A Second Chance

prologue

I hear three hard knocks on what I recognize as the front door. "Can you get that please?" My fiance yells to me from the kitchen.

I groan, as I throw the blanket off of me, and fix my sweatpants. I drag myself to the door and stand on my tip toes to look through the tiny peep hole.

I see a tall man in camouflage, but due to my short height of only 5'3, I cannot exactly see the face, so I figure maybe it's some kind of recruiter going around trying to convince young men to join the "fight for freedom." I debate with myself for a few seconds if I should actually open the door, and decide I shouldn't be rude. I slowly open the door and the sun hits me right in the fucking face. I attempt to look and see a muscular, broad, male figure in front of me that looks familiar somehow.

The figure looks me up and down, and smirks. "Ana."

I freeze as I recognize the voice. Could it be..?

No.

There's no way.

I slam the door and put my back up against it, attempting to catch my breath.

"Anastasia. Who was at the door?" Michael calls to me.

"No one."

He walks into the living room, he looks concerned. "Who was it, Anastasia?"

I begin to speak and deny it, but he cuts me off. "Move."

I do as he says, and move from the door. He quickly opens it, and the whole time I'm silently praying that he punches him in the face. "Can we help you?"

He smiles, warmly. "I'm an old friend of Anastasia's. I told her I'd come visit her after I got back from basic.. but it seems as if she doesn't want me here. So I'll go." He turns to walk off, but Michael grabs his arm. "Hold on."

Michael closes the door and looks at me. "You're really gonna be an asshole to a soldier?"

You don't know what he did to me..

He looks hurt, I guess because of what his dad went through. His dad suffered from a severe case of PTSD because of the war, to the point he killed himself. Since then, he's been really angry and really serious when it came to the military. He still has nightmares about it, and he still gets really upset a lot. It had a huge effect on him. When it happened, he wouldn't eat for days. He wouldn't sleep, either. He'd sit up and drink all damn night and cry. It was a terrible time, and he's never been the same.

I shake my head, and apologize before opening the door again. "Hi." I say, forcing a fake smile onto my face. "Would you like to come in?"

He nods, and walks inside. Michael offers his hand, and he takes it. "I'm Michael."

"My fiance." I throw in there quickly, just to let him know.

"Chris."

They let go, and exchange a few words while I walk back into the kitchen. This cannot be happening.

They follow into the kitchen, and Michael speaks up. "Would you like to join us for dinner?"

Chris looks over at me, and smirks. He knows I don't want him here. "I'd love that."

"So it's settled then." Michael smiles.

Why isn't he getting jealous?

His phone buzzes in his pocket and he pulls it out and checks it.

He looks up at me. "Hey babe, something came up at work. I gotta go."

Before I have time to say anything, he's walking out the door, leaving us two alone.

"I'm not cooking dinner." I say to Chris, and he just laughs. After a few long seconds, I speak up. "Why are you here, Chris?"

"We made plans, Ana."

"That was a long time ago. You need to leave."

"Your fiance said I could stay for dinner."

I roll my eyes. "Well I'm not cooking, and he's not here."

"He didn't ask me to leave, either."

I pause, and stare at him. He's really changed. "I'm still not cooking."

"I'll take you out."

"Um, no thanks."

"Come on. We're just a few old friends, catching up." He smirks.

"I don't want to catch up. I want you to go."

"No, you don't."

As much as I wish I could deny that, there is a small piece of me that is glad to see him. What's it gonna hurt? "Fine. I'll go change."