Chris cursed his best friend for landing him into this mess. Seated in a restaurant on a Sunday afternoon, he waited for a woman he didn't even remember the face of. For all he knew, both of them were waiting for each other in different corners of the same restaurant.
She was thirty minutes late. Chris allowed himself to wait for fifteen more, and then he'd leave considering himself lucky to have gotten out of an unwanted social interaction.
"Excuse me?" A soft voice called from behind him.
Turning his head toward the source, he slowly stood up with a smile. "You must be Abigail."
"Yes. Chris?"
"Have a seat." He let her sit in his place adjusting the chair for her as she settled down.
"Thank you." She smiled, putting her black bag on the floor beside her chair.
Chris seated himself across her, and it was then that he took in her appearance. She wore khaki jeans with a skin-colored sweater. It coincidentally matched Chris's black pants with a cream-colored t-shirt underneath his black jacket.
Her hair was curled and pulled back into a ponytail with a few strands loose to frame her face. Her pink lips shined as they stretched into a sincere smile.
For a moment, Chris didn't regret agreeing to the date.
"Uh, you look lovely," he said, leaning in with his elbows on the table.
"Thank you," she accepted the compliment like she owned it, making him smile. Her confidence was the first thing that he noticed about her personality.
She then waved her hand toward the waiter to order a glass of water.
"Just water?" asked Chris.
"For now." She grinned, then leaned in as if telling him a secret and whispered dramatically, "It's just that I get thirsty when I'm nervous." A pink shade crept up to her neck as she focused her eyes on the table and then up at him again.
Chris smiled at how easy to like she was. "Nervous, huh?"
The tint on her neck darkened, and she waved her hand to dismiss him playfully.
"So, Abigail—"
"Abby, please."
Chris chuckled. "So, Abby, what do you do?"
The waiter arrived with a glass of water before she could say something. She gestured to Chris with a finger to excuse her as she took a few sips, and then spoke, "I work as a PA for Rachel Brown."
"Rachel Brown?"
"Yeah, I don't know if you know her, but she and her husband run an entertainment firm. Have you heard of the R. B. Corp?" She blinked.
"Uh, yeah. Didn't they just cancel a contract with a publishing agency recently?"
She narrowed her eyes at him. "You know that how?" Her long nails clicked the table repeatedly which was starting to distract him.
He smirked. "I have my sources."
Her lips pulled up elegantly into a cheeky grin as she said, "I'm not supposed to reveal anything. Confidentiality and all."
Chris pursed his smiling lips. "I understand."
"Why were you asking anyway?"
He waited a few seconds. "The last contract they canceled was with us."