Right in Time (4 page)

Chap
ter Eight

The next week went by much more smoothly than the first, but the events remained quite the same.  Maggie went to work during the day, cranking out cake and dessert orders masterfully.  On Tuesday and Friday she went to dance class where she learned the moves to the tango, waltz, and salsa; all of which she truly believed she would never use in the real world, but hell, wasn’t that what everyone says throughout any type of school?  Regardless, she went and enjoyed every minute of it.  She hadn’t caught sight of Blondie since their first encounter, so thoughts of her and Caleb were put to the back of her head and she concentrated on having fun and getting to know her instructor better.  There wasn’t much opportunity for small talk as most of their conversations solely involved Caleb telling her where to put her hands and other instructions on what to do.  Now, out of context, this could seem fantastic, but not when it was set in reality with Maggie in firm concentration, trying her best to not step on his feet or move on the wrong count.  Needless to say, in those moments of trying her darnedest to not look like a complete fool, striking up a witty conversation wasn’t top on her priority list. 

Despite this, small parting words were exchanged as they collected their things on their way out.  Maggie had let Caleb know about her business, and he knew of her friends who had sent her there and bits of their lives, but nothing dynamic.  However, entering the third week of class, the lesson went on just like it had the other days, but when it was over, there was a new arrival that made its appearance.

An invitation.

“So, you have any plans tonight? Caleb asked Maggie as he went to pull his sweatshirt over his head.

“Nope.  It’s Tuesday, I’m not much of a weeknight-going-out type of girl.”

“Oh.” he responded, a slight hint of disappointment in his voice that Maggie caught.

“But that doesn’t mean that I’m opposed
to it.” she replied quickly, not knowing what he was getting at, but regardless, she didn’t want to possibly miss it.

A small smile appeared on
Caleb’s face.  “Well, I don’t know if I mentioned to you before, but I split my time between here and Toronto.” Maggie nodded for him to continue.  “Well, a friend and I are in a band; Thriving Drive.  Can you tell I didn’t come up with the name?” Caleb winked, laughing at his own joke.  “Anyways, Bryan’s been in town for a week or so and Tuesday’s our usual gig at this bar back home.  Seeing as we’re here, we thought we’d do a show tonight in Vancouver.”

“Cool.”

“So...well, I’m just about to head there now and thought maybe you’d like to come and check me out...I mean us...check
us
out.  The band.” Caleb stammered. 

What
? He’s nervous?
Maggie thought to herself, a sly smile creeping up on her face.  “Sure, I’d love to.” Maggie responded, watching Caleb’s face light up.

The two exited the studio and made their way downtown to the venue and were there in no time.

“Have you been here before?”
Caleb asked Maggie as he led her through a side entrance of The Blue Room.

“Yeah, actually my friend’s boyfriend p
layed here a couple weeks ago.”

“Really?  Very cool.  What’s their name?”

“Alder.”

“Seriously? I was at that show! They were great!”

All Maggie could do was smile and think what a small world.  Shortly after making their way in to the club, Caleb sat Maggie at a small table to the side of the stage before he went backstage to get ready to go on.  She quickly took leave for a moment, running to the washroom to do a quick once over.  Her hair was up in a ponytail, most of her makeup melted off from class.  Well, at least her yoga pants and tank top and hoodie combo were club appropriate, right? Scoffing, she touched up her face the best she could before ducking back out to her seat.  She sat there alone for a few minutes watching the crowd of people, anticipating the show and seeing Caleb on stage rocking out.  Getting lost in her thoughts didn’t last long before they were broken, or rather shattered.

“
Hi!” chirped a voice standing over her.

Looking up,
Maggie stared right in to the blue eyes of Blondie.

Shit.

“Uh, hi.” Maggie managed to say in as pleasant tone as possible.

Sitting down beside her, Blondie continued, “I remember you from the studio, it was
Maggie, right?  Caleb mentioned you being here.”

So
Caleb talks about me to his girlfriend? Fantastic.
Maggie thought, the voice in her head becoming more and more sarcastic.  And damn her for looking cuter than her. 
If I had a change of clothes…
Maggie found herself musing internally.  Not like it mattered as he was hers, but still.  Seeing Blondie stare directly at her, waiting for a response, Maggie quickly spoke. “Yeah, I’m Maggie.  Nice to meet you.”

“I’m
Samantha, it’s nice to meet you too.”

“So, how long have you known
Caleb?” Maggie asked, not knowing where that question came from, yet dying to know the answer.

“Oh, years!  My brother is actually
in the band with him!”

“Oh, I see.  That’s great your brother and your boyfriend are so close.”
Maggie stated quite quietly.

“What?!”
Samantha questioned just as the music started and the crowd began to cheer.

The second the show was over
, Maggie could not get out of her seat any faster.  She faintly heard Samantha calling towards her, but it was mostly muffled by the crowd that was still cheering for the band that had just done their encore.  As Maggie quickly turned back towards the stage, she caught the eye of Caleb who wasn’t basking in the adoration of the crowd, but rather watching her with puzzlement as she fled.

Chapter Nine

Maggie
dreaded the quick passing of days that led her up to Friday this week.  As she sat in the back kitchen area of her shop, she rested her head on her arms, only allowing her eyes to peak out to see the clock on the wall that told her she had ten minutes before she had to be on her way so as to not be late.  Maggie’s internal questioning had been going nonstop since Tuesday night.  Why had the fact that Samantha was with Caleb upset her so much?  She barely knew him!  This only frustrated her more knowing deep down that it meant she felt more for him and had more invested than she herself had even realized at first.  But what would she say to him when she saw him?  She could lie, she could make up a phoney excuse about why she had to leave, but ultimately she didn’t know if she could face him in the first place. 

