I sat at a stoplight on 13th Street impatiently. 'I swear this thing is 3 hours long', I thought to myself as I glared at the delayed red light. Or maybe it just seemed that way because I was in a hurry. I looked at my watch again. 7:06 PM. 'Why can't I ever get anywhere on time?' I wondered to myself as the light finally turned green.
Two minutes later I was turning into the parking lot of the coffee diner where I had agreed to meet Brian. I got out of the car and then quickly glanced over my reflection in the car window before going inside. I scanned over the small crowd of people before I spotted Brian. I swear I can't even look at him without getting butterflies in my stomach.
"Well I guess one thing about you hasn't changed," he said chuckling as he reached out to hug me.
"I know, I know, I'm still late everywhere I go," I said. "And you're still right on time as usual."
"Actually I was two minutes late, but, uh, you weren't here to know that."
"Too bad," I said sitting down. "So have you ordered yet?"
"Nope I was waiting for you," Brian said as he handed me a menu.
"Same gentleman as always, even if you are slipping up on your punctuality," I said smiling at him as I unfolded the menu. An hour and a half later, we had finished our food and Brian was telling me a funny story from their European tour last summer when they accidentally left Nick's Nintendo at a hotel, and Nick threw a huge tantrum and wouldn't speak to anybody for three days. By the end of the story I was laughing so hard there were tears streaming down my face. It felt so good to be able to spend time with Brian again. It almost felt like old times, except for every now and then when he'd mention Maggie, but I tried not to let it get to me.
"So, have you thought anymore about some talent for the soundtrack?" I asked as I looked over the bill for dinner that the waiter had just dropped off.
"Well for one, you're not paying for this, I am," he said as he snatched the bill out of my hands. "And two, yeah I have some good stuff in mind. There's this really cool group of guys I know that I might be able to talk into giving us a song or two. It'll be pretty hard though, I mean, they're a pretty high class act."
"Yeah, well, no you're not paying for my dinner this time, and two, if you're talking about that loser boy band the Backstreet Boys, then you can forget it." I said with a smile as I stole the bill back from him.
"OK, the other guys maybe, but I am not a loser! And yes I am paying!" He said, snatching the bill away again.
"Brian, come on, I can afford this, you shouldn't have to pay for me. Gentleman or not, it's not like we're dating or anything." I almost slapped myself when I heard that come out of my mouth. 'Good job, things were just fine and then you have to go and make it awkward.' I thought to myself.
"Yeah I know, but just let me do it for old time's sake," he said, looking at me with those twinkling blue eyes. I gave up.
"Fine, do what you want. At least in won't put too big of a dent in your account anyway Mr. 10 Million Albums or however many it is y'all sold."
"I don't know, you sure run up a big bill with all the food you eat," Brian muttered as he glanced over the bill.
"Gosh, you sure do know how to sweet talk a woman," I laughed as I grabbed my purse.
Brian paid the bill for our dinner and then we began walking back outside to our cars as we discussed the soundtrack for my movie. We reached my car first and I began to think about how sad I was that such a wonderful night had to end so soon. It felt like we had reconnected somehow, and like how even after all that time of being away from each other and all the barriers that were built between us, that somehow we were coming back together. I could feel the bond begin to form again. And I knew it couldn't just be me that was feeling it. Brian had to be feeling it too, since I could tell by the way he smiled and laughed when we were having dinner that he was having a good time, and maybe it was reminding him of the good times we used to have.
Maybe he was missing those days when it was just the two of us as much as I was.
"Well, I, uh, had a good time tonight-" I began, before Brian cut me off with,
"Hey do you wanna head up to the studio and work on the soundtrack a little. I know the whole plan was to just have a friendly dinner and everything, but I just got some good ideas that we could try out. You up for it?" He asked me, cocking his head to one side as he asked that last question and doing that cute little half smile that always melted me to the core. Hell yeah, I was up for it.
"Why not? Might as well get some work out of the way, right?" I agreed, hoping he didn't notice the more than eager tone in my voice. "So, do you want me to just meet you there, or what?" I asked as I unlocked my car.
"How about I just ride with you, and you can drop me off here afterwards to get my car?"
"OK, whatever you want. As long as you can put up with listening to Britney the whole way there." I said as I buckled my seatbelt and started the car, just as the chorus of "Oops! I Did It Again" filled the car. Brian groaned.
"Nooooo, please, anything but her. The only thing more shallow than her music is her personality," he grumbled as he flipped through my CD's for one more to his liking. "A-ha!" he said as he finally found one and popped it into the stereo. As soon as the opening notes of Eric Clapton's "You Look Wonderful Tonight" played out, I almost lost it. This had been our song. What was he doing? I shot him a questioning look. "What? Can't we just reminisce the good ol' days a little?" He said, and winked at me, before he began to sing the lyrics. 'Control yourself, Leigh, this doesn't necessarily mean anything.' I told myself before I felt Brian's hand on mine and turned to see him sing,
"And then she asks me, 'Do I look all right?' and I say, 'Yes, you look wonderful tonight.'" That did it.
'Well, Maggie, my dear,' I thought to myself, with a smile. 'It's war, honey.'
