...continued from part-1 and part-2
Anna smiled and waved at him. On sighting her as she waved, James unconsciously waved her back. His whole plan of subtly sneaking into the restaurant to see first-hand what Anna and her male companion were up to, had just gone to out the window.
Meanwhile, Anna had just beckoned on him to come over with another wave of the hand. Confused on whether to oblige her or not, James found himself shuffling towards her. The man with Anna, had a rather blank and unreadable look on his face.
“What was the fellow thinking?” James thought to himself.
As he approached their table, the man offered his hands. James shook the offered hand and said 'hello'. He subsequently turned to Anna who had been observing both men and shook her own outstretched arms.
After the curt pleasantries, the very question James had been trying to avoid, and of which he didn’t even have any answer to, popped up.
“What are you doing here, James”, Anna asked with her ever-so-cute smile on her face.
While, he was contemplating his answer, he looked at her companion, who was busy watching him closely.
As he struggled to muster a response, Anna interrupted with, “Oh my, I’m sorry! James, meet Steven my close buddy from way, way back. And Steven? This is James, my colleague at work.”
‘A colleague at work?’ James apparently thought he would have had the “very-good-friend” title by now. But then, who was he fooling?
‘Colleague at work’ was exactly what he was to Anna. After all, their supposed closeness only started few weeks ago.
But then, “friend from way back”, has so many undertones against its apparent meaning. “Were both of them lovers or something of the sort?” James thought to himself.
After some nanoseconds of tense silence and a brief stare into oblivion, James finally said, “I’m meeting a friend here, Anna”. He then asked back, “what are you guys up to?”
Anna’s answer elicited a sigh of relief from James, which signaled that he had probably been holding his breath all the while she was responding to his question.
Anna had said, “Steven and I are friends from school and we also worked at my former place of employment. So, he happened to be in town today, and today being my birthday, he forced me out to dinner, even though I had no intentions of going out. Right, Steve?”
“Oh yea, you got that right Anna. I wasn’t going to allow you stay indoors on your birthday. Not when I’m in town”, Steven said.
“She can be a tough girly to convince”, Steven winked as he directed the statement to James.
He then asked James, “So are you on a date too, James? It is a fancy restaurant so I’m guessing you are meeting a lady and not a guy?”
James didn’t know how to react to the question he’d just been asked by Steven who was now wearing a smug look on his face. He figured the question bordered on sarcasm too.
The thought and question which had crossed his mind earlier, surfaced again, “Was this guy and Anna in a relationship?”
James shook the thought from his head and resolved to quickly answer Steven’s question before he would expose his confused and excessively inquisitive looks through another awkward and tense pause.
“Oh yes! I am meeting a lady friend,” James lied.
“I’m not sure why she isn’t here yet. I think I’d have to call to know why she’s running late,” James added.
Directing his next words to Anna who was looking directly at him now, James said, “Happy birthday to you, Anna."
"Too bad your work-leave coincided with your birthday. I’m sure we would have done something big for you at the office, had you been around this period”, James added.
“Nah! I don’t actually celebrate my birthday for personal reasons, James. Perhaps someday I would tell you why”, Anna said.
“Fair enough, then”, James said. “It was nice to see you today though. I guess we would catch up when you resume work after your leave. You look lovely, by the way.”
“Oh, thank you, James”, Anna responded.
“Great seeing you Steven,” James said, turning to face Steven. “Do have a lovely evening.”
James nodded as he excused himself from their presence with a smile.
The smile disappeared from his face as he turned toward the receptionists desk, where he was going to make a fake phone call, to contact a fake “lady friend”, whom he was supposedly to be on a date with.
He chuckled to himself, as he was faking the call.
He turned slightly to see if Steven and Anna were watching him, and just then, Steven looked at him and James had to nod curtly at Steven. Steven nodded back.
James then supposedly finished his fake call and made for the exit door, the moment he saw that their attention were no longer on him.
Back in his car, and with the flower and gifts he bought for Anna being his companions, several thoughts ran through James’ head.
“There is something between those two”, he said out loud.
“And if this Steven could convince Anna to go out on a date with him, even when she clearly wasn’t intent on celebrating anything – not even her birthday – then it means they are surely more than just friends,” he thought to himself.
James consoled himself with the fact that, at least she wasn’t married or anything. And he would find out one way or the other, how close a friend this Steven really was.
While struggling with the fact that he might be fighting for Anna's affection against a greater and more influential personality in the person of Steven, he started his car engine and decided to head home.
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