Katie sat on her couch, working on her laptop, listening to the emptiness of the two bedroom apartment she shared with her roommate Mallory. Mallory had left twenty minutes earlier for a date and Katie was sitting home alone, again. ‘Well, if I’m going to be home alone, I’m at least going to have some fun,’ Katie thought, so she closed her laptop, grabbed her purse and flip-flops and headed out to her car.
Katie was a petite girl with a bit of a Napoleon complex. She had highlighted blonde hair that hung at shoulder length and baby blue eyes that popped against her naturally tan skin. She drove down to Blockbuster and laughed at the emptiness of the parking lot. ‘I guess everyone in town had a date tonight.’ She shook her head and walked inside.
“Welcome to Blockbuster!”
“Thanks.” Katie smiled at her favorite employee there, Mark. “Been slow tonight?”
“We had a rush about an hour ago, but now it’s dead. Need any recommendations?”
Katie shook her head. “No. Mal’s out on a date tonight, so I’m going for the stuff she doesn’t like.” Mark nodded.
Katie and Mallory were regulars there until Mallory had met Jake. He was in her Calculus 1 class and it had been love at first sight. Katie walked straight to the comedy section and picked up Life of Brain then headed to the A’s of the new release section. She scanned the boxes, stopping every once in a while to read the backs, until she got to Darkness Falls. She read the back and thought the tooth fairy thing was a little weird, but she’d never get to watch it with Mallory. Since they had watched The Ring, Mallory had made Katie promise to never make her watch another horror movie again.
Katie replaced the box on the shelf and looked for a copy that was in. The only copy was on the middle of the top shelf. She got on her tiptoes and reached, but couldn’t even get her fingertips to graze the box. She tried to reach for it again, but got nowhere near. She looked to either side of herself and saw no one. She let out a sigh. ‘Things like this always happen to me.’ Katie looked down at the bottom shelf and decided against climbing for it, so she took a deep breath and jumped. She tapped the box, but it didn’t move so she jumped again. This time the box shifted back, but the DVD behind it didn’t move. ‘One more time,’ she thought as she gathered up all her strength and jumped. She got her finger on the corner of the box, but couldn’t get a grip on it. When she landed on her feet, the box toppled and landed on her head, but the DVD remained on the shelf. “Shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.” She picked up the box and shoved it back on a lower shelf. “Forget it.”
“Can I help you?” a voice from behind Katie asked.
Katie sighed. “Mark, finally. Can you get…” Katie turned around to see a tall, blonde man that looked nothing like Mark. “Um…yeah…could you please help me get that movie?”
“Sure.” The man smiled, making his green eyes twinkle, then reached up to grab the DVD. “There you go.”
“Thanks!” Katie smiled up at him. “I’m sorry, but you look really familiar.”
He blushed. “Yeah, we’ve had some classes together.”
Katie cocked her head to the side while she studied his face. “We have, haven’t we? You’re Peter, right? Or is it Dillon?”
“Lance.”
“Yeah, Lance. Sorry. I’m bad with names.” Katie shrugged her shoulders. “So, how are you? What are you doing here on this lovely Friday night?”
“Wallowing in singledom. You?”
Katie smiled. “Same. My roommate has a date and I was tired of looking at work, so I decided to find something less productive to stare at.”
Lance looked down at the floor. “Do you want to wallow together?” When Katie hesitated to answer, Lance added, “I was just thinking of grabbing a bite to eat and thought you could join me.” He then looked up at Katie.
Katie nodded. “Sounds better than the whole pizza I was going to have to eat myself. Let me just check these out.” They both walked to the register and paid for their rentals. As they left, Lance held the door for Katie. “Thanks. Well, where to?”
Lance thought for a second then answered. “How about McAlister’s?
“Oh, that’s great. I’ve been craving a good sandwich. I’ll meet you there…”
“Lance.”
“Lance. Sorry. I promise I’ll get better.” Lance let out a small laugh as he shrugged. They both got into their cars and drove across town to McAlister’s. When Katie walked up to the front door, Lance had it held open for her. “Thanks.”
