by Cj Howard
Inside, they finally found their table. They were seated near the front, along with eight other guests. Delilah had no idea who they were but did her best to pretend that she did.
“Any idea who they are?” James whispered as they sat down.
“No! Should I?”
“Depends. They’re famous to some and nobodies to others. See that couple over there – the young ones? They’re famous because they had a camera follow them around for the first year of their marriage. They became even more famous when the camera caught them both cheating on each other.”
“What? But they’re still together?”
“Oh yeah. They sort of made up on camera, too, and declared never to cheat again. I’ve seen him out at the clubs though, and I don’t think he’s living up to his promises. But I don’t think she is either.
And those two women next to them? They’re big shot producers who became famous when they created a celebrity documentary called ‘Who am I?’ It was incredibly dull and yet highly successful. Those other four are TV Entrepreneurs – well, that’s what they call themselves.
They’re a group of friends who started a reality show detailing their tycoon lifestyle. Each episode focuses on a new venture. It’s actually pretty cool. My dad loves that show, even though they have become a little bit too big for their own good lately.”
“Wow. These guys are all on TV then? Flip! And I’m just a nobody.”
“You’re not a nobody. And anyway, what about me – I’m a total imposter. I’m only famous because of my father.”
Delilah wanted to tell him to stop beating himself up about that. She could see that, while he loved being famous and rich, he also hated that he had not become so because of who he was. If it wasn’t for his father, he’d just be a regular guy.
In fact, if he was a regular guy, he’d just be seen as a lowlife scum with no ambition. But because he was his father’s son, he was still put up on a pedestal. Life sure was funny. Delilah wanted to find out more about this man who seemed to only want to party his life away.
She wanted to know who he was besides what the world thought of him. She wanted to know if he had any dreams of his own. But she couldn’t ask him any of that. Because just as she was about to speak, one of the TV Entrepreneurs turned to face them.
“James, my man. Good to see you. You’ve been very popular in the news lately! Every time I open up a magazine or turn on the news, you’re all I see.”
“Well, what can I say – I just have that kind of face.” James had immediately switched on his cocky charm – which Delilah never saw when it was just the two of them. She was about to see the James that the rest of the world saw, and she wasn’t sure if she was going to like that James.
“You do have a particularly good face, I hate to admit it. But this time I don’t think it’s your face that they’re looking at.” The man looked to Delilah. “You must be the lovely Delilah everyone is talking about. Or Lilah, I hear you go by? I’m Eric.”
“Lilah is fine. I don’t mind either way. Lovely to meet you, Eric.”
“Oh, but she is absolutely gorgeous, James. I see why you couldn’t help yourself with this one. A massive improvement on the last girl, might I say,” Eric spoke to James as if Delilah wasn’t sitting right there.
“I must agree. I do not miss Tammy at all. And you’re right -- Delilah is definitely the hot topic at the moment. She certainly looks good in the magazines. She’s got that model type of face that looks good in all situations.” James, too, was talking as if she wasn’t right there.
“She also looks great on camera,” Eric laughed, obviously referring to the video that was leaked. Delilah felt herself cringing.
“Anyway, how’s work going? Your last show was excellent by the way,” James changed the subject quite abruptly. Talking about the video tape in front of her had obviously been too much for him too.
“Work is going fabulously. The ratings are high and everyone seems to love us.” Delilah already hated this man and had decided not to watch his show.
“Well, it’s a good show,” James said.
The two of them carried on speaking for a while, and Delilah just sat there staring at the plate in front of her. Then Eric turned to her and grinned.
“You really are delightful to look at. I am so glad I’m at your table. Hey, let me introduce you to some of the other people I’m with. I’m sure you know their faces, though.”
“Actually, no, I don’t. I’ve never seen your show.” Delilah could hear that her voice had turned to frost, but for a brief moment she didn’t care.
“You haven’t? Oh, right – it was probably on when you were at work.” He said the word ‘work’ like it was something else altogether. He managed to turn a normal word into one that sounded dirty. And she hated him for it.
But then she saw how uncomfortable James was looking next to her and she sighed. Now that the fact she had worked at Betsy’s was out in the open, she was simply going to have to deal with people like this.
She tried to imagine what Melissa would say to her, and she knew that Melissa would tell her not to let people like this get the better of her.
“Probably,” she said. “But James told me about it, and it sounds exciting. And by the sounds of it, you guys are very popular. I’ll have to watch an episode soon and catch up.” She flashed him a big smile and watched as he relaxed.
“Yes! You’ll love it. And then you can watch it knowing that you’ve met the biggest star of the show.”
A man who looked remarkably like Eric cut in, “Are you telling people that you are the star of the show?”
“Well, I am, aren’t I?” Eric replied, shoving him playfully.
“Not quite. There would be no show without me. I’m Vernon, by the way. I know you’re the lovely Lilah we’ve all been hearing about. You did well on snapping up James here. He’s not an easy man to tame.”
“Well, I’m certainly not trying to tame him,” Delilah said and flashed another fake smile at them all. Then she reached over and squeezed James’ hand.
