Dinner with a Side of Uncomfortable Awkwardness

First day back to work after my extended long weekend was insanely hectic. Everyone was trying to catch up on meetings and paper work that was missed during the time the security system was upgraded. Even Spencer, whom I had only seen relaxed and laid back was stressed out. Before ten in the morning he had already snapped at me (and the apologized profusely and gotten me lunch later). I was starting to feel slightly annoyed with Mr. Steel and his short notice shut-down of the company. By the middle of the week it felt like we had all finally caught up. The best part of the last couple of days were the texts I got from Mike on a regular basis. He had even called me last night and we had ended up talking for over an hour. I absolutely adored this because so many friendships these days were built purely on texting. I live for phone dates even if they are just with my mom.

Jess had surprisingly texted me to see if I wanted to do dinner on Thursday night and I had somewhat reluctantly agreed. After her little freak out over me asking if she was okay I was sure I wasn't going to hear from her again. We agreed on Metropolitan Grill downtown.

I hurried home after work, changed into a cute green dress because it was effin hot out. I was jittery for the entire drive there but arrived first so I had a few minutes to sit down and chill out. Jess came through the door a few minutes later, followed closely by Rheece. I groaned inwardly and immediately felt outnumbered. None of the texts she had sent me said anything about bringing Rheece. Just the sight of him made me extremely uncomfortable.

"Skye, it's so good to see you again." Jess smiled brightly and leaned down to kiss both of my cheeks European style.

Okayyyy. "Sorry, I just got a table for two, I didn't know Rheece was coming…" I trailed off thinking she would at least apologize for just springing him on me.

"Rheece will take care of that." Jess said while her boyfriend snapped his fingers to get the waitresses attention. Ugh, I was already so over this.

We were moved to a booth that was large enough for all of us. I sat awkwardly across from them and thought of something to say.

"So, we just wanted to clear the air about your little misunderstanding a couple of weeks ago." Jess started. Rheece just sat there silently, his creepy, cold eyes never leaving mine.

"Um, okay. I don’t think I had a misunderstanding."

Rheece leaned in close at that point. "We don't appreciate you spreading rumours about our relationship, Skye."

I set down my drink hard on the table. "Woah! I didn't spread any rumours about anybody's relationship. All I asked was if you were okay the next day because you seemed upset when you left." I looked at Jess to see if she would back me up on this but she remained silent. What the fuck was going on here?

"I don’t need you sending those kind of messages to her."

"Um, I'm pretty sure I can send whatever kind of messages I feel like especially when I'm concerned about someone." Even though I felt extremely uncomfortable at this point, I still thought I should stand up for myself because I knew I didn’t do anything wrong.

If possible, Rheece's  eyes got even colder and I felt a shiver going down my spine. "Stay the fuck away from her."

For a second I was speechless. Was he seriously talking to me like this right now?! "What is this even about?" I directed the question to Jess, since there was clearly no talking to Rheece.

She seemed to have shrunken back into the seat and once again said nothing. I looked between her and Rheece and while I felt a little scared for myself, I felt even worse for her. At that moment there was nothing left of that vibrant, perfect person I knew.

"Jess?" I prodded gently, hoping for some sign that she needed help.

"You heard what he said. Stay away from me." She looked directly at me as she echoed Rheece's words.

Rheece leaned across the table. "I don’t want you contacting her again or you'll hear from me."

"Are you guys ready to order?" The perky waitress showed up at that moment with a bright smile that quickly faded as she must have noticed the tension at the table.

I stood up and grabbed my purse. "Actually, I'm going to get going." I don’t know what made me so brave at that moment, but before I left I looked back at Rheece and in front of the gaping waitress said, "I don't care what you pull with other people, but threaten me again and I will go straight to the police."

I booked it out of there and locked my car doors the second I got into my car. My hands were shaking, my heart was racing. Holy shit, what just happened? I almost felt like texting Jess and asking if she was actually okay, but after her reaction to that last time, and her behavior in there I couldn't do it. I drove home but barely remember the drive back. Instead of going into my house I went straight to Chris' who was thankfully home and opened the door right away.

I quickly filled him in on what had happened while he cooked us dinner. He was just as shocked as I was but agreed that I had definitely done nothing wrong. We talked it out and decided the best thing to do in this situation was to just stay away from in. As tempting as it was to text Jess and see what is really going on, it was clearly none of my business. Maybe better security at Steel Publishing was a good idea after all….