They scanned the menu then walked up to the place their order. “Ladies first.” Lance smiled and motioned.
Katie smiled back as she bumped his shoulder. “I could get used to this.” She then turned her attention to the teenager at the register. “Um…yeah. I’d like the grilled chicken, plain, on sourdough and a Diet Coke.”
The boy wrote down the order then looked up at Lance. “Sir?”
Katie interrupted. “Oh, these are separate.”
Lance shook his head. “No, my treat.” Katie frowned, but didn’t say anything. “I’d like the turkey club on wheat with a Dr. Pepper.”
The boy wrote down Lance’s order then put the prices into the register. “Your total is $14.23.”
“School discount.” Katie said as she flashed her college ID to the boy.
The boy typed the discount into the register. “Your total is $12.83.”
Lance handed the boy his check card as Katie handed him a lid and straw for his drink. “Thanks.”
“You didn’t have to buy mine.” Katie shook her head as she grabbed a handful of napkins. “Thanks though.”
“No problem.” Lance handed Katie their number. “Why don’t you go find us a table.” Katie nodded and walked away. A few moments later Lance found her and set their drinks down. “Thanks for agreeing to this. I really wasn’t looking forward to the Taco Bell I was going to pick up and have to eat by myself.” Lance took a sip of his drink. His face scrunched up in disgust. “I think I got our drinks mixed up.”
Katie laughed and switched the drinks then took a sip of hers. “Yeap, this is mine.” Katie took another sip then said, “I’m really glad you asked me to come. My roommate has recently started dating this guy and I’ve had to fend for myself lately. It’s so hard to cook for one and eating even a whole small pizza makes me feel bad.”
“You know, there’s this thing called a refrigerator that makes it where you don’t have to eat everything. You can save things until later.” Lance laughed.
Katie rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know. It’s just the principal of the pizza. Mallory and I, Mallory’s my roommate.” Lance nodded. “We have this thing where no pizza box is allowed in our fridge. They take up too much room and we have this whole conquering the pizza thing. We’re strange.”
Lance smiled. “Well, Katie with a roommate named Mallory, pizza issues and terrible taste in soft drinks, tell me more about yourself. All the normal ‘get-to-know-you’ stuff.”
Katie took a sip of her drink. “Well, I’m a senior recreational tourism major from Georgetown, Tennessee. I’m 21 and will graduate in May. The full name’s Katie Keller. Not Katherine or anything like that. I’m an only child. My mom’s a high school science teacher and Dad works for the state. I just recently started working at a travel agency and am insanely jealous that Mallory has a love life and I don’t. You?”
Lance looked up and smiled at the boy who’d taken their order as he set their sandwiches down and took their number. Lance ate a chip then answered. “I’m a sixth year getting my MBA. I’m from Clinton, Mississippi. 23 and will graduate in May also. I’m Lance Bass and have a sister named Stacey. She’s married and just had her first kid. She lives in Jackson, Mississippi with her husband. My mom’s a middle school science teacher and my dad’s an accountant. I run my own dot com company and am in a band with some of my friends. I play the bass, fittingly.” Katie smiled. “I’ve got my own one bedroom apartment. It’s small, but it works for me.”
“A bass player, huh?” Katie smirked. “I’m more of a drummer chick.” Lance raised an eyebrow at her. “What type of music do you do?”
“A little bit of everything from John Mayer to Coldplay to Foo Fighters. You should come watch us sometime.”
Katie nodded. “Yeah, I might. That’s my type of music anyway.”
They both sat quiet for a moment while they ate then Lance said, “Tell me one thing about yourself that would surprise me.”
Katie let out a small laugh and set her sandwich down. “That’s easy.” She took a sip of her drink. “You have to promise to not be mad at me, but you’re the reason I passed Business Ethics.”
“What?”
“Well, I had two huge finals to study for the night before and I stayed up all night. The first one I did great on, but by the time the Ethics one came around, I was brain dead. Well, you know how you sat next to me. I copied all your multiple choice answers. I did the essay myself and I only made a B in the class, if that helps at all.”
