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Rejection and street signs

Mayara pov

I decided I would finish my work at home and left work early, not telling Lu that I had some form of a date this evening, and drove back quickly to give myself more time to get ready.

I showered and put on a casual dress with some nice jewellery and applied some light makeup.

I was nervous and began pacing the hallway as the clock ticked louder.

I put re-runs of friends on TV in the background to calm my nerves and poured myself a glass of cool water.

1 hour. Why was I counting down and why did i have a lump in my throat whenever I pictured neymar's crooked smirk across from me in a restaurant?

~

I swilled my drink in the glass and watched the brown liquid deflect of the cold material.

I wasn't sure quite what I had ordered but it tasted ok.

I thought I'd use this spare time to 'soak up the atmosphere' seeing as a trip out to a restaurant was becoming a yearly occurrence for me.

I can't remember the last time I had sat at a table out of my own home, it just wasn't my thing.

So to dress up and see the outside world was pretty unnatural to me.

With one sweep of the room i could gage what characters were surrounding me: there was an old couple, where the old man was kindly cutting up his wife's meal; there was a younger couple, where the man was trying his best to disguise a yawn as a laugh and struggling to get a word in since the woman didn't seem to pause; and there was a man, just like me, alone with a drink and I felt a warm fuzzy feeling knowing that it wasn't just me that had been stood up.

I felt like I should go over and high five him for making me feel better for being so utterly single and hopelessly romantic but he looked pretty content being alone.

I, on the other hand, was gagging to leave and waved around for the bill.

A woman came quickly, her short skirt swishing around her legs, laden with a white slip of paper bearing a mint and a large £0.

'Free? But I had this' I said waving my empty glass around.

'Free my dear, we understand how hard getting ditched can be'

'Oh, I'm-' I had no other words, it was true he had ditched me.

'Its okay honey, you get yourself home, grab some ice cream and sob your heart out to ed sheeran, night love' she rubbed my shoulder and turned on her heels in the direction of the bar.

I left too, rejected and tired.

I checked my watch and realised I'd been sat an hour staring at the other customers and wallowing in self-pity.

I'd been too nervous to text him. I knew I had his number since I saw 'hot tour guide😍' while swiping through my contacts. He must've stolen my phone at the party or something.

A small part of me wanted to stand outside the restaurant and see him run in flustered and apologetic.

I looked thoroughly down the street and made it clear with myself that that wouldn't happen and I wasn't in a movie.

~

I was too socially exhausted to interact with a cab driver and began walking back to my flat since the walk wasn't too long and I needed the exercise.

I checked my phone for the fifth time and acknowledged the lack of texts I had received.

He also didn't have my number which would probably explain that but I wanted him to reach through my phone with roses or something cheesy.

I didn't have the courage to text him and sound desperate.

I placed my earbuds in my ears, removing my heels and getting the soles of my feet grubby.

I put my playlist on shuffle and 'don't' by Ed sheeran came on, I skipped it and another break up song emerged 'somebody that I used to know' by gotye and to top if all off 'best thing I never had' by Beyoncé.

I ripped the headphones from my ears and crumpled them up into my bag, though I knew they would be hell to untangle later.

I walked home silently listening to the beat of my own footsteps until they sounded like they had a backing track.

Another footfall became apparent and I sped up, but so did the echo.

I turned down a street off the track to my house incase this person was following me and they carried on the same direction.

I stopped and watched the man pass and breathed deeply, resting on a low street sign.

The rest of the walk home I half ran- half brisk walked and hummed to calm my heart beat.

~

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