Love can Overcome Anything

Chapter Nineteen: Yogurt

AN- Thank you to: jasmineflower001, 2col4skool2, Zoey, Inu, vballfanatic, PriscillaN, Anonymous, Insane and Logical, Libby, smartywithch, and bookcrazygirl for reviewing chapter eighteen!!!

Also, I would like to thank jasmineflower001 and 2col4skool2 for suggestions when I had a major writer's block. Although I didn't use any of their ideas, they did help a little.

Enjoy!

o0o

It's been 2 days since Eric had attempted to try and explain things over with Bridget. He was fed up; after all, it wasn't completely his fault. He tried and tried explaining things to her, but she just won't listen. Eric fell back onto his mattress and stared at the ceiling. He had run after Jolene because he was worried why she had come all the way here from Italy, where he had left her when they broke up.

"Jolene!" Eric said mentally in his head as he watched her run distressed down the road. He leapt up and ran after her, worried and curious. He knew Bridget was confused but he wanted to know if Jolene was alright. He laid a kiss on Bridget's cheek to remind her that he was totally true and loyal to her, then, he ran after Jolene.

"Jolene!" Eric yelled, running to keep up with her fast pace. Jolene was an Olympic runner. She had won Silver in a contest once. "Jolene!" Eric called again. But once again, Jolene did not stop.

Eric sprinted faster than he had ever ran and caught her slim wrist. "Jolene" Eric said again, but softer and gently. Jolene turned slowly and Eric caught a sight of her face. Her eyes were puffy and red, and her cheeks had dried up tears on them, with more newly fresh tears taking their place.

Eric felt pity for her instantly. He still cared for her, truly he did. They didn't break up harshly; instead, they remained close friends. Eric laid a hand on Jolene's trembling shoulder. "What's wrong?" Eric asked.

Jolene took a look at Eric before bursting into harder, more rapid tears. "Eric…" She sobbed. "Why are you here?" She didn't know that Eric lived here now.

Eric quickly dismissed that question. "That doesn't matter. What really matters is what's wrong…"

Jolene bawled and finally managed to get out two meaningful words. "Dad… gone…"

This was all Eric needed to hear. He knew that Jolene was extremely close to her dad and her dad had recently been experiencing severe troubles with his heart. "Oh Jolene…" Eric whispered.

Jolene burst out crying again. "Come on Jolene, stay by that bench over there" Eric said, leading Jolene to the bench.

By sunset, Eric fully understood the story. Jolene's dad had died of a heart attack, and on the same day, Jolene got fired from her part time job. To top things off, her brother had run away too. All on the same day too. This was why Jolene ended up here. She couldn't take all the pressure so she flew all the way here, in hopes of starting a new life with no troubles. Poor Jolene, Eric mused. She's officially an orphan right now. Her mom had passed away when she was young.

Eric knew that he was leaving Bridget all alone in their engagement party but he just couldn't bring himself to leave the poor, miserable, unfortunate Jolene.

By the time Jolene was able to compose herself properly, Eric knew the engagement party was far over. Eric quickly exchanged phone numbers with Jolene and told her he'd see her daily. He made sure Jolene got back to her hotel safely before he went to search for Bridget.

And indeed, Eric had found her. He found her fuming, extremely enraged on the park bench. No one could say he hadn't tried to explain. He left after fifteen full minutes of trying to get Bridget to open up her house door. Surely, he hoped that she hadn't expected him to stay there all night. He really wanted to fix his and Bridget's relationship but he wasn't foolish enough to sleep outside her door. He might get trampled by Mr. Vreeland or someone. Or worse, Bridget could call the police saying that he was stalking her.

These past two days, he emailed her 10 times, left her numerous messages, knocked on her door 3 times, and he even tried to explain things to Carmen, Tibby and Lena, who were apparently mad at him too. So now, after 2 days of effort, he gave up.

