Tie. Suit. Shoes. Everything fit together. Everything was in harmony, almost perfect. He didn't dress up as chic as he did right now for a long while. Or rather ever. This suit was the best he had, the best he could afford, for the best person. She didn't deserve it any other way. She just deserved the best, his best.

Beck never imagined to meet her again, not like this. Not in this situation did he ever dream of seeing her beautiful pale face again.

Flashback

A knock. Two words. The door opened. It was Jade. She didn't go to school today, telling him that she was sick. He planned to go to visit her after he had returned to his RV, being the caring boyfriend he wanted to be. Her visit surprised him. He imagined her being in bed, sleeping, recovering from the illness that had overcome her. Beck greeted her with a smile, she smiled back. But there was something different about her smile. It was distant, rather cold. Not genuine. Every time she smiled at him, it was a real smile. Her eyes were sparkling, the corners of her lips were twitching and she looked amused, happy. But right now she seemed dull, tired. Something was wrong and he was determined to find out what it was. Jade walked towards him and kissed him on the lips. It was a quick kiss, not very emotional. She threw her bag on the floor and sat down on his bed. Beck watched her for a while before he decided to join her on the bed. He leaned closer and kissed her again, this time longer, with more passion and emotion. She kissed back but didn't seem to share these feelings with him. He noticed. He noticed everything. He just kept quiet. Wanting to get a proper reaction from her, Beck started kissing her harder, pulling her closer. He licked her lips with his tongue, begging her for entrance and she granted it. He placed his hand on her face and caressed her cheek with his thumb. His other hand made its way up her thigh, stroking it gently. She didn't stop him, so he saw it as an invitation to continue. He placed his hand on her hip and slowly slid it under her shirt, feeling her skin against his palm. This contact sent shivers down his spine. But before he was able to move his arm up her body, she pulled away.

"I can't do this right now." She said in a sad voice. Beck murmured a simple sure and moved a few inches away from her. Jade fixed her shirt and sat there, fixating a point on the wall, not talking at all. She held back tears, Beck noticed that. He could tell by the way she was nervously chewing on her bottom lip and swallowing every now and then to drown her tears. He laid down on the bed, pulling her next to him, his arm around her. Beck kissed Jade's head and looked straight at the ceiling that looked back at them. Beck knew that time was the key with Jade. This precious time she needed, before she could open up, before she could tell him the terrible, saddening and heart breaking thoughts in her head. It was mostly her trying to make herself down, trying to persuade herself that she wasn't worth living, wasn't worth being loved. And it was always up to Beck to prove her wrong. He loved her with every inch of his body and he would never ever let her down. He was her only shelter. Although her mother was always nice to her, she neglected her often due to work and her new boyfriend. Jade never got over her parents' divorce. It was the main reason for her to change from the cute little toddler Jade to a dark Jade since kindergarten. But that was the Jade Beck loved. This was the only Jade he knew and he would never want to change that. He loved her and if that meant to sacrifice himself, he'd instantly do it. She finally spoke up, interrupting his chain of thoughts.

"I wanna start over." she said in a quiet voice. Beck didn't understand at first.

"What did you say?" he asked, gently stroking her head.

"I said I wanna start over." She repeated in a more firm voice.

"How?" Beck asked confused.

"I wanna go to a different city, wanna be free, myself. I want to discover the world new, without judgement, without anyone knowing my backstory. Just a blank page, you know?" she sat up, looking at the still lying Beck, telling him about her plan to move away from LA. It took him by surprise. He always knew that Jade was the realistic kind of person, the bitter realist. She always pointed out things, that destroyed other people's hopes and dreams. She opened up their eyes, showing them it was useless to keep trying. What people made out of that was a whole different story. Deep down he always knew that she also was a dreamer and she probably was even stricter with her hopes and dreams than with other people. She always kept them hidden, in case she would be disappointed about them not coming true, she always just watched and observed and never gave people hints about her weaknesses, in fear they could use them against her. Fact was: no one knew much about Jade West, no one but Beck Oliver, her boyfriend and even more, her soulmate.

Beck breathed in slowly, before breathing out forcefully, sitting up, facing Jade.

"How do you think this will work out?" he asked slowly, looking straight into her eyes, trying to read her expressions.

"It will, Beck. Just trust me." she answered, moving a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Jade, you are a teenager, you have no money, you have no job, how do you even expect to live there on your own?!" Beck's voice got louder. She seemed to be serious about this and that scared him.

"I will make a living there. It will work..." her voice trailed off. She seemed sad, disappointed.

"Where do you even wanna go? And what do you even wanna do there?" He asked, his voice seemed protective.

"I want to go to New York, the Broadway!"

"Jade..." Beck started slowly "...this isn't gonna work as easily as you expect it to."

"So you think I'm not good enough for Broadway?" Jade screamed aggravated. "Because if you think that, just tell me right in the face!" She was hurt. One could hear it in her voice. She never expected Beck to doubt her dreams, never expected him to lie to her.

