Him and I

CHAPTER THREE

"So how have you been doing lately, have you eaten?" He asked glancing at Shannon's exposed breasts.

Shannon knew the effect she had on him, and noticed his eyes move lower than her chin level. She swiftly blocked his gaze by covering her bust region, pulling the top of the v-neck clothing above her cleavage.

"No, I haven't yet. Have you?" She spoke softly eyeing the menu set on the white tablecloth.

"Same with you, I only had some glass of wine." He said gesturing to the wineglass on his side of the table.

"Well then, what shall we order?" Shannon asked fingering the menu board, and going through the list of dishes available.

James too picked up the menu board matching Shannon's actions.

The dishes available were exquisite intercontinental foods. And judging from their names sounded really expensive.

Just then Shannon realized she had forgotten her wallet inside her tote bag in Stacy's car. She pinched herself for being so forgetful for something as important as her wallet. She knew her situation would send out bad impressions about her.

What should I do, she thought to herself.

"Are you alright?" James asked noticing the sudden uneasiness with his 'date'.

Shannon decided on letting the cat out of the bag. It irked her the way she looked dependent on James to cover her bills.

"Umm… yeah. I just realized that I left my wallet in my friend's car." She bit her tongue as the words rolled out from her mouth.

"Oh that's nothing to worry about. I'll handle the bill." James wondered if she was trying to pay for their meal initially, or was she just making the whole thing up like how most of his dates did. He later settled for the former.

"Okay then, I'll have the macaroni and gravy."

Even though she was craving something much more expensive, she decided on the cheapest dish on the list as a sign of proper etiquette.

James noticed her motives and commended her inwardly. He however, decided on something more expensive. He rang a bell at the center of the table twice, signalling for the service of a waiter after he had confirmed their orders.

A young red-haired boy emerged from the other side of the room, opposite to the door Sherry had gone out from. He had on, a white apron and neatly buttoned sleeve cuffs.

He marched straight to their table, taking their orders, and took off with the menu boards.

While Shannon was exchanging a few words with the young waiter, James took a few more glances at her, and sipped his glass of wine.

Has she always looked like this? James pondered.

He shook out of his reverie when Shannon asked a question.

"So how is your company managing with the current economic situation?" Shannon inquired after giving the waiter her order, and sending him off.

She figured the question would set the mood for an easy conversation as she didn't know what else to talk about with her date. A business talk between partners was her ice breaker for a chatty conversation.

"We are doing our best considering the economic crisis going on. We've managed to keep our workers from quitting by uping their hourly wages by point six percent," James reported, his hand once again reaching for the wineglass.

He took a sip and continued, "However, even though we have successfully handled the situation of job security for our workers, we still face the issue of inferior resources in the market,"

There had been shortage of quality materials in the country. Resources which were normally shipped from a nearby country had become almost non-existent in Bellevue due to an outbreak of war within the producing country. They were now left with resources of lower quality which was now gaining outrageous value in the black market. The scarcity of resources in the country had caused an economic depression in industrial productions.

Workers were quitting their jobs as they were severely underpaid for the long hours of work they put in.

"We can't even secure a good deal with the one company that meets our requirements in terms of satisfactory materials." He concluded reaching for the bottle of wine to refill his glass.

The red colour of the wine pouring into the glass glinted under the slightly dimmed ceiling light. He gestured to Shannon's glass as if to say 'Would you like some?'; Shannon yielded. He took Shannon's wineglass between his manicured fingers filling it up partly.

She took a sip of the sweet-smelling wine and recalled the events of the last meeting she attended that was held not more than two weeks ago.

The chairman, her Father, and several heads of department had been present at the meeting. He was the head of the meeting actually, as he had been the one who called for the meeting.

The agenda that was discussed had been about the very conversation she was chatting about with James.

The department heads had proposed letting go some of their workers who were not very productive in the company, but the chairman quickly rejected the idea as that would cause more harm to the company than good.

They had later concluded on finding another cheaper supplier for their company.

"So what about you guys, how are you dealing with the situation?" James inquired.

Shannon had recalled her Father leading the meeting in a lively yet logical manner. She didn't know if she could achieve such on her own when her father fully retired.

"Shannon?" James called out snapping her out of her reverie.

"Uh… yes?" Shannon spoke as though wanting James to repeat himself and he did.

"I was just asking how you guys were also coping with the situation. Last I heard from your father he said you were on a search for a different and cheaper supplier for your company."

Shannon didn't understand why he would still ask her about how they were managing if he already knew about it. Maybe it was his own way of forming a conversation, she thought.

"Yes. We decided on that rather than sacking some members of our staff." she told him even though he had already found out from her father.

"I see," James replied.

After some minutes of draining conversation with James, Shannon was wishing for a miracle to happen. She wished she could stand up and leave the room as it was becoming overbearing for her. She had managed to stretch out their discussion a lot longer than she expected of herself.

She reminded herself of her father's wishes for them to get together and remained calm.

James on the other hand knew that Shannon loathed him for reasons unknown to him. He could tell simply from her dislikeable attitude towards him. He too didn't fancy the idea of them getting together with each other, but did so to satisfy all righteousness to his father, Mr. Lewiston.

Like being saved by the bell, Shannon was relieved when two waiters entered into the room with their food. The boy who had taken their order before disappearing into the kitchen placed their plate of food on the white tablecloth while the other waiter set their table properly. After serving their table, they both immediately exited the room. Shannon wished one of them had stayed behind even if it was to refill their glass momentarily with wine, she just couldn't bear being alone with James any longer. She couldn't bear the small talks.

"Well then, shall we?" James said not as a question.

Shannon observed him carefully like a predator stalking its prey, ready to pounce at anytime. His table etiquette was as flawless as his manners; she gave him a little credit for that.

James noticed she had not touched her food since it was brought in. Did she not like the food? Or was it because I was eating with her, He thought.

"Why aren't you eating? Is the food not to your liking?" James asked in between bites of his food.

"Uh… no… I mean yes, it is. I'm sorry my mind is just all over the place." As the words rolled out from her tongue, she instantly regretted them as she knew what he would ask next. Call it intuition.

"Oh? And why is that?" He asked forking a piece of meat into his mouth.

Shannon looked at her plate thinking of what to say next. She wasn't going to tell him that she was thinking of how perfect his table manners were. She would rather cut her tongue than compliment her enemy. She picked up her knife and fork, and began cutting a piece of meat in her food.

"Umm… I was just thinking about the weather. You know about how we are heading into the winter season," she lied.

"Oh…yeah. There was even a news channel talking about a blizzard coming up soon now that I recall."

That made some sense to Shannon considering the cold harsh wind blowing outside the motel.

"I guess that explains the chilly weather we have tonight." She figured.

"I hadn't expected this year's winter to come so soon." James added trying to keep the conversation alive.

Shannon chewed her food slowly to avoid talking much. She knew she would lash out at any moment.

Her food was a bit spicier than she had expected so she sipped more wine to ease the burning sensation in her mouth.

"How is your plate? Are you enjoying your food?" James asked.

Shannon nodded even though she craved something else. She mouthed another spoonful of her dish avoiding to engage in further small talks with James.

"Mm-hmm…" she nodded while chewing.

James however got the hint that she didn't want to engage in further discussion with him, and so they sat there eating in silence. The sound of cutlery clinking against each other filling the room.

Meanwhile, Sherry who had been eavesdropping on their conversation inched closer to the door due to the silence on the other side of the room. What's going on in there, what could they be talking about, she thought.