The waiter returned, straightening his jacket collar. “Your bill has already been taken care of, sir. Thank you, and have a nice evening.”
We didn’t waste any time verifying who’d paid for this ridiculous night as we hurried to escape from the restaurant. There wasn’t anyone manning the coat check when we got there—probably upstairs helping break up the fight that had started between two pop princesses who’d stolen each other’s boyfriends—so Owen waved a hand and our coats flew to join us. We then ran outside to the sidewalk.
When we’d caught our breath, I turned to Owen and said, “I can’t take you anywhere.”
He looked stunned for a second, and then he broke down in near-hysterical laughter, bending over and bracing his hands on his knees as he gasped for breath between laughs. I imagined he was still a little tipsy, and he was pretty tightly wound, so if he started letting his emotions out, there was bound to be a lot pent up. His laughter was infectious. Soon, I was laughing, too. With the kind of dating luck we seemed to have, we had to laugh at it, or else we’d go crazy.
When he caught his breath, Owen looked up and down the street. “I wonder if the limo is supposed to take us home, or if we’re on our own. Where are we, anyway?”
“I don’t see any familiar landmarks. We must be uptown somewhere. I guess we could start walking and see if a street name rings a bell.” I wasn’t too excited about that prospect. Our fancy clothes hadn’t changed back to normal when we left the restaurant, so I wasn’t exactly dressed for walking. I pulled my coat’s collar as tightly closed as I could over my bare chest.
Owen continued looking up and down the street. “And then maybe we’d pass a burger joint or any other place that serves actual food. I think I may have to hit Rod tomorrow.”
“You’ve already hit Rod. Please don’t make it a habit. Besides, he did pay for the dinner.”
Just then, the limo pulled up, and the driver hopped out and hurried to open the door for us. Owen and I looked at each other, shrugged, then climbed in.
Owen glanced at his watch as the limo took off, then winced. “I didn’t realize it was so late. I thought time only flew when you were having fun.”
“It was kind of fun, in retrospect.”