I Saw You

BOOK 2-1

BOOK 2

The next day I woke up full of energies. I left Rachel asleep and went out of the room to go to the campus coffee shop and grab some breakfast for my best friend and me. When I got back, I put everything on my desk and sat on Rachel’s bed to wake her up. I had to tell her everything. I was going crazy!

“Hey... wake up, lazy girl! Come on, wake up! I have tons of news to tell you.”

“Jules! What time is it? Come on; go away, I’m tired!”

“Michael Honder kissed me!”

“What?” she suddenly got up and burst out laughing... I knew that the only way to get her up from the bed before the sound of her alarm clock was to drop the bomb... I knew her since a lifetime and I knew how to play my cards.

“You’re telling me everything, now! Ah... and I want details, understood?”

“Rachel you’re disappointing me! I thought that you weren’t going to renounce to your precious ten minutes more of sleep for nothing in the world.”

“Jules don’t be an idiot... Come on, tell me!”

“Alright. Basically I was in the library and I was about to tidy up the shelves, when suddenly I felt a hand grabbing my hip, making me turn and without having the time to say ‘Oh, hello, Michael’, I found myself with his tongue in my mouth...”

“Ohhh!”

“Yeah!”

“And what have you done...? I mean... did you reject him or...”

“Of course I rejected him. In fact, to be more exact I slapped him in the face. I told him that we were friends and I didn’t want to ruin everything.”

“And how did he get it?”

“Bad. He told me he loves me and hopes that I’ll find someone that loves me at least half as he loves me.”

“God, how cute...”

“Yes, he says... he was but...”

“Jules, you are cruel. You could give him a shot. I mean, after all what would it cost for you to let him take out a couple times and see how it goes?"

“Rachel, I’d be far crueler this way, trust me. I would only give him false hopes and it would me much more badly. And then, even if the kiss didn’t last long, I felt absolutely nothing, in fact I was irritated and I pushed him away.”

“I’m so sorry for him. But anyway the heart cannot be controlled, right?”

“Exactly and... talking of heart... do you know that last night, when I went to my cousin’s, I seriously risked dying?”

“What do you mean? Dying Dying?”

“Yes, someone was about to running on me.”

“Oh my God Jules. Why didn’t you wake me up when you came back? You’re in a state of shock I guess.”

“Ah... to be honest the shock was another...”

“What are you talking about?”

“A guy... a man... saved my life. He grabbed me and shoved me on the ground to avoid that they would run over me.”

“Wow... thank goodness... and what has this to do with your shock?”

“Because Rachel, when I was on the floor with him on top of me and I opened my eyes... God, I believe I’m in love...”

“Are you serious?”

“The most handsome guy I’ve ever seen in my whole life, Rachel... he has nothing to envy to the models from the magazines.”

“Nothing? Who was he, Brad Pitt’s doppelganger?”

“Even better, Rachel, even better...” I hissed with a dreamy look.

“Ahahah!” she burst out laughing. “Come on, don’t exaggerate. Anyway I hope that at this point you have been cheeky enough to ask him his number.”

“Ummm... no, I didn’t ask him! And he left leaving me there fantasizing about him.”

“God Jules, you missed a chance. You know even better than me how rare is for you to like someone. You shouldn’t have let him go.”

“Maybe! Anyways, you know, I’m not that kind of girl. I’m not the one that asks the number to someone... and anyway he was too handsome to be true, so he’ll be engaged for sure.”

“Well, you could have tried. At least he would have answered: ‘I can’t, I’m engaged’. Didn’t you notice if he had a ring on his finger?”

“And who looked at his finger?” and we started laughing in unison.

“Jules Cannygan, you perv... tell the truth... you wanted him to f**k you in his car, there in the middle of the road...”

“Rachel Wake, how vulgar we are... I am offended by how you’re talking... a pure woman like me...” and I smiled.

“Yeah, yeah, pure, of course! By the way I restate that you’ve been a fool not to try.”

“Thank you...”

“You’re welcome,” and we remained in silence for a few moments... All of a sudden she broke the silence with a scream that made me jump.

“Are you crazy? I was having a heart attack.”

“Jules, Jules, Jules, Jules... panic attack...”

“Hey, keep calm, what’s up?”

“The day. The big day is today. The dinner with Josh and his brother is tonight. What should I wear? How should I do my make up? What shoes should I put on?”

“Hey, keep calm, it’s just a dinner.”

“It is not just a dinner Jules. It’s the first family dinner of all my life. I’ll be meaning, but I thank God that he doesn’t have parents. I only have to meet his brother and I’m already freaking out... Can you imagine about his mother and a father?”

“Listen, calm down now. I brought you croissants. Have breakfast, dress up and as soon as you have a break I’ll come with you to buy a breath-taking dress.”

“Yes...! A new dress! Thank you.”

“You have to be perfect for your boyfriend...and also for his brother.”

“Right. Okay, okay... breath Rachel. You are right: now I’ll eat, get ready, do my duty as straight-A student and at break time, we’ll go shopping. We could go to the shopping center nearby.”

“I already thought of it. And I know to which store I should take you.”

“Yeah, cool,” and she high-fived me.

I loved to see her happy. She was so excited for this dinner. I never saw her like that. In addition, most of all I never saw her eyes shine while talking about her boyfriend. With Josh it was different, it was real, she was happy. She was the Rachel that, as a friend, I loved as crazy, too.

