ARCADE | Rebić

1

Yeah, there were so many things to make peace with.

—

The ride to the restaurant was almost silent.

The two of them only talked for the first minutes, of basic thing, and it really felt very awkward.

Every now and then, Ivana looked at her phone, to see if Mirko sent her any sorry text messages. But nothing.

"It's totally Mirko's style." Ante stated once they were outside the location, taking off his sunglasses.

"How do you know he choose it?" The woman looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

The footballer simply shrugged. "Because I know him." He then looked at her. "And because I know you. Or at least, I thought I did."

Ivana was about to say something when a waitress approached them.

"Miss Damjanović?" She asked, a smile planted on her face.

"That's me." Ivana said back at her.

"And you must be Mr. Abadžić..." the young waitress didn't sound very convinced about it.

"No. Long story." Ante simply said. Telling every detail to a completely stranger wasn't surely on his to do list of the day.

"So?" Ivana asked. "We ready time go?"

—

"The food was good." Ivana said, trying to break the silence on their way back home.

"Yeah." It was all Ante said, not evening taking his eyes off the road to watch the woman next to him.

Ivana took a deep breath and looked outside the window. In her mind, she was thinking of what possible she could say to talk to him without making a fool of herself.

Ante looked at her for a moment and took a deep breath. "So, what are you doing tonight?"

Ivana looked at him and simply shrugged. "I'm having a dinner at my parents house."

"Is Mirko coming too?" The footballer asked again as he had to stop the car because of the traffic light.

The blonde woman shook her head. "No." She simply said. She didn't have any news from him since that morning, when he sent her the good morning text she hated.

"Oh..." Ante said, finally driving again. "Do you want me to drop you at your parents place then?"

"Should I be worried at the thought that you remember where my parents live?" Ivana couldn't help but laugh. She saw how Ante's nerves tensed. "Anyway, thank you, but you can drop me at my office, so you don't have to drive all that way."

"It's okay, it's not a problem." He shrugged. "I can also drop you at your home. You still live there, don't you? Or do you live with Mirko now?"

"I still live there." She smiled, for the adding. "Alone. Okay, not really alone, my cat is always with me."

For the first time during the drive, Ante smiled. "I should visit him sometimes."

"You should! He misses you!" Ivana laughed. "Mirko hates him, but that's a reciprocal feeling."

"Are you really marrying a guy who hates your cat?" Ante said shocked. "Are you going crazy or what?"

Ivana took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Do you think it's a mistake?"

"What?"

"Me and Mirko. Marrying."

"That's not my place to say it." Ante said. "Mirko is one of my closest friends, and I only wish the best. And you are you, you do deserve only the best too. And if you're happy together, then I don't know where's the mistake."

The woman shook her head. Deep down, she wanted him to say that it was a mistake, that he hated the fact that she was marrying another man.

But he didn't.

"You didn't tell him about us, I guess..." Ante said again, almost in a whisper.

Ivana shook her head. "No. I'm not stupid. Plus at first I didn't even know he was your friend."

"I've never said you are stupid, or even thought it." Ante looked at her for few seconds. He took a deep breath again and laid his hand on her leg. "Is it... uhm, a problem?"

"No." Ivana couldn't help but smile. Without even thinking, she grabbed his hand and held it.

And damn, in that moment nothing felt more right.

Quarantine sucks.

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