Anja's smile lasted for throughout the rest of her afternoon
trading, through closing up the shop and all the way home. It was only as she
considered what she was going to wear that it dimmed a little. Anja did not
have a lot of clothes suitable to wear out. After the purchase of her shop and
the running cost and living costs, she never had a lot of money to spend on
socialising and clothes so her choices were very limited.
In the end she decided on her best pair of jeans, some high
heels to make her look taller and a red top that she had had for many years but
was of good quality so it still looked good. She had been concerned when she
had first pulled it on because she had worn it numerous times but realising
that Sacha would not have seen it before she stopped worrying.
With just seconds to spare Anja walked into the bar called
Red and looked around. It was an interesting place, where the décor lived up to
the name. As far as the eye could was the colour red. It was in the glass
behind the bar, the upholstery, the wall art. In between the bursts of red the
only colours breaking it up were black and silver. Together they made for a
sleek, modern environment.
Standing just inside the door Anja scanned the space,
looking for Sacha. She spotted him just as he turned and saw her. He smiled and
walked towards her. Anja liked how he moved. He had a lithe, easy gait. She also
liked the way he smiled at her.
“Hi” he said stopping in front of her. “Did you find the
place okay?”
“Yes” she said “no problem.”
“You look really nice” he said as his eyes skimmed over her.
“Thank you” she said performing an inspection of her own. He
looked as good in jeans and a white shirt as he had in business clothes. “So do
you.”
His smile widened. “Thanks” he said. “Let’s find somewhere
to sit down” and clasping her hand before turning away he led her over to a
table on the far side of the room. It was surrounded on three sides by
banquette seating.
Anja slid onto the seat on one side of the table while Sacha
released her hand and slid onto the seat opposite. Anja had liked the brief
warm, contact of his hand and she was sorry when it was withdrawn.
A
waitress appeared before they could say anything more to each other.
