Chapter 4 A Blast From The Past

• “Kyra, don’t.” Angie grabbed my hand as I was about to leave my seat and head over to greet Cathy. “It’s for the best.”
• “For the best?” I asked her incredulously. “Cathy is married to Jordan in my place and she has two kids with a third on the way and I only get to know about all of this just now? Is that what Rika was about to say earlier? That the town shouldn’t blame me because Jordan is already married?”
• Rika gave me a guilty look from beneath her lashes but she too placed her hand on top of mine to get me back into my seat. “A lot has changed, Kyra.” Rika begged me to understand. “Everything isn’t as easy as it looks.”
• “Then tell me!” I pleaded with them. “Tell me what happened after I left so I can understand. Why is Cathy married to Jordan? And if the problem had been resolved, then why is everyone still so mad at me?”
• “We will.” Angie told me. “But not here, especially not where everyone can overhear and judge our reaction.”
• “Yeah, let’s just have lunch and get back to your hotel so we can talk.” Rika added.
• “I think I’ve just lost my appetite.” I shook my head as I removed my hand from theirs and rubbed at my throbbing temples.
• Things were getting weird and stressful every minute. What am I supposed to tell Gabby after all of this? Why did I make her that stupid promise that I’d patch up with my parents before I married her? I don’t see my wedding get anywhere with the situation I am in. Oh Gabby! I really wish she was here right now, to be the voice of reason that she always was and guide me in such difficult times.
• “I’m sorry, Kyra. We both are…” Angie lowered her head, her voice trembling slightly. “We didn’t know we would run into Cathy of all people here.”
• No shit, Sherlock! But I didn’t say that out loud.
• “We wanted to let you know about everything that has been happening, but we also wanted to spend time with you like the old days.” Rika added. “Before everything went to shit…we hoped that today would just be like our old days together…but…”
• But then Cathy showed up with her mother-in-law, two kids and a pregnant belly and a heap ton of unanswered questions. I thought with a sigh.
• My heart desperately wanted to go to Cathy and ask her what was wrong? Why did she marry Jordan when she didn’t even like him in the first place? But my brain was telling me to stay put and deal with the circumstances after I was fully armed with information. I needed to know exactly what had happened in order to figure out what my next move might be.
• When our food finally arrived however, it was a whole new story that I wasn’t prepared for.
• “Here’s your grilled chicken salad and penne vodka and a side of potato salad with fresh lime soda.” The waiter placed our food on the table and folded away his tray. “Have a good meal, ladies.”
• “Wait, where’s my serving?” I asked after the food had been placed in front of us. The medium stake I had ordered hadn’t shown up at all.
• “Oh?” The waiter, who looked like a junior in high school, checked his list before getting back to me. “I’m so sorry ma’am, but your order is not listed here. It’s just these two orders. C-can I know what it was so…I can go ask the chef?”
• “What do you mean her order isn’t listed?” Rika asked frowning. “She ordered with the rest of us and the previous waiter even read our orders out loud before confirming! Then what happened to her order?”
• “She isn’t getting any food, that’s what’s happening.” Came a deep, harsh voice from behind me. “So stop whining and eat your shit or just get the fuck out of my restaurant.”
• We all turned towards the sound of the voice and my eyes widened in surprise when I spotted none other than Danny Romano standing behind me with a kitchen apron tied around his rounded waist.
• “Danny?” I asked as I stood up from my seat and turned to face him. “What are you doing here?”
• Danny…used to be Jordan’s best friend. And seeing him here and acting hostile, I could already feel like this was going in a completely different direction.
• “Ha! Look at that nerve!” He scoffed; his face still covered with freckles and his red hair appearing orange in the yellow overhead lights. But nothing could cover the hostility in his voice. “This is my restaurant, you slut! Now get the fuck out of here and leave my customers in peace.”
• “Shut up you little mutt!” Angie came to stand in front of me in a defensive position. “You do not have the right to call her a slut and neither do you have the right to treat her poorly in front of everyone!”
