"Em, you should have seen them, they were so fucking adorable." Cara gushed, tapping Ali on the cheek.  "Laughing and talking and ignoring the other people who were with them!"

    "I told you Care, I'm sorry.  I couldn't help it though, god knows when I'll ever see him again, I just wanted to get my fill in, ya know."

    "I can think of better ways to get your fill in than talking Al!" Emily snorted, to the amusement of herself.  "And I'm sure by the way you two sounded, that won't be the last you see of him."

    "I really hope not." Ali sighed, taking another sip of her coffee.

    "I wish I had been there, I would have liked to see the guy who could make our Ali swoon."

    "I did not swoon!" She said casting an annoyed glance at Cara, as she mouthed 'she swooned' to Emily.  "I didn't!  He was nice, he was cute and he was interesting.  Why can't you guys give me a break?  This is the first guy I've even remotely liked in years."  Ali swirled a spoon around in her drink, equal parts excited and saddened over meeting Jake.  She didn't want to get her hopes up over him, but those same butterflies she got when she met him were still turning inside her stomach, and she didn't want them to go away.  Being teased by her two best friends was typical, but she didn't want to let them know how worried she was that she'd never see him again.  They had exchanged phone numbers, and made the typical plans to go out for coffee sometime, but this time she really wanted it to happen.

    "Ready to go?" Cara asked, snapping Ali out of her thoughts.

    "Um, yeah, yeah..." She muttered, pulling on her coat, and taking one last sip of her now lukewarm drink.  "Are you guys coming over tomorrow night for supper?"  Emily and Cara both nodded, "Okay,  I'll see you then."

    "Aren't you coming with us?" Emily asked, as the three girls stepped out of the coffee shop.

    "No, I'm just gonna walk.  I could use the exercise."

    "Be careful, and call me when you get home." Cara scolded.

        Ali gave a quick wave goodbye to her friends, "I'll call.  See you tomorrow." She said, as she began walking in the opposite direction as her friends.  Her apartment was just down the street and she wanted the time to just think about things, and not have to do it while singing along to whatever old 80's or 90's tunes were inevitably blasting from the speakers in Cara's car.

    She hadn't been kidding when she said Jake was the first person she'd shown an interest in for years, her life had become so busy with little things, that a relationship was one of the furthest things from her mind.  She hadn't even realized her life had just become a revolving door of work, eat, sleep until Emily had pointed it out one day.  Her time right now was spent saving up enough money to buy the house she'd always longed to have, and spending time with her friends, so even the thought of 'what could be'  with Jake was a big deal to her.

    Ali reached her building, and trudged up the five floors to her apartment, calling Cara as she entered, getting her friends voicemail.

    "I'm home." She said simply, closing her cell phone and kicking off her shoes.  Ali turned on her tv and threw the remote down on the couch, moving into her small kitchen to look for something to eat.  Ugh, I have to get groceries before the girls come over, unless they want some mustard sandwiches, she thought to herself as she grabbed a cookie and returned to her couch.   She settled on an old 'Friends' rerun and picked up her phone to check for any messages. 'You have one new message' the automated voice said.  The butterflies in Ali's stomach kickstarting as it began.

    "Hi Ali.  Hey, it's me Jake.  I know you probably weren't expecting to hear from me, um, two hours since we left the fair, but um....Well, I just wanted to say how nice it was to meet you.  Um.  Anyway, have a good night and since I really suck at leaving messages, I'm just gonna stop now. Okay, Bye...Oh! And I'm holding you to that coffee date!"