But We Could Get By

Chapter 12

The week seemed to go by surprisingly fast, which was strange for Johanna. She was used to it feeling like the days dragged on. This time, though, it didn't drag on at all. Maybe it was because she had something she was looking forward to the whole week. Finally, that day was here. It was Saturday, the day she and Anthony had planned to go on a date. She hoped this day wouldn't go by as fast as the rest of the week. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror a few times, then finally left her room.
   "Mum?" She said. "Yes?" Nellie replied. "I need some advice." Johanna said. "Advice on what?" Nellie asked. "I'm nervous. I know Anthony and I have been friends for a long time, but what if I mess up, and he doesn't wanna go on more dates?" Johanna responded. "What if-" "I think the only advice I can give you is to not dwell so much on the what if's. You don't wanna be stressed during the entire date. It'll distract you from actually spending time with Anthony." Nellie said. "I've never been on a date before." Johanna mumbled. "I'm just a bit scared, that's all. What if it doesn't go well? Wait, that was a what if." "I'm sure it'll go well. You two like each other, don't you?" Nellie asked. "Yes." Johanna replied. "And even if things don't work out for us romantically, we're still friends." She added. "You think we'll still be friends, right?" "Of course. A friendship like yours doesn't just dissolve overnight." Nellie reassured. Johanna sighed with relief. The thought of losing Anthony as a partner or a friend terrified her. She cared deeply about him. The last thing she wanted was to lose him.
   "You know, I never dated much either." She heard Nellie say, pulling her out of her thoughts. "I went on one date with your father. That was years ago. And then there was Mr. Johnson. That one didn't go so well." "I didn't like him." Johanna said. "I didn't either." Nellie replied. "Anyway, I'm not sure how much advice I can give you on this. I guess just don't dwell on the what if's and your worries. I know that's easier said than done, but trust me, you and Anthony are friends, and he cares about you. I'm sure he's just as nervous as you are." Johanna smiled. "Thanks, mum." She said. "You know, you always say you're bad at advice, but you've always given me great advice." "Well, I'm happy I can help." Nellie responded.
   "Johanna." She heard a voice say. She turned around and smiled. "Anthony." She said. Anthony's eyes widened. "Wow." He muttered. "What?" Johanna asked. "Oh, nothing!" Anthony quickly replied. "It's just... Well..." His voice trailed off. "What?" Johanna asked. "You look beautiful." Anthony said. "Thanks." Johanna replied, blushing. "Are you ready?" She then asked. Anthony nodded. "Alrighty then." She said. "I'll see you later, mum." "Alright. Just be back before sunset. Mr. Todd's right, you know. These streets can be dangerous at nighttime." Nellie said. "Don't worry, I'll be home by then." Johanna reassured. She waved goodbye, then headed out the door, alongside Anthony.

"Hello there. What can I do for you?" A woman standing near the door asked. "Table for two, please." Anthony replied. "Right this way." The woman said. Anthony and Johanna followed her to a table. "Your waiter will be here momentarily with your menus." The woman then walked away. "This is a nice place." Johanna said. Anthony nodded in agreement. "I heard this place was nice. That's why I chose this place." He responded. "Hello, you two. I will be your waiter for today. Here are your menus." A man said, handing out menus. "Thank you, sir." Johanna said. The man nodded, and walked away. "So, what shall we order?" Anthony asked. "We said we were gonna try their pies, didn't we?" Johanna responded. "Oh yeah. Let's see if they've gotta worry about Mrs. Lovett's newfound success." Anthony said. "Not that I can really compare. I've never tried her pies." "I haven't either. She won't let Toby and I eat them." Johanna replied. "She says it's because of my pork allergy, but certainly not all of the pies can be made with pork, right? There are other kinds of meat. And that still doesn't explain why she won't let Toby eat them. He has no allergies that we know of. It's strange." "That is rather strange." Anthony agreed.
   "What would you two like to drink?" The waiter asked. "I'll just have a water." Anthony replied. "I'll get some tea." Johanna said. "Alright. And have you two figured out what you're gonna order?" The waiter asked. "We'll both have a meat pie. No pork ones though, she's allergic." Anthony said. "Does beef sound good to you, Johanna?" "Sounds fine with me." Johanna replied. "Alright. We'll have those ready for you soon." The waiter said. He took the menus, and walked away. "You know, I also noticed how mum has never once ran out of ingredients for her pies. Not once have I seen her go to the butcher shop. Maybe she's stocked up on lots of meats, I don't know." Johanna said, once again bringing up the pie shop.
