Disclaimer: yeah, the actors own their names and all that.
Jackie sat quietly listening as Chris told her the growing tale of how he had met Erina in the bookstore and how he had managed to end up with her book bag. She couldn't help but laugh at some points in the story, as the whole thing was almost comical. What were the chances that so much could go wrong on just a short trip to the bookstore?
Chris, on the other hand, apparently did not think that the whole situation was funny. In fact, he glared at Jackie as she tried to control her laughter. The whole trip to Barnes and Noble had been labeled a complete disaster from Chris' viewpoint. And to top it all off, he still had to tell Shawn about the shirt with its new brown design on the front. Too bad the shirt had started out all white.
".....And then he handed me the bag and walked away," Chris finished and then sat back in his seat. He was happy that the story was finally over. Of course, in his mind he know that the story really had a ways to go since somehow he needed to do something about the bag that now sat innocently at his feet.
"Well, the Barns and Noble guy must have seen you talking with Erina and thought that you were there with her," Jackie surmised and Chris nodded miserably.
"Yeah, but what do I do now? I mean, what about the bag?"
Jackie shrugged, trying not to laugh again. Poor Chris, she thought, he's really done it this time. It seemed as if he couldn't get away from the girl in New York.
"You could send it back to her. Her address is on her license," Jackie suggested just as the seatbelts light came on and glowed its message right in front of them.
Chris and Jackie both buckled their seatbelts and then stared down at the bag that had caused so much fuss. "She must be freaking out by now," Chris mumbled under his breath but not low enough so that Jackie could not hear him. She looked at him quickly in surprise. Well, well, well, she thought, maybe this girl isn't as much of a pain as I originally thought.
And as the wheels of the plane kissed the ground, Chris stared out the window, wondering what Erina was doing and thinking just then.
..........................................
Erina was freaking out. She stood in the middle of Angela's living room, her face drained of all color. Her arms hung limply at her sides and her eyes were opened wide as she stared at the television screen in front of her. There he was, the guy she had unwittingly spilled coffee all over in the middle of the writing reference section in Barnes and Noble. All Erina could do was stare at him and wish with all her might that the whole experience was a bad dream. After all, it truly was turning into a nightmare.
"Well," Angela said, trying to ease the panic that she saw in her friend's eyes. "Are you sure it's him? I mean, maybe it was just someone who looks like him."
Erina turned to her friend slowly. "I am pretty sure it's him," she said in a very slow and deliberate voice.
Wow, Angela thought. This was turning out better than she had originally thought. Erina had dumped coffee on a television star. In Angela's opinion, it didn't get much better than that. But, Angela could tell how much her friend was stressing over the fact that it had happened.
"At least you don't have to worry," Angela said, trying to calm Erina's frazzled nerves. "You'll probably never have to see him again in person."
.............................................
A FEW HOURS LATER
Jackie sat waiting for the director to finish going over the scene with two of the other actors. She sat in one of the desks on the school set, her left leg crossed comfortably over the right. She leaned back in the chair and made herself comfortable and then she opened the folder. She skipped to the part she had left off on the plane and started to read.
Fifteen minutes later, she was still reading, engrossed in the words on the printed page. "Not bad," she mumbled as she turned the page.
................................................
"You did what to my shirt?" Shawn asked, trying to understand the series of events that had taken place in the bookstore.
"I kind of ran into this girl and she knocked my coffee all over me," Chris answered, looking sheepishly at his friend. This was the third time that he had had to explain what had happened to Shawn because Shawn, at first, could not believe that it had happened at all. Then, Chris had pulled the stained tee shirt out of his bag and shown it to Shawn. After that, Shawn was a believer.
"Maybe the stain will come out?" Chris suggested. "I mean, the stain isn't that big."
Shawn looked at the shirt and then he looked back at his friend. Had his friend developed some kind of sight deficiency all of the sudden that prevented him from seeing that the stain covered almost all of the front part of the shirt? Shawn raised a single eyebrow at Chris in order to present his disbelief.
"Okay," Chris remarked, knowing that Shawn was not buying his optimistic routine, "if it doesn't come out, I'll get you a new shirt, okay?"
