Her perfectly polished fingers grasped the burning cigarette as she brought it to her lips and inhaled the hot, sweet smoke that she hadn’t tasted in longer than she could remember. Sitting there, across from his cold, hard eyes she wondered exactly what she was doing there- exactly what she had thought in coming back to this place, exactly what she had thought in meeting with a boy that had once meant the world to her, and had hurt her so badly.

“You look thin.” He said, with wandering eyes. She met his gaze, trying to figure out who this person was. He was a shell of the person he had once been- his blue eyes seemed bluer, his hard exterior appeared to be even harder, and she barely recognized this person now. “Everything okay?”

She inhaled again with a shaky hand, still questioning why she had come here, and what questions she was trying to answer. “I’m fine.” She answered, smoothing her long hair out of her eyes. “Do you really care?” Her question came off defensively, and his answer of silence said more than words ever could.

She looked down at her fingernails- the silver polish on her pinky was beginning to chip, and she smoothed it down hoping to preserve the polish as long as she could. Looking up, she noticed he was staring at her with curious eyes, and she exhaled with a heavy sigh. The awkward air between them suffocated, leaving her breathing short and strained. She didn’t know what to say, what to do, what she was even doing there. All she could do was puff of the cigarette he had offered her after sitting down, and hope that she figured out what she was doing here soon.

“How is-“ Pausing, he looked in her direction, making a failed attempt at conversation. “I don’t remember his name.”

“He’s fine.” She answered quickly, not even bothering to let his name pass her lips. What would telling her ex-boyfriend the name of her current love really do? “We’re fine.” He nodded, unsure of what he was really nodding about, and again there was that awkward silence that no one could escape. “How is-“ She thought about his girlfriend’s name, but all that could come to her lips were the names that she had once used in anger, so she stopped mid sentence.

He watched her lips, studied her face waiting for her to finish, but the words just hung in mid air, until he met them and answered the question she really wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer to. “We’re good.”

“Good.” She said, almost automatically like a recording.

The silence entered the room again, and she looked down at the ring on her finger, the one from the boy she loved. The diamond glistened in the sunlight, and she let out a little smile as she thought of his face and how he was probably sprawled out in their bed, asleep in the morning light. But instead of lying in his arms, she was here in the midst of silence, with unsure thoughts of why she had really come here. She had been the one who had sought him out, she had been the one who had invited him here, and now she was the one hiding in silence, wondering what she had really been thinking.

“Sha-“ She looked up, stopping him in mid sentence this time. He was biting his lip in nervousness. “What’s wrong?”

She took in a deep breath, and softened her gaze at him- he didn’t deserve the icy look that she had kept upon her brow. “I don’t know what I’m doing here.” She told her, extinguishing the ember on the butt of her cigarette. “I thought that maybe when I came here, when I saw you, I would know what to say. But I’m just as confused as ever when it comes to you.”

She sighed again, and looked over at him. The hardness that was there was gone now, and for a moment she saw the guy she had once known- the guy she had once loved, and she tried to remember exactly what had happened to them that had lead them to those cold moments that had filled her memories of him. “What is going on?” He asked softly, reaching his hand across the table to touch hers softly in a caring fashion.

“What happened between us?” She pondered, looking up at him with an innocent curiosity.

He shrugged unknowingly. “We drifted apart, I guess.” He paused to think about this, “It just, I don’t think it was meant to be. You know?”

She nodded, thinking about this and wondered if it was true. “Do you ever think about why things happened the way they did?” She questioned, tilting her head to the side. “I mean, why if things were going to happen like that, end like that, why we were together in the first place?”

He shook his head. “No.” he told her simply, and truthfully. “I think things happened the way that they did, because they did. Because we needed them to happen.” His fingers grazed her own, and she looked up at him with wide eyes.

“Like fate?” Her voice softly asked, almost smiling.

He thoughts about this for a moment, “Like life.” He told her, “We made choices, and those choices led us to right now.” He looked at her with serious eyes. “To you sitting across from me in the lovely establishment here.” A little laugh came out of both of them, and for the first time in a very long time a little smile was shared between them, and there was no awkward air, or strained silences.

They sat there for a moment in a soft silence, and looked at each other without the icy eyes they had shared. Both had changed so much, but yet were still the same people they once were- he still bit his lip in nervousness, and her bangs still feel in her eyes, hiding the innocent she would never lose. The two of them had gone through so much since the days they were together, but as they looked in each other’s eyes they were both taken back into the days of their own love. Now, even though those days were long gone and they had moved on, the memories of those times could not be forgotten. His hand rested on her own, and as she looked in his direction- at his blue eyes, and familiar face, it was then she knew why she had sought him out and come here.

She glanced down at the watch on her wrist, and then to his gaze. “I’ve got to go.” She said, softly. “I have somewhere I need to be.”

He nodded. “I know.” And the look in his eyes, told her that he did- he knew she had answered the questions she had when it came to him.

She stood up, twirling the ring on her finger, and then looked at him one last time. “Thank you.” She said, and then like that she was gone, leaving him not just alone at that table, but leaving him in a special place in her heart, where he would always remain. She had finally realized what she needed to, every question answered.

Opening the heavy door of her apartment, she tossed her keys on the table beside the door, and looked around at her surroundings. It was exactly where she wanted to be- the sun streamed in through the open window and she looked out into the morning. Cars sped by below, and she watched them for a moment wondering what important moments they were speeding towards, and if they too where on there way to find the answers they needed. Sitting in that coffee shop he had told her that they hadn’t been meant to be, but she knew now that they had. They had meant to be that defining moment that led her to her present. He was the on who had taught he so many things about love, and herself. About heartbreak, and moving on- he had taught her how to love the one she did now. The one she would marry, and have her happily ever after.

In the bedroom, she knew he was asleep- the only person she could ever dream of spending her forever with. As she rounded the corner, she saw him she as she had imagined- he was sprawled out in their bed with the morning sun lighting his face. Pulling off her shirt, and the remnants of her past, she slid into the bed beside him and took her place in his arms, feeling his tight grasp wrap around her.

He stirred slightly, and opened his eyes to see the girl before him, smiling. “Where were you?” He asked, yawning slightly as he woke up.

She smiled at him, fussing with his hair and kissing his cheek with her cool lips that were still chilled from the outside air. “Right here.” She answered, snuggling in closer to him. He followed fashion, holding her tightly. “I never left right here.” The two of them laid there, drenched in the morning sun, and caught in each other and the love they shared. There was nothing else but each other and the future they would share. Fate had led her to this moment, she knew, and she couldn’t help but be glad that the past had made way for these moments.