“Listen… Leigh, I have to tell you something,” Coll said cautiously with urgency in her voice.

“What’s up?” Leighanne looked at her concerned, as she placed her bag on the bed and walked to the closet where she had her suitcase open on the floor and a few things hanging up.

“This is so…” She searched for the right word, “overwhelming… I honestly am like … blissed out and suffering at the same time…?” She shook her head, “I don’t know how to explain it. I’ve truly never dealt with this before.” Coll began as she pressed her fingertips into her forehead.

“Aw, sweetie, I know, it’s so shitty what happened, thankfully it’s all stuff that we can replace. The most important thing is you are safe. Thank goodness you also had some of your things with you… can you imagine?” Leighanne was speaking and rummaging through her things at the same time.

“No, no… sorry, I mean… yes, that sucks, for sure. But…” she looked around the room anxiously. “I need to tell you that …” she took a deep breath, “I need to tell you that I’m in-” she paused, thinking quickly about Leighanne inevitably telling Brian about this later. Screw it.”I need to tell you that I am in love with Nick and I don’t know what to do about it and he’s so freaking beautiful, and he’s torturing me, and he’s slept in my bed the last two nights in a row, and I’m just really overwhelmed.” Her confession was brief and rapid and full of torment, and a few tears collected in her eyes.

Leighanne looked up at her blankly from where she was kneeling near her suitcase,

“Oh my god.”

“I know.”

“That’s so great.” She smiled.

“Is it?” Coll asked, honestly still unsure. It felt great, but whether or not it was actually great for so many other reasons was still unknown.

“To be honest, I kind of had a feeling.”

“I know you did.” Coll shook her head and covered her face, “What should I do?”

Leighanne sighed, maintaining her smile. “Well, first, you should change your clothes.” She began to pull a few things from her bag and off the hangers and made a small pile for Coll. “Here. Good options in this pile, I have to say.” She lifted the collection into Coll’s arms and turned her in the direction of the bathroom. “Take whatever you want.”

“Alright, but think about what I should do while I change.”

“I think you should tell him.” She said immediately, not needing to think.

“Why does everyone keep saying that?”

“Who else?” She asked, surprised to know anyone else had been informed.

“Becka... Angela...”

“Whoa am I the last to know??”

“God, I hope not. But don’t feel bad no one knew forty-eight hours ago.” Coll explained as she shuffled into the bathroom to change.

Leighanne smiled to herself as she sat on the bed and waited for Coll to finish changing.

“Seriously, tell me what to do.” Coll pleaded as she came out into the suite again, wearing one of the tunics Leighanne had picked for her, running her hands through her hair to fix it up a bit. “You are my stand-in sister right now!”

“I really do think you should tell him.” Leighanne said kindly, “I think you’ll never regret being honest.” She explained as she slipped her shoes off.

“You literally don’t see any problems with me telling him I’m in love with him?” Coll asked, exasperated that no one seemed to see it her way. Maybe she was wrong, perhaps it was just that simple. But how could it be?

Leighanne sighed, “I know you do, and I recognize that’s very real. But no.”

“Why?”

“I think he feels the same way,” Leighanne said with a smile.

Coll’s stomach turned, and her cheeks blushed. “What makes you think that?” She desperately wanted to know what things an outsider thought must mean something.

“Look, let’s chat tomorrow on the way to Vienna, you have to get out there before the stores close.”

“Alright.” Coll sighed, “please don’t tell Brian.”

“He already knows...”

“What?!” She exclaimed.

“Well, he thinks. He suspects.” Leighanne explained, watching as Coll’s eyes got wider and wider. “Don’t worry about it,” Leighanne replied with a giggle as she stood up next to Coll.

Coll narrowed her eyes at Leighanne, but she didn’t have enough energy or time to get more information. “Fine.”

“Go on.” Leighanne smiled and made a small hand motion toward the door.

“Thanks for the clothes,” Coll said sadly.

“Love you.” Leighanne smiled.

“I love you too.”

“See how easy that was!”

Coll rolled her eyes, “Goodbye and goodnight.”

Between Leighanne’s room and the lobby, Coll focused on pulling herself back together and remaining calm… and thinking about how wonderful it would be to finally take a shower later.

She took a deep breath as she stepped off the elevator and walked toward where the guys were sitting.

“I’m ready,” Coll said as she approached.

“Awesome, let’s roll.” Nick smiled as he got to his feet.

“Have fun!” Brian chirped as he stood up and wrapped his arms around Coll, “Glad you’re okay, little.” He winked. She smiled at him, calling her the nickname she had told him Becka uses for her.

