Scars, Spells and Secrets

Chapter 21

Elizabeth stepped into the patio of Vines from the fae side, looking around slowly. She was about five minutes early and took a moment to look around the patio in case anyone was waiting already. She didn't see any of her friends, the only ones braving the cool weather on the patio a pair of men who appeared to be father and son. They looked vaguely familiar; she assumed that she had seen them around town before. She thought for a moment, trying to watch them without staring openly. It took a moment of searching her brain, but she seemed to remember having eaten near them at Vines before. She was a semi-regular there, so it wasn't shocking that she should start to recognize other customers.

She went inside then, drawing her shawl tighter around her shoulders. Charline and Dimitri were already at a booth in the corner, leaning in close to each other and laughing about something. Elizabeth smiled and headed over to them, scooting carefully in next to Charline. "Hey!"

Charline looked thrilled. "Oh good, you didn't stand us up!" She winked and gently elbowed Elizabeth in the ribs.

The taller girl blushed and laughed. "I didn't! I'd never, ever hear the end of it."

Dimitri raised his wine glass to Elizabeth and smiled. "We got started without you. Hope you don't mind." They appeared to have been sharing some kind of small appetizer and a bottle of wine. Elizabeth shook her head. "I don't mind at all."

"Well, I do," came a voice from Elizabeth's right. She jumped, gasping sharply before realizing that it was just Hawthorne joining them in the booth. He was dressed today in a white t-shirt and an army green jacket. Elizabeth couldn't tell well from where he was sitting beside her, but it looked like he was wearing a pair of dark jeans. Dimitri, meanwhile, was dressed in a blue and white checkered button up shirt with a gray vest and matching slacks that she'd spotted on her way over to the booth. He'd previously had on a matching blazer, which was now draped on Charline's shoulders

Dimitri rolled his eyes and grinned at Hawthorne. "I'll get you a drink to make up for it."

When the waitress came over, Dimitri ordered another bottle of wine for the four of them. They opted to all split a serving of artichoke dip, and Elizabeth decided on an eggplant lasagna. Hawtorne ordered the lamb kebabs, Charline had the turkey and avocado sandwich, and Dimitri decided on the grilled fish on spaghetti squash. Elizabeth slid her bag between her feet beneath the table, realizing belatedly that, while she'd remembered to remove her spell books from it, she had apparently managed to leave the box containing the shed dragon skin inside of it. Either that, or the bag had brought it with her for some reason. She quickly put it out of her mind as the conversation began to flow, Hawthorne beginning to open up more. He and Dimitri spent a good amount of time good-naturedly teasing one another. It was still strange to see Dimitri acting anything other than brusque and standoffish, and to see Hawthorne actually smiling was unusual as well. Elizabeth even joined in on the conversation, asking them about pets. Hawthorne didn't have any (though he'd had a few pet fish in the past), but Dimitri was happy to talk about his ducks and his father's hairless cat.

Elizabeth decided that she very definitely couldn't imagine the stoic gallery owner dressing up his hairless cat in a little sweater and mittens, no matter how much Dimitri insisted that he did.

Charline pulled a face, wrinkling her nose up. "Those things look like aliens to me."

"Yeah," Dimitri said between bites, "They look kind of weird. Dad really likes her though. He got a little stroller so he can take her to work with him."

Elizabeth almost choked on her drean as she started to laugh, trying hard to visualize Dimitri's father in one of his immaculate suits, pushing around a dressed up cat in a stroller. "Are you serious?" she asked, giggling.