The Love Pill

10. Dinner

But it was oddly charming. Freen greeted the waiter, handling him like an old friend.

Rebecca, this is my old friend Gio. Gio, my date. she introduced me, pulling me closer. He gave me a big smile, kissed my hand and made a little bow.

I'm so pleased to meet you, darling. he said, grinning and looking at me like I was the best thing since sliced bread.

'Thanks, it is nice to meet you too! I greeted. Gio kept staring at me, shaking my hand up and down, so 1 awkwardly coughed.

'Can I have my hand back?' I asked, hoping I wasn't impolite, but feeling very uncomfortable with him still holding my hand. He let go of my hand and started laughing, hands on his round belly, shaking uncontrollably.

'She's got spunk! Score, darling. He managed to say to Freen, still laughing and shaking his head in amusement.

After exchanging a lot of pleasantries, we finally walked towards our table. Freen pulled out my chair like a true gentlewoman and when we were seated, Gio brought us two glasses and a bottle of red wine. He opened the cork and gave us both a tasting sip. The wine left a nice zing on my tongue and felt warm in my throat. We both nodded in agreement, so Gio filled our glasses up and disappeared into the kitchen. Sipping from my glass I looked around for the menu, but I couldn't find any.

'Do you see a menu?' I asked Freen, feeling a bit stupid. She just smiled.

'There is no menu. Gio knows what you wanna eat. Freen said, pointing at the kitchen door.

'He "knows" what I wanna eat? I don't even know what I wanna eat, how would he know?' I asked, a bit skeptical. This was gonna be a disaster, I was a really picky eater.

'Yes, just wait, and see?

When Gio arrived with our food, it did smell delicious. He placed a bowl and a large plate on our table. In the bowl was a vegetable soup for Freen, filled with noodles, pieces of tender chicken and cut up greens. It smelled absolutely delicious.

But what I got was even better. On the plate, Gio made three sections. The first section, starting on the left, was a green landscape made from vegetables. In the middle, a beautifully seared steak, baked à point, exactly how I liked it.

The right side was an ocean of gorgeous, velvety cream sauce. I almost started drooling at the sight of it all. It looked beautiful and it tasted even better.

'I can't believe this. This is incredible. How come this place isn't run over by people?' I asked ecstatically, looking around. His restaurant was small, it had no more than 10 tables and could probably only fit about 25 people. And at the moment, Freen and I had the restaurant to ourselves.

'Gio only serves a select public. He loves giving so much attention to the food he makes. If it were full of people here, the quality would suffer. Freen explained.

I nodded. That made sense. Still, I would love to dine here again and hoped that she would take me, or that at least, Gio would let me back in.

'I love it here. I said, looking around. I had only been here for a couple of hours, but it already felt like home.

'Yeah, it's a bit like home. Freen agreed, saying exactly what I was thinking.

I smiled. 'Thank you for bringing me here.'

'Don't thank me yet, wait until you had dessert. Then you'll be thanking me. Freen grinned, winking, getting my cheeks to turn a nice shade of red. It had been a while since anybody treated me this nicely.

It was a nice adjustment for a change.

After dinner, we decided to take a walk and have a drink in a bar. As to toast on our good evening.

One drink quickly became two drinks. And two drinks became three drinks. And so on and so on. I stopped counting after 6. but we both much tipsier than we expected to be, decided we should leave the bar. But on our way home, we somehow ended up in a karaoke bar.

'Please, sing this song for me. I begged Freen, pointing at the screen, pushing a microphone in her hands. Freen grinned drunkenly, nodded and headed upstage. I couldn't hold my laughter, the song I picked for her was Womanizer by Britney Spears. She started singing, while doing some funny dance moves. After the song, she made a little bow, jumped off the podium and pushed the mic in my hands.

'Your turn, cutie. she said, pushing me on stage. Drunken me loved karaoke, so I waited for the song. And quickly, the tunes of NA KRUB (Dai Mai) filled the room.