"Jade...Jade...Jade..." Beck put his hands on her shoulders gently trying to calm her down. "I never said that. I think you can be a huge star one day. Singing and acting on Broadway or wherever you want. I just think you're doing it wrong. You can't just go to New York and expect everything to go as you want it to. You don't have money, you don't know where to go. You will be a small girl in a big city. The city can destroy you, babe" he explained as he felt her shoulders relax under his hands. She seemed to have resigned. But then she shook her head.

"I want to go there Beck. I can't be staying here. Every day the same problems, every day I feel people hating me. My dad, my mom, everyone!" Jade exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Why do you care about them? Just forget them!" Beck told her, sounding determined.

"I CAN'T BECK!" Jade screamed, breaking down. "It's so much easier for you to say that with people surrounding you with love. You don't know that feeling to be hated by everyone. You just don't know." she started sobbing, burying her face in her hands. He pulled her closer, kissing the top of her head.

"Jade, everything will be fine." he muttered, stroking her hair. She pulled away once again and shook her head violently.

"No, Beck, no. It's now or never. I need to go and follow my dreams." she said, firm determination in her voice.

"But..." Beck started, but was interrupted by Jade.

"Come with me. We can live there together. Together we can make it, Beck. I know it!" she said in a rushed voice, looking for agreement in his eyes, but all he did was looking to the ground, trying to keep his eyes from meeting hers.

"I can't, Jade. I can't just leave everything behind. My friends, my family..." He trailed off. Jade didn't say a thing. She kept quiet, tears rolling down her face, as she started nodding slowly.

"Okay then...have a good life." She said quietly, getting up. Picking up her bag from the ground, she made her way towards the door.

"Wait...Jade." Beck got up, and reached her after taking two steps. He grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. Her face was covered with tears. Beck could see the disappointment in her face. "Please don't go!"

"Beck. I need to go. I need to get out. And if you don't wanna come, I'll go alone." she answered, trying to sound cold, but failed. He just nodded slowly, not knowing how to answer. He knew that he couldn't keep her here anymore, because her mind was already far away. Not here, not with him, not in LA.

"I love you, Jade" Beck said coming closer. She just nodded, shaking her head slowly.

"Beck...which do you prefer, a sunrise or a sunset?" she asked out of the blue.

"What?" He asked confused. "I don't understand."

"Sunrise or sunset?" She asked again, stepping closer. He didn't know what she wanted to reach with this question, so he simply answered the first thing coming to his mind.

"Sunsets. We get to see them more often than sunrises." Jade smiled and placed her hand on his cheek, closing the distance between the couple.

"Then consider this our sunset." she placed a simple kiss on his lips for the very last time, turned around and left, letting him standing there all alone, still feeling her kiss on his lips a long while after. He let her go. Alone. To the other side of the continent. Without money, without anyone to turn to. He didn't try to persuade her to stay. It was senseless. Never did he imagine, that his day could change so drastically. Today he didn't just lose his girlfriend, but also the love of his life.

They were two teenagers, loving each other, dreaming. They had their whole lives ahead of themselves. But decisions must have been made. And they made the wrong ones.

Flashback ends

He looked at his reflection in the mirror. Black rings have formed under his eyes, he was tired and wanted to stay in bed for the rest of his days, but he couldn't, because today was a day he wasn't allowed to miss. It was her funeral. Jade passed away. Just like that. One day she just disappeared out of his life and a few days later he heard, that she died in a car crash on her way to New York. She never made it. She never arrived there. It was all his fault. All his fault. He should have tried to keep her here by his side, he should have tried to talk her out of it, to make her feel better. But he didn't. He rather just let her go, let her do her thing, in hope that she'll see she was wrong and come back. But he was wrong. He was so freaking wrong. She died and she was never going to return to him, never going to kiss him ever again. When he heard the news of her death - his parents told him - he broke down crying and it took his mother a lot of energy, to make him go to her funeral. And now that he was on his way there, his parents didn't badmouth her. They kept quiet and didn't say a word. They felt affected by her death and deep down he knew that they also felt bad about treating her badly. Beck was living, but he didn't feel alive. He was breathing, but he felt like suffocating. His heart was beating but also bleeding.

When they arrived there and Beck saw her coffin, he lost it and broke down. This was too much for him to handle. The guilt was killing him and he was sobbing uncontrollably. He wasn't a man, wasn't a boyfriend, wasn't a human being. He felt dead, he was dead inside. And no one could fix that. Jade was gone and she would never come back. Never. He would live every day of his life, knowing that he was the reason she got killed in that car accident. He has been a fool and this was the price he was paying for it. Their sunset already passed and he was surrounded by darkness. Darkness around him, eating him step by step.

They were two teenagers, loving each other, dreaming. They knew that dreams did come true, but no one ever told them, that nightmares were also dreams.

AN: Hello there. New story written for badeprompts! The prompt was: Which do you prefer, a sunrise or a sunset?

I hope you guys liked this story! :)

Don't forget to review!

~teddybaer~