Forgiven But Not Forgotten

Chapter 7: Key

"John, don't do this to me, please," Alexander chased after him, quite sloppily, as he was not in fully in his right mind.

"Alex, leave me alone, please, I can't deal with you right now," John continued to walk away from the shorter, more intoxicated man. John was under the influence as well, but no so much as Alex. He knew if he stopped walking, there was no telling what would ensue.

"Please, Johnny... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to-"

"Shut up!" John spun around to face his friend, who had now stopped dead in his tracks with a look of hurt and confusion. "I'm so tired of your empty apologies!"

Alex stared at his friend. He didn't know what to say. He wasn't quite sure what was actually happening. "John, what are you talking about? I was just trying to-"

"I know what you are trying to do. You are trying to make up for everything. Make me feel special by asking me to be your 'Best Man'. Make me feel as though I still mean something to you. Let's face it Alex, those days are over! I was an idiot to think they would ever come back!" John turned away, tears filling his eyes, blurring his vision even more than the alcohol.

F L A S H B A C K

"What are you doing?" John looked at his friend, who was getting a little closer than "a friend" would.

"Nothing," Alex replied. He was so wasted, even single words were slurring.

"Alex, this isn't right," John tried to back away from his friend, but Alex was relentless. They had been in Paris for less than three hours and Alexander was already drunk out of his mind.

"Shhhhhh!" Alex touched a finger to John's lips, silencing him. "This marriage isn't right, but I'm doing it anyways."

John blinked at him. "What do you-?" Before he can finish, Alex's lips are on his.

E N D F L A S H B A C K

Alex wasn't sure what was happening.

"God, I'm so stupid!" John fell to the ground, a puddle of tears and drunkenness.

Alex rushed to his side, John's tears somehow sobering him. "Hey, you're not stupid," he tried to console him. "John, look at me!"

John looked up with tears streaming down his face. "Yes I am, Alex. How could I think you would ever come back to me? I waited so many years for you to come back to me!" He pulled out the key he used to get into Alex's apartment.

"Y- you kept the key?" Alex stared at the jagged metal in John's hand. "All these years?"

John looked at it, his mind clearing a little. He nodded.

"I didn't think you would have- I- I thought you would have thrown it away or melted it or something..." Alex continued to stare at the key.

John closed his hand around it. "I kept it, hoping you would come back to me... But you never did." More tears streamed down his face.

"Oh John..." Alex breathed. For some reason, the key struck something inside him. He began to realize that deep down inside of himself, he had hoped John hadn't gotten rid of his key. That when John never returned it to him, he secretly hoped he kept it instead of trashing it. "I'm so glad you did."

John looked up through the blur of tears. "What?"

"I'm glad you kept it all these years!"

John looked at him confused.

"I think I was waiting for a sign. A message saying what I was doing was wrong and that you still loved me, even after everything I put you through. John, you showing me that you kept that key was my sign..."

John looked down.

"I'm sorry..."

"What?" Alex looked at his friend who was sitting in the middle of a Paris boulevard with his fist balled up.

"You're too late..." John opened his hand to reveal the key, bent and crushed beyond repair. "I don't love you anymore."