A Promise Kept - Chapter 2
The rest of the day went by quickly for Josh, who was rushed to get things accomplished since his schedule had been thrown slightly off track by him being in jail. But at 6 o'clock, he stopped working. He needed the hour and a half to get ready for his dinner with Donna. He had already wasted enough of her time with his little problems, and he didn't want to make her wait for dinner tonight.
Before leaving, Josh stopped by Toby's office.
"Hey," he said, leaning in from the hallway, "I'm going home. I'll see ya tomorrow."
"WHAT?!" Toby exclaimed. He stood up from his desk and walked over the door where Josh was still standing. "Josh, it's 6 o'clock! What are doing going home so early?"
"You know Toby, in most other jobs in the wonderful free nation of ours, staying until 6 means getting an hour's worth of overtime pay."
"This is the White House for heaven's sake, Josh!"
"No, really Toby? I thought we've been working for McDonald's for the past year," Josh retorted sarcastically. Before Toby could reply, Josh continued. "Look, Toby, I've got an extremely important personal thing tonight that there is *no way* I'm bailing on. Almost everything I had to do today is done. I briefed Sam on a few things and I even talked to Leo about this, Toby, and he said I could go. I have everything under control."
Toby rubbed his forehead. Josh did seem to have everything under control, and even so, Toby didn't really have a right to be upset with him. He was just upset because Josh was going home while he had to stay and finish up the President's speech for the Committee to Save the Whales tomorrow. Besides, Toby didn't feel like arguing. "Fine, Josh, I'll see you tomorrow." Toby turned and headed back to his desk.
Josh handed him a folder with a bundle of papers inside. "Here," he said. "There's some information inside on that gun control thing that's coming up that you might find helpful."
"Thanks," Toby said quietly as he took the folder from Josh and sat down again.
"You're welcome." Josh then turned around and left. "Night!" he called over his shoulder as he disappeared down the hall.
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Josh weeded his way through rush hour traffic, which wasn't really that bad, as quickly - and safely - as possible. He certainly didn't want to get caught by the police *again*. Luckily his apartment wasn't very far away.
He stopped at a small grocery store near his apartment before going home. He felt a little strange actually going down the isles and putting things into a basket. He usually just breezed through, picking up the few essential items like milk, coffee, soap, frozen meals, and the occasional fruit or vegetable, and carrying them to the Quick Check lane.
After Josh was fairly certain he had everything he'd need, he made a trip down one last isle - the isle with the florist at the end of it. There he picked up a bouquet of some of Donna's favorite wildflowers - daisies, sunflowers, violets, and morning glories.
Josh was impatiently waiting at the checkout stand while the man rang up his items. "Big date tonight, huh?" he asked Josh, nodding towards the food and flowers.
"Huh?" Josh said distractedly. "Oh, no, it's not... she's just - " he was about to say "my assistant" when Josh realized that it wasn't true. Donna had always been a friend to Josh, helping him out and being there for him more than just an assistant would be, more so lately and especially today. "She's a friend," Josh finally answered.
The cashier raised his eyebrows upon hearing Josh's response. He had seen the young man's face as he was thinking about his reply, and had a feeling his feelings for the lady ran deeper than friendship, but it wasn't his place to say anything. So he just smiled, shrugged, and said, "Okay, buddy."
Josh didn't comment, just thanked and paid him and rushed out to his car.
As soon as Josh got home a few minutes later, he put the flowers into a vase and started to prepare one of Donna's favorite meals. He smiled as he thought of how much she would like it.
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The subject of Josh's thoughts was, at that very moment, thinking of him as well. Well, to be more precise, she was thinking of what to wear that night. Donna was standing at the door to her closet, staring into it critically, the fingertips of her left hand in her mouth, her right hand on her hip.
Her roommate Wendy entered her room then, and nearly laughed out loud at the scene. Trying to control her laughter, Wendy said, "Donna, I thought you said this wasn't a date."
"It's not!" Donna replied, not wavering from the task at hand.
"Then why have you been standing in the same position for the past 10 minutes inspecting your wardrobe?"
"Because..." Donna trailed off.
"Because you're in love with Josh, that's why."
"What?!" Donna turned away from her closet to face her friend, who had plopped herself down on Donna's bed. "I am not in love with Josh." Wendy just looked at Donna. "I'm *not*!" Donna insisted.
Wendy smiled and said, "You just keep telling yourself that, dear. In the mean time, let's find something for you to wear to this 'non-date' dinner before you're late."
Wendy got off the bed and walked over to her roommate's closet, while Donna just stood there for a moment, a confused look on her face. "Where would Wendy get the idea that I'm in love with Josh?" she thought. "I may have had feelings for him at one point, but... no, not anymore. I like Josh just as a friend now."
Donna shook her head and walked back over to her closet, trying to ignore the little seed that Wendy had planted in her mind. But it wouldn't go away, and was still there when she knocked on Josh's door promptly 45 minutes later.
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