I stared at him, too stunned to speak.
"Did you hear me?" he asked. "I said I'm leaving an..."
"I heard you", I snapped, finally finding my voice. "What you didn't say was why, James?"
"I just can't do this any more" he sighed. "I'm sick of fighting all the time, and to be honest, I don't love you any more."
I gasped, physically winded by his comment. I knew we'd been having problems, but for him to say he didn't love me any more tore me apart.
"I need some air" I said as tears started streaming down my face.
"Lauren..." James began.
"Just leave me alone, ok" I screamed at him as I flew through the door and out into the street. I had no idea where I was going, I just knew I needed to get as far away from James as possible. I walked for what felt like hours, but was probably only 20 minutes, tears still pouring down my face. People were giving me strange looks but I couldn't care less.
Eventually, I came to the beach. The weather had been amazing for the past few days, and the beach was full of families, kids playing in the sand, teenagers mucking about in the water, and loads of people sunbathing. Wanting to avoid all this, I noticed a path leading to the cliff top above and slowly made my way up to the top. When I got there I realised it was a dead end. I didn't feel like heading back down so I wandered over and sat on the edge, looking down at the crowded beach below.
I sat there a while, lost in my thoughts, but was brought out of my reverie by a very wet, very sandy dog. He'd obviously been in the sea but had decided to come over and say hello.
"Dizzy, come over here" I heard a male voice call. I patted the dog absentmindedly while he sniffed around. "Sorry, I hope he didn't get you wet" the owner said, walking over. "No, it's fine", I replied, looking up.
My heart skipped a beat as I looked up into the most gorgeous pair of green eyes I'd ever seen, and a face that I knew almost as well as my own. "Mark??" I whispered, as he held out his hand to help me to my feet.
