“Don’t fucking tell me what to do!” Shane yelled at him, the anger of the entire night finally bursting out, like a dam had been broken.

“Hey, man. Watch it. That’s my brother.” Mercedes commented, stepping forward aggressively.

“You!” Shane yelled, “You shut the fuck up! I don’t care who he is! Why will no one let me talk to Carmen? I swear to God, she was my fucking fiancée! So, why can’t I have two minutes alone without somebody interrupting me! All this time, all I’ve been trying to say to you is that I love you, and I’m so sorry. If I could take it back, do it all over, I would, I never meant to hurt you. I was trying to protect you, but I was an idiot because I thought that I could live without you, but I can’t, Carmen. God, I love you so much. Why can’t you see that? Or if you can, why are you pretending you don’t?” Shane was breaking down in front of the entire restaurant, and she didn’t care. It was an oddly freeing feeling considering she felt like her lungs were being restricted so much that she could hardly breathe.

“Because you hurt me. You betrayed my trust, and you’ve put me through so much shit, Shane. I don’t know if I can be with you and keep my sanity in tact at the same time.” Carmen answered, her voice level and unfeeling.

Shane dropped to her knees, grabbing Carmen around the waist and burying her face into the Latina’s flat stomach and placing a gentle kiss there. “I’m so sorry, Carmen. I love you so much. What do I have to do to make you forgive me? I’ll do anything. I need you.”

Carmen froze, the familiar feeling of a 110-degree fever sweeping over her as Shane’s lips gently made contact with her stomach. Her breathing became labored, and the self-consciousness from before tripled. Her eyes shifted around, noticing all the disapproving stares coming from the other patrons, and beads of sweat formed on her brow.

“I…I’m sorry Shane.” She whispered, pushing her away and practically sprinting out the front door.

Shane fell forward covering her head with her arms as she rocked back and forth, trying to recover, but feeling like she was hyperventilating. She felt a hand on her back and saw all her friends standing around her, looking concerned. She noticed the owner standing above her as well, and he kneeled down next to her.

“Are you OK?” he asked quietly. She paused, the reality of what she had just done sinking in. Her face steeled as her walls rapidly came back up.

“Whatever.” She said, looking quickly towards the wall.

 “All right. Nothing to see here.” The owner nodded towards the piano player who started to play a song while a singer started to belt out some opera. Shane got up and walked out the door, leaving her friends to pay, and headed home.