Until There Was You

“Daaaave!”, I squeal. “We need to go! Our reservation is for 8 pm. MacArthur Park is close, but it’s already 7:45 and, can we just go?”

When he appears, I’m almost speechless. I look at his face, which is in a grimace. “I look stupid.”, he complains. “I never dress up like this.”

A smile creeps onto my face. “But you sure do clean up nice.”, I say sticking my tongue out at him. “You look fantastic. I promise.”

“Can I at least pay for dinner, since you insisted on the plane tickets and buying me new clothes that I will probably only wear this once?”, he asks.

“There’s also my graduation.”, I tease. “You have to wear that when you come.”

“But that’s in four years.”, he grumbles as I drag him out the door, grabbing my purse and keys.”

My mom also wanted to ship all of my cars across the country. Insanity. Instead, I talked her down to one car, and I gave Michelle and Susan the keys to the red one, and Dave and Danny the keys to the blue. Speaking of which, I asked Dave, “How’re Susan and Michelle? And the cars? And…my mom?”

“Susan and Michelle are great. You know that. They’re loving BC while missing you. Your cars are as shiny as ever, and your mom is still with Brad I think. Don’t pretend like you don’t talk to her.”, he admonishes. “You’d never be able not to, even though, thankfully, you can’t do a thing about her life from across the country.”

“Yea. He bought her a diamond engagement ring, with earrings and a bracelet to match. It’s huge apparently. The biggest one yet.”, I say somewhat sardonically.

“Lighten up.”, he bends down to whisper in me ear. “This night is going to be fun and awesome, as will the next few days before I leave again. And then I’ll see you in another week. Promise.” I turn to smile at him, and to see his eyes, which always seem to be smiling when we’re together, or when he’s onstage. He gives me a quick kiss on the forehead, ushering me into the restaurant. “And I’m paying.”

I suppressed a small smile, deciding not to ruin the moment. I’ll argue with him after dinner.

While I was browsing through the menu, Dave says, “Hey. I’ll be back in a minute, kay? I just need to do something super quickly.”

Nodding my head absent-mindedly, I glance at the main courses quickly, but am more focused on the deserts. I wonder if Dave would mind that I get an entrée and a dessert without a main course. Since he’s big on health and all that. But…an entrée salad and a desert. They would cancel each other out, right? I look up as Dave slides back into his seat. “What’d you do?”, I ask curiously.

He shrugs. “Just needed to take care of something. It’s all good now though.”

During dinner, I kept making fun of him because our waitress was such a flirt. Some girls have no shame. I had missed him that past month. I don’t remember the last time we spent so much time apart. Same with Susan and Michelle. It was almost as if I was living a dream, and even Dave would disappear at any moment. “Hey Dave.”, I said suddenly. “I really, really missed you. And I’m super glad you could make it down to visit me this week. You, Susan, and Michelle are so far away, it makes me want to go back sometimes. I’ve never been so far away from you guys for so long. It’s like…you guys could disappear in a blink, and I’d be all alone.”

Now done with dinner (I ordered only my entrée and dessert, despite his protests), he waves the waitress over, since she appeared to pay much more attention to him than to me. He grabs my hands. “Britt. We’re your best friends. And we won’t let you give up an amazing opportunity like Stanford. Miles are nothing compared to what we have, and what you, Michelle, and Susan have. And you like your technology don’t you? We’ll Facetime, Skype, ooVoo, and whatever other technology there is to talk face-to-face that is out there, whenever you want.”, he says. “And plus—“ He’s cut off by our waitress clearing her throat.

“Here’s your receipt.”, she says stonily, glaring at me, while I resist the urge to giggle. Then I realize what she said. “Wait.”, I say, stopping her. “Receipt?” She nods and says icily, “He gave his credit card to us before you guys even ordered.” Forgetting the waitress altogether, I turn back towards Dave, pulling my hands from his. He looks slightly scared, and before I could help it, I started laughing. He looked so confused.

“You’re not mad?”, he asks hesitantly.

“I was, but you looked scared!”, I said between my laughter.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he said, “You’re letting me crash at your place, and you bought my place tickets, and you also bought me new clothes. And I knew if we waited until the end of dinner, I’d never win, so I had to use some sneaky tactics of my own.”

Grinning, I bow my head in mock reverence. “Sneakily clever, Mr. Place. Kudos to you. I guess it’s nice to be pampered once in a while, isn’t it?”, I grin cheekily.

“I’d do it all the time if you let me.”, he retorted.

Sticking my tongue out at him, I grab my stuff. “Party time!”, I exclaim. “Woooo!”

Grabbing his own stuff, he gives me a pointed look. “I’m taking those keys as soon as we get out of the car later.”, he says, slinging his arms over my shoulder.

“But of course, Sir Knight.”, my hands going around his waist, head leaning on his shoulder. It feels nice to spend time with my best friend. What was even better was the note I left for the waitress. Imagine her shock at the lost chance she had with Dave when she finds out that we’re not actually together. She could have given him her number.