VALERIE

Chapter 26.6: Strike Two

“Hey, how are you Sophia?” Eleanor greets her with kisses on both cheek but I immediately sit on one of the chairs, not totally enthralled with the idea of having all girls dinner with her.

“I’m good.” Sophia replies and both of them finally sit on their respective chairs. Eleanor is next to me and Sophia is across from us. There is one vacant seat on the booth, that’s supposed to be occupied by another one.

“So, what did you do today?” Eleanor asks her as all three of us start to scan the menus of the restaurant. Her eyes move from the top of the menu to the bottom and she glances at Sophia. I focus on my own, not even giving importance to what Sophia might answer. I can literally eat everything in here—everything sounds enticing.

“Well, Liam and I went to the zoo in the morning and we grab lunch together before he headed to the studio.” I hear her say and I mutter a ‘classic’ to myself, rolling my eyes.

“Great. So did you enjoy the zoo?” Eleanor asks her again, placing the menu on the table in front of her.

Of course, she did. She saw her relatives, didn’t she? I thought to myself and I don’t mean to chuckle audibly, which made them look at me incredulously.

Sophia doesn’t mind me and she turns her head to answer El, “Yes, I did.” She smiles at her.

Thought so. I chuckle again, quietly this time.

Shortly after, a waiter approaches our table and asks for our orders. He takes note of everything on his small pad and leaves after ensuring he got them all jotted down on his pad.

The two girls continue chatting while waiting for our orders without minding my silence, but El glances at me once in every while and I smile to ensure her that I’m fine. I just cast down my head on to my lap, scrolling through my phone, replying to some texts and e-mails.

“Danielle?” I hear Eleanor say with a surprised tone before I snap my head and trail her sight to the curly brunette who is now approaching our booth. I grin at her immediately and stand up next to Eleanor. She steps out of the booth to the centre aisle and pulls Danielle in a tight embrace. “Oh my gosh, Dani! I can’t believe you’re here.” El hails at Danielle and I walk around my chair to approach the two hugging girls. Danielle grins at me after pulling away from El, stretching her arms forth in front of me and I walk forward to crash her with an embrace too.

“I missed you so much.” I tell her as I squeeze her against me, sniffing her lavender scent cologne.

“I must say,” She says as we both pull away, our hands are still on each other’s shoulders, “I missed you too, sweetie.” And we both laugh.

“Come on, Dani. Sit.” Eleanor pursues as she sits down on her previous seat. I tug Dani’s hand and guide her to the chair next to Sophia, whom I can only guess is beginning to feel awkward with the current situation. I mentally smirk at the thought. To think, I was the one who invited Danielle over and I’m just so lucky that she isn’t busy when I texted her before we came here.

“Dani,” I stare at her and motion my hand to Sophia. “This is Sophia. Sophia, this is Danielle.” I glance at Sophia and point my hand to the girl standing next to me. They both smile at each other—Sophia awkwardly grins at Danielle, barely able to meet her eyes while Danielle wears a confident smile as she sits next to her. They both shake hands and I now go back to my chair.

I feel a pair of piercing brown eyes staring at the side of my head but I ignore it. I know Eleanor thinks I invited Danielle over, and she knows I did it to make Sophia feel awkward throughout her last evening before she goes back home. Bingo!