7 Years Later

Part 6 - Present Day

On Wednesday morning, Allison came up to me as I was pouring creamer into my cup of coffee in the break room.

"Hey!" she said cheerfully, "My boyfriend says he knows you!"

I felt my heart start to pound.

"Oh!" I said, trying to be friendly, "Really? You said his name is Matteo, what's his last name?"

"Edmonds."

How the f**k do I respond to this?

"Yes, I know him! We went to highschool together." I said.

"He said you two were friends, that's so awesome." Allison said to me, "Maybe we can all hang out sometime. Are you dating anyone? I was going to say, we can go on a double date."

"No, I'm not." I said, "No boyfriend here."

"Maybe he has a friend or something I can set you up with."

"You're sweet." I said, "Thank you."

As Allison walked off, I felt my stomach churn.

Friends?

A double date?

For the rest of the day up until lunch I felt on edge.

We were not just friends, Matteo.

I needed to get out for lunch. I decided to walk across the street to a local Italian restaurant and get a balsamic chicken and vegetable salad I like from there.

I put in an online order, walked across the street to pick up the salad, and then as I was walking back to the office, I saw a car pull up.

It was a black Honda, and as it parked, I got this weird feeling as to who I could be.

And my intuition was correct when I saw the man that got out of the car.

Matteo.

I was close by him, walking up. And I knew there was no way of avoiding him.

He was wearing sunglasses, a black t-shirt and khaki shorts. He was carrying a white paper bag- and I couldn't help but notice some muscle peeking out of the sleeves of his shirt.

He started walking toward the door- and before he did- I found myself saying,

"Matteo."

He stopped for a moment, dead in his tracks.

Matteo then turned around and faced me- taking off his sunglasses.

He looked the same, essentially. The last time I had been up close and personal with his face was when I was 19 years old. Over 5 years ago.

He looked down at me, and I could see it in his eyes- he was panicked.

I walked right up to him.

"Hi, Cassidy." he said. I could tell in his tone he was trying to keep his cool.

"Bringing Allison lunch?" I asked him.

How the hell do I even have this conversation with him? What is my end goal here?

"Yes." he said, "Uh, she told me she works with you."

"And you told her we were just friends." I said back.

Maybe I shouldn't have said that.

Matteo looked at me. He didn't say anything for a moment. His green eyes just bore into me. I didn't break eye contact either.

"I wasn't sure what else to tell her." he said, "I just thought it would be...a lot to put on her."

"I get it." I said.

Protecting her from the expense of the truth.

Matteo nodded, and looked at me again. I could tell he was uncomfortable.

"Let's go in." I said, "I'm sure she will be happy to see you."

Without another look, I walked in front of Matteo, and opened the door to the practice.

My heart was pounding.

"Wait here at the front." I said to Matteo, "I'll get Allison."

"Okay." he said.

His tone was not one of joy.

When I went to the break room, salad in hand, Allison was standing by the Keurig, talking to Virginia and another nurse, Amy.

"Hey, Allison." I said, "Matteo is here. He brought you lunch."

Allison's blue eyes widened- and I immediately saw Virginia look at me as well, eyes wide.

"That's so sweet of him! I'll be back." Allison said, and bounded out of the room.

After she left, Amy said, "I'll be back. I just have to go make a phone call at my car."

After Amy left, Virginia looked at me.

Virginia is 55 years old. She is a divorced mother of two sons, and she has a granddaughter. She used to be a nurse, but she now has arthritis, and can't move around as well as she used to, and now sticks to being a receptionist. She has medium toned brown skin, short, curly dark hair, and big brown eyes.

"So, Matteo is here?" she asked me.

"I saw him in the parking lot. I walked in with him." I said.

"Are you okay, Cass?" Virginia asked me.

"I have no idea." I said, opening up my salad and taking a seat next to Virginia.

"This can't be easy for you." Virginia said to me.

"It's really not. At all." I said, "I never knew if I was going to see Matteo again. I didn't think I would in this capacity."

"I know, honey." Virginia said, putting her hand on mine.

A few minutes later, Amy walked in. And then a minute after that, Allison walked back- with Matteo.

He immediately glanced at me, and then looked away.

"You must be Matteo." Virginia said, "Nice to meet you. I'm Virginia. This is Amy. And you know Cassidy."

"Nice to meet you, Virginia and Amy. Good to see you, Cassidy." Matteo said, glancing my way again.

"Matteo is just grabbing some coffee before he goes back to work." Allison said.

She then walked Matteo over to the Kuerig, where he busied himself making coffee.

"What do you do for work, Matteo?" Amy asked.

"I'm a computer engineer." he said.

"Nice!" Amy said, "Do you work far from here?"

"I work four days at home, one day in the office." Matteo said, "My office is about 45 minutes away, but my house is not far at all, I came from there today."

"Sweet of you to drop off lunch." Virginia said, "Allison, what did he get you?"

"My favorite sandwich around here so far!" Allison said, "An Italian sub from Lorenzo's."

"Lorenzo's is great." Amy said, "You've got to try their Brooklyn Pie."

"You're right." Matteo said, "It's amazing."

"Pizza night on Friday?" Allison asked him.

"Sure." Matteo nodded.

I saw Matteo's eyes drift my way, and then he looked back at Allison.

"I've got to head back home." he said, and then he turned to us, "Very nice to meet you, ladies. Good to see you, Cassidy."

I had pictured a million times in my head what would happen if I ever saw Matteo again.

And it certainly was not this that I pictured.

Seeing him set something off in me. How casual he was toward me, like we had no history- made me want to just leave work for the rest of the day.

I made it through until 7 PM though. And right when I got out of work- I sat down in my car- and I immediately just broke down.

I sat like that in my car for a few minutes, hoping no one from work saw me.

I then drove away, and back to my apartment.

My cousin was there, making dinner, when I got back.

"Hey." she said, "I'm making tofu stir fry. I'll leave some for you."

"Thanks, Kylie." I said to her.

Kylie turned around and looked at me, "Rough day at work?"

"Kind of, yes. How did you know?" I asked her.

"Your eyes are puffy, it looks like you've been crying."

"Oh. Yeah, it was just a long day." I said.

"I get it. Hey, once you figure out what you want to do, it'll be all worth it." Kylie said to me.

I was used to comments like that from Kylie, somewhat putting me down because I was a receptionist, who didn't quite know what they wanted to do with their life yet.

What if Matteo thinks the same thing?

I went into my bedroom, and laid down on my bed. Once again, I found myself in tears as I laid down, not even caring that I still was in my scrubs.

What the hell am I going to do about this?