Another time, another place

Hello Ian!

It was Saturday morning, 11.37, and Emily was by her mother, who was sleeping at that moment. Her brother had gone home to have a shower and buy some things he needed, so she was basically alone. She checked her watch: she had an hour and a half left before meeting Ian. She wasn't sure yet if that was actually a good idea, so she decided to tell Colton about it, who could be the voice of reasoning. So she texted him.

Hi love!
It took him seconds to reply.
Blondie! I dreamt about you last night. You're even prettier in my dreams.
She smiled. He always made her smile.
Oh, yes, such an angel...
Suddenly, Emily received another message, but this time from Stephen:
McDonald's stocks have risen today.
It was a weird sentence, but it didn't suprise Emily at all: they usually iniciated conversations that way. It was their way of saying 'hello'. She went along with him.
Buy them!
Another message, but this was Colton's.
Right. A fallen angel...
She shook her head, amused.
Shut up! Btw, Ian's back.
She could imagine Colton's face when reading her message. Colton liked Ian, they got on well, but Colton was not a fan of meeting exes. According to him, 'exes are exes for a reason'.
Back how?
I'm having lunch with him today.
Stephen replied then: What if I bring some burgers to your place and have lunch together?
Almost immediately, Colton sent another message. You're going to screw him!
She sighed and wrote: I'm not going to screw anyone!
However, she sent it to Stephen, not Colton, but she didn't realise that until she received Stephen's answer: Well, that wasn't exactly my plan, but...
She blushed. She blushed even if he couldn't see her. How embarrasing! So she tried to solve the situation.
Sorry, that message was for Colton.
Nevertheless, everything got worse after that, especially when Stephen said: So, you're in fact screwing somebody?
Her fault. She hadn't denied she was going to do anything with anyone, she just said she had mistaken the addressee of the message. She quickley replied NO.
Then, Colton sent her another message, but she was getting confused, so she ignored him and focused on Stephen, not to make things even more complicated.
Then? That was the only word Stephen sent her. He wanted and explanation and she had to give it to him.
I have to refuse your burger plan at my place: I'm meeting Ian.
Ian? Your ex?
Stephen's words hammered her. 'My ex, yeah', she thought.
The one and only. I ran into him last night after saying goodbye to you.
This time, it took Stephen some minutes to answer.
How lucky...
Emily frowned. Was he implying something?
I perceive some irony there...
Sure, because I was being ironic , he replied.
Then, she couldn't help herself and called him. Just when he picked up, she said: "Speak now".
He took a deep breath and said: "If I am not wrong, you and Iam broke up because you didn't have time to see each other because you were an actress".
She nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see her. "I know, so?"
"So you're still an actress, Em".
She was getting desperate. "I'm pretty aware of that. But it's not like I'm going to date him again. We're just having lunch together", she explained. For her it was not so strange.
"Em, I have never had lunch with an ex with no romantic or sexual reason behind it. Nor me nor any other men in the world, believe me", he told her from experience.
"Ok, and what if I do want something with him? I'm single, I can do whatever I want", she almost shouted.
He remained silent for a moment. She knew she was being a little bit childish, and so did he, but she was 21 after all. And besides, who's not childish sometime? Especially when it comes to love. He ignored her momentary lack of maturity and tried to make his point clear: "True, you're right. I just don't you want you to get hurt again".
She swallowed hard. "I know, Stephen... Sorry, I'm just nervous. I have no idea where all this will lead me".
He was the one sighing now. "Well, relax, now you're just having lunch, as you said, just like friends, or kind of. So take it easy and have fun. Maybe he has no further intentions and we're imagining things", he talked.
With that thought, Emily calmed down a bit. He was right. There were no reasons to think otherwise. Stephen always had that effect on her: he made her feel safe and in peace. Like nothing could go wrong. She often wondered if he felt the same way with her.

