Loving Someone That Isn't You

0.1

Calum Lee sat a the table for two, waiting for his date to arrive. The suit he was wearing contrasted against his feelings of being out tonight. His cheeks held no color to his tan skin. This was the third date Calum had been on in two months but each one was with a different girl his best friend had set him up with. He felt nothing while waiting, not even bothering to wonder why he felt this way.

Each girl was beautiful, had their own original personality, and were with stable jobs. But Calum had his expectations set high and no one was living up to those standards.

His thoughts were elsewhere when a girl walked up to the table. Calum did not bother with manners seeing as she sat down at the table before saying anything.

"Hi, you must be Calum Lee. I'm Anelise Price, it's nice to meet you!" Calum took Anelise's outstretched hand in his own, taking note of how cold her fingers were.

Anelise wore a soft smile, one that had comforted many in times of need. Her chestnut hair sat at her shoulders, complimenting her brown eyes. She noticed how Calum seemed to not be completely there.

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you too. I hope you didn't have trouble getting here, this place isn't always the easiest to find," He looked around the dainty restaurant. The atmosphere was warm, but not many people occupied the small booths and tables. Soft laughter and quiet conversation filled the room.

"No, it wasn't too hard to find," Anelise spoke, reaching to take a look at the menu.

"That's good," Calum thought quietly before speaking up again. He had never been good at small talk. Normally the people around him kept conversations going. "So, I just want to apologize for my friend, Jace."

She turned her head up, snorting at his words, "He is something else. But it's okay, he only meant well. I did find it a bit odd he tried setting up you and I, though."

"How so?"

"Well, it's not every day you see someone going around trying to set up his best friend."

Calum's face fell short. It was almost as if his a bad memory resurfaced. "Yeah, that's Jace for you."

...

The two walked in the town, making their way to their vehicles. Silence fell over them and Calum was feeling a pang of guilt.

"Hey, look, I just want to say I'm sorry if it seemed like I was uninterested in the date."

Anelise shook her head, "It's alright, is everything okay, though?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say I'm new to this- to dating I mean," Anelise raised an eyebrow at his response, "I've only ever been in one relationship."

Calum's date stopped in his tracks, cocking her head at the boy. "You're joking, right? You-I mean this may be blunt-but you are smoking hot!"

"I-," He paused, trying to stay as vague as possible, "Some things end too soon."

"Preach," Anelise stopped again, but this time infront of her car, "This is me. Thank you for tonight, I had a wonderful time. We should do this again."

We should do this again. The words rang in his ears for a moment, yet he still nodded, wishing her a goodnight.

Calum made his way to his apartment, which was only a few blocks away. He kept his thoughts elsewhere, wishing to not think about the previous events of tonight.

He opened the door to his apartment, taking off his watch. "The date went okay. Her name was Anelise, she had really pretty eyes."

Speaking to someone who wasn't there, he continued to undress from his formal attire.

"I don't understand why Jace keeps doing this-I mean I do know why-but I've told him not too," Calum's eyes started to mist over, as they had done more than he would like to admit in the past two years.

"Things are so hard. Sometimes I want to hide away from everything but everyone gets me to go to things or set me up with people-who might I add-I don't even know," Calum picked up a picture frame from his dresser. He examined the picture, remembering the smell of her perfume and the sound of her laugh. "Life hasn't been easy without you, Adelaide."

He put the picture back down and laid down on his bed. He still slept on his side, afraid that if he were to change it, he would forget her.

"Honestly, I'm scared," He continued, "I'm scared I will forget you, everything we achieved together. I don't want that to happen, I dont want to move on. I'm not ready," Calum paused to look over at the picture again.

"Not yet."

..

Again, I want to thank FlipidyFlapAsh for allowing me to use this plot. It really means a lot to me!