Page 11 of Ready or Not
I didn’t know, but something in me trusted him enough to share.
“I’m sure,” I nodded, releasing a slow breath as the stress in my shoulders gradually dissolved with each motion.
"He was... I guess you could say he was my high school sweetheart. My first everything. Dated senior year, then we broke up second year of college and then got back together again, only for the pattern to repeat.”
He gently squeezed my hand as if to offer comfort in his touch.
“Things were… complicated, to say the least,” I continued. “We—well, I thought we could make it work, but in the end, it just wasn’t meant to be. Too many differences, too many expectations. Too many times, he was caught up in his own world, leaving me to fend for myself. I was always trying to fit into his life, his plans, his dreams, and I lost sight of what I wanted along the way. Eventually, it all fell apart. Now, at twenty-six years old, I realize that my happiness shouldn’t be dependent on someone else… That I accepted for less because… he was my first… love.”
“Woah…”
Letting out a bitter chuckle, I blinked away the tears that wanted to fall. “It’s funny how you think you know what love is supposed to feel like at such a young age because the movies always make it seem so easy, only to realize years later that maybe it was just infatuation masquerading as something more profound. But… Hey, enough about my tragic love story. I don’t want to bore you with my drama on our first meeting.”
“You’re not boring me at all.”
Using his thumb, he brought my face to look up at his.
“You could never bore me with anything you gotta tell me,” he whispered, his eyes searching mine with a depth that made my heart skip a beat. “I want to know everything about you, the good and the bad. It's what makes you who you are, and I want to understand you better.”
His thumb caressing my cheek felt like a gentle breeze; it soothed and calmed me in a way I hadn’t expected.
Making me realize that I was… I was falling for him after one night’s hang-out.
Fuck.
That was terrifying.
It’d been so long since I felt butterflies or my heart race, and yet here he was, stirring up emotions that I thought would take forever to resurface because of how deeply it was buried.
I swallowed hard.
This felt too soon, too fast, but with him...
“If anything,” he murmured, interrupting my train of thought. “You sharing your beautiful story with me makes me feel like I’m lacking in the love department.”
“How?”
“You shared something personal, so I should do the same to level the playing field, right?” He chuckled, his gaze holding mine captive. “Well, get ready for this heartbreaker: I’m twenty-eight and I’ve never been in a serious relationship. Never experienced a heartbreak before.”
His revelation caught me off guard.
A man like him, charming and kind-hearted, had never been in a serious relationship?
Now it made sense why he seemed so unaffected by the weight of emotional baggage; he was carrying an empty suitcase.
“It’s not that I haven’t tried or wanted to,” he confessed, pulling his hand away from my face to rub his neck, and my mind cursed my sudden eagerness to feel his touch once more. “But it just never seemed to work out. I’ve dated here and there, tried pursuing something serious in college… But nothing ever clicked enough to pursue something long-term. It’s hard to explain, but everything was… casual.”
“Love has a funny way of sneaking up on you when you least expect it.” I reached out to lightly squeeze his hand. “Maybe you just haven’t met the right person yet.”
“Or maybe the universe was telling me I wasn’t ready.”
“Well.. Are you ready now?”
He nodded, his gaze softening as he looked at me.
“Absolutely,” he whispered, his voice barely above a breath. “I been ready.”
I felt a sudden heat take over my body as his words registered within me. Maintaining eye contact, I found myself lost in the depth of his gaze, feeling a connection forming between us that was undeniable. It was as if the universe had conspired to bring us together tonight, igniting a spark that neither of us could ignore.
