Something New

“London? Wow. That’s a big deal. Congrats!”

A grin sprang across my face. “Thanks. I signed the contract earlier today. I thought I was gonna head home for a little bit, but nope, still on the go.”

“How long will you be gone? And where’s home now?”

“Atlanta. And from what I know so far, filming will be about eight weeks.”

“I hope you get to see the sights out there. London is nice.”

My eyebrows heightened. “You’ve been?”

“Yeah. I traveled to the U.K. for two weeks during college with a couple of my friends. We went to London, Paris, Rome, all that.”

“Oh yeah? What’s there to do out there?”

“There’s the London Eye. Or you could visit Windsor Castle and Stonehenge. Oh, and there’s this cute little cocktail bar down the way from Buckingham Palace that has the best drinks.”

I pushed out a soft chuckle. “Sounds like you need to come along and be my tour guide or something.”

Instead of responding, she slowed the car to a creep while pulling off onto the side of the road, tires kicking up dust and grit from the gravel beneath us.

“We’re here,” she announced before killing the engine.

I stepped outside the car and looked around the darkness. “You brought me to Make-out Falls?” I asked, stepping around to the front of her car.

She rolled her eyes as a smile crawled up her face. “It’s called Edgewater Falls.”

“That ain’t what we call this shit in the Pines.”

“So, I take it you’ve been here before?” she inquired.

“It’s been a minute.”

Of course, I’d seen the majestic wonder of Potomac Falls before. It had been years, but nothing in the nature surrounding us seemed to be out of place. As beautiful as the cascading falls were, I couldn’t manage to take my eyes off the beauty standing a couple of feet away from me. I imagined Isa looked beautiful anywhere, but especially under the moonlight. I didn’t know if it was the full moon we were standing under or what, but I’d never felt more drawn to her.

“Glad you came or nah?” she asked with a smirk before taking a few steps to relax her petite frame against the hood of her car.

“Yo, watch your step,” I advised, looking down at the slippery rocks.

“I’m good.”

“So, why’d you bring me out here?”

She shrugged. “I don’t really have a reason. I told you, my judgment is pretty shot right about now.”

“And why is that? What happened after you dropped me off at the hotel?”

“Well, I went and got a venti iced caramel latte, one-third whole milk, one-third almond milk, vanilla syrup, topped with whipped cream, and a caramel drizzle.”

Amusement rippled through me. “Hold up. That’s complicated as shit.”

“Ah, I know, but it truly is delicious. Plus, Lin, the Asian barista downtown, gets it right every time,” she cheesed, “but anyway, I got my drink and headed down to the office to wrap up a couple of articles nearing their deadlines before I had to hit the road. I had an interview a few cities over for an evergreen piece coming out in a future issue. So, I’m bumping my music, grooving, singing, and sipping what’s left of my drink, only to get there to get stood up! Then on my way back, I was leaving McDonald's and ended up with a flat tire.I had to wait two and a half hours for AAA to come out and replace my tire with my spare. I went through all that to sit in three hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic, only to get back to the city and not want to go home. And then I ended up running into you.”

“Damn, that is a shitty day.”

“The shittiest,” she agreed.

“So that wasn’t on purpose?”