May 4th (chapter 3 part 2)

David woke the next day with a smile on his face and a warm sensation in his heart. He looked at the clock; it was 8:52. He knew it would be too early to call Jessica, so he dove into his considerably large wardrobe, trying to pick a nice suit or something before collecting his crush that night. He had Armani suits, and Ralph Lauren suits, and Prada suits, but thought them all to be too flashy. He had already bought ten bottles of champagne for the woman, and didn’t want to seem to be a millionaire he tried so hard to forget he was. That was news that would come later in the relationship…much later! He wanted Jessica to know the real him…minus the zeros in his bank account! Eventually, he decided on a pair of pants and a shirt with a matching tie. It was July after all! He decided to bring a sports coat to put over Jessica’s shoulders for after they left the restaurant. He had no idea what she was going to be wearing, but according to David, she could wear a black sac and he wouldn’t care. He just longed to spend time with the woman!

With his clothes picked out, and it being only noon, David decided he’d have his shower later that evening and got the urge to go to the gym. He wanted to beef up a bit for his woman…after all, she was a beauty, and he didn’t want her to think that he didn’t work out. He also didn’t want her to think that was all he did as he didn’t want to come off as being vain. He had the membership for over a year, and had only attended a dozen times. What he liked about the gym was the pool. He loved using most of the machines, then the weights before diving in and swimming ten laps. He found it invigorated him.

After his eighth lap, he was advised to jump out of the pool by the lifeguard. ‘Aqua aerobics starts in the shallow end mate. We’re cordoning it off!’ David was more than happy as he didn’t feel as though he had another two laps left in him, he was exhausted from the night before. The film, or Jessica’s father, didn’t finish until 1:30am.

David would, in no words, be called a stalker, but he did take a few screenshots as the pair belted out the songs to their favourite musical. He was delighted he could be straight with Jessica, that he didn’t need to try to impress her, he just did it naturally. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out what she saw in him, but whatever it was, he was grateful!

After scrubbing away the sweat and chlorine, David had worked up, he put on a fresh set of clothes and decided he couldn’t show up tonight empty handed. Just as he was retrieving his jacket from the locker, he saw that he had two unread messages. His heart started to thump like the beat of a drum… hard and fast! When he unlocked the phone, he was both elated and disappointed. Only one of the messages was from Jessica, the other from Eoin. Jessica’s read: ‘can’t wait to see you tonight! Sorry about last night, dad always gets pissed with his Garda buddies. I’m just glad he had the decency to get a taxi home. He claims someone stole his keys! But Kev from the pub he went to took them off him after his sixth beer!’ the text was followed by a ‘phew’ emoji. Eoin’s read: ‘you bang that girl yet?’ that was Eoin, short and to the point. He only responded to Jessica’s: ‘thank goodness for small mercies! See you tonight!’ with a winky face emoji. ‘Yea,’ he said to himself nodding, ‘that’s all that was needed!’

As he was already in town, David decided to go into the shopping centre on the way home. He could have bought Jessica jewellery, or something expensive like that. Instead, he went into the big pharmacy and got her Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue. She had already admitted it to be her favourite scent! But he didn’t only buy one, he bought two. He wanted a bottle in his home to be able to spritz on the pillow he hoped Jessica would one day rest her weary bones. Until then, if that day ever arrived, he could go to sleep knowing that the pillow was saved for her, and only her!

David was walking out of the shop when another thing caught his eye. It was directly opposite the pharmacy. He walked in and politely asked, ‘do you have any more of those Harry Potter throws in the window?’ The shop assistant took him to the stack of blankets which were all black, with the Hogwarts crest in the middle. ‘I’ll take two please!’ he said, and after the sales person smiled and wished him a good day, he looked at his watch…it was 6pm. David rushed out of the centre and into his car, where he high tailed it out of there, only to hit the traffic on the motorway.

He drove, perspiring, as it was bumper to bumper. ‘There must be a crash ahead!’ he said to himself. Low and behold, forty minutes later, a member of An Garda Siochana was in front of him, waving him on. It looked as though there were three cars involved. He said a small prayer, then drove at the speed limit to his exit. He decided to take the back roads, as he feared he would be caught in even more traffic had he gone the more conventional route. He drove quickly, but carefully, making it home by 7:15. He had thirty minutes to get ready. It wasn’t enough time for him to take another shower, so he doused himself in deodorant and cologne, ready to get dressed into the clothes he had picked out earlier. It gave him just enough time to program Jessica Eircode into google maps, realising she only lived five minutes away.

With his heart pounding like never before, he got into the car and made his way to Jessica. As he pulled in, just outside the house, his jaw dropped as he saw the most beautiful woman he had ever clapped eyes on, standing at the door, waiting for him.