“Thanks, Brian.” She said.

Tom and Brian walked off in the direction of the elevators, and Coll looked between Billy and Nick.

“Let’s get some pajamas!” Nick laughed.

“I’ll never get over my duckies.” She pouted, pressing her hand into her chest.

“I know, that’s probably the hardest part of all of this.” He sarcastically agreed as the three of them set off toward the back exit of the hotel for a more discreet departure.

They were able to get to several stores before they started closing up for the night. Nick spent the entire evening trying to lift Coll’s spirits. He made her laugh by suggesting ridiculous articles of clothing, insisting that she needed certain things she clearly didn’t, adding funny graphic tees and socks to her pile, and generally just keeping things fun.

To appease him, she gave him full authority over finding her a new pair of pajamas to replace the “legacy ducks” as he called them.

She was feeling a lot better about everything by the time they were done with the pajamas and had gathered a few essentials and a few of the things Nick insisted on getting her that amused him that wouldn’t take up a ton of space in her luggage. At one point, she ditched Nick and Billy to gather the more personal items, and when they met back up twenty minutes later, Nick had another small bag of stuff for her, “it’s a surprise,” he explained when she asked what it was. He smiled, and it melted her. He was taking care of her, and she was enjoying it too much.

On the way back to the hotel, he bought her a cone of gelato, and they threw coins into every fountain they passed.

“Wish for life without drama,” Nick suggested, “Or at least tour without drama.” His laugh drowned out by the moving water as he stood on the edge of the fountain above her.

“That would have been a good one, but I already wished for something else.” She explained.

“What?!” He asked excitedly, making eye contact with her.

“I can’t tell you, duh.” not yet anyway… She smiled, her heart pounding in her chest knowing what she wished for, knowing it was silly but still feeling attached to it.

He fake pouted at her, and her spine tingled.

“You know I can’t. Otherwise, it won’t come true.”

“It depends what you wished for. If you wished for something that’s already happening, it doesn’t matter. Some things are just meant to be, you can’t screw them up.” He said as he hopped back down off the edge of the fountain.

Their eyes met, and her body felt instantly warm, her mouth instantly dry. Already happening.

He was standing now on the ground next to her again, looking directly into her. It might have lasted four seconds, four minutes, or four hours … she had no idea. His words had unlocked a floodgate inside of her. Another new emotion poured into her awareness: Conviction. She knew it now absolutely: He was the one she had been waiting for.

He was the reason she never stuck it out with anyone else.

He was the reason she was happy right now instead of miserable.

She didn’t just want him, she had to be with him.

He was her all in.

And there was no turning away from it, she was in it. It wasn’t an attraction or a crush, or even just being in love, it was the starting point of something - she knew it. That something might be messy and hard, but it was wonderful.

infinite possibilities.

She felt it deeply like a missing piece was found and popped into place.

What he had said was right and real: when something is meant to be, you can’t mess it up. But you also can’t make it go until it’s ready. And she couldn’t go all in without him.

Things began to make more sense. Rapidly, it came into focus.

That sense of calm she felt with him, the way he turned it around for her, the way her hand felt like it belonged in his, the shoulder graze… nothing had ever felt as right or good.

He was the reason.

He was the difference between who she was when she got to Germany a month ago and who she’d be when she left him in a month from now. He was the reason for what was happening to her. He was the difference between the life she knew with him in the background and the life she wanted with him alongside her.

He wondered what she was thinking as he stood there looking at her, still, in her shorts and bathing suit with the tunic Leighanne had given her, chlorine still in her hair and the flints of light from the water flashing casually on her arm. He was looking at her for longer than he should have and he didn’t care. Her big brown eyes seemed a little darker, but her spirit was much improved. Everything about her was drawing him in, and he was unable to stall it. He didn’t want to. He already knew so much about her, but now there were new layers of her he wanted to explore, new things to know, and new interactions to have. She was tired, he could tell, but she was looking at him like there was no other person on the planet like he was the only one, and he enjoyed that too much.

This was a memory she’d hold forever, standing there in the Italian dusk next to that fountain, looking at him and him looking at her. The night she realized he was the one.

She smiled at him, and he smiled back.

He was terrified, but it wasn’t stopping him. He had bypassed wanting her physically hours ago, he was moving at top speed toward something else- someplace he’d never seen or been to before. Unknown destination.

“Let’s go.” He said and held his hand out to her. She placed her hand in his, and they wandered slowly back to the hotel, Billy followed behind them, grinning.

Can’t mess it up.

Don’t mess it up.