Gracie Freaking Hall

Belinda

The classical music swayed around me as I swirled the dark purple liquid in the glass cup. I bring it to my lips and let the refreshing vintage wine swirl in my mouth before swallowing it. From my side view, I can see I have the attention of a guy currently waiting for his date to come back from the bathroom. His mouth hangs a bit parted as if parched, and his gaze burns a hole in my exposed thigh. I wore a dark green dress with the shoulders strapped around my arms, a little center bow that exposed not all of my cleavage but enough to create a tantalizing mess, the bodycon material tight on my body, and a slight on one leg that reached right above my thong. I had dressed up and yet my date was nowhere to be seen.

So I sat alone in an expensive restaurant by myself, what else could a girl do but turn her gaze to the male looking at her? I give him soft eyes and watch as he visibly shudders at the simple interaction before tightening his tie and making his way to the seat across from me.

He stares at me in awe and I can feel myself sit straighter at his admiration. It wasn't often someone stared at me as if I was their whole world. I had 3 guys on my phone, all saved as different names than their real ones, 2 were married and one was just a side fling, none of them serious. However, none of them looked at me like the guy who was sitting across from me right now, well, maybe at first they did. I was their new shiny trophy. Their wife had given birth and they wanted something else. They saw their wives without makeup and without their masks, but with me, that's all they got, the illusion of what they wanted.

Just like the guy sitting across from me. He had a beautiful date, someone around his age and his level, but yet here he was sitting across from me and trying to think of a great pickup line. So I finally break the silence. "Speak," I tell him as I sip my wine.

He clears his throat and tightens his tie again. Clearly a nervous habit. "What's a pretty girl like you doing alone on this cold day." He stands up, shrugging off his blazer and draping it around me adding, "You'll freeze without a gentleman's jacket."

I grab the jacket in a tight fist as I look at him with an impressed smile. "Is that so?"

He sits down again and cracks a smirk, "did I impress you?"

I can't help but let a laugh flow from my ruby-colored lips. "Very much so," I tell him and tip my wine glass to him in admiration. I lean closer to the table and whisper, "but you know what impresses me more?"

He leans in closer to meet me halfway to the point our lips are almost connecting, emphasis on the almost, because I would never allow my lips to be tainted by a guy like him. "That you would hit on a girl when clearly about to propose to your girlfriend."

His smile faded instantly as he raised an eyebrow, clearly lost on how I knew. I point to the waiter who's been staring at us for the past 3 minutes, let alone the fact that his girlfriend has been gone, probably anticipating this night and freshening up everything, and I mean everything. "He's clearly been waiting for your cue and yet here you are, sitting with little old me."

He shrinks back a little. "I just thought that you were too pretty to give up a chance to talk."

"I am, but I think it's time to leave. I don't go after those who are dating-"

He stands up as I extend his jacket for him to grasp in his hands. Our fingers skim each other until mine has run its length and I hook his wrist. He turns to look at me with a raised eyebrow but my gaze is on my hand. "Call me when you're married- only-" I look him dead in the eye at this part, "if you're rich enough to enjoy my company." I let go of his hands and placed it under my chin again. The waiter brings me a souffle, my usual after eating a medium rare steak.

"Thank you," I tell him as he nods and refills my glass once again. "I'll make sure you get a good tip," I tell him with a wink.

"You always do," he tells me with a smile before retreating as I stab the fork into the fluffy bread. Besides the mild distraction, my mind kept drifting to Brianna and Gracy. Brianna had come back for these secrets that should have been burned long ago, especially from our memories, but they played like a broken record over and over again. She should have moved on, we all had. There was more she wasn't telling us. Brianna's secrets weren't secrets, they were just bone-chilling facts.