One Love Forever
“Hey. What are you up to? Fancy meeting up? Where? At our usual café Brilliant, Im already here, waiting.” Thomas slipped his phone into his pocket, still grinning.
He and Emily had gone to school together. She was gorgeous, effortlessly elegantthe girl of his dreams. Meanwhile, he was just Thomas. Not particularly tall, not the handsomest chap in the room, but since when was love only about looks? If shed just given him a chance, shed have seen all the other qualities he had to offer.
Hed trailed after her like a devoted page, and Emily had accepted his attention with vague kindness but never returned his feelings. Hed watched her flit from one bloke to another, burning with jealousy, resentment, and frustration. In retaliation, hed dated other girls, but none of them were *her*. No matter how hard he tried, he couldnt shake his feelings.
“Hey!” Emily slid into the seat opposite him.
Thomas had been so lost in thought he hadnt even noticed her approach.
“Hi.” He couldnt hide the desperate joy in his voice or tear his eyes away from her.
“Earth to Thomas!” Emily laughed, bright and clear.
He looked away, his chest aching with the urge to hug her, kiss her. At the next table, a man was staring at Emily too. Thomas barely resisted snapping, *”Eyes off! Shes mine!”* Except she never had been.
“Fancy grabbing me a coffee?” There was a playful glint in Emilys eyes.
Thomas leapt up, returning moments later with a tray bearing two cups and Emilys favourite slice of cake. He sat back down, tore open a sugar sachet, and stirred it into his drink with exaggerated focus.
“Everything alright?” Emily studied him, the mischief in her gaze fading.
“Fine. Just wanted to see you, thats all.” He slid a fridge magnet across the table.
“Thanks!” She picked it up, turning it over in her hands.
Theyd been meeting at this café*their* café, with its comforting aroma of roasted beansfor years. A decade ago, in this very place, Thomas had confessed his love. Emily had called him *lovely* but said they could only ever be friends.
“Look aroundthere are so many girls here. You could make any of them happy.”
“But not you?” Thomas asked.
“Sorry.”
Hed been so furious theyd nearly fallen out. Emily had warned him thenif he kept pushing, shed cut contact. Terrified, hed backed off. If this was all he gotoccasional coffees, glimpses of herthen fine. Maybe one day
After that, Thomas stopped talking about his feelings. He tried to forget herdated, even married, thinking it might help.
Emily had seen his wedding photos online, congratulated him sincerely. He hadnt replied. Later, he posted honeymoon snaps from a tropical island, waiting for her reaction. It took ages. She mustve been busyno likes, no comments. Then, finally, shed liked every photo, gushing about how happy he looked with his wife, how shed love to visit someday.
*”You couldve been in her place,”* hed thought bitterly.
Hed called her, suggesting they meet at the café. And so it wentshort messages, birthday flowers, souvenirs from holidays abroad. Shed like his posts; hed read too much into her comments, mistaking politeness for hope. Emily would tuck the trinkets into her bag, listen to his travel stories, admire his tanthen, just as hed hint at wishing *she* were there, shed excuse herself and leave.
Years passed. He divorced, partly because his wife couldnt have children, partly because Emily still haunted him. But she had her own lifeno room for Thomas. Then she married someone else.
The agony was unbearable. Jealousy, rage, hollow revenge with other women. Nothing helped.
One day, he checked her profile and saw a tiny hand clasping a hospital wristbandher sons name, his birth date. Thomas congratulated her, then wanted to howl at the unfairness. *He* shouldve been that boys father.
He tried moving on, married again. When Charlotte gave birth to their daughter, Lily, he almost believed happiness without Emily was possible. He posted photos of his *two favourite girls*, his *little family*, avoiding Emilys profile entirely.
Done. Hed found his peace. No more Emily.
Then one day, he left his phone at home. Charlotte snooped, found old messages with Emilynothing scandalous, but still. She tracked Emily down, saw his lingering comments under her photos.
The moment Thomas walked in, Charlotte erupted. Why was he messaging a married woman? *Just an old friend*, hed said. She accused him of cheating, threatened to ruin Emilys *pretty face* with acid.
“You wouldnt.”
“Try me.” Her eyes were terrifyingly resolute. He promised never to contact Emily again.
They patched things up, but the air between them stayed frosty. Even Lilys laughter couldnt thaw it.
Then Emily called. Wanted to meet.
