A la Carte

Chapter 6

"I'm engaged!" Perry shouted and shoved her hand with a glittering diamond ring on it in Charlotte's face.
"Easy there." Charlotte chuckled, "When did this happen?" "Well it was date night yesterday evening and I was going to tell Matt I was pregnant, but then he got on knee and asked me to marry him!" Perry explained excitedly.
"Does he know though?" Charlotte asked.
"Yes, I told him after I said yes! And he is happy about it, in fact I think he's more excited than I am." Perry chuckled.
"I'm so happy for you!" Charlotte squealed and pulled her friend in for hug.The evening dragged on and Charlotte served the different customers that came into the bistro with a smile. Just as her shift was about to end another customer came in, in a flurry of cold wind as the door was opened for him. It was Derek Tyson.
"Derek! Table for one?" Charlotte asked.
"Charlotte! No, table for two, someone is joining me later." He said, giving her a warm smile which made her insides melt a little, he was indeed a very good looking man. After seating Derek, Charlotte went to make sure her customers were happy and then took her place at the door to receive more customers. Imagine her surprise when Dimitri walked in. In fact it wasn't a surprise Charlotte had become accustomed to his presence at the Bistro.
"Hey Charlotte!" He said flashing her a smile before she could greet him.
"Hi, what are you doing here?"
"Came here to eat of course!" He said with a laugh, "Have you seen Derek Tyson?"
"Yes, I seated him."
"Could you lead the way." He asked. She nodded her mind spinning on how the two men knew one another; perhaps they were just business partners.
"Derek!" Derek stood up, a smile on his face as Dimitri pulled him into a bro hug and then sat down; they ordered drinks and food and soon were engaged in a lively conversation, not even noticing when Charlotte came back with their food and drinks. She was confused, what were the odds that she knew two powerful men that happened to be lifelong friends. A loud bang brought Charlotte out of her thoughts, there was a commotion in the bistro.
"She'd never go for you!" Dimitri growled.
"Oh really and she'd go for a player like you? How many woman have you slept with in the last week!" Derek accused.
"We'll see about that." Dimitri stated, looking directly at Charlotte before storming out of the bistro. Derek sighed and sat back down in his seat before waving Charlotte over for the bill, he paid and said goodbye to her before hurrying out of the bistro and out into the New York evening.
"What do you think that was about?" Perry said as Charlotte came back to the cash register.
"I have no idea, but I know nothing good is going to come of it."
Charlotte didn't see Dimitri when she got home and instead of knocking to ask if he was okay, she opted for a relaxing bath and mug of hot chocolate before going to bed. The next morning on her way out to go to work at the bookshop, she bumped straight into him sending her bag and herself falling to the ground, but before she could hit the floor muscular arms grabbed her waist and prevented her from hitting the hard ground. Charlotte slowly opened her eyes and looked up into the green orbs of Dimitri.
"Sorry." His voice was soft and a little bit breathless?
"Thanks for catching me." she whispered. She was still in his arms, inches above the ground, it was then that she became very aware of how close they were and where her hands were curled around his biceps.
"Not a problem." He was still staring at her.
"Could you put me up now, please." She asked softly, he seemed to break out of the daze he was in and quickly pulled her up so that she standing on her feet, but still incredibly close to him.
"Thank you." She pulled away from him, distancing herself from him.
"Sorry I ran into you." He said with half a smile and a shrug. She smiled back and picked up her handbag.
"Are you okay? I saw what happened in the restaurant with Derek Tyson." She asked, his expression turned stony.
"I'm fine." He said curtly, "Don't worry about it, it was a stupid fight." He brushed off her concern, but Charlotte could see straight through the lies, he wasn't ready to tell her.
"I'm sorry, it's not my business, I shouldn't have asked." She apologised and then walked past him quickly as she needed to get to work, but was also trying to avoid the man with the alluring green eyes, incredibly muscular body and terribly good looks... She blushed, she would not and could not find him attractive. She would only get hurt and....
"Charlotte!" She turned to see Derek walking towards her, his car parked alongside the curb.
"Derek! This is a surprise." She said shocked. He smiled ruefully.
"Thought you might need a lift to the bookshop." He said bashfully, she blushed. Derek Tyson had been thinking about her.
"Thanks, that would be nice." She accepted and he opened the passenger door for her, she slid into the car.
"So what brought this on?"
"I need a favour, it's quite a big one." Derek said, he seemed nervous.
"Okay?"
"Would you like to accompany me to a gala event next week Friday?"
"So I can say no?" Charlotte teased.
"I won't force you to go Charlotte, I'm just in desperate need of a plus one and I can't stand those fake bimbos that my P.A always seems to find for me." He explained.
"I don't have a dress..."
"That can be arranged, just please say you'll go with me?" "Why me?" Charlotte asked confused.
"Hailey might have had something to do with it and well, I thought it was great idea because you're beautiful and have a wonderful personality and I would be able to survive the boring evening if I had you by my side."
Charlotte blushed at his words, "Can I choose the dress?" "Of course, as long as you are comfortable. Does this mean you'll go with me?"
"Yes Derek I will go with you to this gala event next Friday."
"Thanks, I think you just saved my life." He shot her an infectious grin and soon Charlotte was grinning along with him and discussing plans to go shopping for the dress she would wear.
"Thanks again." Charlotte said as she climbed out of the car at the bookstore.
"It's the least I can do." He said with a shrug. Charlotte smiled and waved goodbye as he pulled away from the curb and then went inside the bookstore.

