Lunch on Me

Ok. My day went to hell the moment I woke up. I realized I'd overslept by an hour. In my panic, I jumped up and hit my head on the headboard. Then I realized I didn't have one SINGLE clean work uniform. I pulled a pair of black slacks and a white button-up shirt off the floor, nice and wrinkled. My hair was frizzed and all over the place. I managed to tie it into a sad excuse of a ponytail. I had absolutely NO time to apply make-up. "Oh well." I said starring at my reflection in the mirror. "It will have to do." Basically, I looked like hell. I ran outside...it was raining. And remember, I'm wearing a white shirt. I jumped in my car, and realized I was out of gas. I know what you're thinking. No one has all THAT happen to them in ONE day, right? Well it did. And you haven't even heard the half of it.

I ran on fumes until I got to the gas station. I only had about five bucks to put in the tank. "Well so much for lunch hour." I thought. Then I flew to work, trying not to be too much later than I already was. Got pulled over on the way there. And ya know what? Yep! You guessed it! I got a big, fat speeding ticket. I had to fight for a parking space when I got there. I ran inside as fast as my feet would carry me.

"Leona! What the HELL are you thinkin commin in here an hour and fourty-five minutes late?! Without callin or nothin!" my boss roared as soon as I set foot through the door. See, I work as a waitress at Norman's, a nice, eccentric resturaunt. And despite the rain, the place was PACKED! "You know we got twenty-five people out there bustin their asses and it still ain't enough people to keep up! You think we can afford for you to just start showin up when you feel like it?"

"I'm sorry, Norman!" I yelled. "I didn't do it on purpose. If you only knew how bad my day has been okay?" I tried to explain what happened.

"Frankly, I don't care, Leona! But what I do care is that you're standing here boo-hooing about your bad day, and your not out there takin orders!"

"I take enough orders from you." I said under my breath as I grabbed my notepad and ran out to my section trying to fight back tears.

On my way out to my first table, I accidently bumped into Sue. "I'm so sorry, Sue! That was a total accident. I came in late and I was in a rush!" I appologized profoundly thinking she was going to attack me like the rest of the world had today.

"Well you better be glad you came in when you did! You will never belive who is sitting at one of your tables!" she said with more than the usual amount of excitement in her voice.

"Who?" I asked anxiously.

"Johnny Depp!!!" she squeeled and then she ran into the back. My heart stopped. I almost passed out.

See, I've been a crazed fan of Johnny Depp forever. I idolized the man. I worshipped the man. I owned every single one of his movies. Knew almost everything there was to know about him. Not to mention he's the best looking man on the face of God's green Earth!!! And now he was sitting at my table?! I couldn't breathe. I was dizzy. It was overwhelming.

"Why did I have to pick today to oversleep?" I silently cursed myself. "I look like I've just been through a tornado!"

Nevertheless, I walked toward his table, shaking uncontrollably. At least that's what it felt like anyway. My legs felt like cooked spaghetti noodles. My stomach had been tied into a knot. I walked around the corner and, sure enough, he was there. Oh, SO good looking!!! And he was alone! I stepped up beside his table. I tried to speak. I squeeked instead. My heart was beating a thousand miles an hour. I cleared my throaght.

"Hello. May I get you something to drink?" I managed. I handed him a menu.

"Just an iced tea today. Thanks" he said in that beautiful voice of his.

He looked me straight in the eye and smiled. OH MY GOD!!! I even managed to come back with his drink and take his order without croaking. I was on a roll. That soon changed about fifteen minutes later. I noticed that he needed a refill so I brought out the pitcher of iced tea and, can you guess, spilled it all over the table. YES! Spilled iced tea all over Johnny Depp's table!

"I am so sorry Mr. Depp!" I appologized frantically as I pulled a hundred napkins out of my apron and started mopping up the mess.

"It's okay. It's okay." he assured me. He even grabbed some napkins and started helping me. "Leona, please, don't even worry about it." he said.

I jerked my head up. "You know my name?!" I asked in total shock.

"Well I wouldn't have if it weren't on your name tag." he replied.

"Oh. Yeah. The name tag." I said, feeling like a complete and total jack-ass by now. "Well, most people call me Lea." I told him.

"Lea. I like the sound of that." he said. "And most people call me Johnny. Really, you don't have to call me Mr. Depp."

"Oh. Okay. Well, Johnny, I am really sorry about that. I'm a real klutz." I said, appologizing for about the hundredth time.

"Really. It's okay." he said again. "So, just out of curiosity, do you always wear two different shoes?" he asked me.

"Huh?" I said as I looked down at my shoes. Sure enough, they were both black, but they were two completely different shoes. Now I felt like an even bigger jack-ass. "Oh!" I slapped my hand against my forhead. "I was in such a rush this morning, I think I left my brain at home." I was relieved when he laughed at that.

"Well, why don't you sit down and tell me all about it?" he said. I froze.

