Dinner, Dancing and Hypotheticals

The valet took Jodie’s hand as she got out of the car in front of Eleven Madison Park. She stood in awe of the place, seeing the familiar soaring ceilings and marble walls. This was the place Lauren had set up for her and Eric’s date, Jodie’s first date wearing a dress and with a man. Lauren had later confessed to scheming to set it up so the two had a free meal, when she made them think Eric worked for a local paper wanting to do an article. If it hadn’t been for her a bill of over seven hundred dollars would have come their way at the end of the night, and now she was here again with another man. Adam came up beside his date and held out his arm for her. When she took it he handed one of the workers the keys to the car and gave him a smile. “Thank you for helping us tonight, David. We both appreciate you being here to help us tonight.” Adam said taking the time to read the young man’s name tag and was happy to feel the woman he loved squeeze his arm slightly in appreciation. Jodie had just mentioned not being taken out somewhere nice enough to wear the necklace he had given her, and wasn’t sure if Adam had already planned this out and had this reservation already or if he had pulled some strings like how Lauren had tricked the restaurant.

The food was phenomenal just like she remembered, but still could never imagine paying more than a tenth of the price for it. One of the courses was simply superb, a poached lobster in mushroom butter, served with a chanterelle mushroom tart that is fanned out into shingles. Adam seemed to be making an effort with the staff, something that made her happy and to help him stay on track she would flesh her leg out from her dress and run her heeled foot up his calf and look him in the eye with a tiny smile. Each of the courses was tiny, and the staff gave them plenty of time to talk privately, but Jodie kept thinking back to Eric a little grumpy and unsure of himself sitting across from her when they sat just a few tables down and how she coached him on how to treat a lady, like reaching across the table and holding hands and how she was now doing the same thing with Adam. The dress and heels she wore were not meant for dancing, they were hardly meant for walking, and while by the end of the night she knew her feet would be killing her, for now they would be fine, she somehow had gotten used to being in similar footwear. Jodie let the music from the piano and the string instruments flow into her as she closed her eyes and let her dance partner lead the way. She breathed in the cologne he wore, the one she had bought him, the same scent Eric had worn for years. Moving around the room, she tried to pretend it was with her long time best friend, but the illusion was hard to hold onto with how well Adam actually danced and while he had a firm strong body it wasn’t broad. “I can’t think of a more lovely sight, or a more magical evening.” Adam said, swinging the girl around to the music as they danced. Jodie cracked one of her eyes open just a little to catch him admiring her. A small blush came to her cheeks on its own, she liked being looked at after years of no one noticing, but being admired was a feeling she wasn’t sure she could get used to, even if she loved it. “I can totally think of one for both of those.” Opening her eyes halfway Jodie fluttered her lashes, wanting to be as appealing and playful as she could.

Jodie couldn’t help wanting to be wanted, even as she tried to push the man to break up with her while they danced at what was likely the most expensive restaurant in the world she thought, though admittedly she had little experience with such things. When she saw him raise an eyebrow she continued, lightly tapping his chest. “Me in a white dress, a little itsy bitsy diamond ring on my left hand I would imagine would be a nice sight and I hope you would think it was magical.” Her grin grew wider every fraction of a second he frowned at her. “Again?” The one word response saying much more with her bringing the topic back up after he made it clear it was not a topic for discussion tonight. “No… still.” Jodie said, pouting. Through the banter Adam hadn’t stopped dancing with his girl, even as the music changed and she pushed his buttons. He knew by now Jodie wasn’t the type of person he could rely on to remember something for him, but once she decided she wanted something it seemed to be always on her mind. Wonderful for when she was feeling playful, or she had a craving for his seed. God he loved how she wanted him like clockwork everyday to the point he called it her liquid lunch, but the other side was this. She wanted him to make an honest woman of her and the best he could do was hold the topic off and it seemed like the time between her bringing it up was getting shorter and shorter. “I don’t think I could let you have an itsy bitsy ring as you put it, maybe something a little bigger like half a carat?” It was Jodie’s turn to frown at the idea of him being cheap, she smacked him on the chest with her open hand. “Do better.” She wasn’t even sure why she did it, she didn’t want to marry him and it shouldn’t matter if he wanted to cheap out on a ring, but Jodie thought she deserved better from him. Adam let out a laugh that carried along with the music and gave Jodie a light kiss, before pulling apart, but his hand sliding down her hand to take hers as they made their way back to the table. “Better than half a carat, I don’t even know if they make them bigger.” If she wasn’t go to let the topic go, he could at least have fun with her about it. He really didn’t want to discuss getting married, he was having so much fun being a bachelor. Looking into Jodie’s deep blue eyes as she sat across from him, tucking someone her hair behind her ear he supposed he wasn’t exactly that anymore. He didn’t want to date anyone else, he couldn’t help but wanting to do things with others. Like the idea of her roommate that recently started in IT joining them, but that was just sex. He could imagine Jodie sitting with her feet up in his lap while watching some inane soap opera he was sure she wanted while he read a book. She was special, and maybe he shouldn’t fight the current.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Jodie asked seeing Adam zone out as they waited on the desert course. “Hmm? Oh, I pay you enough to offer more than pennies.” Jodie shrugged her shoulders, it was true that as a secretary she made more than she ever had with certificates in IT and wondered why so many girls complained about how little they made. It wasn’t a lot more than she used to make, but it was a lot less work and Tiffany was right it was an important role. “Maybe like that is all your thoughts are worth? Or that I spent all of my money on clothes.” Adam snorted again when he laughed. “You don’t understand the value of a good thought if the first is true, but the later is more likely. But I was just thinking about the future, work stuff mostly.” It was partially true, and he had been working on plans for the future with work earlier today with setting up that overseas bank account. “Can I ask you something Jodie?” That took her back a little, he was asking permission to ask a question and seemed to really want an answer with how he waited. She swallowed, suddenly very afraid that with him saying he was thinking of the future and how she had pushed him that the opposite was about to happen. It all made sense, the expensive outfit, this overly priced fancy restaurant. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god Jodie thought, feeling like she was about to hyperventilate. Was she going to turn him down here in front of everyone? Could she do that to him? OH MY GOD what would he do to the job she enjoyed if she did say no? Adam could see Jodie’s eyes go wide as she gave a tight tiny nod and wondered if she took it as an insult about not knowing the value of a thought and kicked himself. He was trying to be playful, but it came out as mean.

