*Note – This is a work of fiction.
The chicken soup was delicious. I had a tough time getting up the nerve to tell Dawn that I had to go home. It was going on 10:00 pm. The last thing I wanted was for her to think that I had gotten what I wanted and was just going to split.
"What are you worried about? Go, go, go!" she said while shooing me with her hand. "I'll see you tomorrow after work."
She was right. I would be by with office work for her. I took the boxes of sorted coupons and my dirty clothes and headed home.
The next day at work, I must have had a little extra lift to my step, because it only took a few minutes before Carl, the boss's son, asked me if I won the lottery or something.
"Nope, nothing like that," I replied cheerfully.
"Win some money on the games over the weekend?" Carl asked, taking another stab at it.
"Let's just say that things are starting to look up for me." I replied.
"Oh, shit. He got laid," said Dave, the grocery manager. "We're never going to hear the end of it."
"Look, I don't want to talk about it, okay?" I said.
"Why? Did you have to put a bag over her head?" asked Carl, laughing his ass off.
I just walked away. Why is there always an asshole around to spoil things?
I finished work at 4:00 and was knocking at Dawn's door at 4:15. This time I was carrying simple paperwork for her to do. She opened the door, grabbed me by the coat, and yanked me into the house.
"I didn't think I could wait much longer," she said, as she gave me a kiss and almost sucked the air out of my lungs.
"Whew," I said, when she let me breath.
"Sorry," she chuckled. "I'm all better now."
"What did you bring me, today?" Dawn asked.
"The usual crap," I replied, sitting down on the couch.
"You want to stay for dinner?" she asked, with the look of 'better say yes or I'll die'.
I had been mulling this over in my head all day. Do I keep the heat turned up or tone it down a bit to see if she really wanted to pursue this relationship. Obviously she wanted to pursue it. I didn't want her to cook for me again. I had a lot of money burning a hole in my pocket with nothing to spend it on.
"How about we go out?" I asked.
"Ah, aren't you afraid of someone seeing us together? I doubt they'll think we're discussing work. I don't think the people at the store are ready for this kind of thing," she said, plopping her caboose next to me with her boobs jiggling.
"There is a place right across the bridge in Jersey that is really nice, has just about anything you want, and is a little too high class for our co-workers," I said, trying to think of its' name. "Agabetties'! That's the name of it."
"I know the place. Isn't it a little out of our price range?" asked Dawn, a bit concerned.
"Not for one night. You're going to need to wear something better than a sweatshirt, though," I said, pointing to her attire.
"No problem," she said, hopping off the sofa and dashing into her room.
While Dawn changed, I went to the bathroom to clean up a little. I already had a shirt and tie on from work, so I already met the dress requirements for the restaurant.
Thirty minutes later I was still waiting. I could picture her trying on each outfit, looking in the mirror, and moving on to the next. Another thirty minutes later, the door opened and out came Dawn, all made up, with a sexy low cut, burgundy colored dress, that set off her green eyes and blonde hair. She didn't remind me of my mom anymore.
"What do you think?" she asked, turning around so I could get a full look.
"Very nice," I said.
Monday nights must have been slow for Agabetties'. We had the place to ourselves. Looking around, you could tell this was a place of class. Real wood tables, linen lined walls, silver vases with fresh flowers at every table, and a different person for each part of the meal.
I have to tell you, I'm not very sophisticated. I'm part of the beer and football crowd. When the wine guy came out and went through his presentation, he looked genuinely hurt when we ordered Miller beers instead.
We opened our menus. There were about thirty different items on the dinner pages. Most of which I had no idea what they were. No explanation was given as to what was involved in the dish. I almost asked the guy to come back and explain some of them, when I noticed veal parmesan. I knew what that was. I asked Dawn if she knew what she wanted.
"Order something for me," she said, batting her eyes at me, with a big smile on her face.
Oh great. Now I can't ask the guy what this stuff is. It would really make me look stupid.
I looked the menu over again. I stopped at the chicken. I figured that most women like chicken, so it would be a safe bet.
The waiter arrived and asked if we wanted an appetizer. Dawn shook her head.
"We'll pass," I said looking at the price of their shrimp cocktail.
"Are you ready to order dinner?" the waiter asked.
"Yes," I replied.
"And what would you care for, this evening," he turned and asked Dawn.
She pointed to me, and the waiter turned in my direction with his pen poised at his pad.
"The lady would like chicken catha.., cata.., crapa.., cacciatore."
"Ah, yes, an excellent choice, and very well pronounced if I may add," said the waiter, as Dawn put her hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh.
"I'll have the veal parmesan," I said quickly.
"Another excellent choice," he said as he wrote it down and walked away.
By now, Dawn was nearly having a fit. She still had her hand over her mouth and was starting to shake with the contained laughter. Finally, with a tear rolling down her cheek, she was able to remove her hand.
"Sorry, that was so funny," she said, starting to laugh all over again.
With that, another guy came to the table and placed bread and butter. The bread was freshly baked. Next, out came the violin guy, playing something I never heard before.
"I take requests. Do you have anything in mind?" he asked, after he finished the song with a flourish.
"How about the Notre Dame fight song?" I asked.
"Yeah, or how about 'Camp Town Races'," asked Dawn, now starting to laugh again.
"I can see that you two don't get out much," replied the virtuoso, as he tucked the violin and bow under his arm and walked out of the room.