Shawn searched Chris' face for any signs of a smile, which would lead him to believe that his friend was joking. But, nothing showed except the pure seriousness in Chris' expression. He truly would have replaced the shirt, Shawn realized. Then he decided to let his friend out of his misery.
"Don't worry about it, man," Shawn said, shrugging. Then he laughed. "Leave it to you to run into some clumsy girl. What did she do, freak out when she realized who you were?"
Chris shook his head, thinking back to what Erina's reaction had been when he had told her what his name was. Her eyes had not given away any form of recognition whatsoever.
"I don't think she knows who I am," Chris said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans. His fingers slid into the cloth and immediately felt a small piece of paper. Chris's fingers closed over the paper and he dragged it out of his pocket, wondering what it could be.
"What's that?" Shawn asked as he watched his friend open up the small piece of paper that eh had pulled form his pocket.
"I don't know......Oh man," Chris exclaimed as he read the brief writing on the paper.
"What? What is it?"
Chris looked at his friend as if seeing him for the first time, because his mind was elsewhere than in that room. He remembered back to the bookstore when Erina's friend had slipped the tiny scrap of paper into his hand. He had thought that she was passing her phone number to him as girls sometimes did. It surprised him that she would do that because she barely knew him. But, then again, girls had done it in the past. He had put the piece of paper in his pocket, intent on throwing it away later when he reached the set. But, now, everything was changed because the little piece of paper did not contain Angela's phone number as first expected. No, it contained something quite more valuable to the circumstance that Chris found himself trapped in.
Chris brushed past Shawn, without answering him. He walked swiftly to the set where he knew Jackie would be, Shawn following hot on his heels. He had seen her there earlier, carrying around the folder that had been in Erina's bag. And even though he had not liked the idea of Jackie taking things out of Erina's bag, he had said nothing.
He found her on the school set, totally engrossed in the story before her.
"You should read this, Chris. It's good," Jackie said, looking up at her friend.
Chris said nothing but just handed her the piece of paper. Jackie read it silently, a broad smile forming on her lips. Oh, she thought silently, this is getting too good.
Shawn leaned over Jackie's shoulder to see for himself what the note said. "Erina Phillips. 594-7724," he read out loud. "Let me guess," he said after a minute of silence, "that's the girl who changed the color of my shirt."
Chris nodded mutely and looked at Jackie for advice. Jackie returned a sly smile of her own. "So, when are you going to call her and let her know that her bag is with you?" She asked sweetly.
.................................................
Erina had taken comfort in the fact that she would never see Chris again. It wasn't like she didn't like him; he seemed like a very nice person. It was just the fact that she had not recognized him and spilled coffee on him all rolled up in one that had her thanking her lucky stars she didn't have to see him again. She couldn't imagine facing him again, knowing what had happened.
By the time she had reached home, Erina felt much better about the whole situation. Her nerves had relaxed and she now had color back in her cheeks. In fact, the issue of her bag being lost was only a thought in the back of her mind. She was so relaxed because, now, having the whole sordid affair over with, Erina could look back and see the humor in it. It's totally my luck, she thought as she let herself in the front door of her home, that I would spill coffee on a celebrity.
She laughed to herself as she walked through the living room to the kitchen, where she could hear her mother singing while she washed the dinner dishes in the sink.
"Hey ma," Erina called as she stepped into the bright kitchen and took a seat at the large oak dinner table.
"Hello, my darling," her mother said, wiping her wet hands on the dishtowel. Then she crossed the kitchen to drop a kiss on the top of her only daughter's head. "And I'm guessing that you ate supper at Angela's house?"
"Yup," Erina answered.
"Hmmm," her mother said quietly as she crossed back over to the sink. "Did you get the book at Barnes and Noble that you wanted?" She asked as she picked up another dish from the sudsy water and started washing it with the cloth that hung in her hand.
Erina looked down at the tabletop and tried not to laugh. No, she hadn't gotten the book. Everything had happened and she had totally forgotten about it. But, how could she tell her mother about all that had happened to her on that day? Erina was finally getting over her embarrassment about the matter; telling the tale to her mother would only succeed in bringing up the humiliation again.
