TEARS FROM THE MOON

Chapter 20.

"Hullo". My voice squeaked

He turned his head suddenly to look up at me and immediately got to his feet.

"Gwen!". He exclaimed.

I smiled at him and although I was both nervous and excited, I was so relived that my reaction to seeing him again hadn't had that much affect on my poor, damaged emotions.
Time, it would seem, really was the great healer.

Ashcroft, however was his usual animated self. He always had the ability to talk. That is why in the past there was never a dull moment between us. It was just a pity that he never spoke about his fiancée to me and had somehow led me to believe that he was in fact single and really did like me in a romantic way. It had been a hard lesson for me to learn, in which I would never be able to ever trust him fully again. But the situation was made so much easier for me to handle when he and his model girlfriend Ami, moved abroad.
I really thought that I would never see him again, but here he was, right in front of me and still exactly the same. Still gorgeous, still dressed the same with the same hair cut and still as talkative. I had never known anyone to say so many words in a short space of time. Boy, he could really talk and he certainly didn't let me down in that department.

"How are you! Wow! you're looking great, oh, its so brilliant to see you. José said you might come in, Ah, he doesn't change much does he?. Come on now take a seat, tell me what's been going on in your life". He went on.

I pulled out a chair opposite him and sat down. He then also sat down and smiled at me.

"You look great". He then beamed.

"Thank you". I said averting my eyes from his.

It wasn't because I didn't want to look at him. More likely it was that I didn't want any of my old feelings for him to suddenly reawaken themselves and I would begin fancying him again.
I was scared of that.

Ashcroft then began pouring some red wine into the empty glass beside me and topped his own back up again.

"A toast!". He announced, replacing the bottle back onto the table and picking up his now full glass.

I picked mine up also.

"To friendship". He smiled.

I stared at him for a moment.
Even after all the pain I had suffered over our parting, he still only ever saw me as a friend.
I took in a deep and deliberate breath as I clinked my glass to his then took a hefty gulp of the sweet tasting alcohol.
What a waste of time it had all been for me to stress and cry and moon over him like I had done, when he just up and left like he did.
Why did I ever waste my time over him like that?
Then I glanced over the rim of my glass at him and looked into those deep, brown eyes and got given my answer. The truth was, Ashcroft Jennings was just so damned attractive.

He then smiled at me, but I was surprised to find that my stomach didn't twist nor did my heart flutter. This was an alien feeling to me, for as long as I was able to remember, every time Ashcroft smiled at me, I would melt and all these strange feelings would literally invade the whole of my body.

"So....". I breathed deeply, "What brings you to these parts ?"

"Oh, you know this and that". He replied.

I frowned at him, then took another glug of wine.

"Well it's nice to see you anyway". I added.

"Likewise". He smiled.

There followed quite an embarrassing long silence between the two of us, where I contemplated the reason for his return. I mean it just couldn't have been a social visit. He lives abroad!
Maybe he had been over to see relatives. There could have been some sort of family reunion, but thinking about it, that was kind of unlikely. Ashcroft didn't have much of a family and I knew he didn't get on with any of them anyway.
He used to tell me that his parents were very strict and he had resented their military style upbringing of him.