ten years. [lrh]

seven.

10 years later.

Amanda felt like biggest idiot as soon as she walked out of the cafeteria.

She was still wearing his jacket, that now clung onto her body, the wetness seeping through the fabric to her skin. His ring was still firmly pressed in her grip, and she caught herself absentmindedly running her thumb across the jewels and ridges.

It was 10pm now, and she had no idea where she was. Amanda must've dropped her phone somewhere along the run, because she couldn't feel it anywhere.

Worst of all, her wallet was her phone case.

'You piece of shit.' Amanda muttered to herself, reaching the footpath and looking around. The cafeteria still stood where it was before, fifty meters away on the other side of the road. She was hoping it had somehow disappeared, like Fate had taken the problem in its own hands and eliminated the obstacles for her. That stupid diner with that stupid rockstar sitting inside was an obstacle.

Amanda had to go back. She couldn't think of any other option that didn't involve talking to strangers. Luke was the only person she knew, and maybe she did overreact. It had been a decade. She wasn't allowed to hold on to grudges that long. Lastly, she didn't want to keep Luke's jacket, or his ring. He needed that constant reminder of her.

It was proof that she wasn't completely dead to him.

Push it. One last time. Go.

Amanda reached out for the crossing button again, trying to muster the courage to press it. Cars and buses shot past in front of her, a destination in every single mind that was driving. Her destination was fifty meters away, and even though it seemed like a dead end, it was the only path she felt she had.

Press. It.

A red man entered the empty screen in the traffic light across from her. Amanda took a deep breath, counting down the seconds before it turned green again. She was really putting that man to work, going back and forth.

When she got to the door, again, she saw Luke through the glass, staring down at his cake. It hadn't been touched since she had gone before.

Amanda debated just turning around one last time and making a run for it, but he looked up and caught her eye, looking the least surprised.

She stood outside, hand gripped on the handle, unable to move. It was the way he looked at her. As if his gaze was trying its best to suck her in, but the door was keeping them apart. It was meant to be pulled on her side, not his.

Luke wasn't going to make the first move. Obviously. He wanted her to. And once again, he got what he wanted.

'Forgot your jacket.' Amanda strode towards Luke, keeping her focus trained everywhere but at him.