Eric quietly wondered what to do today. He spent his last two days trying to get Bridget to forgive him, but honestly, he should be the one who has to forgive her. He already visited Jolene; she was pulling herself together slowly, but she was progressing, which was good. He was so bored right now; he decided to clean up his whole entire home.

After a full 10 minutes, Eric had made a mental list of what to do. He would spend one hour vacuuming the floors, 30 minutes dusting the furniture, 10 minutes cleaning the dishes, 20 minutes trimming the hedges, 10 minutes cleaning the bathroom, 10 minutes putting all his books in alphabetical order, 10 minutes putting his dinnerware in order, by size, 5 minutes to talk to his mom, 5 minutes talking to his dad, 5 minutes talking to a random person, 45 minutes ironing all his clothes, 15 minutes organizing all his clothes by color, 20 minutes polishing his shoes, 10 minutes matching his socks, 1 hour restocking the fridge, 1 hour doing paperwork for his soccer team the Kickers, (this was long overdue), 10 minutes washing his car, 20 minutes cleaning the inside of his car, 5 minutes polishing the windows of his car, 10 minutes finding his long-lost TV remote, 10 minutes polishing his pictures, 10 minutes cleaning out the ash in his fireplace, 10 minutes chopping up more wood for his fireplace, 10 minutes watering his plants, 10 minutes trimming his tree, 2 minutes making his bed, 2 minutes fluffing up his pillows, and finally, 10 minutes talking to each and everyone in his address book.

Indeed, Eric was a very busy man. He didn't need a certain beautiful blonde to make his life content. So half-heartedly, Eric set off to complete the plentiful tasks he assigned himself to do.

o0o

Fifteen blocks away, Bridget settled down on her couch with a hot cup of coffee, 5 chocolate bars, 2 bags of chips, a foot massager and a warm fleece blanket. She turned to the latest soap opera (apparently, handsome blonde doctor was having affairs with both pretty petite nurse and sophisticated brunette secretary while handsome blonde doctor #2 was broken because pretty petite blonde had broken up with him for handsome blonde doctor #1…) and watched.

Bridget felt this aching, gnawing pain in her heart that was telling her that she hopelessly and greatly missed Eric. Her mind on the other hand was constantly telling her that she and Eric were done for good. It took all her willpower to stay away from Eric.

These past two days, Tibby, Lena, and Carmen had been faithfully to her side, comforting her. She had told them the story right after she disposed of all Eric's stuff. Sadly, her mind couldn't take it anymore. She missed Eric. She truly, really, really, really did. She saw him everywhere. When she woke up, she swore she saw Eric's shadow. It was really creepy. She screamed really loud when she saw it. Poor Mr. Vreeland and Perry ran to her, right after she had screamed, worried.

Her mind was clogged with memories of Eric everywhere. On her couch, her bedroom, the park, the school… everywhere. Bridget bit down on her chocolate bar. She was doing what Lena, Tibby, and Carmen called "Man-Therapy". Bridget was careful on what she ate these days because she was scared that she would grow fat again over Eric. There was no way that she was losing her carefully developed figure over Eric again.

Bridget knew Eric had emailed her, knocked on her door, and phoned her numerous times these past two days and it took all her willpower to not answer them. She missed him so much but she was still upset that he had missed the wedding engagement.

Maybe I should give Eric a chance. Maybe he actually has a good answer and I'm just being so superficial to not listen to it. Maybe Eric never meant to… Maybe he has a really good explanation why he wasn't there… Bridget thought silently in her head. But wait a moment… what if he really did leave the party on purpose? What if he saw Jolene, realized he loved her, and went running to her? What if he thought I'm not good enough for him? After all, Jolene is petite size, the cute and pretty kind. Oh, I just don't know what to do.

Bridget sighed for the 10th time. She knew that she missed Eric a lot. She couldn't bear to stay away from him. He was like her heart and soul and now, when he's gone, she felt that there was a big Eric shaped hole in her.

