Chapter 4
When I woke up the next morning, the previous night felt like a long, drawn-out dream. I didn't know if Sirius had really said those things to me or not. There was only one way to find out, give him a call and see if he'd meet me for lunch. Was I really going to ask a guy out? Yes. Its 1980… of course I can ask a guy out.
I climbed out of bed and made my way to the shower. I stayed in there along time, letting the hot water relax my tense shoulder muscles. When I stepped out, I was a lot calmer than when I went in.
My closet was full, as the day before had been laundry day, so I peeked through the mess of blouses and pants to find my favourite purple blouse and dark denim jeans. The phone rang as I was buttoning up the last buttons on the blouse.
"Hello?" I asked after I picked up the receiver.
"Hi, Krista? This is Sirius." The rough, familiar voice said. My heart fluttered and I slapped at my chest to stop the fluttering but no success.
"Hi," I squeaked and quickly cleared my throat. "Hi. How are you?" I hoped my voice sounded normal, but at the rate I was going already… who knew.
"I'm good, I'm good. So, I was wondering what you were doing today and if you wanted to go out for lunch?" I nearly dropped the phone. Was he really asking me out?
I took a breath. "Honestly, I was just getting ready to call you." I could hear his smile over the phone. "I'd love to go for lunch. Do you have any special place in mind?"
"Well I was thinking of this little café down the street from my flat. Did you want to meet there? Or I can come and pick you up."
Pick me up? Really? "No, I'll meet you there. What's the address?"
"Okay. It's 158 Wyndham Road in Southwark. The name of the café is Ali's Café."
"I know where that is. What time shall I meet you?" By this time, my breathing had returned to normal and my heartbeat slowed.
"Shall we try for 1:30? Is that enough time?" I glanced at the clock; it was 12:30 now, just enough time for me to give my mum a quick call.
"Sure, that's plenty of time. I'll see you then." The smile wouldn't leave my face. I couldn't wait for the next hour to pass!
"All right Krista, I'll see you then. Bye." I heard the click of the phone after I responded to his good-bye. I was seeing him again, two days in a row!
I grimaced as I reached for the phone. My hand shook as I slowly dialled the number to my mother's house. It rang three times before I heard my mother's voice on the other end.
"Hello?" Her musical voice answered the phone.
"Hi mum. How are you?"
"Oh Krista! Alan, its Krista," I heard her yell to my father. Knowing him, he just grunted a response and kept his eyes on the telly. There was a big football game on today he just couldn't miss. "How are you honey? Everything going alright with work?"
"Yes mum, everything's fine. I got a promotion." I could hear her excitement over the phone before she even said a word.
"You did! What are you going to be doing now?"
"I'm lead reporter on the story about those mysterious deaths. I start on Monday with my research and writing. Christopher had the story before, but something's wrong with him, he's not having such a great year."
"Oh that's too bad for Christopher, but wonderful for you! My daughter, an important journalist!" She was giggling like a schoolgirl. Had I known this was going to make her happy, I would have worked harder earlier.
"Yes, that's me, a real journalist." We chit chatted for several more minutes as I tried to move the conversation towards my other news. "Well mum, I have other news." I crossed my fingers and hoped she take the news well.
"Oh! What else could you have to say? I just talked to you on Thursday!"
"Well, you know that pub I go to often? Well I met someone there." I held my breath, waiting for the scream to come across the phone lines.
"You met someone? That's wonderful, what's he like?" I was shocked. My breath flew out of my mouth in a big gust as I tried to figure out why she wasn't yelling. I met someone at a pub… not a decent place.
"I spent last evening with him. He cooked me dinner and we talked until almost midnight. He's… different, not like anyone I've met before. He's funny, has gorgeous hair and the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen." I was excited now as I described him to mum. He really was different and his eyes were now my favourite colour.
"He cooked dinner? Ian never cooked you dinner! What does he do?" Mum began firing questions off a mile-a-minute. How did I feel about him? Was he cute?
"Yes mum, he is very good looking. From what he said, he's sort of like a bobby, but not like the locals. We're going out for lunch in a few minutes; he called about a half hour ago."
"Oh! Then I should let you go! You have to get dressed and get ready to go. I'll call you tomorrow to find out how it went. Oh I'm so happy for you! Have fun! Love you!" My mum hung up the phone before I got a chance to say good-bye.
I put the receiver back in the cradle and searched around the house for my purse. I found it ten minutes later, exactly where I left it the night before when I came home. Figures.
I rummaged in the purse for my keys; after finding them, I shut and locked the door. My car was only a few paces from my front door. I knew exactly where the café was and it took me only twenty minutes to arrive.
Sirius' motorbike was parked in front and he was leaning against it with a grin on his face. "Hi there," he said after I had parked my car and gotten out of the driver's seat.
"Hi," I said softly. I walked up to him and he took my hand, kissing the back.
We walked through the door and he quietly talked to the hostess. The next thing I knew, we were walking to the back of the café and being seated at a quiet table in the back. The hostess handed us menus and disappeared, leaving us alone, in silence.
Silence. We stared at our menus and waited for the waitress.
