Stuck In Quarantine

10.

Dinner was all finished, and served. James had placed their plates on his coffee table. And Celeste was sitting on a small grey couch, in front of the table, waiting for him.
James was in the bathroom, hunched over the sink. He was splashing cold water onto his face. He slowly looked up, and stared back at his own reflection in mirror. He felt guilty. But he couldn't put his finger on why. And it was driving him nuts. He reached for a towel that was hanging next to sink. And began to dab his face dry. Hanging the towel back up when he was finished.

"What is wrong with me?" He asked himself, as looked back into the mirror.

After a few moments, he stood up and took a deep breath. And went back out into the living room. Celeste was sitting, with her head resting on her hand, hunched up against the arm of the couch. Swiping across her phone, with her free hand.

"You okay? You were in there for awhile." Celeste asked, as she looked up from her phone.

"Yeah I'm good!" James replied, as he sat down next to her. "Just had to splash some water on my face. Was feeling tired. Figured it would help. What are scrolling through?"

"Oh okay. And just, Facebook and Tinder." Celeste said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Facebook has too much drama. And there are easier ways to contract chlamydia, ya know? Instead of swiping on, Tinder."

"Oh shut up!" She said, with a laughed aloud, turning off the app and putting her phone down. "I'm on Tinder because I'm bored. Do you have Facebook?"

"I try to stay away from social media. I think I had, MySpace once?" He said. Thinking to himself.

"Fuck, you're old" Celeste laughed out again, pushing James over when he sat down next to her.

James laughed and grabbed ahold of the table, and brought it closer to them. The two of them dug into their meal right away. Silence hung between them, as they ate. The only noise throughout the apartment, was the noise of knives and forks scratching white plates with flower designs, while cutting.

"So tell me about your ex?" Celeste said, in between mouthfuls. Breaking the silence. "We keep getting pushed to different topics, when I ask you."

James chewed the mouthful of steak he had, and swallowed it back. He cleared his throat and sat back in the couch.

"Well. We were together for a couple years. It seemed great! We clicked, and we had so much in common."

Celeste slowly sat back against the couch, curling her legs up in front of her. She stared at James, with her full attention. James cleared his throat again, and continued.

"The first few years were like a romantic movie, it was cliche, but it was nice." He shifted in his seat to get more comfortable, and continued. "She was unlike any girl that I dated. And I've dated alot! Before her, I was just sleeping around, going from girl to girl. I had been hurt so many times before her. I thought sleeping around was the only way to avoid any pain. And it did stop the pain, but it brought on another pain. A worst pain. The sleeping around, got so bad, that it brought on a pain of loneliness, and disgust. I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror anymore! So I took about two years off for myself. And buried myself in my writing."

"Wait?!" Celeste blurted out with excitement, "You're a writer?! What have you written?! Maybe I've read it?! That's amazing!"

"I'm more of a one hit wonder... And maybe you've read it? But not alot of people did... Just enough, where it helped to pay the bills, and such to survive for a bit... The book was called, Driven."

Celeste jumped onto her phone, and started searching for the book. She got excited and turned her phone to James. Showing she had found the book. "Is that your book?!" She said.

"Yeah that's it." James said with a chuckle.

"I'm going to buy it right now! And download it, so I can read it later!"

Celeste clicked the buy button and began to download it. She clicked her phone to sleep mode, put it down, and gave James her undivided attention again.

"So what happened after you buried yourself in your writing?" She asked.

"I met her, not too long after. We met at a small coffee shop. I was busy writing and pounding back coffee, after coffee there. And she walked in. Looking gorgeous!" James looked off into the distance, and smiled, before continuing. "She was tall, had red hair, emerald-green eyes, and such a beautiful laugh! She came over and introduced herself, and we hit it off. Dating for a few weeks, until that turned into a relationship, and then that turned into moving in together. All within a year.

Celeste wrapped her arms around her legs and brought them in close. Resting her chin on her knees, hanging onto every word James spoke.

"And it was typical, cliche shit. We celebrated every occasion together. Laugh together, grew together. She was there for me, when I was a struggling writer. And I was there for her, when she went back to school, to get a degree for the job she has now. I even took a year off, and took a full time job to pay for her schooling and debt. Working constant long hours..."

"Seriously?!" Celeste yelled out, as she slapped her hand down on the couch. "You did all that for her, and she goes and cheats on you?!"

"Yeah, it is, what it is. Maybe I did something along the way, that made her want to do--" Celeste cut James off before he could finish.

"Don't you blame yourself! Don't you even think about doing that! Because I did the same thing, and it fucking sucks!" Celeste said out aloud, jumping up from the couch. Standing in front of James, with her hands on her hips. Shaking her head. "It's not your fault, it's hers! You didn't do anything bad. It was her that cheated! Her that treated you like you weren't good enough! Not you! Her!"

James stared at her for moment. Taking in her words, and feeling it helping him. But he still wasn't fully convinced. He stood up slowly, Celeste had her eyes locked on him. Waiting for him to respond. He grabbed their empty plates, and brought them in to the kitchen. Rinsing them off in the sink, and resting himself against the counter after, with his arms crossed. Facing Celeste.

"I want to apologize again, Celeste." He softly spoke.

And Celeste stared at him in confusion, trying to figure out where this apology was coming from.

"Wh-- wh-- why are you apologizing?"

"For how I acted, when we first met. I was a major asshole... And the reason for it. Was all this." James sigh deeply and then continued. "I knew something was going between them for about, a year now. And when she left on that work trip with Robert. I got so angry, that I drank myself into a pity pit. I was angry at her, angry at myself, and angry that I haven't written anything in so long. And I took it out on you, in the worst way, and during the worst possible time for both of us..."

Celeste slowly looked away from him, and looked to the floor. Feeling foolish, because she knew, he wasn't the only one that acted out. She relaxed her body and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry too... I didn't act to well myself... We both acted like assholes, eh?"

"Yeah we did..." James replied. "But we got over that pretty quick! And look at us now?"

"Yeah no doubt!" Celeste said, with a smile. "Hey? Since you made dinner. How about I make something? How about some dessert?"