"No," she said simply, allowing her mother to draw her own conclusions.
"Oh," her mother said, looking over her shoulder. "Better luck next time."
"Yeah," Erina returned.
Silence fell over the small kitchen as Erina's mother continued to work on the dishes and Erina lost herself in her thoughts. She wondered what Chris was doing right them, being the big celebrity that he was. Had he told all of his friends about what had happened at the bookstore? Were they all having a good laugh at her expense?
Erina frowned, feeling the old familiar feeling of dread seep into her stomach. How could I have been so clumsy, she thought for the tenth time that day. And how could I have not recognized him?
"Oh, honey, I almost forgot," her mother said, pulling her from her dismal thoughts. "One of your friends called for you."
"Really?" Erina asked, wondering who the caller could have been. She had just seen all of her friends at school that day and none of them had mentioned calling her later on. And she had just seen Angela minutes before. Surely, she would not have called so soon.
"He sounded like a very nice boy," Erina's mother continued and Erina's ears immediately perked up.
"He?" She asked, surprised. Who could have called me, she wondered. Suddenly dread filled her heart and she had a terrible feeling about the phone call she had received. "Mom, what was the guy's name?" She asked slowly.
Erina's mother placed the glass she had been washing in the strainer to dry and then turned from the sink and wiped her hands on the dishtowel again. "Now let me think." She said, leaning against the sink. "He said his first name was ....................Chris and his last name was...."
"Ralph," Erina finished for her in a voice barely higher than a whisper.
"Yes," her mother said smiling, "That's it. Do you two know each other well?"
Erina rolled her eyes and stood from her chair at the table. Just hours before, she and Chris hadn't known each other at all. Now, though......."We're beginning to," she answered before leaving the kitchen and heading for the solace and comfort of her room.
She had just gotten to the foot of the stairs that led to the second floor of the house when her mother called through the kitchen door. "When I told him you weren't home, he said that he'd call you back around nine o'clock tonight."
Erina froze, her right foot resting lightly on the first stair step. The words nine o'clock echoed through out her mind over and over again. Ever so slowly, Erina looked down at the watch that encircled her wrist. 8:45 p.m., it read.
"Oh boy," She whispered and then bounded up the stairs to her room.
.............................................
Okay, Chris told himself, just pick up the phone and call her. It wouldn't be so hard, he knew. All he had to do was pick up the phone and dial. The tiny slip of paper with her phone number lay on the desk, next to the phone. The wrinkles on the paper had been smoothed out so that now it lay flat, Erina's number shining happily off it.
Chris stared at it, unconsciously memorizing the numbers. Why was he so nervous, he wondered. He knew Erina. Well, sort of. It seemed, in the least, that they could not get away from each other. First the coffee event, then the bag thing, and now her phone number. But, the phone number was the key out of the situation, Chris knew. He could call her and explain how he had gotten her bag. Then he'd just send it back to her in the mail. No big deal. After that, he'd never hear from her again. Everything would be fine. Everything would be back to normal.
Would it, his mind asked. Would everything be back to normal? This girl intruiged him with her folder filled with her story and her shy manner. Even her keen ability to turn red at the drop of a hat was interesting. No doubt, she was probably a very interesting person. Yet, Chris would not have the chance to get to know her because after he made that call, he would probably never hear from her again.
Chris picked up the phone slowly. He had to do it. He had to call her.
....................................................
Erina sat at the desk in her room, staring intently at the phone. The clock on her bedside table read 8:57 p.m. Erina's stomach filled with nervousness as she waited for the inevitable phone call. It wasn't the fact that someone was calling her that scared her. Oh no, it was the fact that Christopher Ralph was calling her that set her nerves to jittering about.
What could he possibly want, she wondered. I thought everything was said at the store.
He had called once already. And since he was calling her back, it made Erina think that perhaps he wanted to talk to her about something rather important. What could he want with me, she thought, willing the phone to ring.
8:58.
Could he want me to replace the shirt, she thought worriedly. Perhaps Shawn was not as understanding as Chris had thought he would be. Erina nodded her head once as she decided instantly what she would do, if that were the case. I'll replace the shirt, she thought. After all, I am the one who bumped into him.
