One More Time - Ali Parker Page 0,17
agreeing to a time if you’re not going to stick to it?”
“I agree. You’d just be surprised at how many people ignore details like that.”
Kelly rolled her eyes to the ceiling and smiled when she returned them to mine. “I know. There’s no such thing as fashionably late though. You’re either on time, or you’re late.”
“Agreed. Drink?”
The waiter who’d been hovering, looking like he was wondering whether to ask Kelly to stand just so he could help her into her seat, jumped to attention and appeared between us at the table.
“Sure. I’ll have a club soda please.” Kelly ordered her drink, again not waiting on me, and she gave the waiter a kind smile and inclined her head to me.
“Belvedere. With a twist.”
The penguin-suited waiter scribbled down our orders on his notepad, nodded, and hurried away. The place I’d chosen for dinner was low-key, fancy enough to be passable and not worried about food poisoning, but relaxed enough that it didn’t make you feel like you had to sit upright or speak softly.
I hated anything more upscale than this, and as a rule, I stayed away from places like that. Kelly fished her tablet out of her duffel-sized handbag and began tapping on the screen with her stylus. Before she could ask me a question though, I jumped in. “You don’t drink?”
If she was surprised at the question, she didn’t show it. She shrugged and shook her head. “No, I drink. I just don’t drink when I’m working.”
“You’re considering this as being on the clock?”
“Of course. We said this was an interview to see how you are in a different context, right?”
“Right.” I knew she was interviewing me tonight, but somehow, I was thinking she’d also relax just a little. “If I’m in a different context though, then you should be too. Deal?”
The waiter delivered our drinks to the table, and instead of answering my question, Kelly addressed him. “And I’ll have a glass of red wine as well, please.”
The man nodded and left us. Kelly grinned at me like she’d won at something. “Happy now?”
“I’m always happy.” What a fucking lie, and from the look she gave me, she knew it. “Fire away then. You look like you’re eager to get started.”
Nodding, she pressed the small button on the side of her tablet to bring it back to life, but instead of reading from its screen, she looked around the restaurant. “So you’re a lobster guy, huh? Should’ve guessed, fancy food for a fancy star.”
“I never said I was fancy.”
The waiter delivered her wine, and she nodded her thanks before answering me. “You’re right. You didn’t say it. I did.”
“It’s not that fancy. I actually like this place and the lobster because I like the metaphor.” Well, that wasn’t something that I told just anyone. But fuck it, they all wanted me to play up this angle. I would show Kelly exactly where and why Jared and I differed.
“Metaphor?” She tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and focused her puzzled eyes on mine. I’d never noticed before how deep green they were, almost like a forest reflected in the shallows of a lake. Or some shit like that. They were pretty. That was all.
It was also then that I noticed she wasn’t wearing the impenetrable mask of makeup most women wore nowadays. Except for the bright lipstick and a few tiny clumps of mascara in her long lashes, her face was bare. And looking slightly confused as she waited for an answer.
“Metaphor because lobster used to be considered a ‘common food.’ Even so disgusting to some that it was something that you fed to prisoners and poor people because it was so abundant.” I waited for realization of what I was saying to dawn.
When it did, her eyebrows drew together, and she scribbled furiously on the tablet screen.
“Familiarity bred contempt,” I said. “People only liked it once it got rarer, or lived in areas where it was hard to get.”
“And you’re wondering if Destitute is sort of like lobster?” She’d put it all together remarkably fast.
I nodded. “We used to be smaller, rarer. People loved us. Now we’re everywhere, and I can’t help but wonder if we’ll be the opposite of lobsters.”
“That seems like a bit of a gloomy outlook on things, don’t you think? I mean, you’re everywhere now, and people still can’t get enough. They’re always after more, stalking your pages on social media, camping outside of places you’re supposed to do interviews at