   "Enough about that though. What's up with you? How were your travels?" "They were wonderful! I got to go to so many different places and see so many incredible things!" Anthony exclaimed. "I saw so many things I thought you'd be interested in. Maybe one day, I can take you to see them." "That would be nice." Johanna said with a smile. "I'm glad you enjoyed your travels." "If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?" Anthony asked. "I'm not sure." Johanna replied. "There's not really a specific country I can think of, but I would love to visit a nice meadow with flowers blooming, and a nice cottage to stay in. Oh, and a garden. I'd love to have a garden." "That sounds lovely." Anthony said.
   Johanna laughed a little. "That was more of a dream home description than a place I'd like to go." "Well, I'll try to find a beautiful meadow with a nice cottage, and I'll take you there." Anthony said. "You'd do that?" Johanna asked. "Of course." Anthony replied. "That's very sweet of you, Anthony." Johanna said. "Thank you." Anthony shrugged. "It's no problem. Just happy to make you happy." Johanna kissed his cheek. "You're the best." She noticed him blush a little, and she giggled. "You're blushing." "Am I?" Anthony asked. Johanna nodded.
   "Here are your pies, along with your water and tea." The waiter said, setting the food and drinks down on the table. "Thank you, sir." Johanna said. Anthony took a bite of his pie. "This is pretty good." He said. "I am yet to try Mrs. Lovett's pies, so I can't say which one is better. I can safely assume both are better than Mrs. Mooney's though." Johanna laughed a little. "I'm sure anyone could make better pies than Mrs. Mooney. She uses cats." Anthony nodded.
   "Johanna?" She heard a voice say. That voice was familiar, and not in a good way. She pretended not to hear. If she was lucky, maybe he'd think he had the wrong person, and leave. "Johanna." The voice repeated. Anthony looked over and jumped a little. "Judge Turpin!" He exclaimed, his voice cracking a little. "How's life, your honor?" He asked, trying to be casual. "I see you and Johanna are enjoying yourselves." Turpin said. "What are you doing here?" Johanna asked. "Your honor." She quickly added. She hated Judge Turpin, but she knew things might not go so well for her if she didn't show respect. She supposed if her father could pretend to tolerate the Judge for business, she could pretend to tolerate him for her safety, along with Anthony's. "I just stopped by for a drink, and I noticed you were here." Turpin said. "You know, you look so much like your mother." He reached out, trying to touch Johanna's hair.
   "We were actually about to leave. It was really nice talking to you, your honor." Johanna said. Before Turpin could respond, she rushed out of the restaurant. Anthony paid for the food, then quickly followed her. "How much time do you think we have before the Judge tries to find us?" She asked. "Not sure." Anthony replied. "I wonder why he's so obsessed with you? It's really creepy." "I think it's because I look like my mother, and he had a creepy thing for her too. Or maybe it's just 'cause he's a creep, I don't know." Johanna responded. "Mum says that personality-wise though, I'm a lot like my dad. I bet Turpin wouldn't like that at all." She noticed Turpin walking across the street. He didn't see her, but it would only be a matter of time before he did. "Quick, this way!" She whisper-shouted.
   She and Anthony ran into an alleyway. "You know, mum always told me to stay away from alleyways, but suddenly, this place seems a lot safer than the streets right now." She said. "Yeah. The Judge and the Beadle aren't ones to be messed with. They threatened they'd have my brains smeared on the pavement if I dared to go near you." Anthony responded. "They said that?" Johanna asked. Anthony nodded. "That's horrible!" Johanna exclaimed, her blood boiling. How dare Judge Turpin and Beadle Bamford threaten Anthony? She had no idea how men like them were still in power. After sending an innocent man to prison, assaulting women, threatening a teenager, and constantly being creepy towards another teenager, how were they still in power?
   "I won't let them hurt you." Johanna said. "I don't know how I'd stop them, but I know I'm not letting them hurt you." Anthony smiled. "Thanks." He said. "No problem." Johanna replied. "You're my closest friend, and I really like you. A lot. I like you a lot." "I like you too. A lot." Anthony said. Johanna kissed his cheek. Anthony leaned in a little. "May I?" He asked. "Wait, what am I thinking? It's only our first date! I'm sorry, Johanna!" "It's fine, Anthony." She leaned in. "And yes, you may."
