Dinner at Auroras

I looked at myself in the gilded mirror. My throat was visibly swollen. Small beads of sweat had formed from being in my bunchy jacket all day. Winter was the absolute worst.

People came in and out of the bathroom as I just stared at myself in fear. Three years and it all added up to this. I took a glance at my watch, it's almost 6.

With a sigh I left the bathroom to return to the front of Aurora's restaurant. People chimed together at their little tables. The front was the most welcoming. A large circular table with people hired specifically to greet people. Two symmetrical waterfalls that glowed all the colors of the rainbow adorned the entrance.

“Hello ma’am”, one of the greeters said, “Are you excited for tonight?”

“You know it Marie!”

I watched my watch intently for 6 o’clock to come around…then 6:10…6:30…7 o’clock rolled around and she still isn't here. My heart started to drop a bit. Was she really not coming?

Just as I began to lose hope, a familiar ding rang from the front door. I jerked my head around to see a familiar sight. Daisy stumbled through the broad doors, she was wearing a stained white blouse and ripped jeans. 

“Ayyyy it's…ayyyy.” she slurred. 

I snickered to myself, “It's good to see you Daisy. How are you?”

She stared at me for a moment with bloodshot eyes, “...I'm doing grrrrreat! Can I get- hic- foooood?”

The way she exaggerated the word food made me laugh in a sullen kind of way, “

“That's why we are here”

I motioned to a waiter talking to Marie who eagerly showed us to a fancy booth right below the center ornate candelabra. I held Daisy and carried her to her seat. She sat halfway off it slumped over the table.

“Two waters for us please” I told the waiter.

“No!-” she chided, “Your- hic- finest wine”

“You have the money?” I asked.

She looked at me for a second, “I want water”

The waiter left in a hurry after that. Being left alone with Daisy I got a truly good look at her. I was appalled by her state. Her face was an odd burnt sienna in certain parts and her eyes barely blinked as they stared at me. When I looked closer I noticed her hands were shaking at lightning speeds.

I wiped away my sweat, “How have things been?”

“Wha? Oh good, good, you?”

“Things have been good.”

A few minutes passed with awkward silence. We waited, staring at each other unblinking. She would sway and almost fall but pull back at the last second. It was broken at last when the different waiter gave us our waters.

“Do you need a few moments to look over the menu?”

“Yes please”

The new waiter nodded and left again. Daisy took a full chug of the water and emptied it in a few seconds. She broke the silence.

“I'm sorry…” she started, “I know las- hic!- last time wassssssss…”

She completely stopped talking suddenly and stared at me again. I continued it on her behalf.

“It's quite alright, I've learned a lot since then. You don't have to apologize.”

“Why would I apologize? What's going- hic!- on?”

I sighed, realizing this was gonna be a long dinner. I opted to just point out to her the different items on the menu and asked her what she wanted the most. By the time the waiter came back around she had decided she wanted something off the menu.

“Macaroni and cheeeeese!” she hissed.

“Oh I'm sorry we don-”

“Just do your best” I interrupted apologetically, “I'll have the curried lobster thank you” 

I slid the waiter a 20 as he left and shot him an apologetic look.

“Do you want some of my water?” I offered.

“Nahhh, I got my own”

She pulled out what was clearly a water bottle filled with Vodka. I could smell its putrid scent from a mile away. Its scent made me ill. 

“I have some special water too, how about I ask the chef to fill yours up”

“Mmm ok.”

I rushed the bottle to the back of the restaurant and asked the head chef to quickly pour in mineral water. The scent was still there but at least now she wouldn't get as drunk.

I walked back to see her heaving over the table. I rushed to her to force feed her the water. She fought me tooth and nail opting to go to the bathroom. I watched her stumble back to the bathrooms and disappear behind the doors.

“This is just like her!” I thought to myself, “I thought for sure time would've helped her.”

I feel the muscles in my arms tense up and my body heat increases dramatically. I took a deep breath to calm myself and waited patiently for her to come back.

15 minutes later she came back, seemingly more sober. Her walk had improved and her eyes looked almost human. 

“Ah that feels- hic- better”

“Want some of that special water?”

“Nah I gotta drive home”

“You drove here!?” I yelled.

“Yea but I wasn't dr-hic- drunk”

My expression must’ve shown a lot of anger so she offered to drink from the water bottle. I decided to tell her no she wouldn't placebo herself and told her to drink from my cup.

I watched her shaky hands reach over to take a few sips of my water. 

When the waiter came by with our food she was almost fully  sober. I myself was exhausted. The chefs had managed to pull together some craft mac and cheese which Daisy didn't seem to mind.

“It sure has been a while…” she muttered.

“I'm sorry?”

“It's been seven years, I hope you are.”

Her aggression took me by surprise, she was never one to get mad in the past.

“Let's not dwell on the past,” I stated plainly, “What have you been up to?”

“Well, let's see! I graduated from college in a degree in child psychology, I got married, had three miscarriages, with a fourth one probably on the way.”

Daisy was grinding her teeth now. I looked down at my food awkwardly. She continued.

“Seven years…you left me Aurora- wait a minute. This is your place! I knew it smelled of betrayal!”

Her clear disrespect was starting to get to me now, “I don't appreciate this tone. I invited you out to a nice dinner and you're being rude. You were the one that got drunk and tried to attack me!”

The other tables started to notice now that we were raising our voices. I didn't care at this point.

“Me? You have gotta be kidding me Aurora. I was seventeen and you dared me to get drunk! Which might I add you only did so you could tell me about how you SLEPT WITH MY BOYFRIEND. Then poof, you were gone the next day. You should be in jail.”

“He was flirting with me! I was trying to be a good friend and tell you and you tried to hurt me!”

She stared at me again, “Fine, let's say that's all true. Why are you here now?”

I shuffled my legs under the table. I looked her in the eyes but turned away quickly.

“We should just eat…” I whispered.

“Whatever”

We ate in silence. The Lobster was delicious but I couldn't enjoy it with Daisy staring at me while eating her food. Her eyes burned with a passion.

“You should be in jail,” she muttered.

“What?”

“Jail. You slept with boyfriend, you were 20, he was seventeen”

“Leave the past in the past Daisy.”

The silence continued for another 10 minutes. I cleared my throat to get her attention.

“There is a reason I invited you here today”

“What.”

“Listen…as you know we both have no known living relatives and I have a pretty successful life but 2 months ago I was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. I wanna leave all my money to you.”

“Wow…Im sorry, maybe the past should be left behind”

“I'm glad you see it that way, there are a few clauses though, you have to take over my business, convert to catholicism, and you have to be sober. Is that alright?”

I looked at Daisy, her face seemed red.

“I'm not an alcoholic Aurora…”

“You came here late and quite clearly drun-”

“I got drunk because I knew dealing with you would give me a worse hangover! I got here at 6:30 and ended up drinking as much as I could. You don't know me at all!”

She forced herself up rom the table, “Daisy-”

“No! I'm done. We grew up together, you teased me, you slept with my underage boyfriend while you were 20, left for seven years, and are now coming back here making DEMANDS out of me! You have a successful business but at least I'm a good person. I'm done, never contact me again.``

Daisy rushed out in a hurry leaving me stunned. Why is she being like this? I didn't do anything. She's the clear drunk. I stared at her half eaten bowl of macaroni and cheese, feeling a mixture of fury and disappointment.

A week later I tried to phone her up only to get an answering machine in its place. I stood alone in my penthouse suite, lonely and isolated, knowing soon I would die with no one thanks to that no good bitch.