‘We could just sit and not talk if you like?’ I say. ‘Or not.’ I shrug, keeping my tone nonchalant. ‘Whatever. I’m happy to sit on my own if you don’t want company right now.’
There’s a pause where she stares down at her menu again, her brow furrowed, before turning back and giving me a tight smile.
‘Yeah, maybe you’re right. It’d be a lot less weird. I feel like everyone’s staring at us both sitting here side by side like a couple of losers. Are you sure I’m not cramping your style?’
I let out an exasperated laugh. ‘Jesus Christ, Dasher, just move your arse over here to my table and stop overthinking it, will you?’
She blinks at me, then gives me a reluctant grin and shakes her head. ‘You haven’t changed.’
‘Actually, I think you’ll find I have. In all the best ways,’ I say, pushing out the chair opposite me with my foot as she gets up from her table and relocates to mine.
Sitting down, she shifts her chair in closer, then looks straight back down at her menu, pointedly avoiding my gaze.
So I pick up my own menu and study it.
All the meals look amazing, but I’m suddenly a lot less hungry than I was before I sat down. Even so, I pick something that looks like it might not be too filling and select which sake I’d like so I’m ready when the waiting staff comes over to take our order. Chloe puts in her order too, also choosing to drink sake, and the server takes our menus away, leaving Chloe with nothing to distract her, so she’s forced to look at me.
‘Food options look good,’ I say, to break the awkward atmosphere.
‘Yeah. They do,’ she agrees. ‘There’s a lot more fish and seafood than I was expecting though.’
‘You’re not a fan?’
‘I am. I just don’t cook it much, so don’t tend to eat it. But I told myself before I came here that I’d expand my menu choices and not just go for the sorts of dishes I’d usually pick.’
‘Good idea. I guarantee you the food here will be spectacular, no matter what you pick.’
‘I’m sure.’
‘Elliot’s very hot on his restaurants competing with the best cuisine available around the world.’
Her eyebrows raise in polite question. ‘So you’re obviously still in contact with Elliot then? And Raffa too?’
I nod. ‘Yeah. We speak a lot, even though we’re all involved in other lines of work now.’
She leans in a little closer. ‘Other lines? Did you end up working together then?’
‘Yeah. You remember we were all on the same business degree course? Well, Elliot’s a shit-hot programmer as well – quite the lucrative hobby – and after we’d graduated, we all formed a company and launched an app that he’d been developing in his spare time. Raffa took on the CEO role and I funded all the marketing and promotion with money my grandpa left me when he died. It went gangbusters. People fell on it for a new way to create content for social media and news reporting. Right place, right time etcetera. We got lucky with two rival tech giants really wanting it when we decided to sell, which meant it went to a bidding war which neither of them wanted to lose, so we got a higher than the anticipated price for it. A lot higher.’
Her eyes are wide now. ‘Oh my God, that was you guys? I saw something on the news about the crazy price that an app developed by a UK-based company sold for, but I didn’t realise you were in involved in it.’ She bestows me with a nod of respect. ‘Well done.’
‘Thanks. We were pleased.’
‘I bet.’
Our glasses of sake arrive and she raises hers in a congratulatory manner.
I lift mine and clink it against hers, then take a sip. It tastes amazing. In fact my taste buds seem to have come properly alive again now.
‘So what? You’re all millionaires now?’ she asks, putting her drink down again.
‘Actually, we’re all billionaires.’
‘Oh my God.’ She lets out a strangled-sounding laugh. ‘This is like a wet dream come true for you, isn’t it?’
I lean back in my chair and put my hands behind my head, stretching my crooked arms in a jokey peacocking motion. ‘I bet you’re wishing you hadn’t left me now, huh?’
She rolls her eyes at me, but follows it with an amused grin. ‘When you say arrogant shit like that it makes me remember exactly why Ididbreak up with you,’ she says, though her voice is light with humour.
