Page 25 of Three's a Crowd
Adam was waiting for them outside the restaurant when they arrived and they all piled inside, Zach speaking to the maître d’ and getting them taken straight to their table at the back.
Heads turned as they walked through the diners, but neither Zach or Lola reacted to the stares and whispers. Daisy wondered how they coped with being looked at as much as they were. It would drive her introverted-self insane.
Once at the table, Lola made a fuss about where they were being sat, complaining she could ‘see the bathroom door’ from where she was sitting, so Zach asked to move tables, which the staff kindly accommodated, but nothing, it seemed, was good enough for Lola. She spent the whole time complaining about the service and the lack of choice of good wines.
To Daisy’s disgust, Zach just let her rant on.
They managed to polish off three bottles of wine between them and by the end of the meal, despite Lola’s grumbles,Daisy found herself happily tipsy and entranced by Zach’s stories about his life in California. As he talked on, she found it increasingly difficult to drag her eyes away from him and only realised she’d been staring at him when Adam repeated a question that he’d asked her.
‘Daisy, I said do you want any dessert?’
‘Hmm?’ She was finding it a bit difficult to focus now. Her head was swimming. ‘No, no, I’m fine. I think I’ll just nip to the ladies though.’
‘I’ll come too,’ said Lola, to Daisy’s dismay.
‘Okay,’ she said, as brightly as she could manage, trying to manoeuvre her way out of the table without upsetting the glasses and plates. ‘I think it’s this way.’ She led Lola off in the direction of the bathrooms, trying not to stumble.
‘So,’ Lola said, turning to Daisy and blocking her way into the cubicle as soon as they got in there, ‘Zach tells me you two had a bit of thing at one time.’
Daisy was totally taken aback by her brazenness in addressing it like this. Were all Americans this confident? The thought made her feel ridiculously British and uptight.
‘What… what did he say?’ she asked, even though she knew. She was still hoping the two of them hadn’t realised it was her lurking behind that bookcase.
‘Oh, just that you were a bit besotted with him when you were younger and he thought you were sweet, but had to let you down gently.’ She smiled coolly at Daisy, the lie tripping off her tongue so easily.
Another excellent actor.
‘Did he?’ Daisy said, aiming for nonchalance, despite her rising temperature. She was aware that Lola was goading her, but she was damned if she was going to give her any kind of reaction. ‘Well, it was a long time ago when we were both veryyoung and stupid. Excuse me, I need to pee,’ she said pushing past Lola into a cubicle and shutting the door.
‘I can see why you fell for him, sweetheart,’ came Lola’s voice, floating under the door. ‘He is gorgeous. Great body. Exciting to be around. Spectacular in bed.’ There was a loaded pause. ‘I’m expecting him to propose any day now and I’m just gonna have to say yes.’ This was followed by a tinkling laugh.
Daisy’s stomach plummeted and her skin prickled all over, like she was being jabbed with pins.
Surely not.
She somehow managed to clear her painfully constricted throat and say, ‘That’s great, congratulations,’ in a jolly sounding voice, even though what she wanted to do was throw open the door and vomit all over Lola’s six-inch, designer heels.
After taking a moment to calm herself, she exited the cubicle to find Lola studying herself in the mirror, dabbing her lips with a tissue.
‘Want some lipstick?’ she asked Daisy. ‘It would really brighten your face up. You’re a pretty girl. You should make the most of your looks.’
Daisy was so taken aback by the passive-aggressive dig that she just stood there gawping at her for a moment, before pulling herself together.
‘No thanks,’ she managed to struggle out.
Keep calm and ignore her, she told herself,she’s probably feeling insecure about your past with Zach. But as Lola shrugged and turned to leave, Daisy couldn’t stop herself sticking her middle finger up at her back. Even though she knew it was childish, it made her feel mildly better for a moment.
When they got back to the table, Lola leaned down and gave Zach a long kiss on the lips before sliding in next to him and draping her arms possessively around his shoulders.
Daisy smiled at Adam as she sat back down and he returned her grin, adding in a grimace and the smallest of jerks of his head towards where Lola sat, wrapped around Zach.
So she wasn’t the only one to find her annoying. The realisation warmed her. Good old reliable Adam. At least he was on her side.
After what seemed like an eternity, and another bottle of wine, they finally paid for their meal, splitting it two ways between each couple, Daisy trying not to let her eyes water at the cost. When Adam suggested they take the Tube home, Lola looked aghast. ‘In these shoes!’ she exclaimed. So, a taxi it was.
Daisy got the impression she was used to always getting what she wanted, though incredibly, even this win wasn’t good enough for Lola and she complained loudly all the way back about how badly the cab smelled and how she always travelled in limos ‘back home’.
Daisy covertly rolled her eyes at Adam and he just smiled patiently back at her.
