Tempting Fate

by A N Busch

When Abby hung up the phone, she didn't have time to pick it back up to dial her aunt before it was ringing again. Abby wanted to turn the ringer back off already but answered reluctantly, “Hello.” The sound in her voice was completely flat, but with Melissa’s reaction you would have thought she had yelled at her.

  “Abigail Nickole, how dare you worry me like that? When I finally get you on the phone you get that attitude with me! Where have you been all night? You would not even guess what I was thinking had happened to you. I couldn’t concentrate on stage at all last night! Twenty-eight messages, that is how many I left for you. That was just a fraction of the times I called. I have been up all night, you know.”

  “Missa please calm down! I promise to tell you everything. Yes, I was with Westly, and it was the best night of my life!”

  “You know I thought he might have kidnapped you or something. Were you with him all night?”

  “Almost every second in his arms,” Abby began and continued telling her about him and how it felt to be with him. Her aunt’s excitement switched directions and she wanted more information about Westly and their night together. Melissa made Abby start at the beginning of the evening, going over every detail. Westly showing up with the pizza, why she had shut off the ringer in the first place, Paul knocking, and their first kiss and how it had happened. Melissa wanted to know everything they talked about and asked a million questions about what they did. Abby was so wrapped up into answering her questions that she almost for got to tell her about Melanie walking in on them.

  “I fell totally asleep in his arms and when I woke up this morning, he was gone, but he left a note on the pillow beside me.” Abby reached for the note and read it to her aunt. She hadn’t talked this much in her whole life about anything.

  “So are you going over to his place tonight for dinner?”

  “I want to, but if I stay with him again tonight, are you going to start flipping out and tell my parents too much information again? I’m not ready for them to know anything. This could just be some silly crush that is done in a week.”

  “Okay I’ll try to stop freaking out, but if I don’t hear from you anytime for forty-eight hours, straight, I’ll be calling the sheriff of that town of yours. And I want that boys full name. Do you understand me?”

  “You won’t have to do that, I promise. Just give me some room, you keep telling me to go after a guy. Now I am, so give me some space to do it. Please.”

  “Oh, what are you going to wear?” Melissa’s brain had already switched gears from protector back to teen gossip girl, “You left that sequined top I bought you for Christmas at home didn’t you?”

  “Yes, sorry. It was itchy,” Abby said. The truth was a better word would have been “tacky,” but she didn't need to tell her aunt that. “I’ll run out after I take a shower. Oh, look at the time we have been talking for over an hour. I have to get going. It’s a long walk across campus to the boutique I like.”

  “Okay Sugar, like I said before just be yourself with him, and he will love you.”

  “Whoa, love is a long ways off Missa. I’ll talk to you later. Love ya.”

  “You too Sugar.”

  Abby almost threw the phone down and rolled onto her back stretching out to read the note from Westly again and again. She picked the phone back up and dialed the number he had written at the bottom. It rang three times and she started preparing to leave a message on his machine.

  “Hello, this is Westly.”

  “Hello?” Was that his machine?

  “Abs? Good morning. Sorry I had to take off like that, hope you understand. How did you sleep?

  “Just fine thank you. Better when you were with me though.” Well, it appeared Abby’s mouth was just going to keep saying the first thought that came into her mind. She just hoped she didn’t say anything weird.

  “I had a nice night as well; although, I didn’t sleep much though. I am looking forward to seeing you again later.”

  “Why didn’t you get much sleep? Was I talking? Did I keep you awake?” The way she was just saying the first thing that popped into her mind while awake left her guessing what she was saying in her sleep.

  “Yes, you were talking in your sleep. Well, more like you mumbled and giggled my name. It was cute. I had some work on my mind I needed to get done today. No need to get too technical on you, but I have been having a hard time doing something and it was on my mind. I stayed with you until something clicked and I had an idea. I had to take off. I didn’t want to wake you, you were too peaceful.”

  “No that was fine. Mel told me you had her lock the door behind you. Are you still working now?”

  “Yes, but I should be done in a couple hours. Then I will have to go mail it, and I also have a couple other errands to run before our date tonight. You will be joining me, won’t you?”

  “Yes, I was calling to accept the offer. I can’t wait.”

  “Well you will just have to wait, seven-thirty sharp, in my room. I need the time to get ready and to make dinner for us. Otherwise I would have you over now and not let you go all day.”

  Abby could hear the smile he was wearing in his voice and it made her smile grow bigger. “seven-thirty it is, and don’t worry, I’ll be thinking of you, like your note said.”

  “Me too. Bye Abs.”

  “Bye.” Abby threw herself back onto her bed after she hung up the phone and laughed.

  A date, she had never had a date before, and he was going to cook for her. She jumped off her bed and ran into the bathroom to wash up. The first thing she pulled out of her dresser was a pair of jeans. She ran to the window to see what the weather was like. The trees in the courtyard were swaying lightly but there was a small amount of snow on the ground. A light sweater under her coat would do. Abby grabbed her bag and was out of the dorm in a flash.

