her remedy

5

Not him.

"Adele! I didn't think I'd see you ever again." Simon says, walking right towards me.

Too bad that isn't true.

Faking a smile, I say, "Me too, that's so weird running into you!"

He studies my face for a long moment, probably for the same reason that he did last time. All the crying has left its mark on my face, leaving behind red and tired eyes.

"Would you mind if I joined you for a bit?" He asks.

Oh, I mind.

"Not at all, I was just about to get something to eat, if you want to come along." Adele, you idiot!

He is easy to talk to, funny, and quite attractive. For some reason, I just don't like him.

"I would love to! There's actually a really good café right around the corner. Maybe we could go there?"

Hesitantly, I answer, "Sure!"

Get a grip, Adele.

He walks beside me and we make our way to some café. I immediately recognize it the second we turn the corner, and my heart stops.

It's the same one I saw Alex and his fiancé in several months ago.

Sensing my sudden panic, Simon asks, "Are you alright? You just went really pale."

I swallow. I'm not going to let one bad memory ruin my evening. "I'm good, just thought of something I was supposed to do but forgot about." I say.

He nods as if he understands. But he doesn't have a clue.

As a true gentleman would, he holds the door open for me. He's giving me every reason to like him, but I still find him annoying.

While we wait for our orders, we try to get to know each other more.

"I'll be honest, I had no idea who you were when I met you but I just heard your song a couple days ago on the radio. You're quite talented."

"That's sweet. Thank you. So you said you work for a charity?"

He nods, taking a sip of his drink. "It's a charity that gives clean water to people who don't have any."

"Wow, that's amazing!" I say, wondering how I could dislike someone like him.

He nods again. "So what's been going on in your life? You seem really down."

If you only knew.

"Well, I got my heart broken about a year ago now. And I'm having a really hard time moving on." I answer him honestly, trying not to think too much about Alex in fear of crying again.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I know how you feel. It gets better." He says, looking sympathetic.

"So, are you-" I begin to ask but then stop, wondering if it's appropriate to ask such a question. I go for it anyways. "Are you single?"

He laughs. "I've been single for years now. I'm convinced I'll be that way for life."

"I know just how you feel. I'm certain nobody will fall in love with me again."

"How could you think that? You're beautiful, I think there's a lot of people who would love to be with you."

"That's very kind. Thank you." I say, blushing. I don't mean to, it just happens.

Unfortunately, he notices and smiles. His smile.

Stop this! You can't fall in love with him, you just can't. He'll never love you back.

A waitress comes and gives us our food. I usually have good manners and try to act proper around people I don't really know, but something about him makes me feel at home and comfortable. So I dig in.

Halfway through our meal, the door to the café opens and I hear a girl giggling softly. A man's voice says to the waiter at the front, "Can we have a booth?"

My heart stops again. I'd recognize that voice anywhere. Alex.

I suddenly lose my appetite, scared to look around and see him. How could this happen again?

Simon notices my mood change right away. "Adele?" He says, looking concerned.

I can sense Alex's presence in the booth beside us. It's unmistakable.

I do something I shouldn't do, simply because I'm desperate and it's the first thing that comes to mind.

I walk over to Simon and take his hand. He looks confused, but then decides to just go with it. He stands up and I kiss him really passionately right on the lips.

Oh my gosh, his lips. His touch.

"Let's go." I say to him, taking his hand again and leading him out of the café.

Adrenaline races through me and the satisfying feeling of revenge brings me great joy. I know Alex saw the whole thing. It probably doesn't bother him, but I don't care. As far as he knows, I have a new boyfriend and that is all that matters.

Once we're back onto the street, Simon asks, "What was that about? I mean, not that I didn't like it, I just-"

I stop him from talking by kissing him again. It lasts longer than the first, and he even goes as far as putting his arm around my waist.

Something about kissing him is different. It's passionate, it's real.

It's love.

I remember that we don't even have each other's number and we're already making out.

I step back, saying, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I just saw my ex in there and had a weird instinct to kiss you and I just...I'm sorry." Tears fill my eyes.

"Hey." He gently says, lifting my chin up to look him in the eyes. "Don't be sorry."

I smile, choking back my tears. He pulls out a notepad and a pen from his jacket and writes something down. Then he hands it to me and says, "I'll see you around, Adele."

I nod. "Have a good night." I read the note. It has his number on it, and below that it says:

Let's do this again sometime.

I watch him walk away. It brings back the memory of Alex walking away from me when we broke up.

But this time, it's different. Simon is different.

Laura's words go through my head. "Not every man is like Alex."

Maybe that's a good thing, after all.