who it was. In an instant, Trish decided that this was too good a coincidence to pass up. She suddenly jumped off of the sofa, and rushed towards the door.
"Hey, where are you going?" asked Rita.
"I'll be right back. I just saw something outside the window that might prove to you that there's a reason for everything."
12:10 pm
As Ian pedaled towards the fairground, he pondered what adventures or misadventures awaited him there. A worst case scenario would be bumping into Becker and Felix and getting double-teamed once again, this time in front of a massive crowd. Then again, perhaps he would run into Freddy, Sonia, Polo and the rest of the bikers, and at least have a pleasant afternoon, if not a successful one on the romantic side of things. He knew for sure that Steven would be there, and wondered if he managed to find himself some female companionship, other than Sheila.
As he rounded a corner and proceeded down one of the many surrounding residential streets, suddenly, a familiar figure came bolting out of a grey house, waving her hand frantically in the air, attempting to flag him down.
"Hey Ian! Stop!"
It was Trish. Ian's immediate assumption was that she must live there. Now what on earth could she possibly want? The urgency in her voice made him wondered. As his bike grounded to a halt, she scurried up to him.
"Ian, could you do me a tiny favour?"
For a moment, Ian just stared at her blankly. Sighing, he finally spoke. " Trish, I'm probably going to regret asking this, but what?"
"Look, my friend has both of her arms in a giant cast, and can't be left alone. I need to go and was wondering if you could look after her. It'll only be for another hour or so."
Ian was understandably suspicious. "If it's just for an hour, then why can't you stay with this person yourself, Trish?"
"Listen Ian, to be honest with you, I think this person will have a lot more fun with you," Trish winked.
Ian’s first instinct was to just flip her off and continue pedaling towards the fair. However, the humanistic part of his nature completely overpowered that instinct and he agreed to go back in the house with her, and see what she was talking about. Ian wanted to at least make sure that she wasn't leaving a completely helpless person alone. He locked his bike to a water meter that was protruding from the house, and they went inside.
As soon as they entered the living room, for one very short awkward moment, he and Rita locked eyes. At least it was awkward for her. As Ian took in the unexpected sight before him, he instantly pieced together what had happened.
"So this is what that ambulance was doing at the school that day," he thought.
Rita was completely puzzled. "Trish, what are you doing?" She reached over, and shut the television off.
Trish now had a sly grin on her face. "Since this nerd proved to be so entertaining last Friday, I figured you might have more fun spending the next hour with ‘what your name’ here instead of me."
"Ian." he repeated, although he knew it would be to no avail.
Rita was perturbed. "You are kidding, aren't you?"
"I most certainly am not. I told you, I believe there's a God...And thus, I believe that it's no coincidence that I happened to notice this guy pedaling by while looking out the window just now. Excuse us for a moment." She grabbed Ian by the arm, and led him outside, just out of Rita's earshot, and whispered real fast, "Alright Ian, I saw you coming and seized the moment. Now it's your turn to play on. Betty is supposed to be taking over at 1:00, but if you and Rita decided that that won't be necessary, call my cell phone. I'm meeting Betty at the carnival, and I'll just let her know that her services will not be required." Trish winked again.
Ian couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Trish, why are you doing this for me?"
She just smiled, and put her hand on his arm. "Don't get me wrong, Betty and I still think you're a pretty weird dude, but we don't hate you like Phoebe does. I've got a sneaking suspicion that the only reason Rita ignores you, is because she doesn't want to lose Phoebe as a friend. Now I'm off to the carnival. Remember...Seize the moment!" With that, Trish ran off towards the fair.
Needless to say, one cannot even describe all the thoughts that were racing through Ian's head. For once, fate had been on his side. For the next hour, he was literally going to be with the girl of his (and everyone else's) dreams, and was desperately trying to think of what would be the best thing to say. Ian re-entered the house to find Rita still sitting on the couch, just staring off into space, with a beaten expression on her face.
