Page 95 of Semblance

As I pushed around a fry into a puddle of ketchup, Justin snuck up from behind and sat down in the seat across from me.

“Justin!” I was so delighted that I almost broke out into tears. “I missed you.”

“Did you really?” he asked, skeptical.

“Of course you bonehead,” I replied. “I hated the way we left things since I last saw you.”

Justin nodded. “I’ve been a dick,” he said, “And I’m sorry. You just have to understand that it’s difficult for me to look at you right now.”

I nodded, suddenly feeling a morose ache clenching at my heart. “I’m sorry as well,” I replied.

“For what?” Justin asked. “For being true to how you feel?”

I had no response for him.

“I’ll always love you Aria, that’s never going to change,” he said. “Buy maybe after some time it won’t hurt so much anymore. You’re the most amazing person I know—that’s why I fell in love with you in the first place—and to have you completely out of my life would be the stupidest thing for me to ever do. But I just need a little time.”

“And then we can be friends again?” I asked.

“I really hope so,” Justin replied. “I just need to stop hurting every time I look at you. But I would like to imagine the possibility that I’ll be able to get over you one day.”

“You can smell my shit, if that’ll help,” I joked. “Whenever I need to get over someone, I just picture them taking a shit on the toilet and that knocks them off their pedestal. I’m offering you one better.”

Justin flashed me an awkward look. “You’re a strange girl.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I know.”

“I appreciate the offer to inhale the fragrance of your poop, but I think this is one wound that can only be healed by time apart.”

“But you’ll promise when you’re ready, you’ll call me right?” I asked, “And then we can hang out together like old times?”

“Whenever I get over you, I’ll call you,” Justin agreed.

I leaned back in my chair and smiled. “I can live with that.”

Justin looked at me with longing eyes, before rising from his seat. He was about to walk away but paused and turned around.

“You want me to smell your shit…really?” he asked incredulously.

“Hey, you should know by now that I always try to think outside the box.”

“Forget the box. You’re thinking outside of a different universe.”

“Call me soon,” I replied.

Justin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Goodbye Aria.”

I watched him walk away from the table, his shoulders slumped and his heart broken while tears streamed down the side of my cheeks and onto my plate.

#

“Take you for a ride honey?” Calisto said as the silver S Class Mercedes convertible pulled up next to me. I had just finished my counterpoint theory lecture.

“Calisto,” I said, surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“Shadow wanted to make sure you made it home safely,” Calisto said. “Since you don’t have a car, he’s worried that you might encounter some unruly individuals on public transit; people shadier than the usual pocket jerking pervert.”

“He really is the protective type, isn’t he?” I sighed as I opened the door to the car and entered.

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