Free Excess All Areas by Mandy Baggot

eight tomorrow night at the Calypso Apartments. And I’m choosing what we do and where we eat,’ Freya told him.
    ‘ Whatever you want. Well then, I’ll see you tomorrow night,’ Nicholas spoke.
    He leant forward and kissed her cheek before she could back away.
    ‘ Yeah, tomorrow,’ Freya answered and she turned her back on him and hurried down the road towards Yasmine's hoping her sequinned shoes would stay attached to her feet.
    If there was one thing she had learnt from their encounter it was that he was a fine actor. If she had been watching the scene on screen she would have believed he was genuine. The hurt was passing now; it was time to think about pay back. Russell had to be paid back properly yet, but in the meantime it would be fun paying back Nicholas ‘Mr Hollywood’ Kaden for daring to make her a subject of a bet.
     
     
    Yasmine's was packed with people when Freya arrived and she very nearly didn’t see Emma who was sat in the conservatory area next to a large Trifidesque plant; almost identical to the one Freya had hidden behind in the restaurant. Large plants had a lot to answer for. Emma waved and indicated that she had bought her a drink.
    Freya joined her, sat down and immediately took a big swig out of the glass.
    ‘ Well come on, don’t keep me in suspense. What did he say to you that I wasn’t allowed to hear?’ Emma questioned.
    ‘ I don’t know what the secrecy was all about. He asked me out,’ Freya said simply.
    Emma coughed and spat out her mouthful of drink onto the table.
    ‘ Urgh, that’s gross! Here, have a napkin,’ Freya said, passing one to her friend from the holder on the table.
    ‘ Are you being serious? Nicholas Kaden asked you out on a date?’ Emma repeated.
    ‘ Yes. Just saying it sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? Look how surprised you are.’
    ‘ Well it is a surprise. I mean, wow! Nicholas Kaden asking you out on a date,’ Emma said for the second time.
    ‘ Christ Emma, get a grip. You’re making it sound like I’ve accepted an audience with the Pope,’ Freya spoke.
    ‘ He’s more famous than that. He’s a devastatingly handsome Hollywood actor that the entire female population would bitch fight for a date with. A man, who owns at least half a dozen houses in enviable locations, has his face on every magazine cover in existence and someone who is probably on first name terms with Bruce Willis. He probably has his number in his mobile,’ Emma announced, practically hyperventilating.
    ‘ But apart from having money and things and connections, he’s the sort of person who accepts the challenge of dating a fat woman for the grand prize of a weekend at a boys club. And if he gets his tongue down my throat he gets a week in the Caymans being massaged and, the pies de résistance, if he gets me into bed it’s a whole two weeks skiing and fondling buxom yodelling milkmaids while sleigh riding. That, quite honestly, sounds like an impossible combination,’ Freya explained.
    ‘ You’ve lost me,’ Emma stated, the turn in conversation too quick for her.
    ‘ Oh come on Em, catch up. You didn’t really think someone like him with all his cash and flash and probable Bruce Willis connections would want to actually date someone plain and ordinary like me! Like you said, he could have his pick of women. Gene and Bob, our amiable dining companions, bet him to date me, I overheard them. So when we left the restaurant I knew he was going to come looking for me to ask me out,’ Freya told Emma as she finished her drink.
    ‘ Oh Freya no,’ Emma said, putting her hands to her mouth in shock.
    ‘ Yes, so there you have it. I’m going on a date tomorrow night with someone that thinks so little of the feelings of another human being that he’s willing to kick them when they’re down already, for the sake of a cheap thrill and a few lousy treats, that of course to him are the equivalent cost of a Marks & Spencer sandwich. Remind you of anyone?’ Freya