Over Several Dinners

It was nearing 6 pm and I was nearly ready to leave for my dinners this evening. It was no easy feat to go to three different dinners in the course of two hours, but there was nothing I could do. I had a business dinner tonight that would address promotions and other matters, a dinner with my parents, and a dinner with my boyfriend Asher. I asked my parents and boyfriend if they could reschedule it but they were persistent that it had to be today. So I reluctantly agreed since I didn’t want to cause any trouble. 

The plan was that I’d go to my business dinner at 6 pm for appetizers and stay around for 30 minutes. Then drive halfway across town to my parents house and stay for the main meal. Next I'd leave and arrive at dinner with my boyfriend around 7:30 for dessert. I’m secretly hoping that he’ll propose tonight since he was so adamant on having dinner today. After all, we have been together for 2 years. At this point I'm not sure you can even call it a dinner date. More like a dessert date. I giggled to myself. 

I grabbed my coat and keys and headed out the door. While driving myself to the high end of town I saw several couples walking together. I took it as a sign. I have a feeling tonight will go well. Hopefully I’ll get that promotion I’ve been working for. I know I'm fairly new to the company and still young but I had already been doing so well. I was already a general manager at 25. So hopefully I’ll finally become the director of operations. The thought of being one of the youngest directors of operations at 25 made me elated. 

I pulled up to the restaurant, The Lumière. I handed my keys to the valet and walked in. The restaurant definitely lived up to its name. It was well lit with stunning chandeliers everywhere. I saw a group of people with suits and headed over there. I saw some of my fellow colleagues along with one of my work friends, Elizabeth, but everyone calls her Eliza. Even though Eliza is 5 years older than me, we're best friends. Despite being thirty years old she still has a youthful spirit to her and seems like she’s in her early twenties. I walked over to her. 

“Hey girl!” I said. I walked up beside her. “Oh good you're finally here, I was getting worried you wouldn’t show up.” said Eliza. “Oh really, you think I'd miss this fun meeting full of capitalism and talk of how to increase sales. I’d rather be at a bar right now.” I said. Truth be told, I'd rather be at dinner with my boyfriend. “You do know they have an open bar right?” she asked. “Really?” I said surprised, “Hmm maybe we can try and get Daryl drunk enough to actually smile for once.” Eliza laughed at that. “Yeah maybe, though I doubt he will.” We both looked over at Daryl who was distancing himself from everyone else. He looked the same as usual. Grumpy but glum at the same time. He had a serious face and his signature look of a brown shirt and tie with no rim glasses. Now that I think about it he kind of reminds me of Dwight from the office.

The Vice President of the company called for everyone's attention. He cleared his throat, “Hello everyone, welcome, we will now begin our meeting. If you will, please follow me.” We were led into a private dining room with a table big enough to seat 20 people. Me and Eliza snagged two seats near the back end of the room. As we all got settled, servers came around and gave us some champagne and started laying out the appetizers. It all seemed very fancy and I was displeased with the fact that I would have to leave soon.

The Vice President stood up and clinked his glass of champagne. He began “As you all know someone is getting a promotion today. Rather than announcing who got our most recent promotion later on this evening, we're going to change it up a bit and announce that now. That way we can celebrate after.” Oh wow this was happening a lot sooner than I expected. Well I guess this is the moment of truth. Me and Eliza made eye contact, she smiled at me. The vice president continued, “So everyone, please welcome your new director of operations…” I held my breath and waited to hear my name. I even had a smile on my face. “...Daryl Lester!'' My smile quickly disappeared. Slow claps were heard around the room. It was obvious nobody was pleased with this and even some scowls were seen across the room. Let's just say Daryl is one of our most disliked colleagues. Well now he’s our boss. I looked over at Daryl. Hah, he was actually smiling for once. I didn’t know he had it in him. Nope never mind it looks more like a smirk. 

