Rise and Fall

Tia had talked to Kris the previous night, and they had planned tonight all out, not letting Sid or Jocelyn in on it. Kris had asked Jocelyn to go out to dinner with him. At first, she had turned him down, but after Kris had finally convinced her that it wasn’t a date, she had reluctantly agreed.

Kris had taken Jocelyn out to a fancy restaurant, and as soon as she walked inside, she turned around to Kris with wide eyes. “I thought you said this wasn’t a date,” she stated through gritted teeth.

“It’s not,” Kris shrugged.

“This looks like a date, Kris,” Jocelyn told him. “And, I told you I didn’t want to go on a date. You know that us pretending hurt any chance I have with Sid.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Kris mumbled to himself.

“What?” Jocelyn asked, not hearing what he had said while the hostess took them to a table for two.

“Nothing,” Kris told her, as he sat down at the table.

Not even two minutes later, a couple sat down at the table next to them. Jocelyn didn’t pay any attention to them until she heard a familiar voice say, “Thanks for bringing me here. I’ve been wanting to go here since it opened.”

Jocelyn whipped her head around to see Tia sitting across from Sid. “Hey, Jocelyn,” Tia smiled, and Sid looked at her, wondering just how well Tia and Jocelyn knew each other. “Hey, Kris! Have you guys been here before? Is the food good?” Tia continued cheerily.

“I don’t know,” Kris replied. “This is Jocelyn and my first time here. I hear it’s good, though.”

“Yeah, me, too. That’s why I asked Sid here to take me,” she smiled, grabbing a hold of his hand that was lying on the table. He glanced over at Jocelyn who was staring at his and Tia’s intertwined hands. She had a sad look on her face, and he felt a little bad. That was until Kris grabbed Jocelyn’s hand.

“Hey,” Sid said, squeezing Tia’s hand so she looked over at him. “Maybe we should try to get a different table or something. I think this is going to be a little awkward,” he told her, nodding his head towards Kris and Jocelyn.

“What?” Tia asked. “Why would it be awkward? Jocelyn and I sat at the game the other day, and we’ve kind of become friends,” she told him.

“You what?” Sid asked, choking on his water. Tia and Jocelyn were friends? In what universe was he currently living in?

“We’ve become friends,” Tia repeated. “She’s a really cool girl. You’ve really got a good taste in girls,” she smiled.

Sid’s eyes went wide. “Oh,” Tia said suddenly. “You meant this would be awkward for you! Well, I guess we can ask for another table,” she told him, trying to flag down one of the waiters. “Excuse me,” Tia smiled after a waitress stopped at the side of the table. “Do you have another table that we could have?”

“Oh, is there something wrong with yours?” the young, blonde waitress asked.

“We would just prefer if we weren’t around someone,” Tia said, and Sid lowered his head, embarrassed by what she had just said.

“Well, I can see what I can do, but I can’t make any promises. This place is pretty packed. I mean we even have to turn people away because there’s not enough places to sit,” the waitress explained.

Just as she turned around to leave, Sid called out, “Don’t worry about it. We don’t need another table.”

The young girl turned back around. “Are you sure?” she asked.

“Yes,” Sid said, nodding his head. The waitress looked at Tia, who nodded in agreement.

“Okay, then,” she said, spinning on her heel and walking towards the back of the restaurant.

“Listen, why don’t we just leave?” Jocelyn offered.

“What?” Kris yelled. “No, I’ve been trying to get reservations for this place for I don’t know how long. We’re staying,” he told her. Jocelyn turned to him, wide-eyed, shocked that he was raising his voice at her. “Sorry,” he quickly apologized.

“Okay, I guess we’ll all stay,” Jocelyn said. “I mean we’re all adults. We can have one civilized dinner together, right?”

A half an hour later, Jocelyn was wondering to herself why she hadn’t forced Kris to leave earlier. She hated the awkward conversations that they tried to start, and then the awkward silences in between. All in all, it was just an awkward night.

And, to top it all off, she was forced to watch Tia and Sid hold hands, and do other little signs of affection. She didn’t know why it bothered her so much. Tia had told her that she and Sid were not together, but were instead pretending, much like Jocelyn and Kris.

But, she just couldn’t get over the fact that Sid and Tia were acting too much like a couple. Tia had said that she wanted to help Jocelyn get Sid back. How was this helping?

Ten minutes later, Tia excused herself from the table, saying she was going to the bathroom. Not even a minute later, Kris’s phone rang. He looked over at Jocelyn, letting her know it was important. She nodding her head, and he got up and walked outside, answering his phone.

“Sooo,” Jocelyn said, not knowing what else to do.

“So,” Sid said, glancing over at Jocelyn before looking back down at his plate of food. “How have you been?” he asked, grasping for something to say.

“As good as can be expected,” Jocelyn admitted quietly, while Sid stole a glance at her. “What about you? How have you been?”

“Good,” Sid stated.

“Well, you must be good. I mean, you guys have been winning a lot lately,” Jocelyn said with a smile.

“Yeah, we’re all happy,” Sid said, a silence following.

Fifteen minutes later, Jocelyn looked around, trying to figure out where Tia and Kris had gone. They still weren’t back, and she was beginning to get worried. All of a sudden, realization washed over her. She turned to look at Sid, who was playing with his food with his fork. “Sid,” she said, and he looked over at her. “Tia and Kris still aren’t back.”

“Yeah, I wonder where they’re at,” he said, looking around for either one of them.

“I think we’ve been set up,” Jocelyn said, as Sid’s eyes went wide with realization.