***

Finally, it was lunch time. They were meeting in 'Taco Shack', one of the restaurants in Vancouver. She arrived the first and had a seat. Two or three minutes after, he came in. In the day light, she realised he had his brown hair shorter than months ago and it suited him. She got lost in his brown eyes when he said hi.
"Hello, what's up?", she asked awkwardly.
"Good, good", he answered sitting opposite her. "Have you ordered yet?"
"No, I have just arrived."
They spent the first moments deciding what to order to eat and that way they relaxed and started to feel more comfortable.
"So tell me, how are you doing with your classes?", Emily asked.
Ian was a teacher. He graduated at the age of 22 years old in English literature and he did a postgraduate course on teaching. However, due to his Spanish origins, he was now teaching Spanish in a high school: his father was from Spain and so, he had been there many times and he had learnt Spanish, so a school hired him as a Spanish teacher, which he really enjoyed. Also, he spoke French. In fact, he had been going to a private school for ten years, so he was proficient in English, Spanish and French. Such a prodigy.
"Great, my students are improving quite fast, so we can now do more activities. For instance, next Monday we're doing the Spanish Day".
Emily was curious. "The Spanish Day?"
He nodded, passionate about it. "Yeah, each one has to prepare something related to Spain. Maybe a dish, or a mockup of a famous monument or something like that and they have to present it to everyone".
"Wow, cool!"
"Yeah, I'm having so much fun with them. They're great".
Emily drank a little bit of water. "I'm sure they love you".
"Why are you so sure?"
They stared at each other. Emily tried to think a good answer, one which didn't show any kind of extra affection towards him, but it didn't come to her mind, so she told the truth: "Because everyone loves you. You're a great person, you know".
He grinned. "I'm going to be blushed scarlet at the end..."
"Oh my God, I remember that time we went to see a baseball match and your hotdog fell over that woman's hair and ketchup was everywhere and then she thought it was blood! Gosh, that was awesome and you were completely red!"
They both laughed. "Woah, I apologized like seven times..."
Emily smiled widely. "True, and you were so pitiful that she even bought you another hotdog..."
"It was horrific...", he said covering his face with both hands.
Emily put her hand on his arm. "I found it cute. And besides, at the end of the day, they're just anecdotes."
"Cute?", he asked with interest.
"Yeah, like film-cute, you know what I mean, right? Like you're not typycal man who does everything perfectly well, you make mistakes and you are real, which makes you cute".
He smiled and fixed his gaze on her. "You never told me that."
"Well, you never asked me...", she answered shruging her shoulders.
Emily was digging her own grave and she knew that.
She looked at him very briefly and she realised he was looking at her in a very weird way, like he used to look at her. Like a boyfriend.
"I've missed you, Em", he finally whispered.
She looked up and right then she knew she was lost. Love is very difficult to find, but whenever you get to love someone, you love that person for the rest of your life. The only difference is that the love you feel each time is bigger or smaller depending on the person. So she still loved Ian, of course. He had meant a lot to her and she went through hell when they broke up. So she couldn't lie to him.
"I've missed you too, Ian".
His look was so endearing... He took her hand in his, and he was going to say something, but her phone rang. It was a message.
"Oh, sorry", she said, immediately reaching for her phone, just in case it had to do with her mum.
It was Stephen.
Is everything ok?J
She smiled to herself. Stephen was always so attentive with her that she could not thank him enough.
Great. Talk to you later. Thanks!
"Sorry, I got a message", she apologized.
"Don't worry. So tell me, how is your family? You told me last night your mum had a heart attack?"
She nodded. "Yeah, it was not so serious as it seems, because it was just a shock, she's fine now, but nothing will ever take the fright of that day away", she explained.
"Were you working when that happened?"
"No, I was at home, looking after Stephen's daughter".
He looked surprise. "Oh, so he's a father already?"
When they were dating, Cassandra was just pregnant.
"Yes, he has a daughter, Mavi. She's gorgeous. You should see her, she's the best kid ever".
He smiled. "I can imagine. So... do you think I could pass by the hospital to see your mum one of these days?"
"Sure! Just come when you wish", she replied with joy.
Then, his smile reminded her of something, of someone. His smile reminded her of the kind of smile Stephen made when interpreting Oliver Queen around Felicity Smoak. Except Ian wasn't Stephen.

No, he wasn't.