Mark’s POV

Having been in the middle of a very awkward family dinner, both of his parents( who refused to divorce) having brought their lovers, Mark had been glad to receive a text from Ryan, asking if he was up for some drinks. He had left his parents without even giving an excuse, neither of them noticing his departure. Too busy glaring at one another to notice anyone else.

When he had accepted the invite though, he had been thinking that they would meet up at some trendy bar.

But instead, Mark found himself at Ryan’s penthouse, watching his friend drink ridiculous amounts of alcohol without saying a word. He was wondering whether or not to interfere when the choice was made for him.

Ryan, holding a bottle of scotch in his hands tried to pour some for himself, but he missed by a very big margin. The alcohol going everywhere but into the glass it was supposed to fill. Reaching out, Mark took the bottle from Ryan and stood, grabbing a cloth and getting rid of the mess.

After putting everything away and coming to sit back down, he found Ryan staring off into the distance, still not seeing a word.

Now, Mark was getting worried, clearing his throat to get Ryan’s attention. He was glad when blue eyes focused on him, even if they seemed a bit glazed.

Keeping his tone light to disguise his worry, Mark spoke, "As fun as it will be to see how much you can take before you poison your liver, I really think that now the best cause of action is to stop drinking and start talking about what is eating you. So what is up?"

***

After asking his question, Mark had been expecting one of two responses.

The first one, and the most likely in his books, was for Ryan to keep ignoring him. Choosing to stay silent and stare at nothing in particular.

The second one was for his friend to start complaining about a business deal gone bad. But to Mark’s shock, when Ryan finally did speak, he did not talk about what Mark had been expecting him to speak on at all.

Instead, Ryan brought up a topic that had become taboo in their friendship.

"Do you think that it would be selfish of me to move on after everything that went down?"

The words were said so softly that Mark almost did not hear them, but he had heard them, and now he found himself wanting to make sure that they were actually talking about what he thought they were talking about.

"Do you mean with the mess between you, Gwendolyn, and your younger brother, " Wiping a tear at the corner of his eye Ryan nodded.

"Ever since she has come back, everything about what happened has been weighing heavy on my mind. She is going about her life as though nothing happened. So would it be so wrong of me to move on as well?"

To say that Mark was stunned would have been the understatement of the century. Not only was Ryan actively discussing Gwendolyn and Brian, he was also talking about the possibility of moving on.

The last time that Mark had even hinted at that being something that could happen, he had nearly gotten his head bitten off. Now his friend was talking about the possibility of healing.

Wow, looking away from his glass of alcohol, Mark opened his mouth. Ready to push his friend further towards the path of healing and promptly deflated when he caught sight of the man he was supposed to be encouraging.

It seemed that after sharing what was eating away at him. Ryan had finally succumbed to the effects of the alcohol.

He was now fast asleep, his head pillowed on his arm, a soft snore emanating from his lips. Typical!

Knocking back his drink in a single gulp, Mark huffed, unable to believe his luck. The one chance he’d had in years to try and make Ryan see that punishing himself for something that was not his fault was worthless and he’d missed it.

He wanted so badly to shake the other man awake and force him to talk about the issue again.

But most likely if he did that, Ryan would probably clam up, and never want to bring the topic up ever again.

It was best to let things be rather than push too hard.

So getting to his feet, Mark grabbed at his friend’s arm and pulled him up. Dragging the other man to his bedroom. He took off his shoes and helped him get settled in bed. Going to the kitchen, he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and took it with him to the bedroom. After placing some painkillers next to it, he straightened, looked down at his friend one last time and made his way out of the bedroom.

***

Hours after he had left Ryan to sleep off the effects of the alcohol. Mark found himself tossing and turning in his own bed, thinking on what his friend had said.

In all of the years since the whole debacle had happened, Ryan had never once hinted at wanting to move on from everything. Mark had been seriously worried that his friend would want to live the rest of his life holding on to all of that toxic pain. Shouldering the blame even though he was not the one who had been at fault. Never allowing himself to get over it despite holding on only destroying him from the inside.

But now, just as Mark had been beginning to lose hope, that Ryan would ever let it all go. His friend was showing signs of healing.

What could have brought on such a change?

He found himself wondering. No matter which way he thought on it, there was only one difference in Ryan’s life now, a woman by the name of Vivian Rose.

If she really was the reason that Ryan was considering healing from all of his past hurts, then Mark would forever be grateful to her.