Opening Night Part IX-Unexpected Invitations
"Hey, guys." Ted the assistant from Jabot approaches the bar, greeting Fen and Summer.
"Hey, Ted." Summer greets him. "Nice Jacket". She remarks, smiling at his dark pink jacket.
"Thanks." Ted says smiling brightly. "I'm really enjoying myself tonight." He looks around. "This place is awesome. Great food, and entertainment. The music has been great tonight and it makes me want to dance!" He exclaims enthusiastically.
Summer is amused by Ted's enthusiasm. "Okay, then get your dance on Ted." She encourages, smirking at him.
Ted waves his hand. "But I need a partner to dance with and I was wondering..." He looks at her and grins nervously. "Would you like to dance with me?" He asks sheepishly.
"What?" Summer asks both surprised and amused.
Ted holds up his hand for a moment and explains himself. "Look I know you're a married woman and I totally respect that, but I just wanted someone to dance with. And I know you better than most of the women here. So…" he holds out his hand to her. "Do you want to dance?" He asks again.
Summer smiles at him amused. "umm…" She puts her hands to her face for a moment thinking. "Oh... Okay, Why not." She says playfully and goes to the dance floor to dance with Ted.
Fen watches as Summer and Ted dance and his disappointment of not spending the rest of the evening with Ana grows. He hoped he hadn't done anything to upset her, and that she would want to spend time with him at another time. He decides to order a drink and continues to ponders about why she didn't want to spend more time with him.
As he is sulking at the bar, across the room, Jack, Kyle and Abby, are talking about the restaurant and the evening.
"I am proud of you." Jack tells Abby. "This place is lovely, and I look forward to having many dinners and gatherings here." He tells her.
Abby beams at Jack's praise. "Thank you, Uncle Jack. Your support means a lot to me." She puts her hands together and smiles. "I've been working really hard to get this restaurant going, and to see it all come to fruition tonight, has been really awesome." She looks at both him and Kyle and around the restaurant. "It's so nice to have my family and friends here supporting me." She states appreciatively.
Jack pats her on the arm. "You deserve it."
Kyle nods in support. "Yeah cous, you did a great job of helping get everything together tonight."
"Thanks Kyle." Abby says graciously.
"Excuse me." A voice behind Abby suddenly says. She turns around to see Dr. Nate Hastings standing there smiling at her. He also looks at Jack and Kyle and smiles and nods at them.
"Oh, Hi Nate." Abby greets him warmly. "It's nice to see you. I hope you are enjoying yourself."
Nate smiles at Abby. "Hello Abby." He briefly looks at Kyle and Jack again. "Hello Gentlemen." He then turns his attention back to Abby. "I certainly have been enjoying myself tonight. You and my cousin have really outdone yourselves with this new restaurant." He states warmly.
Abby smiles. "Thank you, we along with Lola really have put a lot of effort into getting this place running and we are glad to hear that people are enjoying it."
"Indeed." Nate remarks. He pauses, and then placing his hand on his chest lean towards Abby and asks. "I know that you have been a busy woman, helping run this establishment tonight. But I was wondering if you had a free moment tonight, if you would like to share a dance with me?" His handsome face gives her a hopeful smile.
Abby looks at him and her eyes brighten. She clasps her hands together. "You know, I think that I have a moment right now that I can spare for a dance, Nate."
"Shall we?" Nate leads her to the dance floor, and they start to dance together enjoying themselves.
Jack turns to Kyle and smiles. "Now it's your turn to get out there." He encourages Kyle. "Go find you someone to dance with."
Kyle gives Jack an uneasy smile and shakes his head. "I don't think so dad, the one woman I really want to dance with isn't really giving me the time of day." A sad look comes across his face as he makes that statement.
Jack pats him on the back. "Then get back out there and go find someone else to dance with." He gives Kyle a serious look. "Son you can't keep moping over Lola. You have a lot to offer. If Lola keeps rejecting you then it may be time to move on." He advises.
Jack looks out into the restaurant and smiles. "There are a lot of pretty young ladies in here tonight. I am sure that one of them would be happy to dance with you. Take a chance and go ask one of them." He suggests to his son.
Kyle sighs and shrugs and looks out into the room, thinking about his father's advice. While he is doing that more people from Ana's table are getting up to dance. She had just watched Nate ask Abby to dance, and Devon and Elena were already on the dance floor enjoying themselves. Even the twins were also dancing on the floor. Her family had asked her why she wasn't dancing, but she had given them the same excuse about how she didn't feel like dancing and had wanted to relax without doing that.
Now it was just her and Jett at the table. Ana watches as her father is listening and grooving to the music that is playing in the restaurant. She notices Jett looking at an attractive lady across the room. Ana smiles at him and leans over. "Hey dad you should go ask her to dance." She encourages him.
Jett smiles at her. "You think so?" He asks.
Ana gives him a playful nudge. "Yeah, dad go ahead."
Jett gives her a look. "I don't want to leave you here by yourself." He admits.
Ana turns her head to the side and gives him a look. "I'll be fine dad." She assures him. "I'm just resting up remember."
"Un-huh." Jett says unconvinced, wondering what was the real reason why his daughter wasn't dancing. "Okay. I will go over and ask her to dance." He pauses and gives Ana a look. "And maybe when you're feeling better, you could reconsider your stance on not dancing tonight. You're a beautiful young lady and should be enjoying yourself." He suddenly looks past Ana's shoulder.
"And it looks like there is at least one young man that thinks that. It looks like you have someone coming over." He gives Ana's hand a squeeze and gets up to go ask the lady across the room to dance with him. "I'll be back. Maybe I will see you on the floor too." He leaves and Ana's head turns to see who is approaching her.
"Hey Ana, how it's going?" Kyle asks as he nears her table.
"Hi, Kyle." Ana greets him in a warm, friendly manner. "How are you doing?" She asks.
"Fine." Kyle nods his head and looks out onto the dance floor, his father's words resonating in his mind. He looks back down at Ana and smiles. "I came over here because I was just wondering… would you like to dance with me?" He asks.
A surprised look comes across Ana's face. "Yeah?" She asks.
Kyle nods. "Yeah. I was looking for someone to dance with and was wondering if you would like to dance?"
"Well…" Ana begins and then a thought crosses her mind. She puts her hands in her lap and looks up at Kyle. "Don't you want to be dancing with Lola?" She asks directly.
A look comes across Kyle's face and he sighs. "She's still not really talking to me much." He admits truthfully.
"Un-huh." Ana nods her head knowingly.
But…" Kyle continues. "Like my dad said there is no need to continue to stand around and sulk about that. Tonight, is still a nice night and the music is great and I could still dance with a lovely lady." He looks Ana over and gives her a bigger smile, noticing even more how great she looked. "You look really pretty tonight. And I would be happy if you shared a dance with me." He states warmly.
Ana is flattered by Kyle's comments. She ponders for a moment about how she will answer him. She really didn't mind dancing and Kyle seemed like a nice guy. But she had just lied to Fen and her family about not really wanting to dance. As she thinks about that, she looks over to the bar to see if Fen is still there. She sees that he's left, and she quickly scans around the room, and still doesn't see him.
Him kissing Lola flashes through her mind again. She wonders if he's gone to be with Lola somewhere again, and an upset feeling comes over her. She tries to shake it off and looks back up at Kyle and makes a decision. "Well, I wasn't feeling like dancing much earlier in the evening, but…." She flashes him a smile. "I feel more like dancing now and you asked so nicely."
Kyle smiles back at her. "Great." She gets up and goes and joins Kyle on the dance floor.