FIRE | H.S.

Chapter 27

My leg bounces under the table so much I'm starting to think I'm going to cause the tectonic plates to shift. My heart is going to beat out of my chest and I think one of my lungs has collapsed. I check the time on my phone and see it's 20 minutes past the time we were supposed to meet.

You can't expect him to be on time, Ava. He left you as a child.

I finish my second glass of water and pour myself another one. Five more minutes. I give him five more minutes and if he still isn't here, I'm getting the fuck out of here.

I look around and see him walking through the door of the restaurant. His eyes search around until he finds me and a small, relieved smile forms on his face. He makes his way to the table I'm sitting at.

"Ava, hi, I'm so sorry I'm late!" he gets near as if he wants to give me a hug, but thinks better of it and takes the seat in front of me. "Traffic is crazy at this time, especially coming from downtown. I'm so sorry."

I take a deep breath as I take in his image. His light brown hair, a little disheveled from running his fingers through it, and a hint of dark circles forming under his blue eyes. One thing I never forgot was that brown spot in the blue of his left eye. I don't remember much of my childhood, or at least I try to forget as much as I can, but that spot I could never forget. It was one of my favorite things about him because it was so unique. I had never seen that on anyone else and I just loved that he had it.

"I was about to leave," I say.

"I figured, I'm so sorry. I tried calling but it wasn't going through."

"It's fine."

A waiter walks up to us and asks for our order. I just order a salad cause I don't know how much I'll be able to eat while having a conversation with him.

Why did I think this would be a good idea? This is the stupidest idea I've had in my entire life. Why did I let that voice in my head convince me that I was ready to sit with this man and have dinner while we talked about our lives? As I see him order his food, I feel more sure I wasn't ready for this. I'm most definitely not ready to forgive him.

"So... why did you want to see me?" he asks once the waiter leaves. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you messaged me but... why? I didn't think you'd want to see me ever again, let alone share a meal with me."

He's right. Why did I message him?

"I...I don't actually know." Three nights ago, this seemed like a good idea. But now as I feel the anger trying to push through... not so much. "I just thought it was time for this to happen, I guess."

"Well, whatever the reason, I'm grateful you're giving me the chance to sit and talk to you." He smiles and I can tell he's being genuine.

There is a pause, a rather uncomfortable one, as neither of us knows how to start or what to talk about. "Uh, well... what is it that you do?" he asks.

I take a long sip of water; my mouth is dry like the damn Sahara. "I own two spas and I cut hair there and give massages."

His eyes widen and an impressed smile makes its way to his face. "Wow! That's amazing, sweetie!" I recoil a little at the endearing term. It just feels wrong. "How long have you been doing this for?"

"Um, about 6 years, I think. I studied cosmetology and I worked at a salon once I got my license. With time I realized I wanted to open my own spa and wanted to offer different services like massages and facials, not just hair styling, so I got licenses for that as well."

"That's amazing, Ava. When did you open the spas?"

"The first one I opened two and a half years ago, and the second one I opened it like 7 months ago."