"I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed as I got out of my seat to help him. I got wine on his pants. He had a smirk on his face, "Want to help me?" I felt my cheeks heat up as I handed him my napkin. "Pervert." I muttered as I sat back down. He chuckled and cleaned the wine. At least he was wearing black. "Well are you going to answer my question?" He asked me. I hoped he would've forgotten about it. "You know why I needed to." I looked down at my hands. I wanted to avoid his eyes. "No, I don't." He said. "I needed a change. After everything that happened, I wanted to make myself happy." I told him. "I could've made you happy. I thought that after we spent the night together, I thought you would've stopped running from me." He confessed. Wait a minute. "I wasn't running from you. You couldn't choose between me and Amy and I was tired of it." I defended myself. It seemed like after all these years he still couldn't get the information right. "You were totally running from me. When we would kiss you would run away! All of the opportunities that you had to tell me how you felt and you didn't." He narrowed his eyes. It seemed like he was bitter in a way. "Because having to hear how you really felt about Amy made it discouraging for me to tell you how I felt." I said. I really didn't want to have this conversation right now. The waiter came and delivered our food and it was silent. I was feeling more and more irritated by the minute. "Look, I didn't want to bring you here so we could argue, (y/n). I just... For the last five years, I kept remembering you leaving me at that airport." He said. I felt guilty all over again. Then I thought of Ayden. Marcel would hate me forever for not telling him that Ayden was his son. "I'm sorry, Marcel. I just needed to do something for myself." I apologized. "I guess I can understand that. But you didn't answer my calls or texts for months. I just stopped reaching out to you. I figured that you moved on like you told me to." Marcel told me. "But now you have Missy." "Yeah." He muttered. I longed to reach over and grab his hand. But I knew that if I did, I would feel those butterflies all over again. "Can we just be friends?" I asked him. He nodded, "I'd love that." I was glad that the rest of dinner went smoothly. He caught me up on what happened with him while I was gone. I told him about Los Angeles in return. When he dropped me off at my flat, he walked me up to my door. "Thanks for tonight." I told him as he stood in front of me. "It was my pleasure. Maybe Ayden could join us next time." He suggested and I felt the guilt again. It wouldn't end until I finally told him. I just didn't want to ruin the moment. "Goodnight, Marcel." I said as he pulled me into a hug. The hug lasted a little too long. It was like we both didn't want to let go. When we pulled apart, I was aware that his lips were dangerously close. He leaned down and kissed me right at the corner of my lips. I felt shivers down my spine. "Goodnight." He whispered huskily before he left.
