Dorsia

As night arrived in the city, it was almost time for your dinner reservations at Dorsia. Brooke and Tanya decide to split-up from you, Stella, and Cassie to pick-up Viv from her restaurant, while the three of you pick-up Celeste from their branch office in the city.

After picking up Celeste, the four of you made your way to Dorsia, which was only a few minutes drive. You give your keys to the valet and make your way inside one of the nicest looking restaurants you’ve ever been to. Tanya, Brooke, and Viv were already seated at the table, and like you haven’t seen each other all day, the girls excitedly greeted each other with cheek kisses and hugs.

The girls reserved the seat at the end of the table for you, while Tanya, Brooke, and Viv were seated on one side with the restaurant behind them, while Stella, Cassie, and Celeste were seated on the other with the wall and windows behind them. Tanya and Stella were nearest you, with Stella on your left and Tanya on your right. Celeste wasn’t kidding when she said this place was fancy. It looked fancy without trying too hard, unlike ‘L'endroit Trop Cher’, while also still maintaining that casual atmosphere. It’s vibe is like a place where millionaire stockbrokers go to have lunch or something.

“How come this doesn’t come up on Google when you search for fancy restaurants in the city?” You ask the girls.

“It’s a ‘if you know, you know’ kind of place; and they don’t just let anybody dine here, so their advertising is pretty much word of mouth only these days. So yeah, they wouldn’t normally appear on listicles or food and travel blogs.” Celeste answers you.

“Sounds pretentious.” Tanya reacts to Celeste’s description.

“Oh, that would be because we are. Hoffman Enterprises is very pretentious.” someone says from behind Tanya. You all look towards the voice, and it comes from a gorgeous woman in an all black ensemble, with gold and diamond accessories to accent her outfit. She has an authoritative, but also sophisticated aura, that comes off natural for her.

“Everyone, this is Rebecca Hoffman, COO of Hoffman Enterprises, owners of Dorsia.” Celeste stands up before she introduces the woman.

“She’s also my business partner.” Viv adds, also standing up; prompting the rest of the table to do so.

“It’s nice to meet you, Rebecca. I apologize for the comment. I was only joking.” Tanya apologizes, now knowing who this woman is. Becca motions for your table to sit down and relax.

“You may call me Becca. You need not worry about disparaging the place. I agree with your assessment, and it’s like that by design. If you’re thinking it’s pretentious, that was intentional. That also means you and I will get along fine.” Rebecca tells Tanya.

“She hates this place.” Viv explains.

“I don’t hate it, it’s merely a bit more traditional than I prefer; but I have to admit, it works. So, I’m not messing with the formula.” Becca clarifies.

“You look so young to be the COO of a company! How’d you do it? That’s so inspiring!” Cassie asks Becca.

“I was born a COO. Literally. ‘Child of Owner’, C-O-O. The only thing I can inspire others to do is win the genetic lottery.” Becca jokes, but Cassie can only awkwardly smile now that she knows how Becca got her position.

“Anyway, this is my cousin Jay, and his girlfriends Tanya, Cassie, and Stella; Stella’s also his daughter; and this is Brooke.” Celeste introduces the five of you. Becca noticeably raises an eyebrow at the term ‘girlfriends’, but doesn’t bat an eye that you're dating your own daughter.

“Girlfriends? In the gay meaning of the word, or in the Playboy meaning of the word?” Becca asks.

“Latter.” “Former.” Celeste and Viv answered respectively, at the same time. “It’s the latter.” you clarify, as to not confuse her with Viv’s joke.

“That’s very interesting.” Becca reacts to the information. She glances at both Celeste and Viv with a raised eyebrow, and the two noticeably shake their heads to signal ‘no’ to what you can only assume is an unspoken question between the three of them. “Even more interesting.” Becca adds.

“What the hell was that about?” Stella asks under her breath and through pursed lips next to you.

“Would you be joining us tonight, Ms. Hoffman?” Celeste asks Becca.

“I already said to call me Becca, Celeste. I would have assumed more obedience than that.” Becca answers Celeste with the authority that you noticed that just radiated off of her.

“I’m sorry.” your cousin replies with her head down.

“To answer your question, I will not be dining with you for the evening. I only dropped by to greet our honored guests.” Becca answers Celeste.

It’s such a weird dynamic to see your older cousin being talked down upon by a much younger woman, but you can only assume that’s the kind of power Becca has with everyone in their industry. “I hope you all enjoy your evening here in Dorsia.” Becca says with a smile, before giving a cheek kiss to Celeste and Viv, before walking away from the table.

“Okay, spill. What was the head shaking about? What’s so interesting about my Dad?” Stella asks Viv and Celeste.

“Oh, yeah. Nothing interesting about a man with three hot girlfriends.” Viv answers sarcastically.

“She also wanted to know if you were secretly a crime boss, or royalty, or eccentric billionaire… you know, the ones that usually have multiple girlfriends that dine here. That’s why we shook our heads.” Celeste explains.

“Oh~ Wow. Dad, you look like a crime boss!” Stella jokes.

“Between the three options, that's the one you picked?” you ask your daughter.

“I kinda like the idea of being the Boss’s daughter.” Stella answers you.

“Yeah, since you really can’t pull off being a princess with your personality.” Cassie jokes.

“I’m a queen, thank you very much.” Stella snaps back.

“More like a concubine.” Cassie not holding back.

“Oooh~” Viv reacts before asking Cassie for a high-five across the table which Cassie enthusiastically gives her.

“You come at the real queen, you best not miss, Stella.” Viv goads your daughter, who reacts in shock that Cassie is who Viv considers the Queen of their back-and-forths.

“Oh, how the turntables.” Cassie jokes at Stella, who is actually annoyed at these turn of events.

“Shut up.” Stella tells Cassie, who affectionately hugs her and gives her a kiss on the cheek, which produces an annoyed smile from Stella.

It was right around that moment that two waiters started pouring white wine for the table. Once the waiters leave, Tanya asks Celeste, “Did we order this?”.

“No, but our meals have been chosen for us by Ms. Hoffman.” Celeste answers Tanya.

“Oh, wow.” Tanya looks towards the restaurant to see if Becca’s anywhere near her again.

“Control freak, much?” Tanya asks through pursed lips as a joke. Viv and Celeste give each other knowing looks before chuckling at Tanya’s joke.

“There’re microphones under the table.” Viv jokes to Tanya, making Tanya panic, which causes Celeste and the other girls to laugh now too.

“Wow. This is good wine.” Brooke reacts.

“Yeah, you guys should drink it before they take it away. It’s a pre-dinner wine.” Celeste explains.

“Holy shit. So we’ll have different wines throughout this meal?” Tanya asks, and Celeste just nods. “Can we afford that?” Tanya asks.

“It’s been paid for, don’t worry.” Celeste answers.

“Celeste. That’s completely unnecessary.” You tell your cousin.

“You didn’t pick a restaurant yesterday for me to treat you, so I picked one myself.” Celeste answers you with a wink.

“This place looks like it’ll cost an arm and a leg to pay for Aunt Celeste.” Stella tells Celeste, and you notice Viv gives a knowing smile at Stella’s choice of words.

“Don’t worry. I got a friendly discount. So stop worrying about how I’ll pay for it, and just enjoy the night, okay?” Celeste tells you and your daughter, and you just both shrug, before Stella raises her wine glass for a toast.

“In that case…”

“To friends in high places.”