Shattered Dreams-Chapter 13
By: Panda Angel
I had spent most of the day doing nothing…just sort of moping around the house, thinking about the two most important guys in my life—Nick and AJ. I did make myself a little useful by doing the laundry, the dishes, and washing my car. It was about four o’clock, so I decided I would go inside to get ready for my big date with Nick. I took a shower and while my hair was air drying, I decided what to wear. I flipped on the radio to my fave station and looked through my closet to find a dress to wear. I remembered a few days ago when Nick had helped me unpack my things and had known exactly what dress I had worn with a certain pair of shoes. Why didn’t I pick up on that? He was practically screaming that he had something for me! I finally opted to wear a black silk sleeveless dress, that was made sort of Chinese style with blue, purple, and gold flowers imprinted on it. Pearls buttoned up the front and it was cut right at my thighs. I looked in the mirror and recalled when AJ had bought me this dress. He bought it in Japan when the Backstreet Boys were touring and it was his favorite dress of mine. I found a pair of black satin strappy sandals to wear with it. I put in the silver earrings that AJ had given to me for our 3-month anniversary. A necklace didn’t go with the dress since it had a high collar, so I wore the silver diamond studded bracelet that Nick had given to me for my 18th birthday. Finally, after accessorizing myself, I applied a light layer of foundation and the rest of my make up. I left the hardest task for last…my hair! I finished drying my blonde locks with a hair dryer, then used a curling iron to curl the long strands so they would cascade across my shoulders. Just as I cut the curling iron off, I heard the doorbell ring. I took one last glance in the mirror, spritzed my perfume on, and headed down to greet Nick.
I opened the door of mine and AJ’s house to find Nick standing there with a single white tulip in his hand.
“This is for you,” he said handing me the flower.
I lifted it to my nose to take in a breath of the sweet smell. “Thank you. Are you ready?”
“Yeah, come on,” he said, taking my hand and carefully leading me down the stairs. “You look really nice.”
“Thanks. So do you,” I repeated the compliment, noting that he was wearing a grayish-blue suit with a bright blue dress shirt.
I climbed into Nick’s Durango, with the help of his hand. I could definitely tell this was a “date”. Any other time he would’ve hopped into the driver’s side of the jeep and left me to climb in by myself.
“So where to?” I asked, as we drove down the long driveway.
“Out to eat,” he said raising his eyebrows in anticipation.
“Are you hungry or something?” I asked, laughing a bit at his facial expressions.
“Yeah, I am!! You know me…I can eat anytime. Aren’t you hungry?” he asked as we drove down the highway.
“Not really. I haven’t had much of an appetite lately. I didn’t eat anything all day, but I’ll eat something at dinner,” I said, thinking about the breakfast that AJ had made for me earlier.
“Are you sick or something?” Nick asked, turning his head to face me.
“No, I just haven’t been hungry lately. Too much on my mind, I guess. Don’t worry though, I promise I’ll eat tonight!” I laughed.
“You’d better! I don’t want to eat by myself!” he exclaimed. After a little while Nick and I finally arrived at this really nice water front restaurant. It was a small quiet place, so we were more alone and so that Nick didn’t easily get recognized. Once we got inside the restaurant and were seated Nick and I ordered our food.
“How’s your filet mignon?” Nick asked while stuffing a forkful of baked potato into his mouth.
“It’s really good. The last time I had a filet mignon was gosh, I don’t even remember! AJ took me out to dinner somewhere…” I trailed off thinking. I looked over at Nick to find him staring at me.
“What?” I asked, taking a sip of my drink.
“Lexi, let me ask you a question,” Nick said looking at me seriously.
“Sure, shoot,” I said looking into his baby blue eyes.
“If you want to be with AJ, then why are you here with me now?” Nick asked.
“I’m supposed to be finding out if there’s anything between me and you,” I reminded my best friend.
“Lex, I thought maybe there was something between you and I. I think I thought all of our flirting and memories would make us like each other or something. I was wrong, Lexi. I do love you, but just as a friend. You’re like my sister or something! I’m sorry that I ever tried to come between you and AJ. I should’ve realized what a good thing you had going and not tried to ruin your happiness. Forgive me?” he pleaded.
“Yes, of course I do. It does take two people to kiss, ya know. I love you, too, but you’re like my little brother! It’s too weird if we try to be anything more than that. I just have to convince AJ of that now…” I trailed off thinking of what I would say to AJ when I went home that night.
Email: panda_angelaj@hotmail.com