8:59
And I'll apologize for not recognizing him, she continued in her mind. I'll tell him how much I like the show. Isn't that what celebrities like, to hear praise for their show?
Erina checked the time and held her breath as the digital numbers turned over to 9:00 p.m. She waited in the silence of her room, her sanctuary. Nothing happened to break the silence. She waited, her heart beating way faster than was normal. Her stomach did flips with nervousness.
9:02
Erina let out a tremulous breath and looked around her room. She laughed and ran a shaky hand through her hair. How silly I have been, she thought. Of course he wasn't going to call me. He had better things to do with his time than spend it calling some girl he had just met in a bookstore that day.
9:05
Mom probably got the name wrong when the person called me, Erina thought.
9:08
She laughed, trying to cover her disappointment. He isn't going to call me, she thought. For a few minutes there, she had been looking forward to the call, no matter how nervous it had made her. And it wasn't really because she thought a real actor from television was going to call her. No, it was because he was a person who was nice enough to forgive the poor clumsy girl who had spilled coffee on him.
A part of her was glad he had not called. Now, she could return to her normal life. No excitement there. Just the usual routine. School, her book.
But, another growing part of her still wished he had called. Someone new to talk to. A new friend. He seemed so nice when she wasn't spilling coffee on him.
9:15
Erina closed her eyes and tried to pull herself together. "No big deal," she whispered to herself. She stood from her chair and walked to the door of her room. Her heart no longer beat at a faster pace than what was normal and her stomach hung heavy like a mound of lead in her chest.
Erina opened the door to her room and stood in the doorway, wondering what she should do to dissolve her depressing state. I'll eat mint chocolate chip ice cream and watch television, she decided. Anything would work, as long as it got her mind off her disappointment.
Erina looked back across her room at the phone, which sat too quietly on her desk. 9:25. It would have been nice, she thought and left her room intent on getting that ice cream.
The phone rang.
Okay, well, what do you think? I am hoping the next part will be out soon because I really want to finish Chris and Erina's story so that I can go onto other stuff. Please review and let me know what you think.
Jackie sat quietly listening as Chris told her the growing tale of how he had met Erina in the bookstore and how he had managed to end up with her book bag. She couldn't help but laugh at some points in the story, as the whole thing was almost comical. What were the chances that so much could go wrong on just a short trip to the bookstore?
Chris, on the other hand, apparently did not think that the whole situation was funny. In fact, he glared at Jackie as she tried to control her laughter. The whole trip to Barnes and Noble had been labeled a complete disaster from Chris' viewpoint. And to top it all off, he still had to tell Shawn about the shirt with its new brown design on the front. Too bad the shirt had started out all white.
".....And then he handed me the bag and walked away," Chris finished and then sat back in his seat. He was happy that the story was finally over. Of course, in his mind he know that the story really had a ways to go since somehow he needed to do something about the bag that now sat innocently at his feet.
"Well, the Barns and Noble guy must have seen you talking with Erina and thought that you were there with her," Jackie surmised and Chris nodded miserably.
"Yeah, but what do I do now? I mean, what about the bag?"
Jackie shrugged, trying not to laugh again. Poor Chris, she thought, he's really done it this time. It seemed as if he couldn't get away from the girl in New York.
"You could send it back to her. Her address is on her license," Jackie suggested just as the seatbelts light came on and glowed its message right in front of them.
Chris and Jackie both buckled their seatbelts and then stared down at the bag that had caused so much fuss. "She must be freaking out by now," Chris mumbled under his breath but not low enough so that Jackie could not hear him. She looked at him quickly in surprise. Well, well, well, she thought, maybe this girl isn't as much of a pain as I originally thought.
And as the wheels of the plane kissed the ground, Chris stared out the window, wondering what Erina was doing and thinking just then.
..........................................
Erina was freaking out. She stood in the middle of Angela's living room, her face drained of all color. Her arms hung limply at her sides and her eyes were opened wide as she stared at the television screen in front of her. There he was, the guy she had unwittingly spilled coffee all over in the middle of the writing reference section in Barnes and Noble. All Erina could do was stare at him and wish with all her might that the whole experience was a bad dream. After all, it truly was turning into a nightmare.
