I tugged on the hem of the black pencil skirt that I paired with a simple white, collared dress shirt, adjusting it one last time. It definitely wasn’t my typical style, but really, I didn’t have anything appropriate to wear to interviews, so I had to raid Remy’s closet.
My style was…I wasn’t really even sure anymore. Leah always used me as her personal stylist, so I guess you could say I have good taste. But she also told me I was a little bit schizophrenic when it came to my wardrobe, and looking back, I had to agree.
When I was dating Skylar, I went through a bit of a hippie phase since that was sort of his thing. Moving on to Teddy, I went through more of a rocker chick look. I even remember dating a guy in high school who had been really involved in the drama club, that was a really interesting time in my life, and I’m sure my mom was pretty happy when things quickly ended.
Now, I really just needed to figure out who I was.
I checked my makeup one last time in the hallway mirror before I shut the door behind myself, fluffing my loosely curled hair. I felt professional and confident, for what was pretty much my first real job interview ever. Luckily, Remy left me her car since I had returned my rental after a few days of having it.
“Ally?” I heard that all too familiar voice as I rounded the corner to the parking lot, and I instantly stiffened, wanting to do nothing more than to turn right around and lock myself in the apartment. But I couldn’t get there fast enough.
I felt his hand land on my shoulder just as I tried to twist away. I reluctantly turned around, meeting those brown eyes that I thought I knew so well. Now all he looked like was a stranger.
“What are you doing here, Teddy?” I crossed my arms tightly over my chest, trying to look anywhere but straight at him.
“We’re just a couple of towns over, Al, you know that. It took me a while, but I tracked you down when you returned the rental. Why haven’t you answered any of my calls? I was worried as hell about you.” He reached out to brush his thumb across my cheek, but I quickly knocked his hand away.
Why had I used his dumb credit card for that rental car? I didn’t realize he was going to pull out some detective moves to track me down.
“Really? You were worried about me? That sounds awfully strange coming from someone who wasn’t so concerned about me when they were in bed with another girl.”
He let out a loud groan and moved a step closer, sucking in his lip ring as he did. “Al, you’re still my wife, and I’m always going to worry about you. That meant nothing; it was a lapse in judgment, nothing else. I swear.”
“Teddy, I don’t want to hear it.” I shoved past him, but I could feel that he was still following closely behind me. “I have somewhere to be, and I can’t be late. Just go back to your tour, and forget about me, because we’re done. There is no us, and there’s no going back.”
“Ally, you don’t mean that.” He grabbed onto the car door before I could slam it in his face and crouched down so we were face to face. His hand reached up to grip my chin and this time I didn’t twist away fast enough.
It was taking everything inside of me not to just give in. To forget everything that had happened, and start fresh. But I knew that there was no way in hell I could do that, because I would just be setting myself up to get hurt all over again.
“Please, Al, just one more chance. I swear I won’t mess this up.”
I swallowed over the thick lump in my throat, looking him straight in the eyes, to say that one word I still hadn’t been able to utter. “No, Teddy. It’s not going to happen. I want a divorce, and I want you to leave me alone. Is that really so much to ask after… after everything?”
By this time, tears were streaming down my cheeks. I could see the pain in his face as he stared back at me and slowly stood up, his hand sliding away from my cheek to hang loosely at his side. “Okay, Al,” he whispered, dropping his head down to kiss my wet cheek, his tears mixing with mine. “I’m sorry. You really were the best thing that ever happened to me, it was inevitable that I had to go and fuck it up.”
He backed away, looking defeated, before pushing my door shut. I couldn’t sit there any longer, the pain was overpowering. So I started up the car and pulled out of the parking lot, leaving him standing there alone and feeling like a piece of me was getting left behind, too.
By the time I pulled into my interview, I was ten minutes late, but had calmed down a teensy bit. I allowed myself to peek in the mirror one time, and wasn’t too shocked at what I saw. My eyes were bloodshot, mascara was streaked down my face, and I just looked…devastated.
Seeing Teddy again was harder than I thought. I almost gave in, it would be so easy. He really did look heartbroken and like he was sorry for what he had done.