“Did you forget that you are meeting Erica this morning?” AJ’s voice rang through the phone.
Damn you AJ. Now I actually have to go. “How could I. You wouldn’t let me forget.”
“Well, get your ass moving and get to that damn Café.”
“Yes father.” Nick said sarcastically, then he hung up on AJ and made his way out of bed. He took a quick shower. He dressed in khaki pants and a light blue polo that brought out his eyes and he was on his way.
Now, he was sitting in a café waiting for Erica. He rationalized being in the café thinking that he’d sit here and meet this girl. Then he would kill AJ, since AJ was the one who set him up on this blind date. Once AJ was properly disposed of, he would then kill the other guys, since they practically forced him to go on this blind date.
He sat at the table just waiting for Erica to show up. He didn’t want to order before she arrived. He didn’t want to come across as rude. He may not want to be there, but while he was, he might as well act with manners. He kept looking around the café and trying to keep himself occupied. He felt really silly just sitting there so he ordered his coffee.
As his coffee arrived, the bell above the door rang, signaling someone entering the café. He looked up and saw a beautiful girl with red hair enter the cafe. She was tall, but he could tell from this distance that the girl was several inches shorter than him. He decided that if this was the girl he was supposed to meet, then this experience wouldn’t be so bad. Besides the fact that he just sounded shallow, he knew that this girl couldn’t be the one he was sent here to meet.
He went back to stirring his coffee. Soon a shadow fell over his table. He looked up and saw the girl who had just entered the cafe. He stood up clumsily. She extended her hand to him. "Hi, I’m Erica."
“Nick.”
“Pleased to meet you Nick.”
“You too.” Nick walked around the table and pulled her chair out for her.
She smiled at him. “Thank you Nick.” He returned the smile and went back to his chair. An awkward silence fell over the couple. They didn’t know what to talk about.
Then the waiter arrived. “What would you like miss?”
“Tea and a blueberry muffin please.”
The waiter noted her order on his little pad. “Anything else for you sir?”
“Just a bagel.”
Then as quickly as he came, he was gone. And the silence was back. “So...” She tried to start a conversation but was quickly silenced when she had no clue what to say next.
“How do you know AJ? You don’t seem like the type he’d hang out with.” Nick clamped his mouth shut when he realized what he said. “I mean...”
She giggled. “It's ok Nick. And you're absolutely right. If his mother and my mother weren’t friends when they were younger, AJ and I would have almost nothing in common.”
Nick nodded. Silence loomed over them once again. This time the silence was broken by their food, and her tea arriving. They quietly started to eat their breakfast. Nick sat there thinking. Then he got this confused look on his face that Erica didn't miss. She gave him a questioning look. Then he spoke, “How did you know that I was the guy you were meeting.”
“AJ never shut up about you and the other boys. You fit his description. Not to mention, anyone not living under a rock would be able to know it was you.”
Nick nodded. “Yeah, I guess that was kind of an obvious question.”
She giggled again. Nick was quickly beginning to love her giggle. Then she went back to casually nibbling on her muffin. “I have always loved hearing AJ's stories about you guys. They were always a riot.”
Nick smiled and took the last bite of the top half of his bagel. “If you are so close to AJ, how come I never met you before? Didn’t you ever come out on the road to see him?”
“I went on the road a few times. And when I was there it was never for a long period of time.”
“How could I have not met you when on the road? We should have run into each other. On the road, there are only so many places to go.”
“Well, the first few times I came on the road, you were too preoccupied with Mandy. AJ tried to introduce us, but Mandy would always come along and pull you away. You never even glanced in my direction. We actually met the last time I came on the road with you five.”
“I'm sorry. I don’t remember that.” Nick looked down embarrassed that he couldn't remember her.
“It's ok Nick. I wasn’t expecting you to remember me.”
“You weren’t?”
“No silly. The week I was there, you were horribly sick. You only left your hotel room when you had to get on the bus for travel time. The other guys wouldn’t let you do any sort of work. That included interviews, meet and greets, concerts and any other appearance you 5 were supposed to make. I was the one taking care of you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Now why are you apologizing?”
He chuckled. “Because I know I’m a pain in the ass when I’m sick.”
“You weren’t that bad. You were asleep most of the time. The only time you were awake was when I was force feeding you chicken soup and toast.”
Their breakfast was now long gone, but they were still sitting in the cafe. They had no more uncomfortable silences. They were talking and laughing like old friends.
The waiter showed up once more and interrupted their conversation. "Would you like your check, or would you like dessert?"
They looked at each other. Nick could tell that Erica was not ready for their breakfast date to end and Erica could tell the same about Nick, so they ordered dessert. Nick refilled his coffee, and Erica refilled her tea.
Once the waiter was out of hearing range, they went back to their conversation. Since neither one could remember what they were talking about when they were interrupted, they just started a whole new conversation.
Their dessert arrived and they continued to talk amiably while eating the last of their breakfast. Once their dessert was gone, the waiter was back almost immediately. This time he had the check and he placed it on the table.
Nick reached for the check, but Erica grabbed it first. “This one’s on me Nick.” Nick tried to argue, but she wouldn’t hear any of it.
She paid their bill and they exited the cafe together. When they reached their cars, they exchanged phone numbers.
“I’ll call you.”
Erica smiled. “I’ll be waiting.” She went to get in her car, and then she turned back around. “Nick.”
“Yeah?”
“We should do this again sometime.”
Nick agreed whole-heartedly and got in his car. He sat in his driver’s seat and watched Erica pull out of the parking lot. He started his engine and left, thinking, that he’d spare his friends’ lives because he really did enjoy himself.
