Page 69 of Romeo & Antoinette

“Yes yes of course. Another time. I’ll make sure of it.”

Patrick turned to go.

“No no no.” Mrs Cap held him in place. “You must stay. Just for a little while.”

“Um…”

“I insist. Just for a little while. One drink. Come inside.” She had a death grip on his arm. “One drink. I insist. Nikki, get Patrick a drink.”

Romeo turned the knob and opened the door. It was her. He blinked twice. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

“What are you doing here?”

“You invited me.”

He grinned and said, “Yes. Yes I did. Glad you changed your mind.”

Ant smiled at him.

“You wanna come in?”

“Yes. Yes I do,” she said.

Mrs Cap maneuvered Patrick over to the couch in the family room and sat him down. Nikki followed them in, with drink in hand.

“Thank you,” Patrick said, accepting the wine glass.

“Nikki, I’ll have one too please. Go on, taste it,” she said to Patrick excitedly. “It’s my favorite.”

Patrick politely took a sip. It was bubbly and sweet.

“Don’t you love it? Moscato! It’s my absolute favorite.”

“Yes, It’s very good. Thank you. You know, I really should be going.”

“Nonsense,” she said, with a chuckle. “I mean, it’s not like you have anything else to do right?” She took his hand in hers. “ And again, I am so sorry about the mix up tonight. Really.”

“It’s okay.”

Nikki returned with a glass for her aunt. She probably could have brought herself one too, but instead she slugged a good five or six ounces straight out of the bottle while she was in the kitchen. The bubbles made her burp. She hoped Patrick hadn’t heard.

“Thank you sweetheart.” Mrs Cap took a sip of her favorite bubbly and smacked her lips contentedly. Then she said, “Hey, I’ve got a great idea. Why don’t you go out with Nikki tonight?”

“Oh, I don't know,” Patrick said, placing his glass on the coffee table.

“Yes. It’s a great idea,” she said, doubling down. “Nikki? Would you like to go out with Patrick tonight?”

Of course she would. That’s exactly what Nikki wanted. But what she said was, “Oooh… I don’t know. I was going to wash my hair and I’ve got some old magazines I’ve been meaning to go through for, like, forever.”

Mrs Cap scrunched up her face and gave Nikki her best are you crazy look. “Nonsense. She’d love to go out with you.”

“I suppose we could do something tonight,” Nikki added, while pretending to distractedly pick lint off her pants.

“Great! Then it’s settled.”

Patrick started to say something. Then he stopped. He looked Nikki up and down and weighed his options. “Well, I suppose there are worse ways to spend an evening,” he said agreeably.

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