The heels of her cowboy boots clacked noisily against the floor as she made a meal of settling herself down in her chair then scooting it across the floor, tucking herself under the table. She wondered if Justin would recognise her enough to be annoyed, or if he was now remembering how to possess a modicum of humility. Either way, she wasn’t too preoccupied with looking at him right now, too enamoured by Perry’s quiet little compliment.
Oh, he was good. She sent him a quick wink of approval, a smile lighting up her face. That was absolutely going to sell it, especially now that he’d committed to a soft, appreciative look, like any good boyfriend would wear. She hadn’t realised how much of a good actor Perry was. Perhaps he’d taken a leaf or two out of his sister’s book; the Parkers were a bottomless well of good looks and talent.
When Perry announced that he had, in fact, ordered a drink, Izzy decided that now was the time to look at Justin expectantly. She looked up at the older man who seemed to be suitably mollified by her arrival, and the way she was already digging into the complimentary bread, tearing the crumbs between her fingers and stuffing a scrap in her mouth. It was still oven-warm and super soft, the kind of bread that was begging for some salted-butter to be spread across it. Maybe she could ask Justin nicely to fetch them some, but right now she wanted to prioritise Perry’s drink.
“Ooh, the cider. Good choice!” she commended him, leaning over the table and craning her neck to see what option he’d gone for. She barely managed to avoid bashing their foreheads together and eventually leaned back, swapping a conspiratorial smile with Mika as she left to get their drink orders.
Eventually, Justin deigned to leave as well, muttering something about being ‘sorry for the confusion’ as he went.
As soon as they were alone, Izzy turned her bright smile on Perry.
“Sorry, what?” she asked, a laugh chasing her words. She ducked her head to catch his eye. “You can’t actually believe I don’t think this is a perfect way to spend my night.”
And she meant it! Just because the dice had been rolled out in ways neither of them had expected, Izzy didn’t think that the night was now unsalvageable. She wanted to do whatever she could to override the bad memories of the evening for Perry, rewrite his mortification into a more positive emotion.
“If anything, I should be apologising to you for setting you up with a flake like Chelsey.” She held a hand up, waving it a little dismissively. “Fear not though! I’ve already called her a bitch in my head. And now out loud. But whatever, she should be punching the air right now because she doesn’t know what she’s missing.”
She reached over and gave Perry’s hand a quick squeeze, her expression gentling just a little.
“Are you okay? I mean, really?”
Prospero knew it was entirely in Izzy’s nature to always be having the best time of her life no matter where she was and no matter the company. It almost seemed like an understatement to say that she was the brightest, most beautiful beacon of light that he’d ever encountered in all of his life. She reminded him a lot of his parents, actually. The Parker parents were two of the happiest, most unbothered people that he’d ever met. They loved their lives and always encouraged their children to be happy and grateful for the lot they’d been handed in life, always taking a gentle approach to teach them how to see the positive even in the face of hardships.
Perry remembered when he’d been 22 and had just undergone a serious heartbreak, his body racked with tears as he’d hyperventilated alone in his bedroom, feeling as though the whole world was crashing down around him. His mum had crawled into the bed beside him and pulled his head into her lap just the same as she would when he was a child, and his dad had pulled his feet up into his. After the two of them had let him cry it out, they’d talked him through it all, before singing to him. Yep! They’d bloody sang to him. Prospero had ended the afternoon in such a fit of giggles, a grown man wriggling around in his parent’s arms as he begged them to stop, insisting that he didn’t need to hear another rendition of Rebecca Black’s Friday – they'd been certain that their squawking cover of an already terrible song might remind him that he should’ve been spending his weekend out having fun with his friends, as opposed to at home moping.
Sufficed to say, his parents were the absolute best, and he saw so much of their love and enthusiasm in Izzy. Maybe that was why he liked her so much. Whenever Perry felt homesick – which was most of the time – he found that ache in his chest always seemed to drift away with Izzy nearby, as though she’d somehow carved a hole into the fabric of reality and smuggled a piece of London back to New York just for him. She made him feel like he wasn’t alone at all.
“Izzy!” He gasped, laughter catching in his throat as he shook his head fondly. “She’s not a bitch! And now you’ve made me say bitch! Twice!”
Perry found himself giggling uncontrollably, the ache in his tummy suddenly welcome, his muscles spasming from all the laughing he was doing as opposed to all his sulking. He had no idea how she managed to do that, but Izzy always knew the best way to cheer him up. His cheeks burned as she reached across and gave his hand a squeeze, and he couldn’t help but think he was better off now than he would have been had Chelsey actually shown up. Not that she didn’t sound lovely, of course! Chelsey sounded like a total hoot, from what Izzy had told him! But he’d only really agreed to the date because, well, he’d wanted to impress Izzy. Which, upon reflection, he didn’t think was an appropriate reason to go out on a date with another woman. If anything, it was a little insulting to poor Chelsey.
“A little embarrassed,” Perry nodded, opting for honesty. He shrugged, letting his thumb tenderly stroke along her knuckles. “I shouldn’t be surprised, really! I’m not exactly the dating sort, but. Hey-ho! I hope Chelsey’s having a nice night, in any case.”
Despite Izzy’s final assessment of his no-show, he still didn’t wish harm upon the girl. It wouldn’t be very gentlemanly of him to say anything unkind, and if she had shown up then he wouldn’t have found himself holding hands with Izzy instead, would he? Maybe she’d done him a favour, when you really thought about it!
“Thanks for saving me from looking like a total loser, though,” he told her, his gaze meeting hers, blue eyes piercing back into her own hazel eyes.
