68 Secret Encounter (1/2)
The next morning Elle awoke feeling as light as a feather. She woke up with the smile still on her face from the previous night. Unlike her usual routine she got out of bed early and padded across the floor towards the bathroom. Her footsteps slowed as she passed the vanity on her way. The necklace she had received last night was on display there; hanging gently from a jewellery rack. Elle's smile grew as she brushed her finger across the little bird. She then quickly hopped into the shower before heading downstairs for breakfast.
Elle ate a light breakfast of toast and fruit. She had made plans to go out for lunch today with Abby as well as Anna and Milly whom were old friends from the same high school. Abby and Elle had kept in touch and saw each other regularly, even more so now that Abby had moved back. On the other hand Anna and Milly were also closer with each other than either Abby or Elle, but all four girls had had classes together, and would occasionally eat together back in their high school days. After graduation they hadn't seen each other often, but they would still meet up together once or twice a year.
Around noon Elle changed into a simple white sweater paired with a navy blue skirt before heading out.
The temperature had dropped significantly compared to the previous week. Just walking from her front door to her car was enough to have Elle blowing hot air into her hands and rubbing them together, trying to chase the chill from them. Elle made a mental reminder to wear mittens to work the next day.
As she drove to the restaurant Elle smiled to see that most Christmas decorations were still up. It was true that Christmas was over, but she didn't want to see the beautiful decorations go just yet.
Elle arrived at the restaurant some time later. She stepped inside with wide eyes, in awe of the extravagant holiday decorations they had inside. The restaurant was actually a high class Italian restaurant that was owned by Abby's parents. Elle immediately knew who was responsible for the grand display.
”Elle over here!” she heard someone call from across the room. Elle looked to see that the other three girls had already arrived and were seated, Elle quickly joined them.
As she sat down Abby started flipping through the menus. ”You're finally here. Let's order something to eat first, I'm starving.”
The girls put in their orders and then went through their usual catching up conversations. They discussed progress in their jobs, relationships, etc. Abby excitedly bragged about her new position and complained about the pains of moving between countries.
Milly worked as a secretary for the vice president of a big corporation so she always had interesting gossip to share. Anna was the daughter of an affluential family and so she had the liberty to play around with her career more. After high school she had tried modelling and quickly found that to be unsuccessful, but, that had led her to try her hand at fashion design. That took up a year or so of her time before she hit a wall. There was a period where Anna had worked odd jobs in all sorts of fields before she finally settled as a store manager with MK fashion.
The girls continued to talk and eat, they decided to also get dessert once they had finished their meals. But while three of the girls conversed excitedly, Elle was barely paying attention. She had been fine earlier that morning, but with the topic of relationships, and as more time passed, she became more and more distracted.
She kept glancing at her phone. Once or twice she swiped the screen open to send a message to Adam, but each time she quickly changed her mind and put her phone away.
”Is something wrong?” Anna asked, noticing Elle's restlessness.
”It's nothing.” Elle said at first.
”Are you sure?”