Without You (Short Story)

Chapter 2: Flashbacks and Realizations

Avery

I stood behind the counter, handing the brown paper bag to the little girl as I gave her a warm smile. She looked to be about six or seven, with light blonde hair and pretty brown eyes. She and her Mum were already about to go out of the store a few moments ago, but the little girl whispered something to her Mum and came running back to the display a little while later, pointing out at the single-serving red velvet trifle she wanted to buy. Apparently, her Mum had given her some money so that she could start small by learning how to buy stuff for herself.

"Enjoy your trifle, pumpkin!" I said, and she smiled up at me and blushed a little bit before she went ahead and skipped towards her Mum, who was waiting by the door with a wide smile and two thumbs up for her beaming daughter.

They went out of the store and I stepped back, leaning against the granite counter-tops as I stared at the scene before me. It was a normal Saturday, two weeks after I arrived in town, and I was back at work in the quaint and cozy coffee shop located in the outskirts of London that I had named Hadley's after my mother. My father used to joke with me about it and pretended to be all upset about not naming the shop Andrew's after him instead, but I knew he was just messing around.

I had opened up this business two years ago, right after I earned my accounting degree from uni.

Kyle was there for me, no doubt, even going as far as throwing me one of the best surprise coffee shop-warming parties and taking over to manage the store sometimes when I wasn't around or was busy running errands for the two of us.

Of course, when that part of my life failed, I took the first ticket out of town.

I never once expected that things would turn out like they did. Him falling out of love with me, and me desperately trying to pick up the broken pieces of my heart that I ended up cutting myself with the remnants of it.

I should've known that it was bound to happen anyway, but no one could've ever predicted that kind of outcome between us. He treated me so well; made me feel like I was actually special. Nothing could've ever stopped the foolish eighteen-year-old girl that I once was from falling head over heels in love with him. He was such a nice guy after all, and nothing about him made me doubt his intentions. He could charm anyone he came across.

Unfortunately for me, I was one of those people.

In the five years we've spent together, I knew that what I felt for him was the real thing, and even though it was the first time I felt it, I knew he felt the same. Well, at least he used to.

He used to before he grew so distant from me.

Brushing that horrible thought away, I gave out a small sigh.

When I suddenly found myself packing up everything I owned and moved out of the flat Kyle and I shared together, I left my business in the hands of my twin siblings Archer and Alexis - who were a year younger than me, had just stepped out of uni, and were also enjoying their young lives here in London - while I went running back to my old life to live with our parents for quite some time.

Mum and Dad gladly took me back in for a while, and although they didn't ask much, they knew what was going on with me. I didn't really know how to feel about it at first, but things ended up going quite well and I eventually found it easier to confide in them.

Right after Archer, Alexis, and I finished high school in London, they decided to move back to their old summer house in Manchester, and they've been staying there ever since. They cooked the most delicious food and gave me the best advice for the year that I was with them, and I almost didn't want to leave to have to re-organize my life back in London.