I rushed past Monica, not going to give her the satisfaction of hearing my answer. She knew exactly why I was smiling.

It had been difficult leaving Tobey. We both would have given anything to pause the afternoon and make it last forever, but duty called. We had about two hours to put the finishing touches together in the apartment in preparation for the party.

See, I’m your average, red blooded woman and . . . I’ve had a few, shall we say, encounters. But never, and that means never, in my entire life had I ever experienced anything like those short, twenty minutes Tobey and I had just shared. It was more incredible than any feeling I’d ever felt in my life. . . most likely due to the fact that I was more in love with him than I’d ever been with anyone in life.

We’d waited long enough for the moment, and I discovered that the rumor is true: the more longer you wait, the better it is. And we both had been damn near ready to explode by the time the opportunity finally came around, we’d been waiting so long. I was still on a high from the sheer ecstasy of it all and it was evident by the silly grin now irreparably plastered on my face.

I was simply walking on air.

“I’m glad you got the AC fixed, finally.” I said, ignoring her, kicking off my shoes. “It’s an oven out there.” I could see Monica still staring at me, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

“So, uh. . . where, uh, where’s Tobey?”

“Huh? Oh, he’s at home. I have to pick him up from home and then we’ll come right over.”

I continued to ignore her smart-ass grin and threw open the doors to the kitchen, starting the business of washing and slicing all the veggies for the salad.

The dinner was going to be ‘cozy.’ Meaning, not too many people. Just Monica, myself, Tobey, Leo, and their good friend Kevin.

Monica and I had both decided that our close friends from campus weren’t quite ready to handle something like this . . . no, they definitely weren’t ready to handle something like this. So we kept it just between ourselves.

And it’s a good thing we did, because when I went to pick up Tobey, he let me know that there was to be a last minute addition to the party. He instructed to me to cozy, leafy house and out popped a smiling, energetic blonde. . .

“Hey Kirsten,” he said happily as she hopped into the back seat.

Keep it cool, Nat. Just keep it cool. You’re going to have to get used to surprises like this.

I was taking special steps to keep my composure, because I knew Tobey thought I handled things like this supremely well. Perhaps on the outside I did, but on the inside it still unnerved me quite a bit.

She was extremely cordial and seemed very down to earth—just like any other girl I could have been introduced to. It’s just that I probably owned a couple of her movies in my collection somewhere.

“Oh Tobey,” she said, “I’m glad to see that you aren’t in a full body cast like Leo told me!”

“He exaggerates.”

“Apparently! This for you!” She passed a card to the front seat, her fancy writing adorning the front.

“Aww. . thanks, sweetie,” he said, turning around to face the backseat. “Kirsten, this is Natalia. Natalia, Kirsten.”

“Hi!” She reached for my hand and shook it vigorously. “The famous Natalia!”

“Famous?” I repeated, pulling out onto the highway.

“Oh, yeah! Everyone knows your story! It’s so romantic!”

I was blushing. “Oh, my. . . well. . . gosh, thanks Kirsten. . .”

“It’s the truth! Right out of a movie!”

I laughed, smiling uncontrollably. She put me at ease immediately. I only prayed that Monica kept her cool when she saw Kirsten walk in. I was scared what her reaction would be: since Monica had a grudge against Kirsten Dunst. She claimed that Kirsten has been in a film with every single man she’s ever loved in her life, and she couldn’t stand her.

She handled it frightfully well, thank goodness.

We all assembled at our wooden dinner table, and Kirsten was very careful to compliment us on our apartment, right down to our funky dinnerware. It actually did look quite chic that night. The sure-fire way to win over Monica was to pay her a compliment, and since Kirsten was full of them, the two of them clicked immediately.

The night flowed along just as carefree and easily as the wine did. Tobey happily opted for my non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiri instead, as did Kirsten and I. Leo turned out to be the life of the conversation, side splittingly funny, and when he and Tobey got started on something together. . . God, I had tears from laughing so hard.

And Kirsten was just as funny and lively. “I’ll tell ya, Natalia, it takes a bigger person than me to do what you’re doing.”

“What’s that?”

“Looking after a man who’s off his feet. We all know there isn’t anything worse than a guy who’s sick.”

“Tell me about it,” Monica concurred. “When a guy’s stuck in bed, the entire world has to stop for them.”

“Oh shut up,” said Leo, shaking his head.

“It’s the truth,” Kirsten insisted.

“You take a woman who’s sick,” I said, smiling at Tobey. “She could have the black plague for all she cares, and what’s she doing? She’s vacuuming, doing the laundry, loading the dishwasher, mowing the lawn, driving the kids to soccer, etc. A guy gets a head cold and all of a sudden. . .”

Kirsten was dying, “All of a sudden, it’s ‘Ohhhhh, babe, could you please fluff my pillow? Ohhhhh, honey, could you please get me another drink?’”

“Oh God,” said Monica, “One year, my Dad was at home ‘cause of back surgery. My mother the genius decided to buy him a bell! And you know what? The man actually used it! Every ten minutes it was ‘Ding! Ding! Ding!’”

Kirsten, Monica and I were laughing our heads off, leaving Tobey, Kevin and Leo grimacing, attempting to appear upset. But within minutes they were smiling too. It was the honest to God truth and they knew it.

The dessert had long since been served and everyone was reclining back in their chairs, the conversation light and airy, Tobey sitting closer and closer to me—his hand never once leaving mine.

I eventually decided to stand up and clear away the dishes into the kitchen.

“Let me help you,” said Leo in an unprecedented move. He actually got his butt up from the chair, something I was certain he wasn’t capable of . . .

“It’s cool, I’ll get it . . .”

“No, I want to.” He obviously was accustomed to getting his way. He took half of the dishes, I took the other half, and we went into the kitchen.

“Nice place,” he said as I turned on the faucet.

“I’m glad you approve,” I said light-heartedly.

He leaned up against the counter and folded his arms. He’d wanted to tell me something privately, obviously, and now he was trying to figure out how to do it.

“I . . . owe you an apology.”

It was the last thing I expected, so I looked up at him inquisitively. “I treated you kinda shitty for a while there and . . . I’m sorry . . .” He smiled hopefully and then it faded. “It’s just that . . . Tobey’s last girlfriend . . . she burned him pretty bad. He was devastated.”

I was shocked at the candor of the moment and felt the need to ease things. “Yes, well . . . as you can tell by Tobey’s crutches and my forehead, I wasn’t exactly in the best of relationships either.”

He laughed and nodded. “Yeah I see that . . .” He paused. “Well, maybe you two were supposed to find each other. Tobes always says there are no accidents.”

He winked at me and turned to leave the kitchen, leaving rendered speechless. I quite literally felt lighter than air, my heart beating rapidly from the sheer loveliness of those last words. Finally, finally I was beginning to feel as though I belonged.

That feeling right then, at that moment, stayed with me for the next five months. It didn’t dwindle in the slightest. No, with every new day, every moment spent in each other’s company, it grew, becoming something that neither of us ever knew was possible. Fairy tales really could come true.

~

Or so it seemed.