Separate Ways - Byler

I - Will Remind You

February, 1991 -

The comforting aroma of freshly brewed coffee settled all around me as my hands, still too cold from the winter chill, grasped tightly onto my mug. An unusual sense of gloom had wormed its unwelcome way into my heart as I sat in the diner and stared dazedly into the steam swirling up from my drink and towards the ceiling.

"This coffee is crap." Tom snapped, making me jump as he tore me away from my daydream. "Remind me never to let you choose where we have breakfast again. This place is awful."

"It's not so bad." I shrugged as my hands slid into my lap and I sat smaller on my side of the booth. I had found myself defending a lot of my choices and opinions against my boyfriend as of late so it didn't come as much of a shock to me that he had yet again found something to criticise.

"Oh, isn't it?" The boy sneered as he stared at me but I was unable to meet his eyes, "You have such terrible taste, Will."

"Tell me about it." I muttered under my breath, without even realising I was saying it out loud, as I slid further down in my seat, wishing I could disappear.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

Silence grew between the two of us once more as my boyfriend ate his eggs - and seemed to enjoy them, despite what he had said - and I gazed thoughtfully out of the window, having ordered nothing but the coffee for myself.

I had awoken early that morning and the feeling of despair had been with me from before I'd even opened my eyes but I couldn't figure out what had triggered it. Life in New York City, though not by any means my ideal, had gotten better over the last few years. When I'd first stepped off the plane and into my new life, it had seemed like the worst thing that could have been happening to me but it had gotten easier with time and so I couldn't understand why my heart had felt like it was threatening to break all morning.

The boy opposite me breathed out a heavy sigh as he placed his fork down on the table. I didn't even need to look upwards, I could feel his disapproving gaze on me as real as the clothes on my body. "You're doing it again."

"D-doing what?" I asked quietly and unsurely, shifting uncomfortably in my seat and doing my very best to avoid his heavy inspection.

"Messing with that damn ring. You're always twisting it around your finger and it drives me insane. Can't you just sit still?"

My eyes flitted to my lap where, as Tom had stated, I was unknowingly spinning the ring I'd worn everyday since the day I turned seventeen around and around on my wedding finger. "Sorry, I didn't notice." I responded dully, settling my hands with my palms face-down on the table where we could both see them.

"You do it all the time. It's like some kind of nervous tic you have. Are you ever going to tell me why?" The boy demanded of me accusingly.

"I honestly don't realise I'm doing it."

"Where did you even get that piece of junk from? I've known you for years now and I've never seen you without it."

"It's not junk!" I snapped, much more harshly than I intended to and received a raised eyebrow and a warning glance from my boyfriend in response. "It was a birthday present."

"From who?"

"A friend."

The boy narrowed his ice-blue eyes at me and I saw recognition flare within them as he came to the right conclusion. "A friend, huh? And by friend would you perhaps be talking about that guy you were totally hung up on when we met?"

"Maybe." I sighed, glancing downwards at my knee that was jogging up and down rapidly on the tiles of the diner floor.

"For Christ's sake, Will!" The boy yelled, earning annoyed glances from the other patrons of the diner as his anger exploded, "I spent years just being your friend and putting up with your crying over him but I am your boyfriend now so just fucking forget about him. He isn't important and I deserve to be the only person on your mind!"