Plot Twist

12. something else

Upon the impression that the other night was in fact a date, disguised as a simple dinner, I didn't know how to face Sébastien. Or how to act around him, for that matter. It was unexpected, to say the least, and it put every single previous meet up into perspective, which caused my stomach to turn every time I thought about it.

That meant that, for the time being, I was constantly on edge every time I was at work. I could easily avoid him everywhere else, except for my work place.

After a whole shift of turning my head in the direction of the door, keeping my eyes on the entrance, just to see if it was him that was coming in for an expensive, overrated meal, my misery seemed to be over, just as the clock struck five.

I got into my car, today with Olivia in the passenger seat, next to me. I offered to give her a ride home since her car broke down a couple of days ago, and was still in the shop. She gladly accepted it, the weight of having to take a London train in the middle of the night being lifted off her shoulders.

"So my birthday's next week," I took my eyes off the road just for a second to look in my best friend's direction, and flash her a smile. "And I was thinking that we could go out!"

"Oh, really?" I asked. "What do you have in mind?"

"We'd get dressed up, we go to the city centre, have dinner and then have some drinks."

Olivia looked so excited as she talked about her plans, and I couldn't help but let myself miss that feeling. That one feeling that caused Olivia's cheeks to look like they could burst from smiling so much. Planning night outs or birthday parties was something I hadn't done since before Lexi was born.

I could never regret having Lexi, no matter how young I was at the time, but the truth was, I had missed my twenties. The time of your life when you're supposed to live to the fullest, enjoy life, kiss strangers, get too drunk and dance all night, make mistakes, it passed by me. Except for the latter - I made plenty of those. However, Lexi was definitely not one of them.

"Well, that does sound like fun." I said, nodding my head in agreement. "Will it be just us?"

"Yeah, just us two. I figured it'd be more chill, you know?"

I nodded again as I took a right, after crossing the bridge, while quickly making a mental note that if I wanted to offer her the film camera accessories that Olivia had been talking about lately, I needed to go to the store as soon as possible, since her birthday fell on Friday.

"Should we go Friday night?" I asked. "Or Saturday?"

"Oh, Friday for sure! Saturday night's just gonna be... too much."

She was right. Saturday night in London was always too much. Too many people in the tube, too many people in bars, too many people in restaurants, too many people on the streets. Friday nights weren't innocent, but they were better.

"So, can I count you in?"

"Of course!" When the red light turned on, I stopped the car and took the time to remove my hair from its ties.

We didn't take too long to reach our neighbourhood since traffic wasn't that bad. And because my best friend missed my daughter too, she went with me to pick Lexi up from school.

I parked my car outside the school's entrance and honked twice. Lexi, who was standing by the main door, next to her teacher, immediately spotted me waiting for her. Her blonde hair was divided in two pigtails that whipped back and forth as she ran to the car.

I got out of the vehicle to hug her tightly and kiss the top of her head. When Lexi got into the car and noticed Olivia was there too, she hugged her as well.