Disclaimer: All
characters belong to NBC and the verses from 1 Cor. 13
If I Have Not Love
***********************************
It always protects, always
trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
***********************************
Jing Mei had gone through her closet a couple of
times. None of the dresses looked
right.
She hated it.
She hated this feeling.
Jing Mei looked at the clock. 8:00 p.m.
He would be there in 15 minutes.
All of her dresses were either too slinky or dowdy or
conservative. “Come on! This is John. I don’t need to worry about what I wear,” she chided herself.
But the restaurant might mind.
Jing Mei studied at her image in the full-length
mirror. ‘Not bad,’ she thought to
herself.
She brushed her shoulder length hair and quickly
placed a silver barrette in her hair near her temple. “There, ready!” she stated just as the buzzer to the intercom
sang out.
“Hello?” she greeted into the speaker as she pressed
the button.
“It’s me John,” he called.
Jing Mei hit the button to unlock the door
downstairs. “Come on up,” she called.
Jing Mei took one last look at herself in the hallway
mirror. It would have to do.
»
* »
John stood outside the apartment door and leaned his
head to the side and pulled at his tie.
After taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.
As the oak door creaked open, shedding light into the
dim hallway, he was stunned at the woman standing before him. John had seen Deb dressed up, but she was
looking particularly stunning tonight.
His eyes ran the length of her body, admiring the crimson red dress that
accented her attributes wonderfully.
The halter-top neckline scooped low, revealing a little cleavage and
draped her body freely. Her dress
reached the floor.. Her tanned arms
were bare except for the sheer red wrap that hung loosely around arms.
Deb stood there, arms out and turned around. “What do you think?” she smiled.
“You look…great!” he stuttered.
Deb blushed and winked at him. “Thanks.
Where are we going anyway?” she asked.
John smiled a crooked little smile. “You’ll see,” he smirked.
~~~
He’d made reservations at the Signature Room. Window-view requested.
John had used his Grams’ connections to get the
table. He couldn’t believe the waiting
list for a table, but his grandmother always came through.
John tucked Deb’s chair in underneath her. “John, I can’t believe you went to all this
trouble. I mean I’ve been here before
and it’s pret-ty hard to get a table at short notice,” Deb whispered
over the candle-lit table.
“Grams helped a little,” he admitted.
“How is your grandmother? Last time I heard, she was getting out of bed a little
more.” Deb looked at John over the menu
as the waiter poured them glasses of water.
“She’s getting there. She won’t be driving anytime soon though.”
Deb nodded.
“Um, what do you recommend tonight?” she asked the young waiter.
“Did you want to start with an appetizer?”
Deb looked over at John. He shrugged. “I’m
starving. Why don’t we just dive into
the entrees?”
She nodded in agreement. “We’ll skip the appetizers and just start with the entrees.”
The waiter nodded and smiled warmly at Deb.
John rolled his eyes. “I’ll have the New York steak, medium rare. Baked potato, and oh, what’s the soup?” he
asked irritated.
The waiter seemed startled and realized that John had
been talking to him. “Oh, um, the soup
of the day is cream of asparagus.”
John ordered the soup and waited patiently as the
waiter helped Deb decide whether she should have the salmon or
whitefish. It made John’s skin crawl as
the waiter looked over her shoulder and commented on the finer points of the
whitefish. ‘It was just unprofessional!
‘ John thought to himself. Was he not
sitting there?
Finally Deb decided on the whitefish at ‘Charlie’s ‘
suggestion and he left. “That waiter
has some nerve!” John whispered menacingly.
Deb looked at him with confusion. “Why?”
“He was hitting on you,” he exclaimed incredulously.
Deb laughed.
“You’ve got to be kidding me John.
He was just helping me pick between the salmon and whitefish.”
“I think he was trying to help you pick up something
else too,” he said sarcastically.
Deb hit his hand playfully. “Get over it John. I mean
it’s not like this is a real date.
So you can cut the jealous boyfriend routine.”
John opened his mouth to say something and thought
better of it. He pursed his lip and
tried to salvage the conversation. “So
how was work today?” he asked, changing the subject.
“It was okay,” Deb replied. “Romano was on my case again.
And Keri, well, what’s new?”
John watched as Deb began playing with the dessert
fork. “You know you can come talk to
me, if there’s anything wrong,” John offered.
She nodded her head.
“Yeah, I know. It’s just
sometimes you have to deal with things on your own. You know?”
Deb looked up at John seeking some look of
understanding. And he did. John did understand.
“Yeah,” he finally sighed. “I get it. But I’m always
here for you, you know?” John peered
into Deb’s lowering eyes. He rested his
hand on Deb’s and she slowly set down the fork.
She swallowed hard.
“So, what about you?” Deb forced a smile and pulled her hand from under
his. “How was your ‘new’ day?”
John licked his lips. “It was, well…” he could finish his thought. John didn’t know what his day was. It had been the boring mundane tasks of
taking histories and giving out prescriptions for the same old, same old. “The same,” he finally said.
Suddenly the waiter appeared bearing a bottle of red
wine. “The ‘91 Cabernet? It’s compliments from your…” he paused,
“Grams?” The waiter looked
questioningly down at John.
John shook his head and nodded. Charlie proceeded to pour the already
uncorked bottle and leave it on the table.
“Thank you,” John said picking up the wine glass and sniffing it.
Deb picked hers up as the waiter left, “A toast John?” she suggested.
He nodded.
“To a new start,” John toasted.
“To a new start,” Deb toasted. “May we continue to hope for the best and
rise above the evil powers of County General!”
Deb raised her eyebrow at John and winked.
“We can rise above it all!” John laughed and
brought his wine glass to hers.
“You bet your bippy we can!” Deb nodded once and took
a sip of the wine.
And at that moment, John felt happy and hopeful about what lay ahead of him and Deb. What lay ahead for both of them.
Please R&R!
How do you guys think it’s going?
Is it badly out of character…