Eliza looked over at me and rubbed my shoulder, “I'm sorry.” she whispered. I shrugged her off, “It’s ok, I'm fine really.” I looked at her and gave her one of those fake smiles. We went back to drinking our champagne and eating our Myrtille Tarts. They weren’t even that good and tasted more like glorified blueberries in tart form. We had a distant look in our eyes. I snapped back to reality and looked around the room. My original plan was to stay a while longer but now I just wanted to leave. I looked over to Eliza “Hey I think I'm going to head out now, you know I’m just not feeling these tarts, and besides it would be nice to get a head start on the drive to my parents house.” I said. Eliza looked at me and nodded. She was totally seeing past my excuses, “Ok, I’ll call you?” she said. I smiled, ”Yeah, bye.” I got up and headed out of the private dining room and into the main one. 

Strangely, the vice president followed after me. “Hey Elena,” he said.  “Yes sir?” I turned around curious as to what he was going to say. “Hi I just wanted to talk to you real quick before you head out, I’d rather not wait until Monday.”  “Umm ok” I said. This is a little weird. “So it’s been great having you as a general manager, but It’s just not what we’re looking for,” he said. “Wh-what?” what does he mean, this makes no sense. I looked at him with a blank stare. He continued “So yeah you-” I cut him off “Wait am I getting demoted!?” I said, frantically. “Oh no no no no, of course not. You’re getting fired.” I just stood there dumbfounded. He continued on “You can come in on Monday and collect your stuff. There will be a dismissal letter on your desk, and as a thank you for being such a dedicated employee there will be a check waiting for you. Have a great weekend.” he said. Oh my god, this is not happening. What a jerk. “What is wrong with you?” I said in disgust. Then I turned around and stormed off. To the bar. 

I went up to the bartender “Hey, can I get a glass of water with a slice of lemon?” I asked. “Of course,” He brought me a glass of water. “You good? You don’t seem ok.” he said. “Oh I'm fine, I am absolutely fine. Hey by chance do you have a to go cup for this?” I asked. He just stared blankly. “Of course you don’t. Never mind. Anyways thanks for the water.” I got up and left. I took my water with me and walked around a bit then headed out the front doors.

When I walked outside It started raining and the sky looked gloomier than usual. How lovely. I waited for the valet to come back with my car and by the time I got inside I was soaked. I set my water in the cup holder and sped off towards the freeway. On the drive to my parents house I was furious. My thoughts were racing. Ok so I hadn’t gotten the promotion but the fact that I got fired? The audacity of that man. This definitely could have been done more professionally rather than ruining my evening dinner, well at least I have two backup dinners. No this is a good thing I wouldn’t want to be working there either way with Daryl as my boss. Uhh and now I'm soaked. Could this night get any worse? Just then I hit a bump in the road and my water splashed all over me. I turned on the radio and started crying. 

I finally arrived at my parents house and walked up to the door. I knocked. Nobody answered so I got all of my house keys out. I was about to unlock the front door when my mother greeted me at the door and thankfully, thanks to the rain, she couldn’t tell that I had been crying or had water spilled all over me. She gave me a hug, “mmm you smell like lemons.” she said “oh really” I said, I smiled and walked inside. My father was there and gave me a nod. I set my keys down on the counter and sat at the kitchen table. There was already some food laid out and I stared hungrily. My mom and dad sat down with me at their usual seats. “So how are you?” my mom asked. “Oh um I’m doing great.” I responded. I wasn’t ready to tell them about me being fired yet. I’ll let them believe their daughter is still successful for at least one more day. “Good good, well there's something we need to tell you and we wanted to tell you in person.” She said, oh god now what, please don’t tell me she's pregnant that would just be too weird. My mom and dad looked at each other. “We’re getting divorced.” They said in unison. I was shocked. “What... but yo…I can’t belie… Why?” I said stuttering. “It just hasn’t been working out recently honey.” My dad said. “But It has been working for the past 28 years! This is crazy! You know what I can’t deal with this today,” I got up ready to leave and grabbed a bread roll “thanks for the bread roll.” I said. I headed out the door, got in my car, and left. 

Ever since the dinners started, this entire day has been ruined. I can’t wait to see Asher. He can make anything better. We’ll have dessert and I can wallow in sadness in his presence while eating ice cream or something.

