Bad to Worse
Tobin’s mother was thoroughly impressed when her daughter arrived on time to lunch. Tobin never really had a reputation of being early, and seeing her here at such a respectable time definitely piqued her curiosity.
“Hey mom.” Tobin said pulling a chair out for Alex before pulling out her own, sitting directly beside Alex, with her mother across the table.
“I guess I should give you two a proper introduction huh?” Tobin started, “Mom, this is Alex, Alex this is my mom.”
“Nice to meet you Mrs. Heath.” Alex smiled.
“Please, call me Cindy.” She said, before mentioning Tobin’s unusual promptness. “So Tobin, what’s changed, you’re oddly early to dinner today.”
“Alex.” Tobin said simply, turning to Alex who let out the cutest giggle which Tobin happily returned, even Cindy couldn’t help but smile at the interaction.
“Well, I’m glad my daughter has such a positive influence in her life.” She said, causing Tobin to snort which resulted in Alex giving her a nice whack on her shoulder.
“I don’t know what Tobin would do without me, she tried to come here today in shorts and sandals.” Alex joked and Tobin’s mom returned a look of sympathy.
“Tobin was never easy.” She sighed, and Tobin blushed at the remark, although she was quite relieved that her mother and Alex were getting off to a good start, especially if Alex was going to be around for the next few weeks. Her mom was very important to her, and whenever she didn’t take a liking to one of Tobin’s friends, she was usually right that there was something off about them; Tobin had to get heartbroken and possibly permanently damaged for her to figure this out.
Tobin was obviously more nervous about lunch than Alex, mostly because she knew eventually, her mother would start to ask questions, and when she got started, she was like fbi agent, intense and deliberate.
**
“So Alex.” Tobin’s mom started and Tobin grabbed Alex’s hand under the table, partly to keep her sane, and partly as an apology for what was about to happen, Alex didn’t reciprocate the hand hold at first, confused as to why Tobin did it. They had mostly been maintaining small talk, about the weather and what was happening in the news, both Tobin and Alex figured it wouldn’t take long for the conversation to switch to something a bit more centered on them.
“Where are you from.” Alex laughed a bit to herself before squeezing Tobin’s hand, remembering what she had said about her mother’s ‘protective’ tendencies.
“Cali, born and raised.”
“You do look like a Cali girl, you’re very beautiful, how did Tobin manage to snag someone as wonderful as you?” She asked, which caused Tobin to roll her eyes.
“We met at work, I’m one of the veterinarians and one day Tobin just showed up.”
“So, how did you two get so close?” Alex blushed at this question, looking to Tobin for some assistance.
“I already told you mom, don’t make her have to repeat it.” Tobin sighed.
“I just don’t understand how you two could get drunkenly married, and not get an annulment right away … Unless of course, you are both harboring secret feelings for each other, in which case, you two have my blessing, anyone who can get Tobin to dinner on time, and dressed so nicely is a great contender in my book.”
“Mom!” Tobin interrupted, and Alex had tears in her eyes from the laughter.
“It’s not like that.” Alex said, “At least not yet.” She added boldly, and Tobin almost choked on her food.
“I’m sure it will be like that soon.” Tobin’s mother emphasized, “I mean, it looks as if its already like that, you both are eating with one hand, either I’m hallucinating, or you two are holding hands under the table. Please Tobin, could you try to not be so teenageresque.”
Her mother was wrong, or at least Tobin thought she was, it definitely wasn’t like that, or was it? Tobin had been battling a series of confused thoughts involving Alex, on one hand, she knew Alex was attracted to her, and she knew that Alex knew that her attraction was mutual. On the other hand, there was Tobin’s haunting past, holding her back from any sort of forward progress in her romantic life. She had never received the closure that granted her the freedom to move on with her life, and that frustrated her greatly, because she wanted nothing more than to move on with her life.
Alex, noting Tobin’s distance squeezed her hand reassuringly under the table. Tobin was really grateful for Alex. She was patient, gentle and understanding, she also knew how to have fun, and could read Tobin, which was odd for Tobin, because no one, not even her ex had been as spot on as Alex when it came to her. Tobin suspected Alex knew that she wasn’t quite ready for a relationship, Alex had attempted to get Tobin to open up about her ex before, but Tobin couldn’t, it was as if a giant bolder was preventing Tobin from exiting the cave of her previous relationship and be free; Tobin was grateful that Alex didn’t push the situation, not letting Tobin’s lack off disclosure ruin their friendship.
Tobin’s mother opened her mouth to say something, but a loud disturbance in the restaurant interrupted them, a woman, with an oddly familiar frame ran into a table, and Tobin immediately found herself getting sick at who the woman reminded her of. It couldn’t be. Tobin reassured herself before returning her focus on lunch.
