One Step at a Time

Liz lay awake in her bed the next morning staring up at the ceiling; the only thing running through her mind was the previous night. She had found her parents around the same time tow truck got there and she returned them home safely. They asked her if she wanted to stay a while, but she declined saying she was getting tired. They thanked her again and said good night and she headed home.

Though her parents weren’t the part of the night before she was prominently thinking about. She was still feeling bad about the way she treated Jake at the restaurant. Considering his hospitality he deserved much better than that rambling, insulting mess he received from her. However, she was finally done with this whole thing and she would just have to move on.

She slowly pulled herself up in a sitting position and tilted her head from left to right, cracking it. Wandering into the kitchen she filled a pot of water and set it on a burner of her stove to heat as she wiped some remaining sleep from her eyes then proceeded to the door to pick up the paper that was sitting outside. Now moving to the couch she stripped the roll of paper of its rubber band, plopping down and starting to skim the headlines. She lost herself in a couple articles when the ear piercing whistling of the pot she put on brought her back.

Back in the kitchen she poured a cup of coffee and was blowing the steam away before taking a sip. Instead of continuing with the paper she brought to the table she leaned back and ran everything she had to do today. She had a couple classes that night, but before that she had a few hours to work at the bookstore. Between the two, though, she had a lunch date with a few of her friends including Heather. This is the first time in a while that everyone had some free time to get together and talk, so Liz was sure not to miss it.

Thinking of that she glanced at the clock on the wall and realized that she should get ready for work. She downed the last of her coffee and went off to clean off and get dressed.

***

It was around two o’clock and Liz, Heather, and the rest gathered at a small outdoor café. They were sitting around a round table with a parasol cover and the surface covered with cups and plates with drinks and snakes of all kinds. Since it was a rarity for everyone to be together they decided to indulge themselves by trying just about everything on the menu. It was also a fairly windy day, so they often found themselves chasing down a stray cup or napkin that was stolen from the table. Each time everyone laughing about how silly one of them looked playing catch up with a piece of trash.

Liz was by far the quietest of the group. Mostly listening to everyone else’s tails, laughing at funny stories and giving sympathy to sadder ones. It was a long while before there was any prolonged silence and it was then that Heather just had to bring up the one subject Liz was trying to push out of her mind.

“So Liz had a hot date a few nights ago.”

What followed was a flood of giggles and awing and then questions. At first Liz gaped at Heather’s random eruption, but turned to a cold glare towards Heather who as acting nonchalantly as if she didn’t notice it. “It was nothing!” She finally blurted out. “We were set up on a blind date and then we had dinner, but that was…”

“Whoa!” Heather exclaimed. “Wait a minute, dinner!?” Liz immediately realized her slip of tongue. She never told Heather about the night before and wasn’t planning to. “You had dinner with him? So you actually called him and saw him again?” Now she was blushing at her mistake.

“How did it go, did you have a good time?” One of the girls, Kimberly, asked her, then made a small gasp before she continued. “Did you guys kiss?” She dragged the last word out teasingly.

“No!” Liz said defensively. “Nothing happened. The night was cut short and I broke things off before I left. Even though there was nothing to break up from…”

“Aw, that’s not fair. You never even game him a chance.” Heather whined. “How did he react?”

Liz thought back to the restaurant and remembered the look of confusion on his face when she ended the charade. She only shrugged at first, but when everyone was staring her down she answered. “Shocked I guess… he certainly wasn’t expecting it, that’s for sure…”

“There must have been something you liked about him, though.” Another girl, Anne, spoke up. “Every other date you have you seem to end it there. Why the change of pace here?”

She opened her mouth to deny it, but when nothing could come out the entire table burst out laughing. “There’s my answer.” Anne called out. Liz could only slump in her seat some, trying to hide her blush with her hands. That only fueled the giggling and teasing, however.

Heather draped herself over Liz’s shoulder and released a few remaining chuckles as she wiped a tear from her eye. “We’re sorry, Liz, but God, you just said it all with that expression.” But with that vision in her mind again she just started laughing all over again.

Liz didn’t say much more for the rest of lunch. It was getting around the time for them to leave and while they were cleaning up the table two of the girls offered her a ride to the college as sort of an apology for teasing her so much earlier. They said their good byes to Heather and Anne and went their separate ways.

It only took a few minutes to make it and with time to spare they stood around the car and talked some more. Kim about her brother’s upcoming wedding and Cathy about her job. Since they were at the college Liz’s conversation fell around her schoolwork. She was right in the middle of talking about her first class when she happened to glance over Kim’s shoulder and just froze. She couldn’t believe it when she saw Jake coming from across the parking lot towards them.

“What is it?” She asked, turning around to see what she was looking at. “Who is that?”

“It’s…uh, it’s…Jake…” She answered with a confused tone.

“Oh, is that the guy from your date?” Liz could only nod as she grew more uncomfortable the closer he got. “Wow, he’s gorgeous.” Kim commented and looked over to Cathy to see her agree.

“But…” Cathy started. “He kind of looks mad.” She said with a crooked expression. That confirmed exactly what Liz feared. She swallowed hard as she wondered what he was going to say to her. Obviously he was probably upset about the night before and wanted his turn to tell her off she thought. “We should probably get going now, but do you want us to hang around.”

Liz thought about it, but decided she’d rather not have an audience for the coming spectacle. “It’s… it’s okay. You can go.” With a nod of approval the two girls climbed back in the car and added that they’d see her later. They drove off about the time Jake finally reached her. She looked up nervously and spoke first. “What are you doing here? H-how did you know I was here?”

Jake sighed deeply and looked at his surroundings before answering her. “From Will, and him from Heather.” He paused for a minute, but when he realized she wasn’t going to say anything he continued. “I’ll be straight forward. What was all that about at the restaurant?”

“I… I don’t know…”

Not satisfied at all with the answer he crossed his arms in annoyance. “Well, you must. After all, you weren’t forced to call me, yet you did. What did you want to do? Just score a free meal or something?”

“No, that wasn’t it…” She could barely look him in the eyes as she tried to explain. “I just didn’t want to burden you any longer… I mean, you weren’t enjoying yourself at bowling thing and you weren’t last night, it was just…”

“Wait, who said I wasn’t enjoying last night?” He cut in, his demeanor softening some. Liz was a bit thrown and began to stammer a response, but Jake continued. “Look, I’ll be the very first to admit that Friday sucked, but I was actually having a pretty good time last night. Until, well, you know.”

“So, so what are you saying?”

“I’m just making sure you aren’t leaving with the wrong idea about me.”

A bit of a sullen expression fell over her face now. “Oh, so I guess I was partly right. You aren’t interested.”

“As in dating? No.” He answered honestly. Liz turned slightly as if she was getting ready to leave when Jake followed up his comment. “Of course I’m not looking period at the moment, but I’m all for having someone else to do things with.”

Liz turned back and eyed him curiously. “As, um… friends, you mean?”

“That’s entirely up to you. If you want to do something sometime, you have my number. At least I assume you still do. If you don’t then that’s fine and it’ll be the end of all of this. Just don’t drag me on again, as you could tell that doesn’t thrill me.”

She bit her lip a little and looked up at him sheepishly. “Um, I guess… I’ll think about it I guess, but I have to go now. I’m going to be late.”

“Okay then. I’ll let you go. I’ll see you later maybe. If not, then have a good life.” He waved to her and started to walk away. Liz just stood there even though she had to get to her class, the only thing she could think of was how eerily similar this moment was to the one on Friday night. Her left alone in a parking lot with the same decision to make, but this time, no matter what she chose this time, she wouldn’t make a mess of things.