Long Distance

Tess

"Tess it's your 21st birthday—we are going out! I had to go out without you on mine, and it was the worst night of my life. I'm not going to let that happen to you."

I look over at her. She's sitting at my desk playing with a pencil. I just roll my eyes, knowing it wasn't true. Mia got completely wasted on her birthday with her cousins. They have pictures and videos to prove it.

"Mia I'm different than you. I don't need to go to a bar for my birthday. Let's just get an ice cream cake and some drinks to bring home. We can watch a movie. It'll be fun."

Mia stands up, puts her hands on her hips.

"No! You are 21. We are out of our high school, away from those people. You can be yourself. Let things go. That's my goal. I'm going to get you out of your shy little shell, Miss Tess"

Mia goes to My closet and starts throwing clothes at me to wear. Before I knew it I was covered with my own clothes. Almost suffocated by them. I'm just glad she didn't throw shoes at me. Knowing her she would have if I put them in my closet.

"Now Tess, pick out an outfit from those clothes, or I will pick one out for you. You won't like what I pick out, just remember that."

I slowly come out of the clothes, because honestly at this point I'm a little afraid of my best friend.

"Why won't I like what you pick out?"

"Because it'll be very slutty. Very!"

The look on Mia's face. I never saw that look before. I was definitely afraid of her. Afraid of the night to come. Of what we were going to do. I'm not saying I'm a goody too shoes. I just don't dress slutty.

I do have a shell; I barely ever come out of it. I doubt if I ever will. I like it. It's comfortable. I guess coming out of my shell for one night won't hurt. Hell, it is my 21st birthday after all. It might even be fun.

"Okay fine I'll pick out an outfit. I can't believe you're making me do this."

"Oh come on. Deep down you know you want to. I know you don't want to be in bed all the time watching Netflix. I know you want a life. Tess, I've known you since we were kids. We are best friends, you can't hide from me."

"I know you just understand me so well. Even when I hide, you still understand me. I don't know what I would do without you."

"Well good thing you'll never have to know. "

Mia gives me a hug. Her hugs are the best. They make you feel better on the worst days. I'm lucky to have her as my best friend!

"Very good thing"

Mia and I are all dolled up and ready to go out. Now my mom wants a picture of us. She always wants a picture. She can never believe how beautiful Mia and I've become. We're all grown up. I don't like it when she says that. I still don't want to grow up. Yeah, I want to do grown up things but not have grown up responsibility. Wouldn't that be the life?

At the bottom of the stairs, I yell for my mom.

"Mom, we are ready to go "

Here she comes out of the kitchen with her camera. No, we are both not surprised.

"Now stand together girls, and smile. Oh good. You two look gorgeous. Have fun, but remember I don't have bail money. So don't have too much fun."

Yep, that's my mom for ya. Gotta love her. She's the best.

"Yes, mom, I remember—you tell me every time I leave the house. Love you."

"Hey, miss Stacy I'll just sell your daughter for bail money, okay?"

"As long as you sell her for enough and I get some of the most. I did give birth to her you know."

They both laugh as I glare at the two of them talking about selling me on my birthday. Honestly, I'm used to it. It's kinda funny.

"Okay you kids go have fun, and do anything I wouldn't do."

"Yes Miss Stacy."

"Yes mom, love you."

"Love you too."

As I give my mom a hug, Mia is running out the door to her car. She is not giving me a chance to back out on this. I really don't blame her. My stomach is in knots right now. I feel like I could throw up. I haven't even drunk anything yet. It's going to be a long night.

Mia gets out of my subdivision and turns down Red Bluff Rd to go to the closest bar. We finally get there. Mia, of course, has to announce it to the whole bar that's it's my 21st birthday. She loves making a scene, especially If I'm in the center of it. I don't know why she does that. She knows it bothers me. Like that one time, she made this big scene at school, because someone was making jokes about kids not having fathers. It really didn't bother me, but she made it seem like it did.

"Mia! Why did you have to do that" I ask as I pull her to the side of the bar?

"Tess, it's not like we are rich. We need to get ourselves free drinks. What better way than to tell the guys in here that it's your 21st birthday. Right?"

"I don't really think so"

"Oh just trust me."

Well her trick worked. Honestly, I'm not surprised, her cousins know how to party and they taught her. Now she's teaching me, and we are getting free drinks and dancing all night. It is great. I finally feel like me for the first time in a very long time. Other than the drinking, that's not me, but for tonight it is.

Mia and I sit at a table talking, sipping our drinks. When I hear the door open—of course nosy me, I have to look. These two guys walk in, but if I'm being honest I only noticed the one. He was wearing cowboy boots, Wrangler jeans, he had a beard, and a Pittsburg Steelers T-shirt. I had to respect the guy. Wearing a Steelers shirt here in Washington.

