Bring Him Home Chapter 20

I was on edge all day, I couldn't concentrate on the work in front of me so I spent my time looking out of the widow and doodling, all I could think about was how to get out of the ‘date' tonight. I tried telling myself that I should give Jake a chance, he might not be as bad as his previous behaviour had suggested, but if I was honest with myself I was going just to shut up the girls here in the office. They were giving me a real hard time about not going. Rosalie and Judy knew full well that I'd never dated before and both were of the opinion that it was time to get out there and at least try. As neither of them were aware of my fledging feelings for Edward they just saw this as an opportunity to at least dip a toe into the dating pool.

" Yeah you keep telling yourself that "I said to no one in particular. For the first time in years I was having nightmares again, the visions were always the same, Dad's deputy coming to tell me he'd gone. Usually I was able to shut the terrors away, but for some reason this time they were really plaguing me. It had been years since I'd actually felt this lonely, I was acutely aware I was on my own and would probably be so for the foreseeable future.

"Shit Swan, get your act together, you need to get a life" I said out loud again as I tried to shake the mournful mood I was in.

 I'd mastered the art of small talk years ago, eating a minimal amount of food, plying the client with everything they wanted and still being able to talk business by the end of the meal. I'd quickly discovered that when their defences were down and they could tell me what they actually wanted the campaign to achieve, it was much easier to put together exactly what they needed to see. I was good with people, I could get them to open up and relax, and most clients seemed to see something in me that was trustworthy and non-confrontational, an excellent mixture when I needed to find what was at the heart of their product or business. If I could handle that I could surely deal with Jake and a really nice expensive restaurant, what could actually go wrong?

I smiled as I realised to Jake, I was probably the client he was trying to lure in, my curiosity was peaked about what his seduction technique would be.  I imagined he was probably going to try and ply me with alcohol and then talk me into bed, but he was in for a shock, I didn't know how to even behave on a date so the only way to get through it was to treat it like a business dinner, the same rules I made all my staff work by needed to be adhered to,

1)      don't drink more than one glass of alcohol and after that go onto water

2)      no flirting

3)      ignore any flirting coming towards you no matter how blatant

4)      no personal information exchanged

5)      no inappropriate clothing (not that I had any)

6)      do not accept any invitations to go on anywhere else, no business is done when drunk and dancing at a club.

These had worked for me so far and everyone one of my staff had embraced them, well I suspected Rosalie's interpretation was a little different to mine but she had never given me reason to question her.

I'd come to work prepared and had brought a change of outfit to the office, so as the end of the working day approached and my staff started to drift off home I jumped in the shower and changed into one of the little black dresses I always wore to dinner. This time though I left off the black jacket that I usually wore over one of the dresses and added some nice jewellery. I paired it with some black 4" heels and added a little make up. A quick squirt of perfume and I was ready to go. I left the office at 6.30pm and managed to get a cab downstairs easily, the restaurant was a 15 minutes ride away so by the time we pulled up in front of it I was just five minutes early.

I was surprised that Jake was actually standing outside the restaurant waiting for me as I pulled up, on first glance I was shocked that he was dressed so casually, he was wearing Jeans, sneakers and a what looked like a hoodie. Judy had made me research the restaurant so I knew it had a strict dress code, no way was he getting in dressed like that.

"Hi Jake is everything ok?" I asked looking at his clothes again

"Fine Bella, now let's go and eat so we can get down to the good stuff" he said as he took my arm.

With that he actually guided me around the corner, away from the front of the restaurant and across the road to a diner that was tucked away in an alley. I was so overdressed it was laughable but I was here now so I took a seat.  Jake shouted to the woman behind the counter, it was obvious he was a regular here, that he wanted his usual and that I would have the same. I had no idea what he had just ordered so I tried to ask.

"Trust me Bella, the food here is way better than that fancy restaurant, I've ordered my usual for you, now what do you want to drink?" he actually asked.

"I would love a glass of wine" I told him

He shook his head, "Sorry no alcohol, they had their licence revoked last year and it hasn't been sorted yet, how about a coke or a milkshake, the chocolate malt shake here is to die for."

I couldn't believe I was sat in a tacky diner, in a dress worth $ 750 and $ 1000 shoes and he wanted me to have a milkshake. I was still deciding what to drink when the waitress slapped down a plate in front of me, as I looked at the waffles, bacon, mushrooms and fried chicken I could feel my stomach growl, It did look very tasty so I ordered a coke and dug into the plate in front of me.

In its defence the food was actually excellent, it was the amount of food on the plate that defeated me as I finally gave in eating. It had been easy for me to just get on and fill my stomach as the waitress never actually left the table, she carried on a conversation with her ‘Jakey' as if I wasn't even there. Jake being the gentlemen he was, completely ignored me and carried on his conversation with Leah our waitress. It quickly became apparent that they were casually sleeping together, they regarded themselves as ‘Friends with Benefits' and from what I could tell she was really pissed off at him for bringing me to her place of work.

I could have coped with being ignored, the food tasty enough to hold my attention, but when something started to bite at my ankles I knew it was time to leave, I stood up from the table and grabbed my bag,

" I'll be off then Jake"

"What wait, why are you leaving? I thought we could go back to my place and you know, see what happens"

Leah at this point, slapped him on the chest and walked off.

"I don't think so do you, why don't you go and sort things out with Leah? I'm sure she would be happy to warm your bed tonight".

"Why don't I ask her to come back anyway, she seems a little upset with me tonight for some reason, I'm sure she would be up for a little fun with us, I mean I'm man enough to satisfy both of you if you are up for it?"

He was actually thrusting his groin at me as he spoke, I don't even think he realised he was doing it, by now I was so ready to laugh in his face that I needed to get out.

"No thanks Jake, I'll pass if you don't mind, can I get a cab outside do you know?"

"Er yes I ‘ll walk you out, if you need to go now. The bill is $25.00 so that's $ 12.50 each plus a tip, "he said as he threw $ 15.00 on the table. He was not even picking up the tab for ‘dinner'.

How could this be the same guy who had sent such a beautiful bouquet?

I climbed into a filthy cab, the seat covering was ripped and the interior was well past its best. I'm no snob but I perched on the edge of the seat until I could get out at my apartment. The poor light in the back of the cab though was enough to see all the flea bites around my ankles, I wondered if I had any ointment in the bathroom cabinet that would help with the itching.  As I sat on the edge of the seat trying not to scratch or touch anything I didn't need to, I finally broke down and just screamed with laughter. The poor driver was looking at me trying to decide if I was crazy or not, he was probably trying to decide if I was actually laughing or crying, the tears ran down my face and even I was no longer sure.

 The cab cost more than dinner and I was home alone before 9.30pm.

Not such a good first date then!

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I know a lot of you didn't understand why Bella went out with him but between the pressure from her friends and the loneliness along with the curiosity, it all got too much for her.

Thank you to AJG who reread this for me while trying to pack and finish work when I suddenly decided to rewrite a good chunk of it. Any typos or errors are mine.