The Disastrous Dinner...
Bridgette sent Duncan home to get changed for the date and he arrived back in around 20 minutes. Duncan arrived with his tie crooked. Bridgette rolled her eyes and fixed it, and Duncan kept thinking, I have a girlfriend, every time her hand accidentally slipped and touched him. She finished five minutes later with it not looking correct but better than it had in the first place. The little girl tugged on Duncan's arm. "May I get a drink please?" she asked, and Duncan scoffed and shook her hand off.
"Of course!" Bridgette told her, and the little girl ran into the kitchen. As soon as she was out of sight Bridgette started telling Duncan off. "What the heck was that? You're going to be a HORRIBLE parent!" she said, giving him a death stare. Duncan melted a little inside when he saw the cold-heartedness behind her stare. "Ever considered I don't want kids, Malibu?" he replied. Bridgette's retort was "Gwen does. We were talking about names the other day." and Duncan froze a little. Was she going to go into 'girl mode' and torment him with the horrors of baby names?
She happened to keep her mouth shut and stay occupied by loading the children into the back of her car. The drive to the restaurant was fairly silent, Duncan repeatedly texting Gwen and the children behaving themselves. When they pulled up Bridgette held Duncan from walking in the door. "Hey, I'm sorry I flipped at you. I guess you're just not used to kids. And hey, I know this is weird, but let's just TRY to have a good time tonight?" she said. She managed to get a smile out of Duncan. "Good enough for me. Now don't kill me tonight." "Me kill YOU? Oh please." Bridgette replied with a roll of her eyes. She managed to get an eyelash in her eye and rubbed at it, slightly smearing the makeup around her left eye. Duncan laughed. "You really do hate that stuff, huh?" he asked. "Like oil and water." Bridgette said, giggling.
"You know, Blondie, I think this might not be a terrible date after all." Duncan replied. Bridgette straightened his tie. "I thought the same thing. Now let's make Heather wish she was never born!" Bridgette said. Her phone buzzed.
Text from Gwen: No tongue or you die. Bridgette texted back: LOL, as if. She returned her phone to her purse and when she saw someone who looked suspiciously like Heather she grabbed Duncan's hand. She blushed and smiled a little bit. And on the inside, Duncan was smiling too. "Come on, let's go in before we get weird stares." Duncan said, and Bridgette held on tighter as they walked through the restaurant doors. Her light blue nails dug into the top of his hand a little but that just made him smile. Not the pain, the level of anticipation she was expressing. He actually thought it was...cute. He shook his head a little, trying to get that out of his head. I have a girlfriend, and she's dating my best friend. Yeah, she's pretty, and smart, and... no. Just no. I have a girlfriend.
Bridgette looked down at his hand, clutching hers, and she suddenly felt awkward for liking it. But she felt awkward about a lot of things today. She was embarrassed to admit it, but she'd painted her toenails, and she felt like even that was giving her extra courage to be completely herself. The two children were seated at their table, and Bridgette thought Wow, they're so well-behaved. I wish I was like that when I was ten. Her thoughts jinxed the behavior later to come from the "well-behaved" children. The girl gave her brother a sly smile and he nodded. She pointed to Bridgette and Duncan, who were absorbed in a race car conversation, and he nodded again.
….
A mocha- skinned larger girl pulled a menu down to under her eyes. Her date, an auburn-haired skinny boy with glasses copied. They both watched the two on the date talk and the girl saw Bridgette laugh. "Harold baby, can you hear what they're talkin' about, hon?" the girl whispered. "I can get closer, Leshawna, if you want." the boy replied, and scooted so far off his chair that he fell off. He quickly got up and hid his face as the blonde surfer and the delinquent looked over. Bridgette shrugged and continued the conversation. Harold gave his girlfriend a look clearly saying "Sorry" and she rolled her eyes and continued to watch.
….
"Ohmigawsh, DJ, is that Bridgette? She looks like.. soooo pretty. Doesn't she look pretty, Sadie?" a raven-haired mocha-skinned girl with pigtails asked. Her date sighed. Katie had insisted in bringing Sadie along, because they never went anywhere without each other. "Totally pretty. Like, a model or something. Like you, Katie!" the larger girl with a matching outfit to Katie's replied. DJ gave them an odd look as he continued to watch how his friend was doing on his date. They were far enough away that they couldn't be seen by Bridgette or Duncan but could see them perfectly. He did agree with the girls. Bridgette did look gorgeous. But he would never consider her as more than a friend, if not like a little sister. And Duncan had cleaned up well too. He smiled He TOLD Duncan that he put a little more effort in he'd feel better about being on a date with Geoff's girlfriend. And it seems like Leshawna told Bridgette the same thing. He gave a thumbs-up to a table across the restaurant and got one back in return.
….
Heather sat at a booth with Alejandro. They were deeply indulged in conversation. "It's all strategic. One of them is going to blow sooner or later, and when they blow, I blow their little secret to Bridgette's boyfriend." "But Heather, mi amor, if you're jealous of her then why torment her? Try to be her friend. And why would you want her and Geoff apart, all they ever do is make out anyways." "True, all they ever do is eat each others faces, but she'll be devastated if he dumps her, which gets her out of the competition easily. She's smart, Alejandro, and she's athletic. A competitor like that could be a threat to our winnings." "I love the way you think, mi maravilloso comanera." Alejandro said and they continued their conversation, deep in thought, about ideas of how to get the money.
….
"When's the stinkin' food coming anyway?" Bridgette asked. Her nails drummed on the table. "I guess I have rubbed off on you, Blondie. Keep it up and you might turn out like Courtney." "Please." Bridgette scoffed. "I'm fairly level-headed, not to sound conceited or anything. But seriously, when is the food coming?"
Neither of them noticed that the children were missing.