He paused as the waiter delivered their dessert and continued when he was gone. “If you don’t know, I really do value your opinion. I find myself wondering if you will like a tie I choose to wear before I go to the office and tons of little things that pop in my mind. So when I ask you this I really would love to hear what you would do in a similar situation.” Jodie already had her fork in hand, poking a raspberry that was covered in some red sauce and couldn’t help but pop it into her mouth. He sounded serious and she should have put the fork down to listen, but it looked so good and she had a massive sweet tooth. “If you worked hard for something, I mean.” Adam paused and reached up and tugged on his ear for a second a clear sign he was nervous, not a normal sight Jodie thought. “If I told you that if you brought me good coffee everyday for a month you could have a hundred dollars out of the petty cash drawer in my office. For that full month you brought me great coffee, amazing coffee and I told you how you were exceeding my every expectation, but at the end of that month I said you would have to wait for that money. That you would have to keep proving yourself for the reward you were promised. Would you quit? Would it bother you? Would you just go take the hundred dollars knowing I would never notice?”

Popping another berry in her mouth Jodie chewed slowly thinking about it. Stealing was wrong, but he had taken something from a big corporation before and pawned it to have some money for pills. Big corporations like totally took advantage of their workers, if they never missed what was stolen it wasn’t like a big deal. Lauren totally got Eric and her to steal from this place with her lie and they seemed fine. Adam was even saying he would have promised it to her in the example. Jodie’s mind went to her car and wondered if this was him saying how she couldn’t keep the vehicle and seeing how she would react. “If you like give someone a gift it should be theirs and if like… you tried to take it back I wouldn’t give it to you.” Adam nodded, she wasn’t exactly following along, but she seemed to understand the important part of what he was asking. “So you would keep what you believed was yours?” Jodie nodded firmly, giving him a stern look. “I’m not giving you back the car.” He wasn’t sure where that came from, but the sullen, serious tone of her voice caused him to laugh again, for the third time that night. Wiping a tear from his eye he smiled at his lovely partner before his face moved to a small frown as he saw her swapping their plates. His full plate moved in front of her and her empty plate in front of him. “This is mine now because you laughed at me.” Adam cocked his head to the side amused at her. “Do you think I was laughing at you?” Shaking her head Adam couldn’t help but smile as her red hair moved about as she put the tip of her for into her mouth between her kissable lips. “I know I wanted your desert so I took it.” Adam gave her a smile wide enough that it touched his eyes and considered reaching for her unused hand, but remembered how she wareded him away with her fork back when they sat on his couch eating cake and decided he would rather not be wounded. “Thank you Jodie, you helped me more then you know.” For her part, Jodie just raised an eyebrow and pulled the plate a little closer to herself. “Sweet talk wont work on me, I’m on to your games. This is mine.” When it was clear he wasn’t talking about the car, Jodie wasn’t sure what they were exactly talking about, but he was talking about taking things and thought it would be funny to do exactly that to him.