Wrong Number Part 3

Printer-friendly version

WRONG NUMBER
PART 3: Second Date

On the night of our first date, my sister Tara was playfully teasing me about my newfound romance while I dialed Keri's number on my cellphone. She giggled at me while I began talking with Keri. Keri and I had a really nice talk reminiscing on our first date and revealing everything about what we had feared going into it. At the end of the chat, we agreed to meet again at the same mall.

Our second date was a double-date with Chloe and her boyfriend. Keri and I were not worried about each other anymore by that point, but sometimes you had to do one more little thing to make your inner worry-wart shut the hell up. I was more than happy to make it a double-date. I would have done anything to see Keri again!

I showed up at the mall again dressed as a girl. This time, as a twist of irony, I wore an outfit nearly identical to the one Keri had described herself wearing during our first, fateful phone call. I had on a dark lavender top, denim skirt with frayed hem, and black tights. I wanted it to be my way of saying that the magic was still alive and well —- or that I wanted it to be, anyway.

She absolutely loved it! She wished that she had thought to do exactly the same thing, but she loved that I had. She took one look at me, dropped her jaw, ran over to me and gave me a big mind-blowing hug when she saw me. She looked wonderful herself. She wore a red top, khaki denim skirt and black tights.

We had much more fun on our second date because we were no longer concerned that we might be in mortal danger. We started out with a romantic comedy movie in the theater at the same mall where we had our first date. It was farther from where we lived than one or two other malls, but we were still feeling the magic of our first date and we didn’t want it to end. Chloe and her date, Joe, thought the movie had been dumb and cheesy. Keri and I both thought it was adorable. Sure, it had some campiness to it, but I was an idealist and a dreamer, so I loved it. Initially, I had worried about whether Keri would feel the same way, but I quickly learned that she had loved it as much as I had.

We walked out of the theaters, straining to adjust our eyes to the light and chatting about the film we’d just seen. Keri and I were hand-in-hand.

“What do you mean it was dumb? It was so sweet!”
“I loved it, too, Keri!”

Keri and I smiled at each other and squeezed each other’s hands. Chloe was ready with her answer.

“Oh God! It was unrealistic to the point of ruining it!”
“Y-yeah, I have to agree.”
“Of course you do, Joey. Your girl’s right here!”
“Good zing, Keri! Now that’s something I can agree with,” I encouraged her.
“I bet you loved it, Joe —- you’re probably a girl at heart!”

Keri and I giggled at her little joke. Joe merely blushed and Chloe rolled her eyes and decided to defend her man.

“You wouldn’t think so if you had him alone and intimate!”
“Why, are you two getting hot and heavy?”
“Uh, Kelly, you’re exactly three-quarters of a millimeter from crossing the line, so watch it!”
“Sorry. You’re right. That was a personal question.”
“That’s better,” Chloe smirked.
"Seriously, though, Chloe, why do you think it was so unrealistic?"

Keri wasn't about to let it go.

"Oh, gee, let's see, just for starters, it's a Hollywood script! Come on, Keri, how can you really think that Mr. and Mrs. Right would just happily meet at a department store? It's dumb luck, I tell you -- emphasize dumb!"
"Oh, Chloe, ten days ago you would have said the same thing about us," Keri glanced at me with something wonderful in her eyes.

Chloe mock-growled with exasperation.

"Yeah but how about the part where they get in different elevators to see if they come out on the same floor?"
"That illustrates that we're not always in control and that if we're patient enough, things can still work out. You have to admit, if that girl had waited another five minutes, they would have been reunited. He did choose the same floor, remember?"

Chloe rolled her eyes.

"But she didn't wait, that's the point! She took off -- and I don't blame her at all. I would have, too. I mean, how the hell was she supposed to know?"

I decided to completely derail Chloe in defense of Keri.

"It's not about knowing, Chloe. We can't always know. That's the point! It's about willingness to take a leap of faith. There definitely are times, as Keri and I have proven," I turned to look at Keri, "when you have to take that leap or else you just lose!" I looked back at Chloe. "That would be dumb!" I looked Keri deeply in her eyes. "I would have waited for you for hours, Keri -- if you still didn't show up I would have torn the building apart looking for you! I would have trusted that you wanted to find me, too."
"Awwwwwww!"

Keri threw her arms around me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Chloe and Joe looked at each other with disgust.