Lance shook his head. “You’re telling me you cheated in an ethics course?” Katie sheepishly nodded. “You’re terrible.”
“Hey, at least I’m honest about it…now.” Lance laughed. “What about you? What do you have to top that?”
“The question wasn’t for me.” Lance shook his head with a cocky grin as he popped a chip in his mouth.
Katie looked at him and shook her head. “Well, it is now.”
Lance let out a sigh. “You’re a senior, right?” Katie nodded. “Well, this would have been your freshman year. Do you remember the three guys that ran through the band at the first football game naked?” Katie nodded again. “Well, that was me and two of my frat buddies.”
Katie’s jaw dropped. “Didn’t ya’ll just have on those Scream masks? They never found out who it was.”
Lance laughed as he pointed at Katie. “And they never will.”
“So, you’re a frat boy?”
“Was. I got out of it when I realized that if I stayed I wouldn’t graduate on time. I’ve been frat free for about three years. That was basically my last hurrah.” Lance shrugged and continued to eat his sandwich. The two chatted all throughout their dinner. Once their baskets had been cleared and the last sips of drinks were gone, they decided to part ways.
Katie grabbed her purse and stood up. Well, thanks for dinner and the company. This was nice.”
Lance nodded. “It really was.” He then stood up. “Katie, before you go, I was wondering if I could have your number so we could do this again.”
Katie smiled, pulled a pen out of her purse and grabbed Lance’s hand. She wrote her name and number on his hand, leaned in to kiss him on the cheek then waved goodbye as she walked off. “I expect you to use that.”
Lance saluted as she stepped out the door. “I will.”
Katie hopped in her car and drove to her apartment complex. When she walked up to her front door, she could hear the TV going inside. She turned her key and saw Mallory lounging on the couch watching Friday Night Stand Up on Comedy Central. Katie locked the door behind herself then asked, “What are you doing home so early?”
Mallory turned the volume on the TV down and sat up on the couch. “What are you doing getting in so late?” She glanced down at the Blockbuster bag in Katie’s hand. “And what did you rent?”
Katie sat her purse and bag down on the kitchen bar then plopped down in her big red chair. “Well, I went out to rent some movies and ran into this guy that I had dinner with. No big deal.”
“Movies?”
“Nothing you’d want to see.” Katie kicked her shoes off then pulled her legs up in the chair to get more comfortable. “I thought you’d be in late like normal.”
Mallory rolled her eyes and turned the volume back up on the TV. “Jake had forgotten to tell me he had to go into work early tomorrow. So he cut tonight short.”
“Sorry babe.” Katie replied. “Want a drink?” Mallory nodded, so Katie went to the fridge to get the bottle of rum, two Cokes and the shot glasses. Katie poured both shot glasses full. The girls clinked their glasses, downed the liquid then chased it with the Coke.
Mallory turned the TV volume back down then said, “You had dinner with some guy. Was he random or did you know him?”
Katie thought for a moment as she poured the rum for the girls again. “Kinda a mixture of both. I’ve had classes with him, but don’t really know him.”
“Was he hot?” Mallory asked before the girls downed their second shot.
Katie’s face scrunched up as the liquor burned her throat. “He wasn’t bad. A little too clean cut for me, though.” Katie took a sip of her Coke. “He is in a band but he’s the bass player.”
“Sounds like a nice change of pace to me.”
Katie rolled her eyes. “It was dinner, not a marriage proposal or anything.”
“Gotta start somewhere.” Mallory banged her shot glass on the coffee table. “’Nother barkeep.”
Katie poured and after they had taken their shot, Katie asked. “Is the honeymoon period over for you and Jake or is this just a speed bump?”
Mallory let out a sigh. “I don’t know. I just think neither of us was in the mood to have company tonight.”
Katie raised her Coke can as if to make a toast. “The honeymoon period is over.” She tilted her can towards Mallory then took a sip.
“Ugh.” Mallory rolled her eyes. “One more then I’m going to bed.” Katie poured for the two girls then popped in one of her movies once Mallory shut her bedroom door.
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