Meet Me At Lovers Road

Group Dinners and Gossip

It was the sixth week of their internships which were flying by with only two more weeks until they had to leave back home to England. Some interns were enjoying the time at their companies but others dreaded going in every morning when they woke up.

It was Thursday again which meant group dinners where as many interns could join. Cara usually picked the restaurants and planned the evening. This week's dinner was at a Sichuan based restaurant which everyone was looking forward to.

Ivy walked into the restaurant and saw Suprina waving her over to the table she was sitting at. She walked over saying hi to everyone, Cara was there with her boyfriend, Rossi, Nirvana, and Scottish Jonathan. A few seats were empty which meant more people were on their way. Just as they were picking what dishes they wanted Felix walked in with Sym and this other cute blonde guy who no one had seen before. Felix grabbed the chair next to Ivy and kissed her cheek, "Hey babes" he said with a smile.

The other two sat down and Cara introduced the stranger. "So guys, this is one of the Australian interns." Everyone turned to look at him as he awkwardly smiled, "Hey guy, I'm George. I'm interning at Sym's company at the moment." Everyone else introduced themselves and fell into a conversation waiting for the food to arrive.

Scottish Jonathan was sat next to George throwing flirty smiles his way. Jonny had been looking for a cute babes to get to know and George seemed to be right up his street. Rossi's bubbly personality dominated the chat as she spoke out loud, "Do you know any of the other Australians George?"

"Oh yeah" he replied, his accent strong and contrasting starkly with everyone's British accent. "So I'm living with this other guy Adam and Liam if anyone's met them." Nirvana pitched in then, remembering his dreamy face, "OMG we met Liam and Dylan on Saturday at a bar. Liam's such a hottie."

George laughed, "the other Australian girls have said the same but he has a girlfriend. They've been face timing a lot back at the apartment."

Rossi, Nirvana and Suprina all looked shocked. "What? I swear he was flirting with you though that night Nirvana" Rossi said surprised.

"He totally was, the plonker. I was even flirting back thinking he was single. I can't believe it, he actually got my hopes up." Nirvana exclaimed feeling annoyed but also a little disappointed because Saturday had been a good night. Suprina could tell how much her friend was upset, she was there after all and heard firsthand from Nirvana of how much she was into him on their way back from the bar last week. "I can beat him up if you like, I'm ready" Suprina said with a straight face, she was always ready to fight. She was small but height wasn't an issue. Nirvana and Rossi laughed, the mood lifted a little. Cara butted in just to do her role and make sure no drama actually happened, "remember no fighting guys, it can end up in deportation and none of us want to get sent home because of a guy being a dickhead, right?" Cara's boyfriend, whose name they didn't know but tagged along to all the weekly dinners looked at her with starry eyes. " That's my girl" he said, making some of the interns snicker at how bad he had it.

Felix put his hand on Ivy's thigh and squeezed it  in an affectionate manner. She turned to smile at him and moved in to give a peck on the lips. "Aw" someone went making her blush.

They were all disrupted by the waiters serving their food and putting the plates down on the table. Everyone began to unwrap their utensil sets which were covered in plastic and passed the big bowl around to clean their bowls and cup with the tea provided. It was a Chinese tradition which they first found odd but grew to do naturally.

"I still can't believe we have to clean our own bowls at the table with tea" George said while struggling to pour the tea from the pot without making a mess. Jonathan grabbed the pot and helped him. "Thanks mate" George said with a smile and Jonathan, the exaggerator he was started fanning himself to cool down.

They all settled into the food which smelled mouthwatering. Some had mastered the art of using chopsticks but others were still struggling stabbing their food in a fork like manner. They got through the dishes pretty quickly as they had all come from work and were starving. But dinner just never ended there as the interns usually went to a bar or hit the clubs after despite it being a Thursday night. There was only a small bunch of them so someone suggested KTV.

"What's KTV?" George asked curiously.

"Oh so basically it's karaoke, everyone at work keeps going on about it." Felix added, he hadn't been yet and wanted to check it out before they left China. They already experienced the bouncing dance floor, so now it was time for the singing to commence. He was pretty sure that karaoke here wouldn't be like how the British do it in a pub full of everyone.

There was a rise of hands to see who wanted to go and only half were willing. Ivy, Felix, George, Rossi and Suprina were down to go but the others prioritised their work in the morning. It was only 9.30pm but they'd probably be out till after midnight. Jonathan looked so uncertain. He wanted to go so he could flirt more with George and make a move on him but he had an important meeting in the morning which he couldn't miss. "Ugh guys I can't join tonight but can we go again this weekend please?" He stretched out the last word showing his eagerness. Cara said she'd plan the activity for Saturday, so he wouldn't miss out. She got the bill and did the calculations to split the amount equally for everyone which they paid off. They all got up to leave, parting in two groups for those going home and the others ready to continue the night away.

There was a KTV up the road which Cara's boyfriend had suggested saying it was a nice place, so it was only a short journey. Cara was hailing taxis down for the others going home. Jonathan was about to get into his cab but quickly ran over to George to grab his hand. He put his apartment key in George's hand who looked confused, "what-" he began asking but Jonathan cut him off.

"It's a spare key for my flat. Feel free to come over whenever" he said with a wink before running off flamboyantly to his taxi and waved from inside as it drove off.

Everyone started laughing, they should've expected it from him but George was literally speechless. The poor guy.

He looked up at Rossi who wiggled her eyebrows at him suggestively, "so what do you think?" She asked. She was Jonny's wing girl after all.

"Um...I'm flattered but I'm straight."

"Oh shit" Felix said out loud, trying not to laugh. He remembered how he felt when a guy hit on him before and was flattered but a little disorientated. He put his hand on George's shoulder trying to be supportive, "it's cool man, Jonny just gets a bit excited so tell him you're straight next time, unless you want just pop into his flat randomly." George laughed at the idea, shaking his head. "Na, I'm good. I'll return the keys myself, lets go sing our hearts out now. I'm ready for it."

They all said bye to one another again and were off to enjoy themselves.