What happens next?

Overcompensating

“Hey papi!” Tanya greets you with a hug and a kiss as you two meet in her office building’s lobby. “Thanks for picking me up at my office, Jay. You really didn’t need to.” Tanya says, flattered, but still a bit embarrassed at the effort you were showing.

“It’s no biggie. Just wanted to put my best foot forward.” you tell her, downplaying whatever meaning she might be reading into your actions. “You ready to go?” you ask her, and she wraps her arm around yours and she tells you to lead the way.

You made your way to your car that’s parked on the street and you opened the passenger side door for her and took the mini-bouquet of flowers you bought for her from the seat, and gave it to her.

“Oh. Wow. I-uh —” Tanya tries to react, but is at a loss for words. You’re a bit embarrassed now, as her loss for words is less ‘happily surprised’ and more ‘the fuck are you doing?’.

“I-uh, I wanted to thank you for sharing dinner with Stella last week. That was really nice of you.” you tell her, making the reason for the flowers a little less **** for her to see you romantically, and more just as a sign of appreciation. The recontextualization of the gift makes Tanya less tense and more appreciative of the gift.

“Oh. Thanks papi, but you didn’t have to buy me flowers!” she says before awkwardly laughing. “I was going to invite both of you to dinner but Stella said you were busy on a date.” Tanya says suggestively, and you couldn’t help but rub the back of your neck in embarrassment. Tanya laughs at your reaction and reassures you by saying, “You don’t need to be embarrassed about that papi. I’m actually glad you’re heeding my advice.”

“It’s nice you’re dating around, Jay.” Tanya adds, before proceeding to enter the car head first, and she places her hands on the seat to support her, making her ass stick out of the open car door, giving you a perfect view of her incredibly round behind. Brooke’s greatest achievement, as you’re reminded by how proud Brooke is about Tanya’s ass. Tanya looks back at you from this position and gives a naughty smile.

“— but It’s even nicer that you can’t get enough of me.”

“Oh, wow. We’re eating here?” Tanya asks you as you stop the car in front of ‘L'endroit Trop Cher’, the fanciest casual dining restaurant you can find in the city. Worryingly, her tone is once again one of confusion than one of excitement.

“Yeah. I-uh, I booked a reservation. Um-uh, we can eat somewhere else if you’d like to have dinner somewhere different.” You reply, not really sure how she’s feeling as you can really tell something’s off.

Tanya just gives you an awkward smile and replies, “I might be underdressed for this place.”, referring to her wearing only Casual Friday office attire. You assure her you checked before reserving a table that it’s not one of those formal dining places, and that there’s no dress code; so she shouldn’t worry about that. She just gives a **** chuckle and gets out the door as the valet helps open the door for her, and helps her out of the car.

The two of you talked to the Hostess who asked if you had reservations, which you informed her you did. She replied that since you’re a bit early for the reservation, you’ll have to sit at the bar first, which you both agreed to. Once seated at the bar, you ordered a whiskey double for yourself and the cocktail Tanya ordered when you went out drinking last time.

For the first time since you gave her flowers, Tanya has a genuine reaction to you remembering her preferred drink order. However, she soon looks at the restaurant and loses the genuine happy smile with a look of concern again. Not wanting to prolong this uncertainty any further, you ask her, “Is something wrong?”

“Um, this just doesn’t seem very casual, you know?” Tanya replies, referring to the restaurant. You rub the back of your neck again, knowing now that she’s feeling uncomfortable with the vibe you set for this date.

“Oh, uh, we can eat somewhere else if you’re not liking the place. Really. I guess I didn’t pick a good place.” you apologize.

“No. No. Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate all the effort you put into this — picking me up at my office, the flowers, this restaurant — it’s just…” she trails off.

“A little too much?” you guess at what she’s trying to say. Sadly, she replies “Yeah.” with a tone of sympathy. Oof.

“What are we doing here, Jay?” she asks you bluntly.

“Having a date?” you answer her, knowing that’s not what she meant at all. “Este puto chico —” she says under her breath, sounding annoyed. Before you can address her annoyance though, your drinks arrive.

She seems happy to see her drink, so at least her mood has shifted positively before you reply… ~and it’s gone. “¿Qué diablos es esta mierda?”

“Okay, yeah. Let’s go. This place sucks.” She says the last word with pure disgust, making the bartender stare daggers into her. Not at all fazed by the bartender’s angry stare, she asks him for the bill. Both of you remain silent, and you don’t even bother drinking your whiskey since it seems you’re going to have to drive to a second location anyway.

“Drink that. This puto can’t mess up a drink from a bottle. We should get our money’s worth.” Tanya recommends.

“Nah, it’s cool. I’m driving so I don’t want to drink too quickly.” you tell her.

“I have another place in mind that’s kinda near here. I can drive to find parking again, and then you can walk it off when we’re going to the place I’m suggesting, if you’re that worried about it.”

The bartender hands over the bill to you with the fakest smile. Before you can place your card, Tanya yanks the bill from you. As soon as she sees how much it is her eyes widen in shock. “Drink that.” she says, now it’s definitely a command. You drink all of it in one swig, and you lower your glass and let out an audible “Aaaah” as the **** stings you on its way down your throat. She angrily places her card on top of the bill and hands it to the bartender with an intentionally fake smile too.

“Hey, thanks for that. You really didn’t have to. ” You thank her, surprised at her initiative.

“You paid for everything last time. So we’re even.” she says sincerely, then lets out a sigh. “Like, we’re probably literally even. That shit was way too fucking overpriced.” As soon as Tanya gets her card back, she stands up and grabs you by the wrist to drag you out of the restaurant.

“Excuse me! It’s customary to leave a tip.” the bartender calls out to both of you. Tanya lets go of your wrist and walks back to him. Even from this distance you can see she’s only pretending to get something from her purse before placing her empty hand on the bar and saying,

“Here’s a tip — mix better fucking drinks.”

Author's Note: Once again, Google was my friend in translating some of these phrases: