She was sure who, if anyone, she had hoped to be paired with when she initially entered the raffle, but she’d assumed whoever it ended up being would be someone she’d met before at the very least. When she received a slip of paper with an unfamiliar name scrawled on it, she’d been surprised but not disappointed. That was the point of this sort of event, right? To meet someone she wouldn’t have otherwise met? Seated at a table that had been reserved for her and her date for the evening, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the slip of paper with the name written on it, smoothing it out on the table with both hands. It was strange, having a name without a face. She tried to imagine the person it belonged to, and what sort of conversations the two of them might have once they finally arrived. If nothing else, she had every intention of making a new friend by the end of the night. Folding the piece of paper in two and tucking it back her back, she glanced up and met eyes with someone being led to her table by a waitress. She rose from her seat and beamed, extending her hand to her date, her other hand fiddling with the gauzy fabric of her skirt, betraying her nerves. “Belle, right?”
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