The Best Man {h.s.}

30

"J--Jason?" My hands begin to tremble and I stumble over my words, feeling like an idiot for not immediately recognizing his voice. His hands gently run down my arms while he stares at me with wide eyes and an excited smile on his face.

"Wow. What are the odds?" He says, standing back to take a look at me. I'm sure I've made quite the impression, with my clothes out of line and my hair all over the place from the humidity. Of course, every strand of blond hair on his head is perfectly placed in a slicked back wave with a hard part on the left side. His suit is perfectly tailored, matching his perfect posture and making him look much more wealthy than he probably is.

He looks good, as much as I absolutely hate to admit it.

"Yeah," I practically whisper, praying that he's not actually standing in front of me and that this is just some sick, twisted dream.

"Do you want to sit?" He nods his head, gesturing to one of the couches and I stay frozen for a second, staring at him and trying to come to terms with the fact that this is real life.

"Uh, sure," I say, apprehensively. His smile widens and he nods his head.

"Okay, great. I'll order and meet you over there." He turns around to step up to the counter and I sheepishly move my feet to a couch on the far side of the café. I look around, hoping for any signs of someone else I know so they can get me out of this fucking situation. Having no such luck, I sit, feeling both weird and confused and angry at my sister for making me even walk by this place. Jason turns around and starts walking towards me and I can feel myself getting tense, which seems to be happening a lot lately.

"I still can't believe you're here. What a strange coincidence." He smiles as he sits, still shaking his head as if I were a ghost or something that came back to life.

"Yep. Strange." I take a sip of my lemonade, feeling awkward and not knowing where this is going or where I even want it to go.

"So what have you been up to?" He asks, sitting back on one of the couch cushions and crossing his legs, resting his hands on top of his knee. I take a deep breath before speaking, wishing more than anything that I could smack that stupid smile right off his face.

"Not much. Uh, Chloe's getting married Saturday so we've all been pretty busy with that..."

"Wow, Chloe. That's a name I haven't heard in a while."

I don't bother adding anything to his comment and instead decide to change the subject and ask him what he's been up do, even though I couldn't care less. He goes on to tell me about getting his accounting certification after college and having an interview next week for one of the best accounting firms in Philadelphia. He talks for what seems like hours, telling me about every aspect of his 'soon-to-be fabulous life' and when he finally stops, I feel exhausted.

"You know, we should do dinner sometime," he says, standing up and smoothing out his pants. I look out the window, realizing that the sun has almost completely disappeared for the day and almost everyone from the café is gone.

Holy shit, he really was talking for hours.

"Uh, yeah," I awkwardly stand, grabbing my bag of things for his sister along with my Panini which I haven't even touched.

"Great. Here's my card. It was really great to see you, Em." Jason reaches out to place the card in my hand and before I have a chance to pull away, he leans in to give me a gentle kiss on the cheek.

He begins to walk away when my mind finally comes to his senses and I realize I need to stop him.

"Um, actually Jason," I begin and he stops walking to turn round, raising an eyebrow. I feel a sudden wave of confidence, wondering why I even bothered putting myself through the torture of sitting down with him in the first place. "I don't think we can do dinner."