I finally arrived at the diner we were meeting up at. It was the place where we had met for the first time. I saw him sitting down at one of the booths and walked over. He got up and smiled. “Hey,” he said smiling and gave me a hug. “Are you ok?” he asked. “Yeah I'm fine, we should order something.” I said. Damn I suck at saying I'm not ok. “Ok, strawberry milkshake like usual?” he said, staring into my eyes. I smiled. He knows me so well. “Yeah that would be perfect.” I said. “Ok, I'll go order,” Said Asher. I sat down at the booth and he went over to the cashier and ordered two strawberry milkshakes. That’s weird. We usually order one and do the cute couple thing where you both share a milkshake. If we ever wanted more then we’d go back and order another one. 

He came back with the milkshakes and sat down next to me. That's also weird, we usually sit opposite of each other. “So how was your dinner with your colleagues and parents?” He asked. I sipped my milkshake. I didn’t want to ruin the moment, “It was ok,” I said. “I didn’t get the promotion though.” “Oh Elena, I'm so sorry.”  he said. I held his hand and looked into his eyes. “It’s ok.” I was about to kiss him but then he looked away. Then I realized why everything was so weird. He was going to propose. That’s why we're in the same exact diner where we first met. He probably ordered two milkshakes so he can do the thing where he puts a ring in my shake and when I finish drinking it I’ll find the engagement ring. And the reason why he’s sitting next to me is so that he can grab the ring, clean it off, and propose. Maybe this night isn’t that bad after all. This is exactly the type of cheesy thing he would do. 

I grabbed my milkshake and sipped a little more. I put it down and looked over at him. He let go of my hand and got up. Hmm maybe the ring isn’t in my shake, maybe he already has it. Oh my gosh, he’s going to propose. “Elena?” he said, “Yes?” I answered. This is it he’s about to get on one knee and propose. Come on Asher just do it already. He stayed silent for a bit. “I'm moving to a different state, I got a new job offer.” Aww he’s telling me his life plans, is he going to ask me to go with him? I can already imagine him saying, and I want you to go with me. 

He continued “and… I don’t think this is going to work anymore,” he smiled sadly. Does he mean us being boyfriend and girlfriend isn’t going to work anymore or being a couple isn’t going to work? “I just can’t do long distance and deal with my new job,” he said. My heart sank. “And we've just been so distant recently,” he added. I got up and stood beside him. “That's because I've been so busy with getting this promotion. We can make this work, I mean long distance is hard but we can do it right? Asher?” “I think we need to break up Elena,” he said. I looked him in the eyes long and hard. He was being serious. “Ok,” I said solemnly, “so this is it then?” I asked. “Yeah,” he said. He grabbed my hand. “Elena, the past two years have been amazing, you have been amazing,” he said. “I'm going to miss you Asher.” I said. “I know, I'm going to miss you too.” he responded. He leaned in and we kissed goodbye. We broke apart. He looked me in the eye then kissed me on the forehead. He grabbed his coat. “Goodbye Elena.” 

He left. I cried. I looked back at our table, our milkshakes still full. I grabbed both milkshakes and took them with me. I drove back home and it started raining again. In just two hours over the course of three dinners my life had changed. I was fired, My parents were getting divorced, and me and Asher broke up. I arrived at my condo and went to unlock my door. I searched through my bag, and my keys were gone. I had left them at my parents house. I sat outside of my door and started crying.

I heard a door open and looked over to see my neighbor Elijah, a close friend of mine. He came over to me. “Elena?” He sat down next to me.  “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked. “I…I forgot my keys and…and this entire day has been awful.” I said crying. “Do you want to come inside my place for now?” he asked calmly. “Yeah.” I replied. “Ok.” he helped me up and grabbed my bag and the milkshakes for me. He went inside and I followed. He set everything down on the table in the living room. I sat on the couch and he sat next to me. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked. I opened my mouth but the words wouldn’t come out. I started sobbing. He hugged me comfortingly while I cried into his shoulders. I felt safe in his arms. “I got fired, my parents are getting divorced, my boyfriend broke up with me, and I'm starving,” I rambled. He ran his fingers through my hair and told me everything was going to be ok.

We sat there for a while holding each other. I then got up and grabbed the milkshakes. “‘You want a milkshake?” I asked him while smiling. He laughed “ok”. 

The rest of the night we watched some TV and he even cooked me a little something to eat. We drank our milkshakes and talked and laughed and cried. And then I fell asleep on the couch. In his arms.