Amourshipping - The Match-Maker

Chapter 22 - Dilemma

"Oh look! They're finally dancing!" Calem said excitedly, pointing over Serena's shoulder.

Serena craned her neck to look and indeed, her best friend had her arms carefully on Gary's shoulders whose hands were at her waist.

Although, they appeared to be trying to standing as far away from each other as possible, both sets of arms straight as sticks and if Serena wasn't mistaken, was Shauna frowning instead of smiling?

Calem laughed and Serena turned her gaze back toward him as he said, "Wow. I didn't think Gary was that bad of a formal dancer."

"What do you mean?"

"He keeps stepping on your poor friend's feet. Almost like he's stomping on them actually."

"Oh." That would explain the frowns.

"Looks like our food is here!" Calem said as he stopped dancing, his gaze towards their table.

Serena watched as two waiters carefully placed silver-covered plates at each setting and stood back, waiting for them to return to their seats. "Wow."

"Like it so far?"

"So far," Serena said with a smile and accepted Calem's arm once more as they headed back to the table. Holding her seat out and helping her settle down before taking his own seat beside her.

Liking the evening was far understatement. Serena hadn't had such a lovely time in quite a while. And it wasn't just the fact that they got to watch a beautiful sunset while eating their appetizers nor was it the live band and dancing or even the fact that the entire floor rotated slowly to give them a full view of Lumiose.

Sure, those were definite bonuses but Calem himself had been nothing but one-hundred percent attentive, genuinely wanting to know about her and she felt comfortable in their continued conversation.

Just as the waiters were lifting the covers off of Serena and Calem's plates, Gary and Shauna came back as well, both red-faced, though she hadn't the slightest clue that it was from anger or embarrassment and not from too much dancing.

"Perfect timing," Calem said as their trays were also uncovered.

Gary plopped down at his seat across from Calem and didn't wait for Shauna to sit which made Serena frown. Though she had known Gary's reputation around campus to be a bit of a playboy, she had always heard that he treated women respectfully when he took them out.

For the next few minutes, the conversation was centered on their dishes and would they like to try each other's and how fresh the fish tasted.

Serena sighed in pleasure as she took the first bite of her grilled salmon drizzled in a delicate sauce.

Gary told them how the restaurant was not only known for being the only revolving restaurant in the tri-city area but also for serving fresh fish caught that day.

"Wow. Yeah this is amazing," Serena said. Then steering the conversation away from the food, "So Gary, what have you been up to since graduation?"

"Helping out my grandfather and working on small projects with my business partner back," he replied then took a bite of his steak.

"How is Ash doing?" Calem chimed in and Serena quite nearly dropped her fork. Ash? Could he be talking about the same Ash she used to know?

Shauna sat straighter in her seat at the mention of Ash. "Oh Ash Ketchum, right? I got to meet him yesterday!"

Wow. They were talking about the same Ash! Serena leaned forward in excitement. "Shauna you know him?"

"He's friends with Kaiwe and I met him before you came," Shauna explained.