Da Vinci Code

The next day you woke up feeling refreshed and decided to look at the profiles once more and find a few you were at least willing to meet. It felt like a decent place to start, at least. Walking to your desk, you sat down and picked up the first profile, you looked it over and quickly grew bored.
“Good morning. What are you feeling like for breakfast?” George came in and asked like he did every morning.
“Not having to pick a husband” you responded covering your face with your hands out of frustration.
“Pancakes it is then” George said and left the room letting you get back to your task.
By the time you finished looking over every single profile twice more, you had three in a pile that seemed alright to you. Still Joshua was the only one who had made it to the yes pile. These three must have been in the pile Joshua had been looking at because they didn’t look familiar to you. All the others had begun to meld together in your mind and no one was sticking out like the perfect match.
No one you wanted to admit to anyways.
Once you had decided on who you would attempt to date, George walked in with a stack of pancakes. He placed them on your bedside table as you handed him the three folders.
“These three. That is all I got for the Council right now”
“And Joshua’s, of course.” George added grabbing it from its lonely spot on your bed.
“Well, of course. But we talked about that…” you told George rolling your eyes. Out of nowhere George began coughing violently and covered his mouth with his other hand.
“Are you alright?” you asked feeling very concerned as he cleared his throat and stood up straight as if nothing had happened.
“Think I might be coming down with something. No big deal, really. I shall pass these along to the Council and get some dates set up for you” he said and turned to leave hurriedly. You could never remember a time when George had shown signs that he was sick, but you decided you would just order pizza today and give him the day off by being on your best behavior.
That night, Joshua came over to work on some homework. You were in a less than cheerful mood, and he soon picked up on it.
“You look as lively as that frog we dissected in science last year” he started ad he lay next to you on your bed.
“Just Council stiff” you shook your head and tapped the end of your pen on the corner of your math book.
“I won’t ask about it anymore” he smiled and shook his head.
“So there’s prom coming up…” he began in an unsure voice.
“Oh, that would’ve been fun” you sat up and looked at him, wanting to hear more about his plans for going.
“It would’ve…” there seemed like something he was holding back as he talked to you.
“Are you renting a limo? What are you wearing? Wait… who are you going with?” you asked what you were suddenly dying to know. Joshua had never talked about girls that he liked, and faced with him asking someone out, made you feel a weird feeling.
“I was thinking about inviting you” he said and there was a silence that hung in the room.
“I-I would love to… but you know I can’t” you gestured around your room.
“Yeah, I figured” he trailed off.
“You know I would love to have gone with you… you know… as friends” you said and looked down at your math book once more.
“Right. Totally just as friends” Joshua nodded and looked back at his textbook once more. The air felt awkward and you wanted to say something to lighten the air between the two of you, but George arrived before you cold announcing that Joshua’s parents were here.
A few days later George woke you up with some news that you hadn’t been looking forward to hearing.
“Good morning. Tomorrow night, there will be a young man here to eat dinner with you and walk the grounds.”
“Huh?” you asked still half asleep as you sat up in bed and looked at George in confusion.
“A young Harvey Devon’s will be here tomorrow night for you date.”
“Was he one of the profiles-?” you began to ask not remembering this name.
“Yes, he was one that you had chosen. Even though you don’t remember. Glad he left such a good impression in your mind” George said. You knew there was a slim chance he was going to be happy with you settling for just anyone.
“Ugh” you sighed as you laid back down ready to pull the covers over your head but George caught them before you could hide.
“You said you would be open minded.” he reminded you.
“I take it back” you whined.
“No take backsies” he said and pulled the covers off of you. The chill of your room on your bare legs did nothing to lighten your mood.
“Up you get. It is time for math tutoring.” he said as you curled in a ball and ignored him as he left. From the hall, you heard him fall into a coughing fit again, but when you got out of bed and entered the hall to make sure he was alright he had gone and the coughing had stopped.
You walked down to have breakfast in the kitchen, knowing you would find George there cooking for you. You sat down at the dining table as he walked over with a plate of eggs in his hand and placed them in front of you, wearing his favorite apron.
