Run, Baby, Run

This was written for a challenge on FicWritersRUs. Here are the requirements:

-must refer to a broken engagement involving one of the people in the couple

-must refer to some sort of spectator sport

-must use the phrase "you are NOT leaving this house/apartment/condo like that!"

Run, Baby, Run

By: Stephanie Woodworth

From an early age I was taught that if something wasn’t going you’re way, run. Kind of the proverbial, I’m going to take my ball and go home. My mom didn’t like being married to my dad, so we ran and eventually got a divorce. Same with husbands two through five, the jury is still out on husband six. Well now it’s my turn and I’m running. I’m running fast.

I quickly went through the house trying to grab whatever I could in a hurry. He was coming home from being on tour and I wanted to be gone by the time he got here. I’d packed all my clothes and lugged my suitcase out to my car. I felt guilty that I was leaving this way, but I was scared. I’d made it this far with never having taking that dreadful walk down the long isle and I wasn’t ready to yet. We were to be married in just over a week, all the wedding details finalized and everything done. All that was left was for my fiancé to show up and for me to be there to marry him.

Placing the note that I’d painfully written along with my engagement ring on his pillows I wondered why I was standing here crying. If this was what I felt was the best thing to do, then why was I so upset? I wouldn’t make a good wife to a normal person, not saying that he wasn’t normal, just saying that being married to him would be even harder than being married to an average Joe.

When we’d met I thought my life was finally looking up. I’d been moved all over the map and currently was living in Los Angeles, working at the Staple Center selling beer in the venue. He was sitting watching the Knicks play the Nets and I couldn’t help but stare at him. His wild hair, the beautiful blue eyes, his chiseled cheekbones, he was absolutely gorgeous. As the game continued I tended to spend more and more time at his end of the court until I’d grabbed his attention.

“I’ll take a beer,” I heard him say.

I almost couldn’t believe that he was talking to me. He looked up at me though his wire-rimmed glasses. “What kind? Bud or Bud Light?”

He smiled at me, “I really only want your name and number.”

The statement floored me. I had no idea who this hot guy was, but men didn’t ask me out like this. I’m quiet and reserved. I know, not a good combination for someone who walks around selling things to strangers. On the contrary, that’s why this is the best job, I can be whoever I want to be. And on this night I was a vixen with this guy in my sights. “Do you have paper?”

“No.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and asked me again, “What’s your name and number.”

I gave him my digits and smiled at him. “What are you doing later tonight?” Dumb question, he was doing me! We ended up back at my tiny apartment and spent the weekend wrapped in each other’s arms. We talked about everything that weekend. He told me all about his family, his job, his life. I listened and tried not to tell him too many of the awful details of my youth.

It didn’t take long for me to realize just who this man was, Joshua Chasez was a loving caring man who picked me up out of oblivion and gave me a world that I could only dream of. Within a month I had moved into his house in the hills while he was preparing to go on the road. He had insisted that I move in so that he knew where I was and that I wasn’t off hooking up with other stars at basketball games.

The first week alone in the huge house was hard on me. I didn’t know what to do with myself. He’d made me quit my job, promising to give me all I ever needed and more. His house was beautifully decorated with pieced of art that cost more than I’d made in my whole life. He had a state of the art kitchen and loved to cook wonderful meals for us, but I couldn’t figure out how to even turn the microwave on. His house was comfortable, yet chic. His bedroom, my favorite room in the house, was dark and I loved it. You could sleep all day and not even realize what time it was. The windows had black material covering them. My most favorite piece of furniture, his oversized king size canopy bed. I had to get a running start to climb into it, but once there I never wanted to leave. I spent a great deal of time curled up in his bed, reading, watching television, but mostly missing him.

Our relationship can be measured in months. After knowing him for a month we’d moved in together, another month and he was off on tour and after a month alone I was going insane without him. I was glad to find out that he felt the same. I was just about to go take a nap when the doorbell sounded. I sprinted hoping it was him by some small miracle even though I knew he was in Florida for two nights. Instead a delivery man stood with a bouquet of flowers.

The gruff looking delivery guy looked at me over the huge bouquet of flowers, “These are for you.”

“Thank you.” I grabbed a tip before retrieving the flowers from him. Placing them on the table in the foyer I quickly found the card ripping open the envelope. I had to cry as I read the lyric printed on the card knowing that the song had been written for me.

Girl when we started baby we were friends
But that's not how this fairy tale is gonna end
See I was thinking then it clicked one day
That no one else has ever made me feel this way
The next time I saw you girl I knew I had to try
To tell you everything that I was feeling deep inside
And listen good cause what I say is from my heart
So if you're ready

You see I toss and turn when I'm alone
And I just cant wait til you get home
Waiting for your call cause tonight we're gonna do it all
Girl it's just the two of us
Cause I'm thinking about you day and night
And I just can't get you off my mind
When you get a minute baby I was thinking we could hook up
It's just the two of us, the two of us

Baby, I love you. I miss you. I’m counting the hours till I can see you again. Love, Josh.

