Back Into Your Arms

“Tell me more about my past” she begged me, I simply shook my head and took a sip of water.

“This bread is really good” I said taking a bite out of the bread.

She just looked at me upset because I refused to tell her more.

“You’re mean John”

“Oh c’mon, why don’t we forget about the past for moment and talk about who we are right now. Don’t you think that’s important too?” I suggested.

The waiter brought our food over. We ate for a while in silence. She then finally spoke.

“What are you doing in New York right now?”

“Well, we are actually in the process of writing our 6th album. We usually travel and go somewhere new whenever we write, this time we chose New York”

“Ah, I see” she nodded.

“Have you been back to Arizona lately?” I asked.

She shook her head.

“No, last time I was there was probably when I was 21. So it’s been 7 years. Do you still live over there?”

“Yeah, I live in Arizona but not in Tempe anymore. I live in Chandler”

“Well that’s not very far at all”

“Couldn’t be too far from home” I said and smiled. She smiled too. At least she remembered Arizona.

“So you’re in a band, that’s really cool. I’ve been listening to your music”

“Ah have you been doing your research on the creep who left you roses?” I said feeling embarrassed. At that moment I regretted everything I’ve ever posted on the internet and all the songs I wrote about her thinking she would simply never hear them.
But she smiled, she didn’t seem repulsed by my internet persona.

“Yeah, I’m sorry I couldn’t hold back. I don’t love all your songs but there are some really good ones, I also follow you on Twitter now” she said and laughed, she looked embarrassed herself, but as always she was so quick to reveal her secrets.

“Do you really? Oh gosh, I feel exposed” I said turning red.

“Your tweets range from quite deep to quite something else” she said and laughed.

“Thanks, and hey I’d follow you but John O’Callaghan follows no one” I said and laughed. She smiled. She was smiling, she was feeling comfortable.

“So…are you seeing anyone?” I asked her. She looked at her plate. I continued eating my food.

“We broke up about a month ago, the day we met again actually” she said looking up.

“I’m sorry, how long were you dating?” I said trying to hide the fact that I was glad about this; I was afraid she would be married by now.

“Oh not long, maybe 6 months…and you should be sorry, he broke up with me because of those roses you left me”
I almost spit out my food.

“No way”

“Yeah, I thought they were from him so I set them as a centerpiece and when he showed up with these ugly carnations and saw the roses, boy was he upset” she explained to me. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’re happy about this?” she asked, but she didn’t seem bothered by me laughing.

“Oh Mel, you have no idea” I said and laughed some more, I was even more thankful to that shop where I purchased them now.

“I guess I have to thank you, you helped me get out of a toxic relationship. He was terrible”

“If he didn’t appreciate you, he wasn’t worth your time”

“That you are right about John O’Callaghan” she said grabbing the glass of wine I had gotten for myself.

She looked at the glass and then looked at me.

“No, don’t worry, I won’t drink it…but tell me John, how do you know about my low alcohol tolerance?”

“First, hand the wine over” I said to her, reaching for it.
She handed it back to me and I chugged it down.

“Is the story that hard for you to tell that you had to chug the wine down?”
I laughed again.

“Oh no, not for me, I just know you’re going to want wine after you hear it” I said to her and winked.

“I did something embarrassing huh?” She sighed and laughed.

“It’s just going to be a lot of you to take in” I said to her, standing up. We were done eating.

“Are we going somewhere else?” she asked as I grabbed onto her hand and led her to the front desk. I quickly paid and signed.
I grabbed onto her hand again, I noticed she wasn’t pulling it away or resisting or questioning it. She was accepting it.
I led her outside and into a cab again.

“Where are you heading?” the cab driver asked us.
I told him the address.

“Where are we going John?”

“We are going to the apartment my band and I are staying at right now”

“Why are we going there?” she said sounding a little startled.

“I have somethings for you back there, a whole box actually, I couldn’t bring it with me”

“A box?” she whispered to herself.

We arrived fairly quickly, I paid the driver and led her inside. Up the elevator to the 14th floor.
I opened the door, glad that none of the guys had arrived home yet.

“You know; the building looks ugly from the outside but from the inside it looks quite nice” she said looking around.

“Yeah, our manager chose it for us” I said grabbing the box from the table.

“That’s a fairly large box”

“Yeah it is”

She reached for it but I pulled it back.

“Not yet”

“John” she complained.

“Take a seat” I said to her. She sat down and looked at me, then at the box, then back at me.

“I’ll tell you the story of when you had your first drink”
She looked puzzled.

“I know when I had my first drink, it was the day I turned 21, I had a margarita-” she was beginning to say when she stopped herself.

I just grinned and coughed.

“Wait…that wasn’t my first time then huh?”
I shook my head.

“It was during summer of 2006, in the Arizona desert”