He flew to the café. Shed changedstill beautiful, but dimmed. Her husband was cheating; she was divorcing. Thomas offered to *have a word* with the bloke.
Emily refused, then asked how *he* was.
“Fine. Made another mess of things. Nearly divorced.”
“But youve got Lily!”
“Yeah, well, your husband had a son and still strayed. Only staying for my girls sake.” He sighed. “Funnynone of the others ever got pregnant. Thought it was me. Then Charlotte did. But I still cant forget *you*. Its likeI dont knowa curse.”
“Are you mad? That was *school*. Its been *years*youre still hung up? Were *friends*.”
“*You* decided that. Not me.” His voice was quiet.
“Thomas” She covered his hand with hers. “I shouldnt have called. Im selfish. Giving you false hope. I should go.”
“Wait.” He gripped her hand. “You *are* selfish. Blind, too. I played along with this *friendship* just to see you. You never cared how I felt. Only call when *youre* hurting. I married out of spite. Youre mywhats that line from *Twilight*?*imprinted* on me. I know Im no Hollywood heartthrob. But how long will you torture me?”
Emily stared, shocked by his outburst. He stood, tossed cash on the table, and left.
He drove for hours, cursing himself, her, the universe. Wanted to scream, floor the accelerator, end the ache in his chest.
*”Whats so special about her? Pretty and cold. Shell fade, end up alone, regret itbut too late. Enough.”*
He stopped calling, texting, liking her posts. From her updates, he gathered shed divorced.
Months later, they bumped into each other outside a shop. She was with her son. A bit softer, but still Emilyno, *better*.
“Hey! Long time. Whereve you been?” she asked breezily.
“Nowhere. Same place. You? Not remarried?”
“Ugh, no. Still recovering. Men are off the menu. Were good, right?” She smiled at her boy.
“Right,” the kid agreed.
Thomas bit back the words *I still love you*.
“Need a lift? Ill walk you to your car.”
“I drove,” Emily said.
“Then Ill walk you anyway.”
At her car, the boy clambered into the back.
“Good seeing you,” Emily said.
“You too.”
“Bye.” She waved and drove off.
Thomas memorised her number plate, then followed, honking, flashing his lights. They weaved through traffic like kids, grinning, until she turned into her estate. He drove home.
“You were gone *ages*. Forget the shopping?” Charlotte snapped.
Thomas froze. In seeing Emily, hed forgotten everything.
“Was it *her*? Shes single nowgo on, leave! Youre obsessed!”
The divorce was brutal. Charlotte threatened to cut access to Lily. He gave her the flat, bartered for weekly visits. His mother piled on guilt.
One cold afternoon, he took Lily to a soft-play centre. And there was Emily, with her son.
The kids played together happily. *”We look like a family. If only.”* His chest tightenedpain, darkness.
“Thomas? Someone call an ambulance!” Emilys voice cut through.
*”Whos ill?”* he wondered, then blacked out.
He woke on a stretcher, crushing weight on his chest.
“Dont worry, Ill take Lily home,” Emily said. Her face hovered above him before medics bundled him into the ambulance.
She visited him in hospital the next day.
“You scared me. Thought it was a heart attack. Thank God it wasnt.”
“Ill godont want to run into your wife. She said horrible things when I brought Lily home.”
“Dont worry, she wont come. Em will you visit tomorrow?”
A week later, discharged, they sat in the café again.
“Should you be drinking coffee?” Emily asked.
“One wont hurt.”
“When you collapsed, I was terrified. Remembered school, your souvenirs, our coffees Imagined life without you Weve known each other so long, its like a marriage. The passions gone, but theres attachment. Maybe thats stronger. We could try.”
“Emily” His voice cracked.
All those years chasing her, and it took a near-heart attack to hear *”lets try.”*
The next day, he convinced her to apply for a marriage licence.
“You just divorced! Maybe we wait?”
“Nope. What if you change your mind?”
They married quietly at the café, postponed the honeymoon. Emily wanted to see the ocean, but refused the places Thomas had been with his exes. He suggested the Canarieseternal spring, volcanic sand, exotic birds. Sometimes, yellow clouds hoveredsand blown from the Sahara.
At night, once her son slept, theyd curl up, listening to the waves.
“Em Im so happy,” Thomas murmured.
“Me too. All that wasted time.”
“Well make up for it. Weve got forever.”
