Tempting Fate (10 page)

“Well for some reason your aunt seems to think there might have been a guy last night you were with, and when you didn’t answer for hours, she got all in a tizzy. Talking about him kidnapping you and God knows what else. Good Lord girl, what were you thinking? And who is this
boy
your aunt is talking about anyway?” Abby wanted to smile at the thought of Westly kidnapping her; she would have gone willingly.

“I was telling her about a guy I met in my history class that was nice. He wasn’t even in class again yesterday, and I talked to her before history so maybe…”

“Well fine dear, we are just glad that you are ok. Don’t you ever do that again or so help me God I might just have to come up there after you myself. We love you and will talk to you later in the week. Oh and call your aunt before she gets in her car and drives all the way out there. That woman is such a basket case. We raised both you girls without going gray, but my sister keeps this up and I’ll be that way in no time!”

“Love you both, and sis too. Bye Mom.”

When Abby hung up the phone, she didn't have time to pick it back up to dial her aunt before it was ringing again. Abby wanted to turn the ringer back off already but answered reluctantly, “Hello.” The sound in her voice was completely flat, but with Melissa’s reaction you would have thought she had yelled at her.

“Abigail Nickole, how dare you worry me like that? When I finally get you on the phone you get that attitude with me! Where have you been all night? You would not even guess what I was thinking had happened to you. I couldn’t concentrate on stage at all last night! Twenty-eight messages, that is how many I left for you. That was just a fraction of the times I called. I have been up all night, you know.”

“Missa please calm down! I promise to tell you everything. Yes, I was with Westly, and it was the best night of my life!”

“You know I thought he might have kidnapped you or something. Were you with him all night?”

“Almost every second in his arms,” Abby began and continued telling her about him and how it felt to be with him. Her aunt’s excitement switched directions and she wanted more information about Westly and their night together. Melissa made Abby start at the beginning of the evening, going over every detail. Westly showing up with the pizza, why she had shut off the ringer in the first place, Paul knocking, and their first kiss and how it had happened. Melissa wanted to know everything they talked about and asked a million questions about what they did. Abby was so wrapped up into answering her questions that she almost for got to tell her about Melanie walking in on them.

“I fell totally asleep in his arms and when I woke up this morning, he was gone, but he left a note on the pillow beside me.” Abby reached for the note and read it to her aunt. She hadn’t talked this much in her whole life about anything.

“So are you going over to his place tonight for dinner?”

“I want to, but if I stay with him again tonight, are you going to start flipping out and tell my parents too much information again? I’m not ready for them to know anything. This could just be some silly crush that is done in a week.”

“Okay I’ll try to stop freaking out, but if I don’t hear from you anytime for forty-eight hours, straight, I’ll be calling the sheriff of that town of yours. And I want that boys full name. Do you understand me?”

“You won’t have to do that, I promise. Just give me some room, you keep telling me to go after a guy. Now I am, so give me some space to do it. Please.”

“Oh, what are you going to wear?” Melissa’s brain had already switched gears from protector back to teen gossip girl, “You left that sequined top I bought you for Christmas at home didn’t you?”

“Yes, sorry. It was itchy,” Abby said. The truth was a better word would have been “tacky,” but she didn't need to tell her aunt that. “I’ll run out after I take a shower. Oh, look at the time we have been talking for over an hour. I have to get going. It’s a long walk across campus to the boutique I like.”

Abby almost threw the phone down and rolled onto her back stretching out to read the note from Westly again and again. She picked the phone back up and dialed the number he had written at the bottom. It rang three times and she started preparing to leave a message on his machine.

“Just fine thank you. Better when you were with me though.” Well, it appeared Abby’s mouth was just going to keep saying the first thought that came into her mind. She just hoped she didn’t say anything weird.

“I had a nice night as well; although, I didn’t sleep much though. I am looking forward to seeing you again later.”

“Why didn’t you get much sleep? Was I talking? Did I keep you awake?” The way she was just saying the first thing that popped into her mind while awake left her guessing what she was saying in her sleep.

“Yes, you were talking in your sleep. Well, more like you mumbled and giggled my name. It was cute. I had some work on my mind I needed to get done today. No need to get too technical on you, but I have been having a hard time doing something and it was on my mind. I stayed with you until something clicked and I had an idea. I had to take off. I didn’t want to wake you, you were too peaceful.”

“No that was fine. Mel told me you had her lock the door behind you. Are you still working now?”

“Yes, but I should be done in a couple hours. Then I will have to go mail it, and I also have a couple other errands to run before our date tonight. You will be joining me, won’t you?”

“Yes, I was calling to accept the offer. I can’t wait.”

“Well you will just have to wait, seven-thirty sharp, in my room. I need the time to get ready and to make dinner for us. Otherwise I would have you over now and not let you go all day.”

Abby could hear the smile he was wearing in his voice and it made her smile grow bigger. “seven-thirty it is, and don’t worry, I’ll be thinking of you, like your note said.”

“Me too. Bye Abs.”

“Bye.” Abby threw herself back onto her bed after she hung up the phone and laughed.

A date, she had never had a date before, and he was going to cook for her. She jumped off her bed and ran into the bathroom to wash up. The first thing she pulled out of her dresser was a pair of jeans. She ran to the window to see what the weather was like. The trees in the courtyard were swaying lightly but there was a small amount of snow on the ground. A light sweater under her coat would do. Abby grabbed her bag and was out of the dorm in a flash.

The sun was shinning as she crossed campus, recognizing a couple people from her classes that were out. She just waved to them when they said hi to her. When she got to the boutique, she looked around slowly at everything. A couple things caught her eye. Grabbing them, she went into the changing room.

