Rachel was dragged from sleep by the shrill ringing of the telephone.
“Hello?” she asked groggily.”Hey Lance. What time is it?...Wow, I can’t believe I slept this late....What? No you didn’t wake me up. Actually, you did, but its ok,I should be getting up now anyway...uh-huh, lemme right this down...Tomorrow at 3:45...yup, can do....see ya there...O my god, I need something to wear!”
She hung up and immediately dialed Liz’s cell phone. It was time for some emergency shopping.
4 hours, 2 credit cards, and many, many shopping bags later they were finished. Exhausted, they sat down in the food court and talked over their Chick-Fil-A.
“Liz, thank you so much for helping me. Are you sure this outfit is ok?”
“Yes, for the millionth time, its a great outfit, you look great in it, and everyone at that meeting will be impressed.”
“Sorry, I know you’re sick of hearing this...”
“ya think?”
”But I’m just really nervous about this. This is the first time I’m meeting everyone. The cast, the crew, everyone will be there. What if they don’t take me seriously? What if they all hate me? What if...”
“Rachel, calm down. Everything will be fine. Damn, its stressful being around you. You’ve been in freakout mode all day.” Liz looked up and almost spit out her drink. “O my god, check this out. Look at that guy over there. Can we say fashion disaster!”
Rachel looked over to see a guy wearing a bandana, sunglasses, a huge sweatshirt, and the ugliest pants she had ever seen.
“Dear lord, some one call the fashion police. The red cross needs to have a relief fund for him, cuz he is a walking disaster area.”
The girls were laughing so hard they didn’t see the guy walking towards them. Suddenly, Rachel turned around and saw him sitting next to her. She almost screamed when he smiled at her. She would recognize that smile anywhere.
“Hey Justin. Damn boy, you scared me.”
“How did you know it was me? Um, is she ok?” She looked over to see Liz sitting there staring at them.
“Um, Liz? Are you ok? helloooo? Whatever, she’ll snap out of it eventually. So, I have to ask, whats with the pants?”
“I’m in disguise.”
“As a mental patient?”
“Whats wrong with my disguise? The pants are cool.”
That brought Liz right out of her trance.
“Cool? You think those 70’s reject, polyester, discolicious pants are cool?” She asked, amazed.
“Everybodys making fun of me!” Justin complained. He pouted and put on the hurt little puppy dog face.
“O my god, not that look. Thats sooooo not fair.” Rachel said. She finally turned away so she wouldn’t have to see that pitiful look anymore. Liz just rolled her eyes at him.
Suddenly, Rachel leaned across the table and whispered to Liz, “o my god. Bryans here!”
“No way. So, whats the latest update? Is he taking you to Homecoming or what?”
“Of course he is. He just, um, he just doesn’t know it yet.” She said, pouting slightly.
Just then he saw her and waved. She cheerfully got up and practically skipped across the food court to go talk to him. Justin found himself wondering what could be so special about him to make her whole face light up like that?
“So whats the deal with this Bryan guy? Are he and Rachel an item or something?” Justin asked.
“Not really, He and Rachel are like the couple that should have been. He was new freshman year, and he and Rachel just sorta clicked. There has always been this chemistry between them, you’d have to be blind not to see it, but for some reason they never really hooked up. They have been stuck at the ‘just friends’ stage ever since. Its probably because Bryan is still trying to deny that he has feelings for her, and Rachel doesn’t have the guts to just come out and admit everything to him. I think its some sort of vulnerability thing. As long as I’ve known her she has never actually asked a guy out. She’ll flirt and send all the signals, but she never actually makes the first move. Its kinda strange actually. I’m sure there’s some reason behind it, but she’s the one taking psychology class, not me.”
Liz looked over at Justin and realized his attention had shifted form her to Rachel. What she didn’t know was that even as Justin was staring intently and Rachel and Bryan he was still listening to her ramble and was silently absorbing every word. He also took in every detail of what was going on before his eyes. He saw the way she leaned towards him when he spoke. He watched as she laughed at something he had just said. What caught his eye the most was the way she touched his shoulder lightly when she laughed.
Liz watched Justin’s reactions and she smiled slightly, amused by the drama that was slowly unfolding right before her eyes. Hold on to your seat belts kiddies, this is gonna be one hell of a ride.
Oh, If she only knew.
Rachel and Bryan walked over to the table where Justin and Liz were waiting.
“O, hi Bryan,” Liz said casually. “We were just leaving.”
“We were?” Justin asked, clearly confused. God, didn’t that boy know how to take a hint?
“Yes, we were.” She said through clenched teeth. “ I saw these great pants at Brass Plum that I wasn’t sure about, but I now realize that I have to have them. Excuse Us.” She grabbed Justin’s hand and literally dragged him away from the table.
Rachel mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ to her over Bryan’s shoulder. Justin's protests could be heard from across the food court as Liz lead him away.
“Guess what!” She was so excited she was practically glowing. She didn’t even wait for Liz to respond before continuing. “Bryan asked me out! He finally asked me! We have a date Friday night! Can you stand it?! Say, where did curly boy go?”
“I think I lost him at Abercrombie. He might have left. I dunno. Wow, this is so great. I’m way excited for you hun. Why did this take you guys so long?”
“I dunno. Who cares? Ok, I do, but I’m gonna ignore that for now cause I’m so psyched!”
“Hey, Homecoming is in a month. Maybe you’ll end up going with him after all. That would be so perfect.”
“oh yea. You have no idea. I gotta go, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Hey, its me! Guess what? Bryan asked me out!”
“Bryan? The Bryan? The one whose name comes up every time I talk to you? The one you mention every two seconds. That Bryan?” She heard the sarcasm in his voice but chose to ignore it.
“Yea, thats the one.” She answered breathlessly.
“Well congratz. You can tell me all about it at the meeting tomorrow, because I know you will anyway. You are impossible to shut up once you get going.”
“O come on, admit it, you’re curious!”
“Well maybe just a little bit, but I’m sure you’ll give me more details then I could ever want. Catch ya later, Short stuff!”
“Bye!” She chimed in before hanging up the phone.
I’m gonna give it my all, and thats all anyone can ever ask.
When Rachel got home, she was surprised to see that the light on her answering machine was flashing. She pressed the button and it announced that she had two messages. She dumped all her bags on the couch and smiled when Justin's smooth voice greeted her.
“Hey Rach, sorry about ditching you at the mall like that. Actually, it was entirely Liz’s fault, but I guess you knew that. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I had a really great time having lunch with you guys, and I also wanted to wish you luck on your meeting tomorrow. Not that you need it, but you seemed really worried. I’m sure they will all be amazed by you. Knock em’ dead, girl! “
There was a click and the machine went on to the next message. Her thoughts about how sweet it was for Justin to call her like that were interrupted the minute she heard Bryan’s voice on the machine.
“Hey there cutie! Its me. I just wanted to call and see how your day was, but I guess you are busy being your usual amazing self. I just wanted to let you know that I’m thinking about you. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow. “
The machine clicked off and Rachel flopped down onto the couch with a sigh. She sat there surrounded by shopping bags, engulfed in a feeling of contentment. It was so good to hear his voice, to hear him say he was thinking about her. It gave her stomach butterflies.
Cowboy take me away...
Next chapter!
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