You couldn't even pretend to be surprised to see that she'd shown up. Even though it was uncommon and she was uninvited, it felt somehow normal. Here she was in your state, in your town, in your bar with someone who wasn't you and it all somehow made sense in its senselessness. She was everything you had remembered, yet nothing you could have expected.

You, with your whiskey and cigarettes and eyes like a predator, stayed still in the back of the bar. If you didn't move, you couldn't fuck this up. It wasn't that you didn't want to be seen, it's just that you wanted to be seen on your own accord. She had shown up and caught you off guard, but you weren't going to let that affect you. 

This was about control.

This was about power. 

This was about dominance.

This was about nothing and everything all at the same time. These were the sorts of thoughts that made you an asshole in her eyes. These were the sorts of thoughts that enabled her the independence to show up on your territory unannounced. These were the sorts of thoughts that kept you warm even though it was 15 degrees outside and there was no one holding you tight.

It was true that in this moment you felt like you loved her. It was also true that only six months ago those sorts of feelings were easy to ignore. Now it felt like a goddamn tidal wave crashing down on you.You sat up straighter because, if she was going to catch a glimpse of you, she was going to catch a glimpse that oozed of confidence and not of regret. You could have blamed it on the whiskey and it's obvious impairment of your judgement or the dim lights and how they clash so harshly with reality, but when she turned away from the bar, her eyes weren't the only thing twinkling beneath the fluorescents. There was something on her left hand, on a finger you couldn't quite define yet, catching the light and recycling it back with some egotistic, effervescent glow.

Much like her ring with the light, her eye caught yours. Unlike her ring, her eyes lacked that same sparkle and enthusiasm. They stared back at you unemotionally, as if you were the butt of some joke that had been haphazardly planned out. You allowed both her and yourself a smirk before raising your glass and tipping it in her direction.