I Do Until I Don't

Chapter 54

 We find Melanie sitting in a couple's boot, stuffing her face in an oreo cheesecake. Julia, Fannar and I share a glance and come to a silent agreement to let Nia talk to Mélanie alone. We find an empty boot a few feet away, and start looking at the menu, though no one is hungry.

From afar, I hear Nia joke, "You won't fit into your wedding dress" and Melanie laughing softly.

Everything will turn out okay. It has to be.

After a while of staring at the menu and not talking, Julia closes hers and gets up. "I'll let you two talk." She shoves her hands in her jeans front pockets and makes her way out of the Cheesecake Factory.

Fannar and I look at each other awkwardly. We're standing in front of each other, next to an indoor palm tree and the entire counter filled with all kinds of cheesecake. And even though I know Fannar and I need to talk, all I want to do is buy a key lime and mango cheesecake and stuff my face in it like Melanie did.

"What do you want to talk about?" Fannar asks to break the silence. Well... the silence between us. The entire restaurant is crowded and loud and, even if there were to have a moment of complete silence, the background music would fill it in.

"What happened between us at the karaoke night?" I blur out.

Fannar lets out the begging of a laugh. "Oh right! How could I forget that you can't hold back your tongue."

"Hey!" I point my finger at him like I'm his mother. "It saves time."

"And I love that."

Blink.

"Like that," Fannar corrects, which only makes us blush even more.

"So..." I say to shift the conversation to where I want it to head. "What happened?"

Fannar raises an eyebrow and it's only then that I notice how tangled his hair is. And he's wearing sweats and an ugly black t-shirt. He must have been at home when I called him to help us.

"I don't know," Fannar says.

"I don't believe you."

Fannar laughs again.

"What do you want me to say?"

That you love me.

That you want to be with me.

"The truth," is what I say instead. When Fannar doesn't answer, I ask another question, "Did you want to break-up with me?"

No hesitation. "No."

My heart skips a beat. Or two. Or a whole lot. Maybe I'm dead. But I don't have the time to be dead. I need to stay here. With Fannar. I can't be dead. And, as if my heart could listen to my orders, it beats again. Incredibly fast. Too fast.

"I didn't want to break-up either," I admit.

"Then why did you do it?"

I almost laugh.

"It was obvious that I didn't!" I say." I kept asking you if you were sure and─"

"I thought you were scared."

We're both laughing now and, gently, oh-so-gently, his hand brushes mine, sending tiny, but powerful, lighting bolts along my fingers and my hands and my arms until I'm filled with electricity.

"What now?" I ask.

In movies, this would be the perfect time to kiss, but the table is separating us. Besides, we haven't admitted our feelings, just that we didn't want to break-up. Why couldn't there be some kind of guidelines?

"I don't know. What do you want?"

"Well..."

Before I have the time to formulate my request, which I haven't figured out yet, Melanie and Nia get up from their booth near the window and walk towards us. Melanie is smiling again, and I immediately feel my shoulders being released from their pressure.

"Are you two good?" I ask.

"Nope," Nia says half-laughing.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Now, we're both afraid," Melanie answers.

I hit my forehead with my palm. I look around and spot Julia looking through the window, her forehead on the glass. I wave at her to grab her attention, which I do, and she comes walking towards us.

"Everything's good?"

"They both have cold feet now," I summarize.

Julia rolls her eyes and groans. "Come on! You're crazy for each other. You both want to get married and you're just scared because you've wanted it for your whole life and now it's here. You want this. You do. Don't look at me like that, Mel. You talk about each other like crazy people and you're excited. You love each other so much that you're scared of messing everything up. You won't. Now, can you just make up? I haven't wasted my entire summer learning about flowers and calligraphy and dresses to have you postpone the wedding. Kiss already!"

You can always count on Julia to straighten things out.

"Yeah! Kiss already," a kid shouts from his table.

"Yeah!" people repeat.

Melanie and Nia look at each other and smile.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" I look at Fannar. "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" Melanie and Nia kiss.

*****

Nia and Melanie are in the car, waiting for Julia, Fannar and me to enter it as well. Just as I'm about to take my seat, Julia takes my hand and stops me. She whispers, "The thing I said about kissing already, it's also meant to Fannar and you. I don't know what you're waiting for. The guy is madly in love with you."

I look up to meet Fannar's eyes and he smiles at me.

"Me too," I whisper back to Julia before I get into the car.

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What did you think? Was this scene too short? Should I have developped more?

There are a few chapters left, so be ready for me to post at least two chapters next week.

As usual, if you have any comments, suggestions, critics or questions, don't hesitate to write it all in the comment section.