Chapter 6

June 17, 2011

Eventually, June 17th arrived—the day that I was to have my date with Leon. I had no idea how I felt about this date. I wasn’t physically attracted to him one hand, but on the other hand, he seemed like a nice, hard-working man, and I should be attracted to him. He’s tall. I like tall men. He’s successful. I like successful men. He seems to be in decent shape—a little bit skinny and scrawny but so am I. I just wasn’t feeling him, though.

When I went to get ready that morning, I had no idea that I wanted to wear. I decided to wear a conservative, grey, crew-cut sleeveless dress that had a matching grey suit jacket. It seemed very business-ey. No cleavage. It made me look pretty busty but not sexy. The dress was knee length. I wore flats instead of heels thinking that maybe my shortness would make me less attractive to him.

My work was a welcome distraction. I trained Harriet some more on how to conduct legal research and write legal documents. After that, I conducted some research on my own. I was finishing the finishing touches of my current project. I knew exactly what course of action that we should take and I was prepared to make a decision. Leon probably thought that it would take me a lot more than a week to get through the paperwork, but he also doesn’t know that I have a photographic memory.

Harriet was quite pleasant today, as she was yesterday. I believe that after our little conflict I have earned her respect. It makes the work environment much more pleasant. I liked to believe that I was making a difference in her life; teaching her some self-respect and improving her work ethic.

The two of us had lunch together and then she ended up leaving at around four—since she worked so hard I offered for her to go home an hour early and have an extra hour to her weekend. There was a big party that she wanted to go to and insisted on getting a new dress beforehand. At least one of us was guaranteed to have a good time. I didn’t want to tell her about my date because that could just cause drama and awkwardness. No need to drag everyone into my forced office romance.

After she had left I touched up my makeup and pulled my hair back in a ponytail; even though I wasn’t too into my date, I still felt the need to complete my beautification ritual.

Leon was going to collect me at my office at seven. I used the last two hours to finish up my case so I would collect a new one on Monday.

Eventually, Leon knocked on the door to my office and entered it—all six feet and six inches of him. He was wearing a blue suit this time, and he had his ginger hair slicked back as if he were a 1950’s greaser.

“I brought you some flowers.” Leon pulled out a bouquet of red roses from behind his back.

“Oh, thank you. Let me put these in water right away.” I pulled out an empty glass and poured the contents of my water bottle in it. I dunked the whole bouquet in there. I know technically I was supposed to trim the stems, but it’s not like I had a pair of scissors in the office or a vase for that matter.

Leon outstretched his arm for me to grab. At least he was polite and a gentleman.

I grabbed his very tiny bicep, and he escorted me down the maze that was the white hallway. I felt like a child grabbing onto his arm. The height difference was too much for us.

I don’t know why I wasn’t into Leon. He was classically handsome and tall and successful. All three of these things were things that I found attractive but there was something about him that made me not want to date him. Was he too much like me? Was it because he seems skeevy? I didn’t know. Something about him was oddly off-putting, and I just wasn’t that into him. That’s all I knew.

“I made reservations at this new restaurant in town. It’s a French Bistro.”

“That’s great.” I smiled up at him.

“You look quite fetching in your grey dress.”

I didn’t respond to that comment. I didn’t want to lead the poor guy on.

Leon held open every door, including the passenger’s side to his shiny sports car. He drove the two of us to the bistro, chattering about his extensive legal career along the way. Maybe that’s why I didn’t like him; he was too self-centered. He either gossiped about other people or talked about himself and his accomplishments. It’s like he had a need to put others down and highlight how own struggles, so his own triumphs seemed even more impressive if that makes sense. That crap’s annoying.

I watched the world go by from the window. I tried to listen to him talk; I really did, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I nodded along and smiled and congratulated him at the correct moments. Eventually, we arrived at the restaurant.

It smelt really nice. The atmosphere was quaint; the restaurant was dimly lit, and there were candles on all of the tables. Again, this was a restaurant with white linen cloths—I could tell that it was an expensive one. We opted for the outdoor seating though since it was such a pleasant summer evening.

Leon pulled out my chair, and I thanked him and sat down on the wooden chair with white cushions. Leon sat down across from me, and the two of us opened up our menus. I looked at the prices; everything cost a small fortune. Thirty dollars for a salad? No thanks.

The expensive restaurant made me nervous; I was beginning to worry that Leon had some…expectations. He seemed like a guy where, if he dropped one hundred dollars on a night, he was expecting something in return. I tried to dismiss those thoughts because Leon has been nothing but nice and gentlemanly to me and I told myself that I shouldn’t assume bad things about him and that he was just trying to get into my pants although I knew that was probably the truth.

