Flat 64

Chapter 7

It's been 2 weeks, and no one has breathed a word about what happened that night. Jackson keeps trying to talk to me, but I have been avoiding him at all costs. I can see how much he wants to talk about it, and deep down I want to as well, but Drews words are on replay in my mind and I do not want to go behind my brothers back...again. Speaking of Drew, he has been off with me ever since we spoke in my room, and if he's this bad at even the thought of something happening between Jackson and me, I can't even imagine how bad he would be if he found out what we actually did. And if its not bad enough being on the outs with 2 roommates, Danny has been following me around like a lost puppy, and it's really starting to get on my nerves. At this point, the only normal relationship I have in this house is with Marley! He's still as annoying as ever, but luckily nothing has changed there. I don't think I could deal with anything else changing around here.

I've just come home from work, to find all the guys sitting in the living room waiting for me, as well as... "Lily? What are you doing here ?" I ask her. She jumps up from the sofa and drags me over to everyone excitedly. "Well, you've been so boring recently that I really wanted to get you out of the house. I begged Drew to convince you to come out with lonely old me, but then he thought it would be fun if we all came out together!" she finishes with an accomplished giggle. I can see her eyes boring into me, having a completely different conversation with me mentally. What she really means to say is, 'don't ruin this for me Charlotte, Drew finally wants to come out with me, so you have no choice but to come out, or you will ruin my chance at love.'

I huff at her, desperate to excuse myself, "Lily, I'm sorry, but I have so much work to do, and I..." she grabs my face between her hands, forcing me to look at her. "No Lottie, you have neglected our friendship these past two weeks and like as soon as you had one night home alone, you have become a Hobbit to the world! I will not spend another night away from my best friend." she finishes with a hand on her heart, forcing a giggle out of me. "Jesus, you don't have to be so dramatic, if you had asked nicely I would have just said yes" I say, still laughing at her performance. "What time is everyone leaving then?" I ask, finally looking around the room to the guys. Danny, as always, is the first to answer me. "In about 30 minutes, it's a nice restaurant too, the one that just opened up down the road?" I raise my eyebrows in surprise. The Pearl Heritage opened about 6 months ago, and it has killer reviews. I've tried to get a table there before, but you have to book almost 5 months in advance if you even want a chance at getting in. "Really, how did you manage that?" I ask, turning back to Lily who shushes me quickly, "don't worry about it, you need to get ready, I'll tell you all about it once we are on our way. We can't miss our spot!"

***

We have just arrived at the restaurant, and it's beyond anything I thought it would be. The fairy lights are hung throughout the rooms, the decor is gorgeous, and it smells so, so good. I ended up wearing a long black cocktail dress, knowing just how much people dress up when they come here. The dress has a very high slit which comes past my left thigh, but as soon as I tried it on, Lily practically left me no choice but to wear it, saying it was perfect and similar to her red dress. "Lils, bathroom check ?" she nods at me quickly, and we leave the guys waiting in the foyer. We finish making ourselves presentable again, after the wind had ruined our hair, and we make our way back to the guys. "Ah s**t, they must have already been seated." Lily says. She takes my hand and rushes me through the restaurant. "Lily, how do you know where to go?" I ask her. She has been acting very strange tonight, and still hasn't let it slip about how she managed to get a table for everyone. She leads us to a booth at the back of the restaurant, where we have to go through draped curtains to enter, seriously what the f**k is going on. The booth is completely private, away from the rest of the restaurant's commotion. While I stand there in shock, ogling my surroundings, Lily takes the seat next to Drew, leaving only one other seat free. I hesitantly look at jack, before sliding in next to him on his right. The group chatters away, and my attention is taken away from my thoughts, when I hear him talk to me quietly. "You don't have to sit there so tense, Lottie." he lectures with a gentle nudge to my side. "I'm not," I say stubbornly, avoiding his gaze. "Hmm, sure" he says with a scoff. The others are still talking when the waiter comes over to take our orders. He starts on the opposite side, so that I am the last to order. Finally, he turns to me. "And what about you, miss?"

"Um, I'll have the..." I choke on my words when I feel a hand on my knee, he pushes the slit of my dress aside so that he is on my bare skin. It's as if I have forgotten how to think, and I'm left silent. Lily helps me out of my frozen state, laughing at me. "Jesus, did you see a ghost or something? What happened there" shaking my head, "oh, I don't even know, I just forgot what I wanted to order." I reply quietly. After running back over the menu quickly, I gave my order to the waiter. "Sorry about that, my brain just decided not to cooperate". I giggle awkwardly at him, hoping he doesn't think I'm a freak or something. The waiter laughs at me kindly. "Don't worry, darling, a pretty girl like you can make me wait as long as you want." he finishes with a wink before leaving the private area. Everyone at the table bursts out laughing, but I can feel Jack's grip on me tighten slightly. After everyone finishes making fun of the exchange between the waiter and I, they get back to their conversation. I look at jack, to see him sitting as calmly as ever, engaging with everyone normally, as if he doesn't have his hand on my body. He turns to look at me slightly, and when he catches my eye, I immediately look away, annoyed that he caught me looking at him. I'm so worried that someone will see his hand on me, even though the table cloth falls low enough that you can only see everyone from their belly up. It doesn't ease my worries though, so I attempt to push his hand off my knee. As if he is stuck to me, his hand doesn't move an inch, no matter how hard I try to lift it off of me. Giving up, I release a huff and sit back against the chair rest, hardly accepting this seating situation. I can see Lily chatting away opposite me with my brother, who, surprisingly enough, is engaged in the conversation with her. What on earth have I missed in these past two weeks?