The next day Kyla called me in the morning.

"Babe, I'm sorry about last night." she said, "I didn't mean to get so mad at you, and I understand why you were upset. Can we move past it?"

"Yes." I said, "We can move past it. I'm sorry as well."

I was feeling tired. And I just wanted to not have any issues with Kyla at the moment.

Kyla and I didn't argue a lot- and even if we did, she always wanted to just move past it right away.

After I hung up, the thought of Max being in my car last night flooded my mind.

Should I have told Kyla? No. There's no reason to.

And I knew Max wouldn't tell Kyla either.

I was also glad that Kyla and I resolved our issues because I wasn't going to be seeing her all weekend. She was going to Ocean City Maryland for three days with some of her friends from law school.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do that weekend. Friday night I worked, and Jamal pointed out that I seemed down.

"I'm just really in my head about a lot of things." I said to him. I had told him about Max, and how she was Kyla's Paralegal.

"Is that thing by chance a certain female whose name starts with an M and ends with an X?" Jamal gave me a knowing look.

"I plead the fifth?" I said.

"Nope. That's not going to work for me." Jamal said, as customers walked in.

We helped them, and after they left Jamal said, "Kyla is gone this weekend, right? Let's do something tomorrow night, we both don't work. Let's have some fun. You can invite McKinley if you want to also."

"McKinley is going to a wedding this weekend, so count her out." I said, "But I would love to go out and do something- get my mind off everything happening."

"We will have a blast." Jamal smiled at me.

Jamal and I went to a town called New Hope the next night. New Hope is very LGBTQ+ friendly, and there are lots of bars and restaurants to go to.

When I texted Kyla that I was going out, she responded to me saying to have fun. Kyla never minded when I went out, and she even encouraged it.

Jamal and I went to a bar, and got seats toward the end of the bar. It was very crowded- there were pool tables as well, and the upstairs, that was visible from down below, had tables where people were being served food.

"How has it been at home with your mom and dad?" Jamal asked me, over the loud Rock music that was playing.

"It's been okay so far." I said, "As I've told you, my dad has really come around. Him getting cancer two years ago really seemed to change his mindset. I can tell he is still not 100% there, but he's about 80% there with acceptance."

"And your mom?"

"That's a work in progress. My dad said she wants to work on the relationship, but I don't see much effort. Then again, I could be putting in more effort as well." I said.

"She will come around." Jamal said, "You know at first my mom was not thrilled about me being gay. But she has fully come around to it. Times have changed, babe. Gay marriage is legal. It's not like how it was back in the early 2000's."

"You're right." I said, "Even in the media, look at how much more representation there is. We didn't have that back in middle school and even high school."

"It's nice for the younger generation as well now." I said, "I think about my niece, and if she happens to be LGBTQ. Things will be easier for her."

Jamal started to speak, but my eye caught two girls walking into the bar.

One was short and curvy, with hair that was darker at the root, and very blonde at the ends. She had on a corset-like black tank top and black leather pants.

She was walking in front of another girl.

Who I immediately locked eyes with from across the room.

That girl was Max.

I looked at the girl, and then at Max and came to a realization that made me sick to my stomach-

Max is on a date.

Then I immediately felt unfair for feeling sick about it- because she literally works for my girlfriend.

It's okay. It's fine.

"Why do you have that look on your face? Are you even listening to me?" Jamal asked me, snapping his fingers in front of me.

"Sorry." I turned to him. I then softly said, "Max is here. I think she's on a date."

"Oh my god. What are the chances?" Jamal said, trying to not make it obvious that he was looking at Max.

I watched out of the corner of my eye as a hostess walked Max and the girl up the steps, and to a table.

"I know I have zero right to feel bad." I said, "But this is making me feel really terrible."

"Why do you have zero right to feel bad?" Jamal asked me.

"You know why- because she sees my girlfriend every single day. She has every right to move on and date. It's just not easy to see." I said, taking a sip of my drink.

"Listen to me." Jamal said, his big brown eyes looking at me, "I know you technically have 'zero right' to feel bad, but I'm going to tell you why you do actually have a right to feel bad."

"Okay." I nodded.

"Max broke your heart. Out of nowhere, from what you told me. And I know she explained to you why. But that still doesn't change how you felt back then. That doesn't change that you were still in love with Max, and probably still are." Jamal said.

