Chapter 13

Lucia stared at the text she had sent Mr Ferrari some hours ago while at work, the guilty expression drawn across her face made it obvious she had lied.

Lied about having extra work at the hospital, and lied about making it later than expected at the restaurant.

In truth, she finished up her work earlier than usual and returned to the new apartment building she had just moved into. There, she spent over an hour deciding on what to wear to the dinner, and ended up wearing the only thing that she had dry cleaned.

She pushed a pushed back a loose strand of hair which refused to be with the rest in her sexy ponytail. Then pulled out her phone from her dark brown bag and placed it to her right ear.

"I'm on my way there already, I can see the restaurant right in front of me." She said into the phone, walking under the lamp post, that shone on her entire get up.

Stemming from the tight fitted white crop top, that showcased her creamy shoulders. Down to her high waist flowery maxi skirt that kissed her ankles. Boosting her height, was a pair of silver stilettos which matched the silver earrings she had on.

"No, no, I don't think it's a date, and even if it is, it isn't too soon." Her voice sounded like an uneven mix of certainty and nervousness, with a slight hint of irritation, which she covered up nicely.

"He's a nice guy, and he's passionate about what he does." Lucia spoke into the phone, trying to prove a point to the person on the other side.

She arrived at the lobby of the lavish restaurant, still on a nerve wracking phone call and barely managed to tear her gaze to the man handling the reservations.

"Hi." She chirped, "I'm with Mr Ferrari." She told him flashing an overly excited smile at the staff member.

"Let me have a look." He said and diverted his gaze from her to the computer sitting on the desk. His rude stare had been fixated on her shoulders, something Lucia didn't seem to notice.

"Trust me, I won't be making the same mistake like I did last time, no more red flags in my life." Lucia said all too loudly, grabbing the attention of two or three people, who were on their own phone calls.

She mouthed a sorry to them, then let out a heavy sigh, her social awkwardness and anxiety was starting to kick in.

"Here it is." The man in a white linen shirt and a black vest told her, his eyes still glued to the screen.

"It's fortunate you arrived when you did, we were about to give your table away." He explained in a sorry not sorry tone.

"Excuse me?" Lucia asked in wide-eyed shock, she hadn't fully grasped the situation at hand.

"Your reservation was scheduled for eight pm at our top VIP setting at the rooftop. The duration was for an hour and fourty five minutes, the longest time slot available. The wait time for the restaurant is twenty minutes, and you only just arrived two minutes before the deadline. If you had arrived any later, we would have been compelled to cancel the reservation." He stated with a straight face.

Lucia immediately ended the call on the other side and pinched her forehead, slightly pissed off by their rules.

"I understand." She managed to reply, her optimistic view point of life was something that most people found charming about her.

In a short span of seconds, a woman in matching uniform offered to take her bag off her hands and escort her to their table.

The view from the rooftop would have made any woman swoon and fall head over heels. From their table, she had a good head view of the illuminated city which came alive at night.

Unfortunately, Lucia was slightly acrophobic and couldn't help but feel dizzy at the sight of the city, down below her feet. As a child she had fallen from the steps while playing and ever since, she wasn't fond of high places.

"Would you like to order anything?" A distance voice from a waitress asked, tearing into her thoughts.

"No...no..." She answered, "I'll wait for my company to arrive." Lucia replied, picking up the menus laid out on the table.

"Of course ma'am." And with that, everyone cleared the rooftop, leaving behind a scatterbrained Lucia, with no idea on what to do to busy herself.

She sent her boss a text to let him know she had arrived and was waiting for him. Fortunately, he responded, telling her that his car had a flat tire and he would be there shortly. He also went ahead and told her to order that it was on his tab.

His reassuring words calmed the weird tension she was feeling in her chest and allowed her to relax.

"What a rip-off." She blurted out the moment her eyes landed on the prices fixed to the food she had only seen on television and heard on cooking podcasts.

