claire
It was now the beginning of November, meaning the leaves had already fallen off the trees and it was starting to get cold in Chicago. I received a text from a familiar number, but I didn't have them saved into my phone.
Unknown:
Claire-
can you please meet me at this address as soon as you can?
-artemi
Unknown:
shared a location
No wonder the number was familiar; I had deleted Artemi's number a while ago. I debated whether or not to go. I hadn't spoken to Artemi in a long time. I missed him so much but I was confused as to why he was coming back into my life now. It sounded urgent though, so I put on my boots and a jacket and grabbed my purse.
I decided to walk there since I needed the fresh air. It took me a good hour to get there, and I hadn't told him I was even coming so I was surprised to see him still sitting at a table- my usual table.
I couldn't stop the butterflies in my stomach when I saw him through the window. No matter how much I denied it, I was still in love with him.
Artemi looked up, surprised, when I sat down across from him. His curls were ruffled from the wind and he looked adorable. He sent a smile my way. "Hi Claire."
"Hey," I wasn't sure what else to say.
Artemi sensed my uncertainty. "I just, I wanted to- I think it would be good if we talked."
I laughed humorlessly. "About what? About how you dumped me for no good reason and haven't talked to me since?"
He looked down at the table. "It was wrong and I'm sorry. I know that isn't enough to make you forgive me but I was hoping you would be up for a walk?"
Now I was really confused. "Um, okay."
We walked for a while in silence. I wasn't in the mood to talk to him and I think he got the hint. We got to his apartment and I opened my mouth to say something until he cut me off. "We need to drive to the first place because it's a little far," he explained.
I nodded and got in his car. We drove for about 20 minutes until we pulled up to a huge house that looked vaguely familiar. "Whose house is this?" I asked.
"Corey Crawford's. Do you remember what happened here?"
I bit my lip. I did remember. "This is where we had that New Year's Eve party. I think that's where we first started talking."
He nodded. "You're right. It's where I asked you out, remember?"
I smiled. "Yeah you asked me to show you Panera because your last name is Panarin." I stopped smiling once I realized what he was doing.
"I remember this night a lot because it was the first time I realized I had a chance with you," he said and glanced over at me. I didn't want to make eye contact with him and he got the hint because he pulled away from the driveway and onto the next place.
He parked at Panera, of course. "Artemi, I don't know if this is a good idea-"
"Please, just let me finish this okay?" He looked desperate.
"Okay, I'll listen."
"Well at this Panera, we had what you could call our first date. I really wanted to kiss you during lunch but I thought it would be weird since we didn't know each other that well." He smiled a bit and I saw his eyes sparkle, which made me smile. I decided to just sit back and enjoy this trip down memory lane.
