I got out of the hospital the day after the accident. Scarlett and I had been messaging each other over the following days and arranged to go for dinner. It seems to have snuck up on me though. I feel like one of those people that panic buy at Christmas, you know the ones, they don't start shopping until Christmas eve and are always surprised when you tell them Christmas Is next week, like it doesn't fall on the same day every year?! Anyway, I digress. . .
"Danny!!!, Skyyyyy!!! Help me!" I shout through the house as i sigh out dramatically "I have NOTHING to wear".
"Are you really still freaking about this?" Sky asks as she walks in my room, eyebrows raising as she surveys the numerous outfits ive tried out and then subsequently discarded onto the floor.
"Oh shut up Sky, we can't all be cool as a cucumber like you. I'm pretty sure you were born chill!" I shoot back, I swear this girl could be held at gunpoint and she wouldn't break a sweat, in fact, she'd probably end up having a beer with the guy!
"Would you like some help?" She asks. No, no Sky I just decided to empty my wardrobe on the floor and go for a lucky dip outfit. What the hell do you think! I scream in my head, I do not have the balls to say that to her, I love her, she loves me, but I do not doubt that she'd kick my ass. "Yes, Sky, that would be awfully helpful" I deadpan as I fall backwards onto my bed.
"What's wrong with the outfit you bought specifically for this?" Danny asks. I shoot him a glare causing him to throw his hands up in defence. . .He just doesn't get it. It could've been the perfect outfit last week, but now I'm over thinking, so nothing looks good, I just need someone to take charge and give me a couple options to choose from, why doesn't he get this? Thank God for sky.
Danny and Sky spend the next few minutes pulling together 3 outfits for me to choose from. "That's it, that's the one", Sky says. "Yes, but change the shoes, let's go with the red heels instead of the black, give it a pop". Danny decides, handing me the red ones to try on.
Wow, he's right, I've got a fitted navy suit on, with a sheer black top, the red heels really do make it pop though, the jacket helps to cover up the cast on my arm, so i'm happy with that.. Now just for my necklace, earrings, watch and bag to accessories and I'm good to go.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you" I rush out excitedly, "what would I do without you 2?" I ask, genuinely grateful for them both right now. "Um, probably cancel dinner? Or go looking so bad that you'd wish you'd cancelled dinner?" Sky sasses back as she walks out the door, stopping to send me a cheeky wink. "I assume you're good to accessorise all on your own, or do you need mummy and daddy to help you with that too?" She chuckles and dodges the pillow I launch at her face. "You're lucky you helped me pick an outfit, and that I don't want to get it messed up right now, or I'd kick your ass!" I shout after her, feeling brave now she's not in the room. That is until I see her face peek round the corner of the door frame, all she does is raise an eyebrow at me. . . "Umm, I mean, thanks Sky, you're the best." I say nervously giving her a double thumbs up and sheepish grin, slowly moving behind Danny.
"Too easy" She chuckles as she flips her hair and walks off.
"Shut up you" I say as I slap Danny on the back of his head for laughing!
____________________________________
I'm meeting Scarlett at the restaurant at 7pm and I am way too nervous, I'm genuinely considering doing a couple shots to settle my nerves, but that would be bad right? I'm like a fricking teenager going on her first date right now. And this, this isn't even a date, it's just 2 almost friends going for dinner, where 1 fancies the other. Hold on, I'm living the cliché almost, you know the one, where the gay girl falls for the straight friend, pretty sure they always end in disaster too, especially when said friend is married!
____________________________________
As I enter the restaurant and give my name, I'm taken over to the table, I can see she's already there with a glass of wine in hand. Luckily I'm behind the waiter as my breath noticeably hitches and my steps falter when I set my eyes on her, she looks so carefree and happy. I quickly pull myself together and continue on just as she looks beyond the waiter to see me. "Early I see, you just couldn't wait to see me could you" I tease. Her whole face lights up at my banter as she stands up to greet me. I said my breath hitched before, that's compared to my reaction now she's standing. She's wearing a blush halter neck dress that stops half way down her thigh, her hair is thrown up in a loose top knot, and she has minimal makeup on but she still manages to make it all look effortlessly elegant.
