Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I only own Elizabeth, Nathan, Ian, and Ethan.
Author's Note: SO sorry about the HUGE delay in posting another chapter. I've been busy, and sick, and I was looking for a good way to write this current chapter. But it has been written and now I am posting it, so please don't be mad at me for the almost three week delay of posting.
Please read and review and enjoy the chapter. (I hope I made it long enough to appease you readers)...
Chapter Seven: I Forgave You a Long Time Ago
Elizabeth Cullen
As I sat across from him, I thought about what I was doing. I was sitting in a café with my ex-boyfriend drinking hot cocoa. Very. Very. Very. Bad. Idea.
"I see that you still like to put five packets of sugar in your coffee," I said, watching as Ian poured a fifth packet into his cup.
He shrugged. "Only way I can stand it."
He laughed then and I found myself laughing with him.
The waitress brought over our orders just then (piece of apple pie for me, piece of chocolate pudding pie for Ian), placing them down in front of us. As we began eating our pie, I asked him, "So how long have you been in town?"
"Only a couple of days. I was over in Sacramento when I got the news that my father's health was declining. Mom called me, begging me to come back home to help out with the diner."
My hand went to my mouth. "Oh, my god. Ian, I am so sorry. I didn't hear. How's he doing?"
Ian smiled and once again I found myself being dazzled. "He's doing okay. Taking one day at a time. I'm helping Mom take care of him."
A wave of sympathy washed over me. I remembered Ian's father – he was such a kind and compassionate man, friendly with all the people in town. Ian was very much like him, as well as very close to his father – it must have been heartbreaking to hear that sort of news.
"I've moved back here, to help Mom with the diner," Ian said.
Ian's parents ran a diner in the center of town – a popular place that served very good food and friendly reception. It was called Dan and Helen's – which were Ian's parent's names. The diner opened the summer before my junior year of high school, and I had managed to get a job there as a waitress. I had loved working there, but ended up quitting during the summer I went to college.
"But, what about your dream job?" I asked.
All the years that I had known him, Ian's dream job was to teach music to kids. He was a great musician – could play guitar, violin, piano; he was amazing at it and he had even written a few songs of his own. I had – and would – always admire him for it … especially since I couldn't play an instrument even to save my own life (Dad was always trying to teach me how to play the piano, but I could barely even play 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star').
Ian smiled. "I'm still going to do my dream job. The principal at the school that I was going to be teaching at in Sacramento knows the principal at the Middle School here, and asked if they needed a music teacher for the kids. They do – I start tomorrow."
I smiled a smile of awe and said, "Ian, that's great. Congratulations."
"Thanks," he said.
"But, you hated this town in high school," I said.
He chuckled. "Yeah, I did. I was ready to lit on out of here and strike out on my own. But hearing that Dad was slowly dying put some perspective in my eyes. Do I stay away and live my dream, or go back and help my parents out? I had to decide which was more important."
I smiled.
Then he looked hesitant for a split second and then said, "I also missed you. A lot."
I looked down at my pie, biting my lip to fight back a smile and to suppress feelings that I didn't want to resurface.
"I missed you, too, Ian," I said, looking back up at him.
I really, really, truly did. A lot.
"Well, enough about me. What about you? What's been happening in your life since high school graduation?" Ian asked, switching the subject.
"Well, after high school I went to Seattle University, and studied architecture and photography," I said.
Ian looked impressed. "You always were good at drawing. And photography, too," he said.
I blushed. "Well, I figured that since I was good at something and I loved that something, I might as well put it to good use. I went on a trip to Europe this summer with my class – drew a ton of sketches and took a ton of pictures."
"You went to Europe?" Ian sounded even more impressed. "How'd you like it?"
"Amazing. We went to Italy, France, and Greece. It was so beautiful. I'm never eating squid or snails again, that's for sure," I said.
Ian laughed, and I laughed with him.
It was scary how easily I could laugh with him.
It was wrong.
"So, do I know him?"
"Know who?"
He motioned toward my engagement ring. "Your fiancé."
I shook my head. "No. But he is from Washington. I met him in Italy, and we dated and fell in love and then he proposed in Athens, three days before I left to come home."
"Just curious – how'd you meet him?"