“How about you take the day off, George?” you told him kindly.
“Why would I do that?” he asked getting back to the stove and cooking up more eggs.
“I heard you coughing. You should rest.” you told him knowing there was no point in hiding it.
“Well, now that you mention it, I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow, so if I could have tomorrow off that would be convenient”
“Do you need to even ask my permission to take a day off?” you asked, not really sure if you had a say over what George could or couldn’t do. It felt weird if he did have to ask you first. He was the one who made sure you followed the rules, after all.
“Technically, yes” he said bringing you over a glass of orange juice, never liking it when you drank coffee.
“Then I give you today and tomorrow off. Go get some rest” you said, getting up and walking to the coffee machine and making yourself a cup under the disapproving gaze of George.
The next night George walked into your room as you read a book.
“Why aren’t you dressed yet?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You have that date tonight with that, I don’t remember, Howard whatshisname” George said walking to your closet and looking through it. He took a few things out and placed them on the bed. Previously you had been wearing a t shirt and jeans, relaxing and reading, deciding this is what you wanted to wear on your date.
“We are just staying here, why do I have to dress up?” you asked as you looked over the dress George had pulled out for you that he was holding up.
“It is a four course meal on the veranda, silly. A plain shirt and jeans won’t do.” George said.
“Why?” you asked, exasperated, and placed a book mark in the novel you had been getting lost in.
“Again, that is just how things are done” George explained. As he began picking out some shoes to match for you.
“Fine. What time do I have to be downstairs?” you asked.
“Less than an hour” George said as he contemplated between two pairs of shoes and finally picked one, handing it to you. You took the pair of shoes and fell back onto your bed with a sigh.
You took your time getting ready and was downstairs after your date had arrived. You tried your best to remain open minded as you gave yourself a pep talk on the way down the stairs.
“Ah, there she is” George said standing in the foyer with Harvey who looked up at you and smiled a wide smile.
“Looking beautiful. Shall we?” he offered his arm to you to be escorted, (which reminded you of Joshua), and reluctantly you took it as he walked you out to the veranda. He pulled your chair out for you and you thanked him as he sat down across from you. You immediately felt very out of place and unnatural, not having anything to say.
Lucky for you, Harvey enjoyed talking about himself a lot, which saved you from having to do any talking at all. You sipped the glass of water in front of you, as Harvey dove into another story that revolved around himself.
“And now that happened when I started at Yale nearly two years ago. Did I mention Yale?”
“Oh, yes. You have” you said feigning interest as he continued to tell story after story about himself.
“I am in my third year now. Going to be a lawyer” he continued, raising his eyebrow thinking that he was impressing you.
“Yes. You mentioned that too” you said but he didn’t seem to notice that you had said anything at all. George had arrived with the main course, thank goodness, and you and he exchanged glances. He knew it was not going well at all, having been observing and listening in on everything.
“I must say this is a lovely night. Not as lovely as you though” Harvey said, paying you a compliment. He seemed to be under the impression that the night was going well.
“Thank you” you said but didn’t mean it.
“Perhaps we can have some dessert?” Harvey asked George as he refilled your drink.
“None for Ms. y/l/n. She is on a diet” George thought up this excuse on the fly, sparing you from this awful date continuing any longer.
“Good for you. I always say a woman should do her best to look her best. Got to stay in shape for your man. I like that.” you bit your tongue when he said this and took a deep breath calling on a higher power to give your patience with this fool.
“Couldn’t agree more so I am off the bed to get my beauty sleep” you said and sprang up from your chair, heading towards the house, not giving Harvey a proper good bye.
“I would like to do this again sometime” you heard him yell after you. You completely ignored this and headed straight for your room, knowing George would walk him out hastily.
A few minutes later, George came into your room and sat on the chair next to your bed.
“Well, that didn’t go how we were hoping” he said. You rolled your eyes.
“He was an ass.” you laughed and George smiled.
“Hardly talked about himself at all, didn’t he?” George asked making you laugh again.
“Where was it he went again? Harvard?” George continued.
