Fishing Lesson
Diane opened the door to her closet. Fishing. There was no way on earth she would be able to dress for fishing. It has been so long since Diane wore jeans, she was not even sure she owned a pair. With a long sigh, Diane walked into her closet and riffled around, trying to find something she would not mind going outdoors in. As Diane picked out different contenders, she began to hear Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, and Calvin Klein's shouts of disapproval. She scoured her closet, when something caught her eye; a red, flannel, long sleeve shirt. Diane let out a laugh and pulled down the shirt. It was a joke from her brother a year ago, after he discovered who Diane's boyfriend was. She took off her pajama top and tried on the flannel shirt, somehow it fit well for a cheap, unflattering garment. At least no designer would feel betrayed. After another look, Diane pulled out a pair of dark jeans that still fit well. She changed into them and stood in front of the mirror, examining her attire. Diane let out a laugh and quickly took the flannel shirt off, replacing it with a comfortable turtle neck. She could compromise, but only to a certain point.
With her clothes on and forcing herself into a pair of shoes that do not have heels, Diane quickly put on some light make-up. She was excited for today, having the chance to catch up with Kurt. She had missed him for a long time now, but it was not until she was in his house, drinking a beer, being so close to him that Diane realized how much she wanted him back. Once they kissed, Diane knew this was not another fling. And once they headed upstairs to his bedroom, she was positive they would never be apart for that long ever again. That is, until he asked her to go fishing with him.
She left downstairs and packed her purse, bringing along a few snacks and other essentials. As she stuffed her purse to the max, Diane looked over and noticed her red heels by the couch, the ones she kicked off while in a deep embrace with Jack just last night. Diane picked up the heels and put them over by the steps, and then went back to packing. She had never planned for Jack to come back to her apartment, in fact she had intended to end everything that night. Somewhere between the wine and flirting, though, Diane lost herself. It had been so long since she had the chance to date not only one man, but two. Maybe it was the Australian accent. All she knew is at the beginning of the date, she was thinking about Kurt and by the end, it was Jack she was kissing and repeating "i don't hate you" over and over. Thankfully she was able to get Jack to leave by telling him she had to get up early the next morning. And, thankfully, being the gentleman he was, Jack promised to call her and left without questions.
The doorbell rang, bringing Diane back to the present. She looked up at the clock; five past eight. Diane grabbed her things and opened the front door, "hello."
"Hello," Kurt replied with a smile. Diane missed that smile so much. He had on a flannel shirt, much like the one she was tempted to wear, along with a pair of rundown jeans. Diane could not understand it, something that looked so terrible on her made Kurt look very attractive. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah," Diane nodded and left her apartment, shutting the door behind her, "do you know how long it's been since I've gone fishing?"
"I'm shocked to hear you've done this before," Kurt joked and her hand in his as they walked to the elevator. Diane looked down at his hand, smiling a bit. Maybe it was a bit childish, but Diane was not about to protest.
"I have...when I was about ten," Diane laughed and noticed Kurt laughed too, "my father took the whole family to a lake house. But that was before I was introduced to things that were actually fun."
"It couldn't have been so bad if you promised to this," Kurt pointed out as the elevator doors closed in front of them.
"The company is significantly better this time," Diane smirked.
Kurt further explained where exactly they were going once they reached his car. Once they were both in his truck, Kurt started the car and drove off. Diane looked at his backseat to see the fishing rods and other supplies. She sighed and put on her sunglasses, not saying a word. She was just thankful he did not take her hunting or to an anti-abortion debate. It was not long until Diane's phone went off. She pulled the object out of her purse and read David Lee's name on the screen.
"Sorry," Diane said, seeing Kurt's disapproval and then answered her cell, "David? What? I can't come in today...because I'm going out of town," Diane paused for a moment and sighed, "that can wait until Monday. Goodbye David." She hung up on him and put the phone away.
"So that's why you showed up," Kurt said as he drove.
"What?" she looked over at him.
"Work finally got to you," Kurt looked at her for a moment and quickly added, "I would like for us to be together, but if I'm nothing more than an escape and a fling-"
"Kurt," Diane shook her head, she knew she had to be truthful to him, "when I turned down your proposal, I made the right choice," it hurt for her to say it, but Diane knew she did nothing wrong, "I was fighting for my job and things are still crazy, but I never stopped missing you. I simply need to learn how to balance things better."
"Then what made you show up out of nowhere?" Kurt asked. Diane understood he was confused about it, she was too.