"W-why would you say that I'm still in love with her?" I asked Jamal.

"Because I can see it. I'm your friend, I know you. You've been a mess about this for weeks now. And I'm telling you why." Jamal said.

"What do I do about this?" I said, looking down.

"You'll figure it out. You don't even have to figure it out tonight. But you'll figure it out, I promise." Jamal put his hand on mine. "Now I'm going to order us another round of drinks."

As Jamal and I drank away our sorrows, I kept getting the urge to look up at Max, and see how her supposed date was going.

That was until I noticed the girl she was with walking down the steps, without Max. And I could see her expression was one of anger.

"Uh oh." Jamal said.

It was a few minutes later that Max came walking down the steps.

I don't know what I was expecting her to do- but she walked toward the door, and was out of the restaurant without even looking my way.

"Wonder what happened." Jamal said. "I mean, I can hypothesize. But I wonder what really happened."

I felt my phone vibrate on the bar counter. I was expecting it to be Kyla, but it wasn't.

It was Max.

The text said: Come outside

Nothing else. Just "come outside."

I showed Jamal the message.

"She could at least tell you where outside." he said.

"Are you okay if I go?" I asked him.

"Of course. I've been wanting a chance to flirt with the bartender anyway." Jamal nudged me, "Go."

I got up, grabbed my bag, and walked to the entrance of the restaurant. I walked out, and then immediately spotted Max outside the bar.

The bar was on the Main Street of New Hope, close to a bridge that was over the water of the Delaware River.

People were walking by Max, and she was just standing there, hands in her pockets.

I walked up to her.

"Hey." I said. I didn't know what else to say, or ask her.

"Want to go for a walk?" She looked at me.

"Of course." I nodded.

Max and I started walking side by side, and she didn't say anything at first. We reached the bridge, which had a ledge where you could stand against it and look out on the water. Max leaned against it, looking down at the water, illuminated by the moon in the night sky.

I did the same, standing next to Max.

"Were you on a date?" I asked her.

She looked at me and nodded. "It was stupid of me. I went on Tinder, and matched with this girl, Rachel. We've only been talking for a few hours. But she asked me if I wanted to go to this bar with her tonight. I don't even like bars, I actually hate them. But I agreed. I definitely wasn't expecting to see you there."

"Jamal wanted me to go out with him tonight." I said, "I definitely wasn't expecting to see you either."

"Kyla told me she was going away this weekend, so it makes sense that you're out." Max said.

"Why are you saying it was stupid of you to go out on a date though?" I asked Max.

"Because I am clearly not in the headspace too. And she noticed, of course. She kept asking me why I was glancing down at the bar. And I told her that my ex-girlfriend was there. She kept accusing me of not being over you and got all mad. She left, but I didn't really care." Max explained. "Because she was right. I'm not over you, not even in the slightest."

"Max..." I said, once again starting a sentence I didn't even know how to finish.

"I know this is so unfair to you. I am literally telling you that I'm not over you, when you are in a relationship. With my boss." Max shook her head and chuckled, "How fucked is that?"

"I've been such a mess since I saw you a month ago at Kyla's office." I said, "I feel horrible for it. I'm in a relationship. But I can't stop how I'm feeling."

Max looked at me, "And how is it that you're feeling?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you?"

I couldn't speak it into existence. There was no way.

"No. You don't." Max said, "You know, if I had known that you were the girl on the other line of the phone that Kyla picked up during my interview, I wouldn't have taken the job."

"Do you regret taking the job?" I asked Max.

"Honestly, sometimes. But I can't just leave it. I'm just so fucked in the head right now."

Max turned her head to me, and I could see her blue eyes were watery.

God, I just want to kiss you. Make this better. Do what I know we both want to do.

"What do we do?" I asked Max, "Where do we go from here?"

Max sighed, and a tear rolled down her cheek, "I have no idea. I wish I knew. I wish it was as easy as me telling you to leave Kyla and be with me. But it's not that easy, is it?"

"No." I said, "In a perfect world, maybe."

Max put her hand on mine. We stayed there for a little while, just looking out at the water together. Neither of us said a word, but we didn't have to.

I knew what I was feeling. It was a feeling that had never left me.

I still loved Max. With everything in me.