"You look like you just stole someone's pot of gold." Sadie frowned at Jenna's remark.
"Is that a short joke?" Sadie raised her right eyebrow as they walked down the street in the small town of Tumbor Ridge. Sadie quickened her pace to keep up with her long legged friend. Jenna chuckled softly.
"You can't be late for your date you dunce. That's a terrible first impression." Sadie grunted her frustration as Jenna grabbed her arm and pulled her along. She felt very much like a dog on a VERY short leash. They arrived at the restaurant perfectly on time.
"You didn't have to come you know?" Sadie pouted outside the expensive French place. Jenna smiled.
"Don't be such a grump. You will get wrinkles if you don't stop frowning like that." Jenna said, cleverly avoiding the question altogether. She was very good at avoiding difficult questions with difficult answers. How do you tell your best friend that you are genuinely worried that she will never find anyone because she is wildly picky in a town that is not exactly full of eligible women.
"What do I care about wrinkles? Who am I trying to impress?" Sadie deepened her frown in a rebellious nature. Jenna smiled softly at her best friend. She straighted the collar of her friends shirt and shoved her gently through the now open door.
"Good luck." Jenna beamed and shut the door loudly behind her, causing nearly everyone in the room to look up at Sadie and a blush to creep across her face.
"Table for two under Sadie Laurens." She addressed the maitre'd still more than a little flustered by the whole scenario. She hated blind dates, just like every other women in the modern world. They generally turned out terrible with both parties disappointed and upset. She should know, she had been on what seemed like a million of them.
"Right this way." The tall, lanky man grabbed two menus and gestured for her to follow him. She automatically hated the man. He kept his nose in the air as if the air down by her were not good enough. Sadie quickly checked her clothing to make sure everything was in order. The collared form fitting red dress was a fantastic choice, one made by her best, increasingly annoying, friend. The black black accentuated her lean waist and made her modest chest size seem remarkably well suited for her body. She walked slowly behind the man for what seemed like an hour, due to the high heels that she was no where near close to used to wearing. She ran a hand through her slightly wind tossed, blonde, choppy, shoulder length hair. The man stopped suddenly, causing Sadie to nearly knock him over, depsite her small size of only 5'1".
He pulled the chair to a small beautifully decorated table out and motioned for her to sit. She did so and he promptly pushed her in and sat the menus before her and the empty chair opposite of her. She casually opened the menu, barely looking as she wondered if her pink lipstick had smudged in her sprint to the restaurant. She grimaced and prayed her makeup had stayed in place. Especially the mascara that framed her deep teal colored eyes. Sadie had one too many run in's with the mascara runs in her day. She quickly ran a finger beneath each eye and saw no running makeup. She nearly sighed in relief.
"You must be Sadie." A soft voice sounded right beside her. Sadie glanced up, clearly startled by the woman's sudden arrival. She stood at once, nearly knocking her chair over in the process. A small chuckle slipped from her lips and she steadied the chair and extended her hand to the dark haired beauty beside her. It took Sadie a moment to realize how very tall the woman was. She stood a good 7 inches taller than Sadie. Normally Sadie was not daunted by size by she generally liked her women smaller because there was something utterly unappealing about a woman having to bend over to kiss you.
"I am. And that would make you Bella?" She smiled cautiously and shook her hand, which almost seemed dwarfed by Bella's.
"Jenna told me all about you." Bella said conversationally as Sadie pulled her chair out for her and she sat. Sadie smiled as she sat opposite of her. Something about the statement seemed ludicrous to Sadie and a small laugh escaped again from her lips. She had to learn to control her child-like instincts.
"She is a very good friend." Sadie smiled. "She undoubtedly embellished quite a bit on my account. I will have to thank her later for the favor." Sadie grinned at her own attempts at being modest. Bella smiled softly.
"Jenna tells me that you are an architect." Sadie immediately brightened at the sound of her chosen profession. She nodded enthusiatically.
"I really do love my job, which is a lot more than I can say for a lot of people. Perhaps we can discuss it on our next date." Sadie stated, somewhat cocky. This earned a small chuckle from the starkingly beautiful woman across from her. Naturally black eyelashes framed her almost egyptian-like eyes that were the most wonderful shade of mahogany. They seemed to change in the light of the candle that graced the center of the table. She suddenly felt out of her league for no real reason. The woman was an amazon. She had a long, well shaped nose that led to extremely full lips that could lead a priest to sin. Her eyes seemed to dare the onlooker to take her on. Her name truly did suit her. Bella. Beautiful. "I'm sorry. I'm babbling. What is it you do for a living?" Sadie asked as she placed her face in her hand.
"I'm a model. On the side I write columns for Vogue." She smiled slightly as she voiced her job. Sadie could sense that her passion lay elsewhere. Suddenly a shrill ring of a cell phone cut through the air. Bella started somewhat as she reached inside her coat pocket for the offending phone. Sadie raised an interested eyebrow at Bella. She could sense the whole get out of the date ruse coming. "I'm sorry could you just hold on a moment." She asked, somewhat flustered. Sadie nodded as Bella turned slightly from the table. She heard Bella say "Just tell them that if they cannot decide then neither one of them will get it. I cannot talk right now." She sighed heavily and ran a hand through her dark long flowing hair. The motion made it stick out slightly on top which earned a smile from Sadie. "This is not really something that needs to be dealt with right now. Just try and keep them away from one another." Bella said into the phone and muttered something in Spanish and hung the phone up. Bella cringed as she turned back to the table.
"Everything alright?" Sadie asked with slight concern. Bella gave her best smile.
"My nephews are staying with me for the week. I swear they never stop fighting. It's exhausting." She said as she turned the volume down on her phone and put it back into her pocket. "That's what I get for asking my teenage neighbor to babysit." Bella chuckled and the atmosphere of the conversation seemed to change. It lightened dramatically. She crossed her legs and leaned forward, seeming more at ease with herself. "So, do you like children?" Sadie grinned at the change in the woman sitting across for her. She liked it very much. It was at that time that the waiter stopped and asked them for their orders. They then realized they had not even looked at their menus and asked for more time.
"I guess we got a little caught up huh?" Sadie grinned at Bella over the top of her menu. Bella glanced up from her menu to give Sadie a radiant smile. When Bella glanced back to her menu she frowned.
"I don't know how to tell you this, so I'm just going to say it. I hate haughty French restaurants." Bella said as she lowered her menu. Suddenly Sadie slammed her menu down.
"I am SO glad you said something. This stuff sounds absolutely disgusting! You know, I know a place right down the road that is wicked cheap, super greasy and utterly delicious. We can even walk there." Sadie grinned at Bella.
"That sounds incredible." Bella agreed with an ecsatic grin. Sadie stood and reached for Bella's hand which she promptly placed in hers. She grabbed her purse and off they went.
The air had gotten cooler since they had entered the restaurant for some reason. Sadie took a deep breath of the clean mountain air. The sun had begun to set over the mountains and the town was painted a beautiful array of pinks and oranges. Bella's hand was still in Sadie's and a shiver of awareness ran up her arm.
"Are you cold?" Bella asked with a slight frown. Sadie grinned.
"I'm fine. If we hurry we can get our food in time to make it to the park to watch the rest of the sun set over the mountains." She smiled and Bella quickened her pace, unsure of their real destination and excited to get anywhere with Sadie.
