Chapter 8
T he last rays of the sun lit up the sky in hues of pink and purple as Julie hurried out of the metro station.
She had arranged to meet Margot ten minutes ago, but was running late yet again.
She spotted the bar they’d agreed on for their rendez-vous, and a tall blonde waiting outside.
Julie recognised Margot from her dating app profile pictures.
“Hi! Sorry, I’m running a bit late.” Julie made a point to show that she was almost out of breath, so Margot knew that at least she’d tried to be there on time.
“It’s OK, I only just got there.” Margot smiled as she pressed her cheek to Julie’s in greeting, though Julie could tell that she was only being nice.
The two women headed inside the bar and sat around a small table in the corner. A few patrons were scattered around. Julie could tell that the place would fill up as the night went on. It was a quite fancy cocktail bar with a slick and swanky interior, not really Julie’s usual scene.
“Do you come here often?” Julie asked, picking up the menu.
“Yes, it’s my go-to for after-works and I live around here. It’s really cool! What cocktails are you into?”
Julie stared at the cocktail names. None of them rang a bell. Paris Sunrise? Texas Tequila? Mint Old Fashioned? “I’m not really sure. What do you recommend?”
Margot’s eyes widened with joy. “I really love the Pineapple Surprise ! It’s gin, vodka, pineapple juice, a dash of champagne and two slices of pineapple.”
Julie nodded. She wasn’t sure about that flavour combination, but she was determined to be agreeable. She was here to have a nice time and stop being so hung up on Zoe. And maybe have a plus one to bring to the wedding. “That sounds great, I’m in,” she smiled.
Julie headed towards the bar and ordered two Pineapple Surprises.
The end product seemed even worse than she had imagined.
Two slices of pineapple were miserably floating in a highball glass that was half filled with ice.
The cocktail had a weird yellow colour, hopefully from the pineapple juice, Julie thought. She walked back towards Margot.
“Cheers!” Julie held her glass up while handing Margot hers.
“Thank you, that’s very kind of you. Next round’s on me.” Margot batted her eyelashes.
Julie took a sip and knew immediately that there was no way she could take another round of this. The cocktail tasted like bitter sugar. She would maybe order a glass of wine or something next, but she had to resist the urge of bailing out of this date.
“So, what do you do for a living? You mentioned in your profile that it was something to do with events?” Margot leaned forward on her elbows. Her cute green eyes were sparkling.
“Yes, I’m an event planner, although I do some event design as well. I’m like a Swiss Army knife for events.”
Margot laughed. “That’s so cool. So you would say you’re an artsy type?”
“Depends what you call an artsy type? I know some Pantone colours.”
“That’s exciting.”
Julie shrugged. “It’s not anything amazing, really. My work pays for it so I don’t even have to afford it.” She made a face. “The Pantone colour box costs 900€.”
Margot laughed again. She put her hand on Julie’s arm. “You’re so funny. I love it!”
Julie smiled back. This date was going well, wasn’t it? She’d forgotten how charming she could be. Her phone buzzed in her jacket pocket.
“One moment.” She looked at the screen. Yasmine was calling her. Maybe it was a wedding emergency? She couldn’t really pick it up right now. She’d decline and wait for Yasmine to send her a message.
“Sorry, it’s a friend of mine who’s getting married and I’m helping her organise the wedding.”
“She’s lucky. It must be nice to have a friend who can help with your kind of skills.”
“She is!” Julie’s phone buzzed again. This time it was a message from Yasmine. “Sorry, let me just check if there’s been any issue in the organisation or something.”
“Yeah, go ahead. Don’t worry.”
Julie’s heart stopped as she swiped open the message.
“ Sorry you must be on the date you told me about! Just wanted to let you know that Zoe will be at the hen do! She wants to spend some time in Brussels before heading to the Ardennes because she has another event before my wedding. So excited! Break a leg on the date!” followed by several winking emojis.
Margot cleared her throat. Julie looked up, realising that she’d been staring at Yasmine’s message for a long moment.
“Is everything OK?” Margot frowned.
Julie hurriedly put her phone away, nodding frantically. “Yes, no worries! Just some information about the hen do.”
