Gone Girl

Don, III

Don

Don liked having a maid. Every day, after a long day at the hospital, he could come home to a clean house and a neat bed to collapse into. Usually, Don never saw the person who cleaned his house and vaguely remembered their name when he first ordered the service nearly a week ago. Today, however, he had a day off, and he saw just who was making his life slightly easier.

He was expecting some grizzled old scowling woman furiously scrubbing floors, but Don was pleasantly surprised by who showed up at 2 that afternoon. She was tall, dark-haired, doe-eyed, and gorgeous.

Don greeted her with a smile. "You must be my maid," he said.

She nodded. "It'll only take an hour, I'll be out of your way soon," she replied, eyes glued to Don's feet. His smile grew wider. He liked shy girls.

"That's fine by me," he said, "What's your name?"

"Kaylynn Langerak."

"Kaylynn," he repeated, "Isn't there a Belladonna's Secret Angel named Kaylynn?"

She blushed. "I don't think so."

"Really?" Don said, "I could've sworn she looked just like you."

Kaylynn giggled and quickly covered her mouth. "I'm gonna start upstairs, Mr. Lothario." Don liked flirting. It came easily to him, and his lines almost always worked.

While Kaylynn was mopping floors and scrubbing counters, Don was subtly checking her out, and he had to admit, he liked what he saw. She was plain but pretty with dark hair and long legs. Under the frumpy maid uniform, Don could tell she was shapely. Of course, Kaylynn was no Bella Goth, but she was very attractive.

When Kaylynn was loading up her supplies into the van, Don caught up with her to give her his number.

She blushed heavily. "Thanks, but I can't. Company policy."

Don pulled his phone out. "Let's see... You came here at 2 o'clock; your shift is one hour long, right? It's almost 3:15; you're not on the clock anymore!" Don handed her the slip of paper. "Promise you'll call me?" She nodded and took the paper. With one last look, Kaylynn got in the van and drove off.

—

While Don was lifting weights in his living room about two hours later, the phone rang. It looks like Kaylynn remembered, he thought as he picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Don Lothario, I presume?" It wasn't Kaylynn on the other end, but instead it was Bella Goth's silky voice.

"Mrs. Goth?"

"Call me Bella, dear." Dear. That had a nice ring to it. "Am I interrupting anything?" Don was finishing his last set, but he supposed that it could wait.

"Not really, no."

"Great!" Bella chirped, "I am dying for a steak right now. Do you know that restaurant called FM? It's downtown."

"I heard an ad on the radio for it. It sounds kinda pricey, honestly." Don slapped himself when he realized who he was talking to.

"Oh, that's no problem dear, I'll take care of it."

"Are you asking me out to dinner?" Don asked, smirking.

"No, I'm taking you out to dinner. My car will be around in 30 minutes." And with that, Bella hung up.

Wasting no time, Don rushed into the shower to wash away the sweat and grime of the day. Afterwards, he put on a blue checkered shirt cuffed at the elbow with khaki pants. He combed his hair neatly and sprayed on some cologne called Blue Velvet. That was the cologne Don used specifically for dates, but he put it on anyway.

Just minutes later, Don heard a car honk outside. He looked out of his door to see a jet-black Lincoln town car parked by the curb. The rear window rolled down and Bella poked her head out and waved. "I got us reservations at the last minute," she said as he got in the back beside her, "our table might not be that great."

Don wasn't at all concerned with the table. Instead, he was fixated on Bella. She was wearing a short red dress with a sweetheart neckline and an emerald pendant on a gold chain around her neck. Her makeup was flawless, her hair was perfect, and the red dress clung to her body in all the right places. Red is really her color, he thought. "As long as we're not seated by the bathroom, right?" was the only quip Don could muster.

Despite her dying for a steak, Bella ordered a simple Caesar salad once they arrived at the restaurant. Don ordered their specialty mac n cheese, because honestly, who could mess up mac n cheese? They chatted about mundane things for a while, and even though they didn't have much in common, Don actually enjoyed their conversation. He couldn't tell if it was because he liked what she said, or if he just liked watching her talk.

After talking for a bit, the two moved to thebar and ordered a round of drinks. Somehow, it seemed like Don drank more thanshe did. He got more and more drunk as the hour passed on. He rememberedlaughing and dancing with Bella on the dance floor, and her whispering "I'llhave a lovely night with you," in his ear. After that, he blacked out.