“Ah, got yourself a hot one here have you, James? Nice. I must say, I do approve. Maybe she has some hot friends for me.” Again, they spoke like she was not here. Vernon was just as vile as Eric. Delilah smiled at them politely.
Thankfully, before she had a chance to meet any more of their wonderful team, someone came onstage and began to talk. Delilah took a deep breath and sat back in her chair, grateful for the interruption.
The speeches went on far longer than Delilah had expected, and she could see that everyone was getting restless. But she didn’t mind. She’d be happy if someone could stand up there and speak for the rest of the night. But, of course, nothing good lasted forever, and soon it was time for the first course to arrive.
The waiters arrived and placed a plate in front of each of them.
“First up we have a Brie en Croute,” the waiter said. There were murmurs of approval around the table, except for two of the ladies who demanded a salad instead – as if eating something that wasn’t salad leaves was going to make them instantly put on weight.
Delilah inwardly groaned at them. Perhaps that was something she was supposed to do too, but she certainly wasn’t going to. The food just looked too good. She couldn’t remember what the waiter had called it, but from the looks of it, all she could see was some sort of bread or pastry-like thing. It swirled slightly at the top.
She assumed she’d have to cut it and slather butter on it, but before she did so, she was eager to take a bite of the bread/pastry thing alone. She lifted it up with her fingers and bit into it.
The moment she did, some hot, cheesy liquid oozed out and ran down her chin. She jumped back and thankfully managed to wipe it up before it went down onto her dress.
“What the hell?!” she exclaimed, examining the bread. She looked up and saw that the entire table was watching her.
“Uh… you’re supposed to cut it,” someone shouted from the opposite side. “T
hat’s brie inside. You know… cheese.” They said it to her as if she were stupid, and she could feel her cheeks burning. Of course she knew what brie was. And even if she didn’t – so what?
“Oh I know what brie is; I just didn’t know it was inside. Sorry. It’s delicious though.” She tried to keep a smile on her face, but she could feel her cheeks burning up.
What was she thinking? Why didn’t she just watch what everyone else did first? She must look like such an idiot. Eric, or was it Vernon, was snickering beside her. She turned to say sorry to James, but he just grinned at her.
“So? Do you like it? It’s one of my all-time favorites. Sometimes they put blue cheese inside which I know a lot of people hate. But I personally love blue cheese. I guess they couldn’t have us stinking up the place, though.” He laughed easily, as if nothing was wrong.
Had he not seen how she had just embarrassed herself? She smiled at him, grateful that he didn’t seem at all bothered by what she had done. “It’s delicious. And for the record – I adore blue cheese.”
Delilah cut the rest with her knife and fork and thought that it would still taste so much better with her hands. Nevertheless, it surely was still far better than the sad-looking salad the women were pretending to enjoy.
The waiter came to take their plates and to ask how they all wanted their beef cooked. When he got to Delilah she said, “Medium rare would be great, thank you,” and she heard a collective gasp from all the women at the table.
“Medium rare? Really?” one of them commented when the waiter had left. “But that’s so gross. That’s, like, all bloody and stuff.”
“No, it’s not bloody. It’s just very pink. But it’s absolutely delicious. There is no other way,” Delilah declared. A few people at the table agreed with her, but some of the women and one of the men seemed outraged.
“It’s so animal-like. I don’t understand why anyone would eat it like that. I could never eat it that way. I’d be too busy thinking of the poor animal that had to die for it.”
“Well, it’s still an animal, no matter how you eat it. I think if it’s about the animal in question then a vegetarian diet is perhaps the best answer. If you’re going to eat meat, then I truly believe you have to just accept what you’re doing and eat it the way it tastes good. Otherwise, what’s the point?”
They looked at her with open mouths. Were they not used to people voicing their opinions? Delilah told herself to shut it and quickly smiled and looked down. James was looking at her strangely, and she wasn’t sure if he was regretting bringing her along.
The food arrived and it was to perfection. A Fillet of Beef Bourguignon slow-cooked with au jus and julienne vegetables. Well, at least, that’s what she remembered the waiter saying. She wasn’t sure what ‘julienne’ meant, but she didn’t care – she’d never had vegetables taste so good before.
“Oh, steady my beating heart, sweet julienne vegetables – this is amazing!” she announced out loud and then quickly looked down again. What was wrong with her? She was making such a fool of herself. And what did ‘sweet julienne vegetables’ even mean? She had said that like it was a common saying that everybody used. She could imagine all of the magazines the next day going on about how uncouth she was, how unsuited she was to this lifestyle.
She wasn’t used to being prim and proper. She was just used to being herself. Everyone else made small talk and unfortunately, as someone was in deep conversation with James, she was left with only Eric to talk to.
He didn’t seem to have anything important to say, so she asked him to tell her all about his show and then allowed him to take over the conversation. He was an easy person to have around simply because he loved talking – especially when it was about himself. She just made the appropriate noises and let him carry on.
“You are so beautiful. I cannot stop looking at your skin. It practically glistens. You’ll be surprised to know this, but I’ve actually never been with an African American woman before.”
