No Goodbye Needed

My best friend, Hazel Garrick, and I were having our last meal together before I left the country.

"Time really flies. The last time we ate here, Lucas was planning to confess his feelings to you..." Hazel stopped halfway through her sentence, suddenly remembering something.

After a long silence, she finally asked softly, "Clara, did you two really break up? I remember you liked him for ten whole years."

I didn't answer right away. Instead, I took a bite of my food.

Break up? I guess you could call it that.

Lucas Mendoza and I never officially said we were breaking up. After one of our fights, we both assumed it was just another argument. We thought we'd make up like we always did.

But then, nothing happened.

We went on with our own lives and studies.

We just stopped contacting each other.

I guess that counted as breaking up, too.

After the waiter cleared away the used plates, a small blackened spot on the table was revealed.

I stared at it for a while and forgot to keep eating.

Two years ago, Lucas had gathered all my friends at this very restaurant and planned a huge confession.

He had hidden himself inside a giant mascot costume. Then he carefully handed me a huge bunch of heart-shaped balloons.

Tied to the strings was an expensive bracelet and a love letter that was more than 5,000 words long.

Lucas later told me that he had hidden inside the mascot because he was afraid I might reject him.

That way, he could cry as much as he wanted inside the costume.

He never expected me to say yes.

He was so happy that he picked me up and spun me around. But he accidentally knocked over one of the decorative candles on the table, leaving a small part of the table badly burned.

He was terrified and kept apologizing to the owner. He even offered to pay for the damage.

But after seeing him tightly holding my hand, the owner refused.

"You don't have to pay for the damage," he said. "But I'll give you one piece of advice. Now that you're together, you better treat her right."

Back then, Lucas had firmly promised that he would always treat me well.

And he did keep that promise. He was always good to me.

But he was also just as good to Hilary.

Just then, another dish was brought to our table.

I snapped back to reality and froze. "Excuse me, but we didn't order this..."

The owner smiled and waved his hand. "It's on the house. You two haven't been here in a long time."

Then he looked at me with confusion. "Your boyfriend didn't come with you?"

I didn't know how to answer.

Hazel quietly pushed some food toward me.

The owner seemed to understand what had happened.