Old Friend New Flame

I sat at the table in the restaurant, looking over the menu and hoping not to get stood up. I really hoped I didn’t get stood up, prayed not to. I didn’t think I could handle that, not right now. I’d burst into tears right here in public and that would not be cool.
My boyfriend had dumped me a week ago, the dumb fuck. I’d given two years of love to that guy only to have him break up with me over text. The only good thing was that I’d had just enough time to reconnect with an old friend, Reese. Though he was close to eight years older than me I was mature for my eighteen years and we had tons to talk about. About the same time my relationship had ended his girlfriend had dumped him and this was the first time we’d be seeing each other face to face in years.
Hopefully.
We were scheduled to meet at 6:30 and it was almost 6:45 by now. My heart plummeted in a premonition of me sitting here, alone for hours waiting. I’d just about resigned myself to this unfortunate event when the restaurant door opened. Every time the door had opened I looked up in the faint hope that it would be Reese and every time it wasn’t him my stomach dropped a little lower. But finally I saw a face that made me smile.
Reese came rushing in, saw me, and immediately sat down across from me. He was even sexier in person than in his pictures. His hair was shaved close to his head and he had a light dusting of beard that gave him an edgy look. His eyes were a strange blue grey that captivated me. He appeared very flustered.
“I’m so sorry Destiny,” he apologized. I ran late at work but I hurried over here as fast as I could.”
I smiled at him. His button down shirt was rumpled and his baggy jeans looked about to fall down his legs. “It’s ok.”
He smiled back, revealing straight, white teeth. He was quite the handsome man, if a bit too skinny. A waiter came over and took our orders then left. We were in a booth in the very back and there was no one within three yards of us.
We began to talk about whatever came to mind. He asked me how school was going and where I wanted to go to college and I quizzed him about work. We barely noticed when our food came and it took every in me to remember to put food on my fork and bring it to my mouth.
Finally, when I thought everything was going so well, Reese brought up the subject I least wanted to talk about.
“What was your boyfriend like?”
I looked at my plate, the contents of my stomach threatening to make another entrance. “He was ok,” I hedged, hoping that would be enough. It wasn’t.
“Just ok?” Reese asked, gazing at me intently.
“Yeah,” I said. “He was nice most of the time. Sometimes he’d get really jealous though.” Reese looked startled and I hurried to ease his mind. “James never hurt me or anything. He just got…jealous.”
Reese nodded sagely. Did all 26 year olds act like they knew everything or just this one? “How was he in the love department?” he asked, not beating around the bush at all. I coughed slightly.
“He loved me,” I told him, pretending not to understand his question.