Unrequited Love

23

Jane looked between the two women wordlessly making breakfast, it'd been like that for two days and she was smart enough not to ask at least when both of them were in the room. In a weird way they were never not together, Jane didn't understand what was going on and she wasn't the one losing sleep over it.

"Jane, I think your ride is here." Novel rubbed her tired eyes. "Tell him to drive carefully please."

"Thanks mom, I'll tell him you said good morning."

"As long as he gets my message you can fine tune it as much as you like." Novel waved at her daughter, Jane opened her mouth to say something but Novel quickly shook her head. Some battles needed to be fought head on without backup, this was one of them.

Rolling her eyes for the teenager effect, she slung her bags over her shoulder and disappeared out the door. The eerie silence didn't help much either, Jane had been the one making most of the conversations these days, she acted like the middle man that made both of them speak but not to each other.

"Sam-"

"Let's just enjoy the silence okay, I don't want to talk right now." Samantha cut her off, she was slicing an onion and it wasn't going very well for anyone's eyes. "Just think of it as yoga, instead of stretching, we're just not speaking."

Blinking away tears Novel shook her head, "I don't want to do that, we haven't spoken in days now- I've not had the chance to say I'm sorry for what I did, I didn't mean to."

"I know you didn't, That doesn't mean it still didn't happen and I just haven't found it in my heart to be forgiving."

"I'm not saying you have to forgive me now." Novel let the tears roll down her cheeks. "I'm just saying you can talk to me before the forgiveness stage."

"Sure I can do that." Samantha was crying too, ugly crying which was more damage than an onion could actually cause. "This onion is not going down without a fight."

Nodding along, Novel sniffed. "Nope, it's not." Guess it was okay to place all the blame on the onion.

•

"Have you spoken to him?" Novel asked softly, they were seating in the living room, Samantha had a large bowl of ice cream on her lap.

"No. My head has been kind of fuzzy lately so I guess the space is good."

"There are numerous ways space can harm your relationship rather than cause good. Trust me I know, you might need time to get your act together and rewrite the laws of the earth but what about the other person, he's definitely not taking up his time like you are. What if all he's doing is just waiting... for you?"

"I don't know- I mean I honestly don't know. He might propose to me- no! I know he will propose to me to try and make it right in the society's eyes somehow but I don't want that. I don't believe in marriage being the solution to all problems, I don't believe-"

"You're just scared of commitment." Novel smiled to lessen the blow of her words. "He's the first man who has ever made you feel alive or whole like you always put it when we speak over the phone, he makes you happy, he makes you laugh, he makes you feel- that's the important part Sammy, he makes you feel."

"I don't want to get married." Samantha shoveled a healthy amount of ice cream into her mouth.

"Marriage isn't all that bad. I'm not one to talk but it has its perks when you're doing it with someone who sees you. In all my thirty four years, I have never seen a man look at a woman the way Fabian looks at you, you're a goddess in his eyes."

"He makes me feel like one."

"Then what's the big problem?"

Passing the bowl to Novel, Samantha stared into the distance. "I love Fabian but I'm scared I'll get bored of him, I'm scared that I'll miss the days when I just wanted to go out and have fun. I'd never cheat on him, ever! But what if I hate sitting at home all day with a crying baby?"