Chapter Two

Grace POV

I sigh “I really don’t want to go out girls”

“Come on Grace, you can’t stay at home and mope forever. You’ll feel so much better if you shower, get dressed and have a few drinks. Please for me?” Freya has been my best friend since Primary School. We were literally inseparable growing up. She even lived on the same street as me.

“Come on Grace, the best way to get over a douche bag is to get under another” Macy adds as Grace whacks her “Not helpful Macy”

“I’ll come for dinner, but I am absolutely not getting under anyone” I eye Macy. She’s always been the bad influence in the group. Never held a proper relationship beyond the second date. I know she means well but she can’t possibly understand the devastation I’m feeling right now. I honestly thought this was it, that he was the one for me. We had been together for 5 years and were getting ready to move in together. Finding out he had been cheating on me with one of our close friends for the last 6 months definitely caught me off guard.

“I’ll curl your hair for you?” Layla adds. I smile and plop myself down in the chair in front of her as she gets to work on my long hair. The girls continue to buzz around and get ready. Fussing over what outfit I should be wearing as my debut as a single woman. I just stay quiet and let them do their thing. There is no point arguing with them. The sooner I just oblige and get it over and done with the sooner I can be back home in my bed.

As we walk into the restaurant I hang at the back. Willing the world to just swallow me whole.

“We called earlier, a table of 4” Freya leans seductively at the front desk, fluttering her eyelashes at the poor young man. Although much to her disappointment he ignores her completely, nodding and pointing towards the doors off near the kitchen. “Max here can show you to your table”

The girls giggle and begin to walk towards the back of the restaurant. I follow along behind them not making eye contact with anyone. It looks like we are being seated in the function area. They must have been busy tonight. I silently wish they had been fully booked and I could be curled up in my bed.

“Ooooh fancy” Macy giggles as she nudges Layla.

“Isaac will be over shortly to take your orders” I lift my head to the voice and lock eyes with a monster of a man. I’m not a short girl, taller than all my friends but this man stands at well over 6 foot. His sandy blonde hair is cut short and styled to perfection. Not a single strand is out of place. He doesn’t look like your typical waiter. His biceps are rippled, and straining against the black buttoned shirt he is wearing. The sleeves are rolled up showing full sleeve tattoos on both arms. I look back down at the menu, doesn’t matter how good looking they are. None of them are worth it.

I flip through the pages trying to decide on what I can order. I haven’t had an appetite for days but not ordering something will only create more issues. The girls chat excitedly amongst them, I respond with a forced smile and nod when they refuse to let me ignore them.

“Hayley! Hayley!” Some guy is walking towards our table calling out some random chicks name. I look up and realize he is looking directly at me. I look at the other girls who shrug their shoulder and then back to the random guy who is now standing at our table right in front of us.

“Hayley yeah? It’s me Levi. You remember me from the other night?” I blink at him as he continues to stare at me waiting for me to respond.

“Ah, sorry my name isn’t Hayley”

“Oh yeah, playing the mysterious card are we” He nudges against my arm

“No seriously, you must have me confused with someone else. My name isn’t Hayley, its Grace”

“Grace. Well I’ll be”

“You can call me Hayley, heck you can call me whatever you like” I roll my eyes at Macy. Girl would literally mount anything that moves. He ignores her though and continues staring at me. It’s beginning to get a bit awkward now as I shift uncomfortably in my seat. He seems to pick up on the cue and looks back towards the other girls.

“I’ve never seen you ladies in here before, although I’m sure your friends having me on and her name is actually Hayley. She just doesn’t want you guys to know, she knows me” He flashes me a grin and I shake my head again. What is this guys deal?

Macy laughs “Her name really is Grace, Grace Smalls. She’s a teacher at the local primary school”

“Macy!” I yell at her. What the heck is she doing. Telling this random guy my full name and employment details. Does she want me to get bloody kidnapped?

“Well, Miss Smalls” He leans down and scribbles some numbers on the napkin with a pen he pulled out from behind his ear “If you ever want to explain how your Hayley to me and Grace to these ladies. Call me” He hands me the napkin with a mobile phone number on it. My eyes go wide as I look up at him. I don’t say anything as he winks and walks away from the table.

“Oh, my, god. Grace!!” Oh here we go. I am never going to hear the end of this now. There goes my nice quiet night

“Did you know that guy? Did you give him a fake name?” Freya nudges me as I shake my head

“I swear to god, I have never seen that guy before. I have no idea why he thinks my name is Hayley” None of them seem to believe me. Have they all seemingly forgot that I have just had my heart tragically broken, incredibly publicly only a week and a half ago. When on earth would I have gone out, met a guy, given him a fake name and kept it from them.

The girls continue to talk about the mysterious Levi for the rest of dinner. It appears he works here, I see him walking in and out of what looks like the office and helping some of the other staff. He keeps looking over towards me and the girls never miss it. Giggling like school girls and nudging me. I can’t lie, as confused as I was the attention was kind of nice.  I loosened up a little bit and had a few glasses of wine with the girls while we ate. I even found that I started looking around for the mysterious stranger. Maybe Macy was right after all, the best way to stop thinking about Lucas, was to focus my attention elsewhere for a while.

“Can we please go dancing?” Freya pulls on my arm putting on her best puppy dog eyes at me. I roll mine and sigh. At the start of the night there is not a chance I would be going, but Levi’s glances have perked my confidence and I nod my head.

“Yes! Wooo Grace! Let’s go” Before I have a chance to change my mind, Freya is dragging me towards the car park while Macy and Layla giggle behind us. Oh god help me, I’m going to regret this in the morning.