Make It A Sweet, Sweet Goodbye

Chapter 27 : Everything For You

I took long, deep breaths as I listened to Alex’s heartbeat in my ear, trying to stay composed. Alex was still rubbing circles on my back, whispering into my hair. I couldn’t really understand what he was saying, but it was still soothing. 

He took his face out of my hair after a few minutes. “Are you okay now?” He whispered hesitantly. 

I took another beep breath before speaking. “For the time being, yes.” I said quietly, unwrapping one of my arms from Alex’s waist and wiping my face with it. “I’ll probably have another breakdown by the end of the night, but for now, I’m okay.” 

Alex chuckled underneath me. “Well if you have another breakdown, I’ll be right next to you to help you. We don’t even have to go to dinner in an hour, we can just stay here.” He told me, and I sighed with relief. I had totally forgotten about dinner. 

“Thank you, I appreciate that Alex.” I whispered up to him. “But do you think we could go somewhere to eat, just the two of us so we can talk without everyone else being around?” I asked. There was still a lot I needed to tell Alex, and now felt like the perfect time to do it. 

“Yeah, sure. Do you want to go now before everybody else leaves?” He asked, and I nodded. 

“Yeah, just let me go in the bathroom and clean up.” I said, unwrapping myself from Alex and walking to the bathroom. My make-up didn’t look too terrible, just a little smudge here and there, which was surprising. I thank the makers of waterproof make up very much, because their products work wonders. 

I ran warm water over a wash cloth and took off the little smudges under my eyes. Then I took my hair out of my braid and ran my fingers through it. It has a slight wave to it, which was actually really pretty, so I left it down. 

I walked back into the bedroom to find Alex putting on his leather jacket. “Ready?” He asked, and I nodded. He grabbed a room key, left a note for Matt, and then we walked out of the room together. 

“Where do you want to go?” He asked, and I shrugged. 

“I don’t know. You’ve been here before, so whatever you had that was good, I’ll go along with.” I told him, and he nodded as we clicked the button for the elevator. 

We rode the elevator in silence and walked out of the hotel, stepping out onto the slick sidewalks of London. After almost falling flat on my as.s at one of the corners, I reached for Alex’s hand to steady myself, and when I had gotten my balance, I didn’t pull it away. I felt safe when my fingers were entwined with his. 

The rest of our walk was silent as well, and soon we walked up to a small Italian bistro. Alex released my hand and held the door open for me, and I walked in, him following right behind me. 

“Two please.” Alex said to the host. “Somewhere private, if you can.” He said, and the host nodded. 

“Right this way.” He said, grabbing two menus and walking towards the back of the dining room. He placed the two menus down across from each other in a slightly more secluded booth than the rest, and smiled at us. “Enjoy your evening.” He said before walking away. 

Someone came over quickly to take our drink orders, and we both ordered waters, to keep things simple. Once the waiter walked away, Alex put his arms on the table, lacing his fingers together as he looked at me. “So what else do you need to tell me about?” He asked. 

I ran a hand through my hair, trying to look anywhere but Alex’s eyes. “So you know how I told you I had depression, and I showed you my scars from when after Ethan died? That’s not all.” I told him, getting it right out in the open.