My pace was fast as I hopped out of my car and walked towards the door to the small cafe I worked at; the bad feeling deep in my stomach was getting worse. Call it women's intuition or just knowing my boyfriend's tone after years but I could tell something was off.
My phone buzzed while I was still crossing the small lot and I stopped under the rain awning to pull it out of my pocket.
I'm at our table. See you soon.
Something was definitely wrong.
My mind wandered to the strange and random text I had received from Jeremy only 20 minutes before. 'Come over to Sarah's, I want to talk.' What would he need to talk about?
I smiled a little to myself as I opened the door, hearing the tiny bell jingle above my head. The smell of fries always made me feel nostalgic.
I still wish I didn't need to come here on my day off considering I was here every other day of the week, but it would be nice for us to have a snack and talk in our favorite booth.
Walking in, I expected to see him in our normal spot, with the usual large vanilla shake and large fry we would split sitting on the table.
Technically speaking, he was in fact in our booth.
My eyes cut to the right the second I passed the threshold and it took me a few seconds to register what I was seeing. Maybe I didn't want to believe it. My body was still as I stared forward in disbelief. Everything went in slow motion as I felt my heart cracking in my chest.
Jeremy, my boyfriend of 4 years, had a girl sitting on his lap. That girl was definitely not me.
That disgusting asshole.
I saw a pretty girl laugh at something he said as she brushed a hand over his arm, and begged him to push her away.
He didn't.
I felt the jealousy, anger, and betrayal burn under my skin and behind my jean shirt pocket. I could practically feel my heart strings being torn, mangled, and squished together.
The rage I felt at another woman touching my man was indescribable. But the hurt was enough to make me nauseous and want to curl into a ball like a child.
And I suppose he wasn't mine anymore anyway.
Despite the urge to turn away and never see his face again, I stomped over and stood before him with blurry eyes. I would not run away, I would never let him see me completely breaking.
He could never know how much I needed him. He never would.
I cleared my throat, swallowing the lump in my throat when he turned. His green eyes I used to get lost in widened in realization, before he practically pushed the brunette off of him. She scowled, glancing at me for a split second with what seemed like a devious smile, before continuing to do whatever she was doing on his phone.
He quickly grabbed it and she scowled, then he glanced anxiously between me and the screen, fiddling with the keyboard. His eyes finally settled on the screen in shock, but by that point I was turning to walk away.
At least I knew now. Thank you mysterious asshole lady for texting me.
"Wait! May! I didn't know she had texted you!" His sad excuse didn't fall on deaf ears, and only fueled my rage. Spinning to meet his eyes again, I glared him down the whole time while walking closer. As he opened his mouth to speak again, I grabbed the vanilla shake off of the table and hurled the whole thing, cup and all, onto him.
The cup hit his forehead hard, making him shout out profanities, and I felt a slight satisfaction when the liquid slipped down his favorite assets: through his hair and down his favorite black hoodie.
Walking away once again, I made it outside before he caught up with me by my car. He grabbed my arm and I turned around quickly, taking a deep breath.
"What? Are you going to tell me that there's a perfectly good explanation and that this is all just a misunderstanding? Trust me Jeremy, there is no good explanation for what I just saw, we are over." I tried to keep my voice from cracking, and to stay quiet so that I wouldn't make a bigger scene than I already had.
After ripping his house key off of my keychain and yanking my arm out of his grasp, I got in my car and drove off as quickly as possible so I wouldn't look back. The sinful liquid dampening my cheeks blurred my vision and I sobbed. I had to drive slower than usual because of the tears that never seemed to end. I pulled up to a redlight and put my head on my steering wheel, biting my lip harshly.
"It's a diary thingy. I know I already got you a birthday present but I saw this and thought of you. I know you like writing and you really need to "discover who you are before you graduate,"' Jeremy mimicked our crazy English I teacher. I giggled and opened the glittery purple book. He handed me a purple gel pen and I started writing, thinking out loud. "I'm May Thompson. I'm 15 and I'm...," I trailed off and looked at him with a puzzled look on my face, wondering what to say.
Jeremy laughed. "Dating the most attractive guy in the world," he smirked and I grinned, hitting his stomach playfully.
"I have been dating Jeremy Conners for a year. He is...amazing," I smiled and we looked into eachother's eyes, I was getting lost as always. He grinned suddenly and kissed my head, grabbed my waist, and threw me over his shoulder. I squealed and laughed, gripping his shirt and thinking to myself how lucky I was to have him.
One of my favorite memories from a couple years ago flew through my head and all of the others followed. My body was shaking and I pondered if I should pull over somewhere.
Suddenly my whole car vibrated, and rock and roll blasted from a black mustang that parallel parked in front of the shop I was stopped by. My headache just got a thousand times worse.
I sighed in relief as the car turned off, along with the loud music fueling the pound behind my eyes and temples. I watched in curiosity as the driver got out of the car, but I couldn't see them because they were on the other side of the car and my eyes were burning.
