When You're Not Trying To

The Meet-Cute

"William!"

"David! You know besides my mother, you're the only one who calls me by my whole name--well, other than my late wife whenever she's mad at me," Liam snickered.

"Well, that is your name," David laughed. "So listen, remember you called about Reba a few weeks back?"

"Of course, I do." Liam took a seat, enjoying the view in his penthouse in New York. The view was nothing if breathtaking. He took a deep breath as he prepared for David's words, hoping he'd hear some good news.

"Are you busy tomorrow? Think you can fly up north here in Canada to have lunch with us--she'll be there with her friends--well, our friends, of course. I'll introduce you two and then you can take it from there." David Foster casually looked back at their table, his vision zoning in on the redhead that he was trying to set up with his friend. The singer was laughing with Melissa and looked absolutely tickled over what the goofy blonde said.

Liam, on the other end of the line, took a deep breath as he suddenly felt his heart on his throat. Was this really happening? Was he finally meeting the redhead he only saw once in New York?

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Liam was having his usual morning walk when he found himself near the Rockefeller Plaza. The Today Show was live and he distinctly heard the voice of Hoda Kotb. Years of watching the show, whenever he could, made him realize there was a concert happening, though he couldn't see who the featured artist was. He was going to change route when he heard a woman giggle. The voice he heard was unfamiliar and much to his chagrin, the laughter of the woman was contagious. The Irish actor caught himself smirking. He got curious and decided to walk around near the concert so he could see who was the mysterious woman. On his way, the woman spoke and he heard the sweetest, possibly the most genuine Southern drawl. He hated to admit it, but even before seeing who the voice and accent belong to, he already felt a tug in his empty heart. How was it possible that he felt something prior to seeing the woman? And then he laid eyes on her and saw the beautiful redhead.

Her beauty wasn't as striking as one would suggest, but there was something about her he couldn't quite put a name to. Her beauty was kind. It was sort of mellow, but it has the right amount of spark that he was sure anyone who saw her would stop in their tracks to have a second look. But what draw him first, really, was her laughter which was nothing if not contagious. He ended up watching the whole show at the plaza, mindful not to be recognized by the other folks watching.

After the show, he immediately went home and searched who the woman was. He found out it's Reba McEntire and the woman was happily married. It ended there and all his plans of wooing the woman on stage was crushed, much to his disappointment. He hated himself for thinking in the first place that he was finally moving on and letting his late wife's memory to rest.

Then, a few years later, he was in an airport looking for something to read when he spotted a rag magazine displaying Reba's face on the cover; the headliner was the singer's divorce. He couldn't help but be mournful; he truly felt sorry for the beautiful redhead. He knew not to believe rags, but a part of him still wanted to punch the redhead's ex upon learning that the bastard supposedly cheated on her. He ended up buying the magazine when he accidentally crumpled half of it, completely unaware of his reaction toward the news.

A couple of years had passed and Liam already dated a couple of women on and off. He tried his best to put Reba off his mind and at times, he was even successful. But whenever he came home to his flat, no matter how far and few in between that was, he would see the magazine on his coffee table and he would be reminded of the redhead again.

He wanted to get to know her but didn't dare to make any move in fear that Reba would think he was in over his head. As far as he knew, they didn't have any common friends. Add the fact that he was clueless on how he'd reach out to her up until a few months ago when David Foster, one of his good long time pals, invited him to attend the Celebrity Fight Night. David casually mentioned Reba's name among the other attendees, and just like that, Liam felt his heart about to leap off his chest from its hard beating. He thought the universe was finally opening a door for him, albeit it was just a crack.