One Step at a Time

A quick thanks to the few that have reviewed so far.

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“What was she like?”
“Was she pretty?”
“Did you like her?”
“Are you going to see her again?”

Jake sighed inwardly and rolled his eyes as he faced a barrage of questions. It was after work and he found himself in a booth at the sandwich shop with Nick and Alice. He had made the horrendous mistake of mentioning his Friday night and the two of them haven’t let it go since. “I don’t know why I’m taking this. I’m just going to go home.” Jake warned as he began to slide out of the booth. He was only stopped by Alice reaching out to his arm.

“Ok, ok, we’ll stop. But just answer the last question.” She asked with a humorous pleading to her voice.

“I doubt it.” He answered, succumbing this once to her whining.

“Aw, why not?” Breaking her promise to stop as she grabbed on to his arm with her other hand to keep him put.

“That’s two questions.” He replied. He looked her in the face and noticed her eyes to begin watering up. “Damn it, how do you do that?”

She smiled at him and wiped her eyes dry again. “I was in a couple plays in high school. Guess it didn’t work on you, huh?” He only shook his head.

“Come on, seriously now, why not?” Nick spoke up, releasing some remaining chuckles from Alice’s so-called act.

Jake sighed again and looked down at his arm, pulling it free from Alice’s grip. He looked back up to the two of them before finally answering. “Look, I gave her my number and a chance for me to make the crappy night up to her. That was Friday; today is Monday. That was plenty of time to call if she wanted to see me again.”

“And what about you? Do you want to see her again?” Nick asked, his tone a bit more serious than before.

“I didn’t even want to see her the first time.” Jake complained back. “Not that it was her I had the problem with. The whole situation was just so annoying.” He quickly added.

“Ah-ha! So you did like her! You should call her instead of waiting.” Alice chimed up as pleased as could be.

“I barely spoke to her and I don’t have her number.” Jake said in defense.

“Then get it through your friend Will. I’m sure he’d be glade to help.” Nick suggested. The two of them were teaming up and trying everything they could think of to ‘help’ Jake out.

“I’m not doing that.” He replied with slight annoyance. “It’s her move and if she doesn’t make it then it’s just fine.” He picked up his drink and sipped the last of it before getting up. “Now I’m going home and relaxing, and forgetting about this whole thing. Next person to bring it up gets run over in the parking lot.” The other two only laughed at the idle threat and Jake jingled his car keys as a warning. He started to walk away when Nick shot up and called back to him.

“Wait a minute! Are we still on for the fair next week?”

Jake paused and turned around. The county fair was in town the next week, and as much as Jake loved going to it he missed it the past couple years. When Nick and Alice found out they decided to take him again whether he wanted to or not. “Yeah, I’m still going. Just call me sometime later for the details. See you later.” Nick nodded with approval and Jake left for his truck.

***

Liz shifted in her seat slightly as she was growing restless in her evening class at the university. Computer Science. Not exactly an interest for her, but during high school she grew quite handy with the subject and figured it would benefit her more to take a class. At first she followed it well enough, but unfortunately as it progressed her grasp on it lessened. Now she usually found herself drifting off in her own thoughts throughout the hour, and at that moment they were on a slip of paper sticking out of one of the pockets in her binder. The piece of paper with Jake’s phone number written on it and his offer running through her head.

“I should. He seemed sincere enough… but…” Every time she thought about it, it would always end with a ‘but,’ but nothing would ever follow it. For the life of her she couldn’t think of a single reason not to call other than she didn’t want to. “That should be enough reason not to, right?” She asked herself, trying to reassure herself, but failing.

She snapped out of her thought to catch the professor finishing up his lecture and fellow students beginning to stir. Liz followed suit and packed her binder and laptop into her book bag and slung it over her shoulder before rushing out of the room.

When she made it to her car she climbed in and sat there for a few moments. She pulled out the number from her binder and her cell phone and flipped it open. Again she just sat there a bit staring at the small illuminated screen and twirling the slip of paper in her fingers. “No.” She finally decided as she snapped it shut and tossed it on the passenger seat. Starting the car and pulling out of her space she headed home.

With the jingle of her keys Liz walked through the door of her apartment. It was a small one, but it was more than enough for just her, with a lone bedroom, bath, kitchen, and living room. Not to mention a decent view of the city. She tossed her keys and bag on the kitchen counter and noticed the light blinking on her answering machine.

“Hi Liz, it’s Heather. Give me a call back when you get home, okay? Talk to you later.”

Liz sat on one of the stools along the counter side and picked up the phone to return Heather’s call. After a couple of rings she picked up. “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Liz.” She responded.

