She Is Love

After walking a few blocks, Rhys directed me into some Italian restaurant. The inside looked really fancy, and I started to wonder just exactly who her friends were. After saying a few words to the hostess, we were led into a back room. Whoever these people were, they must've been important. I could see the hostess smoothing down her hair before opening the door.

I walked in, looking down at my feet. I could hear the chatter lessen as Rhys cleared her throat. Various people greeted her, most of the voices male. "Guys, I'd like to introduce my..." she looked at me for a second, wondering what to call me. I could see that she wanted to say sister-in-law, but Eli and I weren't married. Yet. "..friend, Doe. Doe, this is everyone."

I looked up in time for her to start introducing. She pointed to a couple first. The guy was kind of goofy looking with dark hair, and beside him sat a beautiful girl-no doubt his girlfriend at the least. "That's Marc-Andre and Veronique," she pointed to another couple beside them. Both of them were extremely gorgeous. The guy had short blond hair and shocking blue eyes and the girl had jet black hair and hazel eyes. "That's Jordan and Gwen. That stud over there is Kris," she winked at a guy with silky black hair sitting in the back. My guess is she was either joking with him, or they were into each other. She pointed to three guys, all brunette, "Those are Tyler, Geno, and Sidney, and finally..." she trailed as she looked around the room. Her eyes narrowed when she didn't find who she was looking for. "Where the fuck is Talbot?"

Kris rolled his eyes. "Late, as always," he said. He had an accent. If I was correct, it was French.

"Yeah, you know him. Never on time," Marc-Andre joked. Holy shit, they both had accents.

Rhys shrugged then sat down in an empty seat. She waved me over to the one on the opposite side of the table. "You can sit by Tyler, Doe. Don't worry, he only bites when he's hungry," she joked.

Everyone laughed, except me. I cautiously sat down next to him and stared at the table cloth. I don't know why I agreed to come out with Rhys. All I could think about is if Eli had woken up. I'd feel so horrible if he had and I wasn't there.

The table was quiet for a few moments before someone cleared their throat. I glanced up to see everyone staring at me. "So, uh, Doe, what do you do? As in working wise..." Jordan asked.

I blinked a few times. Had Rhys not told them? Or are they pretending not to know. "I don't work..." I replied.

They all just kind of looked at me. The room quickly grew tense as they tried to find something else to ask me. "So," Kris spoke up ," how did you meet Rhys?"

I wrung my hands a few times under the table before wiping them on my jeans. " I met Rhys when we were in high school. Her brother and I were hanging out."

They nodded. "So, you know about Eli..." Tyler trailed.

I looked over at Rhys and she mouthed 'sorry' to me. I sighed. "Yeah, we're actually engaged."

The tension returned as I felt my eyes start to water. Damn Rhys. I fucking knew that I shouldn't of come here. As the time ticked by, the silence started to irk me. "Helloooo," a voice bellowed as the door to the private room flung open. A guy stood there with a girl under his arm, grinning at everyone.

I heard Rhys snort under her breath. "Figures," she whispered to Kris ," he brings along a whore."

The guy walked around the table, greeting the guys with pats on the back and the ladies with kisses on the cheek. I noticed that when he got to Rhys, they kind of glared at each other. And then he looked at me. "And who is this lovely lady," he purred. Where the fuck did Rhys find all of these guys with accents?

"Don't even think about it," Rhys growled.

He rolled his eyes. "I'm just asking a question, Rhys. No need to bite my head off."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "That's Doe. Don't talk to her."

He ignored her and turned to me. "Hello Doe."

That was the start to a very long night.