Meant To Be

Ella's POV:

"Ah," I groaned into my pillow. I was bored out of my mind. I had been tossing and turning on my bed since morning, and it was beginning to annoy the hell out of me.

An idea popped into my head when my eyes landed on my phone, which currently had a picture of James, my boyfriend, and I set as the background image.

Thirty minutes later, I was walking towards James's front door in a yellow sleeveless shirt, which I had paired with navy blue jeans.

James had once told me he didn't like surprises, and that included surprise visits, but this was different. I was going to finally give him my heart, completely. This was something he had waited two good years for. Two damn good years. Which had me wondering whether I had been too hard on him. It would be worth it, though, when I said yes to him. Yes, to forever.

The ding of the elevator brought me back to reality. I couldn't wait to see his face when he found me standing at his front door, when I told him I was finally ready. I slowly pushed open the front door, which I was surprised to find was unlocked.

James never left his front door unlocked, not unless he had someone over.

The last time we saw each other, he didn't mention anything about anybody coming to visit him.

Maybe he had his friends over?

But he always told me when the guys were coming over to his place.

I waved it off as I proceeded to his bedroom. Taking slow, light steps towards the door, I heard soft moans coming from James's bedroom.

He was probably watching a movie or something. Right?

I had a bad feeling about this, but I refused to let it spoil my surprise. I slowly opened the door and froze at the scene that met my eyes.

James was on top of some girl.

They were so into it that they didn't even realize someone had opened the door. James was the first person to notice my presence, and he stumbled to get up. I stood frozen in my spot.

Reality hit me hard, and that's when my mind registered what was happening right in front of me. I released a breath I didn't know I was holding. My eyes filled with tears ready to flow as I spun around and ran out of the room.

"Shit!" James cursed as he ran towards me.

"Ella, please! Listen to me, I can explain. It's not what you think," he said with some traces of regret and hurt in his voice.

"There's nothing to explain, James. Go back and finish whatever you were doing with that slut!" I snapped at him, infused with some new-found energy.

"Ella, please, just hear me o—"

I ran outside before he could finish whatever he was about to say. I entered the elevator, leaving him behind.

***

"I came running when I got your call," my friend Lena said as she took in my appearance, hugging me tight.

Edward was already with me when Lena joined us. He was rubbing my back gently to provide some comfort.

"Ella, please talk to us," I heard Lena's voice, but I was too busy sobbing to answer her.

"J-James," I tried to explain.

"Ella, calm down and explain. You're freaking me out," Eddie said with concern in his eyes.

I took a deep breath to calm myself as I narrated everything—from when I got the idea to surprise James to me sobbing in their arms right now.

"Ella, you deserve better than that cheater," she declared when I had finished.

"There are tons of better guys out there, so just move on. Show him you're better without him in your life. Don't give him the satisfaction that he hurt you with what he did to you."

"But l love him, Lena, and it does hurt," I said, bursting into another round of tears. “How could he do this to me? I thought he loved me and was being sincere when he said I could take all the time I wanted, that he would wait to have sex with me until I was ready. He even said he wasn't dating me for the sex!" I cried even harder.

"Get yourself together, Ella. That bastard doesn't deserve your tears," Lena said, wiping away my tears with the back of her hand.

"He didn't have to say that. I know I was really hard on him about this no-sex-until-I'm-ready thing, but still...Maybe I shouldn't have been so hard-headed about it."

"Don't be silly. You should be happy that he didn't fuck you and dump your ass afterwards," Eddie said. I could tell he was trying to control his anger.

He was right, but it still hurt knowing I was about to take our relationship to the next level. I had thought two years was enough to earn his trust. I had thought two years was enough to make sure that he would stay. That I could depend on him. That I could trust him and not get hurt. But, boy, was I wrong!

Once again, someone I trusted had broken my heart.

Ella's POV:

Sitting alone in the corner of the park where there were less people, I stared straight into the blue sky as I mindlessly played with the ends of my hair. The park was empty as it was still too early in the morning. I was able to find the peace of mind I sought here as I zoned out, lost in my thoughts.

It had been two weeks since I caught James cheating on me, and I still felt hurt whenever I thought about it. I tried my best not to talk about what happened or even think about it, but sometimes I just couldn't help it.

I guess it wasn't that easy to forget something or pretend it never happened.

I couldn't take my mind off of that slut.

And you know what hurt me the most?

