Egress Point

Chapter 2

Monday morning arrived far too quickly. Arebecca woke late, a little fuzzy from the night before. Sabby had taken her to an art gallery opening in an old butcher's shop somewhere in Hoxton. For some reason they'd left meat hanging from hooks in one of the rooms, and covered the whole floor in sawdust. The crowd was as pretentious as the decor, with lots of boys pretending to be more interested in the art than the girls. She and Sabby left in the early hours after a large amount of bubbles and flirting with a tall blond art student from St Martins. Arebecca had at least remembered to set an alarm and now had three hours to prepare for the meeting at the cafe.

She swung one leg out of bed and then the other. There was something sharp between the two smallest toes on her left foot. With a groan she bent down and picked out a chip of yellow wood.

After a long shower, she paced about her bedroom and put together her outfit. It was a methodical process of pairing and unpairing, slipping in and out of shirts, skirts, dresses, even jeans, until the right balance was reached. Then came hair preparation. Then makeup. Luckily her nails were in reasonable shape, otherwise she would have had to cancel.

With ten minutes to spare, she stepped out of her suite in a small (but not outrageously so) black dress, the new black Louboutins, and a reasonably work-like tote bag. She felt good, and her feeling was confirmed by copious glances, and even some outright stares, from the opposite sex on the short walk to the meeting.

Gloucester Road was busy with lunchers. The place that Nick Thomas had chosen, La Bouef, was a few streets up from Gloucester Road tube station, on the corner of an exclusive mews. The kind where classic Ferraris outnumbered the Porches for the limited parking spaces. Arebecca was sure she'd been there with Sabby once, so it couldn't be bad.

All the outside tables were occupied by couples or groups. Inside there was a pleasant hint of garlic and seafood in the air. It was darker, but not gloomily so, and the customers were seated at small round tables. The only people not already in groups were a teen in an old grey t-shirt at a table at the back, and a frumpy middle-aged woman sitting at the bar with a large glass of wine in front of her. The teen was eating on his own with his phone out on the table. Probably a student with rich parents, killing time before an exam. 

A waitress appeared from behind the bar holding a tray of drinks. She took them to a group near the window then turned back to Arebecca

"I'd like a table for two please," Arebecca said.

The waitress glanced around. "Are you meeting someone here?"

"Yes, my manager. He must be late." Arebecca was slightly annoyed by the question. "So I'd like a table for two."

"He's waiting for you." The waitress pointed at the kid in the t-shirt. "Go ahead and join him."

Arebecca hesitated. For all her preparation and confidence, she suddenly felt unsure. For about half a second, anyway. If the waitress was playing a game, then she'd soon have to deal with an angry customer.

"Thanks!" she said brightly, and strode over to the kid. He was now holding his phone in both hands, tapping the screen fast with both thumbs; apparently deep in thought.

"Hi," she said. "I'm Arebecca Tigrossi, here to meet Nick Thomas. Is that you?"

The reaction wasn't immediate, but the tapping grew slower, and finally he looked up. And smiled. It was a wide smile, and his teeth looked very white against his dark skin. He also looked very young, no older than Arebecca herself.

"Oh, er, hi Arebecca," he said looking briefly at her and then past her to the door. "Er, take a seat." He didn't get up, just nodded at the chair opposite. "It's good to meet you."