Post by Tammy on Aug 17, 2006 11:34:27 GMT -5
John and I walk into the house. I see that the lights are off. I walk in and look around. “Dad… are you home?” I get no answer so I assume that he is out. “Well… dad must be out with the guys.” After John comes in I close the door behind him. He stands there surveying the room with a smile on his face. He has the most beautiful smile… it could brighten up the darkest night. After a moment I break the silence. “Can I offer you something to drink?” He turns to me with that smile still adorning his face. “No thanks. I can wait until we go out. You certainly have a beautiful home here.” I smile at him, “Well you should have seen it before the boys and I came to live here. Ha… it was defiantly a bachelor pad.” John laughs slightly, “Well then… you defiantly have a gift for turning a house into a home.” He looked at me with the most genuine look of admiration I have ever seen. He approached me slightly and reached his hand toward my face, wiping the hair out of my eyes. He stared into my eyes for a moment and suddenly retreated. “So… why don’t we get changed and go have… that drink.” I laughed nervously for a moment. “Alrighty… umm there is a guest bathroom over by the kitchen. I will go change and be down in a jiffy.” After John left for the bathroom, I took a deep breath to calm myself and went up to my room to change.
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About five minutes later I am all dressed… in casual brown slacks and a cream colored nit top. I am applying the last of my make-up when I hear a raised voice downstairs. I stop what I am doing and head downstairs. I approach the bottom of the steps and see my father standing about five feet away from John. He is obviously been drinking and he is making a complete ass of himself… not to mention embarrassing the hell out of me. I walk over to my father and try to calm him down. “Dad… what seems to be the problem?” He looks at me with fire in his eyes. “I don’t much care for coming home and finding some strange man sitting on my sofa at 10 o’clock at night.” “Sorry about that dad… I was just changing my clothes.” John glances at me and can sense my nervousness. He extends his hand to my father, “Hello Sir. I am John Black.” My father stares at him. He glances at John’s outstretched hand and makes no effort to shake it. My father turns his head to me. “Where are you going?” I take a deep breath, I can’t believe that he is embarrassing me like this. “I am… going out for a while dad.” “Is that so… and just where are the boys?” “They are… at Caroline’s for the night.” I can see the veins begin to pop out of my fathers neck. He hates it when I have Caroline baby sit the boys. Before he can start to yell I explain. “I umm… I was over at the Pub and the boys fell asleep watching a video. I didn’t have the heart to wake them so… Caroline told me to just leave them there with her.” He let out a frustrated breath and walked away from me. “You know Marlena… if you wanted to spend your time going out and partying… you should have never agreed to help me take care of the boys!” I look down at my feet with tears brimming in my eyes. I can’t believe that he said that to me. I NEVER get to go out. I haven’t been out in ages. Everywhere I go I take the boys with me. As my tears begin to fall John takes my hand a squeezes it slightly. I look up at him and he nods his head over towards the sofa. My eyes follow his gaze. I see my father sitting up right on the sofa… but he is already passed out. I just stand there shaking my head… this is so embarrassing. John takes my chin in his hand and tilts my face towards his. ‘Let’s go… before he wakes up and tries to ground you.” That makes me laugh as it does John. John grabs our coats, takes my hand and leads me out the door.