• “Or what?” He spat. “She gonna run away again? Just like she did on her wedding day? She didn’t even think twice before leaving my best friend standing all alone at the altar, looking like a fool! She has no business returning here after all this time!”
• “Why you litt-”
• “Angie, stop.” I held her back by her hand when she looked about ready to knock Danny off of his feet. Danny might be a man with an innocent face and protruding tummy but overall, he was a huge man with bulging muscles and toned legs. If a fight did break out inside the restaurant, it would be Angie who would get hurt and the others will get a kick out of watching the fight go down.
• Why should I give these people the satisfaction of a useless fight and let Angie spoil her name? I’ll be leaving town in a couple week’s time but my friends will have to stay here where their homes were. I don’t want them to be scorned by the townspeople just because they were being reliable friends and defending me.
• “Come on,” I tugged on her arm and took my wallet out of my jeans pocket. “I’ll pay for the food and we can go somewhere else.”
• “You aren’t paying a penny to this scum, Kyra!” Rika snatched my wallet out of my hands and put it back inside my pocket. “We’re not touching his food, nor will we ever return to this filth hole ever again. But I bet this dick won’t mind licking the cash off of the floor. So why not give the money to beggars instead?”
• “You bitch-”
• “Enough!” I snapped, my voice loud enough to grab the entire restaurant’s attention. “We’re leaving. Now.”
• With that, I turned to leave, but Danny’s gritty, mocking voice came from behind once again.
• “Then go on, you little rats!” Danny shooed us away like he would a fly. “Get out of my restaurant! Go find a gutter to feed you, it’s where you belong!”
• Angie went at him once more but this time, both Rika and I stopped her from doing anything stupid and dragged her away from Danny. Men like Danny were not above hitting a woman in front of others just to get a kick out of it. And since the town was already against me and anyone who supported me, I knew that no one will even ‘beep’ in protest if Danny did do something to hurt us.
• “Come on, let’s go.” Rika told us and we all turned away from Danny and made our way to the door.
• I could already hear whispers of ‘serves her right’ circulating the cubicles. I felt like some kind of a criminal walking the infamous ‘walk of shame’ down the aisle as hundreds of pairs of eyes watched my descent. But I knew in my heart that I had done the right thing when I had run away. And every moment that I spent in this backward little town kept on proving my point.
• I had chased my dreams and become successful in what I did. I had the strength to face New York City head on even when I had been all alone and powerless. This was nothing! I could go through with this. It’ll get better. It has to. And I know that if I had my friends by my side, it’ll be a lot easier to bear all this than if I had been all alone.
• I only wished Gabby was here too…
• “Kyra?”
• The voice stopped me dead in my tracks.
• In the midst of all the commotion, I had forgotten that it wasn't just strangers and angered townspeople inside this restaurant. My best friend, or at least my former best friend and the current wife of the man I was supposed to marry, Cathy, was here as well. And with everything that just went down with Danny, it was bound to grab her attention.
• Slowly, I turned to face the woman who had once been my best friend since Kindergardenth. There was a time when people used to call us twins. Not only because we had the same blonde hair and green eyes but also because we were very similar in personality.
• We used to be inseparable once…and even though Cathy had never really liked to dance, she had still always come to the classes to support me, just so she could keep me company. That…was how much she used to care about me.
• But in the last seven years, everything seems to have changed completely.
• She looked a lot different now. Her hair was a lot shorter and she had dyed it a dark burgundy. Even her eyes looked more mature, aged, like she had to endure a lot in these past seven years, much more than she was supposed to.
• I wanted so badly to take her into my arms, to ask her what was wrong. To embrace her and to remember all the times that we had been there for each other. I wanted to see if she still smelled of honey and lavender, the scent I had grown up knowing that belonged to her alone, thanks to the soap bar she always used.
• But before I could act on any of my instincts, I felt my head whip to the side and the sting of the slap burned my cheeks as the entire restaurant bore witness to the whole incident.