To ease her tension, she decided to watch a movie on her phone to pass the time till he arrived and help her not think of how high up she was.

********

"Miss, we're sorry but your reservation is up, another couple will arrive in under thirty minutes, we have to prepare for their arrival." A waiter tried to explain to Lucia, who was keen on waiting a while.

"He said he had to change his tire, in any minute he'll be here." She said in her defense, pensively rubbing her hands up and down her shoulders.

Never did she once think they'd have dinner in such an open place with no heating.

"Even if he arrives, the reservation is already expired, it'll be of no use." The waiter told her, his eyes levelled on the goosebumps splattered across her arms.

"You should just leave ma'am, before drastic measures need to be taken."

That was how Lucia found herself outside of the restaurant in the cold, hungry and very tired. She barely ate anything before going to work, so she wouldn't look fat in a crop top. Then had just a cup of coffee in-between shifts at work, which lasted her the entire day.

And now, her boss had just proven to her that he was everything like the guys she had dated in the past.

"What an asshole! I didn't ask to be asked out! Ugh!" She angrily let her blonde hair fall and ran her frustrated fingers through it.

Lucia had texted her boss four times after the first time but he did not bother to read her texts, talk less of replying them. The frustrated woman had looked like a total fool in front of the restaurant staff.

"I can't let my night end like this." She resolved, curling her angry fingers into a fist.

The serious look in her eyes spelt trouble, she stopped a cab and got in the back then pulled out a pack of pills for her anxiety from her purse.

"Where to?" The driver asked.

"The hottest club you can find."

*A bar*

Lucia was fortunate that the driver knew better than to lead a woman in her state to a club.

However, the bar she walked into was somehow like a club, due to the number of people dancing inside it. And the upbeat music playing in the background gave the bar a club like vibe.

"Hey beautiful, are you alone?" A masculine voice asked from behind her, startling her so much she fell and broke her heel.

"Fuuuuuck!" She cussed in an angry tone, her pills were clearing showcasing the slight side effect, which caused her irritation and discomfort.

The man who had plans to leave with her, quietly excused himself and dispersed into the crowd of people.

Lucia who had gotten that pair as a Christmas gift from her dad two years ago, was pissed out of her mind. And decided to spend the night drinking away her anxiety.

"Hey, the bar is closing already, you should leave." The female ginger haired bartender with bushy eyebrows told her, tapping a drunk Lucia to wake up.

"Just one more...hic!...I want to....hic!..." Horrid hiccups escaped her lips as she tried to make a sentence.

"I'm just filling in, the bartender is here already and he's not going to be pleased. It's his bar after all."

Lucia couldn't hear the woman's words anymore as she passed out cold on the marble counter, with a half full glass of scotch in her hand.

The sound of a bell rang as the door to the bar opened, to reveal none other than Sebastiano, who had on a blue leather jacket.

"What's going on here?" He asked, staring at the passed out blonde overly dressed woman, sitting on a bar stool.

"She's out cold." The woman told him, rolling up her sleeves.

"Wake her up." Sebastiano gruffly said, walking towards the two, holding two grocery bags in his hands.

"I tried, she's a heavy sleeper and a lightweight. I don't think you'll get anything out of her till the morning." The lady packed her hair into a messy bun and rested her hands on Sebastiano's shoulders.

"You take this one, some of us have jobs that requires waking up an unholy hours." She said and pressed a kiss to his right cheek.

"Thanks again for doing this." He told her, seeing her out of the bar. Leaving just him and the woman who was mumbling something in her sleep.

He placed the grocery bags on the counter, then proceeded to wake up the customer who clearly pushed herself past her limit.

"This isn't a good place to sleep, so..." He crouched to her level and pushed her messy hair back, only to find himself a bit stunned.

It wasn't just because he had certainly seen her somewhere else before, but couldn't remember where.

It was the fact that she was crying in her sleep!