Pen Pals

Three

I raise my eyebrow as I have a seat. What's that supposed to mean? But instead of dwelling on his words, I try to forget about it and enjoy our date. After all, it's not often that an extremely attractive, and rich, young male asks me to dinner; I definitely don't want to ruin my chances. We slide into a booth sitting across from one another but the table is close enough that I would be able to touch his head with no problem. "So Clementine what exactly are you doing in Jupiter?"

I look up from the glasses of wine I was sipping and into his pale blue eyes. I open my mouth to answer but then ponder for a few moments. I could tell him the watered down version or the truth, and pathetic, reason I'm here. "Oh my aunt needed a stage manger so I decided to come down for the summer. See how I like it." I take a long swig of the alcohol after I finish my somewhat lie.

Dandy lays his hand over mine and softly squeezes my fist with a wide grin. "How sweet of you to help your aunt," he says with a high-pitched voice. I nod my head and then turn around to see where the waiters are. I can't find anyone so I decide to bring a new topic to discuss.

"This is so sweet of you Dandy. I can't believe...well, no man has ever done anything like this for me," I mumble and feel my cheeks turn rose.

His lips curve upward and his eyebrows dip low. "That's because no guy is nearly good as I am." I chuckle at his slightly narcissistic attitude. "Oh darling, you're so adorable. Innocent and all." I force a half smile on my face to hide my uncomfortable demeanor.

Just in time to save me from awkward questioning, the waiter arrives with a tray of seafood hors-d'oeuvres. The man places it in the middle of the table, refills our wine, and walks away without a word.

Before I can speak about the delicious looking food, Dandy spoons most of the sautéed scallops, cocktail shrimp, and crabmeat onto his plate. I nibble at what's left and watch as Dandy feeds himself. "So, what brings you to Jupiter?" I ask and put emphasis on 'you' while patting my mouth with the handkerchief.

"Oh just visiting Mother. She's quite old now. So sad really. I pity her greatly," he says with a mouth full of food.

"Is she sick?" I ask in a low tone.

"Oh no, just lonely. So pathetically lonely. My father left her for a younger woman many years ago. The poor hag hasn't had any luck with other men."

I nearly choke on the expensive meal when he utters the last sentence. Who would dare call the woman who gave him life such an ugly word? Instead of pointing that out I just nod. "My father passed away when I was four. I don't remember much about him other than he was a hard working man."

Dandy looks up into my eyes and smiles. "I pity your living situation so much. I can't imagine being...poor." He still sits in his seat, grinning at me as if what he just spoke wasn't offensive. "Don't worry, when you're mine I'll make sure you never have to work another day in your life." He completes his offensive statement with an overly happy smirk.

Just as I'm about to spew anger, the waiter walks up to the table with our entrées. He places a filet mingnon, potatoes, and asparagus in front of each of us with yet another refill on the wine. I stare in awe at the food that I've only heard about from my girl friends that have rich boyfriends. "This is..." I drift off thinking of a word perfect enough to describe this meal.

"Mediocre!" he shouts. I drop my fork on my plate that was about to enter my mouth and furrow my brows.

"Wha-what?" I murmur in fear that the staff has heard him.

"My dear old mother could have cooked up a better meal than this...this garbage!" I look around to make sure no one can hear him yelling because this is mortifying.