the story of us |h.s.|

06 - begin again

"cause you throw your head back laughing,
like a little kid,
[...]
i've been spending the last eight months
thinking all love ever does is break and burn and end
but [...] i watched it begin again"

Harry.

"I can't believe you two got married! And have a family together? Wow...just wow." Mia breathes out, surprised...and is that...maybe a little bit of jealousy too?

I whip my head to look at Nadine. Did Mia seriously just say that? That's probably the biggest jump to a conclusion that I've ever heard.

"Yeah," she forces out a soft laugh, before nudging my hand with hers, "It's been what, five years?" A nervous smile dances across her lips as she speaks.

Oh my god. Is she insane? Why would she lie about something like this? We've barely been in each other's lives again for a week.

Does she really still care what Mia thinks about her?

She was always a bitch to Nadine, especially after we got together. Probably because she had a crush on me. From the way she's eyeing me now, I'd say it still hasn't gone away. And honestly? I couldn't really care less about her.

Good to know I've still got it.

Anyways, back to Nadine. Why is she lying about something like this? She hates me for what I did to her.

I hate me for what I did to her.

Like a lightbulb went off in my brain, inspiration struck.

Two ex-lovers with a difficult history reconnect after ten years apart, only to find that they've both moved on. Through some coincidental happenstance they find themselves stuck with each other, pretending to be madly in love for show. The more the charade goes on, are they really pretending all that much anymore?

That's what I'm going to write my book about.

So, I move my hand to the small of her back, playing the doting husband.

For this to work, I'm going to at least need her to like me.

Almost immediately, she stiffened. The tips of my fingers feel light and electric against the fabric of her coat. Everything about this feels...right; familiar.

"I thought you two were with other people though?" Mia respositions her hold on her purse.

"Well we were, for a little while, but we just found our way back to each other and have been together ever since." She lies, again. I see the corners of her mouth tug upwards into that of a smile, so I mirror her.

I can tell by her expression Mia isn't buying a single word that comes out of Nadine's mouth, so I come to her rescue, making up some bullshit lie. I also figured that now was the time to use some of that classic charm she used to know.

"More like I found my way back to her. I just..had to come back for her. Nothing seemed to feel as real as this did. It was just...wrong. I'm just lucky that she gave me a second chance. She was always there for me. Right where I left her."

I tilt my head down to look into Nadine's eyes, trying to display my most sincere smile. When my eyes lock with her, my breath gets caught in my throat, though I hope she doesn't notice that it did.

This is the first time I've really looked at her since the first time we met, and I'm silently kicking myself for not doing it sooner. Her eyes are the color of rich chocolate. A small button nose sits in the center of her face, just above her lush baby pink lips that are parted ever so slightly.