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“Lovely’s not the adjective I was going for.”
“Hot, then,” she says. “Not as hot as Saxon, obviously, but pretty good.”
We both laugh. “You two go in,” Kip says. “I’ll wait for her out here.”
“All right.” I lead Catie inside, smile at the waitress, and give her our name, and she asks us to follow her, taking us through the restaurant. It’s decorated to look like a ranch with lots of exposed wooden beams and a casual, fun decor, but the food is great, and we eat here a lot. The waitress takes us to the best table in the place, away from the front door so there’s no draught, the other side of the central path to the tills and bathrooms so people aren’t walking by, against the window looking out over the harbor, and with the best view across the restaurant. Kip’s doing, no doubt, as he booked it.
We take our seats across the table from each other, and accept the menu from the waitress. “We’re just waiting for the other two,” I tell her.
“No worries. Can I get you a drink?”
“I’ll have a Coke Zero please. Catie?”
“Same for me please,” she says, her voice a squeak.
The waitress nods and goes off. Catie blows out a breath. “I’m so nervous. Almost as nervous as Kip.”
I laugh. “He’s not nervous. He never gets nervous.”
“I thought he looked it. He’s only spoken to her on Tinder?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s her name?”
“Alice.”
She’s facing the front door, and she looks out at where he’s still waiting, looking at his phone. “I haven’t used Tinder. How do you indicate you’re only looking for sex?”
“You can put ONS in your bio.”
“ONS?”
“One-night stand. FWB—friends with benefits, that kind of thing. To be fair, I don’t know if that’s only what he’s after. We don’t discuss that kind of thing.”
“I thought you discussed everything.”
“Not feelings. We are dudes.”
She gives a short laugh. “You said you didn’t think he was looking for love.”
“I was being facetious. I’m sure he’d be open to something long term, but it’s going to be hit and miss finding the love of your life on Tinder, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, because we all know that one-night stands never work.”
I give her a wry look. She smirks. Then her eyes widen. “Oh, do you think that’s her?”
I turn in my seat and follow her gaze. A woman is standing a few feet away from Kip, her hands in her pockets. She’s blonde, with her hair pinned up in a bun a bit like Catie’s. She looks early-to-mid-twenties, and she’s wearing a cream sweater, dark jeans, and a thigh-length gray coat, a kind of relaxed office attire, very classy. Oh my. He’s going to like that.
He’s still looking at his phone, and we watch as she studies him. I can see she’s breathing fast, and she swallows, takes a deep breath, and blows it out slowly, shakily. Her eyes are wide, as if she can’t believe what she’s seeing. She must have seen a photo of him on his profile, but I guess everyone worries it’s not going to reflect the person in real life. We’re not bad looking, I suppose. Hopefully she’s not disappointed.
“She likes him,” Catie says. “That’s a good start. Come on Kip! Put your phone down!”
He looks up, straight at Alice, and the two of them stare at each other for a moment. Then he puts his phone in his pocket, laughs, and says something, and she laughs back. Good, make her smile right at the start, nice one, bro.
“This is better than TV,” Catie says as we watch them exchange a few words. “I feel like I’m intruding, but I can’t look away.”
I turn back as he finally gestures to the restaurant, and she hastily drops her gaze to her menu. We try not to laugh as we pretend to study the options.