I immediately liked him. I'm not a Seattle fan myself. At this point, I'm staring at him. I mean I'm not hiding it. I thought I was, but I wasn't. At that moment, when I realized what I was doing, we made eye contact. In his baby blue eyes. They are so beautiful. I'm surprised I could tell in the bar, but he was standing under a light, so that helped. He smiles at me. 

The cutest smile ever. I get butterflies, but I also blush and freak out. I was just staring at him. I get up from the table and go to the restroom. I talk myself into going back out there. I was expecting Mia to follow me in here, but she never did. I could have really used her advice right now.

When I head back to the table, he's there. The most handsome man I've ever seen before in my life is at the table. I'm frantically searching the bar for Mia. She's nowhere to be seen. I'm so nervous, but I have to walk up to him. My purse is on the table. Now it's him who is staring, but he's not staring like I was staring. I was out of shock. He's smiling sipping on his beer as I get closer.

Once I get to the table all I do is ask

"What did you do to my friend?"

Apparently, that was funny, because he starts laughing.

"No, not funny, where is she?"

"Oh, I'm sorry birthday girl I didn't know you had to be with her all the time. She told me you would be fine without her."

"How do you know it's my birthday? I don't even know you."

"No you don't, but I'm pretty sure you could pick me out of a crowd of people by how hard you were staring at me when I walked in."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't lie. I'm not mad. Honestly, I'm just here to make sure you're all right from puking after seeing my Steelers Colors."

Ok, that got me. That's when I started to laugh. He got very confused though.

"Why are you laughing so hard?"

"Because I'm guessing you think I'm a Seattle fan"

"Well yeah, we are in Washington."

"Yeah and your point. Look at your own shirt before you assume about me."

He looks down and laughs

"Oh, I'm not from here. I'm here on business. I'm from Ohio."

"Oh okay."

"So if you're not a Seattle fan, then who are you a fan of?"

"I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to make fun of me."

"I promise."

"Okay, I'm a Redskins fan."

He kept his promise.

"How did you become a redskins fan?"

"I honestly don't know. My grandpa was a Seattle fan. I was put in a cheerleader outfit as a baby. When I was old enough to choose for myself I chose the redskins."

"Aww, I bet you made a cute little cheerleader."

"Okay, so not telling you about the time I was a cheerleader. Check."

"Oh no, you can tell me all about it. Details please."

"Dude I was in elementary. You perve."

He got wide-eyed.

"You didn't say that. You can't call me a perve for you not telling me the whole story."

I just shrugged.

"You assumed without hearing the whole story."

"The way you implied it was that you were older."

"No. You said, 'I must have been a cute little cheerleader.' When I actually was a cheerleader, I was freakin adorable."

We both start laughing. I'm still laughing because I find myself hilarious. When I finally stop laughing, I notice he's just staring at me, smiling. 

"Hey, birthday girl you have the most wonderful laugh I've ever heard."

"Thanks. I like it. I've worked my whole life on it."

Again I get a confused look from him. I'm starting to like that confused look of his.

"What do you mean by that? Do you really practice your laugh."

"Oh no. I was joking. I was just meaning I laugh a lot."

"Okay that makes a lot more sense"

Now I'm a little confused, but I don't show it.

"Why would it be weird if I did work on my laugh?"

"Just for you because you have such a wonderful one. That has to be natural."

"Damn kissass much?"

Okay, it's all making sense now.

"Wow Okay. I guess I'm going to have to work harder to win you over."

"Yes of course. Lines like that aren't going to work. No matter how much I've been drinking."

"So if I tell you how beautiful and funny I think you are, it wouldn't work?"

Honestly, it probably would, but I'm not going to let him know that. I don't know why he's talking to me. There are way prettier girls than me.

"No, it wouldn't, because I know I'm beautiful, and my mommy tells me all the time how funny I am. My mommy doesn't lie."

I smile big at him. He just laughs and shakes his head.

"You have to stop smiling like that birthday girl."

"Why? It's my smile."

"Because I'm not going to be able to stop looking at it. I'm not here long, a smile like yours can do a lot of damage to a guy in a short amount of time.

My heart drops. It's beating a million miles a minute. I'm nervous.

"Who said anything about you being able to look at my smile other than tonight."

He looked at me with shook.

"No one, I was just hoping I would see you again."

"Well, you don't want me to smile. I smile a lot, so it just might be a problem."

He gives a little smile. It's the cutest thing I've seen. I can't wait to tell Mia about this. She'll be so excited. She'll be so proud of me that I actually talked to a guy that I didn't know my whole life. A very cute one. He has to be older.

