Chapter 57 (10/10/16)

“Come on,” Grace cajoled me over the phone.  “Girls night out.  Sounds like you could use a fun night out!  You could bring Erica and Kelly if you wanted!”

Grace had called to invite me out that night with her, Rayne, Sam, and Emma, and I was trying to get out of it.  I was crabby because I hadn’t really heard from Ryan, minus our brief phone call the night he left and a couple random text messages here and there.  Not wanting to be annoying, I’d decided not to try to call him.  He was obviously really busy.  Either way, it bummed me out to not hear from him.  I hadn’t thought I’d miss him this much, and at this point he’d only been gone for two days!

“Well…” I said, out of excuses.  “I mean, I could ask Erica and Kelly.  But I’ll come.”  A fun night out did sound like a good time. 

“Yay!” Grace cheered.  “I’ll even pick you up.  It’s going to be fun.”

After I hung up with Grace, I went upstairs to take a shower and get ready.  I texted Erica and Kelly, but with the short notice both already had plans.  Once I was ready (and looking pretty cute, in my opinion) I broke my “no selfies” rule, snapped a quick picture, and texted it to Ryan.  I actually had no idea what time it was where he was, so I had no idea if I could reasonably expect a response. 

I didn’t hear anything back from Ryan by the time Grace came to pick me up.  I shoved my phone deep into my purse, trying to relax and not worry about hearing from him.  After thinking about it a little more, I realized it was probably very, very early in the morning there, so I relaxed a little. 

Grace already had Sam in the car, so I got in the back seat and cheerfully greeted both of them.  “I’m so glad you decided to come!” Grace said as she backed out of my driveway. 

“Me too,” Sam agreed.

“Me three!” I said, with a laugh. 

We chatted on our way downtown.  It took forever for Grace to find a spot to park, and we ended up walking several blocks to where we were meeting Rayne and Emma.  They had beat us and we found them near the bar.  We grabbed drinks and found a table towards the back, pulling up one more chair to stick on the end.  I surreptitiously checked my phone to see if I had gotten a response from Ryan but I hadn’t. 

“Are you going to be doing that all night?” Grace asked me teasingly.  “You checked it about 7 times in the car!”

“Ryan is in France for work,” I explained.  “So apparently that means I obsessively check my phone.”

“Are you guys official yet?” Emma demanded eagerly.

“Well…” I replied, shrugging.

Emma made a face.  “What’s the hold up?  Is he commitment phobic or something?  You guys have been dating for ages!”

“No,” I said quickly.  “The hold up is me, actually.  And we were kind of casually on and off for a little while so it seems like it’s been longer than it really has been.”

“The hold up is you?” Rayne asked incredulously.  “Have you looked at that man?  He’s gorgeous!  And I saw the way he looked at you at Nate’s party.”

“I know, I know,” I said, holding up my hands in surrender.  “I’m just a little gun shy, I guess.  He’s okay with moving slowly, though.”

“Is he?” Emma asked skeptically.

“Emma!” Grace said, looking surprised.

Emma blushed.  “I’m just saying, I mean, a guy that looks like that…”

I narrowed my eyes a little.  Emma had a history of putting her foot in her mouth but this surprised me.  “We’ve talked about it, I assure you,” I replied curtly.  “And unlike some people, he’s trustworthy.”

Grace was glaring at Emma, Rayne was looking awkwardly around the bar, and Sam just looked surprised.  Emma tried to maintain her composure, but her face crumpled slightly.  “I’m sorry,” she muttered.  Then she said something that I couldn’t make out in the loud bar. 

“No one heard you,” Sam pointed out gently.

“Charlie and I are having some problems,” she said again, loudly.  Loudly enough that someone turned around and looked at her, making her blush and look down.  “I’m feeling a little bitter right now, I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.” 

The conversation quickly turned away from Ryan and I (which was a relief at that point) and onto Emma and Charlie, who had been arguing a lot because Charlie had been spending a lot of time hanging out with Kevin.  Apparently I wasn’t the only one that didn’t trust Kevin further than I could throw him (which was not at all), and Charlie was being a little shady about what they’d been up to.

I frowned sympathetically, because I understood her frustration.  “I have no actual evidence he’s doing anything inappropriate, but why can’t he just be honest then?” she exclaimed.  No one said anything for several seconds, and then Grace jumped in to soothe her with words that we probably all questioned. 

“I need another drink,” Emma said, finally breaking an awkward silence.  She stood up and strode to the bar, and I watched her walk over, feeling the terrible pit in my stomach all over again—this time on her behalf. 

As I let my eyes drift back to the women around me, I caught the gaze of an incredibly good-looking guy who was leaning against the bar.  We locked eyes and I felt a quick jolt of butterflies in my stomach because he was that attractive.  He grinned at me, turned and said something to the guy next to him, then pushed himself away from the bar and strode in my direction.  As he walked over, I gasped as I suddenly realized who he was.