The Poppy Field

Chapter 14

Luckily I didn't have to stay late that night after work and found myself heading out of the main door whilst it was still light. I was surrounded by hundreds of others who had just finished work and were now bustling past each other to make their way home.

I took my time getting ready that night, deciding that I would wear the red dress after all. The reaction that I'd received the first time I'd worn it had helped to make the decision when deciding what to wear tonight. This time I added the matching shoes, loosely curling my hair and putting on slightly more makeup than I usually wore, but he'd seen me at my worse so it didn't really matter. Anything felt like an improvement.

He picked me up at seven, as promised, and the reaction was definitely worth wearing the dress for. I practically floated into the room to meet him when he picked me up, feeling extremely confident in my own skin. Something that I hadn't felt in months.

We went to a restaurant that I'd walked past a couple of times before but had never been inside. It was beautifully decorated in a deep red colour, that almost matched my dress, with huge chandelier like lights hanging from the ceiling. It was a very sophisticated place and I could tell before I'd even looked at the menu that it would be very expensive.

I didn't order much. For one thing I was way too nervous to eat, which was ridiculous because although we hadn't been on any official dates, we'd met each other for lunch many times and he'd had dinner at my apartment. Secondly, whether he accepted it or not, I was determined to try and pay for my half of the meal, and clearly I didn't earn anywhere near as much as he did.

A couple of seconds after the waiter had taken our order, he turned to face me, staring deeply into my eyes in a way that showed me he would listen to every word of my answer, and asked the question that he'd promised he would.

'So Poppy,' he said with a slight smile. 'Tell me why you never became a lawyer?'

'Ah, what a great question,' I replied, muttering a brief, 'thanks,' to the waiter who had just brought our drinks over to the table. 'That's a great story.' I added as I took a sip of my wine, drawing out my response in an attempt to create suspense, to what would be a rather disappointing story. I'd been running through the answer in my head ever since he'd mentioned it. There was no way to make my failure and subsequent pathetic excuse for a job seem exciting.

'Am I ever going to hear it?' He asked and raised one of his eyebrows at me.

'Okay,' I replied, sitting up and deciding that there was no point in protesting as he would probably draw it out of me eventually. 'So, I went to university and got a degree in Law,' I started, casting my mind back to a few years ago. 'I got a first and I passed all of the necessary exams,' I added with a smile. 'And I'd had a few weeks internship at a top firm in London so I was sure that I would be able to get a job but...' I paused for a second, thinking of how to phrase the rest of the story without sounding too pathetic.

'What happened?' He said, egging me on.

'So I went for my first job interview, at Cooper & Walsh.' I said.

'Isn't that where you work now?' He asked.

'Yes, that's where I work now,' I confirmed. 'So I saw that there was a job available and I went for the interview at Cooper & Walsh and it was going really well and I was sure that I'd gotten the job.' I paused to take another sip of wine. 'A few days later Mr Walsh, my boss, rang me up and told me that I'd got the job and that I started on monday.'

'What happened?' He asked, his brow furrowing. 'Surely if you got the job....' He trailed off.

'Well, if you'd kindly stop interrupting me when I'm trying to tell a story then maybe I'll get to the end of it,' I said with a light-hearted laugh. He opened his mouth as if to protest, then closed it again, clearly deciding that it wasn't worth it, although he was smiling.