My face turned beet red and Ian grinned when he saw it. "Um, he saved me from the Trevi Fountain. I fell in when he said hi to me – he caught me by surprise as I was throwing a penny into the Fountain, and well, I ended up getting soaked."
Ian laughed again. "You seem to fall into water when boys say hello to you. Remember when we first met?"
I could feel my face go redder.
The day I had met Ian, I had been sitting on the bridge reading. Of course I was so enthralled with my book that I didn't hear him come up behind me. So what happens? I start and twirled around so fast that I fell into the water. Ian had begun laughing so hard that he could barely help me out of the water.
"How could I forget?" I said, blushing furiously.
We sat there, laughing for a moment. Then the laughing died down, and we sat silent for a moment, just eating our pie. And then Ian said, his tone turning serious yet hopeful, "Listen, Liz" – I smiled. I had always liked it when he called me that – "One of the reasons why I asked you if you wanted to get coffee was because I was hoping that I could apologize to you."
I cocked my head. "Apologize for what?"
"For what happened between us, when I left. I never meant to hurt you," he said.
His blue eyes looked deep into mine, and I saw that he really was sorry about hurting me.
I looked down at the last of my piece of pie and sighed. Then I looked back up at him, smiling. "Ian, you don't have to apologize."
He shook his head. "Yes, I do. I felt terrible for hurting you."
"No, Ian. It's okay, really. We both wanted something different," I said. "We both had separate paths that we wanted to follow."
I didn't want to tell him that I had spent the entire day after we broke up watching pointless chick flicks and eating a whole container of Fluff, and nothing else, and literally made myself sick (not on purpose, though).
"Not a day has gone by where I don't regret what happened. I still feel terrible about it," he said.
Laughing softly, I shook my head, feeling my brown hair bounce. "Ian, you don't have to feel sorry. I already forgave you – a long time ago."
But had I been over him then, after I had forgiven him?
No.
Was I over him now, while I sat here, in a café, with my ex-boyfriend and a fiancé who was at a job interview?
I wasn't sure.
And that kind of freaked me out.
~~0~~
I got back home forty-five minutes later. I stopped to say hello to Mom and Dad, scratched Molly behind her ears as a greeting, and then retreated into my bedroom.
I laid down on my back on my bed, staring up at my ceiling. Thoughts were twirling through my mind, and memories were dancing about behind my eyes, begging to be seen.
Water ran calmly and quietly underneath the bridge. I sat down on the edge, pulling out my book out of my bag and opening up the umbrella to grasp, in case it started to rain without notice. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was what I was currently reading.
Nathan always laughed at the fact that I read so much. I didn't mind – it gave a person different adventures when they read books.
I had just gotten off a five hour shift at Dan and Helen's, the diner in the center of the town that was quickly becoming popular with the town's people. The owners, Dan and Helen Dalton, were very nice. They had hired me on the spot, to my surprise. I worked there three days a week – Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and the rest of the days I helped Mom in her bookshop.
I opened Tom Sawyer to where I had last left off, and began reading.
I was just getting to the part where Tom was at the picnic that his Sunday School was holding when all of a sudden, a voice said, "Hello."
Of course, with my mind fully in the book, I didn't hear anybody walk up behind me. So, I was startled, and I twirled around so quickly (momentarily forgetting that I was sitting down) that I found myself in the water. Thankfully, my book had landed safely on the bridge.
The person who owned the voice burst out laughing.
"A little help, please?" I said, attempting to climb back up onto the bridge but failing.
The person tried to suppress his laughter as he helped me climb out of the water and onto the bridge.
I laid back on the bridge, facing the sky, breathing hard and trying to settle my heart down.
The boy's laughter died down, and all of a sudden, I was staring into the most beautiful face – a great smile, the bluest eyes that I'd ever seen, absolutely adorable in all aspects. His shaggy brown hair fell over his eyes and let me tell you, he had the most perfect eyebrows I had ever seen on a guy. He had really cute ears as well.
"Are you okay?" he asked. Amusement was in his voice – he was obviously highly amused at the fact that I fell in the water.
I nodded my head. "Yeah, I think so."
He held out a hand and I grabbed it. He pulled and helped me stand up.
"That's good. I don't usually have this type of reaction from girls when I say hello to them," he said.
