𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 | 𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫

42

Valeria

It was two days after my sisters birthday and me and Willow both decided to ditch the hotels and go back to our parents house for the remainder of our stay.

I mean we didn't even sleep in the hotel our first night. I literally stayed at my parents apartment and Willow went down stairs to her parents apartment. The next day after that we legit got up early and checked out the hotel after grabbing all of our stuff from the hotel room.

But today I woke up pretty early and decided that I would head to the old cafe that I would read at for hours on end. It was pretty close to my house, but since it was chilly I decided to wear a oversized cardigan with a black turtle neck shirt under with my somewhat oversized jeans and my vans. I dressed more on the comfortable side, although I've practically been doing that ever since I got here.

When I got to the cafe I just got a hot chocolate and sat at my usual table, pulling out the book I've read 100 thousand times, The Catcher in the Rye.

I read the book in 7th grade book club and just got so attached to the character, that he somewhat became a person I confided in. I know thats weird to say because he's a fictional character but he was so relatable in a sense and I just loved him. Holden Caulfield.

I sat mindlessly at that table reason for what felt like hours until I was interrupted by someone walking up to me.

I didn't look up so fast, at first I looked at the shoes and pants wondering if I could decipher if I knew them from just that but I didn't, so I looked up and practically couldn't breathe.

I felt like all the air was knocked out of my lungs and I found myself struggling to comprehend anything.

What the fuck is he doing here?

I thought he was off in another fucking state! last time I saw him he definitely made sure that he wanted nothing to do with me anymore so why is he staring at me that way?

All of these thoughts were going through my mind as I sat faced to face to with Mason Anderson.

The manipulative and abusive ex we're all so fond of.

"V-Valeria... I wasn't expecting you to be here." He stuttered out, making me flinch at the sound of my name coming off his tongue.

It felt so foreign and like he shouldn't be saying it, but something about this encounter intrigued me, making me hate myself.

I was at a lost for words that all I could do was automatically stand up, grabbing my book and cup of hot chocolate. "I-I should probably go." I stutter, going to walk away, but he's quick to grab my wrist. I snatch it out of his grasp, but automatically regret it, scared of what's going to happen next.

"Valeria, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to grab you. I actually wanted to talk to you that's why I came up here in the first place. I saw you sitting down when I was ordering and wanted to know if it was really you... Last time I saw you-." He goes to say but I was quick to cut him off.

"Was in court. Yeah, I know. I was there. Not really a time I like reliving." I say, as if it was years ago knowing it was still a fresh wound that I never really closed.

I wasn't even looking directly into his eyes this whole time but something about that sentence made me look him dead in the eye, to see if there was grief. Regret. Something.