Love Is Overdue by Natalie Myrie

Ben’s ex-girlfriend.
Again. How was it even possible? She was standing a ways down the
aisle from me, carrying a shopping basket and looking every bit as
good as she had the previous week. I knew I should have bolted
before she saw me but I was just too curious.
    She was wearing those killer
skinny jeans again and a pair of knee-high pointy-toed flat boots
and an oversized t-shirt, belted at the waist. It was the same look
I tried to pull off all the time, but for some reason it just
seemed to look better on her. And she was so pretty – with that
silky straight red hair, deep-set green eyes and porcelain skin.
When she turned and glanced in my direction I was still
staring.
    I quickly averted my eyes
and again tried to busy myself with the lipsticks I was supposed to
be focusing on, but it was too late. Within a few seconds, she was
right next to me.
    “ Hey.”
    I had no choice but to turn
and face her.
    “ H&M?” she
said simply, apparently trying to jog my memory, which definitely
did not need any nudging.
    “ Oh. Hi.” I had
to play along. “I’m...like I said...I’m really sorry about
that.”
    She shook her head,
dismissing it. “Don’t worry about it.” She looked to be thinking
about what to do. “I’m Angela,” she said then, extending her
hand.
    This was too much. “Umm...”
I wished I could have just bolted in another direction. “Gabriela,”
I said instead and we shook hands awkwardly.
    “ Your...ummm...friend...scared the shit out of me,” she
admitted.
    “ I know.
He’s...kinda nuts sometimes, it was just a real messed up
misunderstanding.” Fuck, how many times did I have to say the same
thing?
    “ Do you...” She
paused for a moment. “Do you know who I am?”
    My heart was beating
furiously. “No,” I lied. “I mean, your boyfriend, or – the guy you
were with -” I corrected myself quickly, “just looks exactly
like...”
    “ Ben.” She
finished my sentence for me. “I know. Ivan is Ben’s brother,” she
said then, as if I didn’t know.
    I nodded slowly. “Yeah...it
makes sense now. I just can’t believe how much they look
alike.”
    There was a hint of a smile
on her face. “Yeah. You and me both.”
    I looked at her. All I could
think about what how Ben used to fuck her. He used to love her. She
was the girl he wanted to marry. He cheated on her. She dumped him.
And now she was fucking another guy who looked just like
him.
    “ So you and
Ben...are you, like...together?” She didn’t waste any time getting
to the point.
    “ No. I mean,
we’re friends,” I said pathetically.
    She looked at me like she
didn’t believe a word I was saying.
    “ I know. I mean,
I’m sorry, but the way your friend stepped up to us, it just seemed
like...” Her voice trailed off.
    “ Yeah, I know.”
It was pointless trying to deny it.
    “ I think Ivan was
about to knock him out. Seriously. It’s been a while since I seen
him get that heated.”
    Really. So Ben’s brother had
a temper. Well, Tony did kind of have it coming...
    “ You know, Ivan
and Ben...they don’t really talk anymore. They used to be best
friends but...” Her voice trailed off again. “Ben and I...well,
he’s my ex-boyfriend.”
    I nodded slowly, unsure what
to say to that.
    “ Anyway...I’m
sorry. You probably don’t know about any of this,
but...”
    I couldn’t stand it anymore.
“I do,” I said suddenly, partially because I was just too
frustrated to keep listening to her ramble in circles. “He told me,
so...yes, I know who you are.”
    Her eyes went wide. “He told
you?” She looked to be racking her brain for a good number of
seconds. “I know this is gonna sound crazy but...you wouldn’t wanna
go grab a coffee or something, would you?”
    My eyes went wide.
“I...”
    “ I’m sorry. I’m
not crazy, I promise you...I just...I’ve seen what kinda toll it’s
taken on the two of them...they used to be so close and I would do
anything to fix it...” Her voice trailed off and