“You’ve been here before?”
“Yeah, it was my family’s favourite. We came here for any big family occasions, like birthdays.”
“Must have been where all the local families went. My business partner introduced me to it because this is where his family came too.”
“Oh really? It was probably pretty popular when we were kids. It must be so nice having your own business. How long ago did you set it up?”
“I met my business partner back in Newcastle. We often worked on the same projects and we were both looking for a roommate at the same time, so we moved in together and were roommates first. We had both had a shit week at work and were over working for someone else. My mate took a trip home for the weekend and returned with a business proposition for me. He had a good mate from school that was a developer here in Byron and had the money to start us off. The offer was too good to refuse and neither of us had any reason to stay in Newcastle, so the three of us went into business together.” He’s so proud and confident when he talks about his business.
“That's so inspiring. You're lucky you have each other. I would love to start my own interior styling business. I just keep losing the nerve to do it.”
“Sometimes you just have to start, you can figure out the rest as you go. I'm so glad we did, it's changed all of our lives. The business took off straight away when we landed a large government contract because they loved our eco-friendly edge. So we now have 20 employees and more contracts than we can keep up with.”
“That sounds amazing, I don’t even know where to start!” I laugh.
“As I said the other day, bring your portfolio in on Monday and we can work out if you’ll fit in with our aesthetic, and, if not, I’m sure I can point you in the right direction to get started.”
“Blake, why are you being so nice to me?”
“You look like you could use a friend, we’ve all been there.”
“Thanks, you're a nice guy. Very serious, but nice,” I say with a lopsided smile. He raises his dark eyes from the pizza he’s just bitten into.
“Hey, what do you mean serious?” he grumbles.
“I don’t know, just an observation. You just seem kind of serious and structured, like everything needs to be perfectly organised and in place for your world to be okay.”
“So, I like things organised. Drink up. I’ll show you I’m not Mr Serious all the time. I can be fun too,” he says with a mischievous smile. And when he says it like that, I totally believe him. Maybe I have judged him too early and he has a completely different side to him.
We finish up our food in record time. I don’t know if Blake was aware, but it was definitely a competition, and I won by two pieces.
“You want to just head over to the bar? I can walk you home later. I feel like I need a drink tonight too.”
“Long week, hey? Lucky I wore my walking boots,” I laugh as we walk out of the restaurant. I’m a little tipsy from the wine already. “So what’s your deal anyway, Blakie?”
He shoots me a puzzled glare at my cutie nickname for him. “No deal. What do you mean?”
“Well, you're an attractive guy, with a decent job. I would think girls would be throwing themselves at you. How are you single?”
“I don’t have girls throwing themselves at me,” he grumbles, with a stern look like I have somehow insulted him. “I’m kind of in the same situation as you. I had a long-term girlfriend back in Newcastle, but it was a long story. Things got kind of complicated and she had feelings for my business partner as well as me. He didn’t feel the same, but it tore me apart. So I broke it off not long before we decided to move here and I haven't really wanted to date again.”
It's the first time I’ve seen him drop his tough, serious persona. She must have done a number on him to still be so hung up on her. I can see how wounded he is.
“That's shit, Blake, I’m sorry. Chicks can be such skanky bitches!” I offer a sympathetic smile.
“Yeah, it's been a while now. I thought I was getting over it, but she's been calling me again lately, wanting to try again. There's no way I’d go there, after how it ended, but it's hard to move on when she's still calling. I was glad we had plans tonight. I need a distraction.”
“I can definitely organise that! I can be very distracting." I smirk.
"I'm sure you can," he smiles sexily.
"We need another drink.” I grab his hand and power walk through the door at the bar and straight to the bartender. “Four tequila shots, please,” I say to the bartender with a broad smile.
“What are you doing?” Blake whispers to me.
“Erasing our memories, for tonight anyway,” I say with a wink, as the bartender places the shots down in front of us. I hand Blake two and then grab two for myself, clinking his glass. “To forgetting the past and living in the now.” He gives me a slow smile and throws back the shots one at a time.
“I think you're going to be trouble, missy.”
“Trouble’s my middle name. Now come on, let’s play pool. I'm going to kick your arse and loser gets next round, and that's going to be you!” I say, nudging his arm.
“Ha, bring it on baby, I never lose.” He takes the cue, stepping up to break.
“Neither do I, baby,” I tease him.
Three rounds of pool later and Blake’s up two. Tonight’s going to cost me, he’s a lot better than my brothers and I'm out of practice. I used to kick their arses, but it's been a while, or maybe I’m just a
