A Good Day For Love To Die

Chapter 7

Lea & I were sprawled on the couch watching Britain’s Got Talent, waiting for Aunt Rhi to get home and we could grab dinner together. Lea seemed interested in what was going on screen but my thoughts were drifting to the text earlier. I had yet to reply, I mean, what do you reply to your ex-boyfriend when he sends you something like that? Just then, the home phone rang and I snapped back to reality. I nudged Lea to pick up the phone as I slowly completely zoned out once again. Tom, definitely, wasn’t making the move any easier.

 “Hey Aunt Rhi! No, it’s Lea. Erny’s here on the couch too,” Lea’s voice brought me back again. “Oh alright then. No, no, it’s okay. We’ll grab dinner on our own. Yeah. You take care,” she continued, in response to whatever Aunt Rhi was saying.

“What’s up?” I asked, soon as she put down the phone.

“Your Aunt’s going to be home late, she’s staying at the office for a bit longer. Got to grab dinner on our own, then,” Lea replied as she settled herself back on the couch.

“Hmm, alright then,” I said, casually.

“Oh my god! What about we go have dinner with Jay! He asked me out earlier but I said we were grabbing dinner with your Aunt. Reckon the offer still stands,” Lea suddenly beamed, as if coming up with the most brilliant idea.

“Jay asked you out for dinner?” I asked as I glanced upon the clock.

“Mmhmm,” Lea nodded as she fiddled with her phone.

Next thing I knew, Lea was already in a conversation with Jay. They were catching up just a bit and then the dinner topic was brought up. Lea looked well excited to see Jay again. As I got up, I made a hand sign of not wanting to join them for dinner then made my way to my room.

“You wanna talk about it?” Lea asked as she leaned at the doorway.

“Nothing, just tired, I guess. You go ahead and have a good night with Jay,” I said as I rolled around in bed.

“It’s Friday night, Erny! If you don’t want to join us for dinner, at least go and do something fun,” Lea said as she walked in and started slipping into a pair of jeans.

“Fine, I’ll watch a movie, or something,” I snorted and poked my tongue out.

“I’ll grab you a take out later,” Lea rolled her eyes and grabbed her purse.

“Say hi to Jay for me!” I yelled as she walked out of the apartment.

Truth be told, I was happy for Lea and whatever that’s going on with Jay but these couples things reminded me of the good times with Tom, and it hurts. I took out my phone from my jean pocket and opened my inbox to read his last text again.

“Hey, want to grab a coffee?” I typed out and pressed send.

That sounded casual enough. In a minute, his reply came in.

“Thought you’d never ask J. I’ll meet you outside your Aunt’s apartment in half an hour.- +333 543568”

Right then, I copied the number and saved it under “Tom Parker”. Nothing like the old times of being named “Love” but close enough.

Half an hour later, I had my coat on, a pair of jeans and boots. When I was at the door, I contemplated if it was a bad idea. Then, I rationalized with the other half of me to just give it a go since Tom was actually being polite about the whole situation.

“Thought you wouldn’t come down,” a voice said behind me as I stepped out in the cool night.

I turned around to find Tom leaning against the wall.