Ghost City

5

I walked to the kitchen and was surprised to see Damien already in there and turning on the stove. He hadn't slept in my room last night, although I had invited him to, and he never gave a reason why.

"Good morning," I greeted as I began taking eggs out of the fridge.

"Good morning," he greeted back in the same nonchalant tone I had given him. "I'm making breakfast."

I put the eggs done and sighed, "Fine." I then began walking away. I figured I'd get a head start at showering and ironing some more of Aurora's clothes. I usually ironed her clothes the night before, but being that I'd have extra time today, I thought that it would be convenient to iron as much of her clothes as I could to spare me from having to iron for the next few days. I usually would do this in my day off anyways, but that wasn't until tomorrow. I guess I'd find something else to occupy that part of my time.

"Wait," he called out, and I halted in my tracks. "We should talk."

"About last night?" I asked while turning around to look at him, but he looked away from me.

He nodded, "That and, in general, us."

"Okay," I nodded. "I'm listening."

He took up the eggs I had left on the counter and cracked them into a bowl. While stirring the eggs, he said, "Well, I've been gone for a while...and I don't know if you've been seeing anyone or whatever...or...if the way you felt about me has changed. I can tell that you've changed in some ways, as I...and I just wanna know where we stand. Are we even still engaged?"

To see his reaction, I replied in a serious voice, "I've fucked that Ashton guy from college a few times and now I'm a month pregnant." He stopped stirring as his jaw clenched. I watched as his chest rose and fell a few times before I smiled, "That was a joke."

"Wasn't fucking funny to me," he said as he resumed stirring the eggs. He then added some seasoning to it and stirred it some more before putting oil in the frying pan and pouring the eggs in it.

I smiled, "Well, it's nice to know that you still care who I sleep with."

"Who do you sleep with?" he asked as he scrambled the eggs.

"No one," I answered. "Could've been you but you wanted to sleep by yourself last night." He looked at me with a mischievous look in his eye but didn't say anything. "I haven't been with anyone other than you. As for where we stand...I don't know either. It's almost been two years since you've been absent from my life. Do I still love you? Of course I do! We had four great years together, but has shit changed since then...yes. You're not completely the same person, and neither am I."

He nodded, "So...where does that leave us?"

I shrugged as I stared at the ring on my finger. "I imagined you coming back so much different than this. For some reason, I thought everything would go back to normal. I see now that I started getting used to not having you around. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you're back and safe now, but I do need time to get used to having you around again. I think I need to get to know you again...including the new parts of you, and I think you need the same from me. Until then...I'm not sure I should be wearing this ring."

For the first time ever, I looked at the ring and felt silly wearing it. I sighed while staring at it and placing my fingers on it to take it off.

Damien shook his head, "You've worn it for so long already. It's yours regardless of whether things work out between us. Besides, I wouldn't give you the same ring if I were to propose to you again."

"Okay," I agreed. I didn't know why I had gotten so nervous about taking the ring off in the first place. I guess it was the thought of losing everything that we had that made me so nervous, or maybe I just felt really attached to the ring. Whatever the case was. I felt much more at ease leaving it on my finger.

"Since were in the process of getting to know each other better, I'd like to take you out on a date some time," he announced, completely surprising me.

I blushed, "Tomorrow's my day off, besides the weekend." He turned the stove off and took some waffles out of the refrigerator before popping them in the toaster oven.

"Tomorrow then?" he asked while turning around to look at me. His eyes immediately connecting with mine.

With a shy nod, I answered, "Yes."