Isabel was running late. Very, very late. She glanced at her watch as she sat in afternoon traffic and cursed. She was ALWAYS late..no matter if she would of left a half hour early, she would of still been late! She groaned as another emergency vehicle passed by her on the shoulder, she was stuck on the interstate in a loooong line of traffic because of a big car accident. She reached across the car for her purse and dug through it for her cell phone. She dialed Kevin's cell number and waited for him to pick up.
"Where are you?," He asked after the first ring.
"Hi to you too Kevin..how are you doing? I'm just fine sitting here on I-95 in a big ass long line of traffic."
"How far away are you?"
"Like 15-20 minutes..I don't know. All I know is I've been stuck in the same spot for almost a half hour now. I don't think I'm gonna make it."
He sighed, "Fine..umm..just try to get here if you can..if you can reach the next exit, get off and head beck to the house and we'll see you there."
"Am I missing alot?"
He laughed, "Isabel, it's a wedding not a test."
"I know.."
"No, you're not..we can go on without you today I guess."
"Okay make me feel loved."
"I was just kidding.."
"Me too.."
"Anyways..call me if you need me, ok?"
"Will do..later Kev."
"Bye Isabel."
Isabel looked at her watch, 7:30 p.m. She had been stuck on I-95 for over two hours now and had moved maybe a maximum of ten feet. She felt like banging her head against the steering wheel she was so frustrated. Her phone rang and nearly scared her to death. "Hello?"
"Isabel?"
"Nick?"
"Okay, good..I dialed the right number. Are you at home or what?"
Isabel sighed, "Have you not talked to Kevin?"
"Yeah but I figured you'd of been home by now, surely."
"Nope.."
"Well shit."
She laughed, "Why?"
"I was gonna ask you to dinner.."
"You just did.."
"I was gonna ask you at the rehearsal but since you weren't there..I figured I'd come by the house but nobody's there."
"I'm still stuck in traffic...if I could get on the shoulder and get around all the cars I could get off at the other exit and get home but there's an ambulance and fire truck blocking the way soooo I've been stuck for like two hours and I'm realllly hungry and tired and I for real have got to pee or I'm going to die."
He laughed, "I'm sorry Isabel..wish there was something I could do to help."
"Me too.."
He smiled into his phone, "Well..I'm going to be in Orlando for like another hour..so if you can get downtown, meet me at Planet Hollywood?"
"Sure..aren't you afraid you'll get recognized?"
"I've got a meeting with some people so we'll be in the conference room but I'll have them beep me when you get there..ok?"
"Alright..I'll try..I think I can find downtown and Planet Hollywood..it can't be that hard."
"It's not."
"Okay..I'll see you then."
"Alright..bye Isabel."
"Bye Nick."
As soon as Isabel could see the exit ramp, her and about a dozen other people drove towards it to get off. Isabel found the first fast food restaurant she could find and ran into the bathroom. After that, she made her way downtown and found Planet Hollywood. After fighting for a parking spot, she was inside waiting for the hostess to come back. "Just one?," The girl asked.
"Umm..no..I'm supposed to meet someone here..he's in the meeting room."
"What's the name?"
"Isabel McKenzie."
She looked through a few pages, then nodded and marked her name out. "He's being paged."
Isabel nodded, "Okay..thank you."
She was looking at some of the paraphenalia(sp?) when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped a little and turned to see Nick grinning down at her. "Not funny Nick."
"Sorry..couldn't resist. I'm done with the meeting so me and you can have dinner..sound cool?"
She nodded, "Sure."
"Right this way then.," He said holding his arm out.
She giggled (ugh...i actually wrote that) and linked arms with him. He led the way to the back of the restaurant and into the private room.
After eating a meal of hamburgers and fries, both were content with just sitting and talking with one another. 'It's almost like I never left.,' She thought as he paid for the check.
"You know Nick..I do have money in the bank..I can pay for my own dinner."
He rolled his eyes, "What kind of guy would I be if I didn't pay for dinner? You can leave the tip if it makes you feel any better."
"Fine.."
"This is nice Isabel."
"What is?"
"Being here..with you. I don't feel like I have to be fake with you, I can be my normal, hyper, 21 year old self."
"You should be able to feel that way with everyone."
"I should. But I don't."
"Give an example of who you can't be yourself around."
"You sound like a shrink.," He said with a smile.
"Maybe I should major in psychology rather than English...now, go on?"
He sighed and looked down at the now empty table, "Kelsey..for one. Just..lately she's been so clingy and annoying. She never wants to go out with me and the guys. It had to be just me. Whenever I take her to like an awards show she wears someone reeeallly revealing and hangs all over me. I don't like that. I mean, I like holding a girl's hand and maybe having my arm around her. Simple stuff like that..so people know we're together but I don't like it when Kelsey's practically jumping me."
Isabel smiled a little, "Somehow I can believe she'd be like that."
"At dinner..she tries to tell me what to eat."
"Nick..have you ever thought that maybe she's not the person you should be with if you're not happy with her?"
He sighed, "I've thought ALOT about it lately though.."
"Nick..."
"I'm not saying that me and you should get back together..it'll take some time before we're even really comfortable with one another to go that far.."
She nodded, "I agree..I like to take things sloooow."
He smiled, "Slow huh?"
"Shut up Nick."
He laughed, "See..I can be myself with you!"
"I guess..but we've always been that way with one another.."
"True..so..how about we make these dinners together every weekend till you go back to college?"
"Like every Saturday?"
"Yeah."
She smiled, "I'd like that Nick."
They got up and left and Nick walked her to her car, like a true gentleman. :) She hugged him and kissed him on his cheek, "Nick, you're a one of a kind guy, you know that?"
"But of course."
She smiled, "You don't deserve the crap Kelsey puts you through. Although I can't really say anything nice about her since from what I've seen or heard of her is all bitching."
"Yeah..she's been doing that alot lately. So..can I call you tomorrow?"
"Sure ya can."
"Cool..I'll see you later Isabel."
She smiled as she watched him walk to his car and get in. "Bye Nick."
As she drove home, she couldn't believe she was actually beginning to like Nick again. She thought she had gotten over him but somehow..all those feelings from two years ago were coming back.
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