He drove all the way home daydreaming about his breakfast with Erica. Nick sighed contently when he pulled into his driveway. He couldn’t remember ever having that much fun on a blind date.
He unlocked his door and entered his house. His ears were assaulted by the incessant beeping of his machine. He had 20 messages and they were all from AJ and in every one AJ asked the same thing. “You aren’t home yet. So you must be having fun. Didn’t I tell you that you would like Erica?”
He listened to all 20 messages shaking his head in amusement. He finally decided to put AJ out of his misery and called him. AJ picked up on the first ring.
“It’s about time you got home Nickolas. So how was it?”
“It was nice.”
“What? Just nice? Come on Nick. I want details.”
“What’s there to tell? We went to a café and had breakfast.”
“Ok, my real question is. Are you ever going to see her again?”
“I sure hope so.” Nick smiled into the phone.
He hung up the phone and was genuinely happy with his morning. He was sincerely hoping that him and Erica could meet up again real soon. He even found himself hoping that this would turn into something much more. That thought shocked him. He couldn’t believe he was so attracted to her after one date. He thought he had wanted to be alone. Now he realized how wrong he was. Damn. He hated when the guys were right.
Erica was curled up on her couch with a book and blanket. Her phone startled her and she dropped her book. She smiled when she realized she was hoping it was Nick. She answered her phone.
“Hey girl.”
“Hi.”
AJ could hear the disappointment in her voice. “I’m going to take that disappointment as you either don’t want to talk to me. Or you were hoping it was someone else.”
She laughed. “I was kind of hoping it was Nick.”
“Oh really. So I guess that your breakfast date went well.”
“I think it went better then well. We were a little awkward at the beginning, but once we got talking, we were laughing, and talking like we have known each other for years.”
“I knew it.”
“Stop being so smug AJ.”
“I have the right. I talked to Nick before. He said he hopes he sees you again. Feelings mutual?”
“I would like to see him again.”
“So there’s something there huh?”
“I think so.”
“I knew things were working out. And to think that Nick didn’t want to go out with you.”
Her smile faded. “He didn’t want to go?”
“Shit. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“I have to go AJ. I think I need to talk to Nick.”
“I’m sorry I let that slip. I hope I haven’t ruined everything.”
“That will depend on what Nick says. Talk to you soon. Bye.” She hung up the phone. She searched through her purse until she found his number. She held the café napkin in her hand as she dialed.
Nick was lounging around his room, playing his guitar. He thought he heard the phone ring, but he wasn’t certain he heard it over the sound of his guitar. He stopped playing and the phone rang again. He placed his guitar on the bed next to him and got up to get the phone. “Hello?”
“Hi Nick. It’s Erica.”
Nick smiled. “Hey, I wasn’t expecting you to call so soon.”
“I need to talk to you.” Nick’s smile faded. That didn’t sound good. “Ok. About what?”
“Not over the phone. Meet me outside the café we met at this morning.”
Nick looked down at his attire. “I just got out of the shower and I’m not wearing anything that’s suitable to go out in public. Why don’t you come here?”
She thought about it for a minute and realized that this conversation wasn’t one that should take place in public. “Ok Nick.” He gave her the directions to his house.
About twenty minutes later she pulled up in front of his house. She took a breath and made her way to the front door. She rang the bell and waited for Nick to answer.
A couple minutes later, she heard rustling behind the door and then Nick was in front of her. She took in his appearance. He was wearing a ratty old tank top, basketball shorts and he was barefoot. She was noticed that even dressed in something to lounge around the house, he still looked good.
“Hi Erica. Come in.” He led her to the couch in his living room. “Do you want anything to drink?” He asked as she sat down.
“No thanks.”
“Ok. Nick sat down across from her. He smiled at her. “So what’s up?”
“AJ told me something before that I found a little disturbing.”
“What did he tell you?”
“That you didn’t want to go on our date this morning.” Nick looked away. “So it’s true?”
He returned his gaze to her. “Can I explain, or do you not want to hear it.”
“I came here to get your side of the story.”
Nick was silent for a few minutes. Erica wasn’t sure if he really didn’t want to talk or if he was just trying to think of how to word it. He took a deep breath. “I have a bad history with women. Every long term relationship I’ve had has ended badly. My most recent one was 6 months ago. I caught her cheating on me. I lived with AJ for 6 months while I was trying to find this place. He was always trying to get me to go out with him. I never went out with him. About a week ago, I had told him that I was giving up on women and I wasn’t going to date anymore. An hour later, he had you already agreed to a date with me. I admit I only agreed to it so I could get all 4 of them off my back. Even this morning, I still didn’t want to go. I purposely didn’t set my alarm clock. I was intending on standing you up. Then AJ called and I knew I wouldn’t get away with it. When I was waiting for you at the café, I was thinking of ways to kill all four of them without getting caught.” He paused. “I had fun this morning. I may not have wanted to go originally, but once we got into it, I was glad I went. I want to try to turn this into much more than a friendship.” He stopped talking and looked down at his hands. He just bared his soul to her and now the ball was in her court.
She stood up and sat next to him and hugged him. “Nick. Look at me.” Nick looked up. I understand that the reason was circumstantial and had nothing to do with me. I won’t hold it against you. I’m going to go.” She stood up and started to leave. He was following her. “Call me?”
“You can count on it.” Nick held the door open. Before he let her leave, he leaned in and gave her a sweet kiss. “Talk to you soon Erica.”
“Bye Nick.” The door closed behind her. She raised her hand to her lips, which were still tingling from the kiss. She smiled and started her car and went home and began to anxiously wait for Nick’s phone call.
