Impossible

Joe and I walked back towards the kitchen doors so that I could punch out. After I punched out, I followed Joe through the halls and out the main entrance of the building. I normally walk out the back of the kitchen to the employee parking, so it is really unusual for me to walk out the main entrance.

It was really awkward because Joe wasn't saying anything and I was just following him through the parking lot.

"What about everyone else that you were with? Didn't you all come together?" I asked wondering where they all had gone.

"We took two cars, we had one too many people to fit in only one car, so we split ourselves between the two cars, and well since I'm not going with them, they all went in one car." He explained the not so exciting story.

"Oh" was all I could say.

We walked through a few rows of cars until we got to what I guess was his car. He walked around to the passenger door and unlocked it and then opened it.

"Here you go, have a seat and try to relax after a hard days work" he said as he held out his hand for me to hold as he helped me climb in the car.
"Ha, thanks" I said sarcastically as he closed the door and walked around to the drivers side.



I pulled on my seat-belt as he climbed in and did the same. He put the key in the ignition and started the car.

"Well Carilynne, what would you like to do. Are you hungry?" he asked.
"Um, even if I was hungry, you just finished eating, so why would you want to go out again."
"Well, I honestly didn't eat a lot because I was so upset about what I had done. Plus I'm never full, my family calls me the bottomless pit." He said it like he was proud of it,
"Uh-huh, good to know, I guess. Then yeah, I could eat."
"Alright, well where do you like to go?"
"I honestly don't care. I'm not a picky eater." I said just wanting to get this thing started.
"Okay, well how about I drive around until we find a place?"
"Yeah. Fine."
With that he pulled away and started down the road.

We had been driving for a little while in complete silence. We had only passed a few fast food places but he said he didn't like that idea of going to one of those.

We drove for about ten more minutes and came across a steakhouse.
"Do you want to go there?" he asked.
"Sure, that's fine." I said, desperately wanting for this to end.
He pulled into a spot and hopped out before I could even get my seat-belt off. I thought he was crazy until I realized he had walked over to my door and opened it for me.
He had a big goofy smile on his face as he helped be down out of the car.



"Uh, thanks." I said as he shut the door.
"Of course. May I escort you inside?" he asked as he held out his elbow towards me.
I simply nodded as I held his arm as we walked into the restaurant.



We walked in and could see that it was really crowded. There were at least fifteen people waiting to be seated. We walked right up to the hostess. She was busy marking up her seating chart.

"How many?" She asked without even looking up at us.
"Two" Joe responded. She scribbled something on her chart then looked up at us.
"Right this way, please." She said as she picked up some menus and walked through the maze of tables.

She brought us to a booth in the back of the restaurant and laid our menus on the table.
"Your server will be right with you." She said as she made her way back through the maze to the front of the restaurant.



"Get whatever you want." Joe said as he started looking over his menu.
"Oh, thanks, but I can cover myself.
He scrunched his eyebrows.
"No, absolutely not. First of all, I have to make up to you for how I acted earlier and second, I invited you so that means I pay." He said matter-of-factly.
"Well, I honestly don't like it when someone else pays for me." I said trying to convince him to let me pay.
"Sorry, you are just going to have to learn to like it." He said as he looked back down at his menu.
"Um, okay" I said as I opened my menu.
I looked over the menu too and noticed the prices immediately. It was really expensive here.

"Are you sure?" I looked up at him.
He gave me a reassuring smile.
"Positive, anything you want."
"Alright" I said as I still looked for the cheapest thing on the menu.

I know he was horrible to me before, but I'm not going to act like a total creep and get something really expensive. I mean, I know how precious my hard earned money is.
A waitress hurried to our table and was practically out of breath.
"Hi, I'm Jamie. I am not your server. Your server is overloaded with tables, so I will be helping you through out the night as well. I will take your drink orders, and later he will take your food orders." She said all in one breath. She took out her pad and pen and waited for us to answer.
Joe spoke first.
"I will have an iced tea, please." She quickly wrote that down and then looked over at me.
"I will just have a water with no lemon, please." She nodded and mumbled that she'd be right back and scurried away.
This place was packed with people and they were obviously under-staffed.
I can definitely feel the pain that the servers are going through right now.
Joe shook me from my thoughts.

"So, do you know what you want to get?"
"Oh, um. No not yet. Do you?"
"Yeah, I think I'm going to get a steak. After all, we are at a steakhouse." he chuckled to himself.
I laughed slightly, even though I didn't think it was funny at all.
I decided to have the seasoned chicken. It wasn't the most expensive thing on the menu and it wasn't the cheapest, so I felt that it was safe.

It was taking a while for our drinks to come back, so Joe started some small talk, or so he thought.

"So, what responsibilities do you have that your friend took care of for you?"
I stared at him.
Should I tell him the truth. I mean, it will probably make him back off and leave me alone if I do. But, I also don't like the way people judge me when I do tell them. Joe seems a little better then he did before, but not so much better that it would make want to be his friend or anything. I guess I should just tell him the truth. Maybe he will want to leave before we even get our drinks.
I sighed, and then looked up at him.
"Honestly, I have two children." I said looking down at my napkin. When I tell people, they usually give me a look of disapproval. I know I am young, but they don't know the whole story.
"Oh." was all Joe said.