Cupid's Contract

Chinese Burn

Eve felt like she was trapped in the Twilight Zone. Whatever that meant. She had never actually seen an episode but the phrase was thrown around a lot.

Luke was blushing heavily. "I hope so," he simpered.

Eve had never seen a man simper before. It was uncomfortable to watch. Veronica seemed to love it though, because she was blushing back and Eve forced down the queasy feeling in her gut. For one the hospitality sector was on her side this time, as another waiter descended on their table.

She was considerably older than Luke and not half as attractive.

"Everything fine here? Are we all ok for drinks?" Her voice was sincere but there was a tightness to her face that made Eve wary. Angela, as her name tag announced, was a manager, and maybe not the nice Andrew kind.

Not that Andrew was nice.

"Perfect, thank you! We were just wondering if there were any nuts in either of our dishes? We never asked and I'm very allergic." Eve had gotten ridiculously good at thinking of her feet in the last few days, and she actually impressed herself a bit.

Veronica and Luke were impressed too, judging by their faces. Impressed and confused.

Eve did some simpering of her own, though hers was directed at Angela. "But Louis here was saying it's his first day, so he recommended asking someone more experienced?"

Angela did not look totally convinced, but her face relaxed a fraction. She glared down at the dishes on the table before her and frowned.

"We do not use nuts in our carbonara or lasagne dishes, a fact all of our waiters should be aware of."

"Oh, thank heavens, that is what Louis said, but I've forgotten my life saving drug doo-dad, you know that thing with the needle thingy? So I was probably pestering him more than was necessary. Entirely my fault. Thank you ever so much for clearing that up." 

What the heck were those things called? The ones that looked like pens but had something more potent than ink in them? The name was on the tip of her tongue.

"An Epipen, you mean?" Angela's scowl had fully formed now.

Right. Duh. Surely a severely allergic person would know that. 

"Oh, you've heard of them, have you? Fantastic. Well, look, I don't mean to be rude, but we really would like to continue our meal and I'm sure you both have more important things to be doing..." She made a point of shovelling her fork into the mound of sauce before her.

Grandma Roxy had taught her at a very young age how to get rid of people without blatant shoo-ing. A hint of flattery and a subtle push, and both 'Louis' and Angela smiled and backed away.

The millisecond they were far enough away, Veronica whispered, "I thought you said his name was Luke?"

Eve rolled her eyes and swallowed the creamy mouthful. "It is, but I didn't want Arsehole Angela to know we knew that. She didn't seem overly pleasant. I didn't want her to know that Luke was flirting with his customers instead of working on his first day."

Veronica's entire head turned pink. Eve suspected even under her light beige eye makeup there were crimson eyelids. "Flirting? He was flirting with you?" It came out strangled.

Eve's eyes rolled again, this time so hard that she barely lost vision at all. "Not with me, you dunce. Well, maybe he was at first, but then he saw you, didn't he?" The last part came out a little bit caustic, and she immediately regretted it.

Veronica's eyes had lowered and she was poking half heartedly at her own plate.

"Sorry, that came out weird. I'm having one of those weeks. He's lovely though, isn't he?"