Getting Lucky (A Lucky Novella) (6 page)

Chapter 7

First Time

We arrive
d
at the Mona Lisa just as the early dinner crowd was already clearing out. I was immediately taken with the place and its charm as the hostess led the way to an indoor balcony overlooking the downstairs where a pianist played live music to set the mood.

When we reached our
table, I was delighted to find that it was a cozy little booth decorated with vines and little white sparkling lights that made you feel as though you were a million miles away in some small town in Europe. I could tell by Noah’s repeated nods of approval that he was equally impressed with the place.

From there, things only got better as we indulged in what could very well have been one of
the greatest meals of my life. All throughout dinner the conversation level was fairly low as our focus remained primarily on the food. There was a lot of oohing and aahing as each course began, followed by plenty of you- have-to-try-this’s and oh-my-GOD-this-is-SO-good’s. It wasn’t until we reached the dessert stage of our dinner that the conversation took an interesting turn.

“So,” Noah began as he slowly dipped a large strawberry into the melted chocolate. “Do you remember our first kiss?”

I was right in the middle of deciding whether to start with the brownie or the giant marshmallow when I had to put the debate on hold to look up at him.

“Seriously? Out of the two of us, I’m pretty sure I’m not the one who pretended they forgot about it.”  I
shook my head to shame him further and then stabbed the brownie with my fork. Chocolate over chocolate couldn’t be wrong.

“Then you don’t remember,” Noah replied calmly, the tell-tale signs of a grin working their way over his face.

I was just about to take my first bite when I had to stop again.

“Excuse me?”

“The kiss you are referring to was not our first kiss.”

Much to my disappointment, I felt my own hand lower itself toward the table as I temporarily placed my perfectly dunked brownie down onto a plate.

“What are you talking about? We never kissed before that.”

Meanwhile, Noah wasn’t taking any breaks as he finished his strawberry and went on to dip
a large chunk of pineapple.

“The first time we kissed was seven years ago. We had only known each other for a few weeks when a bunch of people from work met up downtown to hit the bars together. I remember I was already out with the crew when you showed up with Kylie, that cocktail waitress you used to hang with.” Noah took a moment to take another bite before he continued, “
Of course you went straight for the dance floor. Naturally, I followed. It took three hours, but eventually we wound up at a table alone. And
that’s
when you kissed me.”

“I did not!” My mind was racing through old memories as if they were stacked flash cards in one of those little thumb theaters.

“Are you calling me a liar?” he asked, grinning from ear to ear now as he sucked the excess chocolate from his pineapple before it had chance to drip. That’s when it hit me. The flash card with the lost memory, I mean. I came flying straight from the deck and landed right on top. There was no mistaking it. Noah had been right. Well, sort of.

“You mean the night you
tricked
me into kissing you!”

“Oh please. Like you would have fallen for that if you hadn’t really wanted to kiss me,” he countered.

“I most certainly did not want to kiss you! In fact, kissing you couldn’t have been further from my mind. I remember the whole thing. You were going on about how misunderstood you were by women. Then you gave me some sob story about not getting enough attention as a child and how you needed nurturing and THEN you ended your little spiel by giving me the most pathetic pout I’ve ever seen before begging me for a kiss on the cheek. What did you call it? Oh yeah, a random act of caring. I already knew you were trouble, but I felt so sorry for you after that, so I kissed you right as you turned your head!”

“You liked it and you know it,” Noah whispered as he lowered himself over the table to get closer to me. I leaned in to meet him. This time the kiss came as no surprise.

“Couldn’t have liked it that much. I didn’t bother kissing you again for a long time,” I said smirking. Noah just blew it off.

“You liked it. You just needed some time to accept it.”

I had finally gotten around to my marshmallow. I had plenty of time to contemplate my next move as I chewed the gooey sticky sweetness.

“Alright then. How about the first time we hung out? Do you remember that?” I asked, fully anticipating to watch Noah fall flat on his face.

“At work or out?”

“Out.”

“Okay, that’s easy. Pizzeria a block from the bar. We were there for so long we closed the place down. Didn’t even notice until our server told us we had to leave and we saw all the chairs up on the tables. After that, we headed to IHOP. Stayed there until you had to get ready for your Astronomy class in the morning.”

Damn. He was good. I didn’t even bother responding.

“My turn again?” he asked as he watched me shove a chocolate covered graham cracker in my mouth. “I’ve a got a good one. First time we fought. Remember that?”

“What? That’s not a good one! Besides, we fought anytime we had a conversation that lasted longer than five minutes.”

“I’m not talking about our perfectly healthy bickering or exchange of insults, I’m talking about the first time you were really pissed at me.” I watched as Noah went for the banana. I was starting to wonder if he was purposely eating all the fruit and leaving me the most decadent choices of all. Like the tiny bites of cheesecake I was going for next.