Enough of that! Bridget scolded herself. Eric is over and that is officially it. Go on with life! Bridget stood up, shut off the TV, and went to get some yogurt.

Bridget looked in her large white fridge. There was no yogurt left. There was no yogurt left! Bridget absolutely needed yogurt. It was her healthy craving ever since she left college. She had two kinds of cravings. One healthy craving, which was yogurt and one calorie gaining craving, which was chocolate.

Bridget decided to get along with life. She decided to go to the store to buy some yogurt. Bridget threw on khaki Capri's and a white t-shirt. She grabbed some money and left the house.

o0o

Eric was done 6 things on his mental list of things to do. It took him 2 hours and 10 minutes, which was exactly what he planned. Now he was on #7 on his list. It was to arrange all his books in alphabetical order. He walked towards his bookshelf, which was overflowing with books and began to start.

Eric got to the letter K. He suddenly stopped there. Hand mid-way reaching for a book, Eric thought dear God; I really must be going insane! Ordering my books in alphabetical order? Have I gone totally absolutely crazy? Since when did I organize my books? I need a break to clear my head!

Eric shook his head slowly, seriously, why was he doing this? Oh yeah, he remembered now. It was to keep himself occupied and away from Bridget. Did he miss her? No not really. He thought. Who am I kidding? I miss her so much! How can one woman drive a man insane?

Eric sighed and went to his fridge to get himself a sandwich. Turkey, lettuce, bread, mayonnaise, pickles, tomatoes, ham, bologna, ketchup, mustard, relish, onions, cheese- Wait! He had everything on the list except cheese! How was he supposed to eat a deluxe-Eric-sandwich without cheese? Eric decided to run to store and get some cheese. He put on some jeans, a t-shirt and his watch. He grabbed his wallet and left the house.

o0o

Bridget strolled down the aisle happily. She looked at the different types of yogurt there. There was strawberry flavored yogurt, chocolate flavored yogurt, mixed berry flavored yogurt, strawberry flavored yogurt, peach flavored yogurt and vanilla flavored yogurt. But where was her favorite kind of yogurt, mango? Bridget quickly scanned the shelf for it.

Standing on her the tips of her toes, she craned her neck and saw one last container of mango flavored yogurt. Ah, why is mango so popular these days? And the last box is so high up there! I can barely see it standing at my normal height!

But Bridget needed that last container of mango flavored yogurt. She absolutely adored it. It tasted so sweet. So that was why Bridget founded herself stretching up as high as she could trying to grab it. Teetering dangerously on the tip of her toes, Bridget felt her left hand fingers brush the surface of the container of that deliciously good mango flavored yogurt.

"Here, let me get it" A soft but strong deep masculine voice said. Then the guy stretched up and grabbed it, his hand colliding with hers. Bridget lowered herself, planting her feet firmly on the ground and looked up to see who it was. The guy was still holding her left hand. Bridget looked up and was about to say thanks but then she saw who it was.

Eric.

Bridget froze and looked up at Eric's eyes. He looked slightly apprehensive. Bridget presumed that this was because he was wondering how she would react.

"Um… Ah… Eric….hello…thanks" Bridget stammered, unsure of how to act. He was still holding her left hand. His touch was so soft and familiarly nice that Bridget found herself enjoying his touch. Bridget suddenly knew that she should forgive him. After all, she missed him terribly so.

"Eric, I'm so-" Bridget started off, but stopped because she saw that Eric was looking at her left hand. Bridget vaguely speculated why he was staring at it.

Eric's eyes finally reached her eyes. He let go of her hand. Bridget saw hurt and confusion in his eyes. Suddenly it clicked. He was acting all peculiar because he was hurt that she had no engagement ring on her finger.

Bridget immediately felt her cheeks flush. She just had to explain now. There was nothing that was going to repair their relationship except the truth.

Bridget took a deep breath and started off. "Eric…"