kitten

Chapter Thirteen Surprise

a/n: you have no idea what's gonna happen my small children

"We miss you! You really were the best stylist here," Lou tells me as I walk to my apartment in down town San Francisco. "Yeah, yeah, so you've said," I roll my eyes at her words. "So come back!" she whines. "Goodbye Lou," I hang up on her. Grabbing my keys I struggle to get the key in the slot and balance everything else in my hands. It eventually fails and I drop my bag; the contents spilling out.

"Oh hey! Need some help?" says Jessie, my neighbor who always seems to pop up. "No Jessie. I'm fine," I tell him wishing he would take his perfect smile and hair and leave. "C'mon let me help," he says picking up some things that fell. Once the door is open I turn to him and he hands me my bag that he picked up.

"Thanks," I say with a tight smile. "No worries, so while I have you out here I was wondering if you'd like to go out sometime this weekend? When are you free?" He smiles. My stomach churns. He asked me out once before and I said no, in a much nicer way of course. How do you nicely reject someone? I rack my brains for an answer.

"Um, I'm free on Friday," I blurt out. My eyes are wide at the realization of what I just said. "Great, pick you up around 8:30?" he asks. "Sure," I say, again my brain not believing what I'm doing. He smiles again and then goes into his apartment. Stunned I turn and walk through my door and close it behind me. I grunt and throw my stuff on the table before flopping down on my bed.

My phone starts buzzing and before I read the caller ID I just answer it. "Maze! Well I'm sure you know this but the boys are in L.A. this weekend, they get here Friday but they only have shows on Saturday and Sunday! That means that we can go out on Friday!" she says it all at once because she is so excited. "I'm sorry Lou, I'm busy on Friday. How about Saturday morning?" I suggest. "That'll work," she says. "Can't wait," I tell her before we hang up.

***

Looking from the clock to the scattered clothes on the bed and floor I purse my lips. Another 5 minutes pass before an image pops into my mind. I walk over to my suit case that still has a few things that I refused to unpack when I got here nearly three months ago. I pull out Luke's "I don't trust me either" shirt that I may or may not have stolen while on tour.

I slip it on and then grab a pair of black skinny jeans with a rip on the right knee that was of natural causes for a change. I slip on my black vans and smile at my reflection. Maybe if I dress casually Jessie might get the hint. Perfect timing as well considering Jessie is knocking at the door.

I yell out "Coming!" as I grab my phone and my keys and my wallet. I open the door and before me he stands in a pair of jeans and a nice short sleeved, striped shirt. "Wow, you look really pretty," He compliments me. "Um, thanks," I say looking towards my feet and then snapping my head back up remembering I can't do that in public.

"Well, I hope you're hungry!" He says as we walk towards the elevator. "Oh, um, well actually I had a dinner meeting a little while ago," I tell him. "Oh okay. No worries. How does driving up to the pier sound?" He asks. "That sounds fine," I tell him.

The elevator doors open and we walk through the lobby. He opens the building door and holds it open waiting for me to walk outside. He then leads me towards his car. He also opens the car door showing off his pearly whites. "Thanks," I mumble as I climb into the seat.

On the drive up we have mindless conversation that I don't pay attention to in the slightest. "So what's the deal with that tour you were on?" He says which catches my attention. "I knew some guys in a band, and they went on tour, I was a stylist. Sort of," I explain. "Very cool, you must like music then?" He inquires. "Very much, yes." Our conversation turns dull again and I find my mind drifting.