Eight o'clock arrived too soon. Laura was jolted up out of bed as her alarm clock went off. She sighed heavily, for she remembered she was dreaming... it was THAT dream again. Laura was beginning to feel that maybe Heather was right, that dreams don't really mean anything. She sighed again as she got out of bed and stretched, thinking about all she needed to accomplish today. Less than 24 hours to go, Laura thought as she slipped on some jeans and a t-shirt, and not enough time to do all I need to do! I think I better call on Howie to pay up on his offer to help me out or I don't know how I'm going to get it all done! Laura walked to her kitchen to get a glass of juice as she grabbed the cordless phone to call Howie.
Howie was just as bright and chipper as ever when he answered the phone, which surprised Laura because they all had a late night last night. "What can I do for you, darlin'?" he asked. Laura smiled at his calling her "darlin'"--she thought it was adorable. Bless his heart, she thought.
"Well," Laura began, "you said you would help me get things squared away before we leave Sunday afternoon, so I'm calling upon your assistance today... that is, if you don't already have plans." Howie was more than happy to follow through on his promise to help her if needed. "Hey, I said I'd be there if you need me, and I will. What time do you want to get together?" he asked. "It doesn't matter to me, whatever works for you," he added. Laura smiled and said, "Well whenever you are ready, I'm ready. Just head on over anytime you like within the next hour or 2," she said. Howie sighed sarcastically and said, "Well, I'll see what I can do." He laughed as Laura said goodbye and hung up the phone. Smart ass, she thought and smiled to herself as she finished her juice.
It was only about a half hour later when Laura's door buzzer sounded. Gotta be Howie, she thought as she buzzed her guest in the downstairs door. A minute later Howie was at her door. He smiled at her when she opened her door. "Well, fancy meeting you here!" he joked as Laura let him in. Laura thought she'd join in his banter. "Yeah, I think we've met before... Jim, isn't it?" she said with a cocky smile on her face. Howie laughed at her wit. "Ahh, touché, my dear," he said as they sat down in her living room. Laura was amazed that he looked as good at almost 9 AM as he did at 2 AM. "Well, what's the agenda Laura?"
"Hmm, not quite sure. See, I REALLY need your help," she joked. "I've been doing a lot of packing this week, so I really don't need much help with that. I do need to run a few errands and let everyone know that Heather will be the one staying at my place when I'm away." Howie smiled. "Yeah, that was really great of her to do that for you," he said. Laura agreed. "She's the best!" she proclaimed matter-of-factly. "Well, I'm ready... should we get a move-on now?" Howie said, "Yes," and got up and followed Laura out of the building.
After a couple hours of stopping at the post office, her bank, and the mall to get some new clothes for the tour (which Laura was especially happy with, since Howie helped pick a lot of the clothes out, and she always thought he had a great fashion sense), she decided to stop in at the hair salon to say one last goodbye to Janet, Jennifer, and the rest of her now former coworkers.
"Oh Laura," Jennifer said as she hugged her friend, "You have fun out there! You're going to have a great time, I can feel it!" she said. Janet smiled at her in agreement. "She's right--you're not going to regret this." Janet then turned to Howie. "You guys take good care of this young lady!" she commanded. "Don't you worry, she's in good hands," Howie replied as he indicated to Laura that it was getting late. She said one last goodbye to her friends and promised she'd drop them postcards and call every now and then to update them. Laura then walked out to the car with Howie following close behind. They drove off and headed back to Laura's place.
"Oh great, Heather's here already!" Laura said as she pointed out that Heather's car was parked in front of the building. They soon met her upstairs as well.
"Laura," Howie said as he was just about to leave, "All of us are getting together tonight at my place again. You're certainly welcome to come by again if you like, now that you know where to find me," he finished. "Umm, yeah, it might be a while 'cuz I have some things to talk to Heather about, like how to get a hold of me and where she needs to go to pay my bills for me, stuff like that," she said. Heather looked at her as if to ask her what she was talking about. They had already discussed all of this 4 days ago when Heather agreed to look after her place. Heather figured there was a reason she lied to him, though, so she kept her mouth shut. "Well, whenever you're free then!" Howie said happily and smiled at her and Heather as he said goodbye and walked out the door.
"OK, Laura, what's up?" Heather demanded. "Why did you tell him we needed to discuss all that stuff when you know damn well we talked about it at length already. You look as if you're ready to explode, so tell me!"
Laura smiled coyly and said, "Yes, I most definitely need to talk to you... I have to tell you what happened last night!" Laura then proceeded to tell Heather every detail of the previous night, including the talk she had with Kevin and the ride home. Knowing that she's always liked Kevin, she was happy for Laura.
"Oohh girl, you got it bad," she said, "and I'm glad. It's been a long time that you've felt--" Heather stopped herself. She almost mentioned Laura's relationship with Mike, a subject that is off limits unless she wants to talk about it. "What I mean is, it's been a long time since you've been this excited about something AND someone," she concluded. Laura smiled as she recalled the entire night. "Yeah it's pretty great," she agreed. Laura then looked at the clock. "Wow, it's getting close to 7, I better go before I miss too much. I'll see you later."
Heather chuckled. "Yeah have a great time. Say 'Hi' to Kevin for me," she chided. "Oh stop that!" Laura jokingly commanded as she headed out the door to her car, and drove off.
First Page
Tell me I have too much time on my hands.
