Two weeks after that night in the street, Rayne and Lucy were sitting in her apartment packing up for her move. Actually, it was more like Rayne was packing and Lucy was annoyingly trying everything she could to convince her friend not to leave. She'd spent the last several hours alternating between calling Rayne a coward and insisting that she call Adam. Currently she was repeating her instance that Rayne call Adam.

Ignoring Lucy's suggestion for the umpteenth time, Rayne continued wrapping her glasses in newspaper. Since that night Lu had made it quite clear she thought Rayne was being overly dramatic by moving and that if she just gave herself a real chance to get over Adam she would. Much as she loved Lucy, she couldn't get her friend to understand. Lucy loved being out in the world, meeting new men. Falling in love every other day was something she basked in. One man leaving just meant another could come and take his place. It wasn't that Rayne resented her for it or even that she didn't understand how Lucy felt; it was the fact that she just wasn't that same kind of girl. Once her heart was made up for a man, it was made up. Her mind had been made up for Adam since the very first time that she saw him and he'd gotten a lot more heartbreaks out of her heart than she'd ever thought possible.

Cotillion. It's supposed to be a big deal in a young woman's life. For Rayne it was a big pain in the butt. Her mother was determined that Rayne debut in grand form and what Regina Lennox wanted, Regina got. That meant a designer gown, expensive shoes, a make-up and hair stylist and the most handsome escort she could secure. Talon Franklin was pre-med at a prestigious university, the son of a leading gynecologist and had modeled since he was child. Regina thought he was perfect. Rayne thought he was a bore.

But she and the bore were stuck with each other, and that included the required etiquette and waltzing lessons leading up to the event. The ride over in the chair had been slow torture, so when they arrived at the dance studio for their first waltzing lesson Rayne had been desperate for anything to distract her from what a long experience she was in for.

That distraction came in on the arm of Kayla McFee, another one of the debutants. Six foot plus and gorgeous, Adam had every eye on him when they strolled into the room. For the first time she could recall, Rayne actually drooled over a guy that wasn't from a Hollywood movie.

She'd blushed the first time the teacher had situated her beside he and Kayla. He'd given her and Talon a friendly and informal hi, and her cheeks actually reddened. Thanking God for her deep chocolate complexion, she'd stuttered something in response and then pretended to focus her attention on the teacher's instructions.

By the time they took their first break, Rayne was completely aware of Adam's smell, height, clothing and the sound of his voice. Pleading that she needed water, she shot away from him as soon as she could. Standing by the water fountain she mulled to herself how stupid she was being falling for a big pair of muscles and some dreamy eyes when the object of her thoughts appeared beside her.

Adam introduced himself and before she knew it they were talking about themselves. Years of being shy with strangers and with him it was unlike anything she'd ever experienced before. In the five minutes they had before Mrs. Daschle called the class back to order, they were fast friends.

From then on at every rehearsal or lesson Rayne, Talon, Adam and Kayla were a foursome. By the time the night of the cotillion came around, Rayne had a new reason to be resentful. As she let her mother fuss over every detail of her appearance, she tried to fake it for her parents' sake but she realized that this probably going to be the last night she saw Adam. Though they'd sparked a friendship over the past weeks, she couldn't bring herself to tell him that she wanted to keep their friendship going. Besides he could have hardly felt the same way.

As they wait behind the scenes for the cotillion to start, Rayne stood with Talon, Adam and Kayla wishing she could just be alone with him just for a minute. Some higher being must have heard her because Talon announced he needed a cigarette and though she'd never expressed a need for one before, Kayla readily agreed and the two zipped off. Left standing there together, the remaining two exchanged a conspirator's smile before launching into their own easy conversation.

Neither noticed their dates hadn't returned until Mrs. Daschle announced they were ready to begin. Both scanned the crowded staging area for their dates, but neither were immediately alarmed when Talon and Kayla were no where to be found. Mrs. Daschle on the other hand was mortified that they would engage in a smoke before their debut and sent an assistant of hers outside to retrieve the two delinquents. When the assistant returned without the duo, but the announcement that a valet said they had driven off, an uproar ensued.

Parents were retrieved from the audience, dramatic reactions were had and no one knew what to do. While the McFees and the Franklins tried to understand their children running off together, Regina was completely devastated that her perfect escort had gone missing, thus ruining the cotillion fantasy she'd worked so hard on when Adam spoke up. He and Rayne had quietly watched the scene without really a care about their participation or so it seemed until he suggested that the friends stand in for each other's AWOL dates.

Looking back Rayne knew it was then as her father passed her off to Adam and he smiled down at her that she was a goner. They'd been inseparable all that summer and whenever they were home from college. Their phone calls were long and frequent when they weren't together much to their phone companies' delight.

Junior year had gotten underway without much fan fair. The duo usually talked once every two days and it was because of one missed call that everything changed. Rayne had left her phone behind to take a shower and found the evidence of his answered call on her display screen when she returned. The way her heart fell when she saw she'd missed a call from Adam and it all clicked. That kind of exhilaration at just the thought of hearing his voice, of laughing with him, that wasn't something just a friend felt. It was so much more; she felt so much more.

At first she'd been excited. Finding someone who got you the way they got each other, it was fairy tale stuff. But then she got scared. Adam was so important already, so what if it didn't work out? The idea of going back to life without him wasn't even a possibility she was willing to accept so initially her silence came from that fear. But later, after they graduated it continually grew complicated.

From a distance Adam dating was something she could handle. Faceless women he talked about once, but she never saw were easily dismissed. But after graduation and when they moved within blocks of each other, she couldn't handle it. Seeing him in action was like stabbing herself repeatedly. Even after she met Derek, her jealousy of his conquests was an issue. She'd tried to deny her resentment, not just for her sake but for Derek's. Like most of the men she dated, Adam never quite took to Derek while they were together. Adam contended it was because they were so protective of each other and though she agreed verbally, part of her hoped it was because he was fighting against the truth of his own feelings the way she was.  

Hope can be the worst enemy for a girl in love, no one really tells you that. Though Derek was a great boyfriend, Rayne couldn't abandon her hope that Adam would come around. It was her own fault, dragging her feet when it came to committing to her relationship, but eventually Derek realized he was in second place. She wanted it to be different, she wanted to be able to tell him in a few years she would be his completely, but every time she tried, she knew it was a lie. She couldn't say anything like that as long as she had that kind of desire for someone else.

Since the day Derek walked out, she'd been there in everyway she could think of for Adam. A million different ways she'd told him she loved him and each and every time she thought he understood, thought he would acknowledge her, he managed to disappoint her. After years of it happening bitterness had taken seed, blooming as others around them met people they openly loved. It was another lonely Valentine's Day that had done it for her. Adam had taken some girl to his parent's cabin for a long weekend and she'd stayed home along watching old movies and crying. The hunt for jobs across the country had begun that night.

A fresh start takes massive amounts of bravery, something that Rayne built spades of over the months that had passed since February. This was the door out and for the first time in a long time, she was going to do something for Rayne, not for anyone else.