I should’ve left.
Ben looked down.
“I liked you.”
I actually laughed, but he continued.
“I was too much of a coward to let my friends know. I’m really sorry.”
“You made me leave my school. Don’t dress that up as a crush.”
I walked out.
I should’ve left.
***
The following evening, Ben returned with
coffee.
I didn’t take it.
The next evening, he brought flowers.
He kept coming.
Never barging in, never demanding anything.
Just apologizing.
Finally, I snapped.
I didn’t take it.
“If you mean you’re sorry, stop coming here!”
He nodded.
“Okay.”
And he did.
That mattered more than I wanted it to.
***
Three months later, I ran into him at a diner.
Ben sat alone with fries and a book.
I ran into him at a diner.
He saw me but didn’t stand, wave, or come over.
My former classmate just nodded and went back to reading. For some reason, that annoyed me.
I ordered coffee. Then I carried it to his booth.
“You read now?”
He looked up.
“I always read.”
“You read now?”
“You made fun of me for reading.”
“I was an idiot.”
“That’s becoming your answer to everything.”
“It’s accurate.”
I sat down. I told myself it
would be 10 minutes.
It lasted two hours!
“I was an idiot.”
Ben had become an accountant.
He’d moved away after college, married briefly, divorced, then returned after his father died.
He asked about work, my sister, and Mom.
That caught my attention.
“You remember my mom?”
Something crossed his face.
“A little.”
That caught my attention.
“She barely knew you.”
He changed the subject.
I noticed, but let it go.
After that, I agreed to have coffee with him, but I was ready to leave at the first excuse.
We started meeting up once a week.
Then dinner.
Then actual dates.
I didn’t forgive him all at once.
“She barely knew you.”
The first time he started apologizing again, I stopped him.
“I don’t need you to keep saying sorry.”
“I feel like I should.”