He always did sweet little things this for me like this while he was out on the road. I never thought that I deserved it. I still don’t. Josh says he fell in love with me on our third date; I fell in love with him during the Knicks/Nets game. I will always love him, I just can’t marry him. I’m not the type of person the settle down and be married. Maybe that’s why this relationship has worked out so well. I’m in California; Josh is, heck, most nights I have to check a calendar to tell you where he is. He sends gifts. I call. He sends plane tickets; I fly out to visit. He proposes; I plan a wedding knowing full well that it will never happen. In less than forty eight hours, I’m supposed to marry the man of my dreams on a cliff over looking the ocean in a ceremony that most people only dream of, including me.

So here I sit holding a card from a bouquet of flowers long gone and wondering why all my belongings are sitting in my car in the driveway. Josh should be walking in the door in roughly ten minutes if all went well after our last phone conversation and I’m still just sitting here in a pair of cutoff jeans and a halter top. What am I going to do?

“Meg?” I heard him yell as he came in the door. I was sitting in the kitchen still gripping the note. That’s where he found me. “Meg, honey?” I just looked up at him. “What’s wrong?” He looked me over. “What are you wearing? You are not leaving this house looking like that!”

That’s all it took. I stood and threw the note card down. This is why I was single I thought I needed to be single. I didn’t want anyone to tell me what to do. “I’m not going anywhere with you, Josh.” I couldn’t look him in the face. “I’m leaving.”

“You’re what?” He tried to grab my hand, but I pulled it back. “Honey, I was just kidding. If you want to wear cutoffs and a halter top to your rehearsal dinner I’m not going to stop you,” he said.

Was he nuts? Was he really just going to let me go to a fancy restaurant in this outfit? Did he realize that the place was probably already swarming with paparazzi and that we’d be plastered all over ever newspaper and news program from here to Russia tomorrow? Oh my god was that what this was all about? Was I scared about all the press and the celebrity part of my future husband? I looked up to see him smiling at me. “What are you grinning at?”

“The most beautiful woman in the room.”

“I’m the only woman in the room.” I said mock laughing.

He pulled me close to him. “I don’t care if this room were full to the busting point you’d still be the most beautiful woman here.” He kissed my forehead. “Now are you going to tell me why you were going to leave and where the gorgeous diamond ring that I put on your finger is?”

I couldn’t help but tear up at the thought of my ring. I hadn’t removed it since Josh had slid it on my finger when he proposed in Fargo, North Dakota just barely a month before. “I had this silly notion that I wasn’t good enough for you. I somehow got overwhelmed thinking about all the celebrity part of it all.”

“This from the girl who thrives on living in Los Angeles. You love is here. You love seeing celebrities at the grocery story. I almost have to beg you to come see me on the road for fear that you’d miss someone doing their weekly grocery shopping. I have to bribe you with seeing whoever the opening act is.” He was teasing me and I knew it.

I glanced down at me watch. The limo would be there to get us in roughly thirty minute. “I’ll go change if you grab my stuff from my car,” I said leaning in to kiss his lips. “We have to hurry though.”

I was just about to run off when Josh grabbed my hand. “Honey,” he looked concerned. “You weren’t really going to run were you?”

I didn’t know what to say. I really wanted to go. I’d packed all my thing. I’d written the note. I’m not sure how I managed to find that one small card from a bouquet of flowers from a million years ago that made me stop and not run. “I’m still here, aren’t I?” I smacked him on the behind. “Now hurry I need my make up out of my suitcase.”

I didn’t need to ever tell Josh that I’d been engaged before and ran out the week before the wedding. I think we learn from our surroundings, my mother has taught me one thing very well. She’s taught me how to run, baby run. Luckily, Josh has taught me that running isn’t always necessary. I’m glad I didn’t run that day or I would have missed out on so much. I would have missed out on the most beautiful wedding day that I could have imagined. It was the perfect weather, sunny with a light breeze. Josh surprised me by singing a song that he wrote during the ceremony. Three of his group members were present, Lance was off in space, well, not literally, but he was trying to fulfill a lifelong dream and we couldn’t keep him from it. I would have also missed all the laughter and all the joy of being Josh’s wife. Even though we’ve only been married a few months it’s been wonderful. This hiatus has not only been good for Josh musically, it has given us the time to get to know each other better and allowed us to produce a little Chasez of our own. I’m pregnant, now the only running I’ll be doing will be after our children and maybe Josh around the bedroom.

The End

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