Shattered

7. Cliche

I nod as the officer finishes his investigation. Since I decided not to press chargers against Chris, there is really no point in the officer being here any longer.

After seeing Chris laying curled up in a ball, helpless and in pain, on the floor, I realized I may be reacting a bit too hard on him. I am an adult now. We both are. My grudge is on his teenage self. Maybe he is different now. Either way, we are both adults and I should treat him like one. I am acting like a child.

I pull a chair out in the kitchen for him to sit down in. He joins me at the table. "I didn't know you had a daughter. She's beautiful." Chris tries to break the silence with a compliment.

"She's not my daughter. I can't have kids. But thank you." I mumble, looking down at the table.

Chris nods. "I guess there is a lot I don't know about you." He mentions as if it isn't obvious already.

"Well when you disappear for seven years, that kind of thing happens. You miss out on a lot." I shrug my shoulders. I don't know why he is making all of this small talk. My niece hit him in the groin. I thought that would take all of the awkwardness out of him already.

He is talking to me like we are complete strangers. At one point, we weren't strangers. We were as close as could be. Now, I don't even know what we are. We are nothing I guess.

"Ciara, I am so sorry." Chris' tone turns to a sincerely apologetic one. I can tell he really feels guilty about what he did.

I refuse to look up at him. I can't look at him. I know I will cry if I see at his face. He was always so good at guilting me in to forgiving him with his eyes, his beautiful eyes. I play with my fingers to avoid looking up.

"All I wanted was a phone call." I tell him. "Maybe even a text or hell, even an email would have been fine. I just wanted something." I want him to know how desperate I was to hear from him. I look up and see his mouth open as if he is about to talk. "When were you going to tell me about her?" I ask about the model he started dating not too long after winning the talent show he and the rest of the band entered themselves  in. "Adriana was it? Now she's some huge supermodel for Victoria's Secret. You guys dated on and off for years and we're madly in love according to the press."

Chris holds his face, wiping sweat off of his forehead before it drips onto his nose and cheeks. "I thought we were broken up." He makes a poor excuse for cheating on me.

I shake my head. "The last time we spoke was at the airport. I was still very much in love with you then. And I know you were in love with me too. At least, I thought you were. We didn't talk about a break up. How could you have thought that? Did you just assume?" I ask, anger pulsing through every vein in my body. Does he really think that excuse is going to be valid for me? After seven years?

The look in Chris' eyes tell me he didn't think the same things I was thinking when he left to get on that plane. He shakes his head slowly. "I don't know, Ciara. I was a stupid, idiot teenager. Girls were all over me. I let the attention get to my head." He tells the truth.

The truth is all I have ever wanted.

I scoff under my breath. "So you had all the girls you could ever want then? Nice." I shake my head in disgust. "Nice."

"Yeah, I had all those girls. But you were the only one I ever really wanted." He says, teaching across the table to grab my right hand.

I shake my head. Is he serious right now? He is going to use that line with me? He is ridiculous. Did he rehearse the perfect wording all night to make sure he got it perfect and didn't mess up? "You don't get to come back here and use stupid cliches with me after seven years, Chris. It doesn't work like that. If you knew me at all, you would know I hate that. Life isn't some fairytale where you can come back here after all these years and sweep me off my feet."

"I know. Please. Give me another chance, Ciara. I love you. I still do. I always have. Letting you go was the worst thing I have ever done. If I could go back and change it, I would do everything different. I would have never left for that stupid show. I would have done anything to stay with you. I want to marry you, Ciara. Please." He begs me from across the table.

"I-"

The front door opens. Darren bursts through. "Ciara?!" He says with worry in his voice. I pull my hand out of Chris'. "Oh thank god you are okay. Is Fiona okay? Is she still here?" He walks over and pulls me off the chair to kiss me. "What is with the cop sitting in the driveway? Who is this? What is going on?"

I grab his hand and smile awkwardly. How do I explain this? "Darren, this is Chris. Chris, this is my fiancé."

AN: what will happen next? Any ideas or predictions? I'd love to hear what you guys think of this situation Ciara has found herself in.