The buzzer of the delivery door blared through the empty kitchen, echoing, scaring Maggie out of her trance.  Reaching the door, she opened it only to reveal Taylor standing there with a smile on her face.  “Yay! I caught you.  Awesome.  Are you ready to go?”

Maggie
stared at her blankly and only replied with a questioning “what?”  She hadn’t seen Taylor since her birthday, with her playing roadie for Alder.

“To c
lass, Mag.  The school called and apparently they misplaced the cheque we gave them for your lessons, so I’m playing delivery person.  Plus,” she added in a hushed tone, “I get to see this hot instructor of yours!” she finished with a giggle.

Maggie
just groaned to herself, knowing that whatever escape route she would have been able to think up just got foiled.

Small talk filled the
air as the two friends walked towards the school’s entrance, but Maggie’s mind was as far away from the conversation as it could possibly be.  Maggie was back to dreading dance class and she desired anything above being there.  Meeting Samantha, seeing what a sweet girl she was just made it worse.  Was she just imagining that Caleb was nervous asking her to see his band play?  She didn’t think so, but a guy with a girlfriend...it made her question.  Even with this dread, she knew there was no way she could avoid class, especially now that Taylor was dropping her off.  Hell, she felt like a five year old on her first day of kindergarten. 

After stopping briefly to hand over the cheque, Taylor and Maggie headed in to the studio she had become quite familiar with.  As they entered, Caleb was already there, standing in front of the stereo shirtless.

“Damn him.”
Maggie cursed under her breath, praying that that didn’t come out loudly as it caused Caleb to spin around to face her.

“Hey,” he greeted her happily, but with caution, “are you okay?
I saw you leave quickly after the show and wasn’t sure why.”

Maggie
could see Taylor in the corner of her eye shooting her a questionable glare.

“Yeah, sorry about that, I just...”

“I needed her.” Taylor rushed out, jumping in.

Really paying her notice for the first time,
Caleb turned to Taylor and extended his hand.  “Caleb” he introduced.

“Taylor” she replied, taking his hand.  “I’m
Maggie’s friend and one-third of the reason you get to see her lovely face twice a week.” she laughed.  Caleb joined in with the laughter, remembering Maggie’s disinterest in dance the first class.  “Anyways,” she continued, “I had a stupid fight with my boyfriend and needed to vent, so I called Maggie.  I didn’t mean for her to bail after your show.  I’m sorry.”

“No, not at all.”
Caleb brushed off the apology.  “I’m glad she was able to be there for you.” he continued, looking over at Maggie with a smile, who forced one upon her own face in return.  “Plus, I’m also glad it wasn’t because she thought our music sucked and had to flee.” he joked.

“You guys were great
!  I loved your music.” Maggie cut in.

“Thanks!  That means a lot.  I’m g
lad you came out and saw the show.  Even if it did break your rules.” Caleb said, causing the both of them to chuckle.

“Yeah, well, I’m here to “grow” remember?”

Taylor just stood back and watched the goings on, making a mental note to grill Maggie about this later.  “I should be going, I just wanted to pop in and say hi.  Oh, and to pay the tuition so that Maggie can continue to be all yours.” Taylor joked.  Just as Taylor had made her mental note, Maggie did her own, reminding herself to smack Taylor for that last comment.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Taylor.  I hope everything worked out with you and your boyfriend.”

“Oh, yeah, we’re good.” she assured him. “It was like it never even happened.” she stated firmly, giving Maggie a knowing look as she spoke. 

With that, she turned and left, leaving
Maggie and Caleb alone in the studio.  Caleb stood there for a moment, eyeing Maggie before breaking out in to a smile.

“You know what?  I think today we should branch outside of what we’ve been doing so far then.  You know, allow you to “grow” some more.  How ‘bout it?”

Before she could even respond, Caleb pressed the play button on the stereo and out came Usher’s “Yeah.”  Maggie couldn’t help herself and broke down laughing.  Not sure what was going on, Caleb could only stare, but then found himself cracking up too.

“I can’t tell if your
laughter means you like the song?” Caleb managed to choke out.

“This...is...my...jam!”
Maggie managed to get out in short breaths between laughs.  After she took a second to calm herself down, she continued.  “I taught myself part of the dance to this song.  It is basically the only song I dance to when I’m out at a club.”

Caleb didn’t say anything.  He only stepped aside and motioned with his arms for her to take the center of the floor.  Surprising herself, Maggie did as he wished and got to a spot in the middle of the floor and waiting for the specific part in the song to come up, and when it did, she brought it.  When the song ended, Caleb just stood there looking at Maggie; this shy young woman whom had no desire to dance, whom never went out on weeknights, whom seemed reserved, shaking her ass to Usher. 

“Wow.” He mused, never taking his eyes off of her.  “You’re just...you surprised me.”

“Well, those are about the only moves I’ve got, so...” Maggie trailed off.

The next track on the disc started up.  It was still a hip hop beat, but it was much more lyrical and soulful. 
Caleb made his way over to where she stood in the middle of the floor, standing behind her, he put his hands on her hips.