"I got stood up. I was sitting in a bar, listening to country music and drinking cheap wine," Diane smiled a bit, "and I thought of you."
"Somebody stood up Diane Lockhart?" Kurt laughed, "did you place a hit man on him yet?" Diane thought back to last night, how she was listening to one of Jack's crazy work stories and then leaned in and kissed him.
"Not yet, I'm working on it," she cleared her throat and looked out the window. Kurt leaned over and turned on the radio, putting a country station on. Diane leaned back and laughed heartily.
Slowly, they made their way out of the city and civilization to the country. It took them about half an hour and only two more phone calls from work before the couple arrived to Horsetail Lake. At first sight, Diane thought it was breathtaking. She had imagined the place to be a rundown, little lake. But instead, as she got out of the car, Diane saw why Kurt enjoyed coming here; the sun shimmering across the blue water, the sound of wind hitting the trees and ducks swimming by in packs. It was beautiful. Kurt handed a few things to Diane and then they left to rent a boat. The place was also a bit bizarre to Diane as she looked around and waited for Kurt. She had been stuck in her city bubble to the point that nature was unnatural. The only time she saw trees is when they were outside of the office, surrounded by concrete and cars. It was all becoming a bit like 1984.
"Diane?" Kurt gained her attention and she turned to face him, "you coming?"
"I'm coming," Diane repeated and walked down to the dock with him. Each of the boats are pretty much what she expected; only enough space for three or four people with a small motor and a large possibility of her falling out. Thankfully, Kurt stepped into the boat first and held out his hand, helping her into it. As she sat down, though, Diane only worried about getting out. She was wearing Elie Tahari for god's sake! Kurt started the motor and they soon left the dock, out to the middle of the lake. Diane continued to look around at the sights once again while the wind whipped her hair around. As she watched the trees and other boats go zooming past, her eyes landed on Kurt. He was looking past her, seeing where they were heading. Diane could not believe how relaxed he look, without a care in the world; she envied that. It was always something she had envied from the moment he stepped into her office over a year ago. The way he could simply look cool and comfortable in any situation. Even last week when she showed up at his place, there was no panic or anger. As Diane continued to watch him, thinking about last week, she began to crave his lips again.
It felt like a long time until Kurt cut down on the motor and they slowly came to a halt. Diane took off her sunglasses and smiled towards him, "I have to admit, this place is serene. I'm actually starting to enjoy it."
Kurt gave her a nod and set up the fishing rods for him. Diane watched him bait the first one and knew she could have done it herself, but she figured it was okay to let him be the man...and she did not need any part of that worm near her expensive top. As Kurt handed her the fishing rod, she examined it for only a moment and then casted it out to the lake.
"And you haven't gone fishing in how long?" Kurt laughed and followed her example.
"What did you expect? It's not that difficult," Diane replied. They sat in silence for a while, taking in the atmosphere. Kurt took out a beer for them both and opened them.
"Are we allowed to drink here?" Diane asked as she took the bottle from him.
"Are you going to sue me?" he asked and clinked glasses with her, then took a swig of the drink.
"Did you see anybody after we broke up?" she asked, knowing it was an abrupt question.
"Yep," he nodded without adding any further explanation. Diane was shocked to hear him, and a bit hurt. But since she was currently seeing someone else at the moment, it was not her place to judge.
"Was she as great of a fisherman as me?" Diane asked, before taking another sip of her beer.
"I never took her fishing," Kurt replied, although Diane was hoping for a bit more than that. "She was a friend of a friend," he shrugged, "a good cook though..."
"So she was boring?" Diane asked.
"Absolutely," Kurt laughed, "I was beginning to miss hearing you rave about Obama."
"Are you telling me you're starting to warm up to him?"
"No, I missed hearing your voice." At that moment Diane was ready to toss her cell phone into the lake and take Kurt right there. She probably would have too, but there were still a few more things she was curious about.
"When Miranda answered the door the other day...," Diane let out a laugh, "I thought she was your daughter," she looked at Kurt to see what he thought. He let out a chuckle and looked out at the lake
"Natasha," he replied and Diane looked at him confused.
"I thought her name was Miranda..."
"It is, my daughter's name is Natasha," now Kurt looked at Diane to see what her response would be.
"You never told me you had a daughter," Diane quickly said, almost chocking on her drink.
"You never asked," Kurt shrugged.
"That is the worse excuse I have ever heard," Diane rolled her eyes, "what does she do?"
