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Hours passed, and the afternoon became evening. I had plans tomorrow night, but I was alone and bored tonight. I thought about Isaac being off work, and it took all of my willpower to refrain from calling him.
Instead, I made plans to go to Seattle. I bought myself a ticket for a trip after the first of the year. I got in touch with Sabrina to make sure it was a good time for her, and she said it was. I made the reservations for a five-day trip since there was a day of travel on each end. I had been to Seattle to see Sabrina several times, so I was comfortable with the trip and I easily worked out my itinerary. My trip was only two months away, and it felt like an eternity.
I did all of the planning before I ever talked to Isaac. I decided that I wouldn't tell him about it right away. If things didn't work out with us, I could always use the travel opportunity to see Sabrina or cancel the travel plans altogether. I just couldn’t shake the notion that I needed to take action.
I was so happy about my plane ticket that I cooked an entire dinner with items in my fridge that I would never typically use together. I might as well have been doing a cooking challenge. I cooked a big meal, and I did so much tasting as I ate that I wasn't hungry when I was finished. I wound up storing most of it in the fridge. I had a lot of cleaning to do after that.
I looked at the clock afterward to find that it was only 8pm, and I sighed with frustration letting my shoulders slump. It was almost impossible to refrain from calling Isaac. It was like I was counting the seconds until I let myself call him again.
The wait was killing me.
By 9pm, I could take it no longer. I was sitting on my couch staring at my phone, and my fingers just began to press the buttons to take me to Isaac's contact.
I called the number and I put it on speakerphone, holding it out, expecting him to answer, hoping he would.
My heart pounded as I waited.
"Hello? Ari?"
"Yes. Hi. It's me. I'm Ari." I heard all sorts of commotion in the background. "Is it a bad time?"
"Yes, it'sthatAri," he said to someone else. "Yes, from the book. No, she's…"
The next thing I heard was a struggle. I could tell someone was taking the phone from Isaac.
"Hello, I'm Claire, Isaac's sister."
"Hello, Claire."
"I just wanted to hear your voice and see if you really exist."
I sat there for a stunned second. "Hello," I said.
"Did it all really happen like the book said? I remember Isaac talking to you at graduation. I saw you standing over there."
"Most of it, up until the part where I left the shirt. Nothing about me was right after that. Ari in the book was cool, though."
"So, you're not in Chicago?"
"Atlanta," Isaac said on the other end.
"You're in Atlanta?" she asked me.
"Yes," I said.
"Yes, and I'm trying to talk to her," Isaac said, cutting in.
"Hang on, I just wanted to… what's your real last name?"
"Moreno," Isaac and I said at the same time.
"Oh, whoa, I had no idea what you were going to say. How did you call my… did you read the book?"
"Claire, I was talking to her," Isaac said.
"Is this the first time you're talking to her?" she asked.
"No, thank goodness, it's the second. We talked last night."