By this point she's going in for the hug, which I'm thankful for as it covers up the awestruck look on my face right now, she looks beautiful, ethereal, alluring. God, all of the above, there is no way I would be able to cover the look on my face up if she was looking right at me.
"Something like that, you've got to make a good first impression when on a sacred dinner date, right? " She replies as she pulls back, her eyes taking me in. "You look amazing by the way, I am loving the suit".
"Why thank you, you're not looking too bad yourself. Who knew you could scrub up so well? Is that all for me, or have you got a hot date after dinner?" I ask cheekily, doing my usual, use banter and half compliments to hide the truth.
"Cheeky! I'll have you know that I always look this good, I just like to put a little effort in" She says sitting back down. "You're not all that special" She sasses with a small smirk playing on her lips.
"Oh, you wound me Scarlett" I say, dramatically clutching my chest as I take my seat in front of her. "And here I thought I was getting the whole Johansson experience tonight", I say as I pour myself a glass of wine.
Scarlett looks at me with her eyebrows raised, I think I surprised her with that one, oops. Reign it back in Harley!
"So, how's the arm?" She asks, changing the subject. Yup, I think I took it a little far there with the playful flirting. Oh well.
"Yes, the arm, I mean, it's still there. The cast is annoying, and my arm has never itched so much in my life, but it's healing so that's good". I ramble on, still thinking about the over step. "That's why I've gone for a suit tonight, I'm not sure this thing would go with any dresses" I say, lifting my arm up to show the outline of the cast.
"Yeah" She chuckles "I think you might be right there". At that, the conversation seems to die out. Well, this is more awkward than I thought it'd be, we'd been messaging and chatting quite a bit over the phone this past week, it's been effortless and not awkward at all. But put me face to face with her and suddenly I no longer know how to converse, I can think of nothing to say. Maybe we just said it all throughout the week?
"So, have you been here before?" She asks. Thank god she thought of something to say.
"Actually, I have, only the once though. Have you been before?" I ask, thankful for the conversation.
"No, I haven't, first time for me. I didn't really know where to go here, and wanted to try something different, it was actually Sarah who suggested here for dinner. You remember Sarah? From the party right? She was getting cosy with Danny when we were having dinner." She states, looking at me.
I take another sip of my wine as I nod my head at her, replying with a low hum, not really sure how to broach that subject at all, I'm just hoping I can just avoid it altogether.
She sighs lightly and continues, "so, when were you here before? Special occasion?" She asks. "Oh, um, yeah. It was a few months back now, I guess kinda on a date" I blurt out. Her eyes widen as she just looks at me, I return her gaze with a confused one, is she jealous I was on a date? I start getting a little excited at that thought.
"A, a date you say?" She asks gently. I knew it, she's jealous!
"Yeah, a date," I reply. She looks down, then back up at me as If having a mental conversation with herself, like she's trying to decide whether to say what she's thinking or not.
"So, um. When did you and Danny break up? Or did you have an open relationship or something?" She asks, looking right at me. There's no escape from her gaze.
Oh shit, oh double shit, I totally forgot. To her, I was Danny's girlfriend until recently and I've just said that I was on a date a while back. This is not good, this is bad, this is very bad. What should I do? Do I go with her suggestion of an open relationship, or do I say the truth? Maybe lie? I don't want her to think that I'm a cheater though. I try to weigh up my options as quickly as possible. I know she's waiting for my response, and it's been a few seconds of silence already. I take in a deep breath, knowing what I'm about to say isn't going to sound good, or paint me in the best light at all.
"Look, I didn't mean to say that. Can we just forget it?" I reply, cringing at how shady that came off.
"You mean that you went on a date behind Danny's back?" She asks, still her eyes haven't left me, and I realise, she isn't going to let it drop.
"OK, Look, I'm not proud of it, but yes. I went on a date behind Danny's back. Can we just drop it now please?" I plead
She leans back and crosses her arms "You're really going to go with that huh?" She asks. I furrow my brow in confusion "go with what?"
She thinks for a second, her eyes shifting back to her glass. "You're a good friend, you know that?". OK, not the response i was expecting. "What do you mean?" I ask. She raises her eyes to meet mine, swirling her wine around in her glass. "You were really going to let me think that you cheated on Danny? Even when you and I both know you were never together?" She asks smugly, placing her glass back on the table.
