Page 24 of One More Shot
I spot her almost immediately, even through the rapidly growing Friday night crowd. She’s sat at the bar sipping on a drink, her focus is locked on the phone in her hands. I wonder if she’s aware of just how many eyes she has on her currently.
The bartender keeps sneaking glances at her, looking like he’s debating asking for her number but can’t quite work up the courage to approach her, and both men on either side of her can’t seem to tear their gaze away. I don’t blame them.
Eliott is gorgeous.
You’d think my reaction to her would have dulled by now, that I’d be immune to the small smile that quirks her lips as she scrolls through her phone, that the sight of her,wearing a strappy vest that shows a delicious amount of skin, wouldn’t immediately fill me with the urge to run my hands along her warm skin to find out if it’s as soft as I remember.
And yet.
Every time I see Eliott, it’s like I’m seeing her for the first time.
I cross the distance between us and slide into the empty space between her and the guy next to her. She jolts slightly as my arm brushes against hers and looks up, meeting my easy smile with a slightly wary one of her own.
Hell, I’ll take it.
‘Dane,’ she says with a nod.
‘Glad to see you remember me this time.’
She cringes, her nose scrunching up in a way I can’t help but find disarmingly adorable. ‘I definitely deserve that.’
I’ve never been one for holding grudges and it’s easy to tell that her even agreeing to meet me tonight hasn’t been the easiest of choices for her. ‘Consider it forgotten.’
‘No, I owe you an apology.’ She huffs out a long sigh. ‘And an explanation.’
She doesn’t owe me anything if we’re being honest here, but the guy next to me shifts slightly in his seat and I’m suddenly acutely aware that we’ve got an audience. ‘You want to grab a table and get something to eat?’
She hesitates for a moment and then shrugs. ‘Sure.’
It takes us a couple of minutes to flag down a waiter and then we’re guided towards a secluded booth towards the back of the restaurant. As soon as the waiter shuffles away, having taken a quick order of some tapas to share between us, Eliott laces her fingers together and clears her throat. ‘Thanks for meeting me tonight.’
A bark of laughter bursts out of me before I even register the sound crawling up my throat.
Eliott narrows her eyes, suddenly on the defensive. ‘What?’
‘You’re just – You sound so formal,’ I explain, quite enjoying the way she scowls at me. ‘?“Thanks for meeting me tonight.” I feel like I’m about to be fired or something.’
‘Is that a conversation you’re familiar with?’
‘Not since I was sixteen,’ I say. There’s a long pause, and she cocks her head to the side, obviously waiting for me to elaborate. ‘I had a summer job posting leaflets through doors for this restaurant and, long story short, I got bored one day and just tossed all the leaflets in a bin, thinking that my boss would never find out.’
Her eyes light up and she immediately looks more like the person I met that night two years ago. ‘Is this going where I think it is?’
‘If you’re thinking that my boss called me in for a meeting the next day, casually unearthed a stack of leaflets and asked me to explain why she found them stuffed in a bin rightoutside the restaurant, then yes, it’s going exactly where you think it is.’
She laughs, and it’s the kind of laugh that can get easily stuck on repeat in your mind if you’re not careful. Warm and all-consuming, like the sun in sound form. ‘Why would you get rid of themoutsidethe restaurant?’
‘Fuck knows?’ I laugh. ‘I was sixteen, stupid, and didn’t want to spend my summer as an underpaid mail boy. But don’t try to change the topic—’
‘I wasn’t—’
‘That’s how my boss started the meeting, “Thanks for meeting me today,” and that didn’t end very well for me.’
‘You got fired?’
‘I got firedandshe told my parents. Definitely not a fun time to be me.’
She laughs again, a quiet chuckle this time that echoes in my mind for a few seconds after she’s finished. ‘Well, I’m not about to fire you or snitch to your parents.’
