We had almost finished lunch and the whole time we could tell that guy kept glancing at Melanie. Since neither of them were going to do anything about it, I decided to go over and introduce Melanie to him.
Right as I was standing up, Mel grabbed my arm and turned me around as she stood up and said, "We have to go to the bathroom," through gritted teeth.
It wasn't until we walked to the end of the restaurant that we realized the bathroom was the other direction! Melanie and I looked and each other and started laughing, realizing we were acting like 12 year olds who just saw our crush! We settled down and walked back to the table and all three of us (Melanie, Tara, and I) started laughing. Finally, we decided we better go as we paid for it and left.
"That was embarrassing!" Melanie said.
"Hey, you never know, you might see that guy again!" I said.
"Yeah, sure!" she said as we started walking. We came to Sam Goody and decided to go in.
We were shuffling through all the CD's as we came across a CD that looked like it was imported. "*N SYNC" it said on it.
"Hey, that one guy looks like the guy in the restaurant!" Tara said as we all looked at each other and laughed.
"Oh yeah, I'm sure that is him!" Melanie said.
We couldn't find anything so we walked back out and started walking until we came to the Gap. We all wanted to look around so we went in.
"Jess, don't forget, I'm buying you an outfit. So go find one, well, one that's not too expensive!" Melanie said as Tara and I laughed.
I wandered around the store and found some cute khaki cargo shorts and a pink tank top. Tara walked up behind me as I asked her what she thought.
"Mah-volous dahling, simply marvelous!" she said in a bad fake British accent.
I brought it to Melanie as she took it and went to pay. She had it put in a box and signed a card and handed it to me.
I looked at her and told her, "I could have just taken it." But she just told me to go on. "Oh my gosh! This is such a surprise! Thank you!" I said excitedly.
Tara rolled her eyes as Melanie said "You're very welcome! Happy birthday!"
Then Tara decided to buy 2 new tank tops for the trip. We walked back out into the mall and an hour and a half later, we were worn out. Besides the stuff at the Gap, Melanie had bought a new skirt, a new pair of shorts and a shirt, Tara had bought some black pants, and another shirt, and I bought a casual dress, another pair of shorts and a 3/4 sleeve shirt.
"Ok guys, just one more place! I need a new pair of shoes!" Tara said as me and Melanie sighed. And by the time we walked out of there, Melanie and I had also bought new shoes.
"Ok, now I have to fit all this in my suitcase!" Melanie said.
"Oh my gosh! I have to go home and pack! We'll go by Mel's house real quick to get your stuff, then my house so I can pack and we can get ready to go," Tara said as we agreed.
We quickly went by Melanie's and got our suitcases as we also said good-bye to her parents.
They made sure to remind her to, "Be safe, drive carefully, don't stay out too late, call us every day..." and all that parenting stuff! We got back in the car and drove the short distance to Tara's house.
As we got there we had to explain the whole ordeal to Tara's parents. They agreed quickly, knowing they could trust their daughter and let her have a good time. She rushed upstairs as we stayed down to talk to her sister, Jillian. She was 15 and was pretty cool, her and Tara were very close. We talked for about 15 minutes, catching up on things since we hadn't seen each other for a while and Tara rushed back down the stairs.
"Come on guys, we gotta go!" she said.
"What are you in such a hurry for?" I asked her as I was getting off the couch.
"I don't know, I just want to be there early!" Tara said.
"Ok," we agreed as we said good-bye to her family and headed out the door. We got in her car and started the thirty minute drive to the airport.
We finally got there at 3:45 and I was very anxious. As Tara went to go pick up our boarding passes, I was questioning tif I was donig the right thing. I mean, to meet my father, the man who had now been out of my life for almost 18 years, who never even cared enough to send a birthday card. Maybe it was better that he left.
For so long I had come to the conclusion that he didn't love me, that I must have done something wrong. That's why I could never get close to any of my boyfriends, because once it got serious, I would back away, afraid that he would leave me, like my dad.
I was turning to my right to tell Melanie that this maybe wasn't so smart when Tara came up and said, "You will never believe who is here! The guy."
Me and Melanie looked at each other questionably. "Who?" we both asked.
"The guy from the restaurant!" Tara said excitedly.
"The cute one?" Melanie asked.
"Yeah!" Tara said.
"Why would he be here?" I asked.
"I dunno, but I swear to you he's over there," she said.
We tried to look over people's heads to see him, we turned all around and to every side, but couldn't. "Oh, he's gone," Tara said.