After a while, Ian decided to open with a wise-crack, "Rita, I'm really sorry that Trish has put you in this awkward position ." He sat down in a heavily upholstered chair directly facing her. "But I'll do my very best to make it a pleasant experience."
Strangely enough, Rita still seemed to be avoiding looking directly at him. She just shook her head, leaned back, and seemed to be speaking to the ceiling. "I hate not being the master of my own destiny. I can’t even decide anything for myself! Not even how to clean my ass!.." Realizing what she had just accidentally blurted out, she suddenly turned her face directly towards Ian. "Oh no, I can't believe I just said all that...I'm so embarrassed!"
Think fast Ian. "Err.., Rita, there's no need to be." He now attempted to inject a lighthearted tone into his voice hoping that he would come across as reassuring. "I'm the same age as you, and a man too. To tell you the truth, the first thing I thought of when I saw your arms all stretched out like that was to hug you."
Rita sighed. "You're not going to mention this to any of your friends, are you?"
Ian answered with a tinge of melancholy. "Now that's a pretty redundant question. You, Rita, of all people, must aware of the fact that I don't have any friends."
Once again, the room was filled with an eerie silence.
Rita rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Fuuuhh! I can’t help feeling depressed. What's bothering me is that everything was going so well in my life, and now this has to happen. There's an important gymnastics competition coming up soon...and an important softball game. I was supposed to have a good time with all my friends at the carnival today." Rita paused and looked downward. "Instead, I'm stuck here in this house with you."
These words inspired Ian to try a different strategy. He stood up, reached for his hat and started towards the door.
"Wait, Ian, where are you going?" Rita suddenly realized her mistake.
"Listen," Ian answered. "I just want to do whatever it is that's going to make you feel better. There's really not a lot I can do about you being stuck in that cast, but I can at least remedy the part about being stuck here with me." With that, he exited the room.
Rita quickly bolted up from the couch. "Wait a minute Ian...!" In her haste, Rita briefly forgot that her arms were in an outstretched position, forgetting to turn sideways as she approached the narrow door, her arms hit the walls on either side of it, knocking her flat on her back. This was the beginning of a journey of events that would drastically reshape both of their destinies. For a brief moment Rita laid there, looking up at the ceiling mentally processing what had just happened.
A few moments later, she felt a slight movement all around her. Rita immediately knew what was happening. An earthquake was starting to build up. All of a sudden violent shaking caused the whole house to rock back and forth. Glancing over to her right, Rita saw a potential catastrophe about to unfold. That big grandfather clock was now beginning to tip in her direction. With only a split second to react, she managed to use her legs to scoot her body right up next to the massive timepiece just as it began to topple. It hit the ground with a massive thud, but because she was right next to it, she wasn't injured...just trapped underneath it. Finally the violent shaking began to subside.
Outside the house, Ian was in the process of unlocking his bike whe
n the earthquake hit. He was about to step away from the structure, to avoid a potential collapse of the front porch awning. Ian eyed the house carefully as the ground shook, now feeling extremely guilty about leaving Rita in such a vulnerable position. There was a slightly open window from which he could hear the sound of books falling and dishes breaking, and finally a large thump, just before the shaking stopped. When everything had finally settled, he could hear Rita's shreaking out loud and clear.
"Ian!!! Help, I can't move!!!"
Ian zoomed towards the door, which unfortunately had locked itself when he slammed it shut. As Rita continued to scream, he headed for the open window, and pulled himself up just enough to see what was going on inside. Upon seeing the girl trapped underneath the fallen big old clock, his adrenaline gland instantly shifted into overdrive. Ian somehow managed to shove the window all the way up and heave his clumsy body through it. Now trembling, he grabbed the bottom of the enormous clock, and with all the strength he could gather, began to lift it. It must've weighed at least three hundred pounds. Ian gritted his teeth and began to push as hard as he could on the massive object, its head making a scraping noise on the floor as he did. Once he was sure that she was cleared of it, he just dropped it, not caring whether or not it left a giant dent in the wooden floor.
"Should