Love Has Perfect Timing

Our eyes locked and I lost all of my memories. The room went silent. I didn't remember where I was or how I got there, I couldn't even remember my name. It was like I was in a trance. I was shaken back to reality when the eyes I was staring into moved out of my vision. I frantically searched the room trying to find the rest of the person that belonged to the beautiful pair of eyes when I quickly found them sitting directly across from me.
"Yeah, I know I'm late. Sorry everybody," The man said as he looked at the other people at the table. He spoke again.
"I'm sorry, I haven't had the pleasure to meet you lovely ladies, I'm Matthew." he said as he stood back up to reach across the booth and shake hands with us. He started with Michelle, then went to Jess and Amy, each one of them reciting their names as he shook their hands. He turned to me and reached out his hand to shake mine and I was unable to speak. Thankfully I quickly regained my speech and rasped out, "Caylee" as I shook his hand. He gave me a small smile and sat back down on his side of the booth. "Nice to meet you all. What brings you all here this fine evening." he spoke as he looked back and forth between us waiting for an answer.
Jess spoke up.
"We're old friends of Hannah's." Amy chimed in. "Yeah and we decided to come to LA for a vacation and wanted to reconnect with Hannah while we're here."
Michelle gave a big smile and nodded. I just sat there like an idiot.
I was tired and out of my element. And to top it off, one of the most gorgeous men I've ever seen was sitting right across from me. Looking right at me. I haven't ever had a good relationship. I've been fine on my own. No one has ever been worth my time and effort. And even though this Matthew guy is crazy good looking, I can't distract myself from reality. I'm only going to be here for a week and I want to actually relax on my first real vacation in years. And how crazy of me to even think that I'd have to avoid a relationship with this man. Who says he would even like me never mind want a relationship with me?
I realized that I had gotten lost in my train of thoughts because I was shaken back to reality when Amy nudged me in my side. I looked at her and quickly looked around the table and noticed that everyone was staring at me. "I'm sorry, what did I miss. The traveling is just catching up with me and I'm starting to get tired so I spaced out a little bit."
"That's because you're like a grandma. What's your normal bed time, 9?!" Michelle joked.
"Just because I stick to a schedule, doesn't mean I'm a grandma. I'm just responsible. Something you should try to be a little more often." I retorted.
"Yeah, well that's no fun. Anyway while you were rudely falling asleep, Matthew asked you a question." Michelle shot back.
I turned back to look at Matthew and he had a playful smile on his face, obviously enjoying us poke fun at each other.
"Sorry, what did you ask?" I said as I tried to pay closer attention. He sat up straighter as if to reset the conversation.
"No worries, I only asked what you do for a living. As all your friends already told us what they do." He said as he leaned his elbows on the table.
"Oh, um. I process information for an insurance company." I was interrupted by Michelle.
"Yeah, and it's super boring. She desperately needs to have fun while we're here." She said as she winked at Adam who shot a wide smile back at her. It was obvious that they were enjoying flirting with each other.
Michelle is constantly in a new relationship. She moves from guy to guy on every whim that she has. Jess is recently single after a 2 year relationship. I think she wanted to come away for some much needed girl time. Amy is blissfully ignorant to having a love life. She is great though because she never pressures me to find a man. She has been in a few relationships but always stops dating them when they're not fun anymore. And then there's me. I am unable to hold down a serious relationship because I work so hard that I get so tired and I can't go out and meet someone after work. I've liked a few guys here and there but they all were either untrustworthy or didn't stick around long enough to pursue a deeper relationship. I've had such bad luck with even finding a man that I have kinda given up on the whole thing. I'm happy relying on myself. I have a good thing going and adding someone else to the mix just wouldn't work.
I'm going over these thoughts in my mind to reassure myself of what I want and I can't get distracted by a guy just because he's good looking.
