Better Sorry Than Safe

Valary had already left the room the next morning when Jimmy pounded on the door. He didn’t just knock, he pounded on the door repeatedly with both fists. “We have a huge problem Matt! Bigger than huge, a humungous problem!” Jimmy practically yelled the second Matt opened the door. Without any explanation Jimmy ran into the room.

“Jimmy what are you talking about now?” Matt asked as he watched Jimmy closely.

“Isabelle got engaged last night!”

♥♥♥

The lunch rush almost matched that of the dinner rush for Isabelle, who would be working almost the entire day. In truth she stayed extremely busy at work, after all there was always tourists and locals coming in at all hours. On the plus side being busy meant her mind was completely occupied as.

Lilly and Zack’s reaction when she’d told them the night before still stuck in her mind. They might have even been more excited, especially Lilly, than she was about the engagement. Chris was also absolutely thrilled that she’d said yes. It seemed like everyone else was having the reaction she was supposed to be having.

She silently thanked God that she would be putting in a lot of hours for the upcoming weeks, especially those after Zacky’s departure. There was a feeling in the pit of her stomach that she’d need the time away from everyone. After all she was surrounded by all these people that were ecstatic about she and Chris’s engagement but she wasn’t sure exactly how she felt about it.

“Isabelle go take your break, we can manage without you for 10 minutes.” Samantha, her newest co-worker, told her.

“I’d rather stay busy today, at least for now. You can take yours if you want to instead of me.” Isabelle grabbed another order of food as Samantha grabbed her own.

“I’m fine without one for now too.” Isabelle had gotten along well with Samantha from day one. Samantha was a kind soul and she had never once pushed for information about Isabelle’s life, which made it easy for Isabelle to feel comfortable around her.

Isabelle soon found herself keeping her eyes open for Jimmy, secretly hoping he’d come in again. As horrible as it made her feel she was hoping that Chris didn’t stop by to surprise her today. Of all the weeks, she thought, Chris had to do it this week. The one week the guys are in town. But as she walked towards another table she pushed aside her problems and put on a welcoming smile.

Completely oblivious to who was working in the other end of the café, Valary sat at her table. She had dodged hanging our with the guys or the girls to spend sometime alone, and lunch was the first thing on her agenda. As she sipped on her soda she kept her eyes open for Isabelle Baker. She hadn’t saw her in years and knew she worked her through Zacky’s reports.

There were a few waitresses with the right color hair and who were around the correct height, but without seeing their faces she couldn’t be sure if any of them were Isabelle. It hadn’t occurred to her to call and ask Zacky if his sister was working, but when she thought of it she decided not to. After all it had been so many years that things could have changed completely.

♥♥♥

“The Paris? You’ve got to be kidding me.” Matt let his head rest in his hands as Jimmy told him everything that he knew so far.

“What are you talking about?” Jimmy asked, curious about Matt’s choice of words.

“Jimmy, I took Val to dinner at the Paris last night.”

“Did you watch the water show at the Bellagio afterwards?” Matt nodded his head yes, not feeling like talking about it. “Did you stand in front of the Bellagio or were you up in the Eiffel tower?”

“We stood on the sidewalk. Let me guess, they were in the Eiffel tower, weren’t they?” Jimmy nodded his head yes and Matt groaned. “Shit! Alright that is it, I am going to go talk to her tonight.”

“And do or tell her what Matt? She said yes, that means she has got to love this guy. You can’t just storm back into her life like that the night after her boyfriend proposes to her. You have to have a damn battle plan. How about this, I hang out with her tonight and see what she tells me first. Then tomorrow you can go find and talk to her.”

“Its still like you just said though Jimmy, she said yes already. Maybe I need to just let this all go like I planned to.”

“Stop being stupid. We are dealing with things you cannot control Matt and you know it. We are using my plan, end of story.” Jimmy was already sending her a text message as he spoke to Matt.

“But what am I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know yet! We will figure it out after I find whatever I can out tonight. End of story. Now go get dressed, we are going to do something fun.” Matt stared at Jimmy, who was watching his phone like a hawk watches its prey. When it went off he practically attacked it. “We are meeting up at the House of Blues tonight.”