“Okay then. First time we really fought was at work. I was fill
ing in for one of the cocktail servers and you were working the bar. We were slammed when I came to you with an order for a drink you didn’t know how to make. I told you exactly what to put in it, but you didn’t believe me. You insisted on tracking down D. and getting the recipe from him. I waited for that drink for nearly ten minutes. By the time you finally made it, I was so far behind on all my tables it took me two hours to get caught up again and find my rhythm.”

“Yup. You didn’t talk to me for nearly a week,” Noah said, looking slightly wounded from having rehashed the event.

“Kind of stupid, really. I don’t even know why I stayed so mad for so long. I think I thought you were mad at me too. It wasn’t until you came in on your day off and said a quiet hello as you went by that I realized I was the one keeping us from moving passed it.”

Things got quiet for a little while as we both concentrated on what was left on the des
sert platter. It was Noah who finally broke the silence.

“Okay, you’re right, that was a stupid one. Let’s change it up a bit. First time you thought of me as a friend
– ”

“Oh, I like that one.
Alright. First time I knew we were friends was when you hunted me down at the back of the bar while we were working to tell me that your high school girlfriend was in the bar. You told me all about how the two of you had been serious and how you thought you were in love with her until you found out that she was cheating on you. I knew then that you thought of me as more than just another walking vagina.” I set down my fork, surrendering to my stuffed belly. “Your turn. First time you thought of me as more than just a friend.”

Noah’s fork was still hovering over the last piece of cheesecake when he thought better of it and decided it would be okay to waste on
e tiny bite. He slowly placed his fork down on the folded napkin beside his glass. Then he looked up at me and smiled.

“
The first time I thought of you as more than just a friend was the day you walked in the bar looking for a job. But, I’m guessing that’s not what you’re asking. You want to know when I thought of you as more than a friend after we were friends. When it was no longer about just sex.”

I nodded.

“Yeah. That moment has come, right?”

“Yes, it came already. Probably a lot sooner than you think. I was at work. We hadn’t opened yet and I was in the back helping D. with inventory when I smelled it. Your perfume. You weren’t even supposed to be there that day, but you came to get your schedule. Without even thinking, I stopped what I was doing and made a beeline to the source of the sweet scent. The closer I got to you, the closer I wanted to get.
Then, when I was standing beside you, breathing you in, I knew it would never be enough. I’d always want more.”

I couldn’t believe it.

“I remember that day,” I whispered, surprised to suddenly feel so overwhelmed with emotions.

“Yeah?” Noah looked at me with an intense curiosity building in his eyes.

“Yeah. I’ll never forget it. The way I felt to be so wanted. You threw some lame pick up line at me, but I didn’t even care. There was something different about you that day, like you were under some sort of spell. I’d never drawn a man in that way before. Not like that.” I stopped and turned my gaze down toward the table. I could vividly recall that moment. It was one I had replayed in my mind hundreds of times over the years. “And yet, I knew you weren’t really mine…not then anyway.” I managed a weak smile as I lifted my eyes to meet his again.

Noah’s hand reached out to hold mine as he said, “You’re wrong. I’ve been yours since the first time I saw you. And of all the ‘first time’ memories I have of you and me that one will always be my favorite.”

Chapter 8

All In

The day
s
that followed seemed to race by in a slow motion blur. A contradiction of sorts I realize, but try as I might I can find no other way to describe how it felt. Noah and I went on our own little adventure as I set out to show him all the things I had felt to be special and unexpected treasures found only by those who knew where to look. While we attempted to make use of every minute of our time on this trip, each moment seemed to etch itself into my mind permanently. I laid awake at night reliving each magical memory of the day passed while Noah slept at my side, his left hand always resting in mine as though it had finally found where it belonged after searching aimlessly for an eternity.

Before I knew it, or felt remotely ready for it, reality returned in the form of two moving guys and a giant moving truck first thing on Wednesday morning. I felt strangely anxious as I watched the two men come marching into my home, one with a clipboard in hand and taking notes, while the other went about opening and closing my cupboards and drawers and lifting various objects, presumably to get a feel for their weight and durability.

Noah studied me as I hovered over the men like a hawk about to pounce on its prey. With a mocking grin resting far too comfortably on his lips, he placed his hands on my shoulders and began to lead me from the room.

“Wait, where are we going?” I asked as I watched him reach for my keys.

“We’re getting your crazy, control freak ass out of here so these men can get their work done in peace,” he said and he shoved me out through the front door before I could put up so much as a fight.

“What if they break something? I need to at least tell them not to touch Grandma Pearl!” I said, my arms reaching out toward the now locked door blocking my path.

