A Gripping Dinner

This post was written as part of another session at Write Club. The prompt was to write something that describes emotions. The point was to “show” rather than “tell” what the characters are feeling.

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It was a fancy restaurant meant for a fancy date. Light salsa music played in the background. She sat in front of him and occupied most of the foreground. The dancers on the stage floated with grace under the expensive chandeliers. The dancing partners seemed to move in perfect synchronisation with each other.

“I want you to open up to me”, she said as she ran her fingers over his knuckles. Her lips curved in a gentle smile. Her lips glowed a luscious red and the shade perfectly complemented her ruby necklace that adorned her slender neck. The long necklace accentuated her cleavage in the deep necked cocktail gown that she wore.

Normally, whenever she looked this ravishing, he would be filled with the one primal instinct and base desires of the flesh. Today, he was filled with two primal instincts.

One instinct lay below the belt and one above. No doubt she looked scrumptious. But, the fish finger appetisers lying between them on the table looked delicious too. Piping hot, crunchy looking on the outside, hiding a tender treasure of flesh that would just melt in his mouth. The aromas in the restaurant made it even more inviting and irresistible.

But he did not dare take his hand from under her gentle grasp, especially not when she was in this “I want you to open up to me” mood. He swallowed his saliva along with feelings that he had swallowed earlier like hunger, pride, reasoning and a numb butt cheek and nodded curtly.

“Is it so hard to utter a few words in response?” she said in a slightly raised voice. He noticed the signs of the impending emotional thunderstorm. Her lips which were curved upwards at the ends in a gentle smile earlier in the evening went to being a straight line. Her breathing had quickened. Her fingertips which were caressing his knuckles were replaced by her fingernails.

He was thirsty but there was no time to reach for the water glass.

“I am listening and I understand what you are saying” he said with a croaky voice and tried to clear his long thirst parched throat.

She sat back and said, “Why are you finding it so hard to speak to me then?” The volume was the same but the pitch had more tenderness this time. He breathed a sigh of relief. The first landmine in the vast minefield of emotions that is a woman was dodged without significant damage.

Her lips went from being a straight line to a squiggly line. The eyes widened and the eyeliner outlined the enlarged contours of her eyes. He thought he saw an opportunity in the silence and tried to reach for the glass of water. Suddenly her eyes went moist and threated to do worse.

He had already reached for the glass of water. He had stepped on a mine. Bringing the glass towards himself would set off the bomb. So he pushed the glass towards her gently and said “Here drink some water, let me explain”

“Look, if you are thirsty, you can drink the water, don’t force you opinions on me like your mother’ she said, the fingernails digging harder into his knuckles. “No, I am not thirsty”, he said and dodged the trap and let go of the water glass. He moved his hand on her hand and hoped to relieve the sore knuckles on his other hand. “Look, no one is trying to force their opinions on you, if you don’t like the venue chosen by my mother, I can talk to her”

“You know that I always wanted an open air reception for our wedding with a barbeque dinner. Just imagine how delicious all the barbeque sauces and spices would smell on grilled meat”, and leaned forward on the table, adding fuel to both his desires.

Her eyes widened, the lips curved again in a smile and this time the luscious lips parted to allow a view of pearly white teeth. She sat bouncing in her seat and visibly shaking with anticipation. He could do nothing but sit with a different form of anticipation as her grip only tightened with the frenzy of her excitement.

She stood up suddenly and said, “This is why I tell you to open up to me more often. See how you melted away all my fears? I almost forgot about the food amidst all this. In fact, I think I don’t feel hungry at all right now. Do you want to dance?” she winked and swayed suggestively.

He looked at her hourglass figure and the glass of water still lying on the table between them. He wondered which one of his desires would be satiated first tonight as the light salsa music continued to play in the background.

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Acknowledgement: All credit/blame goes to Nikita for introducing me to Write Club and for encouraging me to put up my writings from the sessions on my blog.

Image source: http://www.canstockphoto.com/couple-sharing-romantic-dinner-13480654.html