When I arrive, I’m pointed toward Evan and his date. The hostess walks me over and takes my drink order as I sit down.
Evan smiles. “Good to see you out. I thought for sure you’d be too busy working to have dinner.”
I laugh. “I’m never too busy for you. And you must be Lola!”
The woman sitting beside him smiles and nods.
“It’s nice to meet you. It’s nice to meetanyonewho can put up with Evan and his artistic attitude.”
Lola laughs and holds out her hand to shake. “Well, I’m an artist, too, so I guess we mesh well together.”
“Oh, what kind of art do you do?”
“Photography.”
“Well, you two are just two peas in a pod, aren’t you?”
Evan laughs and shakes his head. “So, how’d your meeting go?”
I nod as I pick up my glass of water and take a sip. “Very well. The party planner, Destiny Parks, seems capable. Hopefully she comes through.”
“Oh, I know Destiny,” Lola says. “She’s great at what she does. I’m sure you’re in good hands.”
“Thank you, I’m hoping she’s as good as everyone claims. She seems to have a different vision of the party and I’m hoping her own ideas don’t cloud her judgement when it comes to my wishes.”
Lola giggles. “She’s strong willed, that’s for sure, but she’s clever. I’m sure you’ll be happy with the outcome.”
“Have you known her long?”
She nods. “All my life. We grew up together, and we were pretty close back in high school. Now that we’re older and have lives, and careers, and stuff, we’re not as close as we used to be. Which is a real shame. She really is great.”
I smirk. “So, I’ve been told.”
The waiter is back and he’s ready with his pen, so I order another glass of scotch on the rocks and wait while Evan and Lola order their drinks. After they do, I start an order for some appetizers.
“So, you two are friends from college?” Lola asks when the waiter walks away.
I nod and smile while Evan laughs. “We were pretty close back in the day. Caused all kinds of trouble together.”
She grins. “Like what?”
“Like,” I say, ready to jump in with a story. “Once Evan was my DD for a frat party. He ended up getting completely wasted and the two of us had to walk home.”
“Neither of us made it through,” Evan says, cutting me off.
“That’s right, because you got sick and ended up sitting on a park bench to puke and then passed out there.”
Lola gasps. “What? You slept on a park bench?”
He nods.
“What did you do?” she asks, looking at me now.
“What could I do? We still had twelve blocks before we were back home. I couldn’t carry him that far. So, I curled up on the one next to it and crashed. We grabbed breakfast from a nearby diner the next morning, walked back to the party, got my car, and drove home.”
“Longest night of my life,” Evan says. “But I did sleep pretty good.”
Lola laughs, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. “I can’t picture you doing that. You’re always so sensible now.”
