Time Heals All Wounds

"Mother, will you please stop?" I pleaded with the older women, making her just laugh, along with almost everyone else seated around my parents large dining room table.

"Oh, sweetheart, lighten up." My mother said, reaching over to pat my hand before continuing on into her story of Alex and I's first date, which she had helped Alex plan. I looked to my right, where Alex sat beside me, forced by my mother. He had his head down, his hair hanging over his eyes.

I couldn't listen to my mother anymore, or relive these memories, I had pushed them aside, forgotten about them. I stood up, making the table fall silent and every pair of eyes turned to me.

"I need some air so please excuse me." I pushed my plate aside and walked away from the table, heading towards the kitchen.

"Excuse me." I heard someone say at the table but didn't wait to see who it was. I went to the back door and went out to the back deck.

I never thought that seeing Alex again would be so hard. He made my heart race and my knees go weak, just by him being in the room. He shouldn't still do that to me, not after how long its been.

My thoughts were interrupted when the back door swung open and out walked none other than Alex. I turned away from him and looked out towards the lawn, leaning up against the railing.

"Hey." He said quietly, coming to stand beside me, also looking out towards the moonlight covered lawn.

"Hi." I responded, still looking away from him. "Look, I'm sorry about my mom. She is convinced that we'll get back together." I explained, letting out a nervous and awkward laugh. He too laughed a little but I could tell it was forced. The air around us was thick with tension. If I told a Junior in high school me that Alex and I would be this awkward and silent around one another in the future I would have laughed because Alex and I had always been so perfect, there was no chance that anything could come between us.

A cold gust of wind blew, making me shiver and wrap my arms around myself.

"Are you cold?" He questioned me, making me look up at him finally.

"No, I'm fine." I answered but he shook his head before shrugging out of the leather jacket he was wearing and slid it onto my shoulders. I smiled up at him and pulled the jacket to me tighter.

"Good thing I always wear two jackets. It comes in handy." He said, pulling at the black hoodie that had been under the jacket. I smiled and nodded, not sure what to say.

Just then, my stomach gave a loud growl. I was hoping that Alex wouldn't have heard it but from the small chuckle he gave, he must have.

"Sucks that your mother had to go all awkward and embarrassing on us before dinner was served, huh?" He joked, making me laugh and nod.

"Yeah, I haven't eaten since I got up this morning, I'm starving." I sighed and looked back at the kitchen door where just beyond it, I'm sure they were starting to talk about who would come out and get us so they could eat. I didn't want to go back in there. "Coming back was a bad idea." I hadn't meant to say it out loud, it just sort of slipped out.

"What? Why not?" I sighed and looked up at Alex.

"It's just all too much. My mother hounding on us about our relationship, Erik constantly calling and texting me, just all the catching up and dependency on me now to be here, I can't take it. Not so soon after everything with Erik. I should have stayed there and fixed things with him first."

"Or maybe you shouldn't have ran away in the first place." I hadn't noticed it but he had slid closer to me so as he said this, his face was just inches from mine. "I didn't want any of that to happen with us, Rina. I loved you, I was just caught up in being a dumb as fuck guy. That's no excuse but it's the best I have. When you left you took a part of me with you, Sabrina, and you still have it." I sighed and looked up into his brown eyes that were so close. I could see the moonlight reflected in them.

"It was five years ago, Alex. It doesn't matter anymore." I took a step back from him, but never broke our eye contact. "Come on, let's go back inside." He furrowed his eyebrows together in sadness and shook his head.

"I know that you don't want to go back in anymore than I do. What do you say we leave? We go get something else for dinner." I started to protest, saying that things between he and I were over, there was nothing more there, but he cut me off. "As friends. Simply as friends. I get that we are over and you have moved on, but I want to be friends, I need us to be, Sabrina. So what do you say? Friends?" I sighed and nodded, letting a small smile play on my lips.

"Yes, we can be friends Alex." He smiled and stepped back up to me, pulling me into his chest for a tight hug.

"Now come on, I'm starving." Instead of going through the kitchen, we snuck around the back and got into my car without anyone noticing and drove off. "How long do you think it will take them to realize we aren't there?"

"Probably a few more minutes, Jack will get impatient and come find us because he wants to eat." I responded as I stopped at a stop light. "So where are we going to get food?" I asked him.

"Ella's Diner?" He suggested, making me grin.

"I haven't been there in years. Well not since.... well... yeah.." I broke off as the light ahead of me turned green.

"Since the night before we broke up..." He finished for me, making me nod.

"Yeah... that night." Things then began to get awkward again so I reached forward and turned on the radio, turning it up so there was no way for us to talk anymore and make things even more awkward.

I could be friends with Alex. It was possible. I just was going to have to work at it because right now all I wanted to do was leap across this seat at him and kiss him... Oh boy....