"Well," Angela said, trying to ease the panic that she saw in her friend's eyes. "Are you sure it's him? I mean, maybe it was just someone who looks like him."
Erina turned to her friend slowly. "I am pretty sure it's him," she said in a very slow and deliberate voice.
Wow, Angela thought. This was turning out better than she had originally thought. Erina had dumped coffee on a television star. In Angela's opinion, it didn't get much better than that. But, Angela could tell how much her friend was stressing over the fact that it had happened.
"At least you don't have to worry," Angela said, trying to calm Erina's frazzled nerves. "You'll probably never have to see him again in person."
.............................................
A FEW HOURS LATER
Jackie sat waiting for the director to finish going over the scene with two of the other actors. She sat in one of the desks on the school set, her left leg crossed comfortably over the right. She leaned back in the chair and made herself comfortable and then she opened the folder. She skipped to the part she had left off on the plane and started to read.
Fifteen minutes later, she was still reading, engrossed in the words on the printed page. "Not bad," she mumbled as she turned the page.
................................................
"You did what to my shirt?" Shawn asked, trying to understand the series of events that had taken place in the bookstore.
"I kind of ran into this girl and she knocked my coffee all over me," Chris answered, looking sheepishly at his friend. This was the third time that he had had to explain what had happened to Shawn because Shawn, at first, could not believe that it had happened at all. Then, Chris had pulled the stained tee shirt out of his bag and shown it to Shawn. After that, Shawn was a believer.
"Maybe the stain will come out?" Chris suggested. "I mean, the stain isn't that big."
Shawn looked at the shirt and then he looked back at his friend. Had his friend developed some kind of sight deficiency all of the sudden that prevented him from seeing that the stain covered almost all of the front part of the shirt? Shawn raised a single eyebrow at Chris in order to present his disbelief.
"Okay," Chris remarked, knowing that Shawn was not buying his optimistic routine, "if it doesn't come out, I'll get you a new shirt, okay?"
Shawn searched Chris' face for any signs of a smile, which would lead him to believe that his friend was joking. But, nothing showed except the pure seriousness in Chris' expression. He truly would have replaced the shirt, Shawn realized. Then he decided to let his friend out of his misery.
"Don't worry about it, man," Shawn said, shrugging. Then he laughed. "Leave it to you to run into some clumsy girl. What did she do, freak out when she realized who you were?"
Chris shook his head, thinking back to what Erina's reaction had been when he had told her what his name was. Her eyes had not given away any form of recognition whatsoever.
"I don't think she knows who I am," Chris said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans. His fingers slid into the cloth and immediately felt a small piece of paper. Chris's fingers closed over the paper and he dragged it out of his pocket, wondering what it could be.
"What's that?" Shawn asked as he watched his friend open up the small piece of paper that eh had pulled form his pocket.
"I don't know......Oh man," Chris exclaimed as he read the brief writing on the paper.
"What? What is it?"
Chris looked at his friend as if seeing him for the first time, because his mind was elsewhere than in that room. He remembered back to the bookstore when Erina's friend had slipped the tiny scrap of paper into his hand. He had thought that she was passing her phone number to him as girls sometimes did. It surprised him that she would do that because she barely knew him. But, then again, girls had done it in the past. He had put the piece of paper in his pocket, intent on throwing it away later when he reached the set. But, now, everything was changed because the little piece of paper did not contain Angela's phone number as first expected. No, it contained something quite more valuable to the circumstance that Chris found himself trapped in.
Chris brushed past Shawn, without answering him. He walked swiftly to the set where he knew Jackie would be, Shawn following hot on his heels. He had seen her there earlier, carrying around the folder that had been in Erina's bag. And even though he had not liked the idea of Jackie taking things out of Erina's bag, he had said nothing.
He found her on the school set, totally engrossed in the story before her.
"You should read this, Chris. It's good," Jackie said, looking up at her friend.
Chris said nothing but just handed her the piece of paper. Jackie read it silently, a broad smile forming on her lips. Oh, she thought silently, this is getting too good.
