Kristen Mazzola - Crashing Back Down

I chuckled a little at her discomfort. “At least you’re in the comfort of your car’s air now.”

“Oh you have no idea!” I could hear the relief in her voice as she continued, “So, as for this weekend, Kyle is leaving tomorrow morning. We’re having dinner tonight at his folks’ house. Let’s shoot for hanging out tomorrow starting early! So be ready.”

I was thrilled to be able to spend the whole day with Cali, but I was a little sad that she was unavailable for the evening. The thought of being alone terrified me. But I swallowed my pity party before Cali could hear it in my voice. “Perfect. Call me in the morning.”

“Alright sounds great, gotta run and get ready for this boring ass dinner! Love you!”

“Love you, too!”

Walker was right; when I pulled into the driveway, I was greeted by huge, excited grins and elated faces. Jim picked me up in one of his awesome bear hugs and spun me around. I laughed until he finally set me back down on the ground. “Well, you all look excited!”

Buck wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “This is going to be a much-needed great time. Some male bonding with friends and family is definitely what the doctor ordered.”

Mitch kissed me on the cheek and whispered in my ear to behave this weekend without them. I playfully shoved him away, smiling widely as Walker came over with a playful look on his face.

Taking me into his arms, he looked over my head at Mitch. In the sternest voice he could muster while laughing, he accused, “Are you hittin’ on my woman, man? Not fucking cool.”

Mitch jokingly pointed his finger at himself and shook his head. “Hell no,” He then threw his hands in the air innocently. “It was all her, man.” He walked away laughing, grabbing the tackle boxes and loading them in the bed of Walker’s truck.

Walker spun me around so I was facing him, looking down at me with a soft apologetic look on his face. His kissed my forehead gently. “I missed you today and I’m so sorry.” He breathed in deeply as he tightened his grasp around my waist.

I buried my face into his chest and sighed. “Oh Walker, I forgave you at seven-thirty this morning. Stop dragging out old news.” I was smiling warmly up at him, and his face finally formed into a matching expression.

The guys all said their goodbyes and Walker kissed me deeply while the gang yelled from the truck about needing to get on the road already and not wanting to see our “PDA”. I giggled and waved as they pulled away.

I sighed to myself, not knowing what I was going to do with my evening. I shrugged my shoulders and made my way through my front door. Once I flicked on the light I saw one of the most beautiful sights ever. The entire living and dining room was covered in white and yellow daisies in tons of vases of all different sizes. I was stunned that Walker had gone to all of this trouble for me, or that he had remembered daisies were my favorite flower.

I made my way through the maze of huge bouquets into my kitchen to find Chinese takeout on the breakfast table with a bottle of wine that had a card taped to it that read:

Darling,

I am sorry for everything that happened this morning. I hope you let this small gesture make up for at least some of it. Enjoy your General Tso chicken, pinot, and 'Almost Famous' (it’s in the DVD player). Have a wonderful weekend, my dear. See you soon.

With all my heart, Walker

I held the card to my chest while dialing Walker’s cell. It went to voicemail like I knew it would. Walker hated being on the phone while others were with him in a vehicle; he considered it to be rude and disrespectful. So I left him a message: “This is not a small gesture, silly! And I love it! Thank you so much. Catch lots of fish. I’m expecting dinner on Sunday, Mister. Miss you already.”

I grabbed the bottle that he had even opened for me, a glass and my food, and practically skipped into the living room where I would spend the rest of my night watching my favorite movie, gorging myself on my favorite food, and getting a little too drunk on my favorite wine. All in all it had turned out to be a lot better a day than I could have imagined. I passed out on the couch while Penny Lane was talking to Russell on the phone in William’s kitchen, for my first dreamless sleep in what felt like an eternity.

Iwas woken up by a sharp knock on my front door. Wiping the drool from my cheek as I shoved myself off of the couch, I realized I had passed out halfway through my last glass of wine the night before. I guess my attempt to numb my loneliness away was successful. I hated how much Walker affected my mood at times and how much I missed him when he wasn’t around. The loud knock came again, triggering the hangover that was sneaking into my consciousness as an awful headache. I could hear Cali fumbling through her bag, muttering something about needing a leash for her cell phone and keys.

Rubbing my eyes, I sat up and smiled when I saw all of the gorgeous flowers all over. Walker was so sweet, and this gesture made flutters of butterflies crash around in my stomach. I yawned and stretched as Cali banged on the door again, even louder this time. Getting up and stumbling around the flowers, trying not to knock any of them over, I croaked out, “Hold on, Cal. Jeez, I’m coming.”

Opening the door, squinting from the daylight, I was able to mutter, “Hey Cal, do you know what freaking time it is?”

Cali shoved past me, striding into my living room. “Yeah and look what I got.” In her hand was a pair of tickets with blurry words on them.

“Apparently my eyes aren’t awake yet.” I rubbed my face and tried to register what was going on.

Before she could tell me what was written on the pieces of paper she was holding, her eyes widened. “What the hell happened in here?” Her smile turned devilish with her next thought. “Please tell me Walker didn’t propose!” She popped her hip out and gave me a stern look of ‘you better not be engaged already bitch!’

“Fuck no! Gosh Cali, really? That’s where your mind darts to?” I might have already been in a relationship with someone, but my heart was still not healed. How could I even think about getting married again, or ever?

I rubbed my eyes again, smiling wide as I thought about Walker’s romantic gesture. “Walker and I had a little fight yesterday, so this was his apology”.

Cali smiled and shrugged. “Guess you’ll have to fight with him more often. If you get flowers like this, the make-up sex must be freaking incredible!”

Grabbing my hand, Cali bound up the stairs, pulling me along faster than my body was willing to follow. “Oh and by the way, these are tickets to The Hysterics show playing tonight over in Tampa!”

My mind processed the awesome news that was floating around in my head and excitement started bubbling.

Finally, my eyes were able to open all the way, beaming. “How the hell did you get those?” I couldn’t believe it. The Hysterics were a band that had spread like wildfire a few years ago, but Cali and I heard of them during our summer trek through the mountains to The Bonnaroo Music Festival the summer after we met. They were a no-name band back then, and we had been trying to score tickets to see them again ever since, always coming up empty-handed.

Cali giggled. “I pulled some strings, think of it as a ‘because present’ and get dressed! We’re going to Tampa!”

I went into my bathroom to freshen up while Cali picked out clothes for me to wear. While scrubbing the tannin off my front teeth, my mind started racing back to our first road trip together. Sleeping in a tent for a weekend, hot and sticky, it was a small feat for Cali, but she seemed to handle it like a champ. The music festival had been thrilling all on its own, but the highlight was getting drunk with the guys from The Hysterics the night after they played. I blushed a little, recalling how good-looking all of the guys were, and being in sheer awe of their talent.