The Encounter

I leaned on my knees and tried to catch my breathe. While I was on the main road, I had been jogging pretty fast in anticipation of a walking break but now that Justin had pulled his car up next to me, I regretted my decision. Do you ever try to catch your breathe really quick but you just can't? I was trying so hard to suppress my huffing and puffing but that somehow made it worse. Too embarrassing.

Then, my mind moved to him. Shouldn't he be embarrassed? How did he manage to catch me jogging blocks away from my house?

"Hey," I said, with confusion in my voice mixed with my continued lack of composure as he rolled down his window.

He was still just smiling at me. I felt like he was politely, but also condescendingly, waiting for me to catch my breathe. "How are you?" he finally asked.

I stood up straight and stretched a little as I slowly crept near his car. I'll admit, I tried to subtly flaunt my upper body a little bit, by stretching my arms back and looking away from him. You have to let them see what they're missing without letting them know you're doing it on purpose.

"I'm good," I replied before just coming out and asking what was on my mind. "What are you doing here?"

He furrowed his eye brows before his face turned a slight shade of burgundy. "Um, I was just driving and I don't know, I recognized you. It's not like I'm usually checking out girls on the side of the road, but you know, I obviously recognized you from a glance."

I interjected because this was clearly becoming uncomfortable, for both of us. "No, no, sorry," I began. "I just meant, what're you doing in this area of the island." Justin lived a good twenty minutes away and even when we were dating, he very rarely drove through my town unless he was coming to see me.

Justin shot me a smirk. "I'm not stalking you, I promise. You know that this is the quickest route from my job to Alan's house. I had to stay late and had no need to stop home."

I felt stupid that I thought for even a second that Justin was driving past my neighborhood on purpose. "Of course, of course," I said nodding. "Alan's house."

"It's crazy that you happen to be jogging on that road at the exact moment that I was driving by," he said.

I shrugged. If he was trying to get me to talk about how this was some sort of cosmic connection of fate, I was so not falling for it. This wasn't destiny and I totally believe in destiny. "I guess," I replied.

"I mean, I was really hoping I'd hear from you soon," Justin uncomfortably admitted.

"Justin," I began as I tried to decide between being angry or sad, "I've said my peace. We should both move on."

"I thought we could remain friends. Or at least, friendly."

Now I was angry. "Friends don't ditch friends for dinner. If you wanted to remain friends, I'd ask for the same respect that you give Alan or Sean if you wanted to be friends." I understand trying to stay friends with an ex, but when a guy totally fucks you over and then says he wants to be friends, it infuriates me. Guys do not treat their friends the way they treat girls they have hooked up with.

Justin let out a heavy sigh and I could see the grip on his steering wheel tighten. "Caroline, I seriously fell asleep. I had a really long day at work and told myself I would just take a quick nap. My alarm didn't go off. I can't make you believe me, but that's the truth so I don't know what else to tell you."

I suppressed my desire to roll my eyes. "Okay, it doesn't matter," I said. "Listen, it's fine. We had a pretty amicable break up and I have no ill feelings towards you. I just don't see the purpose in dragging this out any more than we already have."

Justin looked at me like I just told him I killed his cat. "But I miss you," he replied.

I folded my arms in front of my chest. What kind of crap was he trying to pull? "Justin, I know you don't want to get back together. Even if you did want to get back together, you'd regret it right away. Don't you remember the night you broke up with me?"

"I know, I know," he replied. I could tell he was getting flustered. "I'm not saying I want to get back together. I just, I don't know, I'm not ready to let this all go."

I couldn't even stop myself from laughing at that moment. "Justin, we dated. It's not like we can go back to some gray area. We can't hang out but not be together." At that moment though, I felt a flutter in my stomach as an imagine of Justin's bedroom flashed through my memory. I shook that memory away and refused to let Justin catch my expression. I wished I could just hang out with Justin and hook up without all those messy feelings.

"Yeah," Justin began. "I'm sorry, you're so right. I just didn't realize what an adjustment this would be."

"Me neither," I said. We made eye contact and it became evident to both of us that this was the real ending. We had a great run (pardon the pun) but this was it for us.

"Well, you look good," he said. "I guess I'll see you around."

"You too, it was nice running into you," I genuinely replied.

He shot me a sweet smile before putting his car into drive. I waved goodbye as he drove away.

I walked home after that. I figured, running into Justin was enough of a cardiovascular workout.