Love Hurts

“Love hurts, ever heard that phrase?” Dean asked in a conceited tone, unconcerned about whether people seated at the surrounding tables in the restaurant heard him. He just wanted this over so he could leave. He hadn’t wanted to come in the first place but Liz had said he had to do the right thing and tell her in person. He didn’t agree. He didn’t owe Kelly anything. It had only ever been a bit of fun for him. Could he help it if she took it more seriously? But to keep the peace he’d said he’d go. 

Tears shimmered in Kelly’s eyes as she looked at the man she had been seeing for six months but now realised she didn’t even know. Of course she had heard the phrase he’d just used in response to her question about why he was breaking things off without warning, but she hadn’t truly understood what it meant until that minute. At the age of twenty five, she’d been lucky so far, she hadn’t suffered any heart ache to speak of before, not like this. 

But worse than the pain of finding he didn’t care about her, was the shock of his deliberate cruelty. As she looked into his eyes she could see the expectation. He was waiting to see her reaction. He wanted to see her pain. However, if in the last few minutes she had found she didn’t know him, she now realised he didn’t have the first clue about her either. If his intention was to leave her devastated, to watch her cry, he was about to be disappointed. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing how much he’d hurt her. 

Squaring her shoulders she lifted the linen napkin off her lap and folding it with steady hands she placed in on the table in front of her. She got to her feet and picking up her bag, looked down at him, meeting his eyes squarely. Her eyes hard, his now confused. Then forcing herself to smile she said in a voice that showed nothing of what she was feeling, “thanks for the lesson Dean but I hate to tell you, it was a wasted effort. See you round.” As she turned away she saw his jaw drop and a bitter smile flitted across her face. However before she had made it to the door it was replaced with a mask of utter pain as the tears she could no longer hold back, began to fall.