Chapter 13

By the time I made it to the diner, it was packed and full of chitter-chatter. I straightened myself out, brushed my coat with my hands and attained a good posture. I stood on my toes for a second to peer above everyone's heads in search of Warrick. I pursed my lips and rubbed my chin… must be further in the diner.

I started making my way further into the diner, scraping by and dodging waiters along the way. Occasionally, a customer would step on my foot with a grunt, or a "move it, buddy."

"Yeah, stop talking in third person, why dontcha?" I'd smoothly call back. I was in way too good of a mood for anything to swipe the smile off my face. I needed to talk to someone who wasn't horribly flustered at the moment, who could think straight, who would understand me. If you thought Nick or Catherine, where have you been?

"Warrick!" I grinned and waved across the crowd when I spotted him. Warrick looked up from his shake and tried to follow the direction of my call, finally finding me and raising a hand in acknowledgement. I pushed through the crowd, with "excuse me"s and "pardon me"s along the way. Warrick had snagged a lovely table next to the window, where the gang used to sit in the old days. Those were the times…

"I ordered a shake for you, it should be on its way," he said calmly as I squeezed through the last bit of crowd and plopped on the cushioned bench, "Have fun getting here?"

"Oh, more than you know…" I started taking my coat off, "What flavor?"

"Vanilla."

"Ooh, my favorite…" even if Warrick had gotten me a flavor I despised, it would have been my favorite. Or… maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but I would have appreciated the motion just as much.

"So, you wanted to talk…?"

"Yeah! Today has been some wild ride."

"Tell me about it. I'm sorry what they've put you through, Greg. Real sorry. I should have told you about it sooner –"

"What? Nick and Catherine? That's old news!" the waiter came by and placed my shake in front of me. I nodded at him in gratitude and popped a straw in. Warrick was giving me quite the bewildered look.

"… old… news?"

"Ho yeah! I mean, yeah I'm mad at them, but something bigger has happened since then!" I energetically sucked the life out of my shake. Mmm… sweet, luscious goodness, "God, can't remember the last time I had one of these –"

"Did something bad happen, Greg?" I raised my gaze to meet Warrick's face; he still looked worried. I don't think my overjoyed feeling was getting through to him.

"No! Oh, no no no no nooo! Haha…" I twirled my glass around, the inner kid inside me shining out a little, "Something great happened… something phenomenal!" My grin grew wider as Warrick started to relax in his seat. He leaned forward, elbows on the table, and prepared himself to listen intently.

"What is this… phenomenal thing?"

"…" I started stirring my shake, my eyes now focusing on the swirling, bright red cherry in it. I replied shyly, "… you wouldn't believe me…"

"Oh, come on, Greg. You call me here to talk, and I'm ready to listen. Lay it on me…" he bent the straw to his lips and started drinking. I tightened the corners of my lips in a smirk of sorts and raised my gaze again.

"… Sara called me."

Warrick must've sucked too hard, because I saw his facial expression change dramatically from at ease, to surprised, to pain, then to regret. I watched him with the same happy look on my face. I bet he thinks I've become insane, too.

"… Sara called?" he asked, after recovering, a hand raised to his brow. I nodded, with my big, goofy grin on my face.

"Yessir!"

"… you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure! Can't be another trick from Nick and Catherine. I mean, it was Sara's voice after all."

"Doesn't mean it can't be faked –"

"Pffft… pish posh, my man, pish posh!" I laughed. Even Warrick's attempts to make me doubt myself, to bring my mood down to realize a distasteful possibility, weren't working. Once I figured out my attempts to make Warrick laugh with me -- to see how happy I was right now -- wasn't working, I stopped laughing, "… I'm not joking."

"And neither am I. Someone could just as easily reproduce a sound-alike."

" I seriously don't think that's the case –"

"What did you guys talk about?"

"… we didn't talk."

"So she didn't call?"

"Well, I… no." I pursed my lips, becoming a little embarrassed in front of Warrick for some reason. I don't think I was holding up my side of the argument too well, "She left a message."

"Then…?"

"Look, it was her. I know Sara when I hear her."

"How can you be so sure?"

"She gave me her number."

"… she what?" I got Warrick to raise a brow. He's breaking, I can feel it. Believe me, Warrick! If you don't, I don't think anyone else will.

"She gave me her number," I repeated. Warrick leaned back in his seat and took another sip.

"…what's her number?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"Hey, calm down! I wrote it down."

"Well, let's see it then."

"I can't here…" I felt my face reddening. Boy, was I making a fool of myself…

"And why not?"

"I just can't…" I shifted my eyes. Please don't make me feel anymore of an idiot, Warrick.

"Look, Greg, it's a busy and loud day. It's not like anyone would want to listen to a couple guys like us talk about your long day. Even if it were empty, no one would care."

"That's not it, Warrick…"

"Then what?"

"I, uh… wrote the number down in my apartment."

"Did you call it back?"

"No…"

"And you didn't bring it here with you…"

"Haha, that would be pretty hard to do!" I leaned back in my seat, slouching a little as I stirred my shake again, muttering in an undertone, "Especially since I wrote it on the wall…"

Warrick must have miracle ears, because on his face must've been the widest grin I've seen him do in days. No, weeks. He gave a slight chuckle, and I couldn't help but join in.

"Think we should head back to your apartment and give this number a call?" he finally managed to say, running his thumb against the bottom of his nose for a second.

"Yeah, we should… but first!" I caught Warrick by surprise with my change of tone. I smirked again, I really shouldn't be prodding into this subject, but I just had to know, "How's Nick and Cath at the lab?"

"Nick and Cath? Well, besides being out of breath, when Nick reappeared in the lab he looked pretty down in the dumps. He had a little talk with Catherine. I didn't want to pull the whole 'I told you so' act then, it was pretty evident that they regretted what they did. After the talk, it was real clear that he made Cath feel worse. Only problem is that Nick looked pretty pissed, too."

"Hm. Wonder why…" What started as a chuckle turned into psychotic laughter, bringing Warrick's worried face back, with hints of discomfort. Problem was, I couldn't stop laughing. You'd think it'd stop when we left the diner, but no. Warrick was lucky he didn't have to drive to my place with me, otherwise he might've socked me in the face to get me to stop laughing.