a bottle of white wine at Gianni’s restaurant, and Dalia sighed happily as she looked around.
“Man, I am so glad to be living in such a nice little town. I hate the city now. Expensive and over-crowded.”
“Mmm… same,” Alice replied.
Moving to Wolfwood with her best friend had been the best thing she had done in years, and she had a feeling that she would end up settling down here forever. It was a wonderful old town with many tourist attractions, so it got busy in peak holiday periods, but never so busy that she felt like she couldn’t breathe. That was how she had felt every day back in their home city, and the only thing she regretted was not moving out here sooner.
Dalia leaned back in her chair and patted her stomach.
“I’m completely full. I really need to use the bathroom but I’m not sure if I can even get up,” she said.
Alice laughed.
“Don’t be so lazy. Besides, we’re getting dessert,” she said, before sticking her tongue out at her.
Dalia returned the gesture, excused herself and headed to the bathroom. As Alice turned and watched her walk away, she noticed a tall blond man walk into the restaurant. When he turned his head to look around, she recognized him immediately and her heart seemed to leap right into her mouth. Mark.
He saw her and smirked, and she realized that he was walking over to her. Oh god, she thought, panicking and turning back to face the other way. Why is he coming over to me? Maybe he felt bad when he saw me and wants to apologize. The persistent smirk on his face told her otherwise, though.
“Hey, look who it is! Chubby Alice. How’s it going?” he asked, standing right next to her now.
Alice swallowed, and was suddenly overcome by a wave of anger surging through her. How dare this childish idiot come over here and ruin her dinner? High school had been years ago; why would he bother continuing to mock her after he had already mentally scarred her for life anyway?
He was totally immature and pathetic, but he was also bringing back all the old feelings of humiliation and shame, and as they flooded through her mind and mixed with the anger, she felt her face turning pink.
“What do you want, Mark?” she finally replied.
She knew it was rude, but she had no idea what else to say. Besides, he deserved for her to be rude to him after what he had done.
“Oh, I’m just in town for a quick vacation and saw you sitting here eating all alone. Didn’t see much of you after high school, but I see nothing’s changed. You’re still a lonely loser,” he replied. “I guess people really don’t change.”
Alice couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It felt like she was back in high school all over again, and she cast her eyes down as her face turned an even brighter shade of pink. Please come back from the bathroom, Dalia, she wished, hoping that she would chase him away.
A smooth, masculine voice from behind suddenly startled her.
“Sorry I took so long, sweetie. The line in the men’s bathroom is crazy at the moment. Who’s this guy? He bothering you at all?”
Alice turned to see Caleb standing beside the table, glaring at Mark with his fists balled up by his sides. His blue eyes seemed to flash yellow for a second, and she assumed that it was the flickering candle on the middle of the table creating strange lighting effects. Realizing that he must have overheard what Mark had said, she played along with his ruse.
“It’s okay, Caleb. This is somebody I went to high school with,” she replied, forcing a smile.
Caleb grinned and extended a hand to Mark, but his smile didn’t quite meet his eyes.
“Oh, hi. I’m Alice’s boyfriend, Caleb,” he said.
His deep voice sent shivers racing down Alice’s spine, and she had never been so grateful to anyone in her life. He had just saved her from another humiliating incident, and a real smile started to
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