Chapter 5 – Not Exactly how I Planned It
The rest of my day passed uneventfully. I tried chatting to the butler while he made me a cheese sandwich for lunch but...let’s just say he wasn’t overly talkative. Then again what can I say – birds of a feather flock together – he and Eric were obviously made to share a house.
At approximately 7:30 I called a cab to take me to the restaurant Italiano. I hadn’t honestly thought Eric would go there straight from work – whatever he did for work – but evidently I was wrong. I arrived at the restaurant to find him already waiting for me even though I was still two minutes early. Obviously a very punctual person then. Maybe a little too punctual for my liking.
He saw me standing in the window and beckoned for me to come in and smiled at me – the first genuine smile I’d seen from him. I returned the smile and walked towards the door but as I did so, several things happened. I saw a brick flying through the air towards the restaurant window and a car with the registration number EV11 MAN driving away. I quickly shot out my hand to stop the brick but only managed to soften the blow, and the window instead of smashing, merely cracked. I stood there in shock for a few seconds, my brain unable to register what had just happened. I was completely and utterly perplexed and when I next came fully to my senses, I realised Eric was standing beside me, looking down at me with a concerned expression upon his face. I stared up at him still a little bemused.
“I don’t understand what just happened,” I whispered in a small voice.
“Neither do I,” he murmured distractedly, “neither do I.”
A few seconds later, the police and some ambulances turned up. Clearly someone had had more sense than the rest of us and had called for them. While some police went over to the window to inspect the damage done, Eric took me over to some of the ambulance staff.
“Umm...excuse me,” he said to one of them. They looked up and smiled at him.
“If you want to know what happened here, you would probably be better off talking to one of them,” the paramedic said jerking his thumb in the direction of one of the policemen.
“Actually I was here at the time of the accident. I was just wondering if you could maybe look over my friend here. She put her am in the way of the brick and it looks quite swollen.” I waited there patiently while the man poked and prodded at my arm.
“Does that hurt at all Miss?” the paramedic asked when he was done with his inspection.
“Hurt? I can’t feel a thing,” I replied. The paramedic, obviously thinking I was being sarcastic, smiled at me and started to walk back to his ambulance. I was being serious though, I honestly couldn’t feel a thing. I don’t know about you but I certainly did not think that was normal.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” Eric asked me as I turned back towards the main street.
“Of course,” I smiled at him, though my arm was still completely void of all feeling. “Never been better. I suppose I should get a cab back to yours then – unless you want to wait here a couple of weeks for the restaurant to reopen, I guess our meal’s off.”
“Don’t be ridiculous – my chauffeur will drive us home.” I raised my eyebrows at him.
“What?” he enquired evidently confused.
“You have a chauffeur too?” Now I really have seen everything.
“I’m guessing you met the butler, Jonathon then?”
“Oh, so the robot servant has a name then?” I commented rather sarcastically.
“Robot?” Now it was his turn to raise his eyebrows.
“Well he doesn’t speak very much does he?”
“Neither do I,” Eric pointed out. “And he’s good at his job.”
“Really? I swear butlers are supposed to install some order in a house and your house is a tip.”
“Well he keeps his mouth shut. Something you should try doing occasionally.” That shut me up. That shut me up quickly. I got quietly into his car and was silent for the rest of the journey. The journey seemed to take forever and I was relieved when we finally pulled up outside the house. I got out of the car and walked up the drive, Eric right behind me. When I reached the door, I stood aside to let him open the door – I didn’t have a key.
“I’m sorry if I offended you back there. Do you want Jon to make you something to eat?”
“No I’m quite alright thanks. It’s been a long day – I think I’ll go to bed.”
“Ok then, if you’re sure. I am sorry though – tonight didn’t go exactly as I planned.”
