If It's Love

Chapter 1

February 1993

It's not you, Monica. It's me.

That's what he had said. And she knew damn well that it was him. That rotten son of a bitch.

I can't commit to anyone right now.

He told her that, too, and now, three months later, he was getting married to someone else.

She felt something flare inside her chest as she reread the words 'You are cordially invited to celebrate the wedding' glittering on the invitation. It wasn't addressed to her, of course. Her friends had been careful in hiding their invitations, but this one, though, had escaped their attention, which in turn had grabbed hers.

Those feelings of hurt, disappointment, and dejection, which she'd thought she'd succeeded in burying deep within, surfaced again. But those feelings had company now as they came along with something else. Humiliation.

She could feel her breath coming in quick, sudden gasps. She could feel her eyes burning with tears, blurring the words on the invitation. She closed her eyes, letting her tears fall. Those were the tears that she'd refused to allow to fall just a few months ago. This little piece of paper had successfully broken that resolve.

The anger that grew slowly and steadily, suddenly reached a boiling point, and she was no longer crying.

She tore the invitation neatly in half. The two pieces of paper that remained in her hands met the same fate. She repeated the action over and over again until all that remained in her hands were bits and pieces of the card. She turned her palms down and allowed the pieces to fall to the floor, watching them as they fluttered about before they reached the ground.

She turned around when she heard the door creak open and saw that the person had stopped dead in his tracks as he watched what was happening.

His face taking on a pained expression, he whispered, "I'm so sorry, Mon."

She nodded, tears now freely flowing down her cheeks.

"It'll get better, I promise," he whispered again, fiercely, as though her broken heart was somehow breaking his own.

She nodded again, even though she didn't believe his words. She just hoped that they would come true; that they would come true soon.

~.~.~

A/N: Confused? I'll clear things up in the next chapter. I think I'll be updating 'That Thing Called Love' next, but even that's gonna take me a while. And, for those who reviewed 'Only You', thank you :)