When We Met

Twenty Five

|Jake|

It's Saturday, and I was right about her having the weekends off. Or maybe her fucking boss is too happy with her and has decided to let her travel off to some strangely romantic place with her strangest boyfriend.

Boyfriend?

I'm sure he's not a boyfriend. He's just messing with her to get into her pants and then would be ready to leave. Just like me. No guy would want a girl like Cheryl Donovan. She's too resistant and believes that love exists. How could anyone be so childish?

But why is his proximity to her bothering me so much? I shouldn't care anyway. I didn't care when I willingly dumped her for someone else.

And that someone else just vanished into a pit of nothingness. I don't know what the fuck is wrong with women. Why don't they believe in casual flings? It would've made things easier, if not better.

I would be lying if I said that I didn't have a thing for Cheryl Donovan, or Rylie, as I usually called her. Even though she's nothing more than a child and pictures a utopia of her own, she definitely was hot. Too much for me. And she did make me want to make her happy. I liked her smile, it was genuine. Her innocence made it clear that she really wanted a serious relationship.

Too bad I didn't want one.

But then again, I'm a good actor. I made her believe that I was in love with her, and bam! I got what I wanted. And then, distractions came along in the form of women. I had needs and Rylie did nothing to fulfill them.

So, I hopped on to the most convenient person I had around me.

I had assumed that getting over Rylie would be the easiest; that she would fly away like a bird and never bother me again. Surprise slapped me in the face when I actually started missing her. It happened when I saw her for the first time after we broke up. It was in the restaurant she works in. I'd taken Jenna for a dinner and we'd got the company of some friends as well. Coincidentally, Rylie was waiting on us that day and when I saw her, it was like a blast from the past. I was so surprised that I really wanted to hold her in my arms and never let her go. At that point, I had realised that I wasn't really over her. That I wanted her back.

It was absurd. Very, might I add. After that day, I tried my best to get in touch with her; to try and make things right for us. Deep down, I knew I didn't deserve a second chance, but seeing her with that asshole made me want to behead him. Or myself.

But she pushed me away. She didn't even try to listen to me. She had made up her mind to flush me out of her life, and she did.

I accelerate the goddamned car and feel the air whip past me. This town is too small for an escape. If you want to calm the fuck down, you have to race out of it, as if your ass is on fire. You become a metaphor of the prey trying to escape its predator.

The town houses fade away into a blur and get replaced by a plain road lined with a jungle of shrubs. The sun refuses to simmer its glaze and I feel the heat surround me.

I reach the outskirts in no time, and pull into a lonely cafe-like place. I park my car in the parking lot and get out of it. The sun beats down on my body and I fasten my pace to get inside the cafe.

Like I'd imagined, the place was the lonely side of fucked up. There were no souls to count, except for two or three people lazing around. I drag my feet to the counter and order a cappuccino.

With a mug in hand and nothing else to do, I walk my way to the seat next to a girl with blood red hair. She isn't facing me and all I can see is her cropped strands as red as the petals of a freshly grown rose. From what I can collect, she is wearing an oversized shirt and is typing ferociously on her phone.

Huh. Interesting.

I walk past her and don't turn around, partly because I don't wanna creep her out or something. It's a lonely place, people might think otherwise.

Then again, who really cares what others think?

I instinctively take a one eighty degree turn and let my eyes adjust to the sudden charge of the sun's tormenting rays.

And when I do see the face, I feel a very strong wave of shock and astonishment run through me. I can never forget those sharp features, a touch of hazel in her eyes, lips as aligned as a tulip's bud...

I can never forget her, partly because the thought of her accompanies me every single time, along with a sense of regret and guilt.

I take a step closer to her and conjure my voice, which is stuck somewhere inside the deepest corner of my throat.

I release a sigh.

I clear my throat.

I speak.

"Leanne?"

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