An Unexpected Encounter

Six months and you still weren't over him, how could you be when everything reminded you of him? The street you were walking down now was where he had given you his coat when it started raining one evening because he was a gentleman and said that he didn't want you catching a cold. The traffic lights up ahead were the ones that you had first held hands at, it was an accident-your hands bumped together and then before you knew it his was wrapping around yours and you were crossing the road. Neither of you said a word. You didn't need to. Your actions said more than words ever could, you didn't think that even Shakespeare himself could sum up the way you felt in that moment.

The worst place for memory lane was the Coffee shop you were heading to, the place where you had first met. One crisp winter morning changed your life forever. It led to a year and a half with this fantastic man, it had been the most spectacular year in your life and then it crashed to a halt. One day he told you that he couldn't do this any longer and he was gone. It took a moment for this perfect man to be brought into your life and another for him to be cruelly taken away. To this day you didn't know what you had done to drive him away, all you knew was that you hadn't seen it coming, you thought you were going to spend eternity with him-but you were wrong. Being wrong had never hurt so much before. The pain didn't stop, it was there every day, from the moment you woke up till you fell asleep-if you were lucky. Most nights the thoughts of him plagued your dreams. You would dream of him and what things were like before you were apart, you remembered the good all days. Everyone told you that you would get over him in time but for you the pain only seemed to grow as more memories filled your mind. No one seemed to understand how much it hurt, how heavy your heart felt in your chest as you walked around the supermarket thinking about the times you came shopping together. It was pathetic, you knew that, but it didn't make it stop. No, nothing made the memories stop.

You pushed open the glass door to the quiet Coffee shop sighing as the warm air hit you.
"Good morning" Hannah chirped with a smile from behind the counter. You smiled weakly back to your friend as you slowly unwrapped your scarf from your neck. The temperature had plummeted down to -5°C where it had stayed for the past few days, allowing your nose to turn permanently red for about a week now. Winter wasn't particularly your favourite season, but you enjoyed it in moderation. Snow was your favourite part of it but that was rare in England and when it did snow you were lucky if it stuck to the ground. The worst part about it was the fact that it meant you needed to stop in the Coffee shop to pick up a warm beverage as you were unable to make it all the way to work in one go when it was this cold. It wouldn't have been bad if it wasn't the Coffee shop. The one you had met him in.

"Usual?" Hannah asked already beginning to make a cup of tea.
"Yeah" you sighed a wisp of cold air drifting into the air before you. You always used to joke as a child that you were breathing fire and your brother would always try and beat you and be the greater dragon. Ah sweet childhood where the world was your oyster and pain was only something that grown up's spoke of.

You fumbled with your gloves trying to get them off so you could pay Hannah, but they clung to your hands like a second skin. You began using your teeth on the ends of the fingers trying to tug them off that way instead of pealing them back but that didn't work either and you ended up huffing in frustration. Hannah found this display quite amusing as she pushed the tea across the counter to you.
"Pay tomorrow when you can get your gloves off" she smiled.
"Thank you" you sighed before picking up your tea and setting yourself down at a table by the window. You sat with your back to the rest of the shop and watched as the world carried on at a sluggish pace. The cars drove slowly over the icy roads and the few people who were brave enough to venture outside treaded with caution across the pavement fearing the embarrassing moment where they slipped on a patch of ice.

You were so caught up watching the world that you didn't notice the man sit on the table next to you until he spoke.
"Good morning." Your heart froze. You knew that voice anywhere, it haunted you every day not allowing you to forget it. It was his voice. After six months he was sat beside you; six months of silence and now a good morning. Your brain couldn't work out whether it should be pleased or angry. If you should talk to him or ignore him like he had with you.
"Morning" you whispered the word shaking slightly as it left your mouth. Your brain tried to grab the word and shove it back in your mouth and make you swallow it but it was too late, so you kept your eyes fixed on the window. If you couldn't ignore him you weren't going to look at him as you spoke, he didn't deserve it after everything. Yet you still wanted to hug him after everything he had done.

"I'm sorry" he muttered quietly leaning towards you so only you could hear his words. Why because you left me like I was nothing without an explanation, and then you don't say a word for six months and now a good morning? You shouted in your head as the words 'it's fine' came out of your mouth. Damn it. You cursed internally.
"No, no it's not. I mean look at you." Look at me? What the hell was that supposed to mean? You looked to him in anger but froze as you saw his face. He looked as perfect as he did the day you met him, his blonde curls sitting neatly on his head above those ocean blue eyes, that you loved to stare into for hours on end. And those cheekbones. God they were to die for, and still are. You went to speak to ask what was wrong with you, but nothing came out. "I didn't mean to insult you." He protested, "I was going to say. Look at you, you can't even look at me."
"Tom" you breathed.