* Chapter 19 *
I racked the balls and placed the cue ball in position before I chalked the cue stick that I was using. I bent over and got ready to break the rack when someone walked up behind me, breaking my concentration.
"Playing against yourself?" Nick asked as I turned around to look at him.
"Yeah. I do it all that time," I said before turning back around to break. "Why? You wanna play?" I asked after a solid ball fell into one of the pockets.
"Sure," he said. "But I’m warning you right now, I’m not very good."
"Fine with me," I replied as I took another turn, but didn’t make the shot. "Your turn."
He picked up a cue stick and attempted to make an easy shot, but missed badly.
"Ouch!" he said as the cue ball came to a stop where it lined up perfectly for an easy shot that I could make.
"Double ouch," I said apathetically as the purple solid fell into the pocket.
I made another shot and went again, this time only missing the pocket by a fraction of an inch.
"Dang!" Nick exclaimed as he made a shot and then missed the next. "You are too good for me!"
"Practice is the key," I said before taking another shot and watched the solid red fall into the pocket.
"Good thing we didn’t bet on this game," Nick said out of nowhere.
"Yeah, AJ made that mistake the other night!" I said with a little laugh.
"He did?" he asked shaking his head. "How much does he owe you or do I even wanna know?"
"He only owes me a hundred bucks," I said like it was nothing at all as I made another shot. "Corner pocket," I said as I pointed to the right corner pocket by where Nick was standing and watched as the eight ball sailed towards it.
"Dang it!" Nick yelled as the ball sunk into the pocket. "I hate it when I lose."
"Well, it was nice of you to invite me to this party and all," I said as I put the cue stick down on the table. "But I’ve got to go now. I have a really full day tomorrow."
"You’re leaving?" he asked sadly.
"Yeah," I said as I started to walk back to the table where AC was sitting. "Hey AC...come with me for a sec."
Aaron got up and followed me into the house as I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down my home address for my apartment back in Salt Lake and my cell number. After I handed it to him, he looked at it with a confused look on his face.
"That’s so you can write me and we can keep in touch," I explained. "One condition though...no giving it to your crazy brother."
"Ok," he agreed with a laugh. "I had a lot of fun tonight," he said before he leaned over and gave me a hug. "Thanks for being cool!"
"My pleasure!" I said before he shoved the paper into this pocket and ran back out into the backyard.
I let out a small sigh before I turned and headed across the room towards the front door. When I got to the door, I paused and looked around the house before turning back and reaching for the handle.
"Liz...wait!" I heard Nick yell as my hand rested on the door handle.
I turned slightly to see him jogging up to where I was standing.
"Yeah?" I said.
"I just wanted to tell you that I’m glad you came with me tonight," he said quietly. "It really meant a lot to me."
"Even if I spent most of the time drying off in here?" I asked with a smile.
"Yeah," he replied with a smile in return. "So, will you keep in touch?"
"I’ll try," I said. "But I can’t guarantee anything with college starting up again and my job and everything. And I know it’ll be hard with you guys going on tour and all."
"Oh," he said sadly as he looked at the ground.
I started to turn back towards the door when he reached out unexpectedly and gave me a big hug.
"I’ve got to go," I said as I pulled away and opened the door.
"I’ll call you," I heard him say as I made my way to Meg’s car.
After I got into the car, I saw him watching me back out of the driveway. I could see him in the rearview mirror until I could no longer see his house. I drove a few blocks with the radio blasting when I heard my cell ringing. I reached over to the passenger seat and grabbed it.
"Liz speaking," I said, holding the phone to my ear.
"Hi."
"Nick...it hasn’t even been five minutes since I left," I said as I turned the radio down and waited at a red light.
"I know," he replied. "I just wanted to say thank you again."
"Ok," I said. "I get the picture already!" I said with a little laugh.
"Good," he said happily. "And have a good night," he said before we hung up.
I cranked the radio back up and rolled down the window before I drove the rest of the way to Meg’s apartment.
After I walked in the door, I set the keys down on the small table that was right inside the door and quickly changed into my pajamas. I plopped on the couch and turned the TV on to see if there was anything worth watching. Meg wasn’t home yet, so I just sat there on the couch and watched the TV.
I must have fallen asleep shortly after I turned the TV on because when I woke up, it was morning and I could hear Meg whistling in the kitchen. I could smell bacon cooking as I slowly made my way to the bathroom to change into some real clothes.
"Good morning," Meg said perkily as I walked into the kitchen dressed and ready to go.
"Morning," I replied with a smile.
"So, how did your night go?" she asked as she handed me a plate full of food and sat down at the table.
I filled her in on the whole night while we ate our breakfast and got ready to go to the studio. After we were ready, we hopped in Meg’s bug and drove off. I watched the mirror on the passenger side as we drove away from the apartment complex.
"Is it just me or is that limo following us?" I asked Meg after the limo pulled up behind us.
"I dunno," Meg said as she looked at it in the rearview mirror for a few seconds before looking back to the road. "I wouldn’t worry about it."
"Ok," I said as I continued looking in the mirror.
I watched the limo until we pulled into the studio parking lot. As we pulled into a spot, the limo pulled into the parking lot and parked on the other side of the lot.
"That’s weird," I said to myself I watched the limo while we walked to the door. "Wonder what those people or person is here for," I said to Meg as she glanced over to see what I was looking at.
"Don’t know," Meg said with a shrug as we walked through the doors. "Maybe to record some music. Cause ya know, this is a recording studio," she said sarcastically as we made our way to the same room we were at the day before.
We started by looking through some of the demos and sheets of music to find something that Meg liked. From there, we headed to the recording booth. At first, I sat in the tech booth while Meg worked on the lead vocals. After she was done, I went in the recording booth with her and we did the background vocals. After about 5 songs, we decided to head to lunch.
"Look," I said as we walked out the doors to Meg’s car. "They’re still here...whoever it is."
After a refreshing lunch, we went back to the studio to find that the limo had left while we were gone. We finished recording, editing, and revising at about 4 p.m. so we decided to head home for a girl’s night out. The next day was going to be my last day in town so we chose to have some fun that tonight while we had some free time.
"So, what do ya wanna do tonight?" Meg asked as she set our dinner dishes in the sink.
"I don’t know," I replied.
"Eeeww! There’s a new Freddie Prinze chick flick playing at the movies," she exclaimed with a smile and waited for my reaction.
"That sounds like fun!" I said as we both went to the bathroom to get ready.
We drove to the theater both discussing which movie was Freddie’s best and which one he looked the best in.
"’She’s All That’ definitely," I exclaimed as we pulled into the parking lot.
"I have to agree with you on that one," Meg said while nodding her head.
We waited for a few minutes in line so we could get our tickets and then made our way to the concession stand to buy drinks and goodies.
"Excuse me miss," someone behind me said as they tapped me on the shoulder.
"Yes," I said as I turned around to see what the person wanted.
"Hi Liz," Brian said when he saw that it was me. "I wasn’t sure if it was you or not, so I thought I’d check," he said with a smile.
"Yep, it’s me," I said with a smile in return as we moved forward in the line. "So, why are you here?"
"I’m here with my girlfriend. She’s getting us a seat," he replied. "We’re seeing the new Jim Carey movie."
"Oh," I said. "That ought to be a funny one."
"Yeah," he said before I turned around to help Meg carry the stuff that she had ordered for both of us. "I guess I’ll see ya later."
"Ok. Bye," I replied before following Meg to the theater where our show was already starting.