Girl in the White Dress: Sam's Story by Nikki D. Walker

room. Of course, the only table conveniently available was the romantic one in the back of the room. I had clearly done something in a past life to piss someone off. “Sure.”
                  We made our way to the “romantic” table. Matt ordered us drinks. I had downed my vodka and cranberry the moment he walked through the door.
                  “Ok,” I said. “You wanted to talk, so talk.”  I did not want to leave myself any chance to get soft.
                  “That’s it?” he said. “No, hi how are you?”
                  “Hi, how are you? Now talk.” I could not be weak.
    He looked hurt. Good. I did not care how he was. Ok, that was a lie. I did care. Although, it was only if he was hurting like hell. “Ok…”
    “You’re lucky I even agreed to this, Matt.”
    “I know,” he took a moment. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry.”
    Dude, seriously? I stood up and made a motion towards the door.
    “Wait,” he said.
    “Wait? That’s all you had to say? I’m sorry?” Pathetic. “Bye.” I took a step towards the exit.
    “Sam, please sit down.” Out of my better judgment, I sat. He continued, “I’m sorry I hurt you. I am sorry I fucked up. I am sorry about Kelly. I am sorry I left. I miss you. I miss us. I feel so empty without you. I realize that I was stupid.” Well, stupid was an understatement.
                  I was fuming. Did he really think that was going to make things better? “You miss us? How dare you even say you miss me! You broke my heart, Matt. You shredded it into tiny pieces.” No sense in sugar coating it. “Because of you I cried myself to sleep for weeks. Because of you, I hid from my friends so they could not see the pain I was in. But you miss me. Is that supposed to make it all better?” I wanted to hit him. Ok, maybe I did have anger management issues.
                  “No, not better. I truly did not mean to cause you pain. I know I screwed up. I will do better, Sam. I will be better. I still love you.”
                  I just stared at him. The audacity. Was he serious? I did not know what shocked me more. The fact he wanted to try again or the fact that I did not. He broke me and somewhere in the past few miserable months, I fixed me. I looked at him. “Matt, it is over. What we both should have realized was that the moment you got on that plane it was over. You chose your career over us and I am ok with that now. Then you chose Kelly over us and that I am not ok with. I am not going to waste anymore of myself on you. Bye, Matt.”
                  I turned and walked out of the restaurant with my head held high. I probably should not have but I peeked over my shoulder and he just watched me walk away. That just made me happier with my decision. If he really still loved me, he would have chased me out of the restaurant. On the other hand, maybe he was just in shock that I basically told him to go to hell. Either way, it was over.
                  Now my only problem was that I was all dressed up with nowhere to go. It was still somewhat early. I decided to go to the pool hall and see if Danny was there. I was in the mood for some more of him. He made me genuinely smile.
                  I pulled up and did not see his car. Maybe he was there with friends. I went in and went straight for the bar. I was apparently becoming a lush. Well, I did not see Danny in the bar either. I was disappointed. At least I could listen to some bad singing. That had to cheer me up.
                  “Hey, you.” I turned around and saw Tim standing there with Stacy.
                  “Hey,” I said. I was all by myself at a bar, his bar. Could I be any more pathetic? “Hi, Stacy.”
                  “Hi, Sam. You look nice. Are you on a date?” Before I could answer, my savior walked