The Workplace

Eating In The Rain

I wasn't in the mood tonight. It was such a lovely day earlier, but now it's ruined by the rain. I didn't mind the rain. I got ready for dinner with Garrett and went downstairs to my car. I held my green umbrella in one hand and unlocked the car door with the other.

After opening the door, I looked up to fold the umbrella. When I was about to put it away, I happened to look over the top of the car and noticed Gray getting out of his car. I wondered where he went after work.

It wasn't until he made eye contact that I realized I was getting rained on. I quickly got into my car and started it up.

"Ah, great." I was shivering.

I looked through the passenger side window and saw Gray was already gone. It was still weird to think he lived so close to me. I had become paranoid he would be able to see into my apartment windows and catch me walking around naked.

Then, I thought that if he could see into my apartment, I would be able to see into his. I pondered about it until I heard my phone buzz. It was a message from Garrett. He was on his way to River Shore. I was surprised when he didn't ask me to come to pick him up like I always had to when we were dating. He must have taken a cab.

Let's get this over with.

Ten minutes later, I pulled into the restaurant parking lot.

"Oh, fuck it all." I hit my steering wheel.

The parking lot was jam-packed. There was no way we were going to eat here. I looked at the doors and saw a crowd of at least 20 people trying to stay dry under a small red awning. I found Garrett amongst them. He was looking out into the parking lot, probably looking for me.

Half of the building was all windows looking out to the river. There was a balcony coming almost right above the water. There were dozens of tables with umbrellas outside. Of course, they were all empty now. Under an awning, I only saw one person standing near the balcony door. It looked like an employee was on their smoke break. I imagined how they felt peaceful versus the chaos of working in a packed house.

I decided to call Garrett. I didn't want to go out into the rain to not eat there.

"Hello?" Thank God, he answered.

"Yeah, I'm in the parking lot. It looks way too busy. Let's go somewhere else."

"No, it's fine. I reserved a table for us."

"Oh, really? You didn't mention that." I was surprised. He never did that when we were dating.

"Yeah, I figured it was going to be busy. So, I wanted to make sure we got in." He sounded cheery for someone being squished by people in the rain.

"Okay, I'll be right there."

I got out of the car and ran up to Garrett. I felt the water splashing on the back of my pants. He smiled and led me inside. We walked past annoyed-looking people to talk to the host. After he gave the host his name, we were led to our table.

I looked over the menu, pretending I wouldn't get the same thing I always did. It was loud and distracting. Every single person in the room was talking.

Garrett laughed. "Aren't you just going to get the Whiskey River burger?"

He still remembered.

"You caught me." I laughed too. I set the menu down. And continued to people-watch.

A while after we ordered, our food came out. It was just as delicious as it always was. I missed it so much. The burger was always cooked perfectly. Pink and juicy. The fries were fantastic as well. Not too crunchy, not too soggy, and not too salty. And it all tasted even better since I wasn't paying for any of it. We only talked a little once we were both done eating.