"Hi, my name is Caitlyn and I'll be your waitress. Can I get you something to drink? Or are you ready to order?" A young girl came up to take our order. What amazed me was that Sirius barely paid any attention to her. He glanced at her as he gave his order, but quickly returned his gaze to me.
Once she left with our orders, we were left in silence. Sirius cleared his throat to break the silence. "So, how are you today?"
"I'm okay, but it's still early. How are you?" I smiled; feeling a bit more relaxed now that the silence had been broken.
"I'm better now that you're here." I felt my cheeks grow warm and he laughed as the red colour spread. "Well, did you have a pleasant evening?"
"Yes. I did have a good evening. It was quiet. Was your pleasant?" Krista, couldn't you come up with your own questions? Not very original, are you?
He must have been thinking something along the same lines as he chuckled after my question. "I did. I watched something on the telly and called my friend."
Our drinks came and then the food. We busied ourselves eating, not taking too much time to carry on our conversation. I was trying to figure out how to broach the subject of the previous night. How does one bring that up? Thankfully, I didn't have to.
"Krista, about last night," Sirius started once the waitress had taken away our plates. "I'm sorry if I overwhelmed you. I didn't mean to." He actually looked bothered by the fact that I may not have been able to cope with what he had told me.
"No, I'm not overwhelmed, just…" I paused, unsure of how to explain what I was feeling. "It's just so strange. I didn't think anything like this existed. Everything I knew just changed."
"Yes, it is a bit… inundating. Do you understand why I wanted you to know? Why I had to tell you before this went any further?"
I shook my head no. That had actually been bothering me since the previous night, why had he told me?
Sirius sighed. "I don't know why, but I really like you. Even though we've only spoken a couple times, I didn't want to start a possible relationship off with a lie. I've done it before, and it didn't end well. When I said I had something to tell her, she immediately knew I had been lying and didn't wait to find out what I needed to say. It hurt because I really think I loved her."
Nodding, I stared down at my glass, twirling my straw causing the ice to clink against the glass. "I'm sorry if I scared you, it wasn't my intention." He reached across the table and took my hand, holding it tightly in his.
"You didn't scare me," I responded softly. That was the truth; I wasn't scared, not really. I was nervous; nervous about how this related to me and how it would concern me.
"Good," he said, flashing his grin. "We're having a party next week to celebrate Halloween and a 3 month birthday. Would you like to come with me? I'd like for you to meet my friends."
What? How were we at this point already? We'd only just met! Shouldn't this be going a bit slower? Don't we go on a date before I meet his friends?
"Um, well I don't know." I tried to hide the nervousness from my voice, but didn't succeed.
"Oh, okay. You don't have to, it was just a suggestion." He didn't bother to hide the sadness from his face.
"Can I think about it? This is just going a bit too fast for me. I just got out of a relationship four months ago and I'm not sure I can…" I trailed off, unsure of how I was going to finish the sentence.
"Of course. I understand. I apologize." He let go of my hand and pulled his back to grip his glass. A cold shiver went over me after he pulled his hand away. It was upsetting, like I was missing something.
"It's not that I don't like you, don't get me wrong. I like you a lot; I just don't know what I'm doing." I offered a smile and he gave one back, though not his usual grin. "I'm just scared. No, not of you," I added after I saw the look of surprise that crossed his face. "I'm just scared of being in a relationship. The last one didn't end well and it feels like it was my fault."
"That was the guy who was cheating on you, right? And he's going to marry your friend?"
I nodded. It was my fault; why else would he be cheating on me for so long with Rebecca?
"Krista, that's not your fault. Not by a long shot. You didn't do anything wrong, you couldn't have!" He moved to sit in on the seat next to me and put his arm around my waist, pulling me towards him.
He must have sensed that I was going to cry as he pulled my head into his chest, hiding my eyes from public view. "Give me a minute okay?" He said softly, pulling his wallet out of his pants and throwing some bills on the table. "Let's get out of here."
I nodded and followed him out. He held my hand as he led me out the door and to our vehicles. My old green car looked out of place in the parking lot full of new motorbikes and new BMWs.
"Are you okay to drive?" He looked down into my eyes.
"Of course I am," I snapped and he flinched. "I'm sorry; I just don't like to be talked to like I'm a child."
A smile flickered across his face and I glared at him. He coughed and managed to put on a serious face. "I apologize. I didn't realize I was talking to you like a child."
I rummaged through my purse and pulled out my keys. "Thank you for lunch."
"When can I see you again?" He interrupted.
I stuttered, unsure of what to say. "Umm, I, uh. I have a lot of work I need to do. I don't know anything about my new story and need to research…" I smiled as his smile turned down into a frown. He looked an awful lot like a puppy dog begging.
Despite my annoyance, I laughed. "Call me, okay? I'll try and make some time. Thank you again for lunch." I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek.
"Drive carefully," he kissed my cheek in return as I climbed into my car. I drove off, leaving him to stand and watch the tail end of my car.
AN: okay, so a rather pointless fluff chapter. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: 10 reviews! The beginning does go very fast... if you've read the ONESHOT "If You're Gone" this story is following almost the exact thing. It will start to slow down real soon, once I get this fluff out of the way.
BTW: The cafe Krista and Sirius went to is an actual place in Southwark at that exact address... or so google tells me. Please leave a review on your way out :-) They make my day!