Trent kept up his charade till Maria left the restaurant.

Immediately she left it felt like everything that made sense in his life suddenly burned down, the ashes scattering into the wind.

Gwen. The one woman Trent vowed never to interact with was the same woman gracing his table.

Who arranged all this bullshit? Cole his best friend.

The line dimmed between love and hate in that split second, he was sacrificing his happiness for another person so why did it feel like he was clawing his chest to rip his heart out.

Gwen went on and on yapping about whatever she found interesting, Trent had lost interest in anything immediately Maria walked out the door.

“I was really happy you brought me out here Trent, what made you change your mind about us?”

The urge to just go home was strong but he was a gentleman through and through.

“There is no US” Trent made sure to emphasise “I just took you to dinner because Cole asked me to, you can call it doing a favor for a close friend.”

Gwen drank from her champagne flute not bothering to hide the anger brewing deep within her when she slammed the glass down on the table.

Several heads turned hoping to get a whiff of exciting drama, another ten seconds and they had moved on to other interesting tables.

Trent wiped his mouth with his napkin praying he would survive the night, the urge to send text messages after another was strong but he had wounded her pride and shattered her trust, those were the two things Maria held dear.

She wouldn't respond to his texts or pick his calls even if he tried, unlike Cole he knew the perfect outcome of tonight's play.

Maria wouldn't tuck tail and hide, on the contrary she would square her shoulders and walk the runway.

He didn't anticipate that she would actually run.

Trent closed his eyes hoping she could forgive him one day. 

Watching Gwen comfortably dominate the conversation, talking for both herself and many more he had never wished for a night to end quicker.

***

“Thanks for dinner.” Gwen whispered aiming for a somewhat sultry look but Trent just wanted her out of his car. “Do you want to have another dish tonight Trent?”

“No” Trent said blandly.

The silence in the car was in no way uncomfortable to Trent, she could outtalk Kevin Hart, he needed his ears to himself.

“Fuck you then, I'll see you in school tomorrow.” Gwen slammed the car door walking with a strut towards her house.

Trent reversed not waiting to see if she even crossed her porch yet, he needed to see Maria even if she wouldn't look at him or listen to him, looking at her was more than enough to get him far enough anyway.

Parking in front of the house, Trent walked slowly so he wouldn't break into a run.

“What's up bro?” Cole waved him over to the seat beside him “I was just about to call you, how did dinner with Gwen go?”

Trent stared longingly at the stairs like Maria would miraculously glide down.

“You couldn't pick anybody else? Why did you even make a reservation at the same restaurant your parents were meeting up?”

Cole pulled his beard “I needed someone on the inside to get wind of what was really happening”

“You couldn't just go yourself?”

“They would recognize me dumbass”

“And M- your parents wouldn't have totally recognized me?” Trent looked at Cole wondering what exactly was going on in his head.

“Ok man I'm sorry I picked Gwen for you” 

Trent wanted to scream at him, it wasn't about Gwen, it wasn't about the stupid dinner, it was about the woman that he loved.

Love? Trent buried his face into his palms, why was he just realizing this now? Why couldn't this have come to him yesterday he never would have pulled through with the plan.

Who was he kidding, he always knew, this was a basic you never know what you have till it's gone.

Choosing between Cole and Maria suddenly wasn't so hard anymore, he loved Cole like a brother but Maria? She was home.

“How did you even get my mom to go?” Cole asked pulling Trent from his dilemma.

“I- uhh told her it was a uhh special reservation made for her by you.” Trent picked at the dirt underneath his fingers hoping Cole didn't pick up on his stutter.

“I see” Cole's smile seemed off but Trent had something more important on his mind.

“I need to go, I'll pick you up real early tomorrow though and also wake up early so we don't get to school late again.” Trent pushed himself off the sofa striding out of the house.

Trent took a minute to stare at the stars, you never knew it was beautiful till you really looked at them.

That was what it looked like on the outside, internally he wondered how high he would climb to get to Maria's room, from what height he would fall and the bones he might probably break.

He would tuck his tail for tonight but tomorrow was another day made for winning her back, another week, another century, he didn't care, he just wanted her back.

Unlocking his phone he stared at the last message he sent to her and the one before that oh! How confused she must have been.

Pressing his luck he dialed her number, letting it ring and ring and ring then dialled again, she wasn't picking up it  didn't mean she wouldn't right?

In ten minutes he was sure he had left a thousand missed calls, he wouldn't stop until her phone died or she pic-

“Stop calling”

His brain froze for a second “Ma-ria”

“Please just stop calling” Maria said calmly.

“Maria I know how it looks, I know how it seemed but it's not like that I swear, I'm in front of the house now, I'll climb if you don't want to see me, I'll throw stones, any-”

“You've got such a sweet mouth I should have noticed it before but I'm not at the house, I'm back in LA, where I should have been a long time ago”

“I'll come to LA, I'll move go LA please just list-”

“Why did you let me waste my time on you, I chased you like a dog, was that fun for you? Is that what you get off on?”

“Mari-”

“Stop calling please, I'm begging you to just stop, focus on Cole apparently he's the only person you should be focusing on” Maria willed her tears away, she wouldn't cry for him “I'm happy for you I really am Trent, she's real pretty and young so you can also focus on that.”

“Mar-”

“Goodbye Trent”

“No wait listen to me, let m-”

Click

Trent called again and again till it was her machine automatically picking up.

This wouldn't faze him, he just needed to push and fight for what he felt.

But love wasn't always enough.