#FreakshowFriday

Chapter 32: In Prosecco Veritas

October 19, 2023

Nathan has never looked this classy in his life.

His regular wardrobe consists of jeans, hooded jackets and plain T-shirts—affordable, simple, no effort required. This suits him well most days, but for enjoying fine dining in a Venetian restaurant boasting a Michelin star, it fell laughably short.

The necessary change of outfit Jamie splurged on doesn't feel right, even though the black dress pants and the white dress shirt fit like they were tailored to him. The wound on his arm burns under layers of bandages and sleeves.

It's too warm an evening to be wearing a blazer, and a poor ex-criminal like him doesn't quite belong in such expensive clothes, but he'll try not to get stuck in thought patterns like those tonight. They won't do him any good. You're a normal dude, he tells himself, and you're going to have a normal family dinner.

Nothing to worry about. Especially not while in the company of his most beloved person.

"In two minutes, we take a right turn down some stairs. The restaurant should be around the corner." Jamie barely takes her eyes off the post-it note containing directions to their destination, undoubtedly missing the ease of her very drowned phone. Nathan barely takes his eyes off of her.

The clothes she brought to Venice weren't exactly made for haute-cuisine establishments, either. Her usual outfits are selected with only two criteria in mind—'looks good on camera' and 'can comfortably withstand impromptu haunted house exploration'—and Stella telling her to bring something more formal on the trip slipped her mind completely. Her regular style suits her best, but she's still looking drop-dead gorgeous in her new black dress.

Nathan's thoughts venture into impure, scandalous territory if he dwells on this for too long—can't we skip this whole dinner thing and disappear into some bathroom or quiet alley? But even if Jamie is interested in that sort of thing with him, tonight isn't a good time. Especially since yesterday was so rough.

"What time is it?" Nathan asks. They've agreed to meet up with the others in front of the restaurant a little before half past seven. He isn't asking because he's afraid they'll be late. He's asking because he knows they won't be.

Jamie checks her watch, which, miraculously, turned out to be as waterproof as advertised. "Ten past seven." She smiles slightly. Every smile she has sported today has been slight. "We've done it."

When they'd gotten the day's shopping over with, Nathan pitched his idea. Wouldn't it be hilarious, he'd said, to see the baffled looks on your family's faces if we get to the restaurant first? So they turned it into a challenge, sat down together and made a proper schedule in order to make it happen, even factoring in extra time in case of delay. It worked, much to Nathan's delight. Anything for that smile.

He conjures a smile of his own, too. "Told you we could."

"I didn't doubt you."

"And I could tell you the same thing."

Jamie's smile grows, but she averts her eyes, somewhat red-faced.

Truth be told, Nathan isn't entirely sure where they stand since yesterday. Not in a bad place, certainly. They had a proper talk about apologies, nightmares, and a ghost's Instagram account while cleaning Gino's boat yesterday, and today has been spent amicably. But something changed after everything said and done.

The place may not be bad, but it is uncertain. Their interactions hold an awkwardness that wasn't there before. Nathan has never before found Jamie this difficult to gauge—she's been lost in thought and somewhat vague all day, and her gaze keeps lingering on him when she thinks he isn't looking.