Live, Laugh, Love

Surprises

“This food really sucks.” Tom complained.

“Well, that’s your fault. You were the one who wanted to order the continental breakfast.”

“Oh, yeah. God forbid I’d save you some money.”

I chuckled and stood up from my bed. I walked to the bathroom and started brushing out the mess that was my hair. “I’m going to take a shower.” I called out to Tom. “Get out.”

Just then the doorbell rang. I heard Tom get up to answer it, and I ran out the bathroom door. “No!” I yelled. I think I knew who it was and I wanted to answer it.

“Jesus Christ, Rach. Don’t throw a hissy.” There was another knock, and I ran to open it. Tom just sat back down on the bed.

I threw back the door and there he was. He ran his hand through his hair nervously, and cleared his throat. “Hello.”

I smiled. “Hey, Robert. What are you doing here?”

He smiled in return. “I came to see you. I’m surprised you remember me. You had a lot to drink.” I heard Tom laugh and try to cover it up with a cough.

Robert leaned his head curiously into my room. “Is he your boyfriend?” Robert asked, spotting Tom sitting on the couch. He frowned.

“No!” I answered quickly. “No no. That’s Tom. He’s… Well, he’s my best friend. And of course I remember you.” Robert smiled again, looking a little relieved. It made me blush.

“Well, Miss Banes, I was wondering if you wanted to grab an early lunch.” Just then, a blond girl with really long legs and a small figure stepped into my view.

I suddenly wanted to cry. Maybe I should have told Robert that Tom was my boyfriend. How low was this? He wanted to take me to lunch with his girlfriend? What a jerk.

“Hello.” Skinny said in an English accent. “I’m Victoria.” She smiled as I shook her bony hand.

“I’m Rachael Banes.” I said

“Oh, I know who you are. I’m a huge fan.” Oh great, he was going out with a fan of mine. This was humiliating.

Robert took in my tortured face. “Victoria is my sister, Rachael.” He said, pulling a strand of her long blond hair, making her smack him on the shoulder. “She wanted to meet you. And of course I would love to have a chance to talk with you again.” I smiled and he smiled in return. But I was still a little peeved. Was he here because his sister wants him to be here, or was he here because he wanted to see me?

In that moment, I didn’t care. I wanted to talk to him too. Victoria just stood there patiently, waiting for me to reply. She looked between Rob and I a couple of times and smiled. “Sure.” I finally managed to spit out. “I’d love to. But… I looked back into the room and Rob’s eyes followed my gaze. “I’ll have to take a shower first.”

“That’s fine. Why don’t you just come down to the lobby when you’re ready.” I was about to suggest that he just wait in his room when he cut me off. “It’s fine. Really. Me and Vicky were just going to check out some of the stuff they have down there anyway.” I had a feeling that arguing would do me no good, so I just nodded and shut the door.

“Ohhhh. Someone’s crushing.” Tom said in his best impression of a gay voice. “Did you see his eyes? Dreamy.”

“Shut up, asshole.” I fired back. “He’s just a friend.”

“Whatever.”

“Now get out, I have to take a shower.”

“Don’t forget to wash behind your ears, sweat pea.” He said as he walked out the door. What a smartass.

When I was finally ready, I just about ran to the elevator. All the way down to the lobby I was tapping my feet, and twiddling with my fingers. Why was I so nervous? It’s just lunch. I stepped out of the elevator and walked out into the lobby. It wasn’t busy, and I was able to spot them easily.

They were standing in front of an old painting that was hung on the wall there. I saw Rob make a comment, and Victoria punch him in the shoulder in reply. It made me smile. Those two must be really close.

I walked over shyly. I didn’t want to disturb their moment.

“Hey. You look great.” Rob said when he saw me. He looked me over, smiling as he let his eyes roam my body. I suddenly felt very self-conscious, which was ridiculous. Millions of people looked at me like that every day. I was a model, for God’s sake. But when he did it, I felt very small.

Victoria broke the awkward silence. “Well, I really must be going.” She said, hugging Robert. What? Wait, she wasn’t coming!!??!! Robert had asked just me to lunch? Oh my god. I’m going to be sick.

“Bye.” Victoria turned to me and gave me a one-armed hug. “It was so nice to meet you.”

“You too.” I said, still a little shocked. I watched as she walked away.

“Are you ready?” Rob asked me.

“Umm. Yeah, sure.” I said, walking to the door of the hotel. How did I get myself into this?

When I stepped outside, I felt how cold it really was, and I hadn’t brought a sweater. Rob noticed me shiver and eyed me with concern.

“It’s a little chilly out.” He said, taking off his jacket.

“Oh, no, really.” I said “ I’ll be fine once we get into a cab.”

“No.” Robert said firmly. “No. You take mine.” I couldn’t object when he used that tone.

So I shrugged into his jacket and eyed the long sleeved shirt Rob had on under it.

“Where are we eating?” I asked. I wasn’t really hungry, consider I had just eaten breakfast. I wasn’t about to tell him that.

“Well, we’re going to stop some other places first.” He said, hailing a taxi. When he finally got one, we climbed in together. Robert sat very close to me on the seat, which made my heart react in odd ways. “Rose Gardens.” Rob told the cabbie.

“What’s there?” I asked, confused.

“It’s where I like to go sometimes in the morning.” He replied, looking out the window.

I basked in happiness for a couple of minutes. Robert was taking me to a place he liked to go sometimes. That was a good sign, right?

When the car stopped, Robert paid the cab driver, and pulled me out of the taxi. He led me into a large building that was decorated beautifully. It looked like a castle.

When we got inside, I gasped. It was a huge place, with green plants everywhere. Robert heard my intake of breath and smiled. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he said, looking around. I did the same. I couldn’t even explain it, it was a huge indoor garden with plants hanging from the ceiling and on the walls.

I walked down the aisles and looked at the pretty plants. “Why did you bring me here?” I asked Robert after a few aisles. “This is a weird place to bring someone you just met the night before.” I smiled.

“Well,” he replied, “I feel like I’ve known you forever.” He said. “I like this place, and I really like you.” I blushed. “Why not bring you here?” he asked, trying to confuse me, I assumed.

“I like you, too.” I said, and he smiled and grabbed my hand, leading me through the flowers and chatting with me like we were old friends.

We spent the rest of the morning at the building looking at the flowers and holding hands. Then he took me to lunch.

It was a small, quiet little place. Rob and I sat down at one of the tables and ordered our food.

He kept looking at me, which made me nervous. “Rachael?” he asked.

“Hmmm?” I said.

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” he began, I gulped. Was he going to tell me he just wanted to be friends? It sure as hell didn’t seem that way when we were holding hands a frolicking through the flowers this morning. I sighed. “What?” He asked.

“Don’t say it.” I said. “I know, you just want to be friends, you already have a girlfriend, right?” I said, hanging my head.

“No! No, of course not. Why would I say that?” He said, I was relieved. “You didn’t let me finish. I was going to say: Don’t take this the wrong way,” he paused for dramatic effect. Was he teasing me? “But you are an incredibly beautiful woman.” He finished.

I was speechless. I got people telling me I was beautiful on a regular basis. But from Rob, It made me teary-eyed.

“Thank you.” I replied as he took my hand and held it in his. “And your incredibly handsome yourself.” I noted, ducking my head. He lifted my chin up with his hand.

“Please.” He said. “I want to be able to see your face. You’re a lot easier to understand when I can see your eyes.” He chuckled.

“Am I hard to understand?” I asked.

“Very.” He replied just as the waitress came with our food. I dug in and so did he. We were silent for a few moments.