Alex noticed Tobin’s expression the second the woman ran into the table, it was like, a haunting familiarity. She also noted the way Tobin’s mother’s face contorted in a form of motherly anger so strong that Alex had to look away, out of an irrational fear of the woman’s wrath. Alex was definitely confused, but wrote it off as both of them being upset that someone had disturbed their nice lunch.
Tobin started acting strange after said interruption though. She was quiet and barely touched her food, Alex decided to wait out lunch and ask her about it on their way home. The lovely atmospheric bubble that the trio had found themselves in was ruined and lunch was quickly dissolved after that with Tobin giving her mother the lame excuse of her having to send some emails before a certain time.
**
When Tobin and Alex reached the comfort of the car, Alex immediately addressed Tobin’s odd behavior.
“Are you okay Tobs? You seemed a bit distant.” Alex asked carefully, placing the key in the ignition and starting the car.
“I thought I saw someone is all.” Tobin offered, fixing her gaze out of the window.
“Who?” Alex questioned, when her question was met with silence, Alex put two and two together.
“Was it your ex?”
“Yeah.” Tobin sighed, running her hand through her hair.
“It might have not been her.” Alex said, trying to give Tobin some sort of comfort in such an awkward situation.
“You’re right.” The car was silent for a while after that, before Tobin found some spontaneous form of confidence. “She just left you know.” Tobin started, not really waiting for a reply from Alex before continuing, “She just left me.” Tobin spat bitterly. “We were so happy, at least I thought, I was doing everything right, and she was enjoying it. We were together for 2 and a half years. I remember everything so vividly, we met on the fourth of July, she showed at one of my friends’ party, and we hit it off instantly, it also helped that she was insanely good looking. Brown curly hair, green eyes, caramel skin, like something out of an Instagram lifestyle post, she was amazing.” Tobin said before taking a breath, Alex decided on taking the long way home so she could listen to Tobin’s story, it was really intriguing, how Tobin got lost in telling the story about her ex, who scarred her so badly.
“We started seeing each other regularly, and then we started dating, we were really serious, but then she started to get distance, I’ll admit, initially I didn’t notice, like honestly, I didn’t notice until a few days after she left me, and I had time, a lot of time to analyze our relationship. But anyways, I asked her to marry me, and – “ Tobin said her voice cracking, Alex was pretty sure she heard her own heart shatter as well, knowing what was about to happen.
“She left, she fucking left me, on one knee, she left me when I was about to – no, when I had already given her my entire world, and she left, God, I hate her so much, but then I don’t I could never, I was so in love with her and she was so in love with me too, or at least that’s what she said, I don’t know.” Tobin finished, sniffling, searching through the glove compartment for some tissues.
They pulled into their driveway and Alex shut off the car, letting them both sit there in the solemn mood of the car for a few minutes. It was Alex who finally sliced the silence of the car. “Tobin, I know I’ve said this before. But I mean it more, than I did the last time I said it, she didn’t deserve you.” Alex declared, opening the car door and walking inside of the house, giving Tobin a few moments to herself.
This was a big moment for Tobin, it was only the third time she was telling this story, and she was significantly less hysterical than the first two in telling it this time, that was a good step in the right direction.
**
When Tobin walked into the house, Alex was already changed, “I’m going to the store okay, to pick up some things, the fridge is really empty, and I think you need some time to yourself.” Alex said, pulling Tobin into a hug, and giving her a light peck on her cheek before she walked towards the door. Alex began to pull away from the hug, but Tobin only held on tighter, letting her tears soak into the fabric of Alex’s cotton shirt.
“Thank you Alex.” She mumbled, “You’re so good to me I don’t know what I would be doing without you.” She sniffled, before pulling away. Alex grabbed Tobin by both shoulders, “I feel the same about you Tobin.” She reassured Tobin.
Alex, en route to the door, heard the doorbell ring, and took her time going to answer it, figuring it was probably Tobin’s mother or a girl scout or something. Alex definitely wasn’t expecting a stare down with the woman Tobin had described in her rather heart breaking story
“Is Tobin here?” The woman asked, slightly shocked at who had opened the door.
“Who wants to know?” Alex asked, going in full on defense mode, this woman did not deserve any of the niceness Alex had in her body.
Alex eyed the woman skeptically, making sure that she felt uncomfortable under Alex’s gaze. The woman was about to reply when Tobin came in from behind Alex, looking to see what was going on.
“What’s going o-“ Tobin’s words died on her tongue when her locked gazes with the green eyes that had haunted her dreams for so long.
“What are you doing here.” Tobin said, stepping in front of Alex protectively.
“I came to see you.”