Locked Fates

04. four

After sending him her room number, Joanna got up to wash her ruined make-up off her face. She changed out of the powder blue dress she had been wearing, opting for a massive hoodie instead. Her 160mm platform heels got swapped for fuzzy socks before she curled up into bed, waiting to hear from Giuliano.

Thirty minutes after her last text from Giuliano, Joanna's phone lit up with his message, telling her he was outside her door. Joanna's heart thumped against her sternum as she went to open the door. This had never been her best idea, but now making Giuliano come see her face to face felt like the worst thing she had ever come up with. When Joanna finally opened the door, she was staring right at Giuliano leaning against the wall. They studied each other, neither of them saying a word.

'Where do you know them from,' Giuliano suddenly broke the silence. That's what he was leading with?

'What?'

'What were you doing in my friends' hotel room?'

'They wanted us to— How is that your concern?'

'Do you really want me to answer that?' Fuck. Joanna felt his words in her pussy. 'Why didn't you go out,' Giuliano asked, changing the subject and shifting his eyes away from her blushing face.

'I ruined my make-up.' Joanna raised her eyes as Giuliano did his best to conceal his guilt, realising he was the reason she had cried her make-up off.

'We're going to get you something to eat, I don't think I saw you order anything.'

Joanna's initial reaction was to ask if he had been monitoring her room, but obviously the answer was yes, he had. She didn't need to make a big deal out of it, so instead she just said, 'Dressed like this?'

'I'll wait for you to get changed, don't take your time, though.'

Joanna slipped into her room, inhaling and exhaling as she counted to ten. That wasn't as terrible as Joanna had imagined, based on their texts and her breakdown earlier. Joanna changed into a white long sleeve maxi dress, pairing it with her blue Chypres. Subconsciously, Joanna still wanted to impress Giuliano, making her take down her bun and fluffing out her blowout. She didn't have time to change bags, so she just grabbed her phone and exited her room.

'I'm ready.'

'I see,' Giuliano replied, his eyes following every detail of her dress. 'Though the white might be a bit tricky since I thought of getting Indian food.'

Outside the restaurant, Joanna told Giuliano she would rather take the food to go and eat on the beach. They both went with what their host recommended them, knowing they were mostly there to talk. As they waited for their food, their conversation did not slow down once. Giuliano told her about the strides he had made in his career and Joanna couldn't lie, she liked what she was hearing.

They sat down on the elevated pavement, their feet on the rocky beach. The city lights reflected on the pitch black waters, but illuminated the boardwalk brightly. Giuliano unboxed their food, ready to charge for his steaming curry, but Joanna stopped him.

'Do you want to pray for our food?' Frankly, Giuliano didn't want to, but Joanna was religious, so he put down his bread.

'Father, we thank you for this food you've given us, bless our meal and this time we'll spend together. Amen.'

'Amen,' Joanna chirped, smiling from ear to ear. Joanna was beaming so hard, Giuliano had a hard time believing that less than an day ago they were not on speaking terms and less than an hour ago they were arguing over text. 'I love hearing you pray.'

Giuliano raised an eyebrow, but didn't know what to respond. How do you react to a compliment about a prayer? 'Thanks?'

They ate in silence, because they were both ravenously hungry, but they were also gathering their thoughts. Giuliano didn't know what he could say, since Joanna was the one that had ended the relationship. Again.

'I didn't expect to see you tonight,' Joanna started, her eyes intently on the food. 'You know I thought I had seen you this morning and my heart literally stopped. But it was Bryce.'

'Why were you crying tonight? What did I do?' Giuliano hated how vulnerable Joanna made him feel, as dysfunctional as it was, he wasn't himself without her.

'You didn't do anything. I think we're okay now, aren't we?'

'We're not okay.' There was nothing okay about where they were. 'We're broken up, we haven't spoken in more than a year, we were just fighting after not having seen each other in a year. Don't say that we're okay.

'You stopped talking to me.'

'Why wouldn't I?'

+

here we are again... here we are again...
around and around and around we go
nothing new nothings changed, same old fcking sht