"Look, all I will say is this: I just hope that, unlike in the movie, you two don't have some kid in a devil costume showing up in your elevator and pushing all of your buttons -- though you probably will."
"Pessimist!" Keri kidded her friend before giving her a hug. "If I do get a little devil in my elevator then I'm giving him a lollipop and shoving him out at the next floor!"

We laughed at Keri's humor. We walked back to the food court where we’d met and visited the same eateries. While we ate, we reminisced about our first meeting… for exactly three seconds before Chloe and 'Joey' drifted off into their own discussion.

“I still do think it was kind of crazy to come here and meet each other. It is the kind of thing you hear horror stories about in the news.”
"True, it is, but still, we both knew -- don't ask me how but we both knew -- that it would not turn out like that. We took that leap of faith -- and damn, but I'm glad we did!"

We smiled at each other happily.

“You know what, Kelly?”
“What’s that?”
“Remember what we talked about when we met about how people think they can never have really wonderful things happen to them?”
“Yes, of course”!
“That movie we just saw makes the same point. Chloe and 'Joey' over there," Keri raised her voice enough to make Chloe and Joe look over, "think it was lame but not us."
"Yeah, you and I are big enough optimistic, dreaming airheads to think it might actually be possible.”
“Hey, you take that back! I am not an airhead —- though, after last Saturday, I’m definitely working on it!”

We laughed and took a moment to eat something.

“You’re right, though, Keri. Chloe and Joey look at that movie and see some kind of lottery that nobody can win. They don’t even think it’s possible.”
“Yeah. Maybe it’s because they didn’t just have something out of a movie happen to them like we did.”

I reached across the table and took her hand in mine. She reciprocated with her free hand. We smiled at each other until our reverie was interrupted by Chloe —- again.

“Don’t tell me you two are talking about that stupid movie again,” she joked. “Just because you two risked your lives like a couple of complete idiots and it happened to work out of sheer dumb luck, it doesn’t make the movie realistic.”
“I think Chloe’s got a point there, ladies,” Joe tried to defend his date.
“You’re such an ass kisser!” Keri mocked him with a facetious scowl. We all laughed at Keri’s gibe. “Seriously, do you ever disagree with Chloe to her face?”
“Well, I-I--”
“You know, sweetie,” Chloe turned to him, “I can’t remember the last time you did.”
“Well, yeah b-but–“
“Don’t worry, sweets. I’m only kidding.” She took his hand and squeezed it. “I know you just prefer to pick your battles instead of just bitching whenever you feel like it.” Chloe playfully looked at Keri.

Joe seemed very relieved.

“Yeah, that’s right. I know when not to bring something up, that’s all!”
“Bwok, bwok!” Keri teased him by flapping her arms like a chicken.

I couldn’t help laughing at her. Then Keri turned serious.

“Anyway, Chloe, it was not dumb luck that Kelly and I found each other.”
“I don’t think it was luck either, Keri.”

I looked at her intently, clearly communicating that I thought otherwise. Chloe tried to have the last word.

“Oh? And what would you call it, airhead?”

Keri playfully glared at Chloe before responding.

“Well…” She looked over at me. “I would call it intuition mixed with a willingness to take a leap of faith. Granted, it was a leap that very, very few sane people would actually take, but still. I believe that Kelly and I knew intuitively that we should come and all we had left to do was take that crazy leap.”

I felt warmth surround my heart and I squeezed Keri’s hands. My goofy smile had returned.

“That’s just what I have been feeling, Keri. We just knew.”
“Kelly dialed the wrong freaking number, sweetheart, remember? That was a total stroke of luck!”

Keri looked smugly at Chloe.

“It wasn’t a wrong number.”

TO BE CONTINUED! NEXT IS PART 4: THIRD TIME IS... A COMPLETE DISASTER

[ Other Stories By Mona Lisa ]

up
94 users have voted.
If you liked this post, you can leave a comment and/or a kudos! Click the "Thumbs Up!" button above to leave a Kudos

Comments

Okay. I'm hooked.

Reel me in and put me in the creel. Great job so far, Mona.

huggles from,
Catherine Linda Michel

As a T-woman, I do have a Y chromosome... it's just in cursive, pink script. Y_0.jpg

Ah! Sweet...

...destiny. Or at least the belief therein. :-) It's fun seeing new, rose-goggled love.

-Liz

Successor to the LToC
Formerly known as "momonoimoto"