He Said She Said

I am trying something different with these stories. Instead of writing a single narrative, I have written 10 vignettes from a relationship. Each chapter alternates between the point of view of the two main characters and is written as if talking to the other person.

In addition, I have written each chapter as a quickie; all of the stories are 1,000 words or less, which is something of a challenge for me. They take place in chronological order, although there may be days, weeks or months between chapters.

There is no sex scene in this chapter, and I debated which category to put this in. I went with "Romance" instead of "Non-Erotic" due to the overall theme of how this plays into their relationship.

Please let me know what you think of this style by leaving a comment or send me feedback via email.

Enjoy!

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She said

Busy for lunch?

I need to blow off steam. It's been a long day. And it's only 10:30.

Out of town til Thursday. Dinner Friday?

Dinner? U sure? Someone might think we're dating.

Yes.

Your reply comes back almost immediately.

Dress up. We're celebrating.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I growl to no one in particular. "If this is a goddamn joke, I will kill you."

The rest of the week drags on. I take half a day off on Friday.

I'm two glasses into a bottle of Merlot when you arrive.

Taking a deep breath, I open the door when you knock.

You're wearing a new suit. Your hair is full of product. You're wearing that cologne that shifts my uterus into overdrive. You hold a small bouquet of flowers in your hands.

"Wow." The look on your face makes my new red dress, afternoon spa blow-out, nails and make-up worth it.

I take your arm and we go out to your car. You open the door. Your eyes linger on me. But not with the usual unbridled lust. Your gaze settles on the pendant nestled in my cleavage.

We drive to an upscale restaurant out at the beach. Along the way, you tentatively reach out to take my hand. Our fingers intertwine.

Our table is next to the bay window that looks out to the ocean.

"What's the occasion?" I ask after we order.

"It's the day we met," you wink. "First day of classes, nine years ago. Honors Economics."

"After class, I snuck a look at the roll to find out your name," I smile wistfully at the memory.

"You kept inviting yourself along with us to go out dancing."

"I tried flirting with you, but you were too dense to recognise it."

"I recognised it; I was trying to be faithful to my girlfriend," your voice gets quiet. "If I had let myself flirt back, we would have both regretted it."

"We regretted it anyway," I say softly.

You look away uncomfortably.

"I regretted it." Your voice is almost a whisper. "You got caught in the blast radius."

"This got depressing real fast." I take a sip of wine to cover the bitterness.

After a false start and some fidgeting, you reach across the table and take my hand. You look into my eyes. "I'm sorry for everything I put you through. You deserved better than me. I would like you to please give me a second chance."

I hold your gaze. "Did you love me?"

You look like I punched you in the gut. Which is what I wanted to do when we broke up.

"Yes," you whisper. "I thought I did. I told you and I told myself that I loved you. But I didn't act like it."

You never hit me. You never gaslighted me. You never belittled me. You never abused me.

"You were my first love." It is all I can do to keep my voice from cracking. "And you broke my heart."

"I know, and for that I am sorry."

"Why? Why now?"

"Because you treat me better than I deserve. Because for all of my stupidity, you still put up with me."

"Your magic penis makes up for a lot of your personality defects." I take a deep breath. "Why should I believe you've finally got your head unstuck from your ass?"

You don't look away from my glare.

"We're not nineteen anymore. I'd like to think I'm not stupid and that I've learned to appreciate you. Instead of taking you for granted."

"Can you keep your dick in your pants this time? I don't think I can handle you cheating on me again," I whisper.

"I promise I will not fuck anyone other than you, unless you are there and give me explicit permission."

"Did your lawyer write that for you?"

We both laugh nervously to cover the tension.

You take my hands again. "I have never lied to you about anyone else. And I never will."

That much is true. Even when I confronted you about your extra-curricular fucking, you never denied anything, and you even admitted to sleeping with girls I didn't know about. Once we settled into our friends-with-benefits arrangements, you have always been upfront about your bed-hopping.

"So what was it? Just sowing your oats?" My stomach churns before I ask my next question. But I need to know. "Was I not good enough for you?"

"You are the best lover I have ever had," he says. "I just didn't realise it until it was too late."

"You were supposed to be my 'one and only'," I frown.

"If we could go back to being nineteen again, no other man would ever have you." You look away for a moment, trying to form the words. "I can't change the past. All I can do is show you that I'm not the idiot I used to be."

"You're off to a good start," I say, and you breathe a sigh of relief. "We'll see how it works out. I only want you to be up-front with me. No sneaking around."

The rest of our meal passes quietly.

Afterwards, you drive us to a local playhouse putting on "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Objectively, the production isn't very good, but I appreciate the thought, since I know you loathe Shakespeare.

We hold hands all night. It's like our first date all over again.

Our night ends at the door to my apartment.

"I had a really good time tonight." My pulse quickens.

"I miss you." Your voice is almost inaudible.

"We see each other all the time."

"We fuck all the time," you say softly. "I miss

you

."

I don't invite you in. You don't ask.

"Am I going to get a second date?"

"I'd like that."

I reach up and pull you in for a hard, passionate kiss. I feel like I'm floating in your arms.

Why couldn't we have been like this the first time?