Dinner and dancing

Two weeks after I left the hospital, I was fully upright again. Louise is celebrating by taking me to a very fancy restaurant. She is wearing a glittering silver dress and matching shoes. I am wearing a slinky red dress. I am happy to go on this date with Louise, but I am worried that my date will want to pay for me again. Louise has shelled out a lot of money to take care of me over the past few weeks and although I am grateful for everything that my hot friend has done for me, I am starting to get embarrassed. I know that the babe can afford these things without any trouble because of her successful security company, but not being able to pay my own way makes me feel like less of a person. I think about that as the waiter escorts us both to our table covered with a checkered tablecloth amidst all of the lights that that have been lowered for ambiance.

"May I have your drink orders, ladies?" the waiter wearing the black tuxedo asked.

"Is it okay if we both have champagne to celebrate your getting better, Connie?" Louise wondered.

"That would be fine," I accepted.

I watched the waiter leave to get our champagne and then I looked at Louise. My breath caught in my throat when I saw her smiling at me. I reached for her hand without knowing what I was doing it and a spark went up my arm when she closed her hand around mine. Does this mean that we are girlfriends? Even though I was feeling very romantic at the moment, there was still something that I had to get off my chest before the waiter came back for our food order.

"Louise, can we talk for a second?" I requested.

"You can talk to me about anything," Louise replied while batting her eyelashes at me.

"I would like us to pay for our own meals," I poured out.

"Oh?" Louise spoke while opening her eyes in surprise.

"It is just that you have been paying for everything lately!" I whined. "You rented that van to bring me to your house from the hospital which probably cost you a pretty penny. You spent all that time taking care of me. You even payed for the massages we got that one time. Please do not misunderstand me. I am very grateful for everything that you have done for me. I just need to pay my own way sometimes. When you don't let me, it wounds my pride a little."

"I am sorry," Louise apologized while looking down at the table. "I never meant to make you feel that way."

"I know you didn't," I answered while stroking Louise's knuckles with my thumb.

"Is it okay if I pay for our hotel room?" Louise probed. "That will be our biggest expense of the night."

"As long I can pay for something," I accepted.

"Okay, you can pay for your own meal if that will make you happy," Louise accepted while shrugging her shoulders.

After Louise and I settled our little disagreement, we spent the next few minutes looking at our menus deciding on what to eat. Even with the distraction, we could not help but steal several glances at each other. Each time that I look at Louise, a warm feeling covers my face. I don't want to be just friends with Louise anymore. I want more. I want to be her girlfriend. Maybe one of these days I can move in with that firecracker and we can both take care of Luc while we take care of each other. My thoughts get interrupted when the waiter brought our champagne. I ordered the spaghetti and Louise ordered escargot which is otherwise known as snails. As soon as we started eating our meals, I wondered how anyone could eat snails until Louise got my attention.

"Would you like some of mine?" Louise wondered which caused me to make a sour face since I did not like Green Eggs And Ham, er I mean snails.

"Um... well..." I hesitated as I tried to think about how to turn Louise down without upsetting her.

"I will make you a deal," Louise bargained. "I will give you a kiss if you try some."

"How can I resist an offer like that?" I said a little louder than I intended.

Louise cracked open one of her snail shells and put the meat on her fork. She reached her fork towards me and I opened my mouth while closing my eyes. When I felt the snail meat press against my bottom lip, I took the morsel into my mouth and started chewing it. It wasn't half bad. I can't believe that I am even thinking this, but I rather liked it.

"What did you think?" Louise wondered out loud.

"It was good," I chimed. "I think that I would order it myself next time."

"Connie, I think that you are the bravest person that I have ever known," Louise complimented me.

"You really know how to make me blush," I mused as the color of my face turned into a dark crimson.

"I can understand why Luc likes you so much," Louise revealed.

"Oh, does he?" I pondered.

"The other day, he told me 'Mom, if you are into girls now, I don't think that you will find one better than Connie.'" Louise explained.

"Seems like he is trying to do a little matchmaking for Mommy," I reasoned.

"Well, I do think that you are quite attractive," Louise praised me.

"There is something that you owe me," I insisted.

