Blayne

I had been on the laptop typing away random thoughts when I heard someone coming into the room. I knew who it was before I even heard his voice.

“Let me guess,” I said, without looking away from the laptop. “Chloe let you in.”

“I just needed to talk Blayne,” Chase said. The bandage covering the cut on his cheek was a new addition to his face. “Can you give me five minutes to explain myself?”

I heaved a sigh out of frustration, and set my work aside, turned toward him, ready to listen to whatever he had to say. “Go on,” I said. “You have five minutes.”

“I saw you two at some event,” Chase said. “I saw you and I saw him, and I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to get to know you but someone told me you were engaged to Nick. It felt to me like I’d never get a chance. I decided to let it go but then, sometime later I went to the men’s room and I saw Nick making out with some girl from the same party. I realized what he was doing and it made me mad. I just felt like maybe I should tell you but I wasn’t even sure you’d believe me.

“Then, I had a friend find out some history about you and I found out about you. And the more I read you, the more I started to learn about you Blayne, and the more I wanted you. That night, the first night we met, when you left Nick, it wasn’t a coincidence. I was the one who set Nick up with Sydney. I even made sure there were pictures, just in case you didn’t get home when you were supposed to. I would have made sure you found out one way or another. I don’t know why I did all that Blayne; I’ve never done this before. I just couldn’t bear the thought of never getting to know you. Or worse, that that bastard would keep doing this to you.

“So, I was there, just in case, waiting when you walked out of Nick’s place. I wanted to make sure you were okay. That’s all. That’s why I followed you to the motel. It was because of me Blayne and when I saw you all alone that night, crying, I wondered if I made a mistake. But when I found out more about Nick, I wasn’t sorry anymore. I saw what a jerk he was to you that day and I saw how you reacted to him, how you tried to make it sound like it didn’t bother you, like Nick isn’t that person but we both know that he is Blayne. We know he’s not a good person, not for you, and you’ve known it for a while now, you told me yourself. You’ve had plenty of chances to go back to him but you didn’t.

“He obviously wants you! So, what’s stopping you? You chose to stay single over being with him. You chose to stay with me over being with him, Blayne because you know how much you mean to me. I’m not lying about that. I’ve never lied about that. I love you more than I’ve loved any woman I’ve ever been with. And I know, I’m not the perfect person, and I know I should have told you sooner, but I’ve lost so many good things…I didn’t…I didn’t want to lose you too.”

“Is that all?”

“For now.”

“You know what,” I said. “Chase I’m starting to hate surprises. And I’m starting to think that people, who have these surprises in store for me, are just not the right match for me. Look at what happened with Nick. If I let this go, you’re going to do something like this again! Because you obviously do this a lot! You met me and you never told me anything and you’ve been lying to me ever since! How can I possibly trust you again?”

“I wasn’t lying to you about everything,” Chase said. “Just this one thing. I’m still the same guy, Blayne. I’m still the same guy you met once when you were sad and I am still the same guy you brushed off so many times, and I’m still the same guy you started seeing because you saw something in me. Because you wanted to be with me.”

“Did you maneuver the whole work arrangement too?” I asked. “Did you somehow make Chloe give me Brenda’s card?”

“I may have spread the word.”

“I don’t know what to say to you,” I said. “I don’t know if everything I felt for you was even true. It feels like something you manipulated.”

“Our love isn’t something I could manipulate,” Chase said. “What matters is how you feel about me now, and how I feel about you. That’s what you need to focus on when you start deciding the fate of this relationship.”

“How are you not getting this?”

Chase walked toward me. “I get it,” he said. “I do. It’s just, by the time I realized what I was doing, I was already in too deep. I’m sorry, Blayne. I’m sorry I made things harder for you and I’m sorry about the whole manipulation bit but please, you need to think about this before you decide to throw all of this away.”

“That’s not what I’m doing—”

But my words hadn’t finished when Chase kissed me on the forehead. “My five minutes are over,” he said. “I hope you can come to a decision soon, because I really miss you.”

He said this and started walking out the door. “I’ll be waiting.”

Then, he stopped again and turned back to me. “I found something that belongs to you at the loft,” he said and I recognized the box with the purple ribbon flowers. For some reason, I felt embarrassed. It was a side of me I didn’t want to show. “I couldn’t resist looking inside, after all, I gave it to you. You saved every single one of those fortunes in here. From the first day, to the last day I got this delivered to your doorstep. I did it because I wanted you to keep me in your heart. But you've always had me in there, Blayne. Thank you for that.” He reached into his pocket and there was something in his hand. He opened his palm and held it up for me to see. “You’re missing something from your collection,” he said. I realized those strips of paper were the very first fortunes we opened the first day we met. “You should keep them with the rest.”

I guess I wasn’t the only sentimental fool left.

And then he was gone.

That night, I waited, but there was no fortune cookie at my door to help me decide.