✅🎊✂️ Hypnosis Won't Take Me There!! [alternative cut]

Chapter 408: Expectations

The inside of the restaurant was stylish and elegant. It seemed to Belle there were two ways to go if a place wanted to appear up-market. They could be old-fashioned and steeped in tradition, with wood panels everywhere and low lighting, the whole venue suffused by a thin fog of ambience. Or they could be modern and chic, everything in white or chrome. A distinct image that took a few elements and repeated them everywhere. Britney Wakefield had once told her way more than she wanted to know about the theory behind those designs in response to a casual comment, and today she was entirely sure which kind of venue she was in. From the outside, it might not have been exactly clear. But the tables were set on three levels of balconies around the walls, looking down over a bar in the centre. The bar had servers facing in all directions, and in the middle of it was the bottom of a water feature, sparkling drops cascading down the outside of a mirror and crystal column to create a million rainbows. The decor was stark black and white, but all curved lines that somehow contrived to make it feel more homely than deco.

There was a guy in a dark blue suit showing each new arrival to their table, manning a podium at the front of the building while he waited for each new arrival. Down there, in the lobby, was the only trace of wood or red velvet in the whole building, but it somehow tied the feel of a traditional Italian restaurant with this modern interior.

The staff didn't lead them to a booth. He just muttered a few words, and gestured with one hand. Reg smiled and nodded, whispering his own thanks in a manner so casual that he had to be a regular visitor. Belle saw him gesture towards her with his other hand, and felt a moment's anxiety. Was she intruding on a regularly scheduled date night? The uniformed gentleman didn't look perturbed, but maybe just a little surprised. He nodded, and responded confidently. Belle wasn't exactly a regular visitor to establishments of this type, but she knew how things were likely to go. And she knew that they would be expected to adapt to the whims of customers who would pay as much for one meal as Dean normally spent on the weekly grocery shopping. And she couldn't decide in her head whether it meant she was a reluctant addition to the party, this was just a last-minute request for an additional place setting, or if there was something else she wasn't a party to.

The booth was small but somehow seemed spacious, with a mirror above them that allowed a better view of Frog Nancies's water feature without allowing anyone else to look in at them. It was like having a private room, with all the cutlery and glasses already laid out. On each side of the table was a set of silverware, with two knives and two forks as well as a couple of spoons that Belle didn't know the names of. Each place also had a water glass, a side plate, a little butter dish and a knife, and an ornately folded napkin on top of a simple but recognisable origami ship which appeared to be a menu printed on black gloss card.

The third place setting, out of sight of the booth entrance, was completely different. There was still a selection of forks and spoons in different colours of plastic, as well as a large paper mat which would presumably make it easier to clean up any spilled food. The menu wasn't all glossy, but instead a large spread of plain paper with bold, cartoony images of pizza slices, grilled cheese, spaghetti bowls, and a few things Belle couldn't make out from this angle. It also seemed to have pictures of horses at play just begging to be coloured in, as well as a wordsearch and a simple spot-the-difference puzzle. To the right, where the adult place settings had a pair of knives for their starter and main course, the child had a small box of six crayons.

Belle stopped and stared at the booth entrance. She stopped, turned her head back to Vicky, and tried to ask what the hell was going on here. She'd come here to talk, not as part of some weird fantasy for the couple. And she was sure she wasn't ready to a baby here, when she didn't even have appropriate clothes. She hadn't even considered that they might expect her to act like a child, and the only concession she'd made just in case was the little whiteboard nestling in her purse. She tried to protest, but she couldn't find the words.