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"Love may have the longest arms, but it can still fall short of an embrace."

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"Ready to go?" Anakin stood from his chair with a stretch after placing the waiters tip on the table.

I nodded and drank the last of my water. I stood up as I set the empty cup down and grabbed my purse from the back of my chair before draping it over my shoulder. We were about to leave, when we were stopped by a woman's voice, "Ani?" Anakin and I both looked in the direction it came from.

A woman was approaching us and the first thing I noticed was how beautiful she was, it was almost shocking; I wouldn't be surprised if she was a model. Her eyes were on Anakin and she was smiling warmly at him, "Padmé," He greeted her with a quick hug that she was going for before he could decline, and that's if he wanted to decline.

Padme I know that name, he mentioned it to me before. She's a victim to Clovis' indiscretions and his ex-girlfriend that he was with for half a year after it happened. I know he said the relationship died out a long time ago so there shouldn't be any reasons for jealousy, but I couldn't stop myself from feeling envious of her. She was absolutely stunning; her hair was a chestnut brown that fell over her shoulders gracefully , her smile was white like pearls, and her eyes were a chocolate brown that turned to honey underneath the sun. She had on a yellow day dress that complimented her skin complexion, and a strong but sweet vanilla perfume that I could smell before she gave her greeting.

Did I mention she could be a model?

"How are you?" She asked, parting from the hug but leaving a hand on his right shoulder.

I eyed the hand on with a twist in my gut and an urge to break it. But I remained quiet and stood aside. He told me hours ago that he was in love with me and I was repeating that in my head to keep myself content. But what will happen when he does learn the inevitable truth about me? End us for good and go back to her? 

"I'm good, how are you? How's school going?" Anakin politely asked.

She groaned as she slightly threw her head back for dramatic affect, "It's the worst, but I'm toughing it up and taking it one day at a time," She dropped her head down and finally dropped her hand down from his arm as well, "How's the business?" She asked with the slight raising of her left brow.

"The same," He cleared his throat and took a step back towards me so he could snake an arm around my waist and pull me into the conversation, "But Padmè I want to introduce you to someone, this is (y/n), my..." He trailed off, looking down at me for the answer with knitted brows — we hadn't exactly established a title. And I somewhat blame myself more for that, I haven't brought it up because having a title felt like it added to my betrayal towards him and my career.

But in this moment, I was feeling possessive, "Girlfriend," I wrapped my arm around his waist too and leaned into his body. Her and I locked eyes, "It's nice to meet you," I held my hand out, which she accepted, an awkward tension lingering in the air.

"It's nice to meet you too, I'm Padmé," We let go of each other's hands and dropped them down by our sides. I wiped mine along my shorts.

"It was really good running into you," He squeezed my shoulder for comfort, like he knew I was feeling insecure, "But my girlfriend and I have plans that we need to be getting to."

Her smile widened, showing excitement for us, "I hope it's to the lake house," She shifted her gaze to me, "The view is to die for and there's this little boat he has there where he'll take you onto the—" She paused, her eyes slightly widening when she realized what she was doing. Unless of course it was on purpose and this was just a little innocent act she was about to put on, "I-I'm sorry, sometimes I get carried away with my words." She awkwardly laughed.

I know I looked uncomfortable, I know they can both see it in my body language and my face before I looked down to try hiding it. Anakin cleared his throat, "It's all good, but we really should be going if we're going to beat traffic. I'll see you around." He lightly pulled on me so we could head to his car.

"Of course, and again (y/n), it was nice meeting and I'm so sorry if I upset you," She spoke softly through the distance Anakin was creating between us, "I hope we're still on for next week Ani!"

"Possibly," He said back without turning around. I felt his tensed body relax the further we got from her and it raised questions; why was he tense around her? Is there something else that he's hiding?

🦋

"Everything okay?" Anakin asked. The silence lingering between us faded away, "You've been quiet since we left."

