What was I thinking?
This was the stupidest of all stupid ideas.
I glance over at my irate cab driver-slash-friends-with-benefits-slash-jealous, psycho boyfriend. Nathan grips the steering wheel with white-knuckle force as he glares at the road.
We had a fight over me wearing a dress. Apparently, it was too sexy. I wasn’t allowed to have a glass of wine while I was getting ready because I need my wits about me, and now he’s trying to tell me how long I have to eat.
He pulls the car up in the parking bay and looks across the road, into the restaurant. “I’ll just wait here in the car,” he grumbles.
My eyes widen. “Go home, or I am not coming to your house tonight. Cut it out, Nathan. You are acting like a child.”
“And you are acting like you don’t give a fuck.”
“About what?”
“About me.”
My heart sinks. I can’t imagine him leaving me to go out to dinner with someone else.
“I’m going to be quick, okay? An hour and a half, tops.” I lean over and kiss his lips. “And you are not acting like a friend with benefits,” I remind him.
“Because we are not fucking friends with benefits.” He growls. “We’re back to-fucking-gether.”
“How many times can you say fuck in one sentence?” I huff.
“Don’t push me, Eliza.” He whispers angrily, his eyes look like they are about to explode.
I open the door. “I won’t be long.” Without looking back, I cross the street and walk into the restaurant.
Henry is sitting at the back. I smile and make my way over to him. He stands and kisses my cheek.
“Hey there, stranger.”
“Hi.” I fall into my seat.
“Would you like some wine?”
“Sure.”
He fills my glass, and I glance over toward the front window. Did Nathan leave?
He’d better have.
“So, here you are, back in God’s country.” Henry smiles.
I chuckle. “I am.”
“How have you settled in?”
“Oh, really good. My new apartment is great and I joined my gym again. I don’t start work until Wednesday. What about you? What’s happening?”
He rolls his eyes. “Where do I begin?”
Over the next hour, I laugh and chat with Henry. There isn’t anything between us and he knows that. We are just friends. Actual ‘just friends’, not like the kind of friends Nathan and I are.
We’re mid way through our main meals when my phone beeps with a text in my handbag. I discreetly slide it out and put it onto my lap so I can read it. It’s from Nathan.
You have ten minutes or I’m coming in there to break his fucking neck.
Eliza
Oh God, here we go.
I begin to eat quickly, is he serious?
I need to get out of here before he busts through the doors like The Hulk.
“So…” Henry smiles. “Why haven’t you been answering my calls?” I swallow the food in my mouth and it scratches my throat.
Oh God. I hit my chest to try and dislodge the chicken.
“I… I think we are better off as friends, don’t you?”
“No, why?” He stares at me intently.
“I don’t think we… you didn’t feel a connection with me. I know you didn’t, and neither did I.”
“If we gave it some time, I know we would work.”
He’s not going to let me go without a reason, and I know I have to just come out and say it. “The truth is, Henry, that I got back with Nathan.”
He rolls his eyes. “I thought as much.”
“Why did you think that?”
“I saw him in New York.”
My face falls. “You saw him on the sidewalk?”
“No, I saw him in the restaurant. He was sitting at the bar for our entire date.”
My mouth falls open as I imagine poor Nathan watching me laughing, giggling and flirting all night.
“Oh God.” I drag my hand down my face. “I’m sorry, Henry. I didn’t know he was there, and I most definitely wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
“I know.” He smiles as his eyes hold mine.
I put my head into my hands. “This is a disaster. I didn’t know he was there, I’m so sorry. We talked that weekend, and we’ve since decided to try again.”
“I knew it.” He gives an annoyed shake of his head. “That’s fine, I understand.”
I take his hand across the table. “Thank you for understanding.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“What do you see in him?”
I smile softly. “I know how he comes across to the outside world.”
“Like a lunatic?”
“I’m not perfect, either, and this time, I know it’s going to be different between us. We are going to make it work. It’s only new but I think there’s hope, you know?”
“How are you going to make it work?”
I look over and see Nathan pacing outside on the sidewalk. I smile at the beautiful rageaholic that he is before I turn my attention back to Henry.
“I’ve no idea.” I pick up my purse, take out some money, and I put it onto the table. I stand and kiss Henry’s cheek, and then I put my hand on his shoulder as I walk past him toward the door. “You’re a good friend, Henry.”
He smiles. “Good luck!” he calls. “You’re going to need it.”
I giggle to myself. That is the understatement of the year.
I walk toward the door just as Nathan bursts through, and I point to the street outside. “Out,” I mouth.
He stands still, his chest is rising and falling as he struggles for air, he looks like he’s about to explode. I walk past him and out the door. With one last warning glare at Henry, he turns and follows me.
The car is still parked in the same spot across the road where he had dropped me off…of course it is. I should have known he wouldn’t leave.
“You took too long.” He stammers as he storms to the car. “I hope you have a defibrillator in your handbag because I’m about to have a fucking heart attack, Eliza.”
I chuckle as I walk across the road. This man kills me.
“This isn’t funny.” He growls.
I try to open the car door but it’s still locked. “Open the door, Nathan.”
He opens the door and we both climb in. I look over at his poor, tortured face.
I’ve put this poor bastard through hell. “Take me home.”
He starts the car.
“To my place.”
He stops what he’s doing and glares at me. “Oh, so you are going to carry on about this?”
“No, I’m going to get some clothes to bring to your house, you moron.”
He watches me as if scared I’m about to run. I guess the old me would have.
“I understand why tonight bothered you.” I lean over and kiss him. “I never have to see Henry again. I get it, and it’s over now.”
He frowns, as if surprised. “You do and it is?”
“Yeah.” I smile as I run my hand over his two-day growth. “You know what, Nathe? We have to stop carrying on like idiots and start talking to each other. If this is it for us-and we both know that it is-and we want to plan a future together, we won’t make it unless we communicate better and grow the fuck up. No more tantrums, no more leaving, no more jealousy, no more spying on people in restaurants.”
His face falls.
“Yes, I know about you in New York. No more secrets, and no more fucking bullshit, Nathan.”
He smiles softly, as if he’s hopeful, too.
“Do we have chocolate at home?” I ask.
“No.”
“Well, you better stop at the store then.” I sit back and pull my seatbelt over my shoulder casually as if I have this conversation every day. “Hadn’t you?”
He stares at me for a moment, and then a slow, sexy smile crosses his face. “I love you, Eliza.”
“I know.” I smile as I pick up his hand and kiss the back of it before cupping it around my face. “And I love you.”
We did it. We got through an argument like adults.
He pulls out into the traffic and I smile as I look out of the window. And just like that, I feel the tectonic plates slide into place. The bullshit between us is over.
We can finally start afresh and look at each other through untainted glasses.
We love each other so much. We have put each other through so much.
And for what?
The games end now.