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John and I decided to go to this little hole in the wall bar just a few blocks from my house. It wasn’t exactly a dump but… it was defiantly not the Ritz either. We made our way through the almost deserted bar and found a booth near the back. John ordered a beer and I ordered a glass of wine. We sat there not saying a word for a while until the silence threatened to drive my insane. “Well John… you didn’t exactly strike me as the beer type.” He laughed, “What do you mean?” I smiled, “I don’t know… you seem more like the champagne and caviar type.” John laughed loudly at my remark, “Just because I have a lot money doesn’t mean that I am an elitist snob Marlena. Besides caviar is disgusting, I am not big on eating something that looks like DIRT!” I laugh at his comment… I don’t know if I offended him or amused him. He looks at me and smiles, “Now that you mention it Marlena… you don’t strike me as the wine drinking type.” I look at him and raise my eyebrows in a challenging sort of way. “Well John… just because I DON’T have a lot of money doesn’t mean that I am trailer trash…I don’t exactly sit around and drink moonshine out of a jug.” After my comment we just stare at each other for a moment, and then out of nowhere we both busted out laughing. John wiped a tear from his eyes, “Ha ha… well this is a fine way to start out an evening. We are both so nervous that we make unintentional digs at each other.” I get my laughing under control and look away slightly. After a moment I glance at John who is starring at me. “John… I am really sorry about how my dad was acting.” “There is no need to apologize, he had obviously been drinking.” I just nodded my head. “Drinking…that is an understatement. Anyway… I really am sorry how he treated you.” John shook his head. “Marlena why are you apologizing to me? You didn’t do anything wrong.” I sighed heavily. “Because John… it was embarrassing. It doesn’t exactly bode well for me when my father treats someone like something he scraped off the bottom of his shoe.” John reached across the table and gently patted my hand. “Marlena… I don’t judge people based on their family. Hell if everyone did that… no one would have a friend in this world.” That was so sweet of him to say, however that didn’t exactly make my embarrassment go away. So I decided to change the subject. “Thanks for having a drink with me. I am sure there are much more exciting things you can be doing with your free night.” John laughed, “Oh please… this is the most excitement I have had in a long time.” We had a few more drinks as time passed rather slowly. Both John and I were feeling more at ease with each other, which isn’t hard considering that we both have had three or four drinks. John glances at his watch, “Wow… it is midnight.” I look at him with a slightly sad expression on my face, “Ready to call it a night?” John looked at me and smirked, “Not in the slightest. All I will do is go home and do work. I am usually up until 2 or 3 every night. How about you… you ready to go home?” I shook my head no and smiled, “Nope… I am a bit of a night owl myself.” John giggled, “I‘m not surprised. Between the boys and work… that is probably the only time you have to devote to your Psychiatry studies.” “How did you know that I was studying to be a Psychiatrist?” “Bo mentioned it along time ago.” I continued to look at him. I can’t believe that he took the time to remember something that Bo had said about me in passing. Suddenly John stood from his seat and walked up next to me, “Well this place is dead as a door nail. What do you say we go for a walk in the park, soon to be Dr. Evans.” I took his hand after a moment, “Sounds like a plan Mr. Black.” We approached the door. John placed my sweater on my shoulders and opened the door for me. We walked out the door and stared to walk. “Say John… what would you say to a little game of twenty questions while we walk?” He looked at me and smirked, “What… are you trying to get a head start on being a Psychiatrist? You want to pick my brain… is that it?” That caused me to laugh, “Yep… I sure do. So what do you say… you want to be my lab rat?” John laughed and put his arm around my shoulder as we continued walking. “Alright… but on one condition!” “What would that be?” “When your all done using me as your lab rat… you have to promise to give me a big… fat… juicy… piece of cheese!” John broke out into a fit of laughter which made me laugh. “You are such a goon!” I shoved him slightly and then we made our journey towards the park.
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About five minutes later I am all dressed… in casual brown slacks and a cream colored nit top. I am applying the last of my make-up when I hear a raised voice downstairs. I stop what I am doing and head downstairs. I approach the bottom of the steps and see my father standing about five feet away from John. He is obviously been drinking and he is making a complete ass of himself… not to mention embarrassing the hell out of me. I walk over to my father and try to calm him down. “Dad… what seems to be the problem?” He looks at me with fire in his eyes. “I don’t much care for coming home and finding some strange man sitting on my sofa at 10 o’clock at night.” “Sorry about that dad… I was just changing my clothes.” John glances at me and can sense my nervousness. He extends his hand to my father, “Hello Sir. I am John Black.” My father stares at him. He glances at John’s outstretched hand and makes no effort to shake it. My father turns his head to me. “Where are you going?” I take a deep breath, I can’t believe that he is embarrassing me like this. “I am… going out for a while dad.” “Is that so… and just where are the boys?” “They are… at Caroline’s for the night.” I can see the veins begin to pop out of my fathers neck. He hates it when I have Caroline baby sit the boys. Before he can start to yell I explain. “I umm… I was over at the Pub and the boys fell asleep watching a video. I didn’t have the heart to wake them so… Caroline told me to just leave them there with her.” He let out a frustrated breath and walked away from me. “You know Marlena… if you wanted to spend your time going out and partying… you should have never agreed to help me take care of the boys!” I look down at my feet with tears brimming in my eyes. I can’t believe that he said that to me. I NEVER get to go out. I haven’t been out in ages. Everywhere I go I take the boys with me. As my tears begin to fall John takes my hand a squeezes it slightly. I look up at him and he nods his head over towards the sofa. My eyes follow his gaze. I see my father sitting up right on the sofa… but he is already passed out. I just stand there shaking my head… this is so embarrassing. John takes my chin in his hand and tilts my face towards his. ‘Let’s go… before he wakes up and tries to ground you.” That makes me laugh as it does John. John grabs our coats, takes my hand and leads me out the door.