I decided that I was going to get quail. It was forty dollars a plate, which was cheap considering the restaurant. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t order a forty dollar meal even if it came with twenty dollars on the plate but when in Rome, or technically a French bistro. Whatever.

“You look beautiful in this light.” Leon said.

“Ah, thank you.” I smiled at him.

Should I return the compliment? Oh, this is awful, I don’t want to lead him on. Why am I here…? Relax, Mel, you’re here because you want to date a nice man for once. A nice, tall, successful man.

“Some wine for the table.” Leon motioned over to the waiter.

The wine was nice; it was a rich, sweet red. I promised myself that I would only have one glass; I needed to keep my wits about me.

“So what do you do for fun?” Leon asked.

“Well, I…” I paused. “I just realized that I don’t have much of a life outside of work.” I laughed. “I host parties once a month on a Saturday. Umm…Every Sunday morning my best friend Amy and I get brunch and gossip. I go to the gym three days a week…? Sometimes I’ll hang out with my kid sister…?” I answered candidly.

“The law can be pretty demanding. I enjoy hiking.”

“That sounds fun,” I said. “I like going for walks, but I’m not big into hiking or camping.”

“Oh, why not? I love camping.”

“I don’t think I can go without a hot shower and a blow dryer.” I pointed to my hair and laughed.

“I also spend a lot of time at work. On my downtime, I do a lot of legal research to write some articles to publish in various law reviews. I have a reputation to uphold.”

“Oh, that’s great,” I said.

“There’s some other projects that I’m working on with the company too.” Leon leaned forward.

“Oh, is there something I can do?” I asked.

“…Maybe…”

“Well, you let me know if I can do something.” I smiled and leaned back in my chair.

“I have the paperwork for it over at my penthouse suite. We can go over it tonight.”

Yup. Expectations. I was right. I know what ‘let’s look over paperwork’ means…

“Maybe later.” I laughed.

Oh, I’ll find an excuse to get out of sleeping with you, Leon Bradley.

“Have I mentioned how beautiful you are today?” Leon leaned forward towards me. He smiled at me over the candles.

“You said something along those lines earlier but thank you nonetheless.”

That seemed good. I showed neither interest or disinterest.

I heard a cell phone ring out in the open air. Even though the ringtone wasn’t familiar, I still assumed that it was my phone anyways. Instinct, I guess. Leon looked at me and smiled. He pulled out his phone and looked at it.

“I’m sorry. I have to take this. I’ll be back in a minute, beautiful.”

“Ok.” I smiled back.

Leon stood up and walked a few feet away. I pretended to look at my phone too and pretend that I wasn’t overhearing their entire conversation when, in reality, I was nosey and trying to listen to the whole thing. I heard something along these lines:

“Hello?” Leon paced back and forth. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be done at 3 p.m. this Monday.” Leon looked up at the sky. “We’ll still need someone to take out Harriet too.”

Take out Harriet? What the hell does that mean?

I felt my face turn a bit red from being flustered. I took a deep breath and had some water so I would look calm again.

“Well, we have to because Maxwell’s appointed her in his will so if we don’t take her out, we won’t get any money.”

…What? What the actual fuck?

“Look, I’m going out on a date right now…” Pause. “With Melody Jones…” Pause. “The new attorney?” Pause. “You’d know her if you saw her.” Leon nodded his head and laughed. “Yeah, of course. Ok, bye.” Leon hung up his phone and slid it into his suit pocket. My mind was racing a mile a minute.

Take out Harriet? Does he mean kill? Is he going to kill Maxwell too? Is that what’s going on at 3 p.m. on Monday? What the hell?

I wondered what taking Harriet out to get the money could mean besides something bad. My mind was drawing a blank, though. I thought that the best course of action would be to play it cool. Find out more information. Be even-keeled. Then, once I got the information I need, go to Maxwell and Harriet. Probably Maxwell because he’s assumedly the more mature of the duo since he owns the company at all.

Play it cool. Play it cool. Play it cool…

“Sorry about that. Urgent work matter.”

“Oh, well if there’s anything I can do, please let me know.” I smiled at him.

“Maybe. It’s that side project that I have at my penthouse.”

“Well, I don’t want you to do all that work alone…” I leaned forward and smiled at him. Of course, I was feeling quite repulsed at that point, since he might be a killer and all. I really wasn’t feeling it. But at the same time, what if the side project at the penthouse actually had something to do with Harriet and Maxwell. He did say that it was connected to the conversation he had over the phone.

