Falling in love with your best mate's sister

Chapter 3: Double teaming

Trailing his hand up Tracey's thigh, Ginni watched his date's placid face as she typed on her phone. He didn't like being ignored.

Ginni glanced up and met Trent's concerned eyes across the table.

"Don't worry, Trent wouldn't hold my hand for months," Amelia commented, chuckling, as she squeezed Trent's hand clasped in her own.

Trent's face turned beet red.

"Anyway, what are we all ordering?" Amelia said cheerily, perusing the menu in front of her. "Should we get a side of chips for the table?"

"Sure," Trent replied, "We can start with the antipasto for entree."

"Tracey, what would you like?" Ginni ventured, warily watching his date who was engrossed in her phone.

She grunted, waving a dismissive hand at the menu. "I'll just have a slice of Trenna's pizza," she mumbled shyly.

"I'll get a large Hawaiian and you can have some of mine," Ginni offered brightly.

Tracey wrinkled her nose and looked up at her brother with pleading eyes. Trent sighed and turned to Ginni. "She's lactose intolerant," he reminded gently. "I'm getting one without cheese."

Ginni sniffed. "I can get the Hawaiian without cheese," he pointed out. He really wanted to share food with his date. He'd practised the Lady and the Tramp move over and over at home, and sure, pizza was different to spaghetti bolognese, but Ginni could make it work. He was a great improviser.

"Pineapple doesn't belong on pizza," Tracey muttered.

The line was delivered so quietly, but Ginni heard every word loud and clear surrounded by hundreds of red flags. Or green, white and red flags.

Trent saw the terror in his best friend's eyes. "Gin, hawaiian just isn't the italian way," he said apologetically. "We're not used to it, that's all."

Ginni just nodded numbly. The waiter came and Amelia took charge, ordering food for her, Trent, and Tracey, plus an antipasto for starters.

When the waiter turned their eyes on Ginni, he decided to go back to his original plan. "Pasta, please," he mumbled.

"What kind?" the waiter asked patiently.

Casting a quick glance at the menu, the word "creamy" popped out at Ginni and he told the waiter, "Creamy carbonara, please."

Writing it down, the waiter hurried off to the kitchens, and Ginni felt three sets of eyes on him.

"What was that?" Tracey whispered.

"Ginni..." Trent said softly.

"It doesn't have cream in it, does it?" Amelia asked. She'd only been dating an Italian for a few years but she learnt a lot in that time.

Ginni was bewildered. He looked around at his tablemates, before resting his eyes on his date. It was the first time they'd made eye contact the whole dinner but he wasn't sure he liked the hostile look in her eyes. "You can have some if you like?" he ventured.

She firmly shook her head and went back to her phone.

Amelia and Trent made idle chatter, and Ginni tried to follow but it was a lot of inside jokes and gossip about people he didn't know.

Then the antipasto came, and Ginni, realising how hungry he was, dove in, loading up his plate with salami, cheese, dips and flatbread.

Halfway through his plateful of food, Ginni noticed Trent, an expert at dinner dates and antipasto, was carefully placing salami and spreading dip on a flatbread and passing it to Amelia, who grinned and gushed at the presentation.

Ginni tried to attempt one for Tracey, clumsily spreading eggplant dip across flatbread, and passed it to his date. She took it gruffly, nibbling at the edges, while browsing her phone with her other hand.

When Amelia ducked off to go to the toilet, Trent passed one of his creations across the table to Ginni.

Ginni held the flatbread in his hand, staring at the carefully placed meats and cheeses that made the shape of a heart against the bright pink beetroot dip. He looked up at Trent, and they held eye contact for longer than he had with Tracey, but this time...

...heat flooded Ginni's face as he saw the intense love in his best friend's eyes. Ginni quickly dropped his eyes and ate Trent's gift when Amelia took her place back at the table, none the wiser at what had just happened.

After a delicious meal, both couples headed to the bathrooms, the girls heading into the women's and the boys into the men's.

Ginni didn't need to go so he waited at the basin, staring at his reflection in the mirror, until eventually Trent appeared at the next sink, washing his hands.

"Do you think she likes me?" Ginni blurted out.

Trent looked at Ginni's reflection. "Sure," he said, "She's just really shy. She was so nervous for this date and meeting you."

Ginni nodded, thinking of all the text messages and letters he'd had from Tracey leading up to the date. She never seemed shy in the written communication, but maybe he had rushed things wanting a date so soon. "Okay," he said quietly.

"Look, Ginni," Trent said, placing a hand on Ginni's shoulder. "It's okay. Remember, I was so scared when I first started seeing Amelia. I could barely look at her, my palms were always sweaty, and my heart raced so much."

"Thanks," Ginni said, turning to look into Trent's eyes and smiled tentatively. "Does it ever get less scary?"

"Of course," Trent replied, smiling gently. "But it'll always be a bit scary." He grabbed Ginni's hand and linked their fingers together. "Come on, let's go."

The boys headed out of the bathrooms holding hands and found the girls waiting for them. Trent grabbed Amelia's hand with his other hand, and Tracey stood off to the side typing on her phone, the four of them waiting outside the restaurant for Ginni's mum to pick them up.