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John and I decided to go to this little hole in the wall bar just a few blocks from my house. It wasn’t exactly a dump but… it was defiantly not the Ritz either. We made our way through the almost deserted bar and found a booth near the back. John ordered a beer and I ordered a glass of wine. We sat there not saying a word for a while until the silence threatened to drive my insane. “Well John… you didn’t exactly strike me as the beer type.” He laughed, “What do you mean?” I smiled, “I don’t know… you seem more like the champagne and caviar type.” John laughed loudly at my remark, “Just because I have a lot money doesn’t mean that I am an elitist snob Marlena. Besides caviar is disgusting, I am not big on eating something that looks like DIRT!” I laugh at his comment… I don’t know if I offended him or amused him. He looks at me and smiles, “Now that you mention it Marlena… you don’t strike me as the wine drinking type.” I look at him and raise my eyebrows in a challenging sort of way. “Well John… just because I DON’T have a lot of money doesn’t mean that I am trailer trash…I don’t exactly sit around and drink moonshine out of a jug.” After my comment we just stare at each other for a moment, and then out of nowhere we both busted out laughing. John wiped a tear from his eyes, “Ha ha… well this is a fine way to start out an evening. We are both so nervous that we make unintentional digs at each other.” I get my laughing under control and look away slightly. After a moment I glance at John who is starring at me. “John… I am really sorry about how my dad was acting.” “There is no need to apologize, he had obviously been drinking.” I just nodded my head. “Drinking…that is an understatement. Anyway… I really am sorry how he treated you.” John shook his head. “Marlena why are you apologizing to me? You didn’t do anything wrong.” I sighed heavily. “Because John… it was embarrassing. It doesn’t exactly bode well for me when my father treats someone like something he scraped off the bottom of his shoe.” John reached across the table and gently patted my hand. “Marlena… I don’t judge people based on their family. Hell if everyone did that… no one would have a friend in this world.” That was so sweet of him to say, however that didn’t exactly make my embarrassment go away. So I decided to change the subject. “Thanks for having a drink with me. I am sure there are much more exciting things you can be doing with your free night.” John laughed, “Oh please… this is the most excitement I have had in a long time.” We had a few more drinks as time passed rather slowly. Both John and I were feeling more at ease with each other, which isn’t hard considering that we both have had three or four drinks. John glances at his watch, “Wow… it is midnight.” I look at him with a slightly sad expression on my face, “Ready to call it a night?” John looked at me and smirked, “Not in the slightest. All I will do is go home and do work. I am usually up until 2 or 3 every night. How about you… you ready to go home?” I shook my head no and smiled, “Nope… I am a bit of a night owl myself.” John giggled, “I‘m not surprised. Between the boys and work… that is probably the only time you have to devote to your Psychiatry studies.” “How did you know that I was studying to be a Psychiatrist?” “Bo mentioned it along time ago.” I continued to look at him. I can’t believe that he took the time to remember something that Bo had said about me in passing. Suddenly John stood from his seat and walked up next to me, “Well this place is dead as a door nail. What do you say we go for a walk in the park, soon to be Dr. Evans.” I took his hand after a moment, “Sounds like a plan Mr. Black.” We approached the door. John placed my sweater on my shoulders and opened the door for me. We walked out the door and stared to walk. “Say John… what would you say to a little game of twenty questions while we walk?” He looked at me and smirked, “What… are you trying to get a head start on being a Psychiatrist? You want to pick my brain… is that it?” That caused me to laugh, “Yep… I sure do. So what do you say… you want to be my lab rat?” John laughed and put his arm around my shoulder as we continued walking. “Alright… but on one condition!” “What would that be?” “When your all done using me as your lab rat… you have to promise to give me a big… fat… juicy… piece of cheese!” John broke out into a fit of laughter which made me laugh. “You are such a goon!” I shoved him slightly and then we made our journey towards the park.
