Page 5 of A Love Unfaltering

“Welcome, madam. I’ve been expecting you,” he said, with a dumb fake British accent that made me laugh.

I missed the stupid bits like that, the joking around and laughing and just existing within each other’s presence.

I climbed out of the car and nodded to him in thanks before we both walked off toward the restaurant.

“You look lovely tonight,” he said, which made those butterflies dance in my stomach once again. I wasn’t used to him saying stuff like that; I had only been used to him making fun of my appearance, even jokingly, and I had done the same.

Him being earnest like this was, well, it was a welcome change, but it still felt so different from what I was used to.

“You look wonderful, too,” I said, looking up at him with a smile. He smiled back, and I remembered all the years of walking with him like this. I remembered going to restaurants, going to prom with him, and all the time I’d spent with him.

I had more love for this man than anyone else on the planet, and yet I’d never really been able tolovehim.

Until, perhaps, now.

We walked into the restaurant and were greeted by a hostess. Jared’s request for a table for two led us across the restaurant toward a lovely table at the back against a window. A waitress came by not long after we were seated.

“Hey! My name’s Jamie, and I’ll be your waitress for tonight. What can I start you off with for drinks?” she asked, to which Jared and I perused the menu.

“I’ll have a Shirley Temple,” I said, looking up to the woman with a smile. She nodded and then looked toward Jared, who ordered a Coke.

It was interesting seeing him avoid alcohol.

“Do you miss it?” I eventually asked once the waitress had walked away from the table.

Jared looked over at me with a confused expression and asked, “Miss what?”

“Alcohol. I know that you drank pretty heavily for a little while,” I said cautiously, knowing very well that it might be a sensitive subject.

Apparently, it wasn’t. He didn’t yell or seem aggravated like I knew he would have before. Instead, he simply shook his head, and a slight smile touched his lips.

“Not really. It wasn’t that tough for me to stop drinking, which I know sounds strange. But I was so committed to changing myself for the better that the alcohol was the easiest part of it all. The hardest part was learning how to get rid of my arrogance and attitude, things like that.”

I nodded along slowly, listening and taking in what he was explaining. It made sense; his personality for the longest time had been based around witty arrogance and spite, and this reformed version of him seemed to be a complete turnaround.

“You don’t seem to have changed a bit since I last saw you,” he said, bringing me out of my reverie. “Still as kind as you always were, and still just as annoying.”

He stuck his tongue out at me, to which I returned the favor, and we both laughed.

A steady silence fell over our table until our drinks arrived, and I took a sip of mine, my eyes locking onto him.

He seemed nervous. I knew I was as well, but I hoped it wasn’t that obvious.

“So, why now?” I finally asked softly, keeping my eyes on his face, and eventually met his eyes as he looked toward me.

There was a vulnerability in his that I wasn’t used to seeing inanybody.

“I, well, I don’t know,” he said after a belated moment of pause, but it felt like he was hiding something. His eyes flicked away from mine, just like they have always done when he’d tell me a lie.

It was how I’d caught him in many over the years.

I didn’t question him on this one, though. This was a massive thing for him to go through, and if he wasn’t ready to tell me why, I could at least understand that.

“I wish I had done it sooner, though.” He said, and his voice sounded… Constricted.

After his next sentence, I really understood why.

“Maybe then I would’ve had a chance with you sooner.”

---