Shawn leaned over Jackie's shoulder to see for himself what the note said. "Erina Phillips. 594-7724," he read out loud. "Let me guess," he said after a minute of silence, "that's the girl who changed the color of my shirt."
Chris nodded mutely and looked at Jackie for advice. Jackie returned a sly smile of her own. "So, when are you going to call her and let her know that her bag is with you?" She asked sweetly.
.................................................
Erina had taken comfort in the fact that she would never see Chris again. It wasn't like she didn't like him; he seemed like a very nice person. It was just the fact that she had not recognized him and spilled coffee on him all rolled up in one that had her thanking her lucky stars she didn't have to see him again. She couldn't imagine facing him again, knowing what had happened.
By the time she had reached home, Erina felt much better about the whole situation. Her nerves had relaxed and she now had color back in her cheeks. In fact, the issue of her bag being lost was only a thought in the back of her mind. She was so relaxed because, now, having the whole sordid affair over with, Erina could look back and see the humor in it. It's totally my luck, she thought as she let herself in the front door of her home, that I would spill coffee on a celebrity.
She laughed to herself as she walked through the living room to the kitchen, where she could hear her mother singing while she washed the dinner dishes in the sink.
"Hey ma," Erina called as she stepped into the bright kitchen and took a seat at the large oak dinner table.
"Hello, my darling," her mother said, wiping her wet hands on the dishtowel. Then she crossed the kitchen to drop a kiss on the top of her only daughter's head. "And I'm guessing that you ate supper at Angela's house?"
"Yup," Erina answered.
"Hmmm," her mother said quietly as she crossed back over to the sink. "Did you get the book at Barnes and Noble that you wanted?" She asked as she picked up another dish from the sudsy water and started washing it with the cloth that hung in her hand.
Erina looked down at the tabletop and tried not to laugh. No, she hadn't gotten the book. Everything had happened and she had totally forgotten about it. But, how could she tell her mother about all that had happened to her on that day? Erina was finally getting over her embarrassment about the matter; telling the tale to her mother would only succeed in bringing up the humiliation again.
"No," she said simply, allowing her mother to draw her own conclusions.
"Oh," her mother said, looking over her shoulder. "Better luck next time."
"Yeah," Erina returned.
Silence fell over the small kitchen as Erina's mother continued to work on the dishes and Erina lost herself in her thoughts. She wondered what Chris was doing right them, being the big celebrity that he was. Had he told all of his friends about what had happened at the bookstore? Were they all having a good laugh at her expense?
Erina frowned, feeling the old familiar feeling of dread seep into her stomach. How could I have been so clumsy, she thought for the tenth time that day. And how could I have not recognized him?
"Oh, honey, I almost forgot," her mother said, pulling her from her dismal thoughts. "One of your friends called for you."
"Really?" Erina asked, wondering who the caller could have been. She had just seen all of her friends at school that day and none of them had mentioned calling her later on. And she had just seen Angela minutes before. Surely, she would not have called so soon.
"He sounded like a very nice boy," Erina's mother continued and Erina's ears immediately perked up.
"He?" She asked, surprised. Who could have called me, she wondered. Suddenly dread filled her heart and she had a terrible feeling about the phone call she had received. "Mom, what was the guy's name?" She asked slowly.
Erina's mother placed the glass she had been washing in the strainer to dry and then turned from the sink and wiped her hands on the dishtowel again. "Now let me think." She said, leaning against the sink. "He said his first name was ....................Chris and his last name was...."
"Ralph," Erina finished for her in a voice barely higher than a whisper.
"Yes," her mother said smiling, "That's it. Do you two know each other well?"
Erina rolled her eyes and stood from her chair at the table. Just hours before, she and Chris hadn't known each other at all. Now, though......."We're beginning to," she answered before leaving the kitchen and heading for the solace and comfort of her room.
She had just gotten to the foot of the stairs that led to the second floor of the house when her mother called through the kitchen door. "When I told him you weren't home, he said that he'd call you back around nine o'clock tonight."
Erina froze, her right foot resting lightly on the first stair step. The words nine o'clock echoed through out her mind over and over again. Ever so slowly, Erina looked down at the watch that encircled her wrist. 8:45 p.m., it read.
