Chapter 6: Ready

I can't believe he asked me out. This is still blowing me away three hours after he asked me. Wow. Adrian Monk asked me out. And I'm actually happy about it. That's certainly something I never expected when I started this job.

Oh, crap. Was that the door? I'm not ready! I spent so much time in shock over Adrian asking me out that I didn't even change my clothes.

"Hold on! I'll be there in a minute!" I yell to the door. Adrian will understand. He takes longer than the average woman getting ready to go somewhere.

But wait. He's different now. It's not going to take him 20 minutes to tie his shoes anymore. (What? The man had to have the knots perfect.)

Oh my God, what am I going to wear? I don't want to show too much skin, because I know Adrian doesn't like that kind of thing. But I don't want to look like I do everyday. If only I had...There it is! The perfect little black dress for tonight.

Now, some earrings and I'll be ready to go. There. Perfect. Let's just hope that Adrian doesn't think I've changed my mind.

Hold on, hold on. Geez, you'd think he'd get the hint and stop knocking. Okay, here goes nothing.

Hello, A-Captain Stottlemeyer, what are you doing here?" Dammit, I spent all that time flipping out and it was only the captain. I hope Adrian gets here soon.

"Hi, Sharona," he says, raising an eyebrow at me. "Going somewhere?"

Hoo boy. This should be fun. "Uh, yeah. I was going ... out with someone." That was swift. Like he didn't assume that already.

Now he's raising his eyebrow even higher. Damn.

"I kind of gathered that already. I came by to see if you knew where Monk was. There's a case I want him to take a look at, and he's not answering his phone. Have you seen him?"

Double damn. I'm going to have to tell him something. Aw, hell, I may as well tell him what we're doing. He's bound to find out anyway. "Yeah, I've seen him. He's the person I'm going out with tonight."

"You don't say," he says dryly. God, does he have to be like that? "You look awfully dressed up to just meet up with a friend." He's going to make me tell him the whole story, isn't he?

"Yeah, well, it's sort of a date."

"Oh, really? Never saw that one coming." I am going to wipe that smug little smirk off his face.

"Captain, if you don't mind, Adrian's due any minute, and I don't think he's expecting to see you here."

"Right, right. You don't want anything ruining your 'special evening,'" he responds, putting "special evening" in those stupid air quotes.

"Yes, so I suggest leaving before he gets here," I say, pushing him towards the door. God, if Adrian shows up and the captain's still here, we'll never get out of here, and I'll have rushed to get ready just to sit here and listen to Adrian stutter awkwardly, trying to explain our situation to the captain. Although now that he's better, maybe he'll be suave. Nah, that'll never happen.

Great, now the captain's giving me that look again. "What?" I ask him, a little annoyed. If Adrian and I want to go out on a date, that's no one's business but our own.

Crap, I'm too late – Adrian's here. Now we'll never get out of here. "Captain, could you please leave? We have a reservation, and I don't want to be late."

"Since when do you care about being late?" Oh my God, I am seriously going to slap this man.

"Alright, Captain, I've been nice long enough," I announce, pushing him toward the door. "Out! Now!"

He stumbles to his car, and that's when I see that Adrian was watching the entire exchange. He starts walking to the house. Wow, he looks fantastic. He put on a nice suit and everything.

"Hi, Sharona," he says quietly. "Um, these are for you." With that, he pulls out from behind him the most beautiful and perfect bouquet of orchids I have ever seen.

"Adrian, these are gorgeous," I gasp. I can't even believe him! Could he be any cuter? "Come in. I'll go put these in a vase and we can go to the restaurant."

"Sharona, about that..." Oh, please don't say you've changed your mind. And I was looking forward to going out and showing him off to everyone. It would've been like, 'Look, Adrian Monk, the famous detective, is better, and he chose me to go on his first date with.'

Suddenly, Adrian's lifting my chin. I didn't realize I had been looking at the floor. "Can we just have dinner here? I-I don't think I'm ready to go out in public and ... have fun."

I was wrong before – he CAN be cuter. "Adrian, is that all. Of course I'm fine with that. Does that mean the play is off, too?"

"We could," he shrugs, "watch a movie or something here."

Okay, calm down, Sharona. Just because we're staying here where we'll be completely alone in a darkened room with a couch means nothing. He is absolutely NOT the kind of man to make a move that soon, anyways.

So why am I wishing that he was?

"Sharona." Damn, I have to stop spacing out so much. Pretty soon, someone's going to have ME committed. "I can order out from the restaurant you made our reservation at if you want."

"That sounds great! It's La Terraza, over on Pine."

"Oh." He sounds disappointed. Maybe I should have made a reservation somewhere else.

"Is there a problem with that restaurant, Adrian? I've never been there myself and I heard it was nice."

"No, there's nothing wrong with the restaurant. It sounds nice, and I just thought that if it's such a nice place, we should go. I mean, it would be a shame if people didn't see you looking so beautiful."

Oh my God, is he blushing? Who am I kidding – I'M blushing. The man is beyond adorable. "Yeah, well then I'd have to worry about all the women trying to steal my handsome date."

He picks up my hand and gives me a serious look. "I won't even be tempted when I have the most beautiful woman in the city."

"In that case, let's go, Mr. Monk."

As the door shuts behind us, he slips an arm around my waist and leads me to his car. Yes, nothing at all could ruin this night. Nothing at all.