💔 do one for each and fuck me up
It had been years, she was sure. Not that she was counting or anything. What was it, four, five years? Something like that. But there he was, standing in front of her like it had only been five minutes. His grin was as youthful as ever but there was something different about him; he was taller, somehow, or happier, or something. Did it hurt to think that the fact that without her in his life, he was happier? Maybe a little.
He saw her and made his way towards her.
“I thought work functions were below you.” Were her first words to him after four or five years.
Her second words were, “What are you doing here?”
Divorced before thirty was not something he had imagined would happen to him. Maybe divorced before forty. But divorced at thirty?
And then there she was, his ex-wife, looking as beautiful and delectable as she had the last day he had seen her, wafting around kissing cheeks and touching shoulders. He glanced around the room, noticing Tegan, her best friend, making eye contact and then she was looking at him and a small smile graced her cheeks.
He clenched his jaw and cleared his throat for the inevitable meeting before she was standing before him, a hand on his shoulder and a soft kiss pressed to his cheek. Don’t be petty, he reminded himself, still slightly bitter at the way they had ended things. Don’t be petty.
“Ah, good to know our divorce hasn’t instilled a sense bitterness in you.”
Of course she would still be beautiful.
He had left her crying, he remembered. And she walked away with her shoulders hunched and her head bowed and yet, she was still beautiful.
“Cilla,” his voice was soft. She always made him softer. His hand wanted to reach out to slowly stroke down her arm or touch her cheek but he stopped it. An awkwardness hung in the air and Ethan slowly shuffled from one foot to the other. “Are you well?”
It was then that he noticed the ring glinting on her finger, sitting on her fourth like it was a little secret she didn’t want to tell. His heart sank and he smiled instead.