Back to School (2/7)
"Morning, Josh," Donna said sitting across from his desk.
She set her coffee on his desk after taking a sip and opened his
schedule book.
"Donna? What's this message about Senator's Lipman's
toreodor pants?"
"Tobacco package, Josh. Senator Lipman's tobacco package
that he's presenting before the Senate on Thursday? He called
to talk to you about it."
"Unbelievable," he laughed, reaching for her coffee. "I
don't see how there's a letter `b' anywhere in that
message."
"Must I remind you of my distinctive penmanship style? You'd
think by now, you'd have figured it out."
"I'd much rather spend valuable minutes during my busy day
trying to decipher your handwriting," he smirked back.
She just smiled. It had been two days since Josh had found her crying
in the Georgetown cafeteria and he hadn't said one thing about
tutoring her. In fact, he'd taken her books too and she
hadn't had a chance to begin studying for her midterm next week.
However, she didn't want to bring it up. Now that they were
back at work, she felt kind of funny for crying in front of him and
confessing her fears.
"So, Donnatella," Josh began, bringing Donna out of
her revelry. "You have a calculus midterm next week, am I
right?"
Donna's face flushed and she ducked her head, while sipping her
coffee. "Uh huh."
"As your tutor, I'm very disappointed that you've let me
have your books for two days and haven't asked for them to begin
studying," he said teasingly.
"I was kind of hoping you'd keep them and then I would be
forced to drop out of the class because you're holding my books
hostage."
"No such luck, Ms. Moss. I have worked out a schedule."
"You've worked out a schedule?" Donna asked him
incredulously. "You can't even manage your own schedule."
"Well, that's true, but I don't seem to have a
problem managing other people's schedule," Josh said, sitting
back, snagging Donna's coffee for a sip.
"So, you've decided to start managing my schedule?" asked
Donna.
"Yes," he said, pulling out a file folder from his bag
and putting it on the desk between them. "You've kept me
under your finger for more than two years now. I figure it's time
I return the favor."
"So, you're punishing me for keeping you in line, by creating
some horrendous tutoring schedule?" Donna asked, reaching for the
folder.
"That's right," said Josh, swatting her hand away and
opening the folder. "Now. I've figured out how much time in
the next four days we have to study before your midterm. I think we should
develop a schedule week-by-week though, since anything beyond that
would be unreasonable, considering where we work."
Donna looked up at him, amazed that he was so organized.
"Okay."
"Okay," he said, meeting her eyes. "This weekend, I
have no plans, so I figure we could do a cram session."
Donna sat back for a second. She smirked at him. "What if
I'm busy?"
"Are you?" Josh asked.
Donna paused, smiling. "No."
Josh smirked. "Okay, now that we've established that we both
have no social lives, can we get back to this?"
Donna smiled wider. "Yeah."
"Okay, we'll start tomorrow night reviewing the stuff
you've already learned. Then on Saturday and Sunday we'll
begin using what we learned to study for your midterm. Monday night we'll do
a final review and Tuesday we'll sit back and relax." Josh
looked up to see if Donna was following.
She seemed frozen, her eyes brimming with tears. "Josh," she
whispered.
Josh immediately reached in his jacket pocket for his handkerchief,
handing it to her. "It's a little early in this process for
you to start crying isn't it?" he asked, with a smile.
Donna smiled back, wiping her tears. "Josh...I just didn't
expect...I mean I figured your schedule would be too busy...Are you
sure?"
Josh reached across the desk for her free hand. Finding it, he gave
it a squeeze. "I said I'd help you, right?"
Donna nodded, sniffling.
"Okay then. That's what I'm doing. Don't worry about
my time. Let's just worry about getting you through the midterm,
okay?"
Donna nodded again and squeezed his hand back.
"You two want to be alone?"
Both Josh and Donna jumped, dropping their hands as Toby stood in the
doorway.
"Hey, Toby," said Josh, immediately riffling through the
files on his desk.
Donna started pulling together Josh's schedule book and stood up.
"Morning Toby." Her face felt like it was burning and she
hoped Toby didn't notice.
"I just came down to invite you to join us for the staff meeting,
Joshua, but you seem to have better things to do," Toby smirked,
giving Donna a lifted eyebrow as she tried to scoot past him.
Josh gave Toby a look, "I'll be there in a minute. Donna,
wait a second."
Toby backed up to let Donna back into the office, giving them both a
look and a smile before disappearing down the hallway.
"What?" asked Donna, sighing.
"Take this schedule and look it over. And your books are in my
bag," said Josh, gathering up files for his meeting.
"Let's talk at lunch about this, okay?" he said squeezing her arm as he headed
out the door.
"You have a meeting with David Barnes at lunchtime."
"Cancel it," said Josh, walking backwards down the hall.
"I think this is more important," he smiled as he gestured to
the folder carrying the tutoring schedule.
Donna smiled as he wheeled away.