Despair in the Departure Lounge

Chapter 5 - When the sun goes down

Everyone was silent for a while, we could all tell Sarah was hurt, I’m sure even Arielle who probably didn't know about Matt and Sarah could work out what had just happened. I didn't know what to do, I wanted to give her a hug and say she didn't need him, like she had done for me that night when I found out that Alex was engaged but I could hardly do that while we were sitting across from Alex and Arielle, it would only make the situation worse.

Alex broke the silence a few minutes later when a man with quite long dark hair and brightly patterned clothing walk towards the table and said to him,

“Alright, Alex” with a huge smile.

“Miles mate! So glad you made it, ah it’s so good to see you!”

“You too!” he said whilst hugging him, I could tell it had been a while since he had seen Alex too.

Miles turned to Arielle,

 “Lovely to see you as well, Arielle” he hugged her too.

Alex gestured towards Sarah and me, 

“These are some of my best friends from high school Miles, this is Cara,”

I stood up and shook Miles hand, 

“Nice to meet you.” I smiled.

“and this is Sarah” 

Sarah stood up to shake his hand too, I was expecting her to look moody and sad when she said hello because normally when she’s been told something she doesn't want to hear she's like that for a while, doesn't matter who she's talking to, but I was wrong, she smiled at him, a big genuine smile, not even a forced fake one!

“Pleasure to meet you” she said

“And you,” he replied, smiling back.

We all sat down and Miles went to order a drink, we had only met for a few minutes and already there was something about him I liked, he seemed like a really nice guy, I could see someone else thought so too, Sarah seemed to have forgotten all about what Alex had just told her about Matt and had focused her attention fully on Miles, I think he liked her too

As the night went on I began feeling very alone, there was Alex with Arielle, they were the picture of a perfect couple and there was Sarah and Miles, they had only met that night but it was already as if they had known each other for years, the way they looked at each other broke my heart. This was not what I had expected for the night, I felt so out of place, like I was the only single person tagging along on a double date. I ended up going home at about 10:30pm, I’d only been out for a few hours but I was more than ready to go home. Alex and Arielle said they were going to go too but before I left Arielle said to me,

“Cara, I was wondering if next weekend you and Sarah maybe wanted to come and do a bit of shopping with me? It’s just i don't know any nice shops around here and I wanted to maybe have a look for a wedding dress here as well because we’re getting married in America I thought it’d be special to get the dress in sheffield.”

A lump had formed in my throat and for a second I stood silently trying not to burst into tears, just days ago I had found Alex again kind of expecting to be going out for a romantic dinner and then being whisked of to LA and now I was going to help his fiancé find a wedding dress, how tragic.

“Oh hem, yea sure, I could pick you up next Saturday morning if that works for you, what about you Sarah is Saturday ok?”

“yeah, Saturday is fine with me,” I could hear the pity in her voice, she knew this was breaking my heart and I hated that she could tell,

“Oh this will be great! Here Cara, I’ll give you my number"

After this I said goodbye and went home alone, because Sarah and Miles had decided to stay out for while and Alex and Arielle had gotten their own taxi. In the taxi I rested my head on the window, luckily I didn't have a very chatty driver or he could tell I just didn't really want to talk to anyone. A tear rolled down my cheek and I closed my eyes, I just sat there listening to the low murmur of the radio quietly playing cheesy pop songs and thought about how everyone around me was happy and I somehow always seemed to be sad, I usually didn't let people see how I felt but right now I didn't care. I tried to take my mind off of Alex getting married but I couldn’t and the thought of it made me feel a bit ill. I looked out the window, groups of teenagers hung around together, drinking and laughing, some couples walked along hand in hand and some stood kissing outside houses, I started to properly cry. I was normally so put together and strong but right now I was sitting in the back of a people carrier by myself pining for an engaged man I hadn’t seen for 5 years and all I could think was, 

“What’s happened to me?”