Chapter 16
A s Benny took a very sharp right turn off the PCH, I could hear the crash of the waves on the shore of Zuma Beach.
It was considerably cooler by the water, and I liked the smell of the salty air through the open window.
When Benny stopped at the small valet station behind another car, I pulled down the mirror and freshened up my bangs, still a bit overwhelmed and amazed by how different I looked.
The restaurant was a one-story white house covered in ivy with large bright pink bougainvillea vines surrounding the oak wood front door.
It didn’t have a view of the water. It was just a little spot tucked away within some greenery.
It was modest, but no doubt an expensive piece of real estate.
There was a white sign in a handwritten script that said Wavy that I noticed once the valet had taken my car and driven off to park it in some discreet location.
“Are we cool enough for this place?” I asked, tugging my dress down, even though it wouldn’t budge. Somehow it felt shorter than when I had bought it forty-five minutes earlier.
“If we decide we’re cool enough for this place, then we are,” Benny said, like a wise sage. “Reality is just responding to our energy, anyway.”
“Good lord,” I replied, rolling my eyes, and Benny just smiled and shrugged like my pessimism wasn’t going to affect her one bit.
“Wait,” she said, before she opened the door. “I forgot to add one more thing for this whole experiment.”
“Oh, God, what ?”
“This one you might actually like,” she said, grinning.
“You’ve been such a Goody Two-shoes for so long, Charlie.
I think you need to embrace the bad girl inside.
Just give in. You know you want to. It’s one month of debauchery.
Embrace pleasure. Sow your wild oats. Take on an alter ego.
Be Charlize, not Charlotte. Charlize would get up to some trouble. ”
I shook my head. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a bad influence?”
She thrust her finger in my face. “You know, depending on the way you look at it, one might say I’m a great influence, because I just saw some light come back into your eyes. So, you like the idea of being a little bad.”
“Sure, why not,” I told her. “I’ll see what I can do.” I wasn’t backing down now. She wanted to keep adding tasks, I’d keep agreeing.
“I mean, don’t go rob a bank,” Benny said. “Be reasonable.”
“Yeah, Benny, like I was about to go pull off a heist.”
“Well, shit, Charlie, in that case, take me with you. I always thought I could be a great addition to a heist.”
“ Such a bad influence,” I teased.
Benny batted her eyelashes. “I’m an angel.”
“An angel of chaos, maybe.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I’ll take that as the highest compliment.”
“You would.”
“Let’s go inside,” Benny said, twirling around.
The hostess stand was in the entryway and the entirety of the house was bathed in dim, flickering light.
It looked like walls had been knocked down to create one large dining area where there were a handful of tables, all full, save for one.
It was an exceedingly cool place that had charm and novelty in equal measure.
Each mid-century modern table was adorned with a single yellow rose, cut short and in a mismatched glass vase, along with a triplet of flickering candles. The hostess handed Benny and me menus when she sat us at our reserved table.
It was one long list of dishes, fifteen in total.
They were all small plates, and the menu had a note that recommended four to five dishes for two people.
It was an array of cuisines, from pizza with shaved brussels sprouts and bacon to shrimp and corn grits with house-made hot sauce and fennel and grapefruit salad.
On the back of the menu were the drink options. It was sparse and curated.
There was a time before everything happened, before Noah, that I loved discovering new restaurants.
I even considered going to culinary school, but instead chose to get a business degree from Stanford.
Taking in the menu, I wanted everything , wanted to taste every single dish.
For the first time in years, I felt ravenous.
Our server swung over to our table with a flourish. She was in all black and a dusty blue apron with Wavy written in that same handwriting from the sign outside, and tattoos up and down both her arms.
She took our drink order of a large bottle of sparkling water.
Benny and my mom didn’t drink. I hadn’t had a drink since the night of my birthday and it felt good to be clear-headed right now.
Before the pandemic, I drank a few nights a week, but during lockdown, Josh and me were putting away bottles by the night.
The server started walking away, but I called back to her.
“Can I put our food order in, too?” I asked.
“But, I—” Benny cut in and I stilled her with my hand.
“We’re going to order everything,” I said. “One of every single thing on the menu.”
Benny’s smile was so wide her mouth was hanging open.
“I love it,” she cried, nearly panting. “One of everything!”
The server nodded her head. “What a decadent choice.”
“Thank you,” I said.
When the server walked off, Benny looked at me and said, “The student has become the master. Good work, Charlize.”
I just smiled and told her, “Let the games begin?”
“Oh, they have begun ,” Benny replied, as she sat back in her chair, arms crossed, looking a little too gratified for someone I was hell-bent on proving wrong.