Aurora's POV
Wednesday 7th April
I had to get to work slightly earlier than usual so I could get ready before Sam turned up. Truth be told, I was terrified. He'd done so much to me and I really hoped he wasn't drunk. He had seemed better yesterday, but you can't smell someone's breath over the phone.
He arrived at exactly 7:20. Although he had many amazing qualities, or at least used to, timekeeping was never a skill of his. I couldn't begin to count the amount of classes, commitments, everything, that he had been late to over the five years I'd known him. Nice change. At least he had the consideration not to make me wait.
'Hey..' he sounded cautious, like he knew this was my territory or something. Yes, you try breaking something in here. Shit really will go down if you do.
Now that I'd seen him in person again, I didn't know what to say. The last time I saw him in person was when I broke up with him and we had a huge fight, and the time before that he was drunk and gave me a black eye. Instead of speaking, I smiled slightly and let him continue. He came here for a reason, his reason, not mine, so he needed to speak, and anyway I didn't want to make him angry.
'Rory, I just.. Um..' He struggled for what to say. 'Thank you for letting me come.'
'It's fine, I guess it's the least I could do.' I couldn't bring myself to give him eye contact.
'You didn't have to do anything. I've been awful to you, I've made your life hell and I can never take that back, I realise. And I'm not asking for you to forgive me, I just want you to know,' he paused, waiting for the right word to come to him. 'To know my side of the story I guess. I know that what I was going through doesn't justify what I did, that's not what I'm saying, but..'
I went over and wrapped my arms round his torso. I didn't want to fight with him forever, I mean we would never go back to what we were, I couldn't, but he is an amazing guy. He'd obviously been through so much in the last 8 months and, I don't know how recently, he's started changing back to the guy I knew, the guy I loved. Maybe a bit more apologetic, but he's transformed from the alcoholic I began to think I knew. I couldn't let him stand there just trying to apologize forever, and I knew I wouldn't be able to say much anytime soon because I had no idea what to say. I realised how often I don't know what to say, which almost made me laugh out loud but I had to stop myself because Sam might have thought I was laughing at him.
Sam embraced me and it felt so good to be with him again, even in a different way. I'd missed his warm body and his comforting arms and I missed how close we were. I knew this would have to do though, just friends. If even that.
'Thank you for understanding,' he whispered into my hair. 'I can't tell you how grateful I am for you listening. I thought you might not want to hear any of it, I couldn't blame you, but you listened and I'm indebted to you for that. I owe you so much, you've had so much that you didn't deserve and..'
'Sshh,' I silenced him and he breathed deeply. He didn't need to keep saying the same thing over and over, I was done with hearing about it so he could be done with talking about it. I pulled out of his arms so I could look him in the eye for the first time. 'Sam, you don't owe me anything. Don't argue, I just don't want this to always be hanging over us and if we want to rebuild any kind of relationship between us then we need to stop talking about all this. I mean we can talk about it sometimes if you want to but mostly it will just cause hard feelings. Just leave it, your apology is enough for me, I'm done with everything that happened last summer.'
For once he didn't say anything. He wasn't the same kid I met, he really wasn't. His eyes were so lifeless and I wished that Carol didn't have to die, I wished that Derek didn't have a heart attack, he had a perfect family and that should never have changed. It had made him into a person he should never have been and that was what made me so upset.
I suddenly realised that I was at work so I hastily checked the time. 7:32. Thank god no customers had come yet.
Sam stayed for a bit, just talking about how life was for both of us and stuff. A couple of customers came in and Sam stayed silent while I was talking to them, he obviously didn't want to cause a fuss or anything. God knows I didn't want to get sacked either.
The blonde came in and actually greeted Sam which obviously surprised him completely. His face was priceless, I almost cried from laughter and the two of them looked very confused. When I had stopped laughing enough to make a drink I apologised to them and jokingly told Sam not to be so rude. This time the blonde and I both laughed at his defensive face. Eventually he saw the joke and laughed too, telling me not to be like that in future and then pretending to leave in a mood, because it was nearly eight and I didn't want to get yelled at by my boss.
I was left alone with the blonde, he'd been standing there for nearly five minutes and I still hadn't made him a drink or anything.
'Sorry if I make you late or something,' I apologised.
'I don't mind, my boss won't care' he said, laughing. He was so chilled and friendly, he reminded me a lot of Sam when I first met him.
When he left I went back to thinking about Sam, as usual. I was so happy that we had made up in a way, it felt much better than not talking at all. And I felt really bad for everything that had happened to him, he never deserved it and I was willing to give him another chance, not like we were but as friends.
