The New Girl

Chapter 22

Donner had hummed all through his shower and was still humming when he slapped his aftershave on. He left Ethan a note on the kitchen table letting him know where he would be and to call if he needed anything. He also asked him to please let him know if he went anywhere so Donner wouldn't have to worry if he got home and Ethan wasn't there. Then he walked out to his car humming once again.

At the hospital Andrea tried to wash up in her office bathroom and tried to get the wrinkles out of her skirt. She touched up her makeup and fluffed her hair. She didn't want it to look like she purposely tried to look good but she couldn't help herself. She had called Lyric and let her know where she was going but not who she was going with. It was bad enough that Lyric had met and talked to Donner but she had not told her who he was yet. She would cross that bridge when she had to. As she looked at herself in the mirror one last time she scolded herself, “Stop primping, this is your ex-husband your meeting.” Her secretary had already left for the day so as she left she locked her office door and walked towards the elevators.

It was 6:05pm and she had told Donner that she got off at 6pm. She didn't want to rush and get there before him so she slowed down her pace and even stopped off at the gift shop to kill a few more minutes as she did she ran into one of the other doctors on staff and stopped to talk to her, killing 15 more minutes. By the time she got to her car it was 6:30pm. She thought about calling Donner but then decided against it, he would just have to wait for her if he was serious.

Donner walked in Buster's, being that it was a Friday night he expected it to be packed but found that the rush would come later in the night. He set down at one of the booths and told the waitress he was expecting a guest shortly but ordered an ice water. He set looking out over the other guest's because when you were a cop that was just something you did. It was a habit to size up your environment so you wouldn't be knocked off your guard if something happened. It was 6:15 and Andrea still hadn't showed up yet. Donner made himself think that it was just because she got called to an emergency or something of the like. His heart on the other hand had him thinking she stood him up. He fought the urge to call her, even though that was the very thing he wanted to do.

He thought about how us humans sometimes thought to much and in so doing we talked ourselves out of a lot of things. We talked ourselves out of saying things that should be said or doing things that we wanted to do because we are afraid of the unknown. We don't know what the outcome will be so we just don't do things or say things and then regret that we never even tried. That regret is what kills people in the end. Falling flat on your face you can deal with but losing the opportunity all together is something you can't get back. All because you were afraid of the unknown. Donner felt that if you were afraid of something that was the time to face it, not run the other direction. Only by facing it would you win and not have to live with regret later.

Donner would give her till 7pm and if she hadn't shown up by then he would call. The waitress came by again asking if he would like to order or wait, he told her he would wait. 6:35 and his heart was getting that sinking feeling, he prepared himself for the let down so it wouldn't be so bad when it actually got here. He looked down at his watch one more time and when he looked back up she was walking towards the table. His heart and stomach did a flip flop, god he had forgotten how beautiful she was. She sauntered over to the table and apologized for being late, didn't give an excuse, just apologized and set down.

He went to say something then his throat closed up, typical 16 year old boy reaction. He cleared his throat and finely said, “I'm just glad you could make,” and smiled at her. She smiled back. There were a few awkward moment's of silence before the waitress came back and asked if they wanted to order something to drink besides water. They both ordered virgin frozen strawberry margarita's. The waitress took off for their drinks and Andrea settled in her chair, took a deep sigh and asked, “So what did you want to talk to me about Johnathan?” Donner glanced down at the table then back up at her and replied, “Us and Lyric.”