I shift uncomfortably in my seat "I don't know what you're talking about Scarlett".
She grins at that. "Yeah, you do. Do you really think your little half baked lie was believable at the party? Then couple that with the hospital story? Then me mentioning Sarah and Danny being close at dinner, you didn't even blink a that, he wasn't being subtle at all. No, I don't think you did cheat did you, you can't cheat on someone you never actually dated. Also, you're both terrible at lying, which is weird, because Danny is actually a really good actor". She muses.
I open my mouth to reply, but just as I do, I'm saved by the waiter. We take a couple minutes and order our food, thanking the waiter as he takes the menus.
"So, this date you went on, how did that pan out?" She asks.
"Well, I'm here with you aren't I?" I shoot back, leaving a beat before I continue. "It wasn't the worst date I've ever been on".
"That's it? That's all I get from you? Where's all the jucy details? Was he ugly?" She asks scrunching her nose. . . My god that was adorable! "Or, was his flirting game terrible? Oh, did he flirt with the waitress?" She continues trying to get something, anything out of me. I smile at her, chuckling a little as I shake my head at her antics.
"Come on. You know, Danny pretty much told me he lied about you being his girlfriend. He said he regret doing it because it's making it difficult to get to know Sarah. So you can tell me, I already promised him I wouldn't say anything, now I'm promising you". She tries. I stare at her, thinking on it for a second, apparently a second too long as she continues "come on, you and I both know that I won't give up, so you'll either tell me now, or tell me later, either way, you'll spill". I laugh at her confidence, although she's not half wrong, I'm caving as it is, i just don't want Danny to get pissed at me.
I let out a heavy sigh "Fine, but don't think this'll work every time you question me" I jokingly warn. . . Let's be honest for a second though, it totally would work, that smirk coupled with the nose scrunch and the piercing eyes, I'm like putty in her hands, I'm pretty sure she knows that too. God, I'm such a simp.
"So, it was a nice date, we had dinner, good conversation and we laughed, a lot. It was nice. We went for a walk around the park afterwards, just talking and getting to know each other. We might've seen each other a few times after that, but thats it." I say, not really giving much away, but enough to hopefully satisfy her curiosity. I chose my words wisely, making sure to never specifically say he, or in my case, it would've been she.
"Hmmm" She hums "you did say more, I'll give you that, but you didn't actually SAY anything. Let's try this again shall we?" She asks. This isn't fair, normally that works, I'm good at saying a lot without actually saying anything, normally people don't pick up on it, or if they do they let it go, but she's like a dog with a bone here!
"So, how did you meet?" She asks
"At a bar in the city, we had some drinks and danced a bit". I reply. I think i might like this game, the way she's staring at me with suspicious eyes, like she's noticing every little movement I make, it's hot.
"What's his name?" She asks
"No, their name makes no difference" I reply.
"So drinks and dancing, followed by a date? With all that alcohol consumed by you and I assume by him too, are you sure there was nothing. . . . In-between?" She asks suggestively. I scoff at her terrible attempts to subtly ask if we hooked up.
"If you want to know If we fucked, just ask" I reply, shrugging.
She purses her lips, arching her brows, perhaps taken aback at my bluntness. "Did you fuck him?" She asks.
I laugh a little, shaking my head, I wasn't sure if she'd actually come out and ask it straight like that , I'm a little impressed if I'm honest. I didn't think she had it in her. "Yes, yes we did fuck". I reply as nonchalantly as I can with a shrug.
This seems to have peaked her interest a little. "You know" she starts as she leans forward, resting one elbow on the table whilst her hand holds her face up, her other hand twirling her now full glass of wine around. "You keep skirting the main point in my questions. So I'll ask again, and I'd like you to answer it as if you were answering a question in an English test, you know the kind, 'describe the relationship between Lennie and George in of Mice and Men' and you'd respond 'the relationship between Lennie and George in Of Mice and Men was, bla bla bla" She says. "So, did you fuck him?" She asks. I laugh out loud at that, I see now, I see what she's doing. I cock a brow, taking a swig from my wine glass and look into her eyes. "I did not fuck him" I reply
She raises her eyebrows at me, "but you said th. . . ." She starts, but I raise my hand indicating that I wasn't finished talking, she stops and nods for me to continue. "Pretty sure you figured it out before we even got to this part of the conversation" I say, as I see the corner of her mouth tug upwards slightly. "Her name is Cameron, Cam." I say, avoiding eye contact, "and I did fuck her" I add on with a little smirk of my own.
