Lotta studied the menu, waiting for Thame to return from the bathroom. Their pre-dinner drinks had already lasted almost an hour without any awkward silences. Yet the pair had greeted each other uneasily, the quick peck on the cheek and self-conscious hug disappointing Thame.
Although he'd only known Lotta a short while, he'd hoped this might be the passionate, whirlwind romance he'd been looking for. Returning now to the table, he reached for Lotta and kissed her passionately, full on the lips.
"That was unexpected!" Lotta gasped, her smile reaching ear to ear.
"I've wanted to do that all night."
"Good!"
A man came into the restaurant in to wait for a table. He had an abnormally large bald head and a bushy, light brown moustache.
"Wow, that's some 'tache!" Lotta whispered.
"Why, in today's world, has he chosen a lip warmer?"
"I know!"
"I'm sure it once doubled up as Roger Moore's eyebrow."
"What?" Lotta looked a little bemused.
"Never mind." Thame smiled.
"It's weird; I can't keep my eyes off him." Lotta stared over at the man.
"Do you want me to get his number for you?"
"I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't think I'm his type."
Thame paused and smiled. "So that's why I was getting special smiles at the urinal."
The pair laughed as their food was served.
"Oh, this is so good. I could eat mango chicken for life!" Lotta said, "I don't know why I even bother looking at the menu, as every time, mango chicken."
"So, obsessed with mango chicken and Hugh Grant?"
"I know. How do I get guys to come out with me, right?"
"Definitely community service." Thame grinned, and decided to take the plunge; "So, Miss Lotta. Any permanent offenders at home? Do you have a boyfriend?"
"I split up with him before I came here."
Thame's heart sank, knowing a relationship that fresh could spell trouble.
"I ended it because I fell out of love with him," Lotta continued. "It should have been over way before that, but I have trouble finishing things."
Relieved, Thame suggested they move on to a bar.
The Night Jar was dotted with intimate alcoves, suggesting sordid love affairs and hushed meetings. Candlelight, incense and Moroccan music intensified the atmosphere. Thame and Lotta had chosen a dark corner and were sitting close together. Thame had just finished telling a joke, and the pair were laughing hysterically.
"Okay. Next question, my turn this time," Lotta pulled herself together. "What star sign are you?"
"Ah, I'm a Gemini." Thame replied.
"Ooh, different faces! I should be careful. Different faces - that's the right way of saying it?"
"Can be." Thame wondered how to change the subject. The 'different face' was eerily close to the image he'd been trying to push to the back of his mind. "What are you?"
"Sagittarius - I have a sting in my tail!" Lotta claimed.
"Maybe I have to be careful then."
YOU ARE READING
The Illumination
Fantasy*WATTYS2018 Longlisted* He saw a pair of eyes, his eyes. But they were elongated, angled and a deep, angry red... Thame is, on the surface, an average guy. Suffocated by the politics of his city job and his increasingly complicated love life, he se...
