The Concept of Perfection

Chapter Twenty Five- From Here On

Chapter Twenty Five- From Here On 

            “Oh, my gosh, somebody’s already asking for catering,” Kelli exclaimed.

            The two of us stared at each other with wide eyes.

            “Isabelle is going to freak!” she yelled.

            Violet came out of the kitchen, looking momentarily confused with our wide eyes and too-wide grins. “What’s the party about?” she asked us. She dumped some papers in the trash bins.

            “Well, somebody just called, inquiring about catering,” Kelli said.

            Her reaction was late, but it was pretty much the same as ours. “Wow! Aunt Isby will be… wowed.”

            Just then, the double glass doors opened and in came Aunt Isby. “Okay. What will ‘wow’ me?”

            The three of us grinned at each other, knowing that once we say it, it really would wow her. Being at Isby’s, as my mother insisted to name the restaurant, was always just enough to make my day. Being with them.

            “Someone wants us to cater,” Kelli said.

            Aunt Isby dropped her keys. “C-cater?”

            We giggled and made air high fives with each other. This was exactly how we had pictured her.

            The doors opened again, and in came Nate with the rest of the guys. Lai, Eli, and Kevin.

            “Looks like our little princess’s date is here,” Kelli said.

            I rolled my eyes and hopped down from the counter, making it a point to glare at her. Nate just lifted a shoulder, as if he couldn’t care less.

            I walked over to him.

            “So, come on?” he asked me.

            Going for my big, anticlimactic exit, I got out with Nate.

            “Well, that was that,” said Nate. And he smiled.

            The sight of his smile always made me feel all weird, and considering that he was the type of guy who always smiled at every moment possible, that was saying a lot. You’d think seeing him smile so much could actually make me immune to it, but no, I wasn’t.

            “So, where are we headed?” I asked him, though I knew his answer already.

            He took my hand in his. “From here on, we can go anywhere.”

            “Can we go swimming?” I suggested. It had not been long since he actually started swimming again.

             I helped him swim and he helped me move from that place.

            “What do you think about going to New York with me? You know, sometime.” I asked him.

            “Are you suggesting we elope?” He raised his eyebrows.

            I punched him casually on his arm as he opened the car door for me. “That was so not it.”

            He kissed me on my temple. “Well, we could, though.”

            “No. We could go visit Adrian’s grave though, and we can visit Arian again. And though my mom was there during the opening of the restaurant, you never really talked, so I was thinking we can do so much now.”

            “We can always do so much, right?” he asked me, smiling, and then ushered me in the car, slamming the door shut.

            Just as he was about to go to the driver’s side of the car, he tripped and fell, and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

            He went inside the car, muttering darkly. Even if I wanted to stop myself from laughing, I just couldn’t. He said, “Stop laughing. I’m human, I’m not perfect, remember?”

            “Wrong,” I told him. “You are.”