Red

I couldn’t stop the tears from falling. Miguel tried everything he could but it was no use. I just unleashed. This wasn’t how I was expecting to feel when see him again. I guess I had this fantasy in my mind that when we were reunited I would run into his arms, we’d fall madly in love and live happily ever after. I wasn’t expecting to run, hide then have a complete breakdown.

Does he even know what it’s been like for me? All that I’ve had to go through since that night? None of this would have happened if he had just manned up and stayed by my side. Listen to what I had to say. Instead of taking what Aaron said as truth. I didn’t want fame; I just wanted to rub my happiness into Aaron’s face in a public way. Looking back now, I know that was the wrong thing to do.
In the midst of my tearful life revelation, I fell asleep on Miguel’s couch.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“Eliza! Darling wake up!” I peeled my eyes open to see Miguel and Mathieu staring down at me.

“What time is it?” I moaned sitting up.

“Just about to hit ten. You have to meet Nathan in an hour.”

“Oh shit. Do I have to go?” I ask dropping my pounding head into my hands.

“You love him amiga. You must go.”

“I never said I loved him Miguel.”

“You don’t need to say it, we can see it.”

I looked up at him and could see he was serious. I glanced at Mathieu and he was nodding his head, “how can you tell?”

“Miguel told me what happened when I got home last night after you had fallen asleep. Now come on love, I’ll walk you home and help you get ready. You need to look hot for him, he deserves that much after waking up the whole village for you.”

I felt myself blush but followed Mathieu out of the apartment.

“Do you believe in great loves?” Mathieu asked as we tore my closet apart.

“Great loves? Explain.”

“Plato explains it best. It’s when the same soul inhibits two bodies. It was believed that a body was formed of two heads, two hearts and Zeus felt threatened by them, so he split them in two. They had the same soul though. My grandmother would tell me how back in her day people never gave up until they found their matching soul. It wasn’t hard work after that. She said it made love flow so easily. It’s your great love. I know I found mine.”

He explained it slowly to me, watching my face to gage my reaction. I turned away from him momentarily and pulled out burgundy jeans and a white tank top and quickly changed into them. I pulled on my knee high flat black boots and tossed on my grey jacket. This was as sexy as I was feeling at the moment.

I pondered over what Mathieu had just explained to me. “Soul mates? Yeah, I suppose I believe in soul mates."

“Do you think Nathan is your soul mate?”

“It’s way too early to say anything like that,” I answer nervously.

“It’s not up to you Eliza. It’s up to your soul, and to his soul. Once that connection is made, it’s a bond. Your heart is the first to recognize the current, your brain is usually the last.”

“You’re making this sound like a science experiment.”

“It’s not science. It’s spirit. It’s your soul. Your brain will catch up soon enough. Now you better go, you’ll be late if you don’t leave now. I’ll show myself out. I’m going to steal some of your face cream,” he laughed. I gave him a quick hug and left my apartment.

I stopped outside of Plaza del Sol and saw Nathan sitting inside patiently waiting. He looked older than when we had met. His hair was also shorter, but his stature showed that he may have matured as much as I have since we split. I pushed the front door open and walked up to him. When he saw me he stood and wrapped me into a big bear hug, pushing his nose into my hair.

“I’ve missed you,” I whisper not wanting to let go of him

“Fifty-seven days,” he responded.

I pulled my face away from his neck and looked up at his face confused.

“Fifty-seven days since I stupidly walked away from the woman of my dreams.”

“We have a lot to talk about though before we just jump into something.”

He let go of me and pulled out a chair at the table for me to sit in. “That’s why we’re here right? To talk? I wasn’t expecting to jump into anything anyways. I mean it looks like you have a very loving boyfriend here.”

My mouth dropped open before I began laughing. “Miguel? He’s not my boyfriend. He calls me his long lost adoptive sister. Besides, he doesn’t even like women. His boyfriend is actually at my apartment right now raiding my skin care stuff.”

Nathan’s face turned bright red and he smiled back at me. “So you don’t have a new guy?”

“No! Jay convinced me I needed to find myself. The real me before I jumped in a relationship.”

“So that’s why you came here?” Nathan asked but we were interrupted by the waitress. After we ordered some sandwiches and water I began picking at my nails.

“My mother gave me an ultimatum. Get back together with Aaron or lose my trust fund. My father, being the only reasonable person in my family stepped forward and offered to ship me away to Europe to paint. So here I am.”

“You’ve been painting?” he asked a huge grin forming on his face. His smile always weakened me. How big and beautiful it was.

“I have. I’m actually going to be featured in a gallery after the new year.”

“That’s fantastic! Do you think I can see any of your work or is it all top secret?”

“I can show it to you, after all you were my muse.” This time I was the one blushing.

“They’re not nudes are they?” he laughed and I choked on my water.

“No, would you like me to paint you like one of my French girls?” I giggled hoping he would get the Titanic reference, which he did.

We made small talk through our meal, but once the last bite was taken our conversation turned serious.

“I’m not mad at you for walking away anymore. I was for a long time, but now, seeing you and feeling what I’m feeling, I’m not mad. It was a blessing in disguise,” I smiled shyly hoping he would understand why.

“I haven’t stopped being angry at myself,” he stated and my heart dropped.

“No Nathan. I spent eight years with an emotional abusive animal. He had me so brain washed, it’s taken a lot of quiet nights alone here to reverse what he’s done. I couldn’t fully be happy with you the way I was. All the attention I was seeking, that’s now who I am. That’s what they wanted me to be. I still have a lot of self-work to do, but I set up some pretty good baselines for myself.”

Nathan reached across the table and took my hand in his.

“I wish I had known,” he whispered.

“I didn’t even know. I think that may have been why I ran from you last night. Am I ready to open my heart again?”

“Are you?”

“Nathan, you have had my heart since the day we met at the gala. I didn’t know it then, but I do now. I’ve felt so empty . . . that was until last night . . . until now. I don’t feel empty anymore.”

Nathan jumped from his seat and stood in front of me. He placed his hands on either side of my face and crashed his lips into mine.