It took a week for me to actually conjure up enough nerve
to call him. When I
finally did I got his machine. His ex-wife's voice was doing the message too!
So I went to work that Monday, braces, crutches and all, with dashed hopes. I
might never see my little divorced and good-looking celebrity friend again. I
was so, so wrong.
As I stood behind the counter at Armani Exchange I couldn't help
feeling a sense
of empowerment. And it wasn’t because three really hot college seniors, science
majors, had hit on me --black eyes, busted nose and all. It helped though. But
because I had this feeling that something was about to change my life forever.
I had just finished ringing up this really stuck-up blonde woman who kept calling
me Samuel. I hopped over to a table of sweaters, right beside the men's
dressing room, and started rearranging them. I heard one of the doors creak
open and tiled my head to the side a little, still focusing mainly on folding
the sweaters. "How did that work out for you, sir?"
"Fine..."
I looked up and there was Kevin, looking even more sexy than
usual, if it was at all possible. I almost said ouch.
"Why, hello, Samantha."
I closed my eyes and took in that voice I had really missed hearing
the passed week.
"Hi, Kevin," I beamed, very aware that my face was
glowing horribly. "What are
you doing here?"
"Oh… just shopping with my cousin and another friend of
mine." Just then he was
joined by a very good-looking blonde.
"This is my cousin, Brian. Brian, this is Samantha."
Brian smiled, "Oh yeah you told me about her. Nice to see
you’re out and about."
"Thank you." My attention was then focused on a brown
haired man who was
wearing one of our new hats. And one that I wouldn’t want my boyfriend to
venture near. He walked over to us, spun once in a sort of hip-hop style, and
grinned a very devious grin.
"What do you think, guys? Is it me?" he had a raspy
voice that honestly did work for him.
Brian smiled, "We know you'll find some way to make it
'you,' AJ." He looked at
me, "Excuse our friend, Samantha. He's suffering from a bad case of
FREAK!" His blue eyes went wide at his last word and made me laugh. Then
snort. I covered my mouth. Kevin looked at me and smiled. I blushed. He winked.
"Samantha, this is AJ McLean. AJ, Samantha Potter."
AJ took my hand and kissed it. "Very please to meet you,
Miss Potter." I liked
these two already.
I put my hands on my hips, "So are you three gonna make me
rich? Or do you see something else in here you like?"
"No, I think we're about through for the day."
"Well, let me ring y'all up."
After that was done I said goodbye to my new friends. Kevin
lingered behind.
"Did you get my note?" he asked, his green eyes
glistening with a light all their
own.
"I did. I called this morning..."
"Call again. As soon as you can I, uh..." he raised his
thick, black eyebrows,
scratching the back of his head. "...there's something I wanted us to
do."
"Like what?" I leaned forward on the counter, not
realizing how desperate that
made me look.
“It’s a surprise.” he said, walking off to catch up with his two
friends.
"Well, if it's a surprise then you should call me," I
was steady scribbling my
number down on the back of a 15% off card. I slid it across the counter to him
and he put it in his pocket.
"I'll definitely call you, Samantha." He reached across
the counter and brushed
some hair away from my face. Then he kissed my cheek. When he pulled away he
winked again and I melted. Kevin left the store, slipping on some yellow Chloe
sunglasses and I was left to try and pull myself together. One of these days I
was gonna go back to that ranch and give that Dottie a ton of carrots!
Raquel was one of my co-workers and she was just as crazy as my
brother. She
smacked my hand.
"Do you know who that was?!"
"Who?" I asked, playing dumb.
"Ohmigod, I can't believe you just rang up three Backstreet
Boys."
"Oh my," I put a hand to my mouth, concealing my huge
smile. Raquel was
trippin.' Then she ran off to tell everyone else who worked there that I, Sam
Potter, had just slipped my number to each a Backstreet Boy! Whoopie....