More of You

Chapter 8

Harper took a deep breath and paid the driver as she got out of the car. Ronnie had called her and told her that he would meet her at the restaurant. He was running behind, and it would be quicker to meet the others if he didn't have to go out of his way to pick her up. Harper took it as a definite sign that the date would be a complete failure.

As she entered the restaurant, she brushed the non-existent wrinkles out of her skirt. The dress was new and she had been looking forward to wearing it. It was a light blue sundress that stopped just above her knees and had wide shoulder straps. The cinched waist made the most of figure. Her matching heels may have been a mistake she realized as she approached the other three who were waiting for her at the bar, Luke was the only one present who was taller than her, and she would be looking down at the others all night. As the last one to arrive, all three pairs of eyes were on her as she approached the small group.

Ronnie was wearing a pair of khakis and polo shirt, and Delia was wearing a bright red silk dress that made her look ultra-feminine. 

"Hello, sorry I'm late. I didn't realize that I would have to make my own way here." She smiled and looked over at Luke, whose expression she couldn't read. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans and his only concession to the dress up part of the evening was a button-down dress shirt in the exact same green shade as his eyes.

Ronnie walked over to the hostess to inform them that they had all arrived and she led them to table at the back of the restaurant near a corner where the band was playing. It was a bar-b-que place; there were peanuts on the floor and the noise was outrageously loud which would make conversation difficult.

"If you had gotten hear a little bit sooner our table might have been a bit further away from the band," Ronnie tried to joke, only it didn't come across as a joke.

"Well perhaps if my date had picked me up at the time that was agreed upon, the restaurant wasn't changed at the last-minute to something that was closer to you and further from me then I would have made it here in a timelier manner."

She caught Luke's eye and he looked amused. Somehow, during the course of being seated in the booth that they were led to, she and Luke were seated on one side and Delia and Ronnie were seated on the other. Harper was directly across from Ronnie, but the table was so wide that all intimacy was lost. On top of everything, Harper had always suffered from claustrophobia and she had trouble sitting on the inside of a booth because it made her feel trapped. Usually, it wasn't a problem, but the booth's seats were sunken in which made her feel stuck.

"Switch with me!" she pleaded in Luke's ear as they settled into their seats.

"How would that look to poor Ronnie, he would think that you didn't want to sit across from him." He patted her hand where it rested on his arm.

"Luke," she pleaded again and when he didn't budge she pressed against him, forcing him to move to the very edge of the booth until she was pressed as tight against him and as far away from the wall as she would get.

"This isn't much better Harper," Luke said loudly as he turned a bit to one side so his arm rested on the back of the bench behind her.

She couldn't help but notice that he smelled wonderful once again.

"Shut-up, I need a beer." She ignored him and leaned forward to shout across the table to Delia about how nice she looked.

She looked pleased by the compliment and then mentioned that Harper and Luke looked so natural together which brought about an awkward silence.

"Harper has a touch of claustrophobia being on the inside is difficult for her," Luke explained.

But no one offered to move, and she glared up at Luke like it was all his fault. He just shrugged as if to say that he had tried.