Damsel in Control (18+ Only) - The Rogue Pack

Chapter 22

It's just a friendly dinner with a nice colleague. Aida is right, yet I can't shake the nervousness. It's been eating away at me since I agreed to do this, distracting me at work and filling my mind with daydreams of what this evening will be like. In one particular enactment of the scene, I was lying snuggled up with Alice under a blanket as we watched a film, my arms wrapped firmly around her. In another we were sat eating our homemade pizzas, yet we weren't hunched over on the sofa as I would expect is usual for a girls' night, we were seated at a nicely set table complete with romantic candles and soft music playing in the background. Not that I expect either of those things to happen, but both of those images, as they rose unbidden whilst I was lying in bed at night, had only served to worsen my nerves, whilst simultaneously filling me with excitement at the prospect of the evening to come.

Finally reaching the front door, I psych myself up, rapping sharply on the door with my knuckles, before my nerves make me rethink this whole evening. As I wait, my brain fills with random worries. Suddenly I'm questioning my choice of outfit - the flowy chinos suddenly feeling too fancy, even though I had chosen them because they are more comfortable than jeans - wondering whether my lack of make up makes me seem under dressed - even though I am only here for a pizza night with a friend - and suddenly annoyed that I didn't think to invite Maria to this as well - just to have someone who might act as a buffer.

Before I can continue to question other aspects of my existence, Alice is at the door. She looks radiant in a large flowy skirt and cute cropped jumper that stops just above her waistband, emphasising her hourglass figure. The outfit is complete with comfy looking socks, and she looks both adorable and incredibly elegant. I swallow harshly before I am able to smile, but she doesn't seem to notice as she pulls me into a hug. Extricating myself before I get lost in the feeling, I produce a bottle of Baileys from behind my back.

"A little gift for you. Although slightly selfish as it's my way of making sure we get those hot chocolates you promised." Alice giggles as she leads the way into her house.

I slip my shoes off in the entrance hall, then pad softly after her, my soft socks almost silent on her tiled kitchen floors.

"Don't worry, I could never forget your hot chocolate." She turns to me with a cheeky look on her face before swiping a matching bottle of Baileys from her fridge. We both break into a fit of laughter, giggling away like lunatics in her otherwise silent kitchen. Almost instantly she has managed to make me feel at ease, and I feel some of the tension leave my shoulders.

As Alice serves up a very tasteful selection of crackers and cheese with various chutneys and I once again feel a hint of that nervousness. Then, when she brings out the wine, my nerves seems to heighten and I feel properly on edge as at the back of my mind I realise just how romantic this entire situation is. The darkened room with the mood lighting emanating from her selection of candles, the soft jazz she's set playing from one of her small speakers, the fire flickering in the grate of her chimney... It's all the perfect romantic scenario as if I was on the film set of a rom-com. Yet despite it all, Alice doesn't alter her happy, cheery mood, giving me no sense of the anxiety that I am feeling. I can't work out how to act. If she were a man that I'd wanted to sleep with, I would have been flirty and charming, with an added hint of being way too touchy-feely. If it had been Lina I would have been loud and boisterous, my girly self complete with jokes and laughter. Realistically, this is closer to the latter situation, but what's really making me nervous, is that I'm feeling a strange urge to act as I would in the former.

Eventually, my nervousness seems to become evident to Alice who, sighing, puts down her glass of wine.

"You seem really off Reyna, are you ok?" I pull my face into what I hope resembles a reassuring smile.