I looked down at my hands, using my fingers to play with the hem of my shirt, "You looked a little nervous when your ex showed up," I pointed out. He stopped at a red light and shifted his eyes to me, "You don't still..." I hated coming off as the jealous girlfriend, but with everything I've been through I don't think I can be blamed for feeling insecure. I adored that he claimed me, that helped, but I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something I was missing between the two.

"Don't," Anakin placed his hand on my knee, delicately stroking my skin, "It's over between her and I, I promise. I could tell you were uncomfortable and that made me uncomfortable, so I was eager to get you away, that's it." He gently squeezed my thigh and I placed my hand on his, a reflex to his affection, "I love you." He emphasized as he turned his hand around and grabbed mine. He brought our joint hands to his lips and softly kissed my fingers.

I half-smiled, appreciating his effort to ease my anxious mind, even though I still had a gut feeling that there is more to the story, "I love you too," I leaned forward and kissed the back of his hand, then his lips, until we were interrupted by the car honking behind us.

Anakin chuckled as he took his foot off the brake and stepped on the gas without looking, "You shouldn't be distracting me while I'm driving love." He teased, giving me another quick kiss to the lips and making me smile.

He let go of my hand and placed his attention back on the road, "So, you said it was a mutual break-up?" I curiously asked, but remembering much about his explanation of their separation.

"Uh," He pressed the blinker down to prepare to make a left, "Yes it was." He cleared his throat and adjusted his rear view mirror despite doing that when he got inside of the car. He was doing too much, which only fed into my suspicions.

"Anakin."

"At first." He added. There it is, exactly the answer I was expecting — a woman's gut is almost never wrong.

"What do you mean by that?" Now I was fully facing him with my head leaning back against the window.

He was hesitant to respond, I could see the uncomfortable shift in his posture. Finally he sighed, "We broke up on mutual terms and went our separate ways for awhile with little to no contact," He stopped at another red light, "Well a few months ago we started seeing each other on a regular basis and developed a friendship again. It was going fine up until the last time I saw her, which was last week, where she confessed she still had feelings for me and was having second thoughts about the break up."

"What did you say?" I asked, hanging off the edge off my seat. I knew I had that gut feeling for a reason.

I grew annoyed when he didn't answer because the light had changed to green so he took his attention away from me for a moment. But finally, he brought it back to me, "I already had my eyes set on someone else, so I said thanks but no thanks," He shrugged, "It wouldn't have been right to be with her knowing I wouldn't be able to stop myself from crushing on the gorgeous barmaid."

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. He turned down his beautiful ex-girlfriend, for me, a pathological liar that was constantly trying to distance myself from him. But he never gave up on me, he was relentless. That shows how much he does love me, and it terrifies me. Everyday I can feel my secret lingering over my head and the burden grows with each stab of guilt that I endure.

"Now can we please talk about something else or listen to the radio? We have a two hour car ride ahead of us and I want to spend it seeing you smile."

At first his words warmed my heart, until they registered, "Wait, two hour car ride?" I asked, looking around at my surrounding, "The club is twenty minutes from where we were."

Anakin laughed, "I told you that I wanted to take you somewhere."

"Yeah, but I told you no."

"I'm taking you anyway."

I shot my eyes to him and they widened, "Ani that's kidnapping."

He side-eyed me with a mischievous smirk, "What are you going to do about it? Call the cops?" He joked and I'm sure he was expecting a laugh. But the irony of his words caught me off guard and I remained awkwardly silent. He didn't catch on to my behavior thankfully and continued speaking, "Listen, I'll turn this car around right now if that's really what you want. But trust me when I tell you that you'll have an amazing time with me, and it's only for one night, I promise I'll take you home in the afternoon."

I admit that a day away does sound fun, it'll be like a vacation, but there was one issue that bothered me, "I don't have anything though, no clothes, no makeup—"

"Trust me beautiful, you won't need either."

I slowly smirked. This love we have may be doomed, but I was going to enjoy it while I can.

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Sorry for the wait ❤️ I'm going to start updating regularly again now that I no longe have any distractions in my life other than work 😊
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