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I stood beside Mary as she stirred the pasta sauce, making a salad. I had asked her repeatedly why we were making so much food and every single time, she'd reply: "We might eat more than we expect" but her teasing smile made me question how true that statement really was.
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As I was pouring the chopped tomatoes into a wooden bowl, the sound of the bell rang throughout the house.
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"Can you please get that Victoria? The sauce is done so I can set up." I nodded my head sombrely and walked to the door. When I opened it, I was surprised to find my two friends at the door.
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"What are you guys doing here?" I asked them, moving aside to let them in. Ashley hugged me tightly as Fae entered, closing the door behind her.
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"Mary told us what happened earlier at work so we thought we'd join you," she said as she pulled away.
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At the mention of what had happened at work, my eyes began to sting as tears threatened to fall. I shook my head in an attempt to keep the tears from coming out but that didn't work as a lone tear fell.
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"Why are you here Fae?" I asked her, wiping away the tear.
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"Are we not friends anymore?" she asked, a small smile on her lips.
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"Are you all going to stay at the door or join me for dinner?" Mary asked from the kitchen. I felt my lips turn into a small smile as I followed them towards the dining room.
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"We're coming Mary," Ashley said, chuckling slightly.
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We walked into the dining room to find the table already set for dinner. How did she so that so quickly, I thought to myself as she walked to Fae and Ashley, hugging both of them briefly.
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~~♡~~♡~~♡~~
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It had been a week since I had come to terms with the way I felt about Mike but I still wasn't sure if these feeling were past infatuation. I knew that they were strong feelings but how strong they were was a mystery to me.
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As I was walking into my office for lunch, I felt my phone vibrate in my coat. Reluctantly, I took it out to find a text message. I didn't open it until I was sitting on my chair.
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My heart pounded very quickly in my chest as I read the three words over and over from the man I had not heard from for a very long time.
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Can we talk? - Mike
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I swallowed a lump in my throat as I replied to him, asking where and when he wanted to talk; but before I could send it, my phone vibrated in my hand with his name on the screen.
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"Hello?" I answered. I heard the release of a breath on the other end of the line.
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"I was afraid you were ignoring me Tori," he said. I felt my back stiffen as he used my nickname. It had been so long since he had called me that─too long.
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"I'm not ignoring you Mike. When did you want to talk?" I asked him slowly. There was a pause before he spoke, almost as if he was thinking of how to answer.
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"Are you busy now?"
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"No."
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"Why don't we meet at my dad's restaurant then?" That restaurant had so many memories but the most recent ones were not very pleasant. Knowing that, I still agreed.
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"I'll be there in ten minutes." I hung up the phone and grabbed my bag from the desk after taking off my coat.
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"Are you going somewhere?" Ashley asked me when I walked outside. I nodded my head.
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"I'm going to the Matthews restaurant."
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"To see Mike?" I nodded my head. "Good luck, you might need it." She hugged me tightly before allowing me to walk to my car.
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As I got closer to the restaurant, I felt my heartbeat begin to accelerate, accompanied by my palms beginning to get damp.
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You can do this Victoria, I told myself as I locked my car.
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You can do this.
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As soon as I entered, I saw him sitting in the back. I slowly walked over to him and took a seat across from him.
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"Long time no see," he said, a small smile appearing on his lips. I nodded my head as I felt a small smile of my own.
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"Yeah."
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"Are you hungry?" he asked, passing me one of the menus before him. I murmured a soft thank you.
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"Kinda." I wasn't sure if I was hungry because my nervousness was overpowering. Hearing him chuckle, I looked up from my menu.
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"Why do you look so scared Victoria? It's just food."
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"I know you didn't invite me here just for lunch Mike. So whatever it is please just get down to the bottom of it."
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He sighed as he looked away, only to return looking directly into my eyes a few moments later.
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"I wanted to know if you've made up your mind. About how you feel."
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Although I knew that was his reason for inviting me, I still couldn't help but to feel surprised. I sighed and put down my menu.
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"I have," I said. His eyes widened as he swallowed.
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"And?" he urged. I sighed again, preparing myself for his reaction.
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"I have feelings for you Mike."
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He looked at me, shock painted over his face. It was as if although he had waited for this moment, he didn't realise how he'd feel when it actually happened.
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"You do?" he asked incredulously. I nodded my head. A large smile formed on his face.
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"That's great. You don't know how long I've waited for you to be mine Tori."
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As soon as I heard his words, I felt my lips turn into a small frown.
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"I'm not yours Mike and I never will be."
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His face immediately fell.
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"What do you mean?" he asked, the same amount of surprise coating his words.
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"I can't be in a relationship with you the way you want. I only wanted to get married once- I'm not saying that if we were together, we'd get married. It's just that I only imagined getting married once and I was hoping that Alex would be my one and only. But he's already decided to end our relationship and I don't want to start a new one. I really don't want to experience this again. I'm so─"
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"Victoria I won't let that happen to you. I love you, why can't you just see that?" he pleaded, leaning towards the table and reaching out his hand towards mine where it lay on the table. But I pulled away.
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"I'm sorry Mike but it just won't happen. Besides if your mom didn't want me to be with Alex, what makes you think that she'll like us together?" I asked him.
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He sat up straight and looked away from me, a longing expression on his face.
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"If she didn't want that, she wouldn't have asked me to break the two of you apart." I could see that he wasn't understanding me. But what else did I expect, it was his mother we were talking about after all. I would find it difficult to think anything differently about my own mom if I were in his shoes.
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"You don't think that she could've just used your feelings for me to her advantage?" I asked him.
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"She wouldn't do that. Now I get that she doesn't always think about others but I'm her son. She wouldn't do that to me," he said, looking at me seriously. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair in frustration.
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"Look I'm sorry Mike. We can't be together no matter what you think."
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I stood up to leave but when I bumped into someone, I stopped and sat back down, looking up into familiar brown eyes.
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"Alex," I whispered.
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His face was blank and I couldn't decipher his thoughts. He didn't say anything as he looked from me to his brother before he placed a small stack of papers in front of me.
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"You need to sign these."
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Reluctantly, I picked up the first paper and looked at the top. The word divorce jumped out at me; he had just handed me divorce papers. I felt anger and frustration bubble up inside me as I calmly placed it back to the pile and looked at him. I couldn't believe how quickly he was going through with this.
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"I'm not signing them."
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