"What?" Louise wanted to know.

I said nothing, but I tapped my right index finger on my lips to get my message across. After all, I kept up my end of the bargain. I ate one of Louise's snails so she owed me a kiss. My friend smiled and walked to my side of the table. She bent down and made it feel like that I could not breathe for a few seconds. I don't think that I have ever blushed this much. No kiss has ever made me feel so alive before. There is no doubt about. I am hopelessly in love with Louise.

"How was that?" Louise asked while blushing just as much as I was.

"I could definitely get used to your kisses, Louise," I murmured while sweating a great deal.

"I hope you do," Louise flirted while planting a kiss on my forehead.

There was nothing else that went on until the end of dinner. I can hear the disc jockey playing a slow song. It took me a few seconds to realize that the song is "Take My Breath Away" from the movie Top Gun. My breath caught in my throat when Louise stood up and walked towards me because I knew what she was going to do. She pointed at herself, pointed at me, and then pointed at the dance floor. I wordlessly got up and put my hand in hers so she could lead me to the floor. I let her lead me through a waltz as she spun me around. I was Louise's helpless puppet, but I did not care because I was so happy. I closed my eyes in an act of complete trust and surrendered myself to all of the emotions that I was feeling. I could only open my eyes towards the end of the song when the moment compelled me to say something.

"It is fitting that we danced to this song," I commented with wistful eyes.

"Why?"

"You take my breath away every time that I look at you," I confessed.

Louise looked at me for a couple of seconds as if she was stunned. Then she put her hands on my waist and kissed me which turned me into putty. At that moment, she could have done anything she wanted to me. My temperature skyrocketed. I am hers and I am in love.

"Do you want to dance some more?" Louise offered.

"Could we sit down for a moment please?" I begged. "I want to talk to you about something."

I sat back in my chair and took a deep breath to settle my feelings. Louise sat in her chair and patiently waited for me to get out what I had to say. I was nervous to say what I had to say because I did not know how the woman in front of me would react. I finally decided that the only thing that I could do was to rip the bandage off and get it over with.

"You see..." I stuttered.

"Tell me," Louise gently insisted while putting her hand on my arm.

That is when the disc jockey played the worst possible song that he could have played. He put on "Total Eclipse Of The Heart". That song is a sore spot in my heart because it was Kat's favorite song and it was the song that I sang at her funeral. The song made me sad not only because I miss my friend, but also because I know that I will probably never find why she went crazy at the end. If the person who killed her did not know what went wrong and the person who got her into that sick scheme of flooding Paris did not know either then what chance did I have of ever figuring it out? My eyes started to become wet. If there is one thing that I hate, it is when I cry in public. I guess it is a matter of pride for me.

"Oh, sweetie!" Louise cooed while patting my back. "Tell me what is wrong."

"NO!" I squealed as I ran into the women's restroom with my tough friend following me close behind. I am just glad that the restroom was vacant at the time. I could do nothing but sit in a fluffy pink couch and wail with my hands over my eyes.

"It's okay, Connie," Louise gently murmured while embracing me in a tight hug. "I've got you."

After a few minutes, I stopped crying which caused Louise to take a red handkerchief from her purse and clean my face off. I could not help but think that I would be in a lot worse shape than I already was if I did not have Louise to help me as I blew my nose. It made me feel a little better just having Louise to pat my back.

"What's wrong, Angel?" Louise probed.

"I miss her," I sighed into my lady's shoulder.

"I know you do," Louise cooed.

"That was Kat's song," I offered to explain what set me off.

"Ah," Louise commented.

"Why did she do it?" I had to know.

"I wish that I could tell you," Louise replied. "Maybe you would be better off if you let it go."

"I would like to, but it was hard," I complained. "I think about all the slumber parties we went to, all of the times she helped me with my homework, all the movies we saw and now I wonder if all of those memories are fake."

"You don't have to abandon your memories just because Kat went off the deep end," Louise advised. "You should always cherish them."

"Okay," I grumbled.

"I've got an idea," Louise commented. "Why don't we pay for our meals and head to our hotel room. I promise to show you a good time."

The possibilities of what Louise and I might do in that hotel room just took my breath away.