He had been planning Valentine's day since the day they had taken their friends with benefits deal to an actual relationship. He knew Maxie wasn't a mushy romantic. But it was Valentine's Day and aside from a girl's birthday when else could you really go all out? Especially on a detective's salary. He'd talked Mike into letting him have Kelly's for the night. He had thought about asking Carly to let him have the MetroCourt. But she still despised the ground he walked on. It appeared that no matter what he did? She'd never like him which was unfortunate because her children were his siblings.
He'd fixed the place up and there were the tackiest big red hearts hanging from the ceiling, a few roses in a vase on one of the tables, a red velvet cupcake on a plate and he had somehow managed to shape it like a mangled heart. He hadn't intended on it being mangled, so much. But he was far from a baker or a sculptor for that matter and when he'd tried a cookie cutter? Well, the cookie cutter had won the battle. Clearly, he should leave the cooking to his parents Emeril and Rachael Ray.
It had taken him nearly an hour to get the stereo hooked up so that he could play 'their' song at some point during their evening. But he knew it would be worth it. He glanced up at the clock and noticed the hour. It was almost eight. He had called and told Maxie to meet him at 7:30 and while she had been late in the past because of Connie—err Kate, she had always called. He checked his cell phone and saw that there were no missed calls. "Where are ya, Maxie?" He asked, to himself. He snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of the rain on the roof of the restaurant. It sounded like it had picked up. He'd forgotten it was even raining for a moment.
Five minutes later, the phone rang and Dante flipped it open recognizing the ringtone. "Hey, Blondie. Where ya at right now?" He asked as he looked out of the window.
"In my car and my dad would be so disappointed in me for driving and talking on the phone!" she said, as she turned the windshield wipers up to a higher setting. "I just—Kate kept me late with the models and then she told me I couldn't call you for some stupid reason" She said, clearly annoyed. "And now I'm late, like really late, not fashionably late—just "I am so sorry I was supposed to be there thirty minutes ago" late" Maxie added, in one long breath.
"Woman, breathe. I'm pretty sure ya need oxygen to that pretty brain of yours"
"No, what I need is for this stupid rain to let up and to just magically get there! Things like this are not supposed to happen when you have a hot boyfriend waiting for you. No, this is single weather"
He stood for a moment with a look of confusion on his face. "Single weather? What's that? I don't..Babe, I don't think the weather depends on your uh..relationship status"
She hit her free hand on the steering wheel when the person in front of her suddenly slowed down for no good reason. "You—idiot! There's not a streetlight for blocks and you hit your breaks?!Oh, how I want to hit you in the back of your ugly head with my Jimmy Choos!" She yelled, clearly a victim of road rage. "And well it should! It should only rain on single—boring losers who sit around reading Twilight and wishing that they had their own sparkling Tinkerbell vampire!"
"Woah, calm down, don't talk bout the shoes like that. The last time I suggested doin' somethin' like that with your Choo shoes, you threatened to cut me off for a month" He told her, attempting to have her focus on something other than whoever it was in front of her. Clearly, they were pissing her off which in turn was internally pissing him off because it was Valentine's! It was supposed to be a romantic night that ended up with them in bed—well eventually in bed.
She took a deep breath. "I did do that, didn't I" She mumbled. "Anyway, I'm going to be late and I have no idea how late. You'd think it would take five minutes to get from point A to point B. But no, it takes forever because I am driving behind Grandpa and I can't get over into a different lane because then I'd be splattered on the road!" She exclaimed.
"It's okay, I'm not gonna go anywhere. What I have planned will still be here when you get here—so don't worry so much. Just—get off the road whenever there's a turn or somethin'. Cause I have a feelin' if ya follow this guy back the entire way, you might actually kill him"
"Might? Oh, ho, ho, no—I WILL kill him" She snapped.
Suddenly, Dante heard a noise and he didn't know what it was. It was definitely not Maxie. "What is that?" He asked.
"I'm not really—"
Maxie's voice was cut off by a loud noise. It only took him a moment to recognize it—it was a car on car. Suddenly, he became panicked. It was raining and someone had clearly hit her. Although, he had no idea how. "Maxie?! Maxie?!" He yelled, hoping she'd answer. But all he heard was the sound of rain mixed with the crash.
He was overwhelmed with worry, so much so, that he nearly forgot about the GPS in her phone. She'd told him he was overly paranoid and when they'd first started seriously dating? It had apparently been stalker-like. But it was going to save her life now! So, she'd eat those words later. Assuming, she was alive to eat the words. No, she was going to be fine. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was a tap and she'd just dropped her phone on the floor of her car.
Once he locked down her location, he ran out of Kelly's and into the rain. It was coming down as if the world were ending. He hadn't realized the wind was blowing as well which was forcing the rain sideways. Dante was getting soaked more and more as he made his way to his own car. But he didn't care. All he cared about was finding Maxie, period.