Lemons to Lemonade

After my heart-to-heart session with Jordy, I didn’t want anything to do with Nick. I wanted to forget about his sarcastic comebacks and harsh remarks. I didn’t want to remember how he pushed people away. I wanted all of the thoughts of his know-it-all attitude to disappear. Never again did I want to looks into his beautiful eyes. I never wanted to see his smug, toothless grin again and I definitely had no desire to hear his brilliant and rational opinions about my life.

I wanted so badly to not want Nick, but it didn’t happen. He filled my thoughts and dreams nonstop. I knew that if just given a good, solid chance then we would just hit it off. I would never admit it, but I was desperate. I went to the studio the following morning and headed upstairs to see Nick. I went to his usual room and cautiously entered since that worked a little better for me than barging in.

Nick was in the sound booth, recording a song. He was singing and sounded heavenly as if his voice was something after God’s own heart. He didn’t stand, but bobbed as if keeping time by tapping his foot instead. His eyes were shut and I could tell that he was focused on the song at hand. His fingers lightly touched the headphones that were strapped over his head. Towards the end of the song, his eyes opened ever so slightly. He looked at me, gave me a nod and a wink, and finished up the song. Once it ended, he came out of the booth and turned off the microphone.

“Hey,” Nick greeted. “What are you doing here? It must not be to chew my head off because you would have barged in the booth for that. Did you get into another fight with your friend? What was her name again?”

“You would ask about her,” I muttered. “Her name’s Jordy and, no, we didn’t get into another fight.”

“So, what’s up? Why isn’t she with you? Do you go everywhere together?”

I ignored every question except the first and gestured towards the chair so he would know to take a seat, and he did. “I don’t know how to say this so out with it, I guess. I think we should go out.”

“Excuse me? Like on a date?”

“No, hunting. Yes, on a date.”

“Ok, why?”

“Because I’ve been infatuated with you ever since that night in Brooks Brothers. No one ever talked to me and treated me like you did.”

“Ok, no offense, but you’re a bit high-strung for me. You also seem very uptight and a tad controlling.”

“I can be, but I’m not like that all the time. I’m asking you to just give me a chance. Yesterday, we went to Niagara Falls and I had a deep, bonding moment with Jordy and realized that I need to change some things about myself. In the process of all of this, my mind would still wander back to you. Now, I’m not asking for an extravagant outing that is comparable to Prom Night or something to make me feel like a princess. Do you have lunch plans? Do you want to just grab pizza from the stand downstairs outside the door?”

“Sure, a slice would be nice.”

I laughed to myself slightly because of the rhyme. “I see a new single about pizza brewing.”

“Oh, dear,” Nick playfully rolled his eyes. “Let’s go grab the pizza.” He said as he began to leave the studio and opened the door for me. We started crossing the building together to grab the food.

“Thank you,” I replied, “but, really, it could be like indie, pop song with a sort of hipster feel from, like, the vintage 60s.”

“Did you just throw out every single fashion movement from the last decade into one sentence to describe a hypothetical song about pizza?”

I bit my bottom lip and looked at him with squinted eyes. I nodded, “Yeah, I think I did. Oh, speaking of fashion, what sweater did you end up picking for the Christmas card?”

“I got the pullover, the last sweater you picked out.”

“Seriously?! Then, why did you make that whole fuss about it?”

“It wasn’t that bad. You made it bad with the demanding and the shaking of the sweater in my face.”

“Yeah, that wasn’t one of my finer moments. I’m sorry about that. Gosh, I feel like I’ve been apologizing to you every second for the last week.” We finally made it downstairs to the lobby and proceeded to the pizza stand that was right outside the door.

“Maybe it’s because you have been,” Nick reached into his back pocket to pull out his wallet.

“No, no, no, I’ll treat. You’ve been dealing with my craziness, I asked you on this date, and because of you, I have my best friend back. No, there is no way--.”

“Addison,” Nick started, interrupting me. “I know all about the feminism arguments and that things aren’t as traditional anymore. Women are being empowered and we aren’t in the 1900s anymore, but this is my thing. It’s a date so I have to pay and order for you; I don’t feel comfortable having it any other way.”

“Fine,” I conceded, “on one condition, you have to stop calling me ‘Addison’. It’s Addie.”

“No problem, Addie,” he said, adding additional emphasis on ‘Addie’ before giving me a small smirk. “What would you like?”

“I’ll take one slice of pepperoni and a bottled water, please and thank you.”

“Got it, m’lady,” he started before turning to order two pepperoni slices, one bottle of water, and one Sprite. I grabbed a few napkins from alongside the window where Nick placed the order. Nick handed me my Dasani water bottle while he held onto his Sprite bottle.

We turned and walked back into the building to go upstairs. “Good?” Nick asked.

“Mhmm,” I nodded with my mouth full before Nick tore into his. He nodded his head in approval. We ate for a little while in silence before I had to pipe up. “So how was this first date?” I asked once I swallowed my bite of pizza.

Nick looked over at me, but we continued walking. I saw his cheek puff slightly and his lips part slightly as he ran his tongue over his teeth. “I’ve had better,” he smirked before taking another bite of his pizza.

My mouth gaped open as I pushed the elevator call button to take us back upstairs.

“But not so bad that I never want to speak to you again,” Nick added before finishing off his slice.

“Please,” I brought the remaining portion of pizza up to my face. “You wish you could get the opportunity to have a second date with me.”

“You asked me out on this date. I think it would be you wishing for the chance to do this all over again.”

“Whatever,” I bit into the crust, devouring it in three chomps. I handed him napkins and used the remaining ones to wipe my hands off before breaking the seal and sipping on my water. We boarded onto the elevator which had just arrived.

“Good golly, Dolly! She apologizes and, at times, she is rendered speechless. My, I’m learning so much about you.” Nick stated sarcastically as opened and began drinking his Sprite.

“You don’t really know much about me—hardly anything at all, actually.” I stated matter-of-factly as I stepped off the elevator and stopped walking as Nick followed suit.

“Well, you aren’t very forthcoming with that information.” Nick replied.

“I don’t recall you asking for said information.”

“Addie, will you tell me one thing about you that I don’t know?”

I called the elevator so I could go back down and leave before digging around in my purse and pulling out a pen and an old Walgreen’s receipt for gum and a magazine. I jotted down some things before handing it to him. With perfect timing, the elevator chimed and the doors opened behind me. I handed Nick receipt before walking onto the elevator and pushing the button to go down to the lobby.

“One thing you don’t know? That’s my number,” I nodded towards the slip of paper that I gave him. Just like that, the elevator doors closed and I felt the sensation of dropping.

My phone in purse vibrated with a text from a number that I couldn’t identify. ‘Hey : ), the message read.

‘Couldn’t wait, I see,’ I replied.

‘I just wanted to make sure that the number was right before you got away,’ the screen read.

‘You must plan on using the number, huh? If you want to make sure that you got it right?’ I responded.

‘Of course! How else do you expect me to get ahold of Jordy? ;)’

I saved Nick’s number to my phone and locked it. It seemed liked he was joking with the last comment, but there was a hint of gravitas to it and it cut me like a knife. I should be happy for Jordy, but it was sad for me. At the same time, that date was nothing like I thought it would be.