Can This Be Real?

Chapter 19: Blizzard Juno

Derek POV

It was almost as if fate or the wind had carried the mere whisper of my voice across the park and right to Bethany’s ears, cause instantly as her name escapes my mouth the brunette at the other end of the park turns around. Even though we were quite a distance from one another to see clearly, I knew it was Bethany. Bless Christine, Bethany’s manager, for trying to make small talk as we walked down to meet her but clearly it was going in one ear and out the other.

All I could think about was Bethany. I was so excited to see her yet so scared of what her reaction may be of seeing me. There were countless times were all I would think about is seeing her again and imagining what I would say to her if I was given that chance. However, all of those times thinking and practicing what I was going to say escaped me at this moment cause as we inched closer to her, all I could muster up was, “Hi.”

She bashfully lowers her head with a smirk and replies, “Hey you...” She walks closer to me, rises up onto her tippy toes and throws her arms around my neck. I wrap both of my arms around her lower back and pull her in close for a warm embrace.

Having her in my arms felt so right. I took in a deep breath just to take in the familiar scent of her perfume and whispered into her ear, “Gawd, I’ve missed you.”

She pulls her head back to look me in the eyes and whispers, “Same here.”

Still holding her close with my hands on her hips, I ask, “What are you doing here?”

“I have a some meetings with Aeropostale regarding the upcoming summer collection. Also, they have set up a meet up and store event in Pittsburgh this weekend for the launch of the second release of my spring collection.”

Half jokingly I ask, “So you were just going to pass through town without even telling me you were here?”

“With the blizzard coming in and flights getting cancelled, I just honestly didn’t know how long I would really be in town for. I just didn’t want to bother you cause I know you’re busy with rehearsals.”

“Babe, you know if you only had 5 minutes in the airport terminal, I would come to see you,” I sincerely say.

“Look, I have to start heading back to the office for my meeting but do you have some free time a little later in the afternoon? Maybe we can grab some coffee?” she asks.

“Yea, of course. Call me when you are done with your meeting and we can grab some Starbucks nearby,” I reply trying to hide my excitement.

“Well I should get going,” she says as she walks over to me to give me a hug goodbye.

I say, “I’ll see you later, right?”

She confidently answers, “Yea, I’ll see you later.”

I walked back to rehearsals just absolutely beaming with excitement. I couldn’t contain my happiness of just seeing her again and knowing that we get to hang out later. Rehearsals could not have gone by fast enough. After a couple of hours, I made my way to a Starbucks that was close to the rehearsal studio.

I feel a set of hands around my waist and hear a voice come from behind saying, “Well, you didn’t have to wait outside, it’s freezing out here.”

Pulling her in for a hug and giving her a kiss on the cheek, I say, “You were worth the wait.” I hear her laugh and continue, “Before we go inside, let’s take a quick picture for Instagram and Twitter because the fans have been waiting long enough for this Motough reunion.”

She replies with a laugh, “Well look at you, Mr. Social Media extraordinaire. Looks like I have some competition now, the student has become the teacher.”