My Calming Effect

I couldn’t believe that he said that, who in their right mind would say something like that when they first meet someone? And who would do that when their sister has told them that everything was on its way to being fine? Bella was with Jordan and by the looks of her when she saw him, she was very happy. That kiss she gave him didn’t look like one from a woman who wasn’t in love with her man.

I heard Bella gasp when Wade said that. “Wade!” Bella flew pass me and was glaring up at her brother, “I told you not to do that! Anna is my friend and Jordan,” she turned to look at Jordan who was staring at the floor. “We are working through this and you promised me you wouldn’t do this!” Bella looked like she was about to cry, “You promised!”

Jordan stepped forward and slipped his hands onto Bella’s waist. “It’s ok Bella, let your brother say whatever he feels he has too, Anna and I both know that not everyone is ok with you giving us another chance after what happened.”

Wade chuckled as he dropped my hand. “My sister shouldn’t have had to give you another chance buddy.” Bella went to speak but Wade held up his hands, “Ok Bella, I won’t say anything else, except this,” he turned to Jordan. “Hurt her again and you won’t live to find out what it’s like without her.”

“Wade!” Bella glared at him. “Don’t you dare threaten Jordan! You promised me you would get to know him and find out what a great guy he is!”

“Yes I did promise that and I will get to know him,” he glanced at me and then Jordan before looking back at Bella. “But I didn’t say I wouldn’t let them know how I feel about the situation.”

During this whole exchange I was unusually quiet, I think it was partly because I didn’t expect him to get into all this the second he met us, nor did I expect him to do it so publicly. Plus, I didn’t really have anything to say on the matter.

A woman came through the department and started asking me about some item in the special order catalogue, so I excused myself to go and assist her.

“I guess we should get going,” Bella said hesitantly. “I was going to suggest that we go out for something to eat because I’m hungry but I can’t think of a place that will be opened for a while so we could talk and eat.”

I paused momentarily and glanced at her. “Why not try Splat’s?” I asked her and when she gave me a confused look I told her it was the place that we all went to celebrate Josh’s extra time with Jesse and Jordan getting to see Jenna.

“Yes!” Bella clapped her hands in excitement. “Their food is surprisingly good and…oh!” She grabbed Jordan’s hand, “We can get their wings, the really hot ones you love so much!”

I almost laughed at how excited she was about the wings considering she didn’t like them too much when she tried them that night.

“And you’ll come by after you get out of here?” Bella called out to me as I walked over to the woman at the special order book. “Anna?”

I ended up telling her that I would see, I didn’t want to tell her I had no desire to be anywhere near her brother at the moment; although I did want to go and give Jordan moral support.

“So what were you looking for?” I asked the woman as she flipped through the book. “Most of the stuff in this book we can have in the store in three days but some stuff will take up to ten days, it all depends on if the warehouse has it in stock.”

I spent a good twenty minutes with the lady before she decided on the bedroom set that she wanted to order. “It’ll be here in a week?” She asked me.

“I can’t promise,” I told her. “But it should be here by next Thursday; I have your number here if it comes in before then, we’ll call you.”

The lady thanked me and looked really relieved as she walked away.

But the next person who came around the corner didn’t look too happy, in fact they looked like they were about to kill someone.

“Josh?” I met him, a concerned look on my face. “Honey what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he told me.

“About what?” I grabbed his arm. “Please tell me what’s wrong.”

He glanced around and then leaned against the shelving unit. “Jesse is going to be so disappointed, he is looking forward to his party but how can I have a party when I don’t have any supplies?”

“What do you mean?” I asked him, “Why don’t you have any supplies? What happened to them?”

“They aren’t here!” He spread his arms and chuckled like he was a mad man. “They promised me they would be here yesterday but they weren’t. I was supposed to put the goody bags together at my mom’s yesterday, dad and mom were looking forward to helping me but I didn’t have anything to work with!”

“Josh,” I slipped my hands over his arms and brought them back down to his sides. “Who did you order the stuff from?” He gave me the name of the manager in Stationary. “What did you order?”

“Party stuff, ‘Cars’ stuff because Jesse wanted a Cars theme. This was the cheapest place to get all the stuff, they told me it would be here yesterday; the loot bags, ‘Cars’ plates, napkins, cups, table cloth, everything with Lightning McQueen on it but it’s not here!” His arms went up again, “What the hell am I going to do? I waited too late! I knew I should've had this done a long time ago but I put it off! And I don’t have enough time to go elsewhere, his party is Saturday! I work tomorrow and then he’s with me, I don’t want to ruin his birthday by letting him see everything or not having Lightning!”

“Did you talk to Perry today? Did she say if the stuff came in?” Josh shook his head and told me that she was already gone by the time he had a chance to call her. “Did you speak to the associate covering Stationary tonight?”

“Yes! The guy was a complete moron, he didn’t even know they sold ‘Cars’ birthday stuff! How could he not know the area he works in?”

“Josh just take a deep breath and while you are doing that I’ll make a few calls and see if I can’t find out what’s going on, ok?”

He nodded so I went off to the phone and dialed the extension to Stationary and sure enough the guy there wasn’t any help. I then called the duty manager and asked her if she knew anything about his order, she didn’t.

“So?” Josh looked hopeful when I went back over to him. “You didn’t find anything out?” I shook my head and he groaned. “My first time having him for his birthday and I screw it up! Just great!”

“I still have one more option, I’ll just have to leave you here for a few minutes though. You’ll stay right here?” He told me he would and I went to check a few areas in the store that managers put orders waiting for pick up.

A few minutes later I wheeled a shopping cart over to Josh, he pushed off the shelves and stared down at the bright red face of Lightning McQueen. “That’s…you…” he pulled me into his arms and kissed me on the lips. “You are the best!”

“Attention Customers, the time is now 9:55 and our store will be closing in 5 minutes. Please gather your final purchases and make your way to the front where our cashiers are waiting to assist you. Thank you for shopping Wal-Mart and have a great night!”

Josh looked upwards and then back at me. “I better get this stuff home and get started.” He stared at the cart of stuff and then sighed. “It’s going to be a long night.”

He gave me a kiss on the cheek, thanked me for my help and then turned to leave.

I was watching him walk away, wishing that he would turn around and come back to give me another kiss on the lips but he disappeared around the corner.

Sighing, I turned to head over to the diapers to see if I needed to pull any down.

“Hey Anna?”

“Yes?”

He didn’t say anything at first, he just stood there gazing at me. “I was wondering,” he took a couple steps towards me. “What are you doing after work? Would you like to come help me?” Before I could answer he jumped in and said I didn’t have too. “I just wanted to spend some time with you and I did need help.”

“Josh I -”

He held up his hand, “But I’m asking because I want to spend time with you, not because I need help.” He closed his eyes and groaned. “I’m not making any sense.”

I smiled at him, “I would love to spend some time with you.” I didn’t care what we would be doing, I just wanted to be with him.