  The sun was shinning as she crossed campus, recognizing a couple people from her classes that were out. She just waved to them when they said hi to her. When she got to the boutique, she looked around slowly at everything. A couple things caught her eye. Grabbing them, she went into the changing room.

  Nothing was saying, “Yes! Wear me!” to her until the last rack of tops. A pink camisole with lace on the bottom and top paired with a pink button up sweater caught her eye. It was perfect; it made her skin glow and it brightened her cheeks. She had khaki pants in her room that would look perfect with them. When she looked at the tags she almost fell over in the small room -$60, geez it was expensive. It was going to be worth it though; she knew that with a second look at herself in the mirror.

  Abby raced back across campus and grabbed a fruit smoothie on the way to her room. It was four-thirty already; she needed to get ready. She grabbed her shower tote and some towels and ran into the bathroom. The steam from the shower was wonderful, but when she got out of the shower she had to open the door so she could see. When the cold air hit her, it was freezing compared to the hot steamy room.

  She dried her hair and put it up in the towel, as she flipped back upright she saw that Melanie had written “RED RUM ABBY” on the mirror. The steam was fading away but she could still see the dripping letters. She was crazy. Abby was laughing so hard trying to wipe the mirror off that she could barely see anything. She wiped her eyes; she was going have to think of something better to get her back with. But right now she needed to get ready; however, the question of the moment was: What was she going to do with her hair? She got dressed in her room and set some brown clogs by the door. Back in the bathroom she played with her hair till it was six-fifty. The later it got, the more nervous she was getting and that was making it that much harder to do anything cute with the now half-tangled mess on her head. Abby brushed through all the knots and twisted the long blonde mop into a tight bun on top of her head.

  As she grabbed Melanie’s mascara off the counter, she took a deep breath. “Hope she doesn’t mind, but I don’t have any makeup,” she said to her reflection in the mirror before putting on one light coating. She m
oved the brush carefully over her lashes, taking her time so she didn’t poke an eye out with it. “Hum, maybe a little perfume too?” She smelled the first bottle and scrunched up her nose as she put it back down, the aroma was far too musky for Abby’s taste. The second bottle was better, more floral and summery. She shot two bursts into the air and then walked through it the way she had seen Melanie do countless times before. She set the bottle back down but changed her mind before walking out of the room and gave another small spritz onto one wrist and rubbed it against the other.

  She slipped into her clogs and grabbed her bag and keys. One last excited, “Yippee,” escaped from her lips as she shut the door and locked it.

  The walk to Westly’s dorm was not far but it was already colder out, and she walked quickly to keep from freezing in her light coat. With a deep breath she stepped into the elevator in his building and was on her way up. Abby found the door with the room number he had told her and paused for a moment taking a deep breathe before knocking. It wasn’t hard to put a smile on her face when he answered; he was smiling and looked great.

  Her stomach swam with butterflies as in one swoop his arms were around her waist and she was in the air, off the ground and the door was shutting behind her. He didn’t wait for her to say hi before he began kissing her. A deep, long kiss that made her melt inside. He put her back on the ground gently and took her hands into his own.

  “You’re five minutes early,” he said and softly kissed her hand, looking into her eyes.

  “Oh, I’m sorry is that bad?”

  “No I’m glad. I was tired of waiting. Please sit,” In one smooth motion he pulled out a rolling chair. “I have to get our dinner from the kitchen.”

  “What kitchen?”

  “The one down the hall, I couldn’t cook in my room very well with just a microwave,” he said smiling. “I’ll be right back.” With a kiss on her forehead, he was gone.

  She turned slowly and looked around the room. Westly had put a card table up with two chairs across from each other. The plates were purple plastic and there were candles and three purple roses in the middle of the table. She was shocked he had done all this just for her. Looking around the room she saw a cluster of black and whites photos and a couple movie posters on the walls. Westly’s bookshelf was overstuffed with old books and textbooks. Westly had so many there was an overflowing pile of books on the floor beside his desk. A large CD rack sat in another corner, also stuffed, with a pile of more beside it and another pile next to his radio. His computer desk had two computers on it. Her eyes traveled back to the cluster of photos hanging together. The black and white style gave them an old-fashioned feel, like they had been passed down over the generations to him. The largest of them, a city skyline, made it clear that they were not very old at all.

  The door opened, and he was pushing a small cart in the room. It smelled absolutely wonderful!

  “Now I’ll warn you I’m not a great cook, but spaghetti is kind of easy.”

  “Smells great, thank you.”

  Westly turned on the CD player, keeping the volume low. It was a song she had never heard before. He sat across from her after he filled their plates.

  After a few minutes of silence, Abby spoke while twirling her fork around in the spaghetti, “I was looking at your black and white pictures, where did you get them?”

  “I took them actually, in New York City a few years ago. You like them?”

  “They look so old, I love them.”