She had a perfect body. With all the right curves, a pretty face, and long wavy hair that almost touched her butt, she looked impossibly beautiful. I, on the other hand, didn't have any curves or a pretty face. I couldn't compare to her on any level. Not beauty, nor anything else. I chuckled humorlessly at the thought.

I kept blaming myself for what happened that day.

What did I expect?

Though I knew James loved me, deep down, a small portion of me always knew he would eventually leave me. It was only a matter of time until he got bored of me and moved on to the next pretty little thing that caught his eye.

I was so dumb to think back then that James would actually change for me. Back in school, James was a player, and he had his ways with almost every girl on campus. That changed when we met in our final year. We fell in love, and he changed for me, for us, or so I thought. That's what I had been made to believe. That he had changed. He wanted to give us a chance and that meant letting go of his player lifestyle. He did just that, and I was happy. Everything was fine until that day...

I was ugly. I didn't have a perfect body. Besides, he could have anybody he wanted. James was the handsome charmer that every girl wanted to be with.

I couldn't wrap my mind around how long we had lasted.

Did James ever even love me in the first place? Or did he just want to get into my pants? And when he couldn't, he decided to cheat.

I knew it had been hard on him, but everything seemed fine, or at least I had thought it was. Our relationship wasn't sexual. The farthest we went were hugs and kisses, nothing even remotely scandalous. For two years, there was no sex, and we were okay. Sex was something I didn't want to rush, and James promised to wait until I was ready.

Deep down, I wanted to make sure that he had really changed, that I wasn't opening my legs to the wrong person. He did prove to me that he had changed, but I was waiting for the right time. Two years of no sex must have been torture for an ex-player, and I knew he was trying hard. I just didn't expect him to...

"What's a pretty lady like you doing crying all alone at such an early hour?" I was brought back to the present by a stranger's voice.

I didn't recognize it at all, and it was rare for anyone to come here, especially at this early hour in the morning.

I lifted my head and came to face with a cute guy. He was staring at me with a small smile playing at the corners of his lips. He was wearing white shorts and a t-shirt, with a towel draped around his neck. I assumed he had been out jogging.

I didn't even realize I had started crying. I quickly wiped away the tears streaming down my cheeks.

I also realized what I had thought when my eyes landed on this stranger for the first time: Cute.

Did I really just call him that? How can I refer to someone I just met as cute when I'm still crying over my boyf—I mean, ex-boyfriend, I whisper-yelled in my head.

But he didn't have to know that my boyfriend had cheated on me, right? I sighed.

"Sorry," he said before I could respond to his question, and he offered me a sad smile.

Oh my! Can this guy read my mind or something?

"You thought out loud, so I couldn't help but hear you. I'm sorry," he replied.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for you to hear that." I lowered my head, embarrassed after having spilled my secrets to a complete stranger.

"Oh, come on, princess, there's no need to put a frown on that pretty face of yours." I smiled at that.

"I'm Jack, by the way," he said, extending his hand towards me.

"Ella," I replied, shaking his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Ella."

"Likewise," I responded.

"Ella, any guy who would cheat on someone as lovely as you is an asshole and doesn't deserve you, okay?" he added.

"Thank you, I will try to keep that in mind," I replied.

Did he just call me lovely? He barely knows me! We barely know each other; we just met five minutes ago. But I shrugged it off.

We chatted for a bit, getting to know one another, and of course, he got my number.

"I should be heading back home," I told him as I lifted myself off the swing.

"It was really nice meeting you. I hope to see you again sometime," he said.

"I hope to see you too," I said, much to my surprise.

I really appreciated the fact that he didn't try to make a move on me, so I was optimistic about meeting up with him again. I enjoyed his company. He seemed like a good guy.

"Bye," I said before turning and walking away, leaving Jack standing there.

Maybe he wants to make sure I'm safe before he leaves? Seriously, Ella, you just met the guy. Why would he do that?

My place wasn't far from the park, so whenever I was bored or needed to think about my life, I just walked there and tried to think things through and work out a solution.

Now when I looked back at the park, I realized that it had been a long time since I had visited that part of the park. My secret part of the park, where I went to sort out my life. I called it my thinking spot.

Which only meant that my life had been on track up until two weeks ago.

How I wished I could turn back time.

If only I hadn't chosen that day, of all days, to visit James.

If only things had gone down differently.

If only James had welcomed me with open arms, leading to a blissful night together.

If only that day had never happened at all.

But who was I kidding?

I couldn't erase what had happened or the fact that it hurt like hell.