“God you nearly spilled it on me” Amanda snapped, reaching for her plate
As she looked up she noticed Nick and the waitress were staring at each other
“You can go now” she huffed
“Ashlee” Nick muttered, ignoring Amanda
“What are you doing here?” Ashlee replied, her eyes flicking from him to the painted lady hold the swirling thing in her hands.
“Trying to eat” Amanda announced, slamming her hand down on the table, demanding their attention
“Oh, Amanda, this is Ashlee, the girl from the hospital”
Ashlee turned and extended her hand, but Amanda blatantly ignored the gesture
“Really? Quaint” she muttered, grinning sarcastically “How’s the head? I can see a nasty scar, that’s going to stick with you” Amanda smiled brightly, pointing to the scare across the left side of Ashlee’s forehead, the same scare the doctors said would only fade with time, not completely vanish. Ashlee tried her best to cover it, but it was still obvious.
“It’s fine, thank you” Ashlee replied, her back stiffening
“Well that’s great” Amanda mocked, “You can leave now, so we can eat” she waved her on with her outstretched palm and smiled sweetly, a trait Ashlee assumed she’d practiced over the years
“Well it was nice seeing you, take care” Nick remarked, sure if Ashlee stayed much longer at the table Amanda would make them leave
“You too Nickolas” Ashlee smiled, bowing her head slightly as she walked away
“Argh, what a tramp” Amanda muttered under her breath, forking her salad harshly
“Pardon?” Nick responded
“Nothing” Amanda shook her head
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ashlee walked quickly into the back room, her eyes large, her breathing deep.
“You alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost” Mark, a tall brunette waiter, studying biology and the local college.
“No” Ashlee shook her head “Just something strange that’s all”
“What? Tell me?”
“A guy saved my life a while back, picked me up after the hit and run, anyway, he was apparently always at the hospital, you know, making sure I was okay, we met for the first time after I came out of the coma” she paused “We said goodbye and figured we’d never see each other again, but-“ she sighed ‘he’s out there now, in front of the Fate painting. God, I'm overreacting right, it’s coincidence?”
Mark smiled brightly.
“Maybe it’s fate”
Ashlee shook her head “sometimes I doubt there’s such a thing”
“Uh, but that’s where your wrong, Fate exists alright, maybe he’s part of yours”
She tapped his shoulder gently “No” she said shaking her head “Coincidence, and that’s all”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The clock beside the bed flicked over to 1:05am. Nick was restless, his eyes sagged around the room, looking for some excuse to get out of bed. Amanda hadn’t stayed the night, so the house was peacefully quite.
He flipped over, breathing loudly into the thick air. He sighed, and sat up. He reached for the phone and dialed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Brian, I'm tired” Rebecca giggled as Brian’s hand grazed across her body
“No your not” he replied deviously
“I have a headache”
“The best thing for headaches is sex, uhuh I read that somewhere” he laughed, his grin broad
“Liar”
Just as he was about to protest the phone echoed through the master bedroom
“It’s 1 am, whose ringing?” Brian moaned, flopping back on his side of the bed and reaching for the phone
“Hello?” he mumbled, trying to sound as if the caller had woken him up
“Brian, is Rebecca there?” Nick replied hurriedly, oblivious to the time
“You know Nick, you’re going to have to stop calling my wife strange hours of the morning or I’ll-“
Before he could finish Rebecca had taken the phone from his hands
“What did ya do?” Rebecca yawned “God knows you’d only be calling if you got yourself in trouble”
Nick ignored her comment and spoke up “I need to ask you something”
“Okay, fine, go”
“Do you believe in fate?”
“Like destiny? The ability not to be able to dictate our own future”
“Yeah, do you?”
“No, not really. Maybe there is such a physiological thing as fate, and maybe the universe does open doors for us, but its we, ourselves that have to actually walk through the door. Maybe it’s like fate gives you the opportunity, you just have to take it. Why do you ask anyway?”
Nick pondered what she’d said, then sighed.
“Well it’s just that girl Ashlee, its like we keep coming together and stuff, seeing each other”
“You like this girl?”
Nick shrugged, then remembered she couldn’t see him.
“I don’t know”
Rebecca shifted the phone to the other ear.
“You’re the only one that can answer that question Nick, don’t do things because you think that it’s fate, do things because your heart tells you to”
“Yeah. Thanks” he said quietly
“And Nick?”
“Yeah”
“Don’t be afraid to walk through a few different doors”
“Thanks Becca”
“Night”
“Night”
Brian leaned back over the bed and kissed Rebecca’s shoulder blades.
“Not now Littrell, I'm tired” she yawned slapping him back
“How rude” Brian huffed