Lily
Date tonight :/
you sure about ths girl?
Shes still not here
C
The restaurant was beautiful, the tables were covered with a pale blue chequered table cloth matching those covering the windows, an incredibly elaborate candelabra falling from the swirly oceanic patterned ceiling. Charlie had never seen anything like it, the attention to detail in the design of the place was simply phenominal. Even the curtain poles were designed with the same watery pattern of the rest of the room. Everyone in the restaurant were eating quietly, murmuring to eachother in dulcet tones. Charlie sighed deeply and put his head on his hand, ignoring the stare he got from a waiter for putting his elbows on the table. He was sitting on a table on his own, and had already had to shoo away the waiter who had rather sharply informed him that his name was Pierre.
"Hello, terribly sorry I'm late! and you must be charlie" A hand was thrusted infront of his face and he glanced up to see the woman attatched to it. She had cropped short brown hair, dark brown eyes and freckles all over her face. Her nose was long and bent in the middle and her mouth seemed to large for her face. He looked down at the photo that Lily had given him and struggled to find the resemblance. He awkwardly shook her hand and offered her a seat.
"Abby?" he asked, squirming internally "Abby Green?"
She nodded and took a seat. Charlie waved over Pierre who rushed towards him with menus in hand. They took one eat and he walked away again, leaving them to make their choice.
"The fish pie looks tasty, what do-" Charlie was cut of by a sudden interruption from his date
"Sorry I was so late, its just that I was at work, at the law firm, and there was this woman who wanted to get a divorce, dont you hate that- I think marriage is for life and if you love someone you should stay with them forever no matter what, dont you? anyway, i'm going off topic there was this woman filing her divorce papers and she filed them in the wrong place, and, it was really funny,my co worker Alan came up to me and just said-"
Charlie switched off at this point and started flicking through the menu one more time, trying to decide what to order. The fish pie looked good, but so did the lamb shank. Glancing up at Abby, he noticed she was still jabbering away so he looked down again, dispairing internally.
"So I was really shocked because I though, thats really not fair, you know! What do you think?"Abby paused for breath and looked at Charlie indignantly, awaiting his response. "Its not fair of someone to put you on the spot like that is it?" Charlie gulped. "Were you even listening to me?"
"of course... of course I was listening to you! You were saying about... about... you were talking about being put on the spot by... I'm sorry, I've got to go and quickly make a phone call" Charlie jumped up from the table and speedwalked towards the mens rooms. Quickly dialing, he put his phone to his ear.
"Hello!" Lily cheerily answered the phone, unaware of the awkward and irritating situation she had put her friend in
"I cant believe you Lily" he groaned down the phone "do you have any idea how awful this date was?
Lily's laugh sounded broken up as it crackled down the phone "Just give it time charlie! What happened?"
"She wont stop talking and-"
"You never stop talking either" she giggled again
"I mean literally. I think I'v said about 7 words since she got here! all she can talk about is her silly little law firm"
"Charlie?"
"Yes lily"
"Do you want me to save you"
This time it was Charlie who laughed out loud "Save me?"
"I'll come over and say theres an emergency of some sort, and that you have to go. Hows that?"
"That sound perfect!" he smiled "Now I'd better get back to my date, this emergency better not take too long!"
"It wont, I promise!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Charlie ate his fish pie in silence, having tuned out from the irritating conversation from across the table. He had worked out when to laugh and nod or shake his head to give the impression of interest. The food was delicious, though, even if the company left something to be desired. Where had lily got to? He had been waiting for ages and the disaster of a date didnt seem in any rush to leave unfortunately. His constant glances at the door had got him a few odd glances from Abby, as if to scold him for wishing himself elsewhere. Where was Lily, she'd promised she would come as soon as possible. Charlie saw a splash of red out of the corner of his eye and his heart skipped a beat, until he realised it was just an unfortunately spotty teenage boy with the same carroty/red hair. Sighing again, he skulked down into his chair. He kept his ears pricked up for sounds of his friend.
"He is at this table madam. Can I be of any assistance?" Pierre's speech broke through Charlie's daydreaming daze, and he looked up to see Lily there, standing behind the waiter looking concerned.
"No, thank you, I can handle it from here" Pierre nodded and walked away. Lily pulled out a chair and sat next to Charlie, taking his hand in hers. She took a deep, shuddering breath and looked at him. "Charlie- You'd better come quick. Your sister is in hospital" The sudden panic that Charlie felt in the believability of her story disappeared in that moment. He didnt have a sister. But with Lily acting so well, he'd have to keep it going.
"Oh no!" he said, jumping up "what happened"
"I dont know, I think she just fainted!" She replied "But you'd better come anyway!"
Abby coughed, drawing the attention back to herself. "I suppose you'll need a helping hand, a shoulder to cry on" she stated. "I'll take you down to the hospital" She grabbed Charlie's hand from Lily, which he promtly pulled away again.
"I'll be fine" he groaned "I'll call you"
And they stalked out of the restaurant, before Abby had time to realise that she hadnt given him her number. As they got into Lilys car, they breathed a sigh of relief.
"That" lily smiled "went surprisingly well"