“That still doesn’t help with what I’m going to do Jimmy.”

♥♥♥

“How long do you think he has been planning it?” Zacky asked Lilly as they walked through The Mirage. She bit her lip and hesitated, since it really wasn’t a secret anymore she felt like she could tell him.

“A little over a month. He asked me if I thought she’d like the ring several times. I didn’t know when he was going to do it though, I just knew he was.” She entwined her fingers with his, wanting to savor the time they had together.

“To be honest I’m not sure how to react to this. I never imaged my sister getting married to well someone like Chris.” Lilly looked at him with a smile.

“Who did you image her marrying Zacky?” He just shook his head, not wanting to explain he’d always envisioned his sister with Matt. “Are you happy for her though?”

“As long as she is happy then I’ll be happy for her. I’m still not completely sold on the fact that this is what she wants. When she left California I never expected it to be permanent. I always thought she’d spend some time away and realize that she belonged in Huntington Beach, but I guess for once I was wrong about her.”

“We’re all wrong sometimes. In the beginning you probably right. I really believe that the only that held her here in the beginning is the love she has for the city. Before she met Chris I could see it in her eyes that she was getting homesick. But I can’t imagine being in her position; loving where you are but missing where you came from so much.”

“She’s not leaving is she?” Even after all these years Zacky couldn’t help but hold onto his hope that his sister would eventually come back home, that she’d realize that she never needed to leave.

“I don’t think so Zacky.” Lilly’s voice trailed off as Zacky went silent. She wasn’t sure what to say so instead she just kept her mouth shut for a while. When he was ready to start talking about it then he would.

“How about we go grab some lunch?”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

♥♥♥

Jimmy was waiting in front of the House of Blues when Isabelle arrived. Much to her relief Zacky or Brian hadn’t decided to tag along. “There is my side-kick!” Jimmy wrapped her in a hug and she took comfort in the feeling that nothing had changed between the two friends.

“I miss you Jimmy, you need to come spend time with me more often.” She pouted and he laughed, tossing his arm around her shoulder as they walked inside. Once at the table they concentrated on their menus, deciding what to drink, and fell into a silence.

“So do you drink around your boyfriend, er fiancé?” Jimmy asked, peeking over the top of his menu. Isabelle laughed for several moments before she answered his question.

“Sometimes, it isn’t a regular occurrence though. He doesn’t have a problem with it or anything but it tends to creep some guys out when I chick can out drink them. So mostly I stick to mixed drinks and beer.” Jimmy made a mental note of this information, knowing it could be useful later on.

“So it creeps him out?”

“Not really, I just don’t know. I’ve never felt that comfortable to be trashed in front of him. I don’t even know why.” Isabelle placed her menu on the table and watched as Jimmy mirror her actions.

“You aren’t just going to abandon me after dinner are you?”

“Of course not! We must go reek havoc on the unsuspecting people.” A grin spread across Jimmy’s face just as the waiter walked up. After he took their drink orders he left and Isabelle noticed Jimmy’s expression. “Don’t look at me like that. They have the best Raspberry Ice Tea.”

“Whatever you say Bell. Can I ask you something that is deep?”

“You don’t even need to ask that. Just ask me anything you want to.” Isabelle took a drink of her tea when it arrived since Jimmy was still thinking of how to word his question. Finally, he cleared his throat and looked her directly in the eyes.

“Why do you not seem incredibly thrill about being engaged to this guy? I mean anyone else would have told me right away, even if they knew I already heard about it.” Jimmy watched as her smile fell slightly.

“I think there is something wrong with me Jimmy,” She began slowly. “I’ve been asking myself that question the whole day. Its like I know I should be happier, ecstatic even, but for some reason I’m just not. Even last night when he asked it just felt like another question. It was nothing like what you hear it is supposed to be like; no butterflies, no cloud 9, not even an accelerated heartbeat. It was just another question like do you want cheese on that, I had no special reaction at all.”