His voice slurred slightly, and she noticed the empty wine bottle in front him. Was he seriously flirting with her in front of James? She might not actually be going out with James, but Eric didn’t know that. As far as he was concerned – they were a hot couple at the moment.
“Uh… thank you. I guess. But just because I’m African American doesn’t make me any different to any other women.”
“I disagree. Look at you. Your skin is so dark and so exotic. I definitely need to add that to my bucket list.” He practically licked his lips while he was speaking, and Delilah did everything in her power to stop herself from slapping him. She couldn’t make a scene and make things even worse for James. This was all pretend, and she had to keep reminding herself of that.
She smiled and desperately changed the subject. Thankfully, dessert arrived, which was a wonderful distraction. A Coconut Cake with a Raspberry and Blueberry Filling and a side of Cream. It was the most beautiful thing that Delilah had ever seen. Like one of those cakes on those cooking channels, it was almost too beautiful to eat – but of course that didn’t stop her from digging right in.
She noticed that she was the only girl who was eating the cake. The others all feigned being full. She noticed that even Eric hadn’t been able to finish his cake. She looked down at her plate – she only had one bite left. Did others just leave a bite just to be polite? She wasn’t sure when she’d ever get to eat a cake like that again, so she lifted up her fork and finished it.
“Wow, you’re quite the eater,” Eric said.
“Sure you’re not pregnant?” one of the girls shouted, and the other girls giggled. Oh great. Just what we need. A pregnancy rumour! thought Delilah.
“Nope. I always finish the food that’s given to me,” she said instead and got a few icy stares from the women. They sure didn’t like her.
The limousine took them home when the event was over, and Delilah asked James if he would be interested in coming in for coffee. She expected him to say no after everything she had done wrong that evening, but he said that he would love to.
“Unfortunately,” she said when they got inside, “I don’t have Mrs. Bean to help me out. So there is a big chance the coffee is not going to be as great as what you’re used to.”
“Let’s be honest – nothing can be as great as Mrs. Bean. But I have great faith in your coffee-making skills,” he said.
She laughed. “Hey, James – I’m sorry about tonight.”
He gave her a strange look. “What do you mean?” And he really didn’t seem to know what she meant at all.
“I’m sorry for the way I acted tonight. I’m sure you wished you had taken someone a bit classier. I know I was hugely embarrassing, and I feel awful about that. I did everything wrong.”
“What do you mean? Seriously, I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“First, I ate all of my food. I mean, I didn’t even order the salad like the other girls. I scarfed that food down like I had never eaten anything in my life. I tried to bite into that brie thing and made such a mess of it all. Heck, I didn’t even know what that brie thing was. I still don’t know, other than that it was delicious.
I don’t know – I’ve just never been to something like that before. And I wanted to make sure that I looked good for you. But I know I messed up.” Suddenly Delilah found that she was crying. The tears were streaming down her face. She never cried. After everything that she had been through in her life, she had resolved never to cry again. So what was wrong her now? Why couldn’t she keep it together?
James came up to her and wiped away her tears. “Are you crazy, Lilah? You were so much more interesting than those girls. And a few times you put them in their place. I was secretly very proud of you.
Not many people have the guts to do that. And so what if you ate the food wrong? At least you ate it and you enjoyed it. Not like those girls who, to be honest, are pretty ungrateful. I was happy to have you there.”
She looked up at James, at his incredibly hand
some face. “Why are you so cocky and different in public but so nice here alone with me?”
The question seemed to surprise him. “Am I? I don’t know. I didn’t know that I was. I guess I just like being alone with you.”
And suddenly they were kissing. Delilah couldn’t even pull away because she was the one who had initiated it. She could feel her body responding to his, and when his hands found the top of her zipper, she was glad when he pulled it down. The dress fell away easily, and she stood in front of him in just her underwear and her heels.
The tiny little necklace shone on her bare skin. She reached over, pulled off his shirt, and unzipped his trousers – tugging on them until they fell to the floor. He took off his shoes, but she kept hers on – she liked that it made her the same height as him.
He unclasped her bra and put her breasts in his hands, caressing them and tweaking at her nipples. Then he lay her down on the couch and took off her panties – placing his tongue between her legs and licking her. She could see that he was erect and ready for her, so she pulled him up and moved him on top of her.
He bent down and kissed her – slowly at first and then with more and more eagerness. He slipped inside her easily, but the moment he did, they rolled off the couch. They fell onto the floor in heaps of laughter and then she grinned at him. “You’re still in me. I’m impressed by your ninja moves.”
He laughed and told her how glad he was that she was so easily impressed. Then he kissed her again and rocked over her. She wrapped her legs around him and pulled him closer until they both came in unison.
Delilah wasn’t used to having orgasms. She knew how to give them to other people, but she had often neglected herself simply because it hadn’t felt right. But now, as James lay on top of her, she felt a sense of immediate release come over her.
“That was so good,” he whispered.
They were still lying on the floor, and it didn’t take them long to realize how uncomfortable they actually were. They got up and sat on the couch, wrapping a blanket around each other instead of putting their clothes back on.
