Love Takes Time (Christian Romance) (4 page)

Over
the next fifteen minutes she was so busy stealing glances at him through the
floor to ceiling glass wall that she messed up three different orders, one
unforgivably so.  It would be a fair approximation to say that she was
irritated with his lack of acknowledgement towards her.  

Wave.
 Wink.  Use sign language, I really don’t care.  Just give me
something!  

By
now she had given him multiple chances and plenty of time to at least
acknowledge her and what did he do?  Nothing but act like the most stuck
up guy in the world. 

So
that was it.  She was right about him earlier.  If he couldn’t even
acknowledge that he knew her, then he was really more like the guy that took
the phone call and less like the one whose coffee mug was sitting in her
dishwasher at home.  She didn’t know if she wanted much to do with a guy
like that.

She
tore her gaze away from him one last time.  She was done with it for the
night.  There was no way she was going to face him in that room with his
buddies while he served her another round of world class humiliation.  She
walked over to another member of the wait staff that was on duty that night.  

“Alex,
I need a break.  I know it’s hard enough to handle your tables alone on
nights like tonight and you know I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t really have to.
 I have to leave for a little bit.”

He
looked at her as if she was joking. 

“Are
you serious?  I can’t.  I can’t.  You know how much I love you
Chelsea but I cannot.  Did I mention that I can’t
hand…“

She
interrupted him, waving the folded up green bill Ryder put in her hand just
moments before in front of him. 

“I
got this for the 
first
 round, and they just got here.”  She saw
his eyes light up.  “Did I forget to disclose that they are great tippers?”

“Great
tippers, you say?  Well why didn’t you just lead with what matters. 
That was very relevant info.  Have they ordered yet and when will you be
back?  I still need to take a break tonight.  I definitely have to
eat something because I have been running all day.”

“Honestly
Alex, I’m not going anywhere but in the back.  I’d appreciate it if you
come get me when dining
room
A is gone, okay?  I
know one of the guys in there and don’t really feel like serving him.”

“Man
issues, huh?”

She
managed a weak smile and nodded her head.

“Yep.”

“Then
don’t worry about it Chelsea.  Plus, more money for me.”

“Thanks,
I owe you.”

“If
they tip like you said, we’ll call it even.  Either way, I’ll come get you
when they leave.”

She
walked towards the back when she heard him call out to her.

“Hey. 
Weren’t you running the greeters station too?”

She
nodded to him in silence, hoping that it wasn’t a deal breaker.  She
smiled when he shook his head and repeated softly several times. 

“Big
tippers. . .  big tippers . . .  big tippers . . .”  He looked
at her briefly.  “Just go.”

She
didn’t hesitate.  When she got to the door to the kitchen, she turned
around and watched Alex hurry to the conference room, motivated by the thought
of making a nice tip.  Chelsea thought she noticed Ryder look around when
Alex went into the room instead of her.  

Oh,
so you want to look for me now?  A little late buddy.

It
didn’t matter.  All he had done that night was confirm her suspicions.
 He was still working and still too busy to take time to say hello. 
He played interested well enough but when the rubber met the road, there was
more to it than good intentions.  He didn’t take the time to say hello so
she wouldn’t make the effort to say goodbye.  

While
so many people loved New York’s notorious pizza scene, Chelsea was on the hot
dog band wagon.  Not that pizza wasn’t good because she loved a good slice
of brick oven pizza but there was nothing like biting into a juicy hot dog that
was layered in all kinds of everything.  And for Chelsea, everything meant
everything.  That’s why even though she would enjoy a hot dog from quite a
few establishments in the city, her absolute favorite was from La
Perrada
De
Chalo
.  That’s
exactly where she was at the moment and she was having lunch with her best
friend, Ava.

Inside
the restaurant, the two of them were protected from the harsh temperatures
outside, though Chelsea hadn’t noticed the weather so much today.  She was
still thinking about her interactions with Ryder from the day before and had
come to the conclusion that if even a super
perro
combo couldn’t take her mind off of him, she was in trouble.  She couldn’t
help it though. 

One
minute he was prince charming, asking for her number.  The next time she
saw him, he was working his hardest to pretend that they barely even spoke the
same language.  It was strange.  And stupid.  Definitely
stupid.  Out of routine she smiled and nodded her head at Ava who had been
going non-stop for the past few minutes about something or the other. 

