Last Flight to L.A.

chapter seventeen: chasing dogs and stealing kisses

"The only way you can beat my crazy was by doing something crazy yourself. Thank you. I love you. I knew it the minute I met you. I'm sorry it took so long for me to catch up. I just got stuck."

~The Silver Linings Playbook

                                                                                       ~~~~~~~~~

"Just a little more," Sandy persisted.

Kelsey sighed and stopped trying to squirm away. Sandy had been trying to do her hair for the past hour, and was now applying ugly matte pink lipstick.

Kelsey looked in the mirror and cringed. "I look like Nicki Minaj had a baby with a rodeo clown."

"You look beautiful!" Sandy squealed, hugging Kelsey from behind. "Thanks for doing this."

Kelsey patted her hand and sighed. "Yeah, yeah."

Sandy and her new boyfriend, Dustin, were going out to dinner. Sandy had promised that he was "super sweet", and begged Kelsey to join them.

Kelsey had agreed, hoping that maybe she could prevent Sandy from dating another jerk.

Kelsey was glad she hadn't made a scene about what happened during the "summer soiree". Three days since then, Sandy had almost been back to normal. Kelsey suspected that she felt bad for excluding her, especially since Sandy had put off one of her tutorial videos to make Kelsey dinner when she came home from work.

Kelsey looked down at her cotton white dress and smoothed it down.

Apparently Dustin had come from a rich family and Kelsey had a feeling that wherever they were going for dinner wasn't exactly Monte's Pizzeria.

Sandy rushed off to get her things, and Kelsey quickly scrubbed away the lipstick before she came back.

"He's here!" Sandy cried.

Kelsey smiled at the tone of her voice. It was excited—a contrast to when Alex would come and Sandy would panic.

Kelsey slung her purse over her shoulder and met Sandy in the kitchen.

"Now just be natural, okay? Don't be nervous." Sandy informed, though her hands flitted from her hair, to the hem of her shirt, back to her hair.

She answered the door in a flurry of squeals and gestures.

Kelsey watched carefully.

The man at the door was short and surprisingly frumpy. His cheeks were ruddy, but his smile was wide. He seemed quiet, almost bashful, as he stepped inside.

He nodded towards Kelsey when Sandy introduced them.

Kelsey shook his hand and they made their way out to the car.

Kelsey slid into the backseat and grinned as Sandy and Dustin both went to open the passenger door at the same time, then giggled like two kids on a playground.

Once they were on the road, Sandy chattered nonstop while Dustin kept glancing at her lovingly.

When a rare break occurred in Sandy's conversation, Kelsey asked, "So what kind of blog do you have, Dustin?"