We spent almost three hours inside the clothing store Henry’s, in the gigantic shopping center that had opened about a month before next to our campus. Rachel tried almost thirty dresses. She drove me crazy. In the end, she chose a red turtleneck dress that left her back uncovered. Unlike me, she didn’t have a big breast and she preferred to wear high-necked dresses that could maybe accentuate something else. With that dress she looked beautiful, sexy, intriguing but at the same time very elegant.

We went back home and between one chat and another it was 6:30pm and we started getting ready for the evening.

I loved Rachel, and even if I had promised her that I would have accompanied her in her huge step, that night I wasn’t really in the mood to go, I was still thinking about the mystery man. Yes, my mind was certainly somewhere else.

“Jules, would you hurry up to choose what to wear? I’m almost ready and you’re still at zero.”

“Rachel come on, one dress’ as good as another,” and I got back to leaf through my magazine.

“Enough now,” she said, taking it off my hands. “It’s true that the star of this night it’s me... but you shouldn’t be any less,” and she accompanied me next to the wardrobe. “Not this, not this other one... here, this will be perfect,” she said grabbing a black sheath dress with straps and the heart shape neckline. “Simple and elegant.”

“Yeah, maybe too elegant...” I replied.

“Jules, we’re going to dinner in a refined restaurant, not in a diner. So shut up and put this dress on.”

I got ready in a rush and put make up on just because without my face really sucked. I wore black sandals with a high heel and looked at myself in the mirror. After all, tonight I was elegant. I wore my hair in a low ponytail and put it on one side of my shoulder. It could go like that.

I also put a necklace on, to give a final touch. Then I remembered where I was going and I wanted to jump in the bed and sleep.

“So, are you ready?” Rachel said, and when she saw me, she opened her eyes wide. “Wow, you’re a hottie Jules.”

“Stop it, dummie,” and I threw at her the scarf that I had prepared to cover myself with in the event it was cold.

“Come on, let’s go. Josh and Dean are waiting for us there.”

“Dean?”

“Yes, his brother. He’s called Dean.”

We arrived at 7:20pm at the Lou Bistrot, a place way too chic for me. On our way there, Rachel spoke to Josh, who told her that Dean and he were waiting for us inside. When we got in the venue, an intense perfume of sandalwood struck us. The perfume of the headwaiter, that hosted us with a beaming smile and lingered a little bit too much on my neckline.

“Good evening, do you have a reservation?”

“Yes. Our chaperons are already inside. The surname is Hockester.”

“Perfect. Let me give a look. Here it is, Hockester, table 10. The ladies may follow me...”

Therefore, he conducted us towards a bigger room. While we were walking, I couldn’t help it to notice the most tempting dishes that occupied the other guests’ tables. When we got close enough to our table, I saw Josh.

“There he is, Jules.”

“Yes, ma’am, that is table 10. Can I leave you on your own?”

“Yes, of course,” I answered for her, who was enchanted admiring her boyfriend from the distance, without him noticing her.

When Rachel and I got close, the extraordinary happened. The man sitting opposite Josh, from behind compared from our perspective, got up, and turned to introduce himself. I met his eyes. Again. And I felt faint.

“Oh my God,” I said weakly, and shaking his hand I hit a tray that a waiter was taking to a table next to ours. I made a big mess... and I looked really bad with the last person that I would have imagined to meet at that dinner...

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry... I didn’t see you,” I bent to pick up the pieces of my disaster.

“Ma’am, don’t worry, it can happen to anyone. I’ll get it.”

Rachel pulled me up. I wanted to disappear.

“Is everything okay Jules?” Josh said in a really sweet way, to make sure that I was okay.

“Yes. I’m sorry for the mess I made.”

“Come on, it doesn’t matter. It could have happened to anyone. Don’t let this ruin our evening... anyways, just for the record... you’re stunning love,” he said giving to Rachel a quick kiss.

We sat and, without wasting any time, and maybe even to dampen the embarrassment that I created, Josh moved on to presentations.

“Well, Rachel... he is my brother Dean; Dean she is Rachel,” and they stretched out hands and finally I heard his voice again...

“Very pleasured.”

“The pleasure is mine,” Rachel answered clearly nervous.

“Jules, we were already introduced. He is my brother, Dean.”

I didn’t know how to act. After all, even if we didn’t introduce, I already knew him, since he saved my life. I stretched out my hand and before I could speak, he did it for me.

“We already know each other,” he said turning towards Josh, so I pulled back my hand.

“Really? And how did you meet?” Josh asked confused.

“Yesterday evening I avoided that someone run over her.”

“Oh!” Josh exclaimed and he turned to me. I met Rachel’s look, which opened her eyes wide as if she was saying, ‘Oh my God, it’s him!’. Yes, it was he. And I wanted to die. However, I had to break that embarrassing silence, so I said “Yes. Actually, I have to thank your brother if I’m present to this dinner. He literally saved my life.”

“Really? Wow!” Josh said proudly. “You know Dean! I didn’t think that you could add the hero-quality to the many others you have.”

“I just did what any other good person would have done in my place. Can we talk about something else, now?” the way he said it... it was rude... as if talking about yesterday evening bothered him. Why? What did I do wrong?

“Jules just wanted to thank you,” Josh insisted clearly embarrassed about his brother’s bad manners.