Chain of Hearts (BWWM)

Surprise Surprise

"I love you." I stared at him as the words escaped his lips. How easily the words rolled off his tongue. How good the words sounded after leaving his mouth. I turned my head when he caught me staring as he ended his call. "That was Mon, sorry about that."

"It's fine."

I smiled politely and looked outside the window, resting my chin on my joint hands. I glanced at the glorious brightness that the day offered. The many people that strolled by, laughing with each other or walking with a purpose. The gorgeous women who collected stare after stare, swishing their hair and breaking hearts. I turned my head back to the guy that had broken mine. "...to start?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I said.. where do you want to start?"

"Ethan, look. I'm here just to answer your questions and keep it moving. So ask your questions and keep it moving." I flashed a smile as he sucked his teeth whilst nodding.

The waiter came over to us to take our orders. "I'll just take the cajun chicken deli special without the mayonnaise." He looked over at me. "She'll take a BLT with honey mustard and instead of extra tomato, can she have cucumber on that? Oh and if you could hold the mayonnaise on that as well." The waiter took our menus and walked away. I stared at Ethan in shock.

He remembered such a small detail about me. I'd loved that sandwich since forever and the mere fact that he remembered such a thing made my heart do somersaults. I inwardly cursed myself for reacting in that way. "I did get that right... right?"

"Y-you got it perfect." I nervously bit my lip and started tapping my fingers.

"Don't be nervous. We used to do this all the time, remember? Spend our entire lunches together talking-."

"Why do you keep doing that?" I asked exasperatedly.

He peered at me innocently. "Doing what?"

"Bringing up things from our relationship. Stop it." He leaned back in his chair and sighed heavily.

He started playing with his straw and swished his drink around a few times. The tapping of my fingers grew louder as the silence spoke volumes. I tucked another strand of hair that had escaped my ponytail, behind my ear. I took a sip of my black coffee and peered at him over the beverage. His gaze was locked on mine. "How's your dad?"

"He's good. He's doing well... he's uh, he's actually still in Seattle." he nodded. "He's on his own now after mom died but he's doing okay."

He reached over the table and rested his hand on top of mine. I moved to jerk back but he held on. "I'm sorry about your mom. As soon as I heard about it, I wanted nothing more than to be with you and be there for you but I knew that would've been the last thing you'd have wanted. She was a great woman and despite the fact that it's three years late, I am so sorry for the loss."

I held his hand and squeezed it gently. "Thank you, Ethan."

"I can only imagine how hard it must have been."

"Possibly the hardest period of my life. We thought she was getting better, we really did but-" I shrugged slowly. "I guess not."

He smiled at me weakly. "I'm pretty sure she's proud of you. I'm proud of you. You've really done well for yourself."

"I'm trying." Our gazes locked for a few seconds. "What about your parents? How's your mom? And Nathan? It feels weird having two of the Langston brothers but not the third."

"The knuckle head actually joined the army."

I nearly spat out my drink. "What?!"

"Yeah. We tried to talk him out of it but there was no changing Nate's mind. You know what he's like when he has his mind set on something."