CH3: The Diner - Part 1 (Abby)

Mom was too distraught after the verdict that I ended up being the one to drive us home. The car ride was silent, only a light sob or sniffle from mom every now and then, it pained me to see her this way, and knowing that I couldn’t do anything to help was even worse. After getting us home safely, I texted my boyfriend, Bradley, to tell him the news.

Abby: “Hey babe, just got back from dads court sentencing. Half a million-dollar fine and twenty years in jail without the chance of parole. I’m numb, I don’t know how to react right now, and mom is a mess.”

Bradley: “I’ll take you out tonight and we can go to your favorite restaurant, cheer you up a little.”

Abby: “Sounds perfect. Thanks, sweetie!”

Bradley: “See you tonight.”

I laid on my bed staring at the ceiling for a good amount of time until my mind wandered back to the judge in the courtroom. How could someone so young and handsome get the nickname of “The Demon” so early on in their career? I decided to get on my laptop and look him up. I meant to read articles of cases he had been a part of or some type of news story that would make me believe that he deserved such a nickname, but I found myself only scrolling through photos of him.  

One photo particularly caught my eye, it was Judge Hale in a tuxedo at some sort of event, and his hand was around a beautiful woman’s waist. The woman had curly brown hair and wore a green, floor-length, low-cut dress that showed off her breasts and her petite figure. Who was this woman in the photo with him? And why was I jealous of her?

The light outside began to fade and I decided that it was time to get ready for my date with Bradley. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail because it had flattened as I laid on my bed. I put on some brown eyeliner and mascara to bring out my hazel eyes, found a cute pair of jeans and a flattering green top, which I then covered with my denim jacket from this morning.

*HONK HONK*

I heard Bradley honk his truck’s horn from the driveway, letting me know that he was here. I looked out of the window of my room and saw him there waiting for me in the big red truck. I slipped into my toms shoes and hurried downstairs and went outside to him. He didn’t come to the front door to get me or open the car door for me, and his truck was extremely tall and I had troubled the first couple of times getting in, but my muscles had gotten used to it by now and I didn’t mind too much anymore.

Bradley and I have been together for about four months now, and our relationship is a rocky one. His friends are trouble, and even more trouble if Bradley was with them. I try to help him out and put him on a better path, but it only ends with us fighting.

“Hey,” he greeted me when I opened the door and got in the truck.

“Hey you,” I responded.

We had just made up after a fight we had when I found out that he helped his friends highjack a car, and we didn’t speak for a few days, I had thought that he had gone to jail until he texted me.

“So where are we going to dinner?” I asked excitedly, it had been a while since Bradley and I were on a proper date. Our dates would usually consist of hanging out at his place, surrounded by his awful roommates as they smoked pot and played video games, not the most romantic.

“The diner.” He responded while ignoring eye contact with me, chomping on his gum.

“The diner? I thought you said that we would go to my favorite restaurant?” I had been so excited to have my favorite Italian food at Farro. Carbs equaled comfort, in my mind, and the diner had no decent tasting carbs. The diner had flatbread pizza that was kept warm under a light shining above and stale macaroni and cheese that you grabbed buffet-style.

“I know, but the guys wanted to meet up tonight and the diner is all that they can afford.”

“The guys? Your friends are coming?” My voice held a bit of irritation in it, it seemed impossible to be Bradley’s one and only for any portion of time, and this was a rough day for me, I needed comfort.

“Don’t worry, babe, they aren’t coming until eight o’clock, we have plenty of time to ourselves.” He looked at me and smiled, which I reluctantly mirrored.

We arrive at the diner and chose to sit at the red booth nearest the door. Bradley offered to get us both plates and told me to make myself comfortable, maybe not all chivalry was dead? I would certainly savor the time that he and I had together alone, even if it were for a short while. He returned with two plates of giant slices of mushroom pizza. I thanked him and looked down at my plate; the mushrooms were shriveled and the crust was stale.

“Why aren’t you eating?” Bradley asked through a mouth full of pizza.

“I guess I just don’t have much of an appetite.” I lied. I hadn’t eaten all day and my stomach was growling like a feral animal in the woods, but even feral animals have standards when it comes to their food choices.

Bradley got lost in his food and kept looking out of the window that the booth was at, he was certainly watching for his friends. We sat in silence for the longest time and I just watched him, slightly disgusted.

“So, you had a bad day,” I couldn’t figure out if this was meant to be a question to me or if he was simply thinking out loud and saying it to himself. He still didn’t make eye contact with me; he was indulging in his food. He was a skinny man and extremely tall, but he ate like no one I have ever seen before.

I took a moment before responding to him, “Um, yes, this morning was pretty rough. It hasn’t really set in yet that my father lied and I’m not going to be able to see-” I was cut off by a group of three men who approached Bradley and me, directing their attention to Bradley instead of myself.

“HEY!” They all greeted obnoxiously loud that I had to look around to be sure that they weren’t disturbing anybody else in the diner, which appeared to be at half capacity. Bradley’s friends were always very inconsiderate of others, and thinking about it more, it was probably better that we didn’t go to my favorite restaurant, or else we would have probably been kicked out, and that would have just been the cherry on top for this day.

“Are you guys going to eat with us?” I asked in my most polite tone to them and scooted further into the booth towards the window to make room for them.

“I don’t think so, Abs,” said his friend Jordan to me and then redirected his focus back to Bradley, “I just got some badass subwoofers in the car and wanted to show them off to you, but the car is in the garage since it’s raining, and I haven’t gotten the breaks fixed, so I can’t take her anywhere just yet.”

I leaned forward over the table to grab Jordan’s attention, “So you put in subwoofers in your car that you can’t drive because the breaks are broken?”

“Do I hear judgment in your voice, Abs?” Jordan asked and everyone’s eyes were on me, including Bradley’s, who still had half a mouth full of pizza he was working on chewing.

I squinted my eyes at Jordan as I responded, “No, no, it’s good to have priorities,” with absolute sarcasm. Bradley got up and wiped his mouth before saying to his friends,

“Come on, let’s go.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” I started at him and got up from the booth as they all began to walk away, “You’re going to leave me here? You were my ride!”

He turned his body to look at me, “You should have thought of that before you insulted my friend.” They all walked out together after that, the cold air from outside blowing in and making me shiver as the door opened and closed behind them. I was left standing next to the booth, speechless.

I sat back down in the booth and looked down, feeling practically defeated. I turned my head to look out the window at the group of guys, seeing two of them get into Bradley’s car, the others in another car, and driving off. I looked back down at the table when I saw someone in the corner of my eye approach me, it was a waitress at the diner, “You need to pay for those two plates, hon,” she mentioned.

“Oh,” I looked on either side of me and realized that I had forgotten to grab my purse before leaving the house. I put my hands over my face, “Oh my God, I am so sorry, I forgot my bag and I don’t have any money on me.” I’m sure my face held a pathetic look, but I was genuinely worried about how I could pay for two plates, and more than anything, I was pissed off that I had just been ditched.

I heard a familiar voice from behind me that addressed the waitress, “I’ll pay for it.” I looked over my shoulder and found a tall man with broad shoulders and shoulder-length, silky black hair. He was wearing a white button-down shirt and loose-fitting slacks.

“Judge Hale,” I said surprised. A man with that job makes around a quarter of a million dollars annually at minimum. What in the world was a judge doing at a diner like this? He handed a credit card that he held between his index and middle finger to the waitress, his eyes not looking away from me.

“Hello, Abigail,” he greeted me with a warm smile and sultry voice.