Teach Me How To Love

Shrug

She went home and felt like a complete idiot for humoring this guy, but she really had nothing to lose.

He agreed to meet her  in daylight, at a local cafe on her day off. It was 2 days after they'd met at the bar and she couldn't stop thinking about everything he'd said.

She should be upset but she wasn't. Everything he'd said was true.

Why did he leave her? After 8 years, why did he walk away?  She cried into a tub of chunky munkey as she binge watched bad Christmas Hallmark movies. It was the beginning of October but somehow there was a channel that just play bad Christmas movie after bad Christmas movie. Much like a train wreck, she couldn't look away.

She decided her life was a like a bad Hallmark Christmas movie. Poor lighting, a plot with too many holes, and the predictability was off the charts. She was a mess and maybe that gave her all the more reason to meet up with Shawn.

She pulled on jeans and a sweater that she realized belonged to him, but it was clean and she hadn't done laundry. She pulled on a pair of old Nike's and cleaned her tear stained glasses. She fumbled in the mirror with her hair, remembering how he'd mentioned something about never letting her hair down.

The truth was, her hair was way too long to be left down. It ran past her butt and if she bent over she could literally step on it. She'd never cut it before because he'd said he liked it. She reluctantly pulled it into a low bun and stuck some bobby pins in it to reinforce it. She didn't wear much makeup on a daily basis so she didn't even bother. She ran some Carmex along her lips and stood in the mirror. "Well, this is as good as it gets..."

She didn't drive, only because she didn't know how to. She usually used public transportation and about two years ago he'd given her a bike for Christmas. So she biked everywhere and it was nice because she could whiz past people and no one ever bothered her. She also decided if she ever ran into him or saw him from afar she could speed away quickly.

He was already at the cafe, dressed way more formally than she'd expected. She chained her bike to the fence and informed the woman she was meeting the gentlemen outside on the patio. The woman looked her up and down and then pursed her lips. "Right this way miss..."

He looked up when he approached and frowned. Again, he repeated the same motion with his eyes that the hostess had. "What, do I have something on my face, my clothes?"

Shawn sighed. "Take a seat." She slumped into the chair and he said "Sit up."

She had no idea why she instantly followed his directions but she did. What the hell?

"That's better...how are you?"

"Great... not at all questioning everything in my life..."

"Good... you should be, starting with... are you wearing Nikes with jeans?"

"I biked here, it's practical.." she shrugged.

"I do have my work cut out for me..." A beautiful waitress approached and she seemed to be captivated by him. It was like she didn't even exist. "Can I get you anything?" she finally looked over at Camila

"Uh.. I'll.. uhm... I'll have a... lemonade.." Camila said.

Shawn couldn't help but notice that even in ordering, she was so unsure; so insecure.

"So, tell me more about this guy..."

"How do you know there's a guy?"

"There's always a guy... or a girl?"

"Guy," Camila clarified. She sighed. "We were together for 8 years and a couple months ago he just texted me and told me he had to find himself and he couldn't do this anymore. I was at work and by the time I got home, he was gone. I packed up my things, found a place, and I haven't really heard from him since. I do know he's in Chicago on a business trip and he sublet out the apartment we used to share."