Noah scooped his arm around my waist while I was still facing the opposite direction and carefully moved me onward, walking backwards as I went and watching the distance between myself and my stuff increase with each step I took.

“It’s an urn, Lucky. Not many people need to be told not to touch one of those,” he said as I finally turned around, prepared to come willingly, if not happily.

“You better be right,” I grumbled. I mean, what he was saying made sense. If it was anyone else, I wouldn’t be going out of my way to handle the scorched remains of their dead body.

Still holding the keys, Noah opened the door to the passenger side for me before walking around to the driver’s side and getting in as well.

“So, where are you taking me?” I asked. I couldn’t help but be curious to see if he could actually find his way around after having only spent a few days here. For the most part, Boise had proven to be easy to navigate. Most roads ran in blocks and for every one street you traveled to get somewhere there were at least ten others that ran parallel to it. Except, of course, for those few streets that had apparently been built as an afterthought around things that were already there. Rather than route them to go around, or under, or over…they simply stopped in one spot and then picked up again a few blocks down. If you didn’t know about this minor hiccup in the roadmap, it could really screw with you. I remember the first time I tried to visit my friend, Sharon, on my own. I had been to her house a few times before and felt pretty confident about where it was, but having always been a passenger in her car, I hadn’t actually made the drive myself. Well, when I finally did, it turned a fifteen minute trip into the most infuriating hour of my life as I kept driving around in circles, baffled by the fact that the road she lived on had dead ended before I was able to reach her house. I repeatedly made the same drive down the same road, searching for the driveway I had missed somewhere, only to find out much too late that while I was on the right road, I needed to take several more after it stopped to find where it began again.

With the experience still fresh in my memory, I was eager to see where Noah intended to take us and how efficient he would be at actually getting us there.

“Don’t worry, I know where I’m going,” Noah said as if on cue.

“Whatever you say,” I replied, now positively hoping he would get lost just so I could laugh at him. He was entertained on my behalf plenty of the time; I was due for a good chuckle at his expense. When he pulled off of the road again thirty seconds later and parked the car in the Diner’s lot just a few feet down from where I lived, I sighed with disappointment.

Noah looked at me funny.

“What? You have an aversion to pancakes all of a sudden?”

I shook my head and slowly smiled, “No, pancakes are good.”

“Alright then.”

Noah nodded, confirming for himself that he had made the right call in bringing me there. Then he proceeded to get out. We met at the trunk and locked hands as he walked up to the front doors together.

After breakfast, Noah drove back to the apartment only to insist I leave again, fully intent on keeping me away from my own home at all costs. He assured me countless times that my belongings were in good hands and not to return until I got the say so from him, which he promised would arrive via phone call the moment the moving men were done.

With nothing to do and no one to talk to, I crawled over into the driver’s seat of my car and crept out of the parking lot at a mere 5 miles per hour, giving Noah ample amount of time to change his mind, which he did not!

I drove around for a bit, circling the block and unable to really relinquish all control of the situation to three men until I concluded that there were better ways to waste my gas. Since I had already officially resigned from my job over the phone as well as through a proper resignation letter, the only thing left to do regarding that whole situation was to clean out my classroom. I had planned to save the task until the last possible minute, and if at all feasible to avoid the un-pleasantries of saying good bye to everyone yet again. However, given the unexpected opening in my schedule, now seemed as good a time as any to simply face the things I loathed head on.

Class was still in session, but recess was coming up shortly and it would allow me the time I needed to get in and get out without too much hoopla surrounding my departure. It’s not like I had that much to pack really. My desk contained a handful of personal items, and while most of the educational décor I had placed around my class room had been paid for by yours truly, I had no use for it beyond the school and I certainly didn’t need to schlepp it all cross country when I didn’t even have a class room waiting for me on the other side.

I sat outside in the parking lot and carefully watched the building. The second I saw the doors open and the students spilling out of the class rooms into the open courtyard, I made my move. With a ducked head and the general appearance of someone who foolishly thought they could remain invisible in the bright light of day simply by turning their heard, I jogged over to the main building and disappeared inside. A few times I heard my name being called out quite distinctively and yet, I had zero qualms about doing the confused head turn and then running onward as though I thought I had misheard. When I reached my destination, I quickly pulled open the door and fled inside.

An older woman with short brown hair was busy wiping off the dry erase board when I came flying in. She looked up from her task, startled by my sudden and somewhat frantic appearance.

“Can I help you?” she asked, sounding less polite than one might expect given the friendly content of her actual words.

“I’m sorry…used to be my classroom… I’m just here to pick up some of my stuff.” The words basically just spilled out of my mouth without any real structure, which might have been fine for someone else, but not ideal, and frankly somewhat embarrassing, from one English teacher to another. Which the woman made no bones about when she crinkled her brow and peered down at me over the tip of her nose – a considerable feat, I may add, since she was several inches shorter than me.

