AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The room was a dark empty shell. The only colour in the room was the red pinstripe on the cream wallpaper. Over in the far corner, there were shutter doors, and to the other side of the room were double doors which I assumed lead to a kitchen of some description. Adrian was by the main door holding that pair of goggles. We’d both strayed in different directions to explore the vast room. After a few minutes, we circled back to come over to Adrian.
“Put these on,” he said to Adaline.
He held the goggles over Adaline’s head and stretched the back of the headset. Resting the headset over her head, he made sure he didn’t mess up her hair. Adrian was a diva, but he knew a good hairstyle when he saw it.
Adrian adjusted the strap while Adaline stood still, her arms were rigid by her side.
“Can you see anything?” I asked her, she didn’t answer, so I came up close and put an arm around her waist. She grabbed my other arm and held on tight. There was a slight tremor in her hold.
“Can you hear me?” I asked as I leant close to her ear. She nodded. “Can you see anything?”
“No, it’s a black screen.”
“Can you put these headphones in your ears? They’re brand new.” Adrian offered a pair of ear buds still in their plastic bag. Taking them from him, I unravelled the wires.
“I’m going to put ear buds in, ok?” I spoke into her ear.
“I think I’ll get dizzy of you do that,” she said, her voice faltered.
“I’ll keep you in a firm grip, I promise,” I said.
Putting the earbuds in each ear, I rested my body against hers so she could lean in and find her balance. Once she was all set. Adrian pressed a button on the side of the goggles. A smile graced Adaline’s lips.
“Oh, wow, this is amazing,” she said and moved her head around from left to right. Hanging onto my arm, she turned full circle, twice.
“Move her around the room,” Adrian told me. “She’s seeing the room all set up for a function, if you walk her around the room she’ll see all aspects of the room. The tables and stage. DJ platform and the serving stations around the side.”
Her mouth was wide with surprise and then she was grinning, holding out one hand as if to pick something up. She narrated her way around the room. There was a large stage at one end with a microphone in the centre with a table at the back with glass trophies. The tables had 1920s style lamps in the centre with a full set of glassware and crockery set up. When we reached the far end of the room, she told me there was a stocked bar with wine in buckets chilling on the counter top.
When we arrived back to Adrian, he was cracking a smile. I never thought I would see him without his grimace.
“That's amazing,” Adaline said in a rush of enthusiasm. Adrian grinned at her and then at me.
“We haven’t had the goggles long, but I love them. It gives you a sense of what the capabilities are for this room.”
“Is this how the room will look?” She asked Adrian, I had put the goggles on to have a look around. It was surreal. I thought I was in this gala ball they had used for this virtual tour.
“Yes,” he said. “If that's what you're looking for, we can change the colour scheme, and we can alter the arrangement of the tables, but that's how a function would look in this room. How many guests do you think we will be having for the event?”
“So far it's about a thousand people. How many can you fit in this room?”
Adrian was looking at Adaline, and she was fixated on his face. I felt a pang of jealousy even though I was sure Adrian was gay.
“Anything up to two thousand would fit in this room,” he said. “I’ve been the conference and banqueting manager at this hotel for over ten years and love the large Gala evenings. Is your charity thinking of having a theme?”
“I hadn’t given any thought to a theme, just a black-tie event to raise money. I won’t be attending on the night. I’m organising it as a favour for my best friend. Parties are not something I enjoy going to.”
I took the goggles off at that comment. Adaline wasn’t coming? I hoped that she’d be my date.
“Oh, how come?” Adrian asked.
Adrian took the words out of my mouth.
“Just don’t like them. Do you think we could do a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory theme?”
“I don’t see why not, let me come up with some ideas and email them across to you next week?” Adrian took the goggles back and hooked his arm through them. He ran through some basic details about entry into the hotel. They had a set of doors around the back of the hotel, with escalators to the first floor for this function room. He gave her a menu pack and choices from table cloth colours to chair design options. He took us through to the hotel bar, and we sat and drank coffee. Adaline relaxed, laughing at Adrian’s dry, sarcastic humour. I didn’t need to come, it seemed Adrian had found his manners. I’d paid attention to everything he said in case Adaline needed the information, but it looked like the pack she was handed had everything she needed. I had to find out why she wouldn’t come to the ball, especially after she had organised it.
We thanked Adrian for his time and left the hotel. We chatted as we made our way to the pier. She still wanted her ice cream. Adaline said she wanted a reward for meeting with Adrian, the diva queen. I paid for her mint choc chip ice cream. I held her handbag while she licked at her reward obscenely. It wasn’t fair I had to watch her poke her tongue out and lick up the melting drips from the cone and then her fingers. I wanted her to poke her tongue into my mouth and lick ice cream off my body.