Before she can comment any further, the waiter interrupts with our food.
We continue to make small talk during dinner. I ask how the filming is going, and how she's enjoying the house that she's renting for the foreseeable. We talk about the weather, and chuckle at how British that is. I then ask her to say "route" numerous times as I find the way Americans say it hilarious, that and aluminium.
Then I ask about her life back home, and her kids. Her eyes light up at the mention of them and she's happy to talk about them, their achievements and quirks, but not going into too much detail about their private life, which I totally get. I have however been skirting around the question I really want to ask, and we both know it. "Harley, just ask it" She huffs out.
"Ask what?" I feign ignorance. "The question we both know you want to ask" She says. "Oh, and what question would that be Miss Johansson?" I ask, trying to lighten the mood a little.
"You want to ask about Colin, about my marriage" she states, a little more snappy than I had expected. "Uh, no, actually, I had a much more important question than that, it's very personal though so I'm not sure if I should ask. . ." I trail off, sneaking a glance at her to see that I've caught her attention. She doesn't have to know that I really wanted to ask about Colin, she clearly doesn't want to discuss it, but I can improvise here, lighten the mood a little.
"Well, now I'm intrigued Harley, you're going to have to ask now" She says smiling.
"OK I'll make you a deal, I'll ask, if you promise to answer". She thinks on it for a moment, until she shifts in her seat, straightening herself up and looking over at me. "I'll answer your question, if you answer my next question" She bargains. Well fuck, my question really isn't personal, in fact it's just silly, I don't really care if she answers it or not, but now I'm going to have to agree. "Deal" I say. "I'll go first, the question I'm just dying to ask, is when do you think you'll be grown up enough to get a dog?" I say grinning. "It's the biggest step in any person's life, you can have a mortgage, a career, even kids, but thats all stepping stones to the BIG step, the puppy." I say, over exaggerating the whole thing as much as I can.
Her face softens as she stares right into my soul, or so it seems. "You're one of a kind Harley, do you know that?" She says, taking my hand on the table. I glance at our hands and then back up to her, I know I'm blushing, bit but I'm hoping I can play it off as the wine.
"Stop trying to avoid the biggest question of your life Miss Johansson, I was promised an answer" I sass at her.
She chuckles again, "well, Miss Rivers" she starts, copying my serious tone. "I'm not sure a dog is on the cards for me, I don't think I'll ever be grown up enough for that" She winks "besides, I'm not sure I'd be able to look after it between work and the kids" She adds, smiling at me.
"My turn" She all but squeals, pulling her hands back to her lap.
"Have you and Danny ever dated? Or slept together?" She rushes the question out.
I'm shocked at that question for a second, I didn't think that's what she'd ask, I thought she'd ask more about Cam, or about my dating life or sexuality, never about Danny, i'm a little confused on why she wants to know that.
"Honestly? No, we've never dated or hooked up. He's my mate, my best friend, and that's all" I state as a matter of fact, hoping she can see the honesty I'm trying to portray.
"Thank you" She whispers, lowering her head. "For what?" I ask, slightly confused. "Not asking even though we both know you wanted to." She whispers.
I reach over the table, placing my hand under her chin as I gently tilt her head upwards to meet my eyes "Hey, I never want to make you feel uncomfortable, if you don't want to talk about it, we wont" I whisper back, gently running my thumb across her cheek to catch the singular tear that fell. She leans into my hand slightly, "I'm getting divorced" She says sighing, "again" She says as she moves back, slouching in her chair. She suddenly looks so small and sad, the glimmer that was in her eyes has faded and her whole body language has changed. "I'm sorry" I say, hoping to some how ease her pain, yeah because saying sorry always helps, idiot. I admonish myself.
"You really are something Harley Rivers" she says with a smile.