My forehead creased while I wondered who it was, this wasn't a small town by any means but I knew a lot of people, courtesy of my parents. Especially someone that owned a brand new mustang and looked like they came from money. Not disgustingly rich without work money, but a really good paying job and some luck. It was a man; a very gorgeous man. He opened the hood of his car and I watched in curiosity as the muscles under his shirt bulged with every movement. So cliché May.
His dark eyebrows pulled together in concentration as he stared down at whatever was under his hood. I could practically see a bead of sweat running from the top of his hairline down to his sharp, defined jawline. I had to resist pulling out my phone and taking a picture to show Loren. She might be engaged but she can still look.
Well you can do more than look now.
I frowned at the thought that popped up and shook my head. It's way too soon, I'm literally still crying over Jeremy.
It wasn't until I locked gazes with eyes the color of stainless steel that I realized I had zoned out while staring at the attractive specimen next to me.
I normally would have looked away nervously, blushing like a tomato. However, the silver in his eyes swirled like a fire wanting to burst. No, like molten steel churning in a small, circle cage that was his iris. Which made it impossible to look away. His eyebrows were no longer pulled together in frustration: they were pulled together in anger. He looked furious. I gasped when he started walking towards my car, which was only a few steps away.
Hearing honking behind me, I quickly and clumsily slammed on the gas and cringed at the screeching of my tires, blushing when I realized the light had been green for quite a few seconds. However, my anxiety over the honking still couldn't smother my thoughts. Why did he look so mad? He probably thought I was a creep for staring. Mental facepalm.
Looking into my rear view mirror I saw him standing in the middle of the road, where the cars in the lane had to swerve to avoid him. However, he was never phased and instead stayed there staring at the back of my car as it drove away like a bat out of hell.
I pulled into my driveway a few minutes later and just sat there for a while. My mind was infested with memories of Jeremy and of the mysterious, handsome man in the road. After blankly staring at a pot on my porch for 10 minutes, I finally took the key out of the ignition and got out of my old, silver car. I made a B-line to the kitchen as soon as I got in the house. I'm not going to be the cliché girl who watches romance movies and eat ice cream. No, just the ice cream part.
Taking out a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream, along with a large spoon, I walked upstairs and into my bedroom. This was his favorite too. Taking my laptop off of its charger, I opened the internet and pulled up social media, where I knew I could get lost for hours without thinking about my recent ex.
"Now I have an excuse to block someone," I muttered to myself, reaching for my phone and quickly blocking him before I changed my mind.
Eventually I turned away from my laptop, finishing my icecream while staring at a patched hole in the wall Jeremy once accidentally made.
Hearing a ping sound from my laptop, indicating a friend request, I squinted down at the bright screen to see who it was. No picture, that's weird. I shrugged and added them, no harm done. It's not like he's a stalker or anything.
Going back to my home page, I stilled and stared blankly at the screen.
Relationship status: in a relationship <3
I pursued my lips, eyes burning and quickly flooding. So much for forgetting temporarily. Wiping under my soaked lashes, I quickly changed my status to single.
Seeing two messages, I frowned and opened my inbox. I never get messages.
Tristan Jacobs and Jeremy Conners.
My face scrunched up and I angrily deleted Jeremy's message, but not before getting a glimpse of the preview.
"May, I still have..."
The normal part of me wanted to know what he still had. Feelings for me? The sick part of me wished that were true.
After blocking him on Facebook, I went to my other message. Tristan Jacobs didn't have the same luck, because I simply deleted it without reading the preview.
It's not like I'll ever meet him, I thought as I logged out and closed my laptop.
***
It had been 4 days since that awful occurrence at the diner. Thankfully, they passed by fast because I was asking for more hours and spending a lot of time with Loren, my best friend, which was much needed after pushing myself harder and harder every moment. Every morning I woke up to a heavy heart and dark under-eye bags. Every day I went to work at Sarah's with a straight face, until I had to smile for customers from behind a counter. A smile that was as fake as my ex-relationship and almost never matched my eyes. He hadn't tried to contact me any further, which I was thankful for. I still had to work in the place I caught him cheating at.
"Remember to close the freezer Bobby! I'm off tomorrow so I won't be able to save you," I called out as I walked towards the back room and to my locker. I quickly turned around as I felt him swat my behind with a towel, letting out a sharp laugh and swatting him back with my apron.
"Have some faith in me baby doll, I got this," he cheekily grinned and winked. I shook my head, smiling, then quickly clocked out and drove home, knowing the emotional and physical fatigue would hit the moment I was alone and relaxed.
However, coming home from a double shift, close to midnight, my eyesight was blurring and I was starting to sway before I even turned into my driveway. I had not slept well in days, bed-ridden with anxiety and sadness until Loren came over to cheer me up or I went to work even more than usual as a distraction .
