47 Destinies (Book One)

Chapter Two

Chapter 2

Saturday came faster than Cora expected.  Work picked up a ton since the conference she was assigned to work was fast approaching.  Cora was so busy that she was able to avoid Brent without much effort.  She practically fell into her bed on Friday night. She had a date with Josh to go to San Francisco for the day and he would be over in the morning.  Luckily, she remembered to set her alarm before her head hit the pillow. 

In her dream, Cora heard knocking on her front door.  When it didn’t stop, Cora jolted out of bed and grabbed the alarm clock.  It was 9am.  Cora panicked.  She accidentally set the alarm clock for 6pm instead of 6am.

“I’m coming,” Cora yelled out as she ran to the door.  

“I am sorry, Josh.  I set my alarm clock wrong.  Just give me ten minutes and I will be ready.”

“No worries.  Take your time,” Josh said as he took a seat on the couch and flipped on the TV.

Cora hopped into the shower and quickly scrubbed down.  Cora noticed that Josh did not offer her a kiss when he met her at the door.  Why didn’t he make a move?  Maybe he wasn’t attracted to her.  They had kissed, but not much else.  Rejection didn’t sit well with her so she chose to just stay silent.

Cora was true to her word and ready in ten minutes.  By then Josh was fully engaged in a Saturday morning cartoon.  When Josh got into a TV program, it was difficult to get his attention.  Cora took her time and had a bowl of cereal and a yogurt.  She plopped herself next to Josh on the couch so at least he would know she was ready.

“I’m ready.  Josh?  Hello, Earth to Josh,” Cora said tugging on his ear.

“I…um…yes?” Josh was clearly distracted.

“Did you still want to go on our date today?”

“Oh, yes…of course.  Let’s go,” Josh slowly got up to turn off the TV.  Even though the first cartoon was over, he had already begun a new one.  Josh was a TV addict, especially when it came to cartoons and sports.  She wasn’t certain, but Cora was pretty sure all guys entered their ‘man cone of silence’ when watching a baseball or football game while possessively gripping the remote control.

“Let’s go,” repeated Josh.

“You already said that,” Cora said, standing near the door.

“I did?  Sorry.”  Josh tucked his tail between his legs as they left.  He knew she was irritated with what Cora called his ‘immature love of cartoons’. Great, now he was going to sulk for a bit.  Relationships are difficult, thought Cora.

“I’ll drive,” Josh called out as they headed toward the street.

Josh steered his Toyota truck onto Highway 80 and headed toward the city.

“So, where are we going?”  Cora asked trying to get excited about their day.  So far the start of their date fell pretty flat.

“You’ll see.”

As they approached Oakland, Josh exited the highway.

“Are you stopping for gas?”  Cora wondered aloud.

“Nope.”

“I thought we were going to the city.”

“We are.”

“Are you going to tell me anything?”  Cora’s voice started to take on a higher pitch as the conversation wore on.  She was getting nowhere and not very happy about it.

“Nope,” answered Josh.

“Fine.”  Cora folded her arms around her chest and decided she might as well stop since she was getting nowhere - except worked up.  She wanted to take in the fine scenery, but the Oakland freeway view didn’t offer much of that.  As they drove on, they ended up near the bay.  It was an incredibly beautiful day.  The fog had already burnt off and the sun was coming through the few white clouds that still hung around.