Love Letter

Ian:

The bill is brought out after I took my time eating my French silk pie. The real dessert was watching Lynne squirm at having lunch take forever. I grab the bill before she can slip her credit card into it. "I insist," I say.

We stand up and head outside. "That was the longest lunch ever," Lynne grumbles, looking at the watch on her wrist.

Not wanting to leave her, I ask her if she wants a ride home. She protests, saying she needs to jog off all the food she just ate. I like the sarcastic Lynne that I was getting to know. "Well, if you don't want a ride home... What about a date with me?" I ask, not thinking before I do.

"When?" she asks, which gives me hope since it was not a straight out no.

"The twenty-fourth," I say.

She looks up at me and says, "Christmas Eve. You want to take me on a date on Christmas Eve?"

"Yes," I say, smiling.

"Sure," she says with an almost worried look on her face.

I was taking the information I learned from her journal and was using it to my advantage. I do feel a little dirty using it, but it worked. I knew she would not want to be at home on Christmas Eve and hoped that she would rather hang out with me at the welcome home party instead of her family. I find Amanda and head back to the Cabin with my mind buzzing with different ideas and Lynne in my mind. I have a straight hour of typing with no stopping whatsoever. That hour turns into seven hours of nothing but writing. I was determined, and nothing was going to stop me.

There is a knock on my door in the early morning hours.

"Not now, Amanda," I yell out.

"Luke? From Lynne's house is here," Amanda says with a confused tone. What is he doing here? I stop typing, annoyed. It was never a good idea to stop when I was on a roll. I mutter that I will be right out. I sniff myself and notice that the smell I had smelt earlier was me – I throw on a new shirt taking my time, and comb my hands through my hair. I had a feeling that Luke was here to mark his territory around Lynne, and I wasn't going to look like crap when he tried to. It takes two to play this game. 

"Luke," I say, rounding the corner into the living room, "What can I do for you?" I say with a bright smile. He was here to intimidate me, no doubt about it. 

"Ian," he says, looking at Amanda, who takes as her cue to leave to the kitchen. She should have just stayed since she would be listening from behind the door. "I hear you have a date with Lynne," he finally says, thinking we are alone. This guy really did not know females. I get excited over this comment because if he knew, that meant Lynne was talking about our date coming up. She was excited about it.

"That's right," I say – with a grin taking over my face. I wanted to say down boy as a joke but figured it was better to stay polite. He was here to mark his territory, no doubt about it.

"I do not know if that is such a good idea," he says, stepping a little bit closer to me.

I felt like we needed to make boxing gloves out and fight over her. I think at this point, I would gladly put on the gloves. I could take this tool; I would have him crying by the end of it. I had never heard of a guy making a house call to tell another guy not to date a woman. A grown woman... I could maybe see if we were in high school, and we would have to be best friends for him to demand this of me. But we were both in our twenties - well graduated out of high school. We were not little boys. I had not been through the complete journal of her senior year, but I am pretty sure that everything between Luke and Lynne stayed platonic unless there was a shocking turn in events. I raise my eyebrows, letting him know to continue, "I just feel like there is a better guy out there for her."

I hear a snort behind the kitchen door, confirming that Amanda was listening in on this conversation. "You can leave," I demand. Luke leaves without my help, and I walk into the kitchen, finding Kevin, Amanda's boyfriend, sitting at the kitchen table and Amanda a few inches from the door.

"What a prick," Amanda says before I can reach the orange juice in the fridge. "Did he really think that would work?! I have never heard of anyone doing that before..." she says, flabbergasted. "So what are you going to do?" she asks me, watching me fill my cup up and take a swig.

"I'm going to take her on a date," I say.

"I know that, but what are you doing on this date? And why did you pick Christmas Eve of all nights?" she asks.

"I have a plan," I say, downing the cup of orange juice in my hands.

"Ian, there has to be dinner and an event... You know things you never did with Carla," she sneers at me, and I know she is still mad at me for breaking up with one of her many closes friends. I was sorry if it ruined their friendship, but my sister should have never set us up. She knew better; there were five failed attempts at semi-long relationships before Carla. The relationships always ended when they figured out I was not moving forward with our relationship. I was always cleared with where I stood. They thought if they broke up with me, I would need them and that I would crawl back to them, but every time any of them broke up with me, it was refreshing.

Carla was the same way breaking up with me before for Halloween thinking I would be back together with her for the couples Halloween party. She had the costumes picked out in August; this annoyed me. She was never prepared for the month of the event but had to be prepared for it months before. No one had time for that. It was exhausting just knowing what she was doing. I was happy to ditch the Halloween party where I would have gone as the Fonz. Her loss and my gain.