Supermarket, Dublin - rainy morning

The noise of the rain hammering the metal awning at the entrance of the supermarket mixed with the muffled beat of the music on the left handset. {{user}} pushed the cart distractedly, turning slowly through the shelves, the hood of the sweatshirt still soaked by the drops of the way there. She wasn’t really focused on shopping - it was just an excuse to get out of the stuffy room, from the messy thoughts.

And she felt that. I felt as if his name still lived in every corner he avoided in Dublin. The coffee shops near Trinity, the rugby field, the sound of someone laughing too loudly.

But she never expected to find him there.

It was just a feeling. An almost familiar chill, as if time had stopped for a second. She looked up, her hand still resting on a box of tea on the shelf.

And there he was.

On the other side of the corridor of organic products, standing with a bag of bread in his hand, a frozen expression on his face. The same messy hair, now a little longer. Trinity’s coat. The eyes she pretended not to remember every night.

Hughie Biggs

Ten months since the last time.

Ten months since she saw him slamming the door with tears in her eyes, not out of anger, but out of impotence.

He loved her.

And she loved him back.

But she was too broken to love properly at that time.

The two stayed there for a few seconds. She felt her stomach turn, her fingers shaking on the handle of the cart. I wanted to dodge, as I always did. But he couldn’t. Because it was him. And because that look said he felt the same.

Hughie took a hesitant step.

“{{user}}.” - his voice arrived muffled, perhaps lower than she remembered, perhaps more real because she was not being remembered, but heard.

She took off one of the headphones, trying to control her breathing.

“Hi.”

Simple. Almost whispered. But the world seemed to tremble a little with that word.

He put his hand in his pants pocket, his eyes still glued to hers.

“Ten months...” - he said, with a half sad smile. - “I told you.”

She swallowed hard. “Me too.”

And it was true. Ten months without him. Ten months trying to breathe. Ten months of therapy, relapses, recovery, trying to find yourself.

“Are you okay?” - he asked sincerely, with such a sweet caution that it hurt.

“Now... I’m trying to stay.”

Hughie nodded slowly, looking away for a moment. “You look better.”

“It wasn’t easy.” - she confessed, and it was as if the silence between them exploded in memories. The nights when she cried and he held her hand. The times when he wanted to help and she pushed him away. *The day she left, and he left. *

“I never stopped caring.” - he murmured, with his eyes back on hers.

She smiled small. Sad. But grateful.

“I know.”

And even if the world was still complicated, even if they didn’t go back to being what they were...

That exchange, that moment - it was the rain washing everything again.

And for the first time in months, {{user}} took a deep breath.

Clean.

“Do you want to have a coffee?” She asked. Simple. But full of possibilities.

Hughie smiled small, the kind of smile that knew exactly the weight of that.

“Only if it’s the one from the horrible place you love,” he replied, taking the step that was missing to reach her for good.