Collide: A Bex Taylor-Klaus Fanfiction

Collide - Chapter 13 : Lemon Drop Martinis

-Bex-

Cole and I had just finished our meeting with Danielle at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Everything was set up and ready to go for the next couple of days. All three of us had our own list of things to complete in order to make this whole thing extra special for Noelle. For whatever reason, making her feel beautiful and special had become a top priority for me. It was about more than just her having a good time while she was here.

"Are you nervous? I mean you're kind of taking her on a date."

"No. It's not a date. It's two people getting dressed up and going out to a nice dinner."

"So, a date." Cole wasn't going to let this go despite my constant response that it wasn't a date. At that point, I wasn't sure who I was convincing; her or myself. We drove back to the apartment and I got changed in to black skinny pants that could pass as 'dress pants', a black t-shirt and my leather jacket. I decided to wear my converse shoes with it, because there was no way I was going to spend the night uncomfortable. I mean my stomach was already in knots. Why in the hell was it in knots? This is not a date. We are two friends going out to a nice dinner. Fuck. It's so a date. No it's not. I had to get out of there. My brain and heart were starting to battle and apparently have a conversation with themselves. 

"Do I look like a 'T-bird' from Grease? Be honest."

"No, you look great. She's going to melt in to puddle when she sees you."

"Thanks. Lauren is going to bring by all of those clothes and makeup within the next hour. My cab is here, so.... I guess we will be back later." My palms were already becoming sweaty.

"Have fun, Danny Zuko." Cole burst out in to hysterical laughter.

I closed the door behind me and walked down to where my cab was waiting. I had decided not to drive, because a strong ass drink or two might be needed to calm my nerves. Shit, if there had been a shot of anything in that cab, I would have thrown it back. It felt like the longest ride ever from my apartment to the salon. The cab driver parked in the temporary parking that Cole had parked in hours before. 

"I should only be a few minutes."

After getting buzzed in and climbing the stairs, I took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Dugg greeted me with the utmost enthusiasm. 

"Look at you!" He exclaimed.

I blushed. 

"Wait until you see her. You are just going to die!" 

Yep. That might actually happen. I could die. She could walk out and I could die of heart failure. Wait. Why in the hell was I so nervous? This isn't a fucking date, damn it. As I was trying to convince myself one way or another, I heard Dugg call her in to the room. Holy fucking shit. I suddenly felt like I couldn't breathe. Damn it, Bex. Get it together. She was smiling ear to ear and was walking with her head held high. She looked absolutely stunning.

"Hi..." She said shyly. This time though, she didn't look at the floor.

"Hi... hey.. You uh, you look ...." I couldn't get words out. What the fuck was happening to me?

"Stunning? Beautiful? .... but since you can't seem to speak, I'm going to go with breathtaking." Dugg said, filling in the blanks for me. 

She continued to smile and giggled at my loss of words. 

"Is there water somewhere? My throat is dry." I coughed and excused myself to find some water. Oh my god. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. I had to eat in front of that. I had to talk to that. That was the most beautiful and adorable woman I have ever seen in my life. I repeated 'this is not a date' about twenty times before I took a deep breath and returned to find Noelle chatting with Lauren and Dugg.