Robbery in Progress

Twenty-One

I knew exactly what was going to happen the next day at work and when I walked in to see Paul eyeballing me, I knew I was about to be interrogated.

"Soooo?" I tried ignoring him, but there is no way to ignore Paul.

 

"So what?"

 

"So...how'd the date go?"

 

"It went well actually."

 

"I need more details."

 

"Well, it started kind of rough."

 

"How so?"

 

"He told me to dress up, so I assumed that we were going somewhere nice, and we did. When we got there though, I thought the place looked familiar but just brushed it off. Then we got inside and got seated. We were talking and everything was going good until our waiter turned out to be Derek."

 

"Are you kidding me? How did you not know that you were at that restaurant?"

 

"I don't know, okay?"

 

"Well, what happened?"

 

"He left and a new girl showed up to be our waitress."

 

"Was it awkward?"

 

"I mean, yeah. How could that not be awkward?" Paul nodded. "I told John about him, though."

 

"You did?" I knew Paul couldn't believe what I was telling him, considering how much I hate telling anyone my feelings.

 

"Yeah. I just didn't want to start anything off with secrets."

 

"That's understandable and I'm proud of you for doing that, Jen." I smiled. "What was John's reaction?"

 

"He was very understanding and appreciated the fact that I told him and didn't try to hide anything."

 

"That's great." There was a minute of silence. "Well, have you talked to Derek?"

 

"No. The last time we talked was when he was at my house and apologized. The last thing he told me was that he cared about me and wanted to work things out."

 

"Are you going to talk to him?"

 

"What would I even say to him?"

 

"I think you should tell him that you are unsure if your relationship could last because you don't think that he will put in the effort. I also think you need to tell him that it hurt you how he made you feel and that you need to take time apart. If you keep seeing John and like him, then that's great, Jen, but if you keep seeing him and decide Derek is better for you then you can see if he would like to go out again. Don't put your eggs in one basket right now if you're not sure." I rolled my eyes at him. Paul always liked to say things like that.