I remained quiet for most of the evening just adding a simple comment here and there. It was interesting to meet Hannah's co-workers. They all seemed to be very close and get along really well. All I know is that I avoid most of my co-workers and I'd never be caught out having dinner with them by my own free will.
We had been there for almost two hours and I was beginning to fade fast. The time difference was messing with me and it honestly was way passed the time I would normally go to bed.
Jess noticed how tired I was getting. "It looks like Caylee is going to fall asleep in her drink" she said.
"Yeah, we should probably get grandma back to bed." Michelle joked.
"I'm 3 years younger than you, Michelle!" I tried to defend myself. "Age is just a number. You're a granny at heart sweetie."
"Whatever!" was all I could say back.
Everyone had finished their drinks so we all started to pile out of the booth.
"Well, it was nice to meet all of you ladies. Enjoy your vacation." Joe said as he nodded towards us and shook Matthew and Adam's hands. He give Hannah a quick peck on her cheek as he walked away.
Adam spoke up,"I also enjoyed meeting you all. Make sure not to miss out on anything while you're here!" he said as he gave us all a quick hug. He turned to Matthew and Hannah and said, "See you on Monday!" as he made his way out of the bar.
"I hope to see you all again while you're in this beautiful city." Matthew said as he went around and shook all of our hands. I was last and when he shook my hand he held it while he said,"I hope we didn't keep you out too late and mess with your schedule." He joked and gave my hand a quick squeeze before he let go. "I'll be just fine, thanks." I said with a smile. He smiled back and said "Have a good night" as he walked away, It was the first time I really got a good look at him, He was very skinny and was wearing converse. I chucked a little to myself thinking about how childlike that made him look.
We gathered our purses and made our way out of the bar too. Hannah seemed a little concerned for her co-workers as we walked outside because there were a few people with cameras taking lots of pictures of everything. Hannah turned to us. "It was great to see you guys. We will definitely do more while you're here. You should even come to set and see what I actually do. You'll get the full experience that way. But I do need to sneak off and keep the paps away from my boys. Love you all and see you soon." She said as she hurried after the crowd of people with camera's. That's when I finally understood. She said she needed to keep the paps away, the paparazzi...
That's kinda crazy. Those guys must be more famous then I thought. Maybe I should watch their show.
We all wanted to get away from the craziness so we hurried back toward the parking garage to get the car and head back to the hotel.
As we reached the car and all piled in Amy sighed,"Phew, what a crazy night"
"Yeah, didn't think I'd be trying to avoid the papaazzi tonight." Jess added.
"Maybe, but how great has all of this been already. I mean, Adam and I totally connected tonight." Michelle was beaming. "I've found my man out here now we've got to get one for the rest of you."
"I think Matthew and Caylee would be cute together. I mean, Caylee was practically drooling when she saw him." Jess teased,
"I was not, I was half asleep." I tried to defend myself. I did think he was cute but I didn't think i had made it that obvious.
"Mmhmm. Well, let's see what happens when we go visit the set of Criminal Minds." Amy added.
"Not you too. You're a traitor." I shot back at Amy.
They all just laughed at the comments as we pulled into the hotel.
We made our way to our room and I somehow managed to get the first shower. The water poured over me and started to relax my tired muscles. I finished quickly, put on my pj's and made my way out of the bathroom to make room for the next person in line. I was going to go straight to bed but I had to go out on the balcony to get one last look at the night view. It was breath taking. I have never seen so many city lights. It made it look magical. Maybe it was my lack of sleep or maybe there was something in the air but it made me truly excited. It made it seem like anything was possible. I made my way back inside and over to the bed that I was going to share with Michelle. I crawled under the covers and laid my head down on the pillow. I started thinking about all the possibilities of what could happen while we're here and my mind wandered over to thinking about Matthew. I definitely liked him. He was good looking and nice but I shook away the thoughts because I've had crushes before and nothing good ever came from it. I let my mind wander all the way to sleep, reminding myself to stay practical and remember what is waiting for me back at home.