this night is sparkling, don't you let it go
i'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home
i'll spend forever wondering if you knew
i was enchanted to meet you
.
Going into the dinner, Chloe had expected spending a few awkward moments listening to her dad give his spiel about Christianity (okay, she really shouldn't call it that, because it would hurt him, and what he said had been anything but a sales pitch) for a while before Hattie got sick of it and left. The only good thing about it would be that she didn't have to pay for dinner, and maybe she would have a chance to get some of those candies she really liked.
But meeting Buck Williams, and hitting it off with him? Not exactly what she expected to happen. She knew who he was, of course, and had always respected him as a journalist, even though she didn't go out of her way to read his stuff. (Not that you really had to go out of your way to read it.) It was just so weird to think, that the famous journalist Buck Williams had spent a good hour or so wandering around talking with (and flirting with) her, of all people. Shouldn't he be talking with presidents and scientists and geniuses? Even talking with her father would make more sense, because he had the experience of being on a plane when the disappearances happened.
But Buck didn't seem to be annoyed by the time that he had spent talking with her.
She really hoped that she'd be able to see him again, to talk with him again, because there was something there, something that could develop into so much more. And she also hoped that she hadn't killed any chance of it by the last thing she said.
Running it over in her head, she groaned. She had gone overboard with that, hadn't she? It probably came across as really desperate, no matter how true it was. Man, he probably thought she was yet another college girl with a huge crush on the hot shot journalist.
.
this night is sparkling, don't you let it go
i'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home
i'll spend forever wondering if you knew
i was enchanted to meet you, too
.
Going into it, well, Buck had been a little worried. The dinner Hattie was going to could go badly, after all. What if Hattie and the pilot got into a fight? What was he going to do? And, really, what was he going to do if they made up? He'd be the awkward third wheel to two people he barely knew.
It turned out nothing like that, of course.
Chloe Steele. He had to see her again. He hadto. She was amazing and smart and funny and willing to stand up for herself and so many other amazing things. Like, there was the fact that she didn't make a big deal out of him being well-known. She didn't treat him like a concept, or show interest in him simply because he was a well-traveled journalist.
Spending time with her felt comfortable. It really shouldn't have, since they had just met, but it was true. What she had said, before she left, about missing him even though they'd just met had rung so true with him. If someone had said that to him before, he would've rolled his eyes at them, and figured that they were just really desperate. But that wasn't the case here, because he felt it, too.
He could probably get her number from the pastor, couldn't he? Except that would just be awkward. And he really was interested in hearing more Rayford's pastor's perspective. Asking for Chloe's number would definitely not leave the best impression.
Hadn't she said she was going to go on a flight her father was flying? He was staring at the screen asking whether or not he was sure he wanted to purchase the ticket before he stopped for a moment to ask himself if he was really thinking this through.
The answer was 'no'.
He bought the plane ticket anyways.