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CARLISLE
Carlisle had been at Shandie's for only a few hours. They ate all the ice cream he’d brought over. Getting to the gym would be a priority the next morning, they’d both laughed about that. He needed to work out the next morning. Desperately.
Instead, when Carlisle rolled over and blinked at the dark clouds and rain pattering against his apartment window, he decided not to move from the warmth of his blankets. He snuggled deeper into the warmth and stared through half-closed lids at the grumpy clouds.
He usually loved having the weekends off. On a normal weekend, before he’d started working with Shandie, he could fit in extra workouts and basketball practices. Laundry and groceries were an afterthought when he was serving others, but some weekends he fit those in, too.
Now, though, he didn’t get to see Shandie on the weekends and that put a serious damper on his enthusiasm for the next forty-eight hours. His melancholy had been distracting the night before until he’d come up with the ridiculous plan to take ice cream to her place.
After laughing with her and talking as long as they had, he no longer considered himself ridiculous. Instead, he was going to start referring to himself as a genius. Shandie loved ice cream. Maybe he’d take her more that night.
Maybe he was being immodest, but he couldn’t help thinking that she looked happy to see him as well.
After another twenty minutes or so, he pulled himself from his bed and started his morning routine of breakfast and a shower. Since he’d decided to ignore the gym, he opted to get some errands finished. With his keys in his hand, Carlisle opened the front door to find an envelope tucked into his mailbox slot. It looked like it said Certified Mail, but the insignia of a courier company out of Spokane came into view as he pulled the package from the slot.
Looking around, he opened the envelope addressed to him.
Slowly, as if he was dropped in some kind of viscous goop, he pulled out the contents - two tickets to the Supercross at the Arena in Spokane.
For that night.
He'd been trying to get passes for months but they sold out so fast he hadn’t been able to.
A small note inside the envelope had been typed up and taped to the tickets. “Have fun. Thanks for the ice cream. Shandie.”
He had another reason to see her. Two tickets. Carlisle plus Shandie equaled two. Two tickets. He couldn’t think of anyone else he’d rather go with.
Errands wouldn’t be able to wait, but as soon as he finished he would rush over to ask her to go with him.
Things didn’t feel so lonely anymore.
~~~
SHOWING UP AT SHANDIE’S house didn't take more than a few minutes after the store. Carlisle swallowed past the sudden nerves attacking his excitement. What if she wasn’t there? What if she already had plans?
After one last attack of insecurity, he pushed it down and shook his head. Shandie was always at her house. Hadn’t she said something about being afraid to leave? She wouldn’t have gone anywhere, even if her declaration had been on the dramatic side.
It wasn’t late at night, so he knocked on the front door without texting or calling.
She answered, smiling shyly as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Carlisle. Didn’t you just leave?” Her smile morphed into a grin and she welcomed him inside, careful to lock those obnoxious bolts behind him.
He turned, holding out the tickets he pulled from his pocket. “Go with me. We can go to dinner first. There’s a little hole in the wall down on Third Street I can take you to. We need to leave within the hour so we can get there on time and still be able to eat.” Would she say yes? Would he accept no?
Sherri looked at him quizzically, glancing from his face to the tickets in his hand.
He wasn’t sure why she wasn’t answering him, but he rushed forward, his words tripping over each other, gratitude making him sound clumsy. “These are amazing. Thank you. I wanted to go to this for a while. If you don’t have plans tonight, why don’t you come with me?”
Holding up her hands, Shandie shook her head. Her gaze darted around the room like she’d hidden her box of excuses somewhere and she couldn’t find it fast enough. “Oh no, I don't like dirt bikes. They’re for you and...” She waved her hands in the air. “Whoever.”
Carlisle considered Shandie for a minute then he glanced at the tickets and then back at her. “I don’t want to go with anyone else. Go with me.”
“Thank you, but I can't go.” She offered him a smile filled with regret but determination.
Carlisle was serious when he said he didn’t want to go with anyone else. He held the tickets out to her in such a way she had to take them. He nodded tightly, moving toward the door. “Okay, thank you for the tickets. I really appreciate them, but I don't want to go.”
Shock dropped her jaw, and she half-stepped forward while reaching out to stop him. “No, you said you love racing. You talked for most of the night about how much you wanted to go. I bought the tickets for you. I made it happen – for you. Don’t waste them.”
Carlisle turned back to her, his hand on the door. “I want you to go with me. I know you said you're afraid of leaving your house, but it can't be that bad. You go to the office. I’ll be with you. It won’t be that bad.” He studied her face. He needed her to go with him. What was she afraid of?
She clenched her jaw, looking at him and then peering past his shoulder out the crack between the curtains as if arguing with herself. After a long moment of thought, she finally nodded tightly, her chest rising and falling rapidly. “Okay. I'll go.”
Had she given in too fast? Why hadn’t she fought him more on it? He wasn’t taking any chances and changed his course, pushing by her to claim a seat on the couch. “I'm not leaving. You might change your mind and disappear. I can’t have that.”
Shandie laughed, moving toward the stairs, sadness in the slump of her shoulders. She shook her head. “That's not going to happen.”
Her verbal assurances didn't matter. Carlisle wasn't going anywhere.
There was no way Shandie was getting out of going with him, short of appendicitis. He’d carry her to the car, if he had to.