Ava
was one of those people that always seemed to be amped up.  Like she was
getting an intravenous supply of caffeine, energy drink, and adrenaline
constantly being pumped into her.  The funny part was that Chelsea had
never seen her drink any of them.  She always had a hard time fathoming
how one human being could talk and have as much energy as Ava and not be
getting an assist of some sort.  Chelsea had always said to herself that
if this was her best friend in normal mode, she 
definitely
 didn’t
want to see her in red-bull-gives-you-wings mode. 

Normally,
Chelsea would sit and quietly listen as long Ava talked.  Even when she
found herself completely uninterested in what Ava had to say--but not
today.  Now she was tired of pretending to be listening.  She had a
lot on her mind herself and at the first break for breath, she interrupted in
with news she was pretty sure would catch Ava’s attention. 

“I
met a guy,” She just blurted it out, like she didn’t believe it herself. 

Maybe
she was caught off guard but Ava didn’t have any words.  It was like she
was trying to decipher what she’d just heard and it didn’t make sense. 
When the inner workings of her mind caught up to her mouth, she kicked into
high gear.   

“A
guy?  Like as in a human man?  When?  Where?  How?
 And it better had just happened when I was in the bathroom washing my
hands otherwise since we have been here for over twenty-five minutes, why am I
just finding out?”  

Chelsea
smiled.  Many times she’d thought that Ava was in the completely wrong
line of work.  She’d have made her become a reporter because, better than
any interview she’d ever seen, Ava could always ask the right questions. 
Even more impressive was that she could do it in less time than it took the
normal person to count to twenty.     

“Yesterday
morning and don’t look at me like that.  I know I should have told you but
I had the whole showcase and work and so much was on my mind.   The
guy is like dreamy attractive and . . . I don’t know . . . I felt this
strange connection when we talked.”

Ava
nodded her head in apparent approval.  Of course as a good best friend,
Ava would probably be happy any time Chelsea told her about a guy.  It had
been forever since Chelsea had even made mention of a guy to Ava.   

“Well
good for you
Chello
.  Been too long that you
haven’t had a good
ol
’ fashion date with a guy. 
You know, dinner and a movie or whatever.  I’m glad for you.  And
from the looks on your face, you really like this guy.  Too bad you didn’t
meet him at the beginning of the month so you could get a Valentine’s
Dinner.  Don’t forget my motto when it comes to boyfriends.  They are
most useful when they are buying you gifts, taking you to dinner and just
generally making you feel beautiful.”

“First
of all, only you can get away with calling me a musical instrument all the
time.  Secondly, that’s a little narrow minded, don’t you think Ava?”

“Definitely,
and that’s how you need to think
Chello
.  How do
you think I got Ben?  I was picky.  I had standards.  But look
at you defending this man you met barely twenty-four little hours ago.  I
hope you haven’t gone off the deep end already.  No babies in diapers
shooting pink arrows at you right?”  Her friend teased her sarcastically. 

“Really
Ava?  This is me we are talking about and you 
know 
that
I’m not the love at first sight girl.  I’m still seeing what life has for
me but he’s definitely the type of guy that could make me think twice about that. 
Or at least I thought he was.”

Her
friend gave her a tentative look that said explain and do it
carefully.   

“So
I did meet him yesterday morning when we literally bumped into each other on
the street.  I was already running pretty close
to
late so he offered to take me to the school in . . . his limo.”

“His
limo?!  Okay, even I like him now.”

“Yeah
well just reserve your opinion until my story is done.  So we ride over
and everything is fine.  We joke, we laugh.  He gives me the whole
I’m into you but don’t want to say it look.  Then he has to take a call
that lasted too long.  I had to run inside.  I heard him asking for
my number when I went inside but I couldn’t stop.  I guess that I was
hoping he would have come inside or wait for me or something but that didn’t
happen.  I thought I’d never see him again.”

“That
sucks.”

“Wait
for it.”

“O….
kay but this better be worth it.”

“Well
as luck may have it, he didn’t come inside because apparently he had a big
to-do at his job.  I know this because he came to the restaurant with a
few co-workers celebrating something.  So there I was thinking that I was
the luckiest girl in town since I bumped into him twice in one day.  I
thought that we’d had such a nice time in his car earlier that when he saw me,
he’d be jumping for joy.  Instead, absolutely nothing.”

“What
does absolutely nothing mean exactly.”

“That
means that all he did was tell me his orders and give me a fat tip.  Other
than that, he acted like he had no idea who I was.  I
know
he
recognised
me Ava.”

“Oh
you see.  Right there.  You have said enough for me.  I don’t
even know why we are having this conversation.  Miss I just want to be
free.  Falling like a ton a bricks for a guy that acts like he doesn’t
know you.  I would have made sure he remembered me. But you and I are
different like that.  You were probably never even interested in the first
place Chelsea, were you?”

