We arrived at Monchella's, a fancy restaurant known far and wide for how hard it was to get a reservation. The drive took a whole thirty minutes.
'Do you expect me to be a gentleman?' Arain asked.
Apparently, when I had been lost in my thoughts he had gotten down and round to my side and was at the window now.
'I've got hands.' I said pushing the door violently, hoping to hit him with it. He got out of the way in time.
He bent his elbow for me and I glared at him.
'For publicity.' He said.
I snaked my hands through the hole of his curved elbow and we walked to the door together.
'Table for two.' He said. 'Under Arain Maelor '
'Right this way.' They escorted us to our table.
*
We had barely held the menu when Arain asked,
'So, who's paying?'
'We haven't even ordered yet.' I said.
'I need to know how this will affect my bank account. '
'I'm sure your account will handle it.'
The waiter approached us. 'Are you ready to order yet?' He asked.
'I'll have the barbecue salmon with the side salad, some fries and ketchup and lemon key pie.' I ordered. 'Oh, and iced coffee.'
Arain eyed me. 'Isn't it too late for coffee?'
'My body, my rules.' I stated.
He looked at me a minute longer, before returning to the menu.
'I'll have bread with olive oil and salad thank you.' Arain said.
When he walked away He addressed me, 'I'm not paying for that.'
'I never asked you to.' I shrugged, sipping my whisky.
'So we're splitting the bill?' He clarified.
'Yes, Jimmy Neutron.' I replied sarcastically.
For someone who called me slow at the practice, he was pretty slow himself.
Our food finally came and we dug in. He cut the bread and dipped it into the oil. Weird.
No one bothered to keep a conversation going, we were comfortable with the silence. Then a young man with a camera strapped on his neck walked up to us.
'Mr Woodhouse sent me to collect souvenir.' He said, straight to the point.
'Open wide.' Arain commanded.
I was still trying to understand what the guy with the camera said and now he was holding soaked bread near my lips.
'Hu?' I asked.
'Smile for the camera.' He said
It came to me then. The guy wanted to take pictures for the press. I opened my mouth and he dropped the bread inside. I must admit, it wasn't half bad. The man clicked away and then left.
*
I had just finished my food and was sipping my wine, content with the little food baby I had. Arain had finished before me. Way before me.
'Let's dance.' He said out of the blue.
I took a moment to register what he said, and no, I'm not slow.
'Sure.'
He led me to the dance and then drew me to him. I drapped my hands around his neck while he held my waist and we moved our body to the music. The guy was back and took more pictures of us from different angles. Dir. Woodhouse was going to love this.
'Put a smile on your face.' I said. 'It will make this more believeable.'
~~~~~~~~~~~
Arain drove us back and dropped me the very place he picked me. I couldn't blame him though, cars can't go further from here due to how the trailers where parked.
'Fyi,this was the worst date I've had in years.' He said as I was getting down.
'The feeling is mutual.' I replied with spite as I slammed his car door shut.
How dare he calls me boring. For his information, I was forced on this date too. I heard him drive off and I felt relieved that he hadn't offered to escorted me back to my RV. This night needed to end soon.
Later, I learned from Keith that he came home with a girl. Ew. What a massive player he was.