I had actually lost some weight since high school when my hormones sorted themselves out, and the dress fit even better than when I first received it. I turned and spun in the mirror and looked at myself at all possible angles, liking what I saw. While not exactly skimpy, the skirt of the dress going down almost to my knees, the dress hugged me in a way that accentuated my curves as much as concealing them.
The next grand question was whether or not I should wear underwear. I decided to be naughty and go commando.
La Fromage was as fancy as it sounded. At least to those who did not know that it literally translated to The Cheese. A name which made me think of a sign with a giant wheel of brie. The image made me smile.
“Good evening,” said the host, with particularly good English.
“Good evening. I am Noah Wells, here to meet Jim and Vicky Howell.”
“Right this way, sir!” the host exclaimed taking off like he’d just heard a starter’s pistol.
“Wow. Must be nice to be able to name drop,” I said as we hurried after him.
“Yes, it is,” Noah agreed.
Jim and Vicky were already at the table when we arrived, making me feel even more like we were intruding than I did before. I really wasn’t sure about this double date. Jim just seemed like he would be happy to have us there, and I wanted to be there for him, and really, it was a thrill to be going on a date with Noah, even if it was, technically, someone else’s date.
Sadly, it wasn’t as romantic as I might have hoped. Jim was fine, but Vicky kept looking at me askance, and I wasn’t sure why. I thought maybe she was under the impression that I had designs on her darling husband. I liked Jim alright but not in that way.
Then I wondered if she might have a thing for Noah, at least on a purely aesthetic or hormonal level, like how couples will have a “freebie” list of people they can sleep with and their partner can’t get mad. Though, usually, the list is made up of pretty unlikely scenarios. Usually being made up entirely of completely unattainable celebrities both male and female. Basically the same, in terms of likelihood, starting a sentence with ‘and then, when I catch a unicorn.’
“So, how did you two meet?” Vicky asked icily.
“He came into the cafe when I was working,” I blurted, completely forgetting about the thing about us meeting online.
“How romantic,” Jim said, more charitably then needed.
“Really?” Vicky asked, arching a perfectly shaped, red eyebrow.
“Sure, like something from a RomCom,” Jim doubled down.
“Remind me again, who is the girl here?” she snapped at her husband, drinking down some red wine.
“I would say the one who had the baby and did the nursing dear,” Jim said calmly.
“Good point,” Vicky said dropping it.
When it came to banter, Jim was nearly bullet-proof. Then again, so was Noah. It was easy to see how they got to be friends.
Things weren’t much better when the food came. Not that Vicky ate that much. And there I was with an entire seafood platter. I guess if you have money all your life it changes your relationship to the necessities of existence. I still wasn’t one to turn down free food. Just in case. I wondered if we should have ordered another bottle of wine or two. Probably two.
“You don’t think he needs you, do you?” Vicky asked between the entree and dessert, while Noah and Jim were otherwise engaged. Something about how the eleventh Doctor was better than the tenth, with Noah coming down hard on the side of Matt Smith.
“What do you mean?”
“I know about the fucking fake fiancée charade. My friends have done it before. We’ve suggested it to other people. It has worked of course but come on, let’s be real. With the body and face that Noah has, he really doesn’t need any help from anyone. Don’t get me wrong, hon, you really look hot, but hot girls are a dime a dozen in his world, they throw themselves at him all the time, and I have never heard about him saying no.”
I had a sudden pain in the pit of my stomach. It could have partly been the oysters but was mostly a natural reaction to the truth bomb that had just been dropped. Suddenly, I really didn’t want to be there anymore.
“I-I have to go, I have a stomachache,” I said, hauling ass from the table and out the main doors into the cold night, not giving a solitary fuck who noticed.
I got more than a block from the restaurant before I had to stop for breath. My heart pounding him my ears, my breath badly labored.
“Hey, you okay?” Noah asked, taking me gently by the arm after running after me.