  Westly told her about a weekend trip he had taken into the city; he had gotten no sleep the first night. He explained that he was in awe of how the city was at night; it just came to life in a totally different way then in comparison to the hustle and bustle of the city in the daytime. Abby ate while he talked about the rest of the sleepless weekend. The next night he took his camera with him and looked through its lens almost all night long. Westly told stories of the people and things he saw. He pointed to each picture as he told its story. Abby said nothing and let herself fall into the sound of his voice. He had a way of speaking that brought her right there beside him while he took the photo. She could see beyond the edges of the frames, everything else around them. At times she almost felt like she was looking at the city through his eyes. When he was done she just stared at him. There was nothing she could say.

  “Which one is your favorite?”

  “The one of the beach near Coney Island I think; although, they are all beautiful. Thank you for telling me about them.”

  “I developed them in black and white so they would look older. There is something almost romantic about the city at night. I think you would like it there.”

  “You took me there with you tonight, I did love it.”

  “How is the food?”

  “Oh, it’s good,” Abby had not even realized that she had stopped eating, “You should give yourself more credit for your cooking skills.”

  Abby finished her last few bites and then asked to use his bathroom. She wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything in between her teeth before he saw it.

  “Yes, I got lucky and don’t have a suite mate, so it’s all yours.”

  Abby excused herself and went in to the bathroom; everything inside was dark blue. She closed the door and turned on the water to wash her hands.

  When she came out of the bathroom, he was sitting on the futon and he had cleaned up the table and put it away. Westly reached out for her hand as she walked toward him. She sat beside him and he put an arm around her.

  She looked into his eyes and smiled, “I can’t believe you did all this just for me.”

  “Do you like the roses?”

  Abby glanced around and found that he had moved the small vase onto the desk, “They are beautiful, where did you find them?”

  “They were hard to find I’ll tell you that much! But I was very happy when I did.”

  “Why were you happy?”

  “Because Abs I knew that you would like them, and I wanted this evening to be perfect. What makes it perfect for me is that you were here and that you are happy.”

  “Westly, are you…” Abby paused this was going to sound stupid, but she had to ask. “Can you even really be real? I feel like I’m going to wake up any second, in another time and place, and then you’ll be gone. I was not even looking for anything and here we are. I know it sounds cheesy but I just keep thinking that you are too good to be true.”

  He said nothing for a moment and just touched her cheek. His thumb lightly caressed her bottom lip; then he kissed her deeply, a sweet kiss that that kicked up every butterfly that had settled down to rest in her stomach again.

  “Abs if this is a dream, and I’m pretty sure it’s not, I don’t want to wake up either.”

  Abby curled into his chest and stayed there for the longest time. What did he have planned now, anything? She would be happy just to lie there in his arms again all night.

  “Would you like to go for a walk? It’s a nice night out.”

  Abby looked up at him and smiled. She nodded but did not move.

  A few minutes later they stood up and were going out the door. They walked around campus for awhile holding hands but mostly with his arm around her keeping her warm. They walked around campus, mostly silent, only talking from time to time about nothing in particular at all.

  By the time they arrived back at her dorm, it was nearly two in the morning. Paul was in the lobby of her dorm pretending to read. Abby waved hi to him and he looked annoyed at them, answering with just a nod. When they got to her room, Abby invited him in and he accepted. The doorway barely closed when Abby was back in his arms and kissing him again. If he was a dream, he was the most perfect one she had ever had.

  Chapter 10

  That night and most of Sunday morning was spent just lying in his arms. They watched a movie in the early afternoon, not that either of them had paid much attention to it. They went to lunch in the cafeteria. She saw Melanie and Jamal sitting together across the room
and just smiled at the two of them, she could only imagine what Melanie was telling him. Abby wasn’t quite ready to share Westly with her friends. Plus she should get to be the person to tell her friends about him, and she was not going to do that till she knew it was becoming something more than it was right now.

  It was good to see the two of them together though. Maybe she wouldn’t have to play set-up for Jamal anymore. After lunch he came back to her room with her and they lay in bed together again till almost six in the evening. Abby never wanted to be out of his arms.

  “Abs, are you awake?”

  “Yep, just enjoying our time together. Why? Do you have to go?”

  “Yes, but just for a little while. I can come back later if you want.”

  “No that’s okay, I’m getting bored with you anyway.” A shocked looked flashed across his face before she smiled and hugged him tighter. “You’re lucky I am going to let you go now, next time I might not be so willing to let you leave.”

  “You are beautiful when you smile, you know that?”

  What could Abby say to that? She kissed him again and then reluctantly walked with him to the door, her arms firmly around his waist the whole time.

  “I’ll be back later. I have some things to take care of. Miss me while I’m gone.” He kissed her on her forehead and started to leave.

  “Westly.”

  He turned back to her with his crooked smile and waited, “Yes?”

  “Never mind. I’ll see you later.” She couldn’t say it. Did she want to admit that she would miss him or that she wanted him to miss her? He walked back the couple of steps to her door and wrapped his arms around her waist lifting her up just slightly so that her face was level with his own. All it took was the smallest whisper into her ear and the feel of his lips brushing against her cheek, and she melted into him.

  “Tell me Abs, what did you want to say?”

  “I’ll miss you,” she confessed. When he did that she just might have told him anything. It’s a good thing she didn’t have any government secrets to keep.