It was another few minutes before we made it to the carpeted dining room. Tamaki set me down gently in front of all of the food that was laid out on the table.
"Oh wow. This looks delicious!" I beamed, excited for a quiet, exquisite dinner. I noticed several Japanese dishes as well as some of my favorite French dishes.
"I asked the chef to prepare a little bit of everything. I hope that's okay." He smiled. I grabbed a plate and immediately began piling food onto it.
"Of course! I'm starved!" I looked over my shoulder to see Tamaki shooing away a few servants who I assumed were trying to prepare a plate for me. I blushed, embarrassed, but didn't say anything about it. My friend quickly prepared his own plate as well and led me to the end of a long table where we happily ate together.
"Do you remember how we would have a scheduled weekly dinner together every week?" Tamaki asked. I laughed.
"Of course! Do you remember how we never needed to schedule it because inevitably we were either at my house or your house already?" I replied, eliciting a laugh from him as well.
"We really were inseparable, weren't we?"
"For a long time, yes." I replied, trying not to let the sadness of him leaving a few years ago seep into my words. He looked at me as if he were about to apologize once more but instead he asked,
"I'm curious about something. That apparent scandal with your manager, was that true?" I looked down at my plate.
"Of course." I answered quietly. I had fallen in love with the man before my fame hit and I thought he loved me too. I was prepared to give anything for us to stay together. It came out though that he had been sleeping with several other women in the industry. When I tried to break up with him, he made a huge spectacle of everything through the media and did everything he could to make me look bad. Thankfully, another manager came around and saved my career by smoothing everything over. The only thing my new manager couldn't fix was my broken heart. That man broke my heart.
"I'm so sorry, Lori. I—I should have been there. Or tried to call. Or something…" Tamaki said softly.
"Yes, you should have." I replied sternly, "I must have left you a hundred messages. I needed my friend." He looked down regretfully.
"Lori—"
"Forget it." I said, tossing my napkin on the table and walking out of the dining room. When I heard his chair move as though he was about to follow me, I took off in a run through the mansion. I could feel the tears rushing to my eyes and I didn't want him to see me cry.
After a few minutes, I stopped running. I had no idea where I was, but I couldn't hear Tamaki calling after me so I allowed myself to slump against the wall and fall to the floor. I buried my head in my knees and cried. Not only did I have my heart broken by the man I was head-over-heels in love with, but I had it completely destroyed by Tamaki when he completely ignored me in my time of need… It wasn't just a bad break up that hurt me. At that point in my life, everything was going to hell.
"Lori! Where are you? Lori!" I heard the familiar voice call after a little while. I didn't say anything; I just sat there and tried to curl up into nonexistence. A second later, I felt a warm piece of cloth drape around my shoulders.
"I'm glad I found you." Tamaki said, sitting on the ground next to me and pulling his school blazer tighter around me. I didn't realize I had been shaking until he pulled me close to him.
"Tamaki…"
"I won't ever forget that. I should have been there for you. I was so scared to talk to you though." He said.
"Y—You don't have to make e—excuses." I stuttered between tears that I was trying to wipe from my eyes. He moved and took my face in his hands, gently brushing off the salty liquid with his delicate fingers.
"I didn't know how to talk to you after I just vanished. I was never even given the chance to say goodbye to my best friend. How could I just pick up the phone and act like that never happened? I was so scared you would hate me. You had every right to." I tried to look away as more tears formed in my eyes but he kept my gaze locked with his, "It hurt so bad to not be able to answer your calls, but even more so when you stopped calling all together."
"T—There was no point in calling someone who didn't want to talk to me." I told him.
"There was nothing I wanted more than to talk to you. To tell you about Japan and all of the amazing things I had learned. I wanted to share everything with you, like we have always done. I wanted to make sure your mother was all right and that your stepfather was behaving. I wanted to know what I was missing at our school and how your dance lessons were coming. I wanted it to be like I never left. But I was also so scared that my grandmother would think that I was trying to contact mother…" He trailed off. His mother had informed me of his arrangement before she disappeared. I felt his hands trembling against my cheeks, so I reached up and placed my hands on top of his, trying to comfort him. Now wasn't the time to tell him about my family.
"Let's be grateful that we are together now." I said, feeling in my heart that I was forgiving him. It wasn't his fault entirely. To some degree I always knew that but now, seeing his face, looking into those beautiful and sincere eyes, I knew I forgave him.
"I will do everything I can to make it up to you." He vowed, pulling me into a hug. I believed him.
