Thirty seconds.
In the back booth of the Sugar Bowl, hidden from the rest of the diner, Mia decided she'd give Lake thirty seconds to explain before promptly throwing her drink in his face. It was the least she could do. She hadn't exactly pulled a crazy ex girlfriend move yet. And considering how they'd ended? Mia felt she was pretty entitled to a few 'crazy' ex moments.
She'd gone through about a thousand different excuses he could give her. "I wasn't thinking," he could say. Or, "It was a moment of weakness." "I fell, naked, right in between Gigi's legs, 'cause, ya know, I'm a klutz."
Or maybe even, "I had a limited supply of oxygen as a child and that's why I grew up to be such a mind-numbingly, stupid, dumb-ass." Yep. That one was her favorite.
"This seat taken?"
Mia didn't need to look up to know who stood at the other end of the booth.
"Nope." Her molars ground together in restraint. She couldn't even look at him. Not without seeing Gigi draped over his body like a damn blanket. Wow. She hadn't expected to feel this mad. Over the past few days she'd felt numb when it came to Lake and Gigi.
She thought it was from a lack of caring mixed with indifference. But now, with Lake standing right in front of her, it was like a flood of rage boiled over her skin.
"How are you?" Lake asked while sliding into the booth.
The dim lights caught the sharp planes of his cheeks. His face was too jagged, too harsh to be handsome. And his eyes. That stare held secrets. They drilled into you like he was trying to unravel you.
Trying to see right through you.
Glaring at him, Mia wondered how the hell she ever thought she loved Lake. She'd been intrigued when they started dating. Mesmerized by the way he could command a room. At first, they're relationship had been a game. A chase of cat and mouse. It had been a good distraction from life.
So finding him wrapped around Gigi really shouldn't have come as a surprise.
In the end, there was no love between Mia and Lake. All they had, all they ever had, was infatuation; love without a cause.
I was confused, she thought bitterly. Lake had been her first real relationship. How was she supposed to know that what they had wasn't love at all?
"I, uh, I heard your stepmom's back in town–"
Mia's eyes shot up. The last thing she wanted to talk about was Opal's grand return to town. How did he even know about that? Oh, right. Gigi must have told him between fucking.
The growing urge to throw something at him boiled her blood. Her shoe would work. It had a six inch heel that would do the trick. Or maybe the salt shaker would work. One good thwack! right to his temple.
"Skip the niceties," she snapped. So much for playing it chill. Not that that had ever really been an option. "You texted me, so here we are. I'll give you thirty seconds to explain."
She held up her hand before he could interrupt. "But after that," she continued, "I'm storming right out that door. You're never to try to contact me again. Ever. You don't even think about me, got it?" Mia narrowed her eyes. "But let me make this clear. I don't owe you shit, Lake. So don't you dare expect to be forgiven. Because I'll tell you right now, that is so not going to happen."
Lake nodded. "I understand."
She sat back in the booth. "Then start talking."
Lake took a steadying breath. "I have nothing to say that will make this any better. What I did was awful and I cannot apologize enough."
"Try," she muttered with a dead smile.
Lake shook his head. She noticed he'd cut his hair. Gone with the shoulder length waves of auburn. Gigi must have made him cut it. Her sister always hated guys with longer hair.
"I don't have any excuses," he confessed. "It was my fault."
Mia straightened, shifting in the booth. "Um," she trailed off, at a loss for words. She'd had a plan, a rough idea of how she'd tell him to fuck off. But she hadn't expected...that. Owning up to his mistakes was an un-Lake move.
"I still love you, Mia," he said finally. "I never stopped."
Mia crossed her arms. He still loved her? She didn't even think he loved her to begin with.
"Does Gigi know that?" Mia asked harshly. If not for the dozens of others in the restaurant, she would have screamed. "'Cause I feel like that would put a slight damper on your guys' relationship."
Lake sighed. "I broke things off with her."
Mia couldn't help the small flicker of amusement that went off in her chest.
"I love you," he echoed. It was a shock to Mia's system to hear him say it. He rarely said it when they were going out. It was like he thought love made him weak.
"You don't know what love is, Lake," she shot back. But her words failed. There was no bite, no fire. Aside from the satisfaction of Lake dumping Gigi, Mia felt so numb.
"Mia," he said, his dark words crossing the booth in a sinful caress. "Look at me." Hesitantly, her eyes trailed up to meet his. "I love you. Losing you was...I didn't think I would survive it. I'm still not sure if I will. But I'm not here to win you back. When I say I'm sorry, it's not a veiled attempt to get back together. I'm sorry because I hurt you, Mia. And that's something I'll have to live with for the rest of my days. I don't think I'll ever be able to articulate why I cheated. And even if I could it wouldn't matter, because no reason is good enough to have hurt you. But I do know that the look on your face when you walked in...I wanted to die. Right then and there. I never want to hurt you again. I'm so sorry."
Silence settled between them. A familiar silence they'd once shared. The very silence she'd found comfortable a week ago. Before he decided to trample over their life and set the ruins on fire.
All Mia could do was stare at him, drowning in the amber abyss of his eyes.
"Well," she breathed, angry tears blurring her vision. "Shit."
Just then, the waitress pulled up to their booth. She was older, her graying ringlets pulled back into a neat bun. The white and red of her apron was freshly pressed, everything down to the retro fifties bowling shoes of her uniform was squeaky clean.
The golden plate of her name tag on her right breast read: BONNY in all caps, the bulky font in bold.
"Now, what can I get you kids?" she asked sweetly. Bonny held her notepad and pen at the ready, a gentle smile deepening her wrinkles.
Mia sat up and cleared the frog from her throat. She glanced down at the menu she still had yet to read over. Not that she needed to. She'd been eating at the Sugar Bowl since she was a kid. She knew the menu off by heart.
"Just water for me, Bonny," Mia said. She couldn't help the waver in her voice. Lake's words sat on her chest like a ten pound weight.
Bonny nodded with a smile. "And you, hun?" she asked Lake.
"Same, please," he replied. He never once tore his eyes away from Mia.
"Two waters coming up," Bonny confirmed with a nod before waddling back to the kitchen.
Mia shook her head as another stretch of silence passed. "I don't..." she shrugged, unsure of what to do. "I don't know what to say to that."
Lake nodded. "And that's okay. You don't have to say anything. I just wanted you to know."
Mia stared back at Lake. Lake. The same guy she'd once thought she'd spend the rest of her life with. Lake, the guy that blew up her entire life in the span of one night.
She shook her head. Her stare fell down to her palms, her fingertips still blue from the cold outside. "I just can't believe you slept with her," Mia mumbled under her breath.
Lake shut his eyes tight as if she'd spat in his face. "I can't either," he admitted softly. "I keep playing that night on repeat, M." Lake sat back in defeat. "I hope you know I'd give anything to go back."
Mia wanted to roll her eyes.
"How many times?" she asked. It was the one thing she wanted to know the most. Also the one thing she didn't want the answer to. "How many times did you sleep with my sister before I found out?"
Lake took in a sharp breath.
"And don't lie," she added. "I'll know if you're lying."
"Ten times," he admitted finally.
Mia shook her head with a laugh. The wind escaped her lungs like she'd been punched in the chest.
Mia stood from the booth. "You don't love me, Lake," she said bitterly as she gathered her purse and coat. "You only love what you can't have. And you'll never have me again."