"Hey! So did I just see Uncle Derek dropping you off?" Hailey asked with a raised eyebrow as Charlotte entered the store.

"Yeah that was him." Charlotte said, blushing.

"And?" Hailey prodded, Charlotte sighed and told her what had transpired, and by the end of it Hailey had a dreamy look in her eyes and an excited facial expression.

"I'm coming with when you go shopping!" Hailey said, "We are going to make you look even more gorgeous than you already are so that Uncle Derek can't take his eyes of you!" She exclaimed and then proceeded to Google dress shops in New York and what type of dresses would suit Charlotte, based on figure, skin tone and hair colour.

"So either like a mauve or dark green?" Hailey continued to do her important 'research' while Charlotte rearranged the book display and took stock of what books they would have to reorder."This is so pretty!" Hailey explained and then she bubbled on about empire waists and mermaid dresses and by time their shift was over Charlotte was sick and tired of dresses and she hadn't even tried on a single on yet.

 "Bye Hailey!"

 "By Char! I'll tell Uncle Derek to call you, okay?" She shouted back and got into the black car that was waiting for her while Charlotte made her way to the subway entrance a couple of blocks away.When she got to the flat, Betty was sitting on the couch with and container of Ben and Jerry's on her lap.

"Bad day?" Charlotte asked eying the container of ice-cream.

"No."

 "Break up?"

"No, I just felt like eating ice-cream."

"Period?"

"Bingo! Why didn't I think about that one...?" Betty said, "Probably why I'm craving this sugary goodness." She stared down at the half eaten cookie dough ice-cream.

 "Okay, you want pizza or Chinese?" Charlotte asked.

"Chinese! For the fortune cookies!" Betty exclaimed and proceeded to bounce up and down on the couch.

"You my friend have a hectic sugar rush." Charlotte said trying to take the ice-cream container away from her.

"Don't touch the fucking ice-cream." Betty growled, glaring at her.

"Okay, if that's what it takes to stop you from going hulk mode." Charlotte said holding her hands up in surrender and went to go and order Chinese.

"It's your birthday, happy birthday! I want cake!" Betty sang, and Charlotte being the amazing friend she was, was catching everything on video.

"Funny thing is you're actually sober. Wait are you?" Charlotte asked, while the camera was still rolling.

"I think I'm sober, must be drunk on sugar!" Betty exclaimed and then started singing Drunk On Love by Rihanna very badly.The doorbell rang and Charlotte got up to get it, soon the smell of Chinese caused Betty to stop singing and run towards the kitchen.

"You are the best friend I have ever roomed with." She said before she grabbed her food, ice-cream and laptop and disappeared into her room. Charlotte chuckled, grabbed her own food and then watched TV, thankfully it was her night off and so she fell asleep on the couch with the empty Chinese cartons on her lap and a smile on her face.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The drought has come to an end! Haha ;) I'm back! Short chapter to get back into the swing of things! Exams are finally over so that means more regular updates! * and the crowd goes wild* Thanks for reading! Vote,like and comment! Really appreciate all the support so far for this story! Thanks a bunch :) xx