I decided that I was going to go over to his apartment, talk to him about whatever the fuck was going on, fake a family emergency, and then leave.

“Great! We’ll go tonight after dinner.” He brushed his leg against mine under the table. I felt sick to my stomach, and I still had to sit through an insufferable dinner knowing that, at the end of the night, I’d have to potentially shag this asshole who might kill my crazy boss and my mentee. I still smiled outwardly and took a sip of my water.

The two of us ate our dinner. The quail was tasty. Not forty dollars tasty but it was still a good meal. Leon ate the same thing that I did. Every once and awhile he’d reach over the table and rub my arm. I smiled at him, pretending to enjoy his intrusive touches. I laughed at the appropriate times during his stories, and I congratulated him at the right times as well. Every once and awhile he’d ask me about myself before turning the conversation back to him. Eventually, Leon paid for the meal and held out his hand to help me out of my chair, as if I couldn’t get out of the chair by myself. Being pissed turned the gentlemanly gestures into condescending gestures.

As the night went on, I felt myself getting more and more irritated by this man. When I first met him during the interview, he didn’t seem that bad. At our lunch, he seemed like an awkward gossip but still not bad. But then I got stuck on this date and that just soured him to me. It’s unfair to Leon because all he did was ask me out but, at the same time, I felt kind of pressured because he was my boss. He reminded me of a situation that I didn’t want to find myself in, I guess.

On the way over to his car, I felt Leon’s hand wander down from the small of my back to my rear end. He rubbed it gently.

Get zen…

When we got into Leon’s car, I looked at the clock. It was only nine-thirty.

Leon put the car in drive, which was impressive seeing as half the time he was pawing at my thigh. Again, I heard a cell phone ring, and I fumbled in my bag to find my phone. This time it was actually my ringtone. My mind was elsewhere, so the sharp ringing was quite distracting.  

I picked up my phone. “Hello?”

“Mel!” I heard a slurred voice from the other end of the phone.

“Who is this?” I asked.

“Haaaaarrriet.”

“Alright, Harriet. You sound a little off.”

“I’m druuunk, Mel. I wanna go hooome, but I can’t call my brother or he’ll be so pissed at me.”

Inwardly, I was jumping for joy. A way out of this terrible date. Sure, I couldn’t find out about the business at the penthouse, but I could just give Harriet and Maxwell a warning anyways and be done with it. I had to put on appearances. I didn’t want Leon to know that I was happy to get out of our date and I didn’t want Harriet to think that drunk-dialing her boss was a socially acceptable behavior. I let out a heavy and disappointed-sounding sigh. “Ok. Where are you?” I looked at Leon, pointed at the phone, and rolled my eyes for dramatic effect.

“I’m um…I’m um….where am I?” Harriet yelled. I assume that she was yelling for someone in the distance. I could hear ‘thirty-two First Street’ in the background. “Thirty-two First Street,” Harriet answered.

“Alright…I’ll be there in thirty.” I hung up the phone and sighed once more. I really was laying it on thick there but whatever.

“I’m really sorry about this,” I said to Leon. “I’m going to have to go. Harriet duty calls.” I leaned back in the chair and rolled my eyes.

And the Oscar goes to Mel Jones for best actress.

“Well, maybe we can resume this in a few days.”

“I look forward to it.” I smiled at him.

“I’ll take you back to the office so you can get your car.”

“Thank you.” I smiled over at him. “Again, I’m really sorry…”

“No, I understand.” I heard a hint of disappointment in his voice. Of course, he was disappointed. He expected to get laid and his plans were thwarted. Creep.

In a few minutes, we arrived at the office. Leon got out of the car and opened the door to my side of the car. He outstretched his hand to help me out of the car, and I took it. He guided me over to my old crappy car and stood by me awkwardly in front of it.

“I had a great time tonight.” Leon said.

“Yeah, me too.” I lied.

Leon leaned in to kiss me. It was awkward. First of all, he’s six six, and I’m five two so he had to lean in a lot and my neck was hurting. Second of all, he was way too passionate. You know those fishes that go and clean the side of a fish tank? Well, that’s how he kissed. In this situation, I was the fish tank. After an insufferable two minutes, I broke out of the kiss.

“I have to go.” I smiled at him and looked down on the ground, pretending to blush. I got into the car and then drove off slowly. Once I saw that Leon was out of view, I popped a breath mint and wiped my mouth. That was probably one of the worst dates I’ve ever been on, and now I was going to pick up a drunk teenager. Considering what Leon wanted to do that night, my night could have been a lot worse.

Be grateful for small blessings.