This is why I didn't notice the box on my welcome mat, until I kicked it and almost face planted into the door. I caught myself with a quick hand and frowned to myself, not expecting a delivery. It didn't have a single label or stamp on it. My parents usually got their packages delivered to wherever their work was in that time frame because they got so many, so often, and it would be harder for me to send them every time. Not to mention they were always covered top to bottom in flashy stickers so everyone knew it was important, and they didn't want people to steal them if I wasn't home.
I missed my parents, and they had only been gone for 3 weeks so far for this trip. They worked for a travel company, business salesmen as they called it, despite having all of their roots here, including me. They stayed home mostly when I was in school and of course when I was a minor, but they were able to spread their wings when I turned 18 and then graduated. They knew I was responsible, they had raised me after all, and they were very serious people. Well, mostly my mom anyway, my dad would joke around me sometimes but I think he occasionally forgot I was his. It didn't bother me as much anymore. I could never hold it against him, he was just trying his best and I knew that.
Snapping out of my daze, I drowsily grabbed the box and made my way inside, walked to the kitchen, and grabbed a pair of scissors. Hesitantly peeking in there once I messily tore the tape, my hand shuffled around in the styrefoam pieces.
Suddenly, something pricked my finger. I winced, quickly pulling my hand out. Stuck in my pointer finger was a single thorn.
Confused, I stuck my hand back in and quickly pulled something slim out. It was a rose. Well, not just one. Three. One white, one red, and one pink. Although they were real, they were encrusted in some sort of shiny, glass or plastic like material, almost like a preservative. And they didn't look cheap in the slightest. Was this even for me? I pulled the thorn out of my finger and gently set the roses down; they were tied together with a black ribbon and had a small card attached. I smiled softly, they were stunning. On second thought, maybe I should check to make sure they are for me before unpacking everything.
There was a letter sitting right on top of them and I put it to the side, opening the card that was tied to the flowers.
I Love You.
This had to be for another person. Someone must have had the wrong house. Unless Jeremy thought this would get me back, which would never happen. My curiosity got the better of me and I found myself reading the letter anyway.
My Dearest May,
You do not know me, but I knew the second I saw you that you had a part of me.
When I saw you upset it broke my heart and I knew I had to find you and help fix this. Whoever hurt you will get what they deserve. I'll find out who and what they did to you. Goodbye flower.
See you soon,
Anon for now.
By the time I was done reading the letter, I wasn't sure if it was all a dream. I was too tired to comprehend the words I glanced over. I was also still convinced that I was lucid dreaming.
I attempted to sprout wings- no luck.
Sleep deprivation was getting the best of me, I wasn't scared or concerned in the slightest.
Shrugging, I looked back inside the box. The last thing I found was a black, velvety box. Inside it was a necklace. A beautiful necklace. It was a thin silver chain with a royal blue sapphires. Around the sapphire were was seemed to be tiny diamonds. This seems expensive. Very, very expensive.
Like the founder of Starbies expensive.
"Oh my God," I whispered in shock and awe. Yep, definitely a dream. Still in a half-asleep state, I packed it all back into the box and trudged upstairs, setting it down on my desk. Blearily I rushed my night routine and threw on some comfy clothes, disregarding my greasy uniform on the bathroom floor and crawling quickly into bed.
Ping.
I groaned, shoving my face into the pillow and rolling over.
Ping.
Irritated, I threw the covers back and dredged to my laptop, bringing it with me to the bed and plopping back down. I saw notifications from Tristan Jacobs again, and frowned. I was going to just block it since it wasn't someone I knew but the beginning caught my eye and I decided to open it instead.
I'm sorry, I didn't realize the thorns would hurt you.
Was this some sick joke? It had to be, Loren must have set up some sort of prank camera and made a fake account. That was the only good explanation. I pulled out my phone and sent her a text.
M: really Lo? Cheap joke
L: I don't know what that means lol
M: the roses?
L: what roses? Someone sent you roses??
What the hell? Was she really trying this hard?
L: it has been less than a week and you already have a secret admirer!!!!!!!
L: god I love love <3
L: hello?? If you don't answer me back with some details I will drive over there right now and you know I am not bluffing babe
Loren couldn't keep a straight face for her life, this wasn't her. I was about to panic. Scratch that, I was already panicking.
M: just got off a double and I'm struggling to stay awake, will text details in the morning
In reality I was on the verge of an anxiety attack but part of me wanted to believe this was just my deleriousness.
I decided to read the second message, maybe this was all a mistake and they were going to apologize.
Do you want me to kiss your finger and make it feel better?
With a sudden kick of adrenaline, I slammed the laptop shut and ran out of my room, downstairs.
I made sure all of the doors were locked and made sure the windows were closed, locked, and the curtains were in place. They all were. How did they know? I quickly ran back upstairs and locked myself in the bathroom, the only room without a window. I sank down the wall across from the door and pulled my knees to my chest, the two messages flashing before my eyes.
I thought to call the cops but before I even could fathom getting up from the floor to retrieve my phone, I was sinking down onto my fluffy bath mat.
And then I very quickly fell asleep, curled in a ball, with horrible nightmares of a man watching over me the entire time.