Nick was looking around the store casually, when suddenly he could feel someone watching him. Turning his head, he stilled, his heart dropping to his feet. It was her, he was sure of it. He may not have seen a picture of her, but he just knew. A slow smile started over his lips and he looked down at the nametag on her shirt.
Veronica - Serving You For 8 Years
He looked back into her eyes and forced himself not to laugh, her look of utter disbelief was amusing.
“Veronica?”
She felt the insane urge to vomit; she swallowed hard, her mouth suddenly felt as if it were stuffed with cotton.
“N-Nick?” She whispered, cursing herself for sounding so breathless.
He smiled widened, “Hey, am I in time for your break? You haven’t gone yet have you?”
“Uhh…n-no…I mean…I was just about to…”
She couldn’t think, couldn’t form sentences.
“Go ahead Veronica, take twenty minutes,” Carla said suddenly, looking at her intently.
Veronica turned to look at her, “Twenty?”
“Yeah, it’s cool,” Carla grinned.
“Oh…ok thanks…yeah thanks,” Veronica mumbled, starting to untie her apron, then thought better of it and kept it on. “So…yeah I’ll be back…in twenty.”
“Alright, have fun,” Carla smirked.
“Fun, right,” Veronica whispered, starting out of the department. She slowly made her way over to him, taking a deep breath before stopping in front of him.
“Surprise,” Nick chuckled.
She blinked, a small smile on her lips, “I’ll say. Wow.”
“Here…I got this for you,” he smiled, holding out a single long stemmed yellow rose surrounded by baby‘s breath. “I remember you saying roses are your favorite flower. The florist said a yellow rose stands for joy and gladness…so I figured it was appropriate.”
Veronica slowly reached out and took the flower, staring at it before looking up at him, “For me?”
He only smiled.
“It’s beautiful, thank you.”
“You’re very welcome. So…do you wanna go to my car and talk? It’ll be quieter and we can be alone.”
Alone, he wanted to be alone with her, her body started shaking harder.
“Uh sure, that’d be fine,” she replied softly.
“Cool,” he smiled, turning and starting to walk with her, placing his hand on the small of her back as they started out.
Veronica was trying to breathe, was trying to make sense of everything. She could feel eyes on her, on them. She looked around, several girls had stopped walking and were just staring at them, or more so, Nick. She looked over at Nick only to find that he didn’t even seem to notice or mind for that matter, it was second nature to him.
They made their way outside and into the warm sun.
“I’m right over there,” he pointed, leading her to his car. Nick pressed the button and there was a soft noise, letting him know the doors were now unlocked. He hurried over to the passenger side and opened the door.
“Thanks,” Veronica said softly as she slipped in.
He made his way around to the other side and got in, shutting the door and turning the car on, starting the air conditioner.
“Well, here we are.”
“Yeah…”
“I hope I wasn’t interrupting your work. I tried to time it so I could get here when you said you usually go on your last break. I hope you won’t get in trouble.”
“No…no actually I was just getting ready to go on my break when you came up.”
“Ohh good, perfect timing then, I tried to time it just right.”
She nodded, and then looked over at him, “What are you doing here?”
“I told you I was going to come and meet you.”
“I know but…I didn’t believe you.”
Nick grinned, “I know, I wanted to surprise you.”
The whole thing had been perfect though, he’d truly surprised her and it’d been such a great feeling, to turn his head and see her standing there.
“And you did, boy did you.”
“Yeah, well I’ve been meaning to visit my Grandparents, so I figured I could come up and meet you at the same time since it’s in the same state, you’re only a little over two hours away.”
“You really didn’t have to ya know, I’m sure you’d rather spend your time off doing something more exciting.”
“Meeting you…all of this is exciting for me. If I didn’t want to be here, to spend my time in this way, I wouldn’t. I’m right where I wanna be,” Nick responded softly.
Veronica looked over at him, a soft smile on her lips, “Thank you.”
“Nothing to thank me for, it’s my pleasure trust me.”
“How long are you staying for?”
It’d be just her luck that he’d be there for a day or two before he had to go back.
“I thought I’d stay for your whole vacation. I realize that I really didn’t give you much warning, so if that’s not ok, I can head back, it’s not a problem.”
“No no! That’s fine, it’s great, I’d love it if you stayed.”
He smiled, “So, what are your plans for tomorrow?”
“Well, I was gonna stop by and see Mom, she wanted me to come over, she was going to return the favor and make dinner for me.”
“Ooh, sounds nice.”
“Would you…ya know, like to come?”
“Really? Your Mom wouldn’t mind?”
“No way, I’ll give her a call when I get home and let her know, it won’t be a problem I’m sure.”
“Wow, I’m already meeting your Mom, this is pretty serious huh?” Nick winked.
Veronica grinned, “Absolutely.”
“Well if you’re sure it’s ok, yeah, I’d like to.”
“Great, I’ll call Mom when I get home.”
Nick stared at her a moment, drinking in her features. “Can I ask ya something kinda weird?”
“Sure.”
“Have you ever…ya know, talked to someone without seeing them and formed a picture in your mind of what they looked like. Then when you meet them, they look nothing like what you thought they did, and yet…they do?”
She stared at him for a moment before nodding, “Yeah I have. It’s kinda like that with you, I’ve seen you and all on TV and pictures, but in person, it’s a totally different thing.”
“Hmmm”
“So…what, do I look way off from what you pictured?”
He shook his head, “No and yes. You of course didn’t give me a lot to go on…”
“Hey I went into more detail later…”
Nick laughed, “You did, but still.”
“I’m not good at describing myself.”
“I think you got it right. God, it’s so good to actually see you, to be able to look into your eyes…” he stopped, staring straight ahead suddenly. Too much, he didn’t want to scare her off, but he couldn’t help it, it did feel so good to finally be able to see her.
Veronica swallowed hard, staring hard at her hands. “It‘s nice to see you too. I never thought it‘d happen. I can‘t believe I‘m actually talking to you…looking at you.”
“Me either.”
“It’s all very…surreal for me.”
“Hey, it’s just me Veronica.”
“You’re more than ‘just’ anything Nick.”
“So are you.”
She looked over at him again, smiling when his eyes met hers.
“I should head back in, my twenty minutes are just about up.”
“So…you’re off in an hour or so right?”
“Yeah.”
“How bout I come back to pick you up and we can go somewhere and get dinner?”
“Well I’ve got my car here. Ummm…well you can come back and you can follow me to my apartment and I can get changed and then we can go out if you want.”
“Yeah, that sounds good. Give me a chance to get settled in my room.”
“Where are you staying?”
“The Marriot.”
“Ohh, that’s a nice hotel.”
“Seems like it.”
They looked at each other a moment before both starting to laugh.
“That was pretty lame,” Veronica chuckled.
“I know,” he agreed, grinning.
“Ok, so I’ll meet you at three thirty then. You may have to flag me down; I won‘t remember your car I‘m sure.”
“It’s ok; I’ll come in and get you.”
“You don’t have to.”
“You’re right I don’t, but I want to…so I will.”
Her heart dropped again.
“Ok, sure.”
“C’mon, I’ll walk you back in.”
She started to argue, but he gave her a look and she just smiled. He turned the engine off and they got out and made their way back into the store.
