Hetty and Ryan: Overcome

At The Bar

Hetty called Cooper after work from her office. They were meeting at 4:00 at the karaoke place, so Hetty had some time to kill. She also had plenty of work with which to catch up in preparation for the first day of school on Monday. Her head was swimming from the past two days of training, however, and she knew it was futile to try to accomplish anything more today.

"Hey, baby." His calm, deep voice soothed her nerves, which were frayed from three days at a brand-new job, being around a crowd of noisy people all day, and her jumble of feelings regarding Ryan.

"I love you," she said, by way of greeting.

"I love you, too," he replied, his voice smiling. "I can't wait to see you tomorrow." The second statement reached her ears seductively.

"Me too," Hetty replied, giggling.

"What are you up to tonight?" Cooper asked. "Are you going to hang out with Stephanie?" Hetty was still best friends with her closest girlfriend from adolescence, and they lived just fifteen minutes apart. They had attended university together and were roommates through some of their college years.

"No, I'm going to happy hour with my work colleagues."

"Oh, really?" Cooper sounded surprised. Going for a drink with people she had just met was about the last thing Hetty would normally choose to do.

"Yeah, the whole staff are like best friends. This place is a love fest." She blushed at her own use of the word love, then felt immediately foolish for her body's sensitive reaction. She had to get a grip.

"I bet you will last one hour there, tops," teased Cooper. "Who else have you met, besides the other counselor - what was her name?"

"Mariana," answered Hetty, hoping that was enough of an answer to his questions. Hetty heard voices in the background on Cooper's end. "Are you busy?"

"We're heading out for dinner - with some colleagues," he answered, shuffling around and sounding distracted.

"Okay, I'll let you go. I'm heading to Casa Verde, or something like that."

"Mi Casa?" he asked, amusedly.

"Oh, yeah. That's the one." Hetty lived in her head quite a bit and often forgot to pay attention to simple facts, such as names of places. She suddenly realized that the incorrect restaurant name was actually the name of her high school.

"Okay then. Bye, baby. I love you!" Cooper cooed into the phone.

"I love you so much." Hetty hung up feeling more centered.

* * *

Ryan arrived at Mi Casa just before 4:00, anxious to get his hands around a cold glass of beer. Two of his male colleagues were there already, but he didn't see anyone else yet. One of them was a buddy of his; the other he got along fine with but found to be rather full of himself.

"Hey, man!" Jason, his friend, fist-bumped him. His other co-worker, Eddy, gave him a "cool guy" head tilt, which was just about the most irritating gesture Ryan could think of - even though he himself employed it from time to time.

"I need a drink," said Ryan, his tone somewhere between ironic and honest.

"Yeah!" called out Jason, who was clearly at least one drink in already. "Let's get this party started!" 

Ryan liked Jason because he pretended to be cool while acknowledging that he knew he wasn't. Jason was single, in his forties and constantly belting out pop songs and using "hip" jargon. He never took himself too seriously, but he was a seriously outstanding teacher who cared deeply for his students.