Table For Two

13 - Ali

We head out of the gardens into town. We talk and laugh as we go, dodging through gaggles of people and winding our way through to the Cosy Club. We head through the door and up the stairs. Fortunately, it is quiet in there - the soft yellow glow of the lights bathing the red walls and wood furnishings with some quiet music playing over the speakers. Someone is going round tables, putting out candles. A woman with a kind smile and a mass of tight curled hair greets us at a waiting sign.

"Table for two?"

"Yeah, please"

She beckons us further in and leads us to a little two person table by a window looking down onto the street. She takes our orders for drinks and stuff and then leaves us to it. I settle back in my chair and immediately get connected to the WiFi before looking through the menu. Harvey looked to be studying his as if it were revision for an exam. I can't help but chuckle at him. He looks up confused.

"What?"

"Nothing... you're just going over the menu like you're cramming before a test"

"Oh..."

"Hey, it's not a judgement. I never met someone so serious about burgers."

"Well they are. This is a critical matter that requires the utmost solemnity. We cannot afford to be distracted from constructing the perfect burger."

He's frowning and sitting with his back ramrod straight and desperately trying not to giggle or smile and the whole performance is ridiculous but I join in anyway.

"Oh absolutely. This has national security implications. We must be prepared to sacrifice everything in order to achieve the ultimate burger."

He nods and we look at each other both trying to not laugh until we both splutter and cough into fits and people are looking at us as if we've lost our minds but I don't think we could care if we tried. We eventually calm down and get round to ordering. He does order a burger, with jalapenos and pulled pork on it and sweet potato fries. I get a tapas board even though the idea of having the all day breakfast was hard to pull himself away from. I get myself a mocktail too since I am, regrettably, driving. Harvey orders a coke. I get the impression he just doesn't drink, which is fair. It's not for everyone and he's probably got his reasons. It's not exactly the right topic to broach when trying to make friends and ignore every goddamn alarm bell going off in my head telling me to try and kiss him just because I find him cute. That is definitely not a good idea. Plus... I don't even know if he would like me in any way like that. And... other than Dee I can't exactly say I have many friends. I drink with people from my course and I hook up with some guys but friends? Yeah, I've never been good at that. Plus, no one really wanted to be friends with the mouthy queer kid who liked to scrap when I was in school so I kept to myself and probably built up too many walls to really let anyone in... I guess this is me trying to undo that.

The drinks come and pretty quickly followed by the food and we are pretty quiet as we devour what is in front of us. Harvey looks and occasionally sounds like he is doing something indecent to that burger which just has me smiling again. I have plates of garlic prawns, Spanish chicken with chorizo and fried halloumi. I'm basically in heaven right now. The mocktail is pretty good too. Eventually we both sit back and sigh, settling into that post good food haze where you kind of just want to nap. We both smile at each other and finish our drinks.

"Okay... this was a good idea" Harvey says "thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. You're paying, right?"

Harvey just looks at me dumbfounded. I barely keep a straight face for half a second before I start laughing.

"I'm just kidding, don't worry. Shall we go Dutch?"