As Hal sinks into the hard wooden chair, he hides behind the overly large menu and reads the line "Chef's soup of the day" several times over in his head, unable to block out his rambling date across from him.
Her name is Cindy.
Cindy isn't unpleasant, not at all. She is pretty but wears too much make-up. She has nice long hair but her natural dark roots sprout out of the top of the blonde hair like a wet thatched roof. She is smart, runs her own company, but pretends not to be. Why? beats him. She is really chatty but Hal finds her incredibly boring.
Cindy has spent the last 15 minutes talking about how much she wanted buy a new puppy even although they have to grow bigger... so to say the least, Hal was regretting stepping back into the game.
Hal is able to smile and nod as Cindy babbles on, but is still extremely thankful when the main courses arrives. Less conversation needed and less time until he can pay and leave.
As he chokes down the food and tries not to make too much eye contact with Cindy, he glances around the room to see if there are any other poor guys like him in tonight, trapped in a awkward situation with an awkward girl for two hours, then having to paying for the fun of , only him. He was the only miserable person in the whole place. The restaurant is full of loved up couples. There is one proposal to his side, a birthday up back and then the sudden feeling of recognition hit's him as he stares in the direction of a couple across from their table.
Nearly choking on his last mouthful of steak, Hal's spits the name "Derek?" under his breath.
Shocked at Hal's random outrage, Cindy quietly asks "Who's Derek, sweetie?" Hal completely ignores her and turns to face the man and barks "DEREK?" loud enough for the dark haired man and his date to hear.
They both turn in alarm and Derek asks "Do I know you?"
Hal answers the question with another "Aren't you supposed to be on a date with someone else tonight?"
"I don't know what your talking about."
Hal stands up and clocks the rings on their fingers, which makes him clam up slightly suddenly feeling shit for the woman opposite Derek, but is determined to be stern "Uh...where's Diana?!"
Derek stands up and Hal realizes that he was taller than he thought. Derek states "I don't know who you are talking about." and gestures apologetically to the woman sitting down.
"Oh shut the fuck up man, how many tall, tanned, dark haired beauties do you hang around with in your spare time? Diana Prince."
The whole room is silent as they look on in shock. Both men's dates look mortified and the short red head wearing a wedding ring stands up to calm the situation. Which is successful for the wrong reasons as Hal practically leaps back into his chair when he notices her place her hand on a small bump at her front.
Slightly out of breath Hal says "You're an A-class scumbag man."
In response Derek innocently says "I think you should leave me and my wife to enjoy our dinner, perhaps you have had too much too drink."
Which Hal follows with a left hook to the side of Derek's face. Derek tumbles to the ground over a nearby table, knocking over everything in his path.
"Excuse me, I'm very sorry for you to have to find out like this mam' but your husband has been dating another woman behind your back."
To which Derek screams "He's lying baby!"
The woman's face turns white as the waiters try to conceal the mess they have made and ask Hal to leave.
As Hal turns to leave Derek stands and whispers, "Diana wasn't worth this hassle, she never even put out."
Hal can feel his whole body heat like a furnace. He bounces forward, pushes the bastard away from his table, knocking chairs as he goes. Hal curls his hand into another fist and aims for Derek's nose, so hard that Hal will feel it after the adrenaline wears off. The punch lands right on the bridge of Derek's nose making blood splatters into the air. In this moment Hal could do some damage, he could easily beat the the man half to death for the one small sentence that just came out of his asshole mouth.
Hal steps forward and pulls Derek from the ground almost tearing his shirt collar, the rasp from the ripping material and metallic smell from the starlet blood pouring from the man's nose, bring's him to his senses, he lets go, aware that a of group of waiters are about to intervene.
He complies as they push him out of the restaurant. He still manages to flash the pregnant red head an apologetic look and then drops enough cash in front of Cindy for her to pay the bill and get a cab. He smirks as he is shoved out the door because he can hear the red head begin to scream at her husband.
Hal hails a cab and opens the door.
Just as he is about to step into the car, someone grabs his arm. It was the pregnant woman. To which Hal curses in his head "Shit, she's crying."
She sniffles "What's your name?"
"Hal."
"I'm Sally, the stupidest woman alive."
"No you aren't, your just married to the stupidest guy alive."
Hal steps away from the cab just as the rain starts.
"You'll get wet, have this cab and go home Sally... on me, where do you live?"
She refuses but Hal insists.
She tells him her address and he passes it on to the driver along with the cab fare. Sally switches sides with Hal and smiles gratefully.
Just as Hal turns to walk away, Sally calls after him "Hal, how do you know her... Diana?"
Hal turns towards her and stutters "She's... she's my friend."
"I wish Derek was that passionate about my dignity. Go find her and tell her that you love her, Hal."
There's a silence but with a giggle and state of realization Hal tells her "I will... if you take care of yourself and find a guy willing fight for a pretty girl like you."
They smile at each other and go their separate ways.
Hal walks a few blocks in the rain, blaming himself for Diana's pain. He is in mental argument with himself about calling Diana, until his phone rings.
It's her.
"Hey Di, why did ya call me? Are you okay? I'll get a cab... oh wait I could fly."
A/N - Please review, do you like it? what do I need to work on?
Until next time, cheers!