Suddenly We

Looking over my shoulder, I walked fast, faster and out of the establishment, a well-known bar in West Hollywood named “The Rainbow Bar and Grill". I began running, I slightly sped up on the sidewalk a little faster, still looking back and suddenly came to an abrupt halt. “Ouch” I said, “what the hell”, I had run into someone on the sidewalk. A tall man standing solidly grounded, body firm posture, outside the building next to the Rainbow. I thought “damn” because I kept looking backwards instead of in the direction in which I was running, I had run into this man. Stepping slightly backward, raising my arm to organizing my hair, my ponytail had become undone, and my glasses slipped to the tip of my nose, I was looking up at a six foot five inches tall man in a uniform. Looking up, starring at the man, I mumbled: “Oh shit I am so sorry I did not see you, I was running away from my date. Some crazy lawyer who was on my last nerve.” The officer replied: “Well and you have been drinking quite a bit coz I can smell it, surely hope you are not planning on driving home on your own.” Laughing I replied: “You can smell that I was drinking form up there? Officer what do you think of me, of course I am not planning on driving. I just wanted to get out of the bar without that guy and that fast. He was talking way too much, and I was not able to shake him off.” “Well lady tell you what,” the officer said, “if you do not live too far, I will drive you home.” “Where do you live?” the officer asked me. My reply came so innocently and quickly that the office chuckled, holding his fist in front of his mouth to avoid a loud laugh. I advised the officer that I lived about two and a half mile aways from the bar. “I live very close by, and I can take a taxi,” I replied. “Don’t be funny,” the officer said smiling at me, “I will drive you home safely coz I do not want you to run into someone else who can smell you from all the way high up.” He laughed looking at me, blinking his right eye at me.

The officer said: “Tell you what lady, stay here, I get my patrol car, and I will drive you home. I can drop you off safely at your house. Now, stay here and don’t move. I am sure your date is still drinking inside the bar. Closing time is in two hours so he won’t come out yet. I suggest you stay home after I drop you off. Women should be at home by midnight anyway. Who knows the guy you are with might turn into a frog after midnight. Just stay here I get the car. This is a busy street and there are many people around in case he comes out of the bar. I am sure he won’t get too frisky in front of so many people should he walk out before I can pull up.” Looking up at the man, tilting my head, sideways, I said: “I will be right here waiting, and I will not move. However, please do not get him into trouble because he did nothing wrong. The frog I mean, coz its already midnight now, so he is definitely already a frog. You know, officer, I really like animals. I just did not feel like hanging out with him any longer. Hoping around and croaking all night. That’s all I say. I have no worries that he even follows me, he is currently flirting with my stripper friend Annette. Who knows he might kiss her into a princess.” I smiled at my own witty reply.

The officer laughed and began walking down the street. I watched him walk away and thought to myself, “What a handsome and nice man. I should go out with somebody like him not some loser lawyer who talks my head off and has nothing interesting to say.” The officer disappeared around the corner of the building into the parking lot of the next-door building. I stood there for no longer than five minutes when a police car approached from behind me, and the nice officer looked out the window and said: “Ok now have a seat in the back, coz I cannot let you sit on the front seat.” I walked up to the back passenger seat of the patrol car, opened the door, then scooted onto the back seat. The office laughed and said: “Now here we go please give me your address so I can drive you to your house.” I gave him the address and off we went.

On the ride we chatted about my date and how I ended up going out with the lawyer. I told the office that it was a blind date set up by one of my client’s. The officer asked: “What are you doing for a living?” I replied: “Well I work in Beverly Hills for a dermatologist, and we do lots of cosmetic procedures. Mostly rich and famous clients. One of my female clients asked me if I would be interested in a blind date with an attorney. To be honest, I was not interested at all, but she said that he is nice, educated and well to do and that it might be fun. So, I said that I will do it. I also told her that if it does not work out that I hope she is not attaching strings to it. The client is a famous actress. The woman is down to earth and said that she does not care.” I smiled and leaned back on the back seat of the car closing my eyes.

The officer knowingly smiled and replied: “Well because someone is a lawyer and well to do, does not mean the person is fun at the same time. Also, because someone is a famous actress does not mean she knows nice people. Blind dates are often not a good idea, especially in the Los Angeles area. Because the man is a lawyer, does not mean that he is a safe person. We arrest lawyers all the time.” I smiled, and for the rest of the ride home we did not speak. “Weird”, I thought, “how we have comfortable silence without uncomfortably. This man is a cop, and I got no problem riding with him in the car. I do not even know his name. Was it because I was tipsy, or was this good energy?” I kept quiet and kept my eyes closed leaning back on the back seat feeling comfortable.

The officer stopped in front of my apartment complex, and I opened my eyes. He unlocked the doors to the police car, saying: “Here we go, you are safely at the address you provided to me. Lucky for you this is not a crazy busy night for me, and I do not have my partner with me right now. He called in sick, and I had to go on this beat by myself.” He looked at me and winked again his right eye, all the while smiling. I opened the door and stepped onto the sidewalk. The officer opened the passenger side window, leaning over the middle console of the car and laughed at me. Looking back at the car and the officer, I stumbled on the sidewalk, I was a little tipsy and my toes hurt in my shoes, from my little sprint out the bar. “Thank you so much again for driving me home,” I said, “By the way this is not just an address I provided. I really live at this address, and I am sure that you can look it up. Funny you did not ask me for identification.”

The officer said: “I was not worried about you. You seem to be a real nice lady, and I wanted to be of service. Plus, you looked dazed and confused running down that sidewalk in your Jessica Simpson ballerina shoes. Now make sure you go inside and do not go out again tonight. It's crazy out here on Thursday nights. Plus, you do not want to encounter that date anywhere else I hope.” “That’s for sure,” I replied. "I blocked his number on my phone, and he does not have my address," I added almost feeling guilty to have been in bad company before I ran into this handsome officer. Walking away I thought, “He pays attention and knows style. He cares and verbalizes it. He knows what shoes I wear and who designed the shoes that's interesting.” I turned around facing away from the car and began walking up the stairs to my front door at the apartment complex. This is when the officer called out a little louder, still sitting in his patrol car: “Let me ask you something,” I turned, a bit abruptly, and starred at him, he looked at me, with a grin on his face from inside the car, the passenger window was all the way down. “Would you consider going on a date with me,” he asked. I was so surprised that I dropped my handbag. The bag slipped down the stairs and I made a small leap, down the stairs to stop the bag. Back on the bottom of the stairs, I bent forward to pick up the bag and as I got back up the officer was standing right in front of me. He had left the car and had come to approach me. He looked at me and in a more serious tone repeated: “Would you consider going on a date with me. Lunch or dinner it's your choice. I will call you a taxi to bring you to the restaurant and from it back home. Will you? Yes or No answer please.”

“Yes,” I said with a big smile on my face, and I added, “I guess this was a lucky evening for both of us. My date took this unexpected turn, meeting you and how convenient that your work partner was sick, and you were alone on your beat.” I glistened at the officer and moved really close, so my face was close to his chest. He took his right hand, griped my chin bend forward and tilted my face upward toward his face and kissed my lips, softly and for a long time. We stood there for a minute or was it more?

This is where the misfortune of a blind date turned into a love story and a marriage till death do us part. No more unexpected turns, I hope. My officer is now an attorney helping people with labor disputes and I am a home staying mom. I am an author and public speaker, and I bring laughter and hope to people. Life has its ups and downs. What we do with these ups and downs depends on us. Let's learn to make lemonade out of lemons. "Delicious lemonade for a family dinner."