Sweet Cheeks. Rucas. GMW CHOICE AWARD WINNER!

Chapter.69.In Spite of Everything.<3.

Being stood up absolutely sucks.

It's one thing to be stood up on like a blind date or a first date in general before there's any emotional connection. It's a whole different ball game whenever you're stood up by the man you love on your birthday. Sounds pathetic, I know. Especially because him randomly flying in and out of the country was a huge possibility. I guess it's more or less the shock of him not telling me that really bothers me. That just is the exact opposite of him, even a text so I wouldn't be sitting here, silently crying in a public place would be better than nothing at all. "Excuse me, may I get an order of the chicken marsala to go?"

"20 minutes, roughly. Anything else?"

"Um, a slice of cake please."

The man nods, a look of pity on his face is the first thing that catches my attention. I know, I look pitiful, my eyes are all teary while I force a smile on my lips. "Will this be going on Mr. Friar's tab?"

Slowly I shake my head, "I'll pay for it." I want to make sure he gets tipped and with an open ended tab who knows when he actually gets his money. The waiter furrows his brows but nods to my request and saunters away to put in my order.

Peaches.
>>How's the reunion?

I feel a pull on my heart, my fingers linger over the keyboard. I'm so close to telling her that he isn't here, that he ended up flying out of the country and just forgot to tell me about it. But I don't, I lock my screen and put my phone in my purse while I wait. There's a tight, constricting feeling in my chest as I sit here by myself and I'd be a fool to miss the glances I'm getting from the other customers around here. This really isn't a restaurant you go to by yourself. "The check, miss." Taking the black leather book within my grasp, I grimace at the price of the calamari but it was worth it. Hurriedly, I place 90 dollars in the book and tell him to keep the change, "Thank you miss, your food is almost ready. I'll be back."

Rising from my chair, my purse rests gently on my shoulder. Quite the contrast to the heavy feeling in my chest, I'm sure Lucas didn't think it was big deal since he thought all my friends would be with me. He passes me a white plastic bag with 'Grimaldi's' written across it in black and gives me a large smile. "Thanks for coming to Grimaldi's."

"Riley." My head snaps to the right, Charlie is standing at the entry way to the VIP section and glances at the table behind me, set up for two then the bag in my hand. "I knew it. I could have sworn I overheard your friends saying they weren't going tonight." I drop my head and grip the bag a little tighter. "I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner." I shake my head and in two strides my arms are wrapped around his neck. He wastes no time to hug me back, "I'm so sorry Riley. I'm really sorry."

A few tears cascade down my face and effectively reach his neck, "Thank you for coming."

"Come on, let's get you out of here." I nod slowly and keep my head down while Charlie escorts me out of the restaurant. Roughly a minute later, the cool winter air kisses the tears on my cheeks and I'm tightening the hold on my jacket. "Why did you tell my mom you were with your friends?" Lightly, I shrug and avoid eye contact. "To keep him out of trouble? Newsflash Riley he deserves to get in trouble for this shit. Do you know it is almost 7:40? What was he going to have you do? Just sit there for hours until you decided to leave? It's your damn birthday!"

"He's busy."

Charlie snorts at my ridiculous excuse, "My dad's phone is still charged. How hard would it have been to at least text me or Charlotte off his phone so we could relay the message? It wouldn't have been hard at all."