“Oh, hi. What’s going on?”

“Nothing. I just got home from class.” Liz began shuffling through her mail that she brought up when she got home and started through a catalogue that she had ordered a few weeks back. “Tonight was pretty boring, so I couldn’t concentrate well and the whole hour dragged on.” She finished with a small yawn.

“That’s too bad.” Heather sympathized. “Say, I’ll make this quick so I can let you go.” There was a slight pause that was just long enough to drag Liz from her mail before Heather continued. “Did you ever call Jake?”

Liz knew she should have never told Heather about that and sighed and rolled her eyes. “No, I didn’t, and I don’t plan to.”

“Aw, why not? It was nice of him to want to see you again.”

“You make it sound like such a charity.” Liz stated grumpily. “He more of less said himself that it didn’t matter if I called anyway.”

Heather laughed a little. “You didn’t deny that it was nice.” Liz could hear her smiling over the phone and waited for her to continue. “Just call him, though. Seriously. The least you could do is tie up the loose strings if you don’t plan on seeing him anymore.”

“As I said before, I doubt he cares if I call or not.” Liz said as she carried the conversation to her couch. “In fact he’s probably forgotten all about that night, which I too am trying to do.”

She was answer by a loud grumble of annoyance on the other end. “You are impossible.” She chided. “Well, it’s your choice.” She finished, the sound of defeat clear in her voice. “So I’ll see you later this week?”

“Sure.” Liz said back. Relieved that the subject was finally dropped. “I’ll give you a call later.” She finished. The two of them said their good nights and hung up. Liz draped herself over the arm of the couch and stared over at the kitchen counter where her book bag was. “Why am I still considering this?” She thought. “I told myself no.”

Reminding herself this didn’t seem to help much. Before she knew it she was walking over to the counter and pulling the number out of her binder and returning to the couch and the phone. The next few minutes she remained there contemplating her next move, the phone propped up on the end table and the number spread out on her hands. She had looked at this number so many times over the weekend that she probably memorized it by now.

Finally she made a decision and picked up the phone. She began dialing, but halfway through stopped. She built up the nerve to start again and finished, but when she heard the first ring she immediately hung up. She let out a deep sigh, reprimanding herself that she couldn’t make a simple phone call. About ten minutes passed and she tried again. Her breathing shallow and her hands a bit shaky she heard the first ring again, but forced herself to stay on the line. She listened to a few more until she heard a click and a greeting.

“Hello?”

Liz’s breath caught in her throat at the sound of his voice and squeaked out a reply. “Uh, hi. Jake?”

“Yeah?”

“Oh, um, this is Liz… from the other night…”

“Oh, yeah. Hi. How are things?” The conversation turning about as awkward for him as it was for her.

“I’m okay. Um, you?”

“Fine. I’m actually a little surprised that you actually called, though.” He admitted to her with a nervous chuckle. It must have been contagious as Liz did the same with her reply.

“Well, I kind of am too. Um, yeah, I guess I just decided to, uh, take you up on the offer.” This would have been a moment where she’d be nervously twirling the phone cord around her fingers, but since it was wireless she found herself messing with the zipper of one of the pillows instead. “If I’m not too late, I mean.”

“No, no, it’s still good. Um, I don’t know when a good time is for you.” Jake was now standing up and wandering around the house some. It was a nervous habit of his when he was exited about something or uncomfortable. In this case the latter.

“Uh, well, any night this week is good, I guess. Tomorrow? Did you have anything in mind?”

“That works. I was just thinking of dinner somewhere. What about that Rottoni’s Place? Have you ever hear of it or been there?” Liz knew exactly what place and had been there a few times in the past and answered as such. “Does that sound okay, then?”

“Yeah, that sounds fine…” She replied. “Um, so, I guess I could meet you there? What time?”

Jake cleared his throat in a manner as if he was checking a planner for an appropriate time. “That works for me. What about eight?”

“That’s fine.” There were a few seconds of silence that Liz eventually broke. “So, uh, see you then?”

“Okay, I’ll see you then. Bye.”

“Bye.” Liz was barely above a whisper and when she hung up she let out another deep sigh. She even laughed nervously to herself, not believing that she actually did that. It was still oblivious to her why she did, however.

Meanwhile Jake found himself in his hallway when he hung up and was staring at the phone for a moment. This was definitely the last thing he was expecting that night. He made his way back to the living room and dropped into a chair by the window. Though he was the one that offered this, he would have preferred that she didn’t call. Still, he didn’t seem as disappointed as he figured he would be.