt like your heart was being held in an iron first. The breakup had broken you... until it hadn't.
It was true what they said, time heals all. It had taken longer than. you had expected, the whole thing was public. Even months after the videos released there were still edits and DM's and YouTube videos about the split. People monitored that type of thing, when you had unfollowed him they had noticed immediately and it was blown out of proportion.
Now though, two years later, you had moved out of LA and into Murfreesboro Tenessee, a much smaller town that allowed your healing to complete.
You had deleted all social media, gotten a regular job at a regular animal shelter and basically fallen off the face of the earth.
It was nice, just being able to focus on the animals and the gym. You were living for yourself and yourself only.
It was funny though, you'd changed your phone number but even before that most people dropped you. They had chosen to stay out of the drama completely rather than take sides.
After all this time, you couldn't say that you hated him. Even after what he did to you. You had done the same thing back anyway. Occasionally you would think about him, but it was a brief fleeting thought before you were losing yourself in a book instead.
Well... until today.
It's storming hard and the dogs are howling. Most of them scared of the thunder. You're running around checking that the dogs are safely locked into their kennels. The last thing you needed was one of them getting out.
It was being busy like this that really helped you. Several of the staff had called off, opting to stay out of the storm. You didn't call off for anything though.
You make it out of the dog sector and start to cross the lobby to the cats.
Halfway though, the front door to the shelter busts open.
"Help! Somebody help me!"
The voice makes you freeze in your tracks, you know that voice. How could you ever forget?
You turn slowly and there he is.
His hair is plastered to his forehead because of the rain. He's filled out more and he looks taller. He's in a short sleeve t-shirt so you can see that his tattoo sleeve is finally finished. His eyes are still just as mesmerizing as before.
He's holding a dog in his arms, the front of his shirt soaked in blood. The dog is limp and you can see that his leg is not facing the direction it should be.
"Please. Nowhere else is open. I found-"
He freezes because he's recognized you.
You'd changed your hair color, grown it out, and were decked out in shelter gear and rainbows but he knows it's you.
You choose to help the dog first, surging forward to take the dog out of his arms. Your fingers touch his arm and he inhales sharply.
The shelter vet had already gone home for the day but you were trained in pain management, splints and tourniquets.
You shove the two double doors to the clinic room open, laying the dog on the table.
He follows your worriedly.
You turn to dig through a cabinet for all the supplies that you might need. An IV, a fluid bag, a vial of the pain medication.
This dog was going to bleed out if you didn't act fast.
Your first move is to administer the shot. You'd have to move his leg around a lot and it was going to be excruciating. It wasn't going to kick in immediately but it was better than nothing.
"Is he going to be okay? I got here as fast as I could!" He's hovering over you way too close for you to work.
You turn to face him, voice steadier than your heart.
"Chase." You pause to get his attention. "You need to let me work. Grab my phone and call Marcia. Tell her it is an emergency and I'm applying a tourniquet to stabilize him."
He nods, scrambling with the piece of technology. Having something to do seems to steady him somewhat and allows you to apply the tourniquet.
Lastly, you shave down the leg that would have to be operated on and insert an IV to hopefully hydrate him.
The meds have kicked in and the dog is beginning to fall asleep on the table.
"That's all I can do. Now he just has to wait for Marcia."
Chase doesn't respond so you turn to look at him.
He's staring at you.
"Its been so long." He says it as a statement so you don't respond, waiting for him to continue. "You dropped off the face of the earth."
Again, another statement.
He wrings his hands together nervously.
"I looked for you."
His words make something in your heart stir. You pause for a long while and then suddenly say, "Your shirt is trashed. We have some extra shelter volunteer shirts."
You walk away from him to search through the closet for them.
When you turn around with one in hand your mouth goes dry because he's pulling his shirt up and over his head and wow. He had certainly filled out. The muscles in his back ripple and you force yourself to look at his eyes instead.
You hand it to him and your fingertips brush again.
"How have you been?" His voice is almost a whisper.
There's no way to deny that this is a question not a statement and so you are forced to answer.
"Ive been good." It's a short answer considering everything.
He nods, cracking his knuckles.
"I missed you."
That one hurts.
"I never got to tell you how sorry I was. The snake I... you put a lot of thought into it and I never should have doubted you. You never gave me a reason to not trust you."
You nod. There was a lot of nodding going on in this conversation.
"I should have been better for you."
"It's okay." You finally say, your voice is barely above a whisper.
"It's not okay. Can you ever forgive me?"
"I forgave you a long time ago Chase."
Your words make him smile, almost too much.
"I want to try again."
You shake your head at this, "No, Chase. There's too much hurt and I gave that all up. The social media, the drama, that's not me anymore."
"I know!" He tells you, "That's okay. We'll make it work."
Except how would that work? He would have to give up his career or you would have to go back into the spotlight and that was not something that you wanted to do.
"I don't think I can Chase. I have a life here, I don't want to go back to how it was."
He steps forward, reaching for your arm and you pull away from him.
"Let's just start over then. Get to know each other as friends. I'm here on vacation anyway!"
"You're in Tennessee on vacation?" You ask skeptically.
"Well... I have a show in Nashville. My album is trending! I was driving through when I found the little guy."
Your heart is beating wildly and your head is telling you it's a bad idea but deep down in your heart you know you want to. So when Chase reaches out to shake your hand, you let him.
"Hi. My name is Chase. What's yours?"
"Y/N. Nice to meet you Chase."
