A Closet Is No Place for a Mighty Woman

Submitted by Joanna:

Corey and I had been on one date already, and it had gone well enough for us to kiss goodnight... for twenty minutes. Needless to say, I was really looking forward to seeing him again.

Corey was in the middle of an employment transition. He was an engineer, but it was for a big company, and he was doing a lot of consulting work on the side in preparation for leaving the corporation..

I was a big supporter of his plan to freelance, and it was after a meeting that he had on a Friday that we had decided to have our second date.

"Everything's on me, tonight," he said, "I think that this client's going to be the one."

"The one" referred to the one client who would pay him enough to make it worthwhile for him to quit his 9-5. Corey had been seeking out this "one" for some time.

I was very proud of him, and offered to split dinner with him at a nice place.

"I have a better idea," he said, "My parents have a house out of town, and they're away for the weekend. I have the keys to their place. Let's have dinner in."

I trusted Corey and we were both in great moods. I was up for it, and he drove us to the suburbs.

We had dinner in, we ended up on the couch, and from there, his parents' bedroom (it was the largest bed in the house).

A door opened from somewhere in the house.

I jumped off of Corey.

"Shit, shit, shit," he repeated, as he leaped out of bed.

He pointed at me and said, "Get in the closet."

"Just close the door and explain it to them," I suggested, "Or throw on a robe and go out and distract them while I get dressed."

He scrambled over the bed and pushed me, lightly, into the closet, and shut the door behind me. "Just in case I can't delay them," he explained.

He threw on his pants and shirt and left the room. I heard his voice among other voices, and figured that he was diffusing the situation. He had obviously made a bit of a misestimate regarding his parents' plans!

In the meantime, I slipped out of the closet, put my clothes on, and made the bed as nicely as possible.

After several more minutes, I figured that it was safe to leave the bedroom and find Corey.  I wasn't sure what he was telling his folks, so I tip-toed my way to just outside the living room, where he was speaking to what sounded like two younger people, a man and a woman.

I peeked in.  Corey was indeed talking to a young couple, probably early twenties, on the couch.  I figured that everything was okay, and I stepped out.

The man and woman turned to me, and the man at once asked, "Who are you?"

Crap.  He didn't tell whoever these people were about me.  I said, "I'm Joanna.  Corey's friend."

Corey, who had turned a bit whiter, strode over to me and said, "Hey, Joanna.  Come with me."  Then he turned to the young couple and said, "I'll be right back."

He ushered me out of the house and said, "You have to go."

I said, "Uh... you drove me here.  What's wrong?"

He sighed the biggest sigh I've ever heard, like I was some sort of stupid infant and should've figured it out on my own.  He said, "Look, I like you so I'm going to be honest.  My younger brother showed up with this girl who... this girl who... who I've just really liked for a while.  And so I was trying to convince them to leave, which I would have done, if you didn't come in and interrupt us."

I stared at him, unsure of how he expected me to react.  Hell, I didn't even know how I expected myself to react.

"So you have to go, or at least wait here," he said quietly.

I replied, "Drive me home right now, or I'll give you a lot more trouble than you'd like to have."

He smiled and made as if to laugh, then his face snapped into an angry mask and he pushed past me, toward his car.  "Fine!  All right!  I'll take you home right now!"

He turned to me and said, "You're the one who wants to go home!  Are you coming or not?"

I heard myself say, "Never mind.  I'll call a cab," and I walked away from the house, past him, and down the street.

"Come on, I'll drive you home," he called after me.

I found a bus station after wandering around for the better part of an hour, and I made it home safe and sound.


********************************
A Bad Case of the Dates on the I Like You Podcast!  Check it out here!  Yay!