The persistent ringing of the phone wakes me up. I groan loudly and try to block out the sound with my pillow. It just keeps ringing. I glare at it with a sense of deja-vu. At least this morning I don’t have a hangover. I think not anyways. I grab the phone and snarl down the line.
“AJ, this better not be you.”
“Err, well it’s not… It’s Johnny.” He puts on a crap English accent, “Hullo.”
I laugh. “AJ, hello. You gotta stop waking me up.”
“Again? Geez, you sure know how to sleep in girl.”
“It’s my talent. Plus I have a late start.”
“What you doin’ later then?”
“Interview,” I roll my eyes. “With N'Stink.”
He chuckles. “Lucky you.”
“I know. I think I was bad in a past life.”
“PAST life?! Try this life.”
“Ok, ok. What d’you want anyways? And no, I’m not shopping.”
“Aww. Nah, I wanted to check up on ya.”
“Why?”
“Dunno. Just did. Ali around?”
“Probably. Want me to yell her?”
He sounds a little down. “Sure.”
“You ok Aje?”
“Yup.”
“Sure?”
“Yup. I’m cool.”
“Ok.” I put the phone on my pillow and climb out of bed. I pad across the wooden floors which we had fallen in love with at first sight and knock on Ali’s door. There’s a muffled grunt and I go inside. The room is dark and I can see that Ali’s under the duvet in a ball. I put my hand on her shoulder. “Ali, wake up honey.”
She rolls over and stares at me. “Good dream. You ruined. What?”
I grin. “AJ’s on the phone. He wants to talk to ya.” She groans and pulls a pillow over her head. “Hey, he woke ME up. Anyways, he sounds a little down to me.”
She pushes the pillow away and sits up, a concerned look on her face. “AJ? Down?”
I nod and head out of the door as she picks her phone up and starts talking.
“What’s up?” I mumble, struggling to turn on the closest lamp. The closest lamp happens to be my favourite piece of furniture, besides the huge pink couch of course. It’s small, and lime green, and it sits on my nightstand. AJ had bought it for me at a flea market for a “Welcome to Tampa” present, as he called it. It’s the very first thing I had put in my room. I don’t know anyone, besides AJ, who will decorate a room to accent a lamp, but that’s us.
“Hey girl, you sound tired.”
“Duh! You just woke me up! What do you want?”
“Grouchy! I just wanted to talk,” he mutters.
“You wanted a favour, I’m not stupid, tell me what it is.”
“Well, all right. What’s going on with Brian and Jade?” he asks shyly. AJ being shy? This is definitely a first for him.
“What do you mean? They’re going out to dinner tonight, but that’s all I know. Why?” I ask.
“Damn it. When I wanted Jade to stay away from Nick I didn’t mean for her to go running to Brian!”
I sit there shocked. “You REALLY like her don’t you?” This is ALSO a first for AJ.
“Of course, I always have.” He pauses for a moment, and talking can be heard in the background. “Oh, Nick says hey, and he wants to know when you’ll be ready?”
“In about two hours, then it’ll only take another hour to get the pictures approved, then tell him we can do whatever,” I reply.
“All right, I’ll let you go, because I know how you girls like to primp,” he laughs, but I know it’s not real.
“AJ, come on. You’ll get over her. Besides, maybe she doesn’t even like Brian; maybe she’s just trying to make you jealous?”
“Nah, I know I don’t have a great chance, but I can’t give up on her just yet. Anyway, I have to go.”
“Okay, bye,” I hang up and decide to take a quick shower, and then pick an outfit for my date. Grabbing a bathrobe I step into the bathroom.
Wrapping the robe around me I throw open my closet searching for the perfect selection. After several minutes of modelling in front of my mirror, I decide on a pair of baggy khaki pants, and a baby blue Carolina Tar Heels shirt. I smile at my reflection.
“Brian would like this,” I say, then immediately throw my hands to my head. “Alicia! Who cares about Brian! You are going out with Nick, not Brian!” I look at the guilty statement on the face in front of me and grimace. “No, no, no! This is stupid! Damnit!” I yell, throwing myself on to the bed.
One hour, and several outfits later, I’m resting on the couch clad in a pair of tight Levi jeans, and a black Fox racing shirt. All of a sudden, I hear a banging on the door. Figuring that it’s Nick, I run to Jade’s room.
