Tyler's jaw dropped with irritation. "Yeah, I was bummed too but I figured, no big deal, I'll just join him in there. I go in there, not only does he looked shocked to see me, but he doesn't even try to touch me. I tell him I made breakfast and he says he was going to go out to breakfast with a coworker-a female coworker!"
Tyler smacked his hand on the top of the desk. "Shut the front door!"
"Exactly! I was so pissed off and I didn't know what to think, but then I put it together and realized that wasn't all. He didn't come home to spend a nice evening with me-he got off work early so he could go to breakfast with her."
"Damn, I'd be fuming!" Kacie pitched in and in her eyes it was clear that she was no longer questioning the origin of the flowers. At least I had a story that properly fit this situation-even if Richard wasn't the sender.
"Hell yeah, what did you do?" Tyler's eyes danced with adrenaline as he drank in every word I said.
"I didn't say anything and honestly neither did he. A courtesy 'goodbye' was the most I got but I refused to respond. This made me feel absolutely mortified! Here I am, getting so easily excited at the prospect of Richard truly going out of his way for me. He may as well have slapped me in the face, it probably would have hurt less."
My body sunk into a pout, I required coffee or chocolate to get out of this funk. Kacie's arm wrapped around my neck, leaning her head against mine offering that true best friend support.
"I'm sorry, babe, but at least he realized what he did wrong and had these sent here!" Her optimism should have evoked more enthusiasm than the grunt I provided, but I wasn't in the mood to play along anymore.
Perhaps this was why I never revealed every intimate detail about my love life with people. Now that I spilled everything, received feedback and vindication for my upset emotions-I only felt worse. Talking did nothing to solve it and knowing that I would now be forced to play along and show off my devoted fiancé to all who came in.
"Flowers can't fix everything." I mumbled, reaching out, taking hold of the vase. Tyler jumped back as if the flower's trance had been broken.
"Where are you taking those?"
"Don't worry, Ty, you'll still be able to look at them. You will just need to be in the break room to do it." With that I marched off through the salon and into our little sanctuary. The one large round table undoubtedly looked better with the added floral touch. It was here in this space away from prying eyes I could truly just gaze at them.
A gesture of this size should not surprise me when it came to Stefan. This was not his biggest apology by far but I still found myself melting at the sight. While I did not exactly expect Stefan to listen to my words yesterday and completely back away, I was still never expecting this. Like a spindle to a spinning wheel, I was Sleeping Beauty, under the spell of the beauty in front of me. My finger reached out and with a feather light touch, I rubbed the petal of the most beautiful stargazer lily I had ever laid eyes on. Only Stefan could manage to send something that had the ability to literally take my breath away.
As I sniffed the air, sighed reluctantly and stared without disturbance, my mind couldn't resist drifting back to high school. I had found Stefan in an abandoned hallway during the middle of class, while I had been on my way to the bathroom. The well-known school slut had her filthy hands running down the front of his shirt and I absolutely flipped shit. Seeing him cuddled up away from the public eye hurt so badly but the fact that it was her, made a piece of my heart shatter.
I had started screaming, and watched him pull away from her. He had approached me with that panicked look that struck his impeccable features. Immediately my hands reached out and shoved him as far away from me as I could get. By the time he went in for a second embrace the surrounding classrooms were beginning to pipe up about the events. That day I found myself to be exceptionally lucky that Jayden's class was within ear shot.
He ran from the class, avoiding the teacher's threats of detention, he had swept in between us and folded me within his grasp. As we were pulled away from the gut wrenching sight I heard my voice yell out that we were finished. I had been trapped within my mind, shaking and scared while my body and voice separated from my soul and lunged with a vengeance.
Jayden had finally pulled me away but didn't stop until we had reached his car in the parking lot. Driving away from the school that day I had never believed there was a way to make up for this. It wasn't just about what I saw, it was about what I hadn't seen. And that single question would bear down on me until I mentally went insane. It would be impossible to return from that moment in time-at least, that's what I believed.