It Was Only A Few Moments | Short Story

Nathaniel Leyva (4)

My name is Ignacio and I like to eat a lot.

That was one thing I learned about him. He was not only crazy about cake, but it was just food in general.

The restaurant we sat at was quaint in appearance and the lights were dimly lit. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling and green potted plants were thoughtfully placed around the place. We sat at a booth with red seats and a dark brown outline. On our table, there was a red flower that sat in the middle but as we started to get our food, Ignacio pushed it aside to make room.

Like I said previously, he liked to eat.

"You can order more if you like. Don't worry, I'm paying for this all."

"You don't have to. I have money."

"No, I want to. I asked you out for dinner anyway. It's proper etiquette."

Truthfully, I was full, but I did have room for dessert. I wanted to try that cake I seen the couple a few feet away eat but with how much food that was brought, I was sure that our bill was going to be well over 100 and I did not want to add to that. I would've felt bad.

"I'm good. I'm pretty full."

"No, dessert?" I shook my head. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm fine. Thank you."

He shrugged. Not because he was unsure of something but it was more of a non-verbal way of him saying, "Your loss," as he started to eat the dessert he had got for himself.

I didn't want to watch him eat so I looked away wistfully.

"Tell me a little about you?" I looked at him. "I don't care what it is. I just want to know something."

I smiled. "Well, I am 25 years old. Uh and besides working, I write and watch videos on YouTube or Netflix. I'm not really interesting."

"What do you do for work?"

I was embarrassed to share. I didn't graduate college like I assumed he did and my job wasn't the best but it was good enough for me, who had no family or no other responsibilities to worry about.

"I work at a soda factory."

"That's pretty cool. You like it?"

I shrugged. "Kinda. I'm going to go back to college soon though. I didn't finish because it was just too much for me when I was younger."

"That sounds good but if you really don't feel like college is for you, you shouldn't force yourself to go. There are so many people who graduated college and they're working at retail. If you think college guarantees anything, it doesn't. Give you chances, sure but it isn't the end of the world if you don't go. I'm not judging you for working at a soda factory if that's how you feel. That'll be childish of me to do so."

How could he tell? How was he able to read me so well? Was it the little details? Maybe it was the tone of my voice or the way my body shifted. Maybe he noticed a habit I had like playing with my fingers as I spoke. Whatever he noticed, it meant a lot to me because it meant that he was paying attention to me.

"I'm glad you said that. I went on a date with some guy one time and he pretty much laughed at me because I didn't have a Bachelor's like he did. Told me that I wouldn't get anywhere in life if I continued the path I was going."

"Asshole."

I chuckled. "Yeah."

There was this silence between us. I guess it was my turn to ask about him. I wanted to know about him. I was just afraid of saying something wrong and driving him away.

"So this is a date?" He asked.

I choked up. "I-. Is it?"

He smiled. "I would like to believe so."

I was smiling and so was he. I didn't think I could stop. My cheeks were in pain but oh was it pleasurable.

"You know Ambrose; I understand how you were feeling. The feeling of thinking that you're being left behind in the world of love. I've been feeling that for years now." He stopped eating. "I don't know if you would want to hear this but I feel comfortable enough to share this with you."

He sighed. He started to crack his knuckles. He played with the straw of his drink. Then he looked at me with a closed smile.

I knew he was about to share something personal. I knew it was going to be hard for him to speak about it, but I was prepared to be there for him like he was there for me.

"I once thought that I found the love of my life. His name was Prentice. I met him in my Statistics class. We didn't really start talking until we got the grades for our first test. I got an A and he completely failed it. I noticed how upset he was so I tried to make him feel better and it seemed like I did. He told me I did. The next test he failed again and I offered to be his tutor. I told him that if he had time, I could make time to help him and I did. All the studying that we did brought us closer together."

It was nice to know that he was that nice of a person to help out a fellow classmate.

"We got close pretty fast and one night, I stayed over his place because we were study pretty late at night and as we lied right next to each other, he kissed me. For the record, I didn't know he was gay or bi or anything. I assumed he was straight, so I was caught by surprise. After that night, we pretty much started dating. However, there was never a label. I was starting to fall for him really hard, and it seemed like he was falling hard for me as well but he struggled with his sexuality. He didn't know whether he wanted to spend the rest of his life with a girl or a boy. I told him that he should follow his heart but after much thought, we decided to just be friends."

"I take it that wasn't your idea."

"Nope. I just didn't want him to not be in my life, so I agreed to be friends. All it did was destroy me inside. Anyway, fast forward, I attended his wedding two years ago. He got married to this girl he went to high school with. It turned out she always had a thing for him and he had a bit of a thing with her so he dated her and from what he told me, she was everything he'd ever wanted. She felt right. He felt right with her. After their marriage, I never spoke to him again. It's been two years and I still haven't spoken to him. I don't plan to."

My heart dropped into my stomach and I started to gain this heavy feeling on my chest. I felt so wrong for feeling the way that I did, but I was jealous. I was jealous that Prentice met him first and I was jealous of the way Ignacio spoke of him. I was afraid that maybe Ignacio wasn't over him and that if Ignacio and I were to get together and Prentice were to magically come back to him, he would leave me and that made me sad.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'm okay." I lied.

He leaned forward and grabbed both of my hands that were playing with each other. He looked me directly in the eyes and said, "I'm over him. I'm completely over him. Can you please trust that?"

I smiled and nodded.

What other choice did I have? If I had any shot at love, he was it.