Chapter 26: Double Date

“Mr. Bonne, Miss Miller, what a coincidence to meet you here,” Finn’s voice echoed inside Gwen’s ear and she almost stuck the fork in him. How could he be so shameless? He knew she was there; it wasn’t possible that it was just a coincidence.
And why was that woman with him anyway? Vivienne was still looking at her with a disgusted look on her, grabbing Finn’s arm like he might leave if she didn’t keep him in place.
“Finn, come on, you don’t need to be so formal with us. She’s the mother of your son after all, right?” Clyde said, provoking him. “And we’re classmates, so let’s push the formality aside, shall we?”
Finn clenched his teeth before answering.
“Sure, you’re right. Since we’re all here and we’re all friends, what do you say that we have dinner together?”
Gwen turned to look at him so fast, that her neck crackled. She couldn’t believe he was going to ruin her dinner with Clyde like that. And she wasn’t going to be able to eat while facing Vivienne. That snake was unbearable to be around.
“I don’t mind,” Clyde replied, but the two women didn’t seem very pleased with the idea. Gwen couldn’t imagine why Vivienne wasn’t happy with the opportunity to rub Finn on her face, but she wouldn’t ask either.
“Awesome,” Finn said with a smile, making a sign for the waiter to come and add two more chairs on the table.
After they got comfortable and placed their order, the atmosphere became ever more awkward. Gwen had no idea how to behave in front of them. She didn’t have much intimacy with Clyde, she hated Vivienne, and wanted to punch Finn’s face.
Also, weren’t Clyde and Finn enemies? It didn’t make sense that Finn was now wining and dining with Clyde, though he had warned Gwen to stay away. If she had a choice, she would choose the furthest table in the restaurant to sit.
“Vivienne, I heard that you’re launching a cosmetic line soon, right? How is that going?” Clyde asked her, sounding very friendly and kind, which made Gwen frown. She wouldn’t have thought that they knew each other.
But it was a good thing that he had said something, because the silence around the table and the stares were getting harder to stand. She was about to excuse herself to go to the bathroom and get some fresh air.
“Yes! Oh, my God! I didn’t know you were aware of that. I mean, I tried so hard to keep it a secret, but you know how the press is, right? They are a pain in the a*s.” Her whiny voice sounded even more irritating when she was excited and Gwen rolled her eyes in response.
Then, she decided to ignore their conversation. It was not interesting at all. She was trying very hard to ignore was Finn’s emerald eyes watching her over his glass on the other side of the table. She wanted to ask him why he was looking at her so much, but she would never cause a scene in a place like that. Especially since she was the pauper of the group.
The waiter came with their meals and placed it in front of each one of them, while the other two kept talking incessantly.
“Ah, I love that club. The music is so good and they have the best drinks in the world.” Vivienne’s voice made an appearance again, making Gwen give up on ignoring her presence completely.
“Yeah, the Delirium is amazing. We could go there after dinner, what do you say?” Clyde asked to the others at the table.
“No!” Finn and Gwen said at the same time, making the other two look surprised and confused. Gwen even dropped the fork she was using to play with the salad in her plate, making a loud noise inside the restaurant and attracting a few curious glances.
Gwen’s eyes encountered Finn’s for a second, but she looked away immediately.
Not that club. It was where she had met Finn, and the place would bring back too many memories for her. Judging from his flushed cheeks, Finn wasn’t very excited with that idea either.
“Why not, baby?” Vivienne asked, leaning on his shoulder, pouting like a little kid. Ridiculous, Gwen thought.
“I’m tired and I have to wake up early tomorrow,” he lied, taking the glass of champagne and ending its content in one long swallow.
A few minutes of a disturbing silence between them, the waiter approached the table incredibly excited to take out the plates, unaware of the strange situation that was going on.
“Hey, everyone. I’m just gonna clean these for you,” he said, taking the plate in front of Vivienne. “I’ll bring the main course in a bit,” he said with a giant smile, but no one replied with the same energy.
The rest of dinner was filled with more of Vivienne and Clyde’s conversation, and stares between Finn and Gwen. She couldn’t wait to leave. Her date with Clyde was ruined completely because of those two and she wanted so badly to scream at Finn. He was doing this on purpose, and she would not forgive him.
When they finally paid the bill, Gwen almost let out a sigh of relief. Finally, she would have the chance to be alone with Clyde.
“It was a pleasure to have met you here tonight,” Clyde started, putting his arm around Gwen respectfully.
She noticed Finn’s eyes follow that movement and he looked at her immediately, while she looked away. She didn’t want to read too much into his actions. Whatever he was thinking, he could keep it to himself. She didn’t care.
“We should do this more often,” Vivienne smiled, trying very hard to sound nice.
Please, no, Gwen thought to herself. She couldn’t take one more hour of this for the rest of her life. Not feeling like talking to any of them, she simply nodded in goodbye and turned to get inside Clyde's car that was already waiting for them in front of the restaurant.
As the car rolled away from the restaurant, she caught a glimpse of Finn’s face, red with anger. That made her smile. If he was pissed, she was happy.
“I'm so sorry for that,” Clyde said by her side. “I didn’t mean to spoil our dinner, but I didn’t think it would be polite to reject their invitation.”
Gwen shook her head.
“It's okay. We survived,” she laughed, but Clyde was looking at her differently now.
The traffic light had turned red, and he took the chance to look at her. But something in his eyes told Gwen that he had an idea inside his mind and was pondering if he should say it out loud or not.
“What? Just say it,” she insisted, sensing his discomfort.
“I don’t want you to think that I’m a jerk for saying this,” Clyde replied, shaking his head and looking ahead.
The light turned green and the car gained speed again.
“It's okay, I promise you I won’t think that,” she said, feeling the champagne bubble inside her stomach. Or maybe she was just nervous, because she could imagine what he was about to say.
“Okay, you promised,” Clyde teased her, poking her ribs slightly. “So, since our date was ruined, I know a place that has an amazing view and where we could have some time alone. What do you say?”