"Sit down?" I stuttered.

"Sure! Why not?" he said. "I'm eating alone in a resturaunt, and you seem like you need someone to vent on, so we make a great team. I'll even buy you lunch."

"I...I c..can't." I barely managed to say. "My boss would kill me." I couldn't believe my ears. Johnny Depp was asking me to have lunch with him!

"Listen." he said, leaning forward. "I want you to go in the back and clock out. If your boss tries to give you any shit, tell him you're sick. You don't need to be working so hard when you're this stressed out anyway. Then I want you to come back out here, take off that apron and name-tag so you don't get bugged by anyone, and I want you to sit down, have lunch with me, and tell me all about your excruciating day."

"Are you serious?" I asked him. He looked at me.

"Have you ever eaten alone in a resturaunt?" he said with a laugh.

So I did exactly as he said. I knew I'd probably get fired, but think about it. I had two options. Have lunch with Johnny Depp, and lose my job, or keep my shitty job, and skip having lunch with Johnny Depp. I'll take the lunch. So as we ate, I told him about every shitty thing that's happened since I woke up. And he listened with a very tentive ear. He always knew what to say to make me feel better. And he made me laugh a lot. This is an extremely nice man. Which is why I was also comfortable enough to tell him how I've been idolizing him for so long. He was flattered by that.

When we were finished with our meal, he paid the tab. I felt bad, but he insisted. Then he walked me to my car. I was so disappointed when our lunch was over. But then just before I got into my car he said "Why don't I buy you dinner tomorrow night around 7 PM? We don't even have to come here if you don't want." Once again, sent into shock. Buying me lunch, was him being a nice guy to a girl who needed to get a load off her shoulders. But to dilliberately ask me to dinner? Wow!

"I'd love to!" I said a little too excitedly. "Great!" he said with almost the same amount of enthusiasm. "I know a place uptown I think you'll like. San Lavonna I think." he said.

"Sounds good! Call me at this number." I said handing him a peice of paper with my cell number written on it. "And I'll even wear two of the same shoes." I said as I climbed into the car.

He laughed and said goodbye. But I knew the good twist on my otherwise terrible day wouldn't last long. Can you guess what happened next? Yep. My car wouldn't start. Johnny must have heard the engine grind because he turned around and walked back toward me. I got out of the car.

"Now my car won't start." I said to him. I was surprised to see him laugh at that. Though it was kind of humerous when you think about it.

"Well, can I give you a ride then?" he asked. "I don't want to be a burdan to you." I replied. It was enough that he bought me lunch, and was going to buy me dinner the next night for that matter. I didn't want to become a pain in the ass.

"It's not a burdan. It's a pleasure. Now come on." He insisted so I accepted.

We walked around to the front of the resturaunt where I got to climb into the beautiful porsche he drives.

"So where do you live?" he asked.

"A few miles from here on Oakland Drive."

"Ah. I know just where that is." he said. "Mind if we make a stop along the way?"

"No. Not at all." I said.

We ended up driving to a really nice boardwalk park. We walked on the boardwalk for about an hour just talking about everything there was to talk about. Then at the end of the boardwalk was a big fountain. We sat down on the edge of the fountain. He looked at me.

"You know," he said "you seem like a really interesting person. I'd like to spend more time with you."

"I'd like that too." I replied.

After he took me home he even offered to pay for my car's maintence. And of course I refused, and of course he insisted.

Next day, I spent the entire day planning for that night. I went shopping for a new dress and shoes. (Two of the same ones.) I conditioned my hair and somehow managed to tame it. I put hours into my make-up so as to make it perfect. Agonizingly long hours went by until finally, at 6:45 he came to pick me up. When he saw me, his jaw dropped.

"Wow! You look absolutely beautiful, Lea!" he said with slight shock in his voice.

Once again, he made it difficult to keep from passing out. Though it wasn't saying much since, the first time he saw me I looked like something that crawled out of a pigs ass. But he was right, I loved San Lavonna. It was a beautiful resturaunt with delicious food. And they played beautiful music. And Johnny was a perfect gentleman. He even held the door for me. The whole night was absolutely perfect.

"Lea, would you like to dance?" he asked me when we had finished eating.

I accepted with glee. He was an amazing dancer. We danced for a long time. And then in one of the slow dances, he pulled me closer to him.

"You know, I really like you, Lea." he said, little above a whisper. "You are a beautiful person. Inside and out. And I would really like to see more of you."

"That will definately happen." I assured him. "I like you too."

He looked at me for a minute, right into my eyes. Then he brought his lips closer to mine and we shared a soft, tender, passionate kiss. The rest of our date went just as well.

"I guess it's time for us to part huh?" he said with what I swear was disappointment in his voice. "Ready to go home?" he asked.

"Or we could go to your place instead." I said with a smile.

"Sounds good to me." he said, also with a smile.

So that's what we did. And that night, we made the most passionate love either of us ever thought we could make.

THE END