He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

Chapter Six: Table for Two

The clock on my phone read 5:25. I was going to give him five more minutes and then I was high tailing it home. I huffed softly and wrapped my hands into the folds of arms, to ward off the cold that was tingling them from the cool night air.

I had been standing outside for about twenty-five minutes at this point and my poorly dressed body was really starting to feel it. I hadn't thought I'd be waiting outside this long, though. Throughout the day, I had been going back and forth on this whole Theo thing.

One part of me was confident that he really was going to come pick me up and we were going to have a fabulous late night meal, where he realized his secret love for me. Another part of me, the more sane part, was positive that this was all a dream and that sooner or later I would wake up to realize I had never actually even meet Theo.

The two parts of me were at war all day long, but when I got a message from Theo around 2pm asking what time I typically got off work, I finally had a winner for my internal battle. I let him know that I typically called it a night around 5pm and he text back a smiley face and a cute little thumbs up.

Those two emoji's pulled my through the rest of the day as I got excited to see him and wondered what kind of place we were going to visit. I somehow found myself done with all of my work at 5pmn on the dot, or at least as done as I was going to be on a Friday, and I rushed out of my classroom to stand in front of the large brick building.

The parking lot was practically empty when I got outside, only a few other cars of teachers who stayed even later then I did, filling up random spots. I decided to walk done the front, stone steps and stand right next to the curb, to make it even easier for Theo to spot me when he pulled into the lot.

I figured it wouldn't be too long. Edenwood Elementary was only about fifteen minutes away from Glendale and that's where he was currently shooting for his movie. I figured I could wait fifteen minutes in heels, the October winds whipping around me like tiny tornadoes.

But then fifteen minutes turned into twenty minutes and twenty minutes turned into twenty-five. With each passing second, my emotions ran through different cycles. 

First hopeful optimism, then calmness, then worry, anger, annoyance and finally, at this point, acceptance that I really had been punked.

Ashton Kutcher was probably sitting in some van nearby, wondering how I could really be stupid enough to think that a guy like Theo wanted anything to do with me.

As the winds picked up speed, blowing hard against my skin and making the bottom flaps of my overcoat dance around, I glanced at my phone again, the image of Jace Seo, a member of my favorite R&B group New Seoul City, stared back at me, mocking me for thinking one of my dream guys was actually going to keep his promise and come see me.

I stuck my tongue at as his smiling smug face, before staring at the time to see 5:27. That was it. Two more minutes and I was walking away.

I glanced up just then to look at the quiet streets outside of the school. 

A few cars would zoom by every now and then, making my heart grow with hope as I stood on tippy-toes to see if it was Theo pulling into the parking lot. But, every time, I was crushed as the car would keep zooming by, onto some other location.

I didn't want to glance at my phone again. Didn't want to see the truth. That it was thirty minutes past the time he was supposed to get me and that I really had, like a fool, believed that this was going to happen. But, what choice did I have?

If he really wasn't coming, I needed to know now, so I could start the long walk back home. I glanced at my phone to see 5:30 pm. 

That was it.