"It was probably just your imagination," Melanie said.
"Yeah, maybe, but it sure looked like him," Tara said.
"Guys, I'm going to go call Sarah. How long before we board?" I asked.
Tara checked her watch and said, "Ten minutes."
I stood up and walked to the nearest pay phone. I slid the change in and dialed the number when a familiar voice answered.
"Hello."
"Hey Sarah!" I said.
"Jess! What's up? And why are there a lot of voices in the backround?" she asked.
"I'm at the airport and we're leaving in probably 25 minutes. I just wanted to call and say hi!"
"Well, I'll make sure to be at the airport early!" she said.
We talked for a few more minutes and this and that when I heard "Flight 304 to Orlando is now boarding," over the airport speakers.
"I gotta go! I'll see you soon!" I said as she said goodbye and we hung up.
I walked back over to Melanie and Tara as we grabbed our carry-ons and started to walk towards the walkway. We quickly handed the lady our boarding pass and she tore off the stub and handed it back to us.
"Have a good flight!" she said in a cheerful tone.
We started walking down and finally got to the plane. We boarded and found out seats, near the middle.
"Oh, I get the window!" Melanie said.
"Fine," Tara and I said.
After Melanie got into her seat, I sat in the middle and Tara sat on the other side of me. All the sudden, we saw the "cute guy" walking down the aisle.
"Oh my gosh, he is here!" Mel said as Tara and I laughed at her expression.
He ended up sitting right in front of us, and I think he noticed Melanie. Right as he sat down, we heard a voice on the intercom say, "Please take your seats and fasten your seat-belt." They gave the intructions of what to do if we crash and we were ready to take off. We just talked about what we had to do why we were in Orlando and I quickly pushed all those thoughts that
I had in my mind about not wanting to go, out. 'This is the best thing to do. I'm going to find out the truth,' I told myself. I was looking at elanie and I could tell she wanted to be introduced to him. So, I tapped the guy on the shoulder and he looked back at us.
"Hi," he said in a low voice. "Weren't you at the restaurant today?" he asked.
"Yeah, we were! We new you looked familiar and just wanted to introduce ourselves. This," I said pointing to my right. "Is Tara, this," I said pointing to the left. "Is Melanie. And I'm Jessie," I told him.
"Hi Jessie, Tara and Melanie," he said as he gmostly looked at Melanie. "I'm Lance."
"Nice to meet you," Tara said.
"Yeah," Melanie said as my and Tara laughed under our breath, not wanting them to hear us.
"So, why are you going to Orlando?" I asked him.
"Well, actually I've been overseas with some of my friends for a while so I'm flying back home," he said and we could tell he was hiding something.
But oh well, we were just happy he was talking to us. We talked for mostly the rest of the flight and it turned out that Lance was a really nice guy. We couldn't believe 3 hours had gone by when they announced, "We will be landing shortly. Please fasten your seat belts, return your chairs to an upright position and put your tray tables up."
We landed shortly after that and as we were walking off the plane, we decided to say good-bye to Lance.
"It was nice talking to you! And who knows, maybe someday we'll see each other again," he said to us, but we could tell he was directing it to Melanie.
"Yeah, Bye Lance," we all said as Lance went the opposite direction.
Tara whispered in my ear, "I have never seen Melanie so shy, she barely said a word!" as Melanie was still looking at him even though he was getting farther and farther away.
"I know, she was just gazing at him," I whispered back as we started laughing.
Melanie turned around and walked a little longer when all the sudden we saw a familiar face.
"Sarah!" we all shouted at her.
"Hey guys!" she said as she came over and we hugged each other.
"Gosh, it's been so long!" Melanie said.
"I know! Well, let's get your luggage and bring it to my car, then we can go back to my house and catch up on things!" Sarah said.
We agreed and got our luggage. We brought it to Sarah's car and Tara and Melanie decided to sit in the back, while I sat up front with Sarah.
She asked, "OK, Jess, how are we going to do this?"
"Do what?" I asked her.
"Find your dad," she said.
"Oh, well, I have a picture of him and a name -- that's it," I told her.
"Well, here, use my cell phone and call the operator. Ask her for an address or phone number of him," she said.
"OK."
I dialed "0" and a voice answered. "Hi, I'm looking for a phone number of Paul Chastis," I told her.
"Hold on one moment," she said. She spoke back up and said, "Well, we don't have a number for a Paul Chastis, but we have one for Paul Chasez."
