If Only They Knew

When I opened the door, “Hi, Sarah?” he smiled nervously.

I smiled back “that’s me.” “I’m Nick. Ready to go?”, nodding I shut the door behind me as I stepped out the house.

Nick led me to his car, he even held the door open while I got in “thanks.” I chuckled, buckling my seatbelt.

After pushing the door shut he made his way around to the drivers seat. I quickly pulled my phone out and text Jess “Nick Santino, my mom set me up with NICK!”.

Switching the car on Nick said quietly “we’re going to this really good little Italian place my parents found years back, is that ok?”

“that sounds perfect.”

The drive was quiet and a little awkward, to say the least. My phone buzzed as we pulled up to the restaurant “you’re kidding, see if you can find out what happened with Kay!”

We were seated in a booth right in the back corner, the lights were dimmed and it was a really nice atmosphere. I ordered a Pepsi, as did Nick. We shared the occasional smile, but until our food was brought over the only thing that was said was our order to the waitress. After swallowing a bite of his spaghetti, Nick cleared his throat “I haven’t actually been on a date or anything for like a year and a half.” he laughed nervously.

I smiled, I’ll be honest, the guy was adorable. “you’re kidding?”

he shook his head “no, I mean I was kinda fucked over by the last girl.”

I sighed “I’ve been there.”

he laughed “so yeah, I’m kinda nervous right now, sorry about that.”

While we were talking, I took the opportunity to ask what I’d been wondering for nearly a year “I hope you don’t mind me bringing this up” I paused “what happened between you and Kaylyn Jessop?”

he bit his lip “Kaylyn? Nothing, I dated her sister, Harper.” I nodded for him to carry on “ugh, she’s kinda THE girl I mentioned actually.”

I took a sip from my drink “really?”

he nodded “now, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what brought that up?” he chuckled.

“I’m friends with Kay. She said you were ’bad news’.. actually she made this rule that we’re not allowed to talk to you.”

He almost choked as he started to laugh “that‘s hilarious. She never told you the truth?” I shook my head “well, they were always close, more like friends than sisters. I guess she doesn't want her friends thinking bad of Harper. I wrote a song about her, I‘ll send you it. I‘ll let you figure out what happened.”

By the time Nick got me home it was 8pm, after lunch he took me to the lake where we sat a just talked. It was nice.
At 8.30 my phone rang “you’ve been rejecting my calls all afternoon, I want the low down!” Jess yelled playfully into my ear.

“Geez, he only dropped me home a half hour ago, calm your tits! He was lovely.”

she sighed “that’s all I get, ‘he was lovely’, details please.” I filled her in on the full date, or whatever it was, leaving out the bit about Kaylyn, then she asked “so are you seeing him again?”

I bit my lip “I think so, I mean I don’t really see myself with him at the moment but I’d definitely be friends with him.”

she hesitated before asking “and Kaylyn?” I sighed “is a liar.”

“how so?”

“I don’t know full details yet, Nick dated Harper and he said she fucked him over.”

“hm, sounds plausible. You believe him over Kay?”

I swallowed “he said he wrote a song about the situation. I can’t see him being a bad guy Jess, he’s shy and he seemed really genuine.”

I could hear the smile in her voice “if something does come of today, he sounds good for you, Sarah.” She paused and sighed “I just wish I had somebody.”

I gasped “I’ll call you back, I just thought of something.” I dropped my phone on my bed before running off downstairs “Mom!”

“mhmm?” she was sat out in the yard, reading.

“can I take Jess to Tempe too?”

she shrugged “I don’t see why not, clear it with Gran before you plan anything though.”

I nodded then grabbed the phone off the hook and dialled my Gran’s number. “Liddy!” she cooed when she answered, using the nickname she gave my mom as a kid.

I laughed “it’s Sarah.”

“ah, hello honey! How’re you keeping?”

“I’m good thanks. I actually called to see if I could bring someone to the barbeque?”

she let out a quiet squeal “is it a boy, does my granddaughter finally have a boyfriend?”

I sighed “ok, can I bring two people?”

“is that a yes?”

I laughed “well, Ma, we’re not official yet but I’m sure he’ll come. Can I bring my friend Jess too?”

You could hear the smile in her voice “of course!”

“thanks Gran.” I paused before bringing up a potentially sore topic “will Eric be coming?”

Gran laughed “of course! I still consider him my grandchild, even if your Aunt Carol divorced his father.” she sighed “Sarah, please find Mr. Right before getting married? God knows Carol’s not the same anymore.” I didn’t know how to answer so I just replied “mhmm.”

“anyway, I’ll see you next week, I look forward to meeting this boy.”

I laughed “Bye Gran.”