“Answer the door for me please!” I beg.
She stares at me bewildered. “Why? He’s your date.”
“Come on! Jade, you of all people should know the law of women! You can’t just answer the door, you gotta make him wait! Answer it for me!” I plead, and she agrees. I run to my room to check my hair and makeup.
“Hey Nick,” I say, opening the door to Nick. “Come on in.”
“Hey,” he smiles warily at me.
I can see a dark blue car parked behind him and gesture towards it. “That yours?”
“The Prowler? That’s my baby, all right,” he grins proudly and I laugh.
“Boys and their toys.”
He follows me into the lounge and sits on the couch right next to me. It unnerves me. For a guy about to go on a date with my best friend, he is sitting way too close.
“Girls and their…” I raise an eyebrow as he searches for a rhyme but trails off. We look at each other and laugh. “Still haven’t got the hang of insulting you.”
“Oh, I don’t know. You did pretty well last time we met.”
He blushes slightly. “Oh yeah… Sorry ‘bout that Jade. I was pretty trashed.”
I shrug. “Hey, over it.”
He grins. “Cool.”
As I walk into the lounge, Nick smiles up at me. Standing, he gives me a hug.
“You look really great.”
“Really? I just kind of threw myself together,” I lie casually. Jade scoffs lightly but I ignore her.
“Well, you did it very, very well,” he takes my hand. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah, but…” I check my watch, “You are a little early. I guess we can do something to kill time before we go to the studio.”
We walk out to his car and he comes round to my side to open the door. I smile at his politeness, thinking absolutely no guy in all of Brooklyn would be sweet enough to do something like that.
“This is one bad-ass car, Nick,” I say, fingering the leather interior.
He puts his hands gently on the steering wheel, and then tilts his head back. “I know. My pride and joy,” he sighs, causing me to giggle.
“What is it with guys and cars?!” I ask, throwing my hands in the air.
He turns to face me, a smirk on his face. “What is it with girls and shopping, or girls and going to the bathroom in groups? Or girls and…”
“Okay, okay!” I throw my hands up again, this time in defence. “So, where to?” I ask rolling down my window and letting my hair blow in the breeze.
“How about to the mall? We can just chill there until it’s time for you to go do your picture thing.”
“Isn’t that a little…dangerous for you?” I ask. “I mean, fans will be all over you there.”
“Check the glove compartment, I’ve got plenty of disguises.”
I pull open the glove compartment as his collection of hats, sunglasses, goggles, etc. came falling out onto the floorboard. Stifling a laugh, I pick up a black wig woven into dreadlocks. I raise my eyebrows questioningly, as he blushes slightly.
“Umm, Halloween costume. I, uh, went as AJ.” I crack up laughing, stuffing the items back into the tiny compartment. “Wait, leave the green one out, and the silver glasses.” I pick out a neon green hat, with a Nike check in the centre.
“I thought you wanted to divert attention, not be the centre of it!” I exclaim. “Who couldn’t see you within a ten mile radius if you wore this?”
He pouts. “But it’s my favourite.”
We smile, and I agree to let him wear the hat, no matter how hideous it is.
Pulling into the parking lot is a nightmare, there’s absolutely no place to park. After circling the mall several times, we decided to call it quits.
“I guess the mall is ‘the place to be’ today,” I say, causing us both to laugh.
“Yeah, I guess so. I guess this kind of ruins it. Where now?”
“There are two malls in Tampa, Nick,” I remind him.
“Good thinking.” He peels out and speeds off down the road.
Less than ten minutes later we arrive at mall #2 which, to my surprise, isn’t half as crowded as the other.
“Ali, you feeling alright? You look kind of pale,” Nick asks, running a hand over my cheek.
“I should be pale! I’m scared to death! After this date, remind me never to get in a car with you again! You are dangerous!” He cracks up, and I stare at him incredulously. “Think I’m kidding?!” I exclaim, but his laughter causes me to break into a smile.
We get out of the car and walk into the mall.
“I’ve never been in this one,” I admit, looking around to read the names of all the stores.
“Never?” he repeats, dropping his jaw. “How long have you lived in Tampa?”
“Not long, a couple months. Jade and I always go to the other one.”
“Oh, well then I’ll have to show you everything,” he smiles, grabbing my hand and intertwining our fingers. “Well, first store we got is…”