From Here On Out

three

"I'm all you got. I'm all you'll ever need. I'm all you'll ever have. "

Two and a Half Years Ago

The may rain hit him hard as he ran into a small nearby bookstore, standing in the doorway soaked.

The lady at the register couldn't hold back her laugh as she walked over to help him out, "Go out for a dance in the rain or somethin?" She asks, giggling as she grabs a towel for him.

Everything about her lit him right up, the cold soaking to his skin turned warm when her hand brushed him.

"Just came from work, forgot an umbrella."

She looked up through her lashes as they sat on chairs beside each other. Something about one another making the other fall deeper and deeper into curiosity.

"Where do you work?" She asks, having him stand and take his now see- through grey shirt off. Offering him a dry spare she had in back.

"The bar down the street."

"I'm Tris by the way." She says, smiling at him. Watching him put on the blue shirt, with the bookstore's logo on it.

"Tobias." His smile made her feel butterflies-- a feeling she had yet to ever experience.

After minutes of resting in the heated store, as the weather outside was still dipping into the low forties as day turned to night.

"How are you doing now?" Tris asks, shutting some lights off in back and walking back to Tobias.

Her smile, her eyes, just her being making him feel an indescribable feeling.

"Can't complain," He says, making her smile grow. "so I won't."

/    /    /    /

Present Day

"Tris, why would you put yourself in that position?" Tris's fiancé asks, as they get dinner ready together.

Tris shakes her head, walking the bowl of salad to the dinning table. "I wanted to see him, Al."

"You left that person and the person you were with him long ago. Why go backwards now?"

His answer triggered a question of her own inside herself. Who was I when I was with him?

"I just wanted to see him put back together again I guess," Tris sighed. "it's been a long time since I've seen that."

Al sees how his soon to be wife still feels about Tobias, as she talks about him and as she thinks about him. But he also knows the pain and heartache that man put her through, and somehow that dulls the jealousy, knowing she'll never be able to forget that.

"Is he still drinking?"

Tris shakes her head, "No."

She leaves it at that, not mentioning that this was the time Rehab worked. Keeping out the part about truly becoming sober after her last walk out on him.

"Does he still work at that bar he did when you guys were together?" Al asks, as they sit down.

"I didn't ask," Tris answers spreading out her napkin across her lap. "but since he's a recovering alcoholic.. I'm guessing not."

The conversation ended there, both of them getting too uncomfortable to continue the topic.

Dinner passed by slowly as they ate in silence, washing dishes Tris can remember the times that she made dinner with Tobias. All the dancing around, and how loud the radio would be playing as they laughed together.