| Isabella |

-2 weeks later-

I was a sweaty mess.

My t-shirt stuck to my back, all the fly-a-ways from my pony tail stuck out in odd places and my feet felt a bit swollen in my neon cleats.

I had just finished a particularly grueling soccer practice, and was now walking back to my car through the darkening parking lot. The practice was held in the large university stadium and by the time it was over, it was nearly 8 pm.

I felt exhausted, but it was a good tired. I was hungry too and ready to call it a night. Since it was Friday I wasn't doing anything tomorrow, but something felt terribly wrong about having to work this hard on anything the night before the weekend.

I groaned to myself, taking out the keys to my Jetta, and unlocking it. I through my bag in the backseat, got in and started up the car. I left the stadium lot and drove down the quiet night streets, stopping briefly to get some take-out and then heading home to where Racheal was probably not, seeing as she went out all the time.

I sighed to myself, turning on the radio and listening to some soft music. I had to be honest, the first couple of days after my encounter with Nathan, I had done nothing but think about him. I waited for him to call me, but I knew he was probably a very busy man, in fact I knew he was. So after a while, I was able to push him from my thoughts.

Giving him my number was a completely spur of the moment decision and I ended up wondering if I had been too forward. But it didn't matter now.

I had convinced myself I would most likely not see him again.

I parked in the parking garage, got out of my car, gathered my things, and then locked it. I walked to the elevator and rode it all the way to the 4th floor, where I got out and walked to the front door of our apartment.

The gold plated numbers read 471, and only pausing briefly to collect the newspaper outside the door from this morning, entered the place. I closed the door, locking it behind me, and dumped my school bag, soccer bag and my shoes in the front hall way.

"Hello?" I call into the seemingly silent and empty apartment. I round the corner to the kitchen.

"Hey!" says Racheal, walking from her hallway into the kitchen. She slid into one of the tall chairs behind our bar. She was grinning from ear to ear, and I knew that was a tell-tale sign she was up to something.

"What's up?" I ask, I hadn't expected her to be home.

"Well, I'm going to visit Hunter in the city this weekend, and my dad is making us go to a company social with him, so I was just packing but then I had an idea." She says slyly and I shake my head, smiling slightly, take my salad out from the take-out bag and grab a fork.

"Oh no." I mock her and she rolls her eyes.

"Do you want to hear my idea or not?" she asks indignantly.

"Yes I do." I say sitting next to her at the bar. I take a bite of my salad, and sigh, it tasted very good. Roasted Chicken Caesar would always be a favorite of mine.

"Okay, what if we moved to the city after gradation?" she asks, smiling widely at me.

I nearly choked on my food. I hadn't told her about my job there yet, dreading the idea that she might not want to move to the city. But now, as if the stars had aligned, that had changed.

"Seriously?" I ask.

"Yes!" she shrieks and I wince. "Think about it, we have the money, Hunter lives in the city and I could see him a lot more, we both had so many more job opportunities there and I can be farther from my parents."

"Um, actually, I should tell you something." I say and she looks concerned for a second. "I was waiting because I wasn't sure what you'd say, but that doesn't matter now. I did find a job opportunity there, a while ago, anyway I applied and I got it."

"In Manhattan?" she asks and I nod.

"Yeah, but I was going to have to move there and I wasn't sure you'd come. But now, obviously, this all works out." I say and she shrieks.

"This is so perfect!" she says, practically shouting, but I didn't care anymore. "So I thought you could come out with me when I visit Hunter and we could stay an extra day and do some apartment hunting." I grinned, of course she already had a plan.

"Okay!" I exclaim, I paused, thinking about it for a second more. "Yeah okay! I'll just have to call in for a vacation day from work, but what about classes..."

"We can miss one day!" she shrieks and jumping off her stool, grabbing me in a hug. I nearly toppled out of my seat but I caught myself just in time.

"No, it's nearly the end of the year Racheal." I say imploringly. She shakes her head.

"Are you even doing anything productive in class? Lets be real here, we can miss one day." She says, looking at me, almost begging me with her 'puppy-face' look.

I bit my lip.

"Fine." I grumble and she shrieks again. She grabs me in another hug and cheers about moving to New York City. We jumped around, in giddy excitement for a few minutes.

Then she ran back to her room to finish packing for the weekend, commanding me to also pack and not to forget something pretty for the company social, while she told Hunter the news.

I shook my head, wondering if the only reason I was being dragged along was so she wasn't alone at the social. But I didn't care after-all, I secretly liked going with her and I loved apartment hunting.

After she made the phone call she blasted music from her room, while I finished my dinner, put my dish away and then went down to my hallway.

I made a mental note to call Mr. Scott at some point to let him know I was taking Monday off. I knew it would be fine, I had plenty of vacation days saved up.

I walked into my room and flicked the lights on. I went to my walk-in, grabbed a large duffel bag and then brought it back into my room. I set it on my bed, unzipping it and then I went to my dresser to find the things I wanted to pack.

I packed two dresses, one pair of shorts, a soft t-shirt and a jacket. I was in the middle of packing a toiletries bag when the loud blaring of my cellphone sounded from my room. I ran out of the bathroom, grabbed my phone and answered it.

"Hello?" I asked out of breath.

"Miss. Smith!" exclaims Mr. Scott's boisterous voice and I grinned, he had interesting timing.

"Hey Mr. Scott." I say smiling to myself, wondering what he could possibly want at this hour of the evening.

"I have a favor to ask of you." He says.

"Okay." I tell him.

"I have a package here that I would like you take to the post office tomorrow morning. I know it's the weekend, but I need to get it mailed right away and I'm out of town as of right now." He says.

"Okay, I can do that." I say, thinking I could pick it up and mail it tomorrow morning on our way to the city.

"Yes, so sorry for the last minute call, but as I said my wife and I went down to our beach house and I just got word that the package came in." he says.

"It's no problem." I say.

"Alright. I'll send you the mailing information, but I am sending it to Mr. Price." He says and I furrow my brow.

"Oh." I hum, curious about what the package was suddenly. I hadn't seen Nathan in a while now, and he was instantly back in my thoughts, just after I had got him out.

"Yes, the school is awarding him an award of recognition for what he did for us, but he cannot come to collect the plaque we ordered for a while because he is so busy. So I told him I would have it mailed." He says and suddenly I had a thought. Which may have been influenced by the possibility of seeing him again.

"You know, I'm actually going to stay in the city this weekend, and I could drop it off at his office instead if you'd like." I say eagerly.

"That would be marvelous Miss. Smith!" he says happily.

"Yeah, it wouldn't be any trouble at all." I say, biting my lip in anticipation already.

"Okay, thank you again. Have a nice weekend." He says.

"You two sir." I say. "Goodnight."

Then he hangs up and I put my phone down slowly. I narrowed my eyes, thinking for another moment. If I was possibly going to see the daunting Mr. Price again I would have to pack better clothing.

So I unpacked all the clothes I had chosen and then pulled out some of my nicer items. I had to look good, if I saw him. But then I stopped, I couldn't seem like a try-hard, so I unpacked again and repacked what I had had before. That's better I thought, now if I saw him at all, I would look nice, but not too over-done.

I finished packing, zipped up my duffel and then got ready for bed. Racheal and I decided to leave at 6 am tomorrow morning, and after I said 'goodnight' to her, I set my alarm and climbed in bed.

I closed my eyes, but I couldn't sleep for a while. My mind was filled with thoughts of new possibilities, what tomorrow would hold and Nathan Price.