“Exciting! Where are you guys heading? One of my friends got married last year and we had an amazing time in Madrid. The Spaniards really know how to party.”
Julie drank her Pineapple Surprise fast. Maybe too fast. The awful taste of the cocktail lingered in her mouth and it felt like her tongue was hungover. “Oh yeah?” She answered distractedly.
“Yes! We went clubbing for three days straight, it was awesome.”
Margot’s cocktail was only half-drunk. What time was it?
Why was it taking her so long? Cocktails with Zoe were always the best. She was so good at them.
When she’d googled Zoe a few weeks ago, Julie thought she’d seen that Zoe had published a book about cocktails.
Maybe she should check it out if she got the chance.
Maybe Zoe had even included the cocktail that Julie invented: the British Exchange Student , which was a dash of gin, a bottle of cider, and the most British ingredient Zoe had in her kitchen at the moment.
One time, they’d put Worcestershire sauce in it and regretted it instantly.
“You seem distracted.” Margot sipped her cocktail.
What were they talking about again? Something about Madrid. Julie had completely lost the plot.
“Why are you grinning?” Margot leaned forward, making insistent eye contact.
“I’m grinning because I’m thinking about my straight college friend I had a stupid crush on.” That was the truth, but Julie couldn’t say it, could she?
“What? I’m not grinning.”
“You absolutely are. You’ve been grinning since you stopped looking at your phone.”
Julie scoured her brain, trying to think of a reason why she would be grinning, but suddenly her mind was full of a memory of Zoe, offering her a cocktail containing jelly babies, failing to stifle a laugh as she tried to force it in Julie’s hand and insisting it would be good this time. Not helpful.
“Oh you know, it’s just the wedding. What can I say? I’m so happy my friend is getting married!” She said, unconvincingly.
“Really?” Margot raised a brow.
“Yes. Yes, yes.” Julie smiled at her date.
“It’s nice that you care so much about your friend.” Somehow, Margot had bought that line. “Where was I? Ah yes, our second night in Madrid.”
This was hopeless, Julie thought. Every second she spent with Margot was a second she wished she could’ve spent with Zoe instead.
Her laughter still echoed in her head even after all these years.
Yasmine’s message about the hen do sent her hurtling down that path.
Julie could feel a warmth in her stomach just thinking about it.
Would it be like it used to be? Would they reconnect?
What if things get out of hand and what if they ended up kissing again?
Or even more. The room suddenly got hotter.
“And then the guy just turned towards my friend, and said in a Spanish accent ‘I guess it’s nice to see you here.’” Margot burst out laughing.
Having no idea what had just happened, Julie laughed along. “That’s so crazy!”
“Isn’t it?” Margot’s finger was circling the rim of her cocktail glass. She looked up at Julie. “Do you want another one of these?”
God no. This was the last thing Julie wanted on this planet. “I think I’m good.” She paused, trying to make her smile more genuine. “But it was delicious! I’ll have to keep this place in mind.”
“I’m glad you like it! Do you know that you can hire them for events? I’m telling you, seeing you’re an event planner and all.”
Julie nodded politely. Maybe if she wanted to poison people at her events she would consider hiring these people.
Margot bit her lip. “Do you want to go somewhere else? Maybe another bar?”
Alarm bells rang in Julie’s head. She didn’t want anything with Margot, not that she wasn’t nice or cute. But she just wasn’t Julie’s type? Or more simply, she wasn’t Zoe. Julie regretted this entire evening.
“Uh no, sorry, I have to go home.”
Margot didn’t hide her disappointment. “Oh.”
“Yes, I um. I need to help my friend with her wedding.” Lying had never been Julie’s forte.
“At 9:30 pm on a Friday?”
“Indeed. You know, that’s the event-planning life.” Julie vaguely waved around, as if she got asked to do event planning on Friday nights every other day. “But I’ll see you next time?”
“Yeah, why don’t we do that?” Margot smiled awkwardly.
Julie stood up like she was on a spring. “It was nice meeting you!” She gave Margot an awkward hug and briskly headed for the door.
Hopefully, Margot would meet somebody who wasn’t still so hopelessly in love with her college best friend, Julie thought as she walked towards the metro station.