“What are you doing here?” Noelle asked softly, still turned away from Rob. She really didn’t care why he was there, what she meant to ask was ‘why are you bothering me?’

“I’m having dinner with a colleague,” Rob replied shortly.

Noelle smirked and looked down to the ground. “You mean your wife? Or a new skirt that you’re chasing after?”

Rob sighed heavily and stepped in front of Noelle, forcing her to look at him. “I’m not with my wife anymore. We’ve separated.”

Noelle couldn’t help it. Rob’s revelation caused her to break down into hysterical laughter.

“What’s the matter with you?” Rob questioned, a puzzled looked played upon his face.

“I’m just wondering when you’re going to stop, when you’re going to go away and let me forget that you ever existed as a part of my life.” Noelle stepped passed him, willing Brian to hurry up and bring the car around. It was starting to rain harder and the line of cars waiting to pick up other members of their respective parties was growing steadily longer. Noelle didn’t want to have to wait there with Rob any longer than she had to.

“I’ve been trying to call you,” Rob pushed, either not getting that she didn’t want anything to do with him or not caring what she wanted either way.

“I don’t have anything left to say to you.” Noelle closed her eyes tight and sighed. There was a time when Noelle prayed for this conversation to happen. Now, she realized that she really did have to be careful about what she prayed for.

Rob reached out to grab Noelle’s hand. Instinctively, she pulled her arms back and folded them across her chest.

“Noelle…”

“What?” Noelle snapped. “Just say what you have to say. What do you want from me?”

“Just hear me out. Will you listen?” Rob pleaded.

A frustrated blush crept onto his cheeks as he looked around at all of the people that were starting to gather and stare.

Without speaking, Noelle motioned for him to continue. She just wanted him to get out whatever he wanted to tell her so that he’d go away. It’d been a long time since she’d been this uncomfortable.

“We filed the papers--my wife and I--and we’re in the process of divorce right now. I’ve admitted to you before that I’ve never been completely faithful to her. I’ve had meaningless trysts with women just for the thrill of it, but things were different with you,” Rob whispered loudly. “I know that you can’t allow yourself to be in this relationship with me now, not until the divorce is final and I can be completely yours like I should have been from the beginning, but I want you to know that once this is over, I’m going to come looking for you. I love you. I’ll always love you.”

Noelle couldn’t help but to feel like she’d just had a much more genuine version of this conversation at a different moment in time. 

“You don’t love me,” Noelle replied quickly. “You lied to me for months. You let me go through hell alone. You got me kicked out of school. You were left unscathed for a mistake that was both of ours, while I got pulled through the mud. That’s not love.”

Noelle stopped and took in a deep breath. “There is a man out there right now, who does love me. You had your chance, Rob. You blew it.”

“You can’t be serious. You can’t really be choosing him. What does he have to offer you? A shitload of student loans and a minimum wage job?” Rob spat, which only caused Noelle to laugh again.

“You have no idea,” Noelle replied softly, shaking her head.

Just then, Brian pulled up to the curb and reached over then center consol to open her door. He was staring at her curiously, but didn’t say anything. Noelle stepped past Rob up to the car. Before she climbed in, she turned back to him and sighed.

“Just leave me alone,” she replied softly, hoping that Brian couldn’t hear her and that he didn’t notice the strained conversation she’d been having with this man just moment’s ago. She climbed into the car and slammed the door shut behind her.

Brian could feel that the mood had changed from just moments earlier. He wasn’t sure what had just happened outside of that restaurant, and he wasn’t sure that he wanted to ask. He hoped that Noelle would open up to him on her own, but after fifteen minutes of silence, Brian couldn’t stand it anymore.

“What was that?” he asked softly as he slid his hand into hers, hoping to offer a bit of comfort.

“Nothing,” she responded, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Okay,” Brian replied, dragging the word out. “Then, who was that?”

“No one,” Noelle replied quickly, pulling her hand out of Brian’s and turning toward the window.

 Brian nodded understandingly. He had known who that was all along; he just wanted her to be the one to say it.

“Rob,” he said softly as an irrational surge of anger passed over him. There had been a lot of that going on over the last few days.

He was in a rough position himself; the last thing that he needed was the woman that he loved to have jacked-up feelings remaining for some other guy.

Noelle turned and glared over at him. “Yes, Brian, it was Rob. What about it?”

Brian shook his head and clenched his jaw.

“Nothing about it,” he growled.

“What the hell is the matter with you?” Noelle snapped, wondering what Brian had to be angry about. He hadn’t just had to have a very public conversation with someone that he never wanted to see again about things that he didn’t want to ever think about again.

“Nothing is the matter with me,” Brian replied passive-aggressively. “I’m just fine. It’s perfectly okay with me that you still have feelings for your decrepit ex-boyfriend.”

“What the fuck, Brian?” Noelle yelled. “Seriously? You have no idea what that conversation was about. Maybe you should calm down before you jump to conclusions.”

“So, you don’t have feelings for him still?” Brian questioned, still angry. He wasn’t usually the jealous type. He didn’t know where this sudden insecurity was coming from.

“No. God, no,” Noelle shrieked. “And even if I did, you’re married, remember?”

“So is he!” Brian yelled back. “Are we seriously going to have this fight again?”

“To tell you the truth, I don’t know what the hell we’re fighting about to begin with!” Noelle barked back.

Noelle shook her head and turned again to look out the window, only looking back when she felt the car stop and heard Brian’s chuckling in the seat next to her.

“What are you laughing at?” Noelle asked, though she could already feel the smile growing on her lips, too. That was one thing about Brian that she loved. His smile was infectious.

They were now in front of Noelle’s apartment complex. Brian turned off the car and rubbed his hands over his face still laughing softly. “I was just thinking about how crazy this is. I don’t really know what we’re fighting about either. I’m sorry.”

Noelle smiled and reached for his hand. “I’m sorry too, Brian. I can see how you could have jumped to that conclusion, but really, I was standing there telling Rob how much I loved you. He pulled his same bullshit and it pissed me off and I just needed a minute. Okay?”

Brian sighed and nodded. “Yeah, you didn’t do anything wrong. I know that. It’s just been an emotional few weeks. I’m not usually this crazy, jealous guy. I just—I don’t know. It feels like every time we hurdle one obstacle, we end up falling into a sand pit.”

“I know what you mean,” Noelle replied softly.

“Do you want to talk about it? I mean, talk about what he chased you outside of the restaurant to talk to you about?” Brian smiled as he said the words so that she would know that he was joking.

“Not really,” she sighed. “Unless you really want to hear the details.”

Brian shook his head. “Not really. Unless you really want to tell the details.”

Noelle shook her head and leaned in to kiss him tenderly. “How about we just leave that one alone and pretend like this last half an hour never happened?”

Brian nodded. “I like that idea a lot.”

Noelle smirked and kissed him again. “Let’s go upstairs and finish this night the right way.”

Brian chuckled softly into her lips. “I like that idea even more.”