Firecracker

-20- ✔️

I DIDN'T KNOW HOW I WAS supposed to feel about all of this. Michael marrying someone else? Even after we had moved past everything and were in such a good place together?

All that was gone now.

All for some red head, Victoria.

Michael was still holding my hand when her and her parents had shown up at the resturant and joined our round table for dinner. I knew the Clifford's meant well, they really did, but this? My life wasn't for them to rearrange. First I was marrying their son and now I wasn't?

I snapped out of my thoughts at the sound of Gerald's voice, realizing that he had made a comment about his daughter being shy.

I watched as Michael looked over at her and she looked up a couple seconds after, turning her head so that they had made eye contact.

She smiled at him and I felt something in my chest tighten uncomfortably. My eyes flitted over to Michael, and I watched the color drain from his face.

He looked like a ghost within a 3 second time span.

The f*ck...?

I subtly nudged my shoulder against his, wanting to get his attention, yet he didn't move. His eyes didn't stray from Victoria's and I felt an uncomfortable realization that maybe they were having a connection.

As the waiter approached with everyone's pre-ordered dishes, I slipped my hand out of his and looked at my dish.

Throughout the dinner, I kept my head lowered and my posture stiff, not sure how I was supposed to wrap my mind around this.

I didn't want Michael with anyone else. That was the truth.

And was I just supposed to move again like it wasn't a big deal? Because it was a big deal.

Victoria seemed to really impress Karen and Daryl throughout the night as well. She kept conversation light and simple yet was able to delve into the topic of their empire with ease.

Michael also sat quiet, but was much more talkative then I was. His mother, occassionally scolding him a few times, was able to get him to speak, but it was like I wasn't even there anymore. No one had acknowledged me for the rest of dinner, which I was fine with.

"Excuse me a moment.." I spoke my first words of the night quietly to the dinner table, wanting to go to the bathroom to escape. Maybe there's a big enough window in their for me to climb through...

No one noticed as I left the table, and instead of making a beeline for the bathroom like I had originally planned, I headed straight for the exit instead, knowing that no one would even notice.

They would probably even wonder why there was an extra meal on their tab to begin with.

*

*

*

*
"Then when she walked in I watched their eyes connect. And they... he, looked at her like he used to look at me. And I just... was forgotten about"

"Sweetheart," my mom paused to cough into her arm, "Maybe he was just shocked by the news. You know-"

"He. Doesn't. Love me anymore" I interrupted her, swallowing the lump in my throat.

After I had left the resturant, I realized that Michael was in possesion of the car keys, and I decided that I would just walk to the hospital, that happened to be about two or three blocks away, and visit my mom. Then grab a cab and get back to the house.