"Oh boy," She whispered and then bounded up the stairs to her room.
.............................................
Okay, Chris told himself, just pick up the phone and call her. It wouldn't be so hard, he knew. All he had to do was pick up the phone and dial. The tiny slip of paper with her phone number lay on the desk, next to the phone. The wrinkles on the paper had been smoothed out so that now it lay flat, Erina's number shining happily off it.
Chris stared at it, unconsciously memorizing the numbers. Why was he so nervous, he wondered. He knew Erina. Well, sort of. It seemed, in the least, that they could not get away from each other. First the coffee event, then the bag thing, and now her phone number. But, the phone number was the key out of the situation, Chris knew. He could call her and explain how he had gotten her bag. Then he'd just send it back to her in the mail. No big deal. After that, he'd never hear from her again. Everything would be fine. Everything would be back to normal.
Would it, his mind asked. Would everything be back to normal? This girl intruiged him with her folder filled with her story and her shy manner. Even her keen ability to turn red at the drop of a hat was interesting. No doubt, she was probably a very interesting person. Yet, Chris would not have the chance to get to know her because after he made that call, he would probably never hear from her again.
Chris picked up the phone slowly. He had to do it. He had to call her.
....................................................
Erina sat at the desk in her room, staring intently at the phone. The clock on her bedside table read 8:57 p.m. Erina's stomach filled with nervousness as she waited for the inevitable phone call. It wasn't the fact that someone was calling her that scared her. Oh no, it was the fact that Christopher Ralph was calling her that set her nerves to jittering about.
What could he possibly want, she wondered. I thought everything was said at the store.
He had called once already. And since he was calling her back, it made Erina think that perhaps he wanted to talk to her about something rather important. What could he want with me, she thought, willing the phone to ring.
8:58.
Could he want me to replace the shirt, she thought worriedly. Perhaps Shawn was not as understanding as Chris had thought he would be. Erina nodded her head once as she decided instantly what she would do, if that were the case. I'll replace the shirt, she thought. After all, I am the one who bumped into him.
8:59
And I'll apologize for not recognizing him, she continued in her mind. I'll tell him how much I like the show. Isn't that what celebrities like, to hear praise for their show?
Erina checked the time and held her breath as the digital numbers turned over to 9:00 p.m. She waited in the silence of her room, her sanctuary. Nothing happened to break the silence. She waited, her heart beating way faster than was normal. Her stomach did flips with nervousness.
9:02
Erina let out a tremulous breath and looked around her room. She laughed and ran a shaky hand through her hair. How silly I have been, she thought. Of course he wasn't going to call me. He had better things to do with his time than spend it calling some girl he had just met in a bookstore that day.
9:05
Mom probably got the name wrong when the person called me, Erina thought.
9:08
She laughed, trying to cover her disappointment. He isn't going to call me, she thought. For a few minutes there, she had been looking forward to the call, no matter how nervous it had made her. And it wasn't really because she thought a real actor from television was going to call her. No, it was because he was a person who was nice enough to forgive the poor clumsy girl who had spilled coffee on him.
A part of her was glad he had not called. Now, she could return to her normal life. No excitement there. Just the usual routine. School, her book.
But, another growing part of her still wished he had called. Someone new to talk to. A new friend. He seemed so nice when she wasn't spilling coffee on him.
9:15
Erina closed her eyes and tried to pull herself together. "No big deal," she whispered to herself. She stood from her chair and walked to the door of her room. Her heart no longer beat at a faster pace than what was normal and her stomach hung heavy like a mound of lead in her chest.
Erina opened the door to her room and stood in the doorway, wondering what she should do to dissolve her depressing state. I'll eat mint chocolate chip ice cream and watch television, she decided. Anything would work, as long as it got her mind off her disappointment.
Erina looked back across her room at the phone, which sat too quietly on her desk. 9:25. It would have been nice, she thought and left her room intent on getting that ice cream.
The phone rang.
Okay, well, what do you think? I am hoping the next part will be out soon because I really want to finish Chris and Erina's story so that I can go onto other stuff. Please review and let me know what you think.