“So,
you’re
the one who’s running cross country to be with some man after spending a weekend with him? Yes, I’ve heard quite a bit about you in the last three days,” she said snidely as she turned away and finished clearing the board.

I was already up to my elbows in my top desk drawer when I froze for a second before shooting straight up into a more upright position a second later.

“Yes,
I’m
the one! And not that it’s any of your business, but he’s not just some guy and I’m not running after him. I happen to be from there myself, so I’m really just going home!” Then I shoved the rest of my belongings into my bag and slammed the drawer shut. Before storming out of the room, I turned back and said, “And if you’d seen the size of his penis, you’d know that any woman in her right mind would gladly follow him to the moon and back.”

It was a slight exaggeration, but who cared. Wasn’t like she’d ever find out for herself anyway.

It took some improvising and quick thinking on my part, but I managed to make it back off of the school grounds before anyone else saw me.

After that, I did my best to pass my time while waiting for Noah to call me, letting me know that it was safe to come home, but it wasn’t easy. First, I took every detour I could think of on the way back from the school, but it only added another ten minutes or so to the commute. Then as I was about to make the final turn into Star, I decided to pull over and wander the grocery store. I was getting hungry again so there was no telling what I would fill my cart with once inside.

By the time Noah finally called I had been in the store for over an hour and my shopping cart clearly represented that fact. While I had initially tried sticking to a few items we might need for the last night here, I quickly abandoned my plans and decided I might as well fill up on snacks we would need for the drive back. Even without having to worry about the moving truck, we still had my car to get back home. Besides, I loved road trips so there was no way I was going to let Noah try to finagle something with the moving guys that might involve us going home on an airplane.

When I walked into my apartment, I was amazed to find it completely empty. For some stupid reason I had expected to find boxes and random pieces of furniture still spread out around the apartment. Not with these guys. They had apparently been far more efficient at packing up my belongings than I had been. My pride momentarily reared its flashy head as I felt the sting somewhere deep in my soul over having been beat. It’s not that I didn’t know that I was being childish, I did, but it still hurt a little.

“What do you think?” Noah called down from the loft when he saw me.

“I think those guys must have called in for back up the moment I left,” I said jokingly, but secretly hoping it was a possibility.

Noah laughed, dashing my foolish fantasy immediately. A few seconds later he was standing beside me and taking the shopping bags from me. As he went and placed them on the kitchen counter he said, “This isn’t so bad. From the way you were talking on the phone, I expected to see you show up with a whole truck load or something.”

“Oh, I did. I just couldn’t carry any more. The rest is still in the car.”

Noah paused.

“Seriously?”

I was already unpacking the bags and didn’t even bother looking up to answer, “Ohhh yeaaaahhh.”

I heard Noah sigh loudly as he put the cereal box he was holding back on the counter and walked out to the car to get the remaining groceries. It took him two trips before the trunk was empty.

“How on earth are we supposed to eat all of this food?” he asked, staring at the three bags of mini donuts in his hands.

“Look, I was hungry, okay!? And I wasn’t allowed to come home, so I found a way to occupy myself the best way I could.”

“By preparing for a natural disaster?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, I would have bought way more water and batteries if that was the case,” I stated it very matter-of-factly, completely ignoring that he was making fun of me.

Noah just chuckled and shook his head. Then he helped transfer the groceries to some left over boxes without offering any further commentary.

For dinner we ordered in pizza. It seemed logical since there were no pots or utensils left to cook anything, nor were there any plates left to eat from. And most importantly, because I suddenly didn’t have an appetite for any of the stuff I had just bought.

We sat outside on the banister of my balcony as we ate, dangling our legs over the side of the building and enjoying the quiet of night that surrounded us. The horsey smell I loved so much about living there was starting to move through the chilly air and I took a deep breath in, knowing that tomorrow I wouldn’t be there to do it again.

“Smell that?” I asked dreamily.

“Yeah, but I’m trying not to,” Noah replied dryly.

“Why not? Don’t you think it smells nice?”

“Not with pizza, no,” Noah said, making a face.

I suppose he had a point. The flavors didn’t exactly mix, but it’s not like I wanted to eat the hay, I was merely enjoying its rustic scent.

Noah tossed the last piece of his crust out into the bushes for the birds to get and swung his legs back over onto the balcony. I watched him until he went inside and then turned my attention back to the sky.

It wasn’t long until he was lifting himself back up onto the ledge and handing me a small packet. Once I got a better look, I was able to see that it was actually a map. Not just any map, but a map of the entire country. Noah had taken the time to highlight our entire route, making little notes along the way.