The Rebound

Dealing with the Ex

Tiana

I knew why Bryce picked this particular cottage for us. It was very secluded. There were no other cottages in this area. It was a good ten-minute drive from Kylie’s cottage to here. It was surrounded by trees… just like Bryce’s house. Similar to the harvest cottage, it had a modern farmhouse feel to it. The cottage itself was smaller compared to Kylie’s… it only had one bedroom with a massive king size bed. There was a huge glass wall on one side of the room, where you could see through the bathroom… It was very sexy. The size of the garden outside made-up for the size of the cottage. Hence, the name Garden Cottage, I guess. It had a huge deck and on one side was a hot tub… which I also assumed was one of the reasons why Bryce picked this particular cottage.

I could imagine how much fun we would have in this cottage… but right now, I really couldn’t think about Bryce. I was going to have dinner with Kylie, Stan and Bryan in an hour’s time.

I decided to make myself look pretty. It’s been a long time since I actually dressed up for Bryan. We’ve been together for such a long time that I never really felt the need to spend time to make myself look good for him. But today was different… I didn’t want to look like the miserable girl who was cheated on. I wanted him to know what he lost.

I carefully put on some light make up and put my hair up in a loose bun. I knew Bryan liked seeing my neck bare. I wore a beautiful yellow summer dress. The V-neckline of my dress showed just enough cleavage and it hugged my tiny waist and the curves of my hips perfectly. The hem of my dress ended mid-thigh. A little too short for Bryan’s taste. To be honest, I like wearing these kinds of clothes. I knew I had great legs... plus they were comfortable. But when we were together, he’d always scold me if my clothes were too short or too revealing for his taste.

And yet, the irony is… he ended up f*****g Valerie… whose clothes were always a tad too short... even for my taste. Just the thought of it... made me cringe.

I take deep breathes trying to calm myself down as the hotel service takes me from my cottage to the restaurant where we were going to have dinner. I was the last one to get there.

When Kylie sees me walking towards them, she waves at me and gives me a big smile. Her facial expression was smug. She knew what I was trying to do.

Bryan, who was facing her, turns around and looks to the direction Kylie was waving. When he sees me, his facial expression quickly changes from being shocked to awe. I knew he liked what he saw… his eyes were glued to me. He stands up but stays in place when he sees that Stan was already waking up to me.

“Hey Tiana. You look great.” Stan says as he pulls me into a hug. “I’m sorry about what Bryan and Valerie did.” He adds in a whisper.

I give him a quick peck on the cheek. “No need to apologize, Stan.”

I knew he was feeling guilty because the only reason why Valerie was in Vegas was because of him. But it really wasn’t his fault. Bryan had a mind of his own… a brilliant one at that…so that decision was his own.

Kylie pulls me into a hug as we reached the table.

“Hey.” Bryan says quietly. I completely ignore him and take the seat beside him. I was grateful that I didn’t have to sit across him… that way, I didn’t have to look at him. I quickly buried my face in the menu and took longer than usual to order.

The four of us used to hang out a lot together… and it was always animated and fun. But tonight was just awkward to say the least. Kylie and Stan were trying their best to get the conversation going throughout dinner. But Bryan and I were just quietly nodding and politely smiling to them. Many times during dinner, I could feel Bryan’s eyes on me. But I kept my face straight, and just completely avoided looking at him.

But I knew I couldn’t avoid him all night. I promised Kylie that I’d tell him about Bryce tonight.

After dinner, Kylie and Stan excused themselves... saying that they had some last minute wedding preps. Yeah right. We all knew, it was to give Bryan and me some time to talk privately.

I stand up and walk towards the man-made lake right by the restaurant… away from other people. I take a seat in one of the benches. Bryan follows me. He puts his arm on the back of my seat and turns his body towards mine.

“Tiana. I’m really sorry. I f****d up. I’m sorry.” He says quietly. “I know nothing I can say or do will change what happened that night. But you have to believe me when I say that it didn’t mean anything. I was just really drunk and tired. It was lack of better judgement. And I deeply regret it. It’s the worst decision I ever made in my life. I wish I could undo it… but I can’t. I’m so sorry for hurting you. I really am. I still love you, Ti. Nothing has changed that. You have to believe me. I really wish you could give me another chance.”

I close my eyes, as I try to process everything he just said. After a few minutes, I open my eyes and turn to face him. Tears start flowing from my eyes. Bryan reaches out to wipe them.

“Please don’t touch me, Bryan… Or I’m just going to breakdown.” I tell him, as I back away from him. “Please don’t interrupt me. I just need you to listen. You hurt me… so f*****g damn much. Eight years, Bryan. Eight years. And you throw it all away for s*x. Was I not good enough? Was the s*x not good?”

“It’s not that, Ti..” He says as grabs my hand.

I pull my hand away from him as I say, “I said don’t interrupt me!” My voice getting a little louder.

I go on. “I wish I could forgive you, Bryan. I wish we could go back to how things used to be. I wish I could make all this pain go away. But I can’t.” My tears start flowing faster. “Just like you said, nothing can change what happened that night. And I can’t un-see what I saw that night. I just can’t… and it f*****g hurts. And nothing that you say or do, can change that. Nothing.”

“Please, Tiana.” He begs. His tears start flowing from his eyes as well.

“We’re never going to work anymore… because even if I do learn to forgive you, I’ll never forget it. I’ll never forget seeing you and Valerie together that night. I just can’t. I’m sorry but we’re done, Bryce.”

There. I said it. I knew and I felt that he really regretted it. I think I've even forgiven him for it... but I just can't forget what I saw that night. I just can't. And I know that if I decide to get back together with him, I wouldn't be able to trust him anymore.

“I’m not giving up on us, Tiana. I’ll wait until you learn to forgive me.” He proudly says. Then he turns to look at me, his eyes pleading. “But what do I tell my parents and Kay tomorrow?”

“You tell them you f****d up, Bryan… because I’m not lying to them.” I tell him straight.

“But they’re looking forward to seeing you… specially Kay.” He explains.    

“Well, that’s not my problem. I was looking forward to seeing them as well. But you ruined it... so you deal with it.” I retorted.

“Can I just tell them after the wedding? When they’re back in New York? Please, Tiana.”

I was starting to get riled up. I mean, really… what did he want me to do? Pretend that we were okay… hell, no, especially with Valerie there. I could already imagine the smug look on her face.

“No way, Bryan. There’s no way I can pretend that we’re okay. And I could never lie to your parents. You should have thought about it before you f****d Valerie.”

He get down on his knees. “I’m begging you, Tiana.” 

“I can’t, Bryan. I just can’t. Besides, I have a date for the wedding.” I thought it would be the perfect time to tell him about Bryce.  

“Wait, what? A date?” He gets up from his knees and stands in front of me. I could feel his eyes burning a hole through the top of my head.

I stand up and look at him straight in the eyes. “Yes, a date! I met this guy and I asked him to come on Saturday.”

“What the hell, Tiana? It hasn’t even been a month since we broke up.” He says, angrily.

“Well, at least I waited until we were broken up. f**k you, Bryan.” I tell him, as I start storming away from him. I wanted to slap him. But I couldn’t bring myself to.

He catches up to me and holds on to my shoulder. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Tiana.”

I shrugged off his hand from my shoulders.

“You better find a way to tell your parents and Kay that we're over. I’m leaving, Bryan… I’m tired.”