Plot Twist

23. same page

We took in the view for a while, before I followed Sébastien as he led us to the restaurant. I couldn't believe it when I started to recognize where he was taking us.

The Coppa Club is famous just for the name itself, but its reputation in London goes beyond its name alone. The establishment has individual glass, see through pods - igloos, as they call it - outside of the main building, near the river, where you can eat with a dazzling view of the city, and of course, the Tower Bridge, one of the biggest landmarks of the city. The pods are carefully decorated with flower arrangements, candles, and they're heated too, which is just the cherry on top.

"Wow." Was all I managed to say when I sat down across from Sébastien, and looked around, and took it all in.

"Do you like it?"

"I love it." I replied, my voice soft as the words flew out of my mouth.

"Had you come here before?"

I find it funny that Sébastien would think that someone like me would have the means to actually have a meal at this restaurant, where a main course starts at twenty pounds. He sure knows Melanie, he knows the person sitting across from him, but he doesn't know her past. Not in great detail, at least.

The waiter came inside the igloo to serve us our waters, while he suggested some of their client-favourite wines. Sébastien asked him to bring the best they had.

"Not really." I said after the man, who couldn't be more than thirty, left us to be in our little bubble again. Literally.

"I must admit I was a little surprised when you suggested the date." Seb's shy smirk wasn't unnoticed. "But I was very glad nonetheless that you'd given me the honour to take you out for dinner and have the chance to talk."

I took another look around after taking a sip of the water that was probably just tap water, but they would eventually charge us for a Pellegrino bottle.

"I figured it was about time." I shrugged. "If you were going to make declarations of love, you might as well get to know me. It's only fair."

"I couldn't agree more." The shy smirk got exchanged for a cocky one. And I didn't hate it.

The waiter came back with the wine and the menu so we could choose what to order for dinner. We went with an antipasti board to share to start with and, not wanting to keep tonight's dinner too Italian, we avoided the pastas and the pizzas, and we both had the trout, one of the restaurant's specials.

By the time we were wrapping up on our bread by spreading some buffalo bocconcini on it, I was just starting to tell him my story, beginning with my complicated relationship with my parents.

"So, that's why you and your brother are so close?"

I nodded. "Very close."

The hardest chapter of my story was just coming, and I did feel shaky just thinking about talking to someone else about it, but I felt safe around him, and I felt like I could trust him with this piece of myself.

"When I was a teenager..." I looked at the twinkling city lights outside as I tried to recall my exact age when my life took a turn and my fate was altered forever. "I was probably around seventeen, I met Lexi's father, David."

God, saying his name instantly left a bad taste in my mouth.

In front of me, Sébastien stopped going on about the food's nuances of flavours and succumbed to silence, giving me all the time and space that I needed to touch on this subject, which he knew was particularly hard for me to talk about. And that gave me the courage I needed to keep on.