Page 21 of Once Bitten, Twice Fried
“I tried to! It went very badly. It’s gonna be me on my own.”
“Isshecoming with a plus one?”
Julie sighed. “I don’t know! I don’t know anything! I tried to not ask anything about her to Yasmine because I didn’t want to get too interested in her, but then it had the opposite effect. I know that she’s engaged to a famous actor but I have no clue if he’ll be there.”
“A famous actor?” Claire raised her brow. “Like, a famous Belgian actor?”
“No, a famous British actor.” Julie suddenly realised that she hadn’t told Claire any details about Zoe. “My girl’s quite famous. It’s Zoe Lang. The British celebrity chef.”
“Are you joking?”
“I wish I was.”
Claire rubbed her face with her hands. “Of all the Julie things that happened, this is the most Julie thing.” She looked at Julie with terror in her eyes. “You can’t do this. She’s a hot famous person who’s engaged to another hot famous person. I’m sorry, you’re my friend and I love you, but this is a whole other level.”
Julie nodded slowly. “I think if she talks to me tonight, I’m going to instantly turn into a puddle. I already had a crush on her back when she was a nobody but now with her star power, I can’t really compete.”
Claire grabbed Julie’s shoulders. “Listen. I think the best way for you to not get hurt is to avoid her. Just say the strict minimum amount of words to her. Nod politely. But oh god, I really don’t want to be in your position right now.”
“Do you think that’s a good plan? Avoiding her?”
“Do you think you can avoid absolutely falling for her if you just behave normally around her?”
“There’s a chance that she might be an awful person who’s very condescending and mean to me and then I would get instantly over her.”
Claire looked sceptical. “You really believe that?”
“No!” Julie stretched her face with her hands in horror. “Yasmine told me she asked about me and that she was excited to hang out with all of us again. She seems so nice!”
“Julie, you’re so doomed.”
“Thank you, Claire, for your sage advice in these troubled times,” Julie said sarcastically.
“Look, if I had better advice for you, I’d give it. But this is above my friend-pay grade.”
* * *
Julie’s palms were sweaty as she hurried towards the restaurant to meet Yasmine and her fellow hen party-goers. Of course, shewas late again. But she had a good excuse: she’d been picking up the hen do shirts from the printing shop. Yasmine didn’t know that the party was starting tonight already. She was currently enjoying dinner with her group of bridesmaids and friends and still thought that it would only start the next day. Julie would then barge in with the t-shirts and declare the party started.
The cobblestones of the Brussels city centre streamed under Julie’s feet. She started counting them to get her mind away from the sheer sentiment of panic that had settled in her entire body.
“Hey! Careful where you‘re going!”
Julie lifted her head to see that she had bumped into a very unimpressed man. “Oh sorry! I didn’t see you, I was looking at the stones.” Julie’s social skills were gone tonight.
“Clearly!” The man walked away while staring down Julie. “Why is this place always full of weirdos?”
Julie stopped for a moment, realising that she was standing in the middle of theGrand Placeof Brussels. Its mediaeval buildings were looking down on her and she felt very small. Like a speck of dust in the universe. In the grand scheme of things, none of what happened between Zoe and her really mattered, did it? She stood for a minute more before accepting that cynical realism was pointless to her tonight. Her hands hadn’t stopped sweating and the bag of t-shirts she was holding kept slipping from her grip. Julie headed towards the restaurant.
She followed the cobblestone streets straight to a large boulevard and crossed it. She could see the bistro they were all at. Just a few steps more and she’d be in the same room as Zoe. Julie had gone to the hairdresser this week and taken an hour to get ready for the evening because of her. She felt so restless as her hand touched the door of the restaurant. She peered around before seeing the large table of people sitting at the back of the hip bistro.
Wait.
Julie couldn’t see Zoe at the table. She couldn’t see an empty chair either. A feeling of relief and longing flooded her at the same time. But Julie’s nerves immediately got better. Zoe was a famous person, probably she had better things to do than hang out with a bunch of Brusselers on a Friday night. She briskly walked towards the table, her full confidence back.
“I declare this hen do open!” She exclaimed, throwing t-shirts at every hen around the table.
The entire mood of the table changed instantly, just as she’d planned. Everyone was shouting and cheering. Yasmine was immediately laughing so hard, she was nearly in tears. A woman sitting next to her - Marion, a colleague of Yasmine’s - stood up and started recording the scene on her phone. Another hen - Leila, one of Yasmine’s cousins - was holding her t-shirt spread out and roared with laughter when she saw that there was Yasmine’s face printed on it and “TeamMariée”written above. Julie was grinning as she walked around, taking in people’s reactions. Clearly, she’d done a good job with the t-shirts and now the evening was only going to get better. Her mind had drifted away from Zoe the minute she heard all of the happy shouts.
