Chris' farewell / Jessica

On Friday morning I had the sentence matter for Genie. Her own one was going to be an adj and she had offered to take it back, but I had done the work and now wanted to get the credit for it.

So I went over to court with her and Alanna, and I found myself being kinda quiet as I was thinking about how court would go.

We were all in different courtrooms, and in mine, I ended up going first! When they brought the person up into the dock, I saw an old grandma looking lady and thought "goddamn I am going to look so bad cross-examining her".

Luckily everyone had left the courtroom when mine started, although I knew Genie and the cop were at the back watching. I did ask a few questions in xx, but not to sure if it was enough to create in the judge's mind that  it was worse than the other side made it out to be.

He asked me some questions and I was kinda scared in case I said something stupid. Hell, even when I was on my feet xx, I felt a shiver and felt for a split second I wished I could crawl into a hole so I wasn't the center of attention.

I think I got through it alright, and was quite relieved when it finished. In fact, I was over the moon I had just done it A-OK. The downside to that was now I didn't feel like doing any work for the rest of the day, lol.

We got back to the office at noon, in time to make yum cha for Chris' farewell. Genie didn't want to go, citing the reason as she didn't like yum cha, but I wondered what the real reason was. Does she and Melissa not like Chris?

Anyway, I just missed the group as they left, and caught up with them in the street. I quietly assimilated myself next to Clare and we walked to the restaurant together. We went to Zilver, and when we were finally given a table, I found a seat first in the deepest corner. Anne sat to my left and Clare sat to my right, and next to her were Chris and Nunjo.

I didn't say much, just talked to Anne occasionally and told Clare a Chris Rock joke (the focus in a relationship is 'her'). Other than that, I spent my time observing. I observed Ogre a bit. She seemed to have this quietly sly evil grin on her face as she watched others. I think she was quiet because there was no one she could talk to (Jacqueline and Fiona were next to her). I did say to Clare I still hadn't figured her out yet because she can be really kind (like when she gave Nelson the pizza) or really cruel like when I saw her go off at the court registry staff on Thursday.

We went back to work after the lunch, and I just answered some emails and phone calls before it was the 3pm afternoon tea for Chris. Moira had baked some small cakes for us, and I was bored so I watched as she finished preparing them in the kitchen, and she was like "don't hover" lol.

When everyone gathered, I took a seat at the back of the parabay, hidden by the large shelf in the middle. I watched as Nunjo presented the present to Chris and then shortly thereafter said "ok, back to work" and she just walked back to her room. I thought that was a bit rude and cold. Chris actually cried a bit because she was so sad to leave.

Then Mario blurted out that it was Steve's birthday as well, and he tried to deflect attention and remarked there was nothing good about being 37.

37? Hell, I hope I look that good when I'm 37.

When we all dispersed, Mary remarked that Nunjo didn't even give Chris a hug. Nunjo said she wasn't that type of person. I thought she was kinda a lot like me - maybe she wasn't hugged as a kid either. She seems to avoid emotional scenes, and isn't very touchy.

I messaged Chris about Steve, and she asked if I was going to drinks later. I had to say no because I was meeting Jessica for dinner. Also, Ele had invited me to a group dinner but I had to turn that down too.

Anyway, I went home at 5ish and then drove off to Parra. Despite the traffic, I made it there right on time. I didn't want to park in the shopping centre because I wasn't sure what time they closed and the last thing I wanted was to have my car locked in there. So I parked on a street nearby, and because I didn't have a credit card or coins on me, I couldn't buy a ticket (why don't machines take notes???)

I said I'd meet her at the cinema so I made my way there, feeling unusually calm. I looked around the cinema area and checked out the movies listed, noting Dark Shadows. Then I stood around waiting.

She called me and said she was walking there now. I looked around and couldn't see her. I did see a girl on a phone walking towards me, but didn't think it was her. She then said she thinks she sees me - oh my god that was her! As I approached, I realised she looked so much different from what I expected. From the photo she'd shown me, she looked taller than me, big boned and big eyes. In front of me was a girl maybe an inch shorter than me, thin and small eyes (I noticed she was wearing grey/blue contact lenses).

I said nice to meet you, and she asked how long we'd been chatting for and we agreed it was some months. We then started walking off trying to decide where to eat. I decided to leave it up to her, and she seemed fairly easy about it, and we decided to walk off to Church St to see what was there.

As we walked, I revealed that I hadn't bought a ticket, and she was like, shouldn't I be law abiding because of my job. Then at the lights I asked if she wanted to jay-walk and she brought that point up again, lol.

When we reached the street she said she wanted to try the Thai restaurant, and I knew which one she meant. I had been there for lunch before. I can't remember with who. I told her I used to work in Parra.

We looked at the menu and went in. I let her sit on the bench side, even though I really didn't like sitting on these low isolated seats. When she ordered a lemonade, I kinda looked at her and thought "hmm, she could be the one". We decided on what to eat (she pointed out one of our dishes was kinda raw, I offered to try it and she said that would be food poisoning and didn't let me, and had the waitress take it back) and she asked me about my work, and I asked her about her work. I had said earlier that she had a lot of luggage, and she said it was her laptop as she was taking work home.

We had some laughs, but mainly just asked each other questions and talked about our work. I felt like it was easy to get along with her, and I hoped she felt the same way. I noticed later on in the night, whenever I was talking and making gestures with my right hand, she would look at it as I waved it around. Hmmm.

When we finished eating and I could sense she wanted to leave, I asked if we should finish up and she said yes. I asked for the bill and could sense her fiddling with her handbag. I was hoping the waitress would give me the bill, and she did. I took it and checked the amount without letting her see it, put some money in it and gave it back to the waitress. She protested a bit but I basically said it was ok and ignored the rest of her protestations.

I asked if she had to go home and she said yes. I was hoping we could get something chocolatey from across the road. I said I'd walk her to the station and she said it was ok but I insisted. We talked about these people on the street handing out pamphlets and she said she never gets it, then some guy approached us, and she said it must be me who attracts them lol.

She again noted how my car was in a different direction and I said "the world is round", She took me up on that and asked what that was supposed to mean. I said in theory it meant if I kept walking straight I'd end up back here. She argued that I wouldn't, and I said "I just want to walk you to the station" and she said ok.

Once there, we faced each other to say goodbye. I noticed she was looking into my eyes. It was cold and I had my hands in my pocket. Kissing her flashed briefly through my mind, but I don't think that's what she was thinking, so I just sort of flapped my hands in my pockets to wave goodbye and we parted ways.

I drove back home, and when I arrived, I texted her " no ticket :)" to mean I didn't get a parking ticket, but she hasn't replied :(