“Ugh, if I heard one more story about Yale I was going to puke” you said as George began coughing hard into a kerchief once more. You waited until it had subsided before you addressed him.
“I gave you the day off remember? How did that doctors appointment go?” you asked not forgetting that he had been to the doctor.
“I took it easy today. The doctor was fine. Just a cold” he said not looking at you as he tucked his kerchief away.
“A four course meal is not taking it easy. What did the doctor say was causing you to cough?”
“I hate to ruin the mood, but you have another date in two days.” he added, avoiding the question you had given to him.
“Oh no, not with-” you started.
“Not with Howard, Hank, whateverhisnamewas. This is try number two. I believe his name is Porter”
“He sounds like a bottle of wine” you said not looking forward to this already.
“Open minded, remember?” George said as he walked out the door and let you get ready for bed.
Two days later you and Porter were walking around the grounds during the late afternoon. The conversation was pretty boring and generic, but at least it wasn’t one sided.
“I really enjoy your company. It is nice to find a girl that has a head on her shoulders” he said walking over and taking a seat on a bench under a tree. Coincidentally, it was the bench you had ran to on the night of the banquet. That night sitting with Joshua ran through your mind, but you hastily pushed it away.
“I think you are easy to talk to as well” you said meaning it.
“What do you say we get out of here?” he asked you sat down next to him.
“I’m not really allowed to leave”
“I know but you should live a little. You are with me, remember? There is a great party at a lake house with some of my buddies” he tried convincing you as he scooted closer.
“I am really not supposed to leave”
“It will be fine. Let’s just sneak some wine from the cellars. I bet you have some expensive wines in this house.” he said gazing up at the estate and around the grounds.
“I’m not old enough to drink wine”
“Neither am I, but that’s never stopped me before” he said rebelliously. If he thought this would impress you, he was so wrong.
“I mean, look at this place. You are totally loaded, so I can only imagine to booze you are hiding here. I bet this place cost a fortune” his motives suddenly became quite clear to you.
“I am actually getting tired, so perhaps you would like to get going to that party.” you stood up and began heading towards the house. This date had been another bust.
“If you say so. How lame” he said under his breath as he walked behind you and into the house. George met the two of you at the back door and began to say something when he saw the look on your face and the fact that you headed inside and straight to your room. This let him know something went wrong this night as well.
“Porter, nice of you to join us. Let me walk you out” George said as he walked your date to the door and closed it behind him.
“Let me know when you want to hit up a party with me” he shouted at you as you ascended the stairs. You waited for George at the top if the stairs. He had to stop halfway up and catch his breath, before continuing. You pretended not to notice, not in the mood to pry into George’s health tonight.
“What was wrong with that one?” he asked you as the two of you sat side by side on the top step allowing George to continue to catch his breath.
“He told me to steal some wine and sneak out”
“Another failure then” George said.
“Can I take a break from these dates for a bit? My birthday is in a few days and I would like to invite my friend over and just stay in for a night.”
“Of course. You have been trying your best, but the boys they sent seem to be-”
“Entitled pricks” you finished for him.
“Yes” he agreed, as you and he chuckled.
The morning of your birthday you woke up excitedly. Looking your phone you saw that you had a few text messages of people wishing you happy birthday. The two that stuck out for you were the one from your best friend who was coming over later that evening, and the one from Joshua. You texted those both thanks as your friend responded soon after.
“Good morning!” your door opened and your best friend entered surprising you.
“When did you even get here?” you asked as she ran over and gave you a hug, followed shortly by George.
“She arrived a little after 6 this morning. Very enthusiastic the entire time wanting to learn how to bake a cake and make breakfast. We have been chatting downstairs.” he said all this and leaned closer to you under the pretense of fluffing your pillows.
“Her mouth goes a mile a minute. I have no idea what she was saying half the time” George admitted to you in a small whisper so only you heard him. You chuckled but hid it from your friend by pretending to cough.
“We need to decide what to do tonight to celebrate! I have been so excited!” your friend said.