“Then why’d you say yes?”

“Because I do love him, that isn’t the problem.”

“Please don’t tell me you said yes because it would make him happy.”

“I didn’t Jimmy. I said yes because I love him and he loves me. Because I can trust him, I know he won’t hurt me, he is a good guy. I just don’t know why I’m not happier about it, why I didn’t feel anything at all when he asked.”

“Maybe you just aren’t meant to be with him forever then Bell. I know you don’t want to hear it but you need to. You need to really think about that, it isn’t like you are bound to him already.” As Isabelle thought over her response, their waiter showed up.

“But I really do love him.”

“Are you in love with him?”

♥♥♥

“Matt do you know where Jimmy is?” Brian asked when Matt opened the hotel room door. “I know he was going to dinner with Isabelle but I didn’t think he’d leave this early. So did he leave or is he somewhere around here?”

“He took off already.” Matt answered quickly, returning to his laptop.

“Jimmy is going to hang out with Isabelle? Why didn’t anyone tell me about this? I would have tagged along, I haven’t got to see her in years.” Valary sat up and looked at Brian, who’s face fell. He hadn’t thought of that before asking if Jimmy had left.

“I think he wanted to hang out with her alone Val. I’m sure if you called Zacky he’d tell her that you are looking to hang out with her.” Brian glanced between the couple and wondered if it was about to become tense in the room.

“That is a good idea, I am going to call Zacky right now.” Grabbing her cell phone she walked towards the window, so that Matt and Brian could talk.

“Well since Jimmy is gone already and Zacky is going to spend time with Lilly tonight the rest of us should go out and have our fun.” Brian suggested.

“I was actually going to take Val out again tonight Brian.” Hearing Matt’s answer made Brian’s jaw drop slightly. Did no one tell him anything anymore?

“Anything else going on that I don’t know about yet?” He watched as Matt thought about that. The only thing that Brian didn’t know about was Jimmy’s plan and no one needed to know about that, so Matt just nodded his head no.

“Alright thanks Zacky.” Valary closed her cell phone and walked back over to the guys. Noticing that Matt looked slightly amused and Brian looked, well, left out. She couldn’t help but laugh a little.

“What did Zacky say?” Brian asked looking at Valary instead of Matt.

“He said that he’d talk to her about it next time he sees her. Why do you look left out Brian?” Pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head he let out an agitated sigh.

“The assholes I call my best friends. Jimmy just takes off without warning or making plans for later, Matt doesn’t tell me that you two have plans until I ask, and I haven’t saw Zacky in like two days. No one tells me anything anymore. Have fun tonight you two, I’m going to find shortshit and we are going to get drunk and talk about how it sucks to not have a girlfriend at the moment.”

“Have you saw Isabelle while we’ve been here Matt?” Valary asked as she rested her head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head before he started to answer the question.

“Can’t say I have. So far only Zacky and Jimmy have gotten to see her. Why do you ask?” He moved the now closed laptop and placed an arm around Valary’s shoulder. He wondered to himself why she was asking that all of the sudden. Did she suspect anything?

“Because I went to the Hard Rock today but I didn’t even see her there.” A flood of relief washed over Matt as she explained her curiosity on the matter.

♥♥♥

“They both miss you Bell.” Jimmy expressed as the two walked towards the Excalibur. With a sigh she shook her head in disagreement. She knew that her brother missed her, but there was no way he did.

“No Jimmy, Zacky misses me. There is no way that Matt misses me. How could he after I just got up and left the way I did. I don’t expect him to miss me. He has moved on, he is with Val now.”

“Just because you left doesn’t mean that changes anything with any of us. We still miss you, but your brother and Matt miss you even more.”

“You don’t have to try and make me feel better. I appreciate that you are trying but I prefer the truth about all of this. Now how about we forget all this in-depth discussion and just have ourselves some fun?”

“I agree but I want to ask you one more deep question, again. It is just me so answer me this time and answer me honestly,” Jimmy watched as she looked away nervously. “Are you in love with him?”