Nothing was saying, “Yes! Wear me!” to her until the last rack of tops. A pink camisole with lace on the bottom and top paired with a pink button up sweater caught her eye. It was perfect; it made her skin glow and it brightened her cheeks. She had khaki pants in her room that would look perfect with them. When she looked at the tags she almost fell over in the small room -$60, geez it was expensive. It was going to be worth it though; she knew that with a second look at herself in the mirror.

Abby raced back across campus and grabbed a fruit smoothie on the way to her room. It was four-thirty already; she needed to get ready. She grabbed her shower tote and some towels and ran into the bathroom. The steam from the shower was wonderful, but when she got out of the shower she had to open the door so she could see. When the cold air hit her, it was freezing compared to the hot steamy room.

She dried her hair and put it up in the towel, as she flipped back upright she saw that Melanie had written “RED RUM ABBY” on the mirror. The steam was fading away but she could still see the dripping letters. She was crazy. Abby was laughing so hard trying to wipe the mirror off that she could barely see anything. She wiped her eyes; she was going have to think of something better to get her back with. But right now she needed to get ready; however, the question of the moment was: What was she going to do with her hair? She got dressed in her room and set some brown clogs by the door. Back in the bathroom she played with her hair till it was six-fifty. The later it got, the more nervous she was getting and that was making it that much harder to do anything cute with the now half-tangled mess on her head. Abby brushed through all the knots and twisted the long blonde mop into a tight bun on top of her head.

As she grabbed Melanie’s mascara off the counter, she took a deep breath. “Hope she doesn’t mind, but I don’t have any makeup,” she said to her reflection in the mirror before putting on one light coating. She moved the brush carefully over her lashes, taking her time so she didn’t poke an eye out with it. “Hum, maybe a little perfume too?” She smelled the first bottle and scrunched up her nose as she put it back down, the aroma was far too musky for Abby’s taste. The second bottle was better, more floral and summery. She shot two bursts into the air and then walked through it the way she had seen Melanie do countless times before. She set the bottle back down but changed her mind before walking out of the room and gave another small spritz onto one wrist and rubbed it against the other.

She slipped into her clogs and grabbed her bag and keys. One last excited, “Yippee,” escaped from her lips as she shut the door and locked it.

The walk to Westly’s dorm was not far but it was already colder out, and she walked quickly to keep from freezing in her light coat. With a deep breath she stepped into the elevator in his building and was on her way up. Abby found the door with the room number he had told her and paused for a moment taking a deep breathe before knocking. It wasn’t hard to put a smile on her face when he answered; he was smiling and looked great.

Her stomach swam with butterflies as in one swoop his arms were around her waist and she was in the air, off the ground and the door was shutting behind her. He didn’t wait for her to say hi before he began kissing her. A deep, long kiss that made her melt inside. He put her back on the ground gently and took her hands into his own.

“You’re five minutes early,” he said and softly kissed her hand, looking into her eyes.

“Oh, I’m sorry is that bad?”

“No I’m glad. I was tired of waiting. Please sit,” In one smooth motion he pulled out a rolling chair. “I have to get our dinner from the kitchen.”

“What kitchen?”

“The one down the hall, I couldn’t cook in my room very well with just a microwave,” he said smiling. “I’ll be right back.” With a kiss on her forehead, he was gone.

She turned slowly and looked around the room. Westly had put a card table up with two chairs across from each other. The plates were purple plastic and there were candles and three purple roses in the middle of the table. She was shocked he had done all this just for her. Looking around the room she saw a cluster of black and whites photos and a couple movie posters on the walls. Westly’s bookshelf was overstuffed with old books and textbooks. Westly had so many there was an overflowing pile of books on the floor beside his desk. A large CD rack sat in another corner, also stuffed, with a pile of more beside it and another pile next to his radio. His computer desk had two computers on it. Her eyes traveled back to the cluster of photos hanging together. The black and white style gave them an old-fashioned feel, like they had been passed down over the generations to him. The largest of them, a city skyline, made it clear that they were not very old at all.

Westly turned on the CD player, keeping the volume low. It was a song she had never heard before. He sat across from her after he filled their plates.

After a few minutes of silence, Abby spoke while twirling her fork around in the spaghetti, “I was looking at your black and white pictures, where did you get them?”

“I took them actually, in New York City a few years ago. You like them?”

“They look so old, I love them.”

Westly told her about a weekend trip he had taken into the city; he had gotten no sleep the first night. He explained that he was in awe of how the city was at night; it just came to life in a totally different way then in comparison to the hustle and bustle of the city in the daytime. Abby ate while he talked about the rest of the sleepless weekend. The next night he took his camera with him and looked through its lens almost all night long. Westly told stories of the people and things he saw. He pointed to each picture as he told its story. Abby said nothing and let herself fall into the sound of his voice. He had a way of speaking that brought her right there beside him while he took the photo. She could see beyond the edges of the frames, everything else around them. At times she almost felt like she was looking at the city through his eyes. When he was done she just stared at him. There was nothing she could say.

“Which one is your favorite?”

“The one of the beach near Coney Island I think; although, they are all beautiful. Thank you for telling me about them.”

“I developed them in black and white so they would look older. There is something almost romantic about the city at night. I think you would like it there.”

“You took me there with you tonight, I did love it.”

“How is the food?”

“Oh, it’s good,” Abby had not even realized that she had stopped eating, “You should give yourself more credit for your cooking skills.”

Abby finished her last few bites and then asked to use his bathroom. She wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything in between her teeth before he saw it.