“Remember, I can’t leave the-”
“George said it is alright! Honestly! You can leave tonight! Let’s see a movie! Dinner! I’ll invite people.” she said pulling out her phone in excitement. You looked at George and smiled.
“Consider this my birthday present to you.” he said knowing it meant a lot to you. This was certainly not like him, but you weren’t going to argue.
“What about the-” you began to ask about what the Council would say, as George cut you off knowing what you were trying to hint at. Your friend was in the room, but luckily still on her phone.
“What they don’t know won’t hurt them” he whispered to you. You smiled and hugged him.
“There is that new chick flick out we have to see. And then off to whatever restaurant you want to go to. Is that sushi place still your favorite?” it seemed like she had really been looking forward to this. Obviously she had hoped today would be the day you would be able to have some free time. Outside of jail.
“Wherever is fine” you said truly happy being able to just be out of the house. George had left the two of you alone as she took a seat next to you on your bed and continued talking about what the day held for the two of you.
The rest of the day the two of you tanned on the lawn taking nonsense online quizzes. This was followed by heading inside to raid the fridge of sweets. Then you went upstairs to shower, change, and get ready for that evening. The movie started in an hour, so the two of you headed out deciding to get some ice cream before the movie.
“Ladies, have a good evening. Do be safe.” George said meeting you at the bottom of the stairs and walking you to the front door and opened it for you. Your friend and you thanked him as he fell into a coughing fit, which you had begun to ignore, since George ignored you when you asked about him being sick anyways.
“Is George alright? He was coughing all morning.” your friend asked when the door closed behind the two of you. She linked arms with you and began walking down the driveway dropping her voice and sounding concerned.
“He says he is just sick. He has developed a cough over the past six months, but he says it is due to his emphysema from smoking when he was younger. That last part might’ve just been a warning for us to not smoke.” you answered not worrying too much.
“Hell of a cough for just being sick” she said sounding skeptical and looking back at the house. You didn’t have an answer for this and tried to push it from your mind and not worry. However, you made a mental note to make sure George took it easy for a few days.
“I haven’t driven with you in years” you said realizing you hadn’t been in her car since the first few months she had first gotten it when you were back in school.
“Crazy! I didn’t think of that. I am a much better driver now I promise” she said unlocking it. You took a deep breath and got in.
She had lied about being a better driver.
“I am going to spill my ice cream if you keep swerving”. You said feeling slightly car sick.
“Maybe you should spill what the heck is up with Joshua” she said prodding for information.
“I don’t know what you mean” you said hesitantly. Thinking about it as you took a bite of ice cream, you hadn’t seen Joshua in a few days, which was a bit out of the ordinary.
“He hasn’t been his usual self at school” she filled you in.
“Perhaps he is just nervous about moving” you said, not being able to tell her what had transpired the last time you had seen him.
“He is moving?” she asked.
“Wait, he hasn’t told anyone? Forget I said anything” you added.
“No way! You have to tell me now”
“He keeps my secrets, so I keep his” you said zipping your lips, but unintentionally letting slip the fact that you kept secrets from your best friend.
“You don’t keep secrets from me” she laughed as you pulled into the movie theater.
The movie was fun but very long. You forgot what going to the movies was like. It was louder than you had remembered and you had to finish your ice cream in a hurry outside, not being able to take it inside. Not to mention, you had forgotten the floors seemed to be perpetually sticky, and it weirded you out. When the movie was over you and her walked out wondering what she had planned for the rest of the night.
“Where to now?” you asked as the two of you walked back to her car.
“Back to your place. George and I baked a cake this morning for you. There were supposed to be pancakes but they were burned.”
“Bet he loved that” you said sarcastically, but your friend didn’t pick up on it. George hated having people in his kitchen.
“He is the best baker. I learned so much” she said.
“He really should be resting...”
When you pulled up the driveway you were shocked to see a few cars there that hadn’t been there this morning. Initially this worried you, wondering if you had forgotten an event or something with the Council, until your friend suddenly looked over to you and smiled a wide smile, giving away the surprise.