I should probably find out his name, but he never brings it up. I just go along with the conversation. I just get lost in his blue eyes. I just want to reach out and touch his beard. I don't want him to stop talking. His voice calms me. Makes everything else disappear. What am I thinking, I just met the dude.

"Okay birthday girl, I'll live with you smiling. Only if you go out with me."

I get really nervous. I can't go out with him. I still have to find Mia. That's the only reason I come over here. Well and my purse. Two there's no way he really likes me. What does he really want? Once he gets it he'll just leave or kill me. Three he's from out of town, hell I don't even know his name or where he's from. I can't do it.

"I can't go out with you."

"Why not?"

Because you're a murderer.

"I don't know your name, you aren't going to be here long, and you won't tell me where my friend is."

He lightly laughed

"Birthday girl, I'll tell you anything you want to know. My name is Nate. No, I'm not going to be here long, but it's just a date. After how well we got along tonight I think we owe it to ourselves to try this out. I honestly don't know where your friend is. All I know is she left the bar."

Mia didn't leave me. Leave me with a guy I didn't know. Did she? I like the name Nate, it fits him. He's right though, it is just a date. It's been a while since I've been on one. I'm not going to talk about that. That's how bad it was.

"Yeah, I guess I'll go out with you. "

He got the biggest smile ever.

"Oh, it's going to be a good one. I'm already planning it. Tess, you have no idea. "

I'm freaked out.

"WHAT. How do you know my name?"

He starting laughing. Big belly laughing, which made me worry.

"Your friend told me. I just liked calling you birthday girl."

"Oh okay."

"Did you think I was a stalker?"

"Yeah kinda"

"I'm not going to lie. If I was going to stalk anyone. It would be you."

I made a face at that. Because that was creepy. I don't care how hot you are. Stalking is creepy as hell.

"That doesn't help you in any way."

"Yeah, I realized after I said it and saw your face."

"My face says a lot."

"Yes it does and I'm glad. Now I know I'm a little creepy and to keep somethings to myself."

"Or to just not think about stalking people. That'll be a plus."

"Good point. Glad I met you."

"Your parents should have taught you that."

"It didn't sink in until I met you."

I just roll my eyes

"Again, kissass."

Nate

Jake and I get in the truck to head home from the job site. I'm driving, of course, but Jake wants to go to the bar. Ugh, I don't. I just want a shower and go to bed.

"Jake let's just go to the hotel. I'm not really in the mood for the bar."

"Nate it's Friday night, we have to go out it's an unwritten rule."

"Fine, but I'm not happy about it, because I was really looking forward to a shower."

"You can shower after. As long as you don't get too drunk."

We both laugh, because I don't really heavily drink. When we aren't at home. I give in like I always do. I just can’t say no to a good time. It’s a problem I’m aware of, but not working on yet. I still got time.

I turn into the bar's parking lot. We walk inside. You know the feeling when you know someone is staring at you? Yeah, I felt it. I looked all over the bar until met the most gorgeous eyes I have ever seen. Well, I'm going, to be honest, the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen.

She's way out of my league and she's staring at me hard. I'm so glad I decided to go to the bar. Now if only I could talk to her. I think I freaked her out. She just ran to the bathroom. Jake and I took this opportunity to order our beers.

That's when her friend came up to us.

”So my friend was staring at you.”

Jake was taking a drink of his beer at that time and choked on it. It came out of his nose.

”Yeah, I noticed,” I said

”Well it's her birthday, and I'm trying to get her to come out of her shell. So here is the plan. You are going to go sit at the table and talk with Tess while I leave with your friend here to give you two some privacy.”

”Damn, you're bossy.”

”Yes, and you don't want to see what happens if you don't do what I say.”

Not going to lie, she's a bit scary. I really want to do this so I can talk to her. Tess. Tess, I like that name. It's beautiful. Just like her.

“Okay, I’ll do it.”

”Well duh, you say it like you had an option.”

”Damn okay.”

I'm really excited. I hurry over to the table. I can't wait for Tess to come back to the table. She comes out of the bathroom. Oh, she doesn't like that I'm sitting here. She's searching for her friend. All I can do is smile and sip my beer, so I don't look like a fucking idiot. That's how I feel though.

The whole time we are talking, I'm surprised she's laughing and smiling. Damn her smile is killing me. How does this woman not have a boyfriend? Can I be ever so lucky to be her boyfriend? That thought makes me upset because I'm only here on business, but I can't let her go. So I have to ask her out. Thank God she said yes.

I'm already planning it. I pick her up, I give her flowers, but I don't want it to be like any other date. Oh, what do I do?