Shayna sat across from Bill and laughed as he told her one his old college stories. The waiter came by and refilled her glass with water and she smiled as he walked away. Bill placed his glass down and smiled,
“So if you don’t mind me asking…how old are you? She smiled,
“I’m 24 and how about you?” He laughed,
“You’ll probably think I’m too old for you…34.” She nodded her head,
“Perfect.” OK, she thought, was that anymore obvious? She didn’t mean to be, sometimes things just slipped out of her mouth. Her heart may not be completely into this but she was going to get on with her life. Whether it was with Bill or someone else who came down the road. She and Nick were over and that was clear. He looked over at her,
“So, no boyfriend?” She shook her head,
“We broke up a little over a month ago.” He nodded,
“How long were you together? If you don’t mind me asking?” She smiled,
“It’s ok, we were together for two years.” He sipped on his drink,
“Must still be tough.” She nodded,
“Yeah, it was the longest relationship I’ve ever had but I’ll be ok.” She didn’t want to talk about it anymore and luckily, he seemed to get the picture and the rest of the day was full of conversation regarding their families and interests.
As soon as she arrived home from work she soaked in a hot bubble bath and turned off the lights and lit candles all around the bathroom. Her feet seemed to hurt that day and she didn’t even want to stand in the shower. Her mind couldn’t help but think about Nick. He was right; she did depend on him too much for her happiness. She learned that when she talked to Bill at lunch that day. Everything she mentioned seemed to have something to do with Nick. She had forgotten the things she liked to do, in fact, it seemed like she quit doing them if Nick wasn’t interested in them. Nick would go out with his friends all the time; she would never put a night out with her friends before Nick unless it was a special occasion. She didn’t even realize she did it. She didn’t realize she wasn’t having fun unless it involved Nick. She gave him too much control over her life and neither one of them knew it. She thought she was just being a good girlfriend, giving and there for him, but that wasn’t the case at all. She closed her eyes and groaned as the phone began to ring. She didn’t have the phone in the bathroom with her because she didn’t want to talk but she didn’t want to sit and listen to it ring as they waited for the answering machine to pick up either but that was what was going to happen; there was no way she was getting out of the bathtub. If it was important they’d call back she thought, as she closed her eyes again and lay back.
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Full Circle
Chapter 18