When you walked in the house, all your old friends were there and very happy to see you. There were shouts of happy birthday and surprise as you entered. You began walking around and thanking everyone for being here.
“Happy birthday!”
“Nice house”
“Surprise!” was what the conversations started as. Everyone seemed happy to be there and was admiring your house. George stood close by ready to make sure drinks were filled, (and not spiked), and on hand if someone needed to know where the bathroom was.
“She baked with you?” you asked apprehensive as you walked over to George.
“Not to worry. I re-baked everything she touched. Although, the kitchen will never be the same, I’m afraid” you tried to hide your laugh as she walked over and hugged you followed by Joshua, who you were very happy to see.
“Happy birthday” he said hugging you, placing his hand lightly on your lower back like he had the night of the banquet and sending a chill up your spine.
“Thank you” you said as he handed you a small bouquet of your favorite flowers from behind his back.
“Oh! Joshua” you said and hugged him tighter a second time.
“Damn Joshua, making the rest of us look bad,” another boy said from across the room having seen what transpired. A few faces around the room looked at you two cheekily.
Joshua shrugged as the doorbell rang. George opened and received the pizza to resounding applause of the hungry friends around you.
“Where should we eat?” you asked people.
“Shall we head outside? It is a warm night” Joshua asked you.
“Perfect!” you said.
People began making their way outside still admiring the house as they went. George brought out some blankets for people to spread out and sit on. The pizza was gone in a flash and George and your best friend brought out their cake as people sang. Joshua covered your eyes until they had placed the cake on the blanket in front of you.
After cake people began lounging on the lawn or walking the grounds taking in the large house that you were living in. It was the perfect summer night to be having your birthday. The light breeze blew your hair slightly. Joshua and you were part of the group that was walking the grounds, but at your casual pace, it was soon just the two of you.
“Where have you been? You haven’t been over in ages.” you asked him.
“I had traveled to my new college, actually.”
“Without telling me?!” you were shocked he didn’t even say good bye or let you know he was going.
“I might have been feeling not myself,”
“How was it?” you asked curious as to what he was doing there and how everything went, wanting to move on from how he hurt your feelings. He filled you in excitedly on his soon to be dorm, along with other aspects of the college campus you felt was so far away from you. Seeing how excited he was made your forget that he had left without letting you know.
“Countdown time” you said knowing he would be leaving you soon.
“What is new with you?” he asked since he hadn’t talked to you in what seemed like quite a long time.
“I have gone on two dates” you told him, which was really the only new thing that had transpired since you hadn’t seen him.
“Two? So the first one went well and there was a second?” he asked not looking at you.
“Not exactly. Two different people. Two failures” you said and filled him in on the boys that you had given a chance. He listened intently, and his forehead crinkled the more you spoke about the dates.
“They sound awful” he said after you told him about the second date ending when he asked you to sneak out.
“They just weren’t for me” you said walking back to the group and sitting down on a blanket that everyone had gathered on.
“Joshua, play us something” someone said handing him a guitar they had brought.
“I have heard you play in forever” you said looking at him as he took the guitar and thought about which song he felt like playing.
“Something for the birthday girl?” he asked looking sideways at you and blushing, making you smile.
“Geez you two, get a room”
“I’m swooning” the guys in the group teased him and you as he strummed the first chords and began serenading you with one of your all-time favorite songs.
The rest of the night you couldn’t help by be captivated with Joshua playing guitar and singing. For once, you let your mind wander to what it would be like to actually be his wife and if anything would change between the two of you. That’s when the logical part of your brain snapped you out of it and you remembered he was moving. You couldn’t get in the way of that.
“What is up? Enjoying yourself?” your friend asked scooting over to sit closer to you noticing that you zoned out.
“Yes, sorry. Just sleepy. Thank you for doing this for me” you said looking around at your friends laughing and joking, just having a good time. It felt like nothing had changed since you moved.
“Well, maybe George will let us come over more now that he sees how well behaved we are, and now that he knows my name” she said making you laugh.
You went to bed that night after everyone had left very late, very happy, and very thankful.

Notes