   Anthony leaned in and kissed her. She kissed back and pulled him close. For a moment, she had completely forgotten about the incident with the Judge and the fact that they were in an alleyway. She was with him, and that was all that mattered. She was always happy when she was with Anthony Hope.
   She pulled away and smiled. "I love you." She mumbled. "What?" Anthony asked. "Nothing!" Johanna quickly replied. "I didn't say anything." Anthony laughed. "I suppose I'll take your word for it." He said. "I should be heading home now. Could you walk with me?" Johanna asked. "Of course." Anthony replied. The two held hands, and began to walk back to the pie shop.

"Well, here we are." Anthony said, stopping outside of the pie shop. "I had a really great time today." "I did too." Johanna replied. "I'd love to do it again sometime. Well, not the part where the Judge found us and made things weird. You know what I mean." Anthony laughed a little. "Yeah, I get what you're saying." Johanna smiled. "Well, goodbye for now, Anthony." She said. "Goodbye for now, Johanna." Anthony replied. He gave Johanna a kiss on the forehead, then walked away. She found herself staring until he was completely out of sight. "Isn't he just lovely?" She thought to herself. After a few minutes of just standing there, she finally walked inside.
   "How'd your date go?" Nellie asked. "It went well." Johanna said. "We talked about places we'd like to go and things we'd like to see. It was nice." She decided to leave out the part about the Judge. She didn't want to worry Nellie. She had enough stress already. "I'm glad you two had fun." Nellie said with a smile. "See? You're already off to a good start. Though I suppose that's quite easy when you're with someone who's sweet and treats you well. Good thing Anthony's nothing like Mr. Johnson."
   "Who's Mr. Johnson?" Sweeney asked as he walked down the stairs. "He was this man mum went on a date with years ago. He was nice at first, but then he got real mean and a bit creepy." Johanna explained. Sweeney nodded. "Well, it's a good thing Anthony's not like him then." He said. "And it's a good thing Mrs. Lovett got out of that relationship." "Oh, it was hardly a relationship. I agreed to go on one date, and that was only because he promised to help us financially, and because I was trying to move on from..." Nellie's voice trailed off. "You know what, that's not important right now. I'm gonna go find Toby, we need to open the shop." She then walked away.
   "Is she alright?" Sweeney asked. "Yeah. Mr. Johnson was just awful, you know. He was really controlling, and he felt like he was entitled to everything just because he did one nice thing for us. And whenever he didn't get what he wanted, he'd yell, and it was quite frightening. Mum was quick to end things with him, but she was a bit scared to do so. You know how people like that are." Johanna explained. Sweeney looked outraged. The way he seemed to be feeling reminded Johanna of how she felt when Anthony told her about what the Judge and the Beadle had done to him. If that's how Sweeney was feeling, then he must've been really angry. "Mr. Johnson's gonna wanna make sure he never meets dad."
   "Well, it's a good thing he's out of your lives now." He said. "By any chance, is he still in town?" "I think so." Johanna replied. "Why?" "Oh, no reason." Sweeney replied. "So, how did your date go?" He then asked, switching the subject. "It was wonderful!" Johanna exclaimed. "Anthony's the sweetest! I can't wait for our next date!" "That's nice. I'm glad you're happy." Sweeney responded. "Well, I've gotta open the shop now. I'll talk to you later." "Alright." Johanna said.
   "Dad?" She then said. Sweeney turned around to face her. "Yes?" He replied. "I don't mean to pry, but I've noticed that you've been rather sad. You don't have to tell me what all is going on, but I want you to know that I'm always here if you do need to talk." Johanna said. "That's very kind of you, Johanna, but I wouldn't want to burden you with my troubles." Sweeney responded. "You wouldn't be burdening me." Johanna reassured. "You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to. I just wanted to let you know that if you did want to talk to me, I'm right here." "Thank you, Johanna." Sweeney said.
   "I have to go open the shop now. I'll see you later. Maybe sometime soon, the two of us can spend some time together. I would say like old times, but you wouldn't remember those." Johanna smiled. "That would be nice." Sweeney smiled back at her, then turned around and headed upstairs. It was nice to see him happy. Aside from their reunion and that one time he and Nellie were telling inside jokes, Johanna couldn't really think of a time he looked genuinely happy. It was understandable why he was so upset. All the pain he had endured, of course he was going to be upset. She hoped that maybe one day, all the pain and suffering could just go away, and she, Sweeney, Nellie, and Toby could just be a nice, happy family.