“Well
not initially but that was most likely because I was running late for the
showcase.  I literally bumped into him on the street and fell over.
 Like I said before, he offered me a ride.  I would have said no but
I was already behind so I just accepted.  And it wasn’t the money because
you know for a fact that I don’t care about that.  It wasn’t until I got
into his car that I realized how beyond gorgeous he was.  He’s a stock
trader or something.  He started explaining it to me at length, which
completely bored me…”

“Like
you are doing me right now.  There is no reason for you to waste another
second thinking about this guy.  He’s a boring, self-centered moron that
doesn’t get to be the focus of our conversation so change of subject.  I
forgot your showcase was yesterday.  How did it go?”

Chelsea’s
didn’t really want to talk about this today.  Especially not with Ava, the
most motivated person she knew.  Her shoulders fell in resignation as she
responded.   

“I
was fine. 
Denard
says he was told that he can
probably expect an audition call before the end of the month.  I’m happy
for him but I just don’t know anymore.”

“You
don’t know what?”

“I
don’t know if dance school is really for me so . . . I decided to put it on
hold.  At least for little while until I can figure out if I want to keep
wasting my money.”

She
noticed the look she was getting.  Sort of like horns were suddenly
growing out of her forehead so she decided to elaborate before the scathing
response began.  She decided to just be honest.  Dancing didn’t have
the same enjoyment for her that it once had and she didn’t want to keep spending
her money on something that she didn’t completely love.  It was hard
enough to come by.”

“Come
on Ava, don’t give me that look.  You know as well as I do that this has
been a long time coming.”  

Ava
understood, which was a complete surprise.

“That’s
fine.  You don’t have to do that, but you have to do something
Chello
.  I don’t want to sound like a broken record
but you aren’t getting any younger.  What’s your plan for the
future?  And before you say waitressing, know that I have a plastic knife
within reach.”

Chelsea
took her phone out of her pocket and pressed a few buttons before turning it to
her friend, a smile on her face.  

“What
am I looking at?”

“The
location for my dance studio.”

“Your
dance studio?”  

“Yes
ma’am.  So you can leave the knife alone.  I haven’t thought of a
name yet but it will come in time.”

“I’m
impressed Chelsea.  When did you start planning this?”

“A
few weeks back actually.  I haven’t thought of a name yet so for right now
it’s just the building.  Like I said earlier, I have been thinking about
this dance thing for a while now.  I do really enjoy dancing but at school
they take all the fun out of dancing.  It’s less a pleasure and more a
chore so I have been thinking that if I was
gonna
stick with dance, it’d have to be in the way that drew me to it.  Do you
remember the girl I told you about a few months back that needed to learn to
dance proper formal dances for a debutante ball?”

“Vaguely
though I do have this little thing called a life that clouds my memories of the
million and one things you have done.”

“Funny. 
Well she was so happy with the results that she turned a couple of other people
on to me.  From there a few parents asked me if I can teach other
things.  Some have kids that want to learn swing dance, others are the
cutest little ballerinas.  It also turned out that one of them owns a few
buildings and was able to rent me out this space at an unbelievable price in
return for free ballet lessons for her three girls.  Who knows.  I
may be able to really turn this into something serious.  Can you imagine
it Ava?  Me with a real job like you regular adults.”

“Time
out.  What did you do with Chelsea?  Return her to me or I’m calling
the cops.”

“Whatever
Ava.   You know.  Who knows if it will really take off or not
but it’s better than what I’m doing right now.  And . . . I don’t
know.  It just feels right.”  

“I
am so proud of you
Chello
.  I am behind you one
hundred percent if you need anything whatsoever.  Wait.  I have an
idea.  Maybe you can help Corey.  His wedding is a little over a
month away and he needs someone to help him and his fiancé with their wedding
dance.  And by the way, he is still hounding me about your plus one.”

“I
know.  I know.  I’ll get back with you soon, I promise.”

Her thoughts betrayed her as he drifted to the
front of her mind once again.  Ryder would make a great plus one and he
was eye candy to boot. 

***

Ryder
lay on his couch staring at the television.  He wasn’t watching the
infomercial for whatever doodad was being promoted in the post-midnight
infomercial.  He had dozed off a few minutes earlier while watching the
Islanders lose a hockey game.  Having played a little in high school, he
was a huge fan and would normally catch the whole game including the post-game
wrap up but he’d been working so hard lately that he was on a completely new
level of tired, even for the workaholic he was.