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.When she said “Jason will be your server, he’ll be right with you!” I felt sick with nerves.What would he do? How would he look at me? With anger, or sadness, or worse - apathy?Finally he strode over, menu in hand.He hadn’t looked at me, so when he finally started his “Welcome to Roger’s Steakhouse…” spiel and met my eyes, his face filled with shocked recognition and his mouth hung open.He recovered himself quickly and then just stared at me, waiting for some kind of explanation.What? I couldn’t just be here to eat? I had hoped my intentions wouldn’t be so obvious.“Jason.Hi.Can you sit with me a minute? I’d really like to talk to you.”“Lucas.” Just one word, but it was the first time in ten years I’d heard his voice, and it was my name.I’ll admit it thrilled me a little.He slid into the booth and narrowed his eyes at me.“I need to tell you some things, Jay.I hope you’ll listen and try to understand.”No response, just a nod of his head, but he stayed put so I thought I’d better start talking.I swallowed hard and continued with my prepared statement.“I made a huge mistake ten years ago.I knew it a few months afterwards, but it was too late to tell you.I’ve missed you a lot over the years, and I know my life would have been better if you’d stayed in it.I was wrong to break up with you, and I was an asshole to do it the way I did.I’m so sorry, Jason, I’m sorry every day for the way I hurt you and the years I’ve spent without you.I know you’ve moved on, and I know you have your own life now, but I have to ask you- to beg you- if there’s any way you can let me back in.Just one more chance, that’s all I’m asking.Please?”I waited for a response, and as the silence stretched I got more and more nervous.What was he thinking? I almost felt that anger would be better than this.He was just staring at me, eyes glistening but still narrowed, hands clasped in front of him.“Say something, please, Jason.”“I need time to think about this, Lucas.You can’t just spring this on me.Are you going to order anything?” He scooted out of the booth and stood, pad in hand.“Yeah, just…bring me anything.And a beer.I’ll stay, okay?”He nodded and turned on his heel, returning a few minutes later with a bottle of beer and a frosty mug.I thanked him but he just nodded and walked away again.He avoided my table until my food was ready and then he plopped my plate down and walked away without asking if I needed anything or saying a word.He’d ordered me a filet and a baked stuffed potato, with steamed broccoli on the side.When I finished my beer he brought me another one, but still said nothing to me.I ate slowly, barely tasting my food, just trying to draw out my visit so he would sit with me again.Almost an hour later I was the only person left in the dining room, and a few of the waitresses were cleaning.Soon, they’d shut the doors to the dining room and only the bar would remain open.Jason returned with my bill, and I gave him cash to cover it.When he returned with my change, he slid in to the booth again.“Just what do you want from me, when you say you want another chance?”“I’d like to take you out on a date.Get to know you again.Have a chance to be your boyfriend again.”“I’m not sure I can do that, Lucas.”“Why?” But I knew ‘why’, I was just stalling, hoping for more time to convince him.“You hurt me.A lot.I…I loved you.And you knew I did.But you still threw me away.You think I’ll just forget that?”“No, I don’t expect you to ever forget it.But I hope you can forgive it, someday.And I promise I’ll do my best to be worthy of you, this time.I’ll try to earn your trust again, if you give me the chance.Jason, please, just one date?”His eyes studied mine for a few moments, and then he leaned his head back and raked a hand through his hair.“Okay.One date.”“Thank you! Oh my god, Jason, thank you so much.I…” I took a deep breath to pull myself together, “Can you give me your number? What are your nights off?”“I’m off Monday.Give me your number, I’ll call you.”“Jason, please.Let me have your address, at least, so I can pick you up.You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this.If you blow me off, it’ll just…”“Break your heart?”“Jay, please.Another chance, you said you’d give me one more chance.Don’t be like that.”He seemed to consider it, but finally he scribbled his address on a sheet of his order pad and ripped it out, handing it over to me.I fought the urge to grab his hand as it crossed the table.“You can pick me up at seven on Monday.”“Okay.I’ll be there.Thank you, Jay.I…I loved you, too, back then.I just didn’t admit it to myself until it was too late.”He made no response to that, just walked away and started helping the other servers clean up the dining room.I realized I should leave, and so I did, but I stayed in my car outside watching him until he started saying goodbye to his co-workers and put his jacket on.I sped off before he reached the door, not wanting him to realize I’d been stalking him.The weekend passed slowly, but I occupied myself by planning Monday’s date.I wanted it to be fun, but I also wanted plenty of time to talk.I settled on a short stand-up comedy show, where we could order drinks, and then dinner reservations afterwards at a quiet restaurant downtown, close enough that we could walk from the comedy club.I bought the club tickets in advance and made a reservation for dinner so there would be no problems that night, and then planned my outfit carefully.I drove by the address Jason had given me, and lurked around until I saw him through a window.It was a condo-style apartment building, the kind with side-by-side units, each with a private entrance.Satisfied that the address was really his, I stayed away until Monday.No need to alert him as to the depth of my obsession.Keep reading! 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