Walking on Water

2

So what do you do when you meet your ex at a restaurant? If your answer is, "Stay calm. Stay cool," that's something I wish I could've done.

I caught her coming in my direction, unaware of me. Iris wore a strapless gown of pale grey embroidered silk. She seemed to elegantly glide across, trailing her dress behind her. She looked up and came to a halt. Our families stood behind our frozen selves facing one another. Our eyes locked. Time slowed down, letting her blonde hair flow ethereally. I was in a dark red button-up shirt. We'd selected each other's outfits for what was supposed to be our date.

"Mr. Allen!" Dad's voice snapped me back into this horrifically awkward predicament I found myself in. "It's nice to see you here."

"Mr. Miller, what a pleasure!" her father responded. "Looks like Cal took us up on our recommendation."

Right. I'd asked her parents for restaurant suggestions.

"Cal was very insistent we ate here."

"I see," her father spoke, his voice heavy with sly overtones. "I wonder why." The two of them chuckled at a joke I would've enjoyed just two days ago.

Oh. They don't know.

I forced a shy smile. Anything to get me out of this situation.

The air was chilly. In her eyes, where before I would find warmth and sunlight, I now found an empty gaze, cold, dark and indecipherable.

Dinner sucked. The steak I had left a bitter aftertaste that wouldn't wash away that night. Dessert didn't do much good to serve my palette either, an overly saccharine pudding doesn't exactly help with a breakup.

What's worse was that the families of both parties were oblivious to the recent change in status. This, of course, meant an onslaught of poking and prodding at my then non-existent relationship. Haley was literally drowning me in subtext throughout my meal. Haley, by the way, is my younger sister whom Iris just adored. Well, not sure about now, whether her unusual fondness was anything more than a ruse, a facade she put up. As well-intended as she was, Haley's unending comments merely reminded me of what I'd lost, each sentence a jab in the heart.

I glanced over at her table. Even then I still couldn't tell what thoughts roamed within her head, what emotions hid behind those azure eyes and that cryptic smile. That aside, her situation seemed ditto to mine. I can't exactly blame her for not telling them.

"Halley, stop. Please?" I sighed.

She halted mid-syllable, filling the silence with many subtle undertones.

Woops. Might've given away a bi too much there.