The Girlfriend Experience

Chapter 12: Just the two of us

Rhiannon

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I sit back against the chair, waiting......waiting.....waiting.....waiting to disintegrate.

Brandon isn't coming, that's for sure. He probably never planned on it. I'm now thinking that he led me here under false pretenses as a way to get back at me for the flyers. If that was his intentions he succeeded because I'm here, at our spot, all by my lonesome beyond embarrassed.

When did it come to this? How did it come to this? The boy who was once the love of my life is now the bane of my existence. Tears prick the back of my eyes and my entire face begins to sting. I'm going to lose it, I'm going to start crying in here and make things worse. I don't want to cause a scene and have a one woman show in here with all those people around so I bury my face in the palm my hands and take some steady breaths.

I consider my options:

1- I can leave now and save myself from any further embarrassment

Or

2- I can stay and order something to eat so it won't seem like I got stood up.

Who knows, maybe if I stay Brandon might show up after all. I ponder over my choices. I'm not really in the mood to eat plus if Brandon shows up there's a good chance that I might actually kill him. I don't want to end up in Juvy so I go with option one.

I grab my bag from beside me, I'm getting ready to slide out of the booth to make my escape then suddenly I hear the ding sound of the bell coming from the entrance door. I immediately sit back down. It's Brandon, I know it's him. I can hear his soft footsteps approaching me. I run my hands through my hair and rub my lips together to re-blend my lip-gloss just in case my lips are looking dry.

This is it. It's show time.

I lean back against my seat again trying not to look anxious. He's getting closer and closer. I can almost feel him. "Don't panic" by Coldplay starts playing in the background. It's one of our favorite songs by them. It's like a sign or something__ no it's definitely a sign. I close my eyes listening to Chris Martin croon about the beautiful world which we live in. His voice so gentle, so sweet, so melodic, so__.

"Rhiannon."

My eyes snap open. It's not him, it's not Brandon. It's Ethan. He's got his infamous Bart Simpson book bag strap on his back and a blue pen tucked behind his left ear.

"Hey," I say with a forced smile. "What's up?"

He looks a bit taken aback to see me here all alone but he's trying his hardest to be subtle about it. He smiles perfunctorily and shrugs then says, "Not much."

We stare at each other for a quick second then both of our eyes flits away before it gets awkward and uncomfortable. What is he doing here and why does he have his school bag with him? I should have left earlier when I had the chance. God, I can't imagine what he's thinking right now. I decide to make a quick joke to lighten the situation.

"If I'm not mistaken I believe school is closed for the night."

His eyes meets mine again, it's as if they're dancing in the light.

"I come here to study sometimes," he says. "I can't concentrate at home."

"Why's that?" I ask. I can be so nosy sometimes.

"Well," he begins and without asking if it's okay he plows his bag in the seat opposite from me and sits down. "My parents can get a little crazy at time which makes it impossible for me to study peacefully."