Adam arrived at the restaurant before Elle did. He called her from his car when he arrived and she had just finished getting dressed.
"I"ll go in first then?" Adam asked.
"Sure, sure." Elle replied as she struggled to get her hair to cooperate with her. "I"ll take a cab there so I can drive us back in your car. Drink freely tonight."
"You don"t have to do that."
"But I want to." Elle insisted.
"Just get here safely." Adam said with a faint smile.
After hanging up the call Adam made his way into the restaurant and walked straight to the back to the private dinning room his group had reserved. Even from the hallway he could hear the over-excited banter of his friends.
"If you don"t keep it down they"re going to kick us out." He said as he walked into the room.
"Adam! You made it!" Marcus exclaimed as his friend entered.
Marcus wasn"t the only one excited by Adam"s arrival. Amelia was sitting at the far side of the room chatting with the girlfriend of one of the guys in their circle when he entered. Her head snapped towards the door at the sound of his voice.
"Why don"t you take a drink over to him?" Susan, the girl Amelia had been in the middle of conversing with, offered.
Amelia had enough sense to flush slightly at the hint.
"Oh, please," Susan teased, "You may think you hide it well but it"s so obvious to anyone that spends enough time with the both of you. It"s written all over your face the second that you see him. Besides, it"s Adam. Every girl in the city has a crush on him. It would be more strange if you didn"t like him."
"Do you think he"s noticed?" Amelia asked as she looked backed over at Adam who was having a whispered conversation with Marcus.
"Probably not. He may be Adam Hayes but at the end of the day he"s still just another guy. They can be so dense you know. Which is why you should take some initiative and offer him a drink."
So Amelia gathered up her wits and approached them.
"Where"s your girlfriend?" Marcus had been asking Adam in a low voice. "Didn"t you bring her? I thought I"d finally get the change to talk to her properly."
"She"s coming. She"s probably on her way by now." Adam answered as he glanced down at his watch.
Just then Amelia approached them. "Adam, you made it. I thought you might not come." She said, carefully inserting herself into the conversation.
"You know how Andrew gets. It would be a bigger pain to deal with the fallout than to just attend."
Amelia laughed, maybe just a little bit more than the joke actually warranted. "You"re right. He is oddly sensitive about those things. Since you"re here now why don"t you have a drink?"
"Thanks." Adam took the gla.s.s from her and walked off towards the others, leaving Marcus and Amelia standing alone.
"And where"s my drink?" Marcus jokingly asked.
"I can get you some water if you like." Amelia countered.
Marcus chuckled. "I like you Em. You"re a smart girl. You should find yourself a good partner now that you"re back in town. Finally settle down." He said almost pitifully.
For a second Amelia was paralyzed by fear. "Does he know?" she wondered. But she quickly recovered herself. "No of course he doesn"t. He can"t."
"It"s been a while since I heard that old nickname." She commented. "Thanks for your concern but you really ought to focus on yourself first. You"re too silly. At this rate you"ll never find someone." Amelia said it lightly, trying to keep the same joking tone they had used earlier.
Marcus glanced at her for a moment before finally shrugging your shoulders. "Perhaps you"re right." was all he said before he left to go join Adam and the others as well. Leaving Amelia to her own thoughts.
She wouldn"t admit it but Marcus had shaken her. As everyone settled around the room she didn"t have the confidence to try to get near Adam again, even though the seat beside him remained empty. Amelia spent the better part of the next few minutes arguing silently to herself.
"I have found a good partner." She thought angrily to herself. "I"m smart. Adam and I suit each other. We"d make a great couple and everyone knows it. I have a great relationship with his parents too. There"s nothing stopping us from being together."
Nothing but the girl who was already making her way through the restaurant.
Moments later Elle entered the room hesitantly. She was dressed in a comfy black sweater dress with her hair up in a pony tail and some light makeup on. Those who noticed her entry looked back and forth amongst each other, trying to figure out who her contact within the room was.
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"My girlfriend." Adam announced, introducing her with only two words. "Come here." He said, calling her over them.
Amelia"s world came crashing down around her as she watched the girl whom she had written off as no one so easily smile shyly as she took the seat next to Adam.