I laughed. "Well, it was mostly my fault. I wasn't paying any attention to my surroundings."
The boy smiled again, and, surprisingly, my knees went weak and it was all I could do to keep them from knocking together.
He held out his hand and said, "Ian Dalton. It's a pleasure to meet you."
I smiled. "Elizabeth Cullen. And it's a pleasure to meet you too."
A smile came to my lips as I remembered the day I met Ian. We had both been about the same age – him sixteen, I almost sixteen. I couldn't remember when it was that I fell in love with him, but I would always remember the sort of electrical shock I felt when we had shook hands that day on the bridge.
I cringed when a memory pushed its way through to the front, and I quickly pushed it back. I grabbed my MP3 player, mashed the headphones into my ears, turned it on, and lay with my eyes closed, hoping to get my thoughts away from my ex-boyfriend. I put it on shuffle.
A song came on and I groaned when I recognized it – A Girl Worth Fighting For, a song in Disney's Mulan.
I whimpered and switched the song, pulling my pillow over my head.
~~0~~
Ethan didn't call.
I sat on the couch in the living room, watching TV, waiting for him to call.
He never did.
By midnight, I was getting a little ticked off. By three in the morning, I was more than a little ticked off. I was actually a little mad at him. I tried his cell five times, but all I got was his voicemail, without even a ringing tone.
Around noon, later that day, I was still waiting for him to call. I was helping Mom down in the bookshop, helping customers and dusting the shelves. I jumped whenever the phone in the bookshop rang, and was disappointed when it wasn't him.
It was nearing one in the afternoon, I was in the back, grabbing a box of books for my mom, when I heard the shop door open. I heard Mom talking with somebody and then heard her call, "Liz!"
"Coming!" I called back, and picked up the box to bring out front.
Ethan was leaning against the counter. I slowed down my walk a bit when I saw him. Mom took the box from me and said, "Thanks, sweetie. I'll leave you two kids to talk." She walked away then, to the other side of the book shop.
"So, where were you last night?" I asked. "You said you were going to call but you didn't."
"Yeah, I know," he said. "I came in here to apologize for that. I was very tired after the interview and I just wanted to go home and get some sleep. I forgot about the promise of calling you."
I looked at him. "I waited until three o' clock this morning, Ethan, for you to call. You could have at least called me to say goodnight."
"Look, baby, I'm really sorry. I wanted to know if I could make it up to you," he said.
"How?" I asked.
"How about I take you to dinner and a movie tonight, all on me," he offered.
I cocked my head, biting my lip, contemplating. I thought about it for a few minutes, already having made up my mind, but wanting Ethan to have to wait in agonizing torture. "Alright. You're not completely forgiven, but I suppose since it's on you, you might get completely forgiven."
Ethan smiled. "Alright. Pick you up at seven?"
I nodded. "Just promise that you won't back out of tonight, alright?"
Ethan nodded. "I promise."
I held up my pinkie. "Pinkie promise?"
Ethan laughed and wrapped his pinkie around mine. "Pinkie promise," he said, and then leaned in to kiss me.
As he kissed me, I thought I smelled something uniquely different. I pulled back. "Are you wearing perfume, Ethan?"
To my surprise, he stiffened for a split second and then said, "Oh, yeah, my Mom has this new perfume. She sprayed it on herself and then hugged me this morning. I'm surprised it's still lingering."
"Oh," I said. "Alright. I'll see you tonight?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'll, uh, I'll see you at seven," he said.
As he left the shop, I couldn't help but get the faint feeling that somehow he wasn't tell the truth. I pushed it aside and went back to helping Mom.
Author's Note: Hmm, is Ethan Barr hiding something from our dearly beloved Elizabeth Cullen? Is Elizabeth finding that she still has some feeling for the ex? Stay tuned for more! Drama will be coming Elizabeth and Nathan's way soon!
Please review before you leave! It will get more chapters written sooner. I intend on finishing this story before school starts up again in September, one of the main reasons being that I'm taking Algebra 2 and chemistry this year and I can already tell they're going whip my butt. Anyway, I'll see you next time! Lemonade Ninja.
P.S. – Oh, I posted pictures for this story on my profile. Go check 'em out! There's pictures for Elizabeth, Nathan, Ian, Ethan, and her engagement ring!
