My Life Would Suck Without You

The Lunch

Okay, so Gisele wasn't completely honest with Ariana when she said she'd arrange for Jai to meet Ariana for lunch. Deep down inside something told her something was fishing with him not returning her phone call. And even though she thought Jai Brooks was a great guy, maybe ... just maybe he was avoiding Ariana. Jai Brooks, ESPN employee, however, wouldn't avoid a lunch date with Shaquille O'Neal.

Therefore, Shaq's manager, who sounded remarkably like her husband, Edward, called Jai and arranged a lunch date between the two. Since O'Neal's retirement in 2010, he had become very reclusive and guarded his personal time very closely. Jai jumped at the chance to interview one of the legends of the court.

The next day he arrived at restaurant fifteen minutes early so he could go over his questions and calm his nerves. Having the opportunity to interview one of his all-time heroes was having more of an affect on him than he would have imagined a few days ago. Jai made of couple of notes about what he wanted to ask the basketball great and took a drink from his wine glass.

Ariana was uncharacteristically nervous when she walked into Sangria's. However this Hell's Kitchen mainstay was one of her favorite restaurants and that helped alleviate her anxiety. Sangria 46, as it was officially known, served traditional Spanish cuisine which while it wasn't the Southwestern food that she preferred was still very good. And to be honest, she wasn't really up to spicy food right now anyway.

There he is...

Ariana spotted Jai immediately sitting at one of the small two-person tables at the rear of the restaurant. He was studying a small flip notebook and didn't see her approach. She walked straight to the table with much more poise and confidence than she was feeling. She stopped at couple of feet from the table and even managing a weak smile.

"Jai..."

Jai looked up with confusion and wariness etched on his face. "Ariana...", he murmured in genuine surprise. "What a coincidence seeing you here."

She pulled out her chair and sat down. Jai looked awkward and stole a quick look over her shoulder toward the front door.

"What do you mean? You obviously got the message to meet here for lunch, right?"

"Meet you for lunch? I'm waiting for a lunch meeting with Shaquille O'Neal."

"Shaquille O'Neal? Now, what are you talking about? Gisele called you yesterday to arrange this meeting." Ariana was starting to become angry which was actually a good thing since it gave her something else on which to focus.

"What message? And the only phone call I got yesterday was from Shaq's manager to arrange this lunch meeting." Jai pulled his napkin out of his laTp and threw it down on the table. It suddenly dawned on him what was happening. "Damn! That wasn't Shaq's manager, was it? I should have known. He'd never meet with me ... I'm a nobody." He slummed down into his chair and looked like a kicked puppy.

Ariana reached across and took his hand as if it was the most natural thing to do. "That's not true. You're famous. Frankie even knows who you are."

Jai looked up in surprise at her gesture and stared into Ariana's beautifully smiling face, a real one, this time.

"But I don't understand... do you think Gisele set this up? Why would she do that?"

"Don't know ... Maybe it had something to do with you not returning my message from two weeks ago. Maybe she thought you wouldn't come if you thought you were meeting me."

"I never got it", he responded quietly. His anxious feelings were starting to subside the longer he held her hand.

"What?"