Rachel groaned and threw the phone on the sofa. Once Rachel had gotten home, she wanted to call Nick and tease him about how he washed away her number, hoping that the conversation would settle on making definite plans for a date. However, when she first dialed his number, she had gotten the operator telling her to dial again. Rachel had called five times throughout the day and every single time she got the same message. Now, she was pissed off.
“That fucking asshole!” Rachel wrung her hands in a strangling motion. She couldn’t believe that she had let her guard down to be humiliated again. This definitely was not her summer as far as romance went. I thought he really liked me. I guess Eva was right! Rachel was glad that Eva had to work late tonight and wouldn’t discover her calling Nick’s fake number all day. She had no intention of telling Eva that she had bumped into Nick again, allowing herself to be duped for the second time. She would only tell me she told me so…
She needed to take her mind off of him, off of everything. She began to clean Eva’s apartment. Being a neat freak, Rachel couldn’t stand the way Eva carelessly managed her household. And now, with the stress of Nick and the premiere night, all Rachel wanted to do was clean the house top to bottom. Eva’s apartment wasn’t very big at all, so Rachel didn’t take long to finish cleaning. Plus, all the anger and humiliation from the past two weeks only fueled Rachel to scrub, sweep, and vacuum furiously.
After putting away the cleaning products into the cabinet under the sink, Rachel went into the living room to retrieve the phone from the sofa. Walking back into the kitchen, she dialed the number that hung on Eva’s refrigerator.
She ordered her chicken teriyaki and sat at the kitchen table, waiting for the doorbell to ring. She sat slumped over, her elbows propped on the table top, the tips of her fingers pressed against her forehead as her thumbs rubbed at her temples. As much as she wanted to forget about her horrible week, she couldn’t help but go over everything and analyze her actions. Just as much as she liked to clean, she would reflect on situations that plagued her.
So deep in thought, Rachel barely heard the phone ringing beside her. When she was jerked away from her surmise of her misfortune, she quickly grabbed the phone and pressed the call button.
“Hello?” She held her breath as she answered, hoping and half daydreaming that it was a certain oceanic-eyed blonde that had finally called to apologize while professing his deepest affections and propose to take her out on a candlelight dinner by the beach.
“Hi, Rachel, it’s me.”
The object of her imagination had not called; instead it was a silver-eyed brunette, the very man that she had left on the sidewalk earlier in the day.
Kyle Hundley was an actor making his debut into Hollywood after years of staring in Indie films. Rachel met Kyle a few months ago at an audition for their upcoming movie that would start filming in the winter.
“Kyle, hi. Sorry about today. I didn’t mean to just leave you standing there. I’m so sorry.” Rachel honestly felt bad for just up and leaving Kyle. But I was just so excited about Nick!
“It’s alright. You can make it up to me tomorrow night at dinner. How does eight o’clock sound to you?”
“Uh…” Rachel hesitated in answering but, she knew deep down that she had to get past Nick. There was no use in getting hung up on someone that she never even went out with, let alone only talked to for a little more than five minutes. “Yeah, eight sounds great.”
She hung up the phone after making vague plans with Kyle. A few minutes later, a knock came from the front door.
As Rachel silently ate her food at the table she felt like she was back in her apartment in New York. All alone. It was what she desperately wanted to avoid, which led her to stay with Eva in L.A. She couldn’t bear to go back to New York knowing that she had nothing to return home to.
After finishing her take out and cleaning up, Rachel decided to call it an early night and began getting ready for bed.
I'm gonna find my way around
Knee deep, I get no where from sleep
I'm running out of sheep to count
Not right, I sit alone at night
And on the bed I write it out
No time for giving up that line
Or making up your mind
You've got a right to pine about
Lying on her bed, starring at the ceiling as the blue-gray light dimmed her room, Rachel thought of malicious ways to avenge herself on Nick. Except, all her plans seemed to revolve around making Nick incredibly jealous, which led to grand, romantic gestures from him. After what felt like hours of thinking about him, she slowly found herself falling asleep.
In the dream I think I'm falling
Bouncing off of the satellites
In the dream I think I'm flying
I feel you, I feel you
Reach out and touch me will you
I'm feeling you tonight
She dreamt that Nick had called her the first time and they went out on a wonderful first date. The dream continued skipping to various parts of their future. Them moving in an apartment together in New York, him proposing to her at a fireworks display on the Fourth of July, and then the two of them sitting on their house porch as an old couple rocking in their rocking chairs reflecting on how they first met and fell in love.
“I love you, Nick.”
“I love you, too, Rachel.”
I can see you, in the dream I think I’m flying
I feel you, I feel you
Reach out and touch me will you
I’m feeling you tonight
Rachel woke up, startled at the sound of the front door slamming shut. While letting her eyes adjust to the darkness of the room and listening to Eva settle down from her day at work, Rachel thought about the dream she just had. Did she really want all that with Nick? Or do I just want that with anyone who could be the one?
She thought about the question a little longer before making up her mind and returning back to sleep.