"She's a student, a law student," Kurt explained, "she's in New York right now."
"And you never thought I would be interested in this?" Diane was almost stunned as he further explained. "Does she know about me?"
"I talked about you a few times," Kurt stopped and smiled when he realized something, "are you worried about getting her approval?"
"Absolutely not," Diane shook her head, but new that was a lie, "a little, yes."
"She'll like you, I promise."
"You can't know that," Diane quickly replied. Kurt did not say another word on the subject. They went back to silence. Diane watched her fishing poll, waiting to see if anything would happen, but nothing did. She let her mind wonder and thought about Jack. He said he would call her, and Diane decided that when he did, she would end it. No more being stood up or going on secret dates. And no more of him apologizing and asking if she hated him. There was nothing wrong with Jack, she had enjoyed their time together the previous night, but with Kurt back in her life there was no comparison. Kurt had something that Jack lacked, although Diane was not really sure what that was just yet. But it did not matter; Diane was not the type to play the field like this. She knew when something was right and wrong, and seeing Jack on the side was wrong. As she was thinking about a plan to let Jack down, her phone rang. She picked it up without looking at who was calling, figuring it was another co-worker complaining about Will or something, "Hello?"
"Diane?" the sound of Jack's voice came from the other end and Diane almost fell off the boat when she recognized who is was.
"H-hi...," Diane did not know what to say or how to react to this.
"I was wondering what you were doing tonight?" Jack asked, "I know a great restaurant. Or we can go to that art show."
"Could we talk about this later, I'm actually out of town right now. I-I'll call you tomorrow?"
"Sure," Diane could hear he was not happy about it, "by the way...last night-"
"Yeah, okay," Diane needed to end this conversation quickly, "it was a lot of fun. I'll call you later, bye." She hung up and fumbled putting her phone away.
"Who was that?" Kurt asked. It was a simple question, but Diane was too nervous to answer it.
"Oh, um, nobody...the guy that stood me up," Diane shrugged.
"So the hit man didn't get to him yet?" Kurt laughed. Cool and calm, Diane felt that aching urge to kiss him again.
"He wants me to have dinner with him again," she thought about what she just said and realized how unsure she still was about the situation "but he's not really my type."
"As in he's exactly like you?" Kurt asked, still being lighthearted about the subject.
"He served me."
"What do you mean, he's a waiter?"
"No, no," Diane laughed and shook her head, "served me legal documents...when I was sued."
"And that was attractive?" Kurt asked.
"He actually reminds me of you," Diane smiled, seeing Kurt disapprove of the comparison, "strong, down to earth, manly man. But he doesn't need a gun to protect himself."
"It's such a low job," Kurt pointed out, "even if they're only the messenger. I remember the guy that served me."
"When were you sued?"
"You were my lawyer, I would think you'd remember," Kurt laughed and continued with his story, "anyway, he showed up at my house the day I got back from Florida. I had jetlag and just about to fall asleep, when suddenly this guy is ramming on my door just to hand me the envelope and tells me I'm being sued. I remember him pretty well, had an accent of some kind...Australian I think."
"At least you thought of me when it happened," Diane laughed, getting the conversation away from the fact that Jack was the guy that served Kurt. She did not need to go there at this point.
"I couldn't think of anyone better for the job," when he said it Diane knew he was being honest.
She looked at Kurt, locking eyes with him. Diane could not wait any longer and moved closer, pressing Kurt's lips against her own. It was then Diane realized what Kurt had that Jack lacked in: chemistry. That something that made Diane want Kurt so badly, even if they were sitting in the middle of a pond, drinking beers and hardly saying a word to one another. Diane did not want to leave his side again. He had some force over her that made everything seem brighter, even work was more tolerable. As she went in for a second kiss, her fishing rod began to go crazy.
She quickly grabbed hold of it and reeled in her catch, which was not an easy task. Kurt ended up having to put his hand over top of hers and help. A rather large bass appeared out of the water, struggling to get away. Water splashed over the two of them, even getting onto Diane's top, but she did not protest.
"Not too bad," Kurt said as he brought the fish closer to them and began to unhook it. If the fish came any closer, Diane knew the whole romantic atmosphere was going to be killed. He unhooked the fish and let it back into the water.
"Wait, you mean I don't even get to keep it?" Diane asked, confused.
"It wasn't big enough," Kurt said as he started to rebait her rod. Diane stopped him and shook her head.
"No, that's enough of this for one day," she laughed and pulled him into another kiss.