One In A Billion (10 page)

'I was worried you weren't serious', I said, and laughed.

'I told you before, I'm always serious', Devizes said, putting on a mock serious face on, and then laughing too.

He had such a warm smile and such nice eyes. I'd felt nervous all the way through the week, but now in his company once again, I felt completely relaxed.

'This is nice', I said, looking around. I didn't dare look at the menu yet, for fear of screaming at the prices.

'This?' Devizes said. 'It's ok. One of the better members only bars in London, but still in need of a bit of work. See anyone you recognise?'

'I'm not much of a celebrity spotter, I'm afraid', I said, looking around again. 'Should I?'

'That guy over there is worth about ten billion dollars. He's got even more money than I have. Half of it inherited, half of it made through a media company.'

I twisted around to look at the man eating alone, spooning soup to his mouth with a slightly shaky hand.

'He looks sad', I said. 'And lonely.'

'He shouldn't be. The amount of women I've seen him in here with, would make you blush with embarrassment. I don't know why he's alone tonight, maybe the escort agency had run out of models to send him. That woman in the corner is apparently a writer, although her pseudonym is a closely guarded secret, and', (Devizes leaned in conspiratorially), 'that couple next to us are porn barons.'

'You're kidding me?!' I said, trying to look at them without being obvious.

'They own all of the porn shops in Soho, almost all of them in London, and control a lot of the escort agencies. It's through their company that Douglas over there usually gets his dates for the evening.'

'They look normal', I said, taking a good look at them.

'They are normal', Devizes said, 'they just have a hell of a lot of money, like everyone else in here.'

Everyone else except me,
I thought.

'How do you know all this?' I said.

'People like to gossip', Devizes said, and shrugged his shoulders. 'What would you like to drink by the way? I can recommend the '89 Bollinger. It's a real vintage. Crisp on the palate and easy to drink.'

'Is that what you're going to have?' I said, unsure whether my rudimentary palate would appreciate the subtleties anyway.

'To start with, yes. But you have whatever you would like.'

'The '89 Bollinger sounds amazing, thank you.'

Devizes clicked his fingers, and a second later someone was with us. He made the order and the champagne was brought back half a moment later. It was the best champagne I've ever drunk.

'This is amazing', I said, all smiles.

'It better be', Devizes said. 'It's ten thousand pounds a bottle.'

'I'm sorry what did you say?' I said, as my heart stopped dead.

'It's actually not a bad price for a restaurant', Devizes went on. 'Besides which, in the time it takes us to drink it, I'll have made twice as much as that.'

'I can't afford this', I said, suddenly worried I'd have another Marth moment.

'Alice, you don't have to', Devizes said, shocked that I'd even considered it. 'You are my date, you don't pay for a thing.'

'You don't mind?' I said.

'Of course I don't mind. Like I said, this isn't actually costing me anything. I'm sort of being paid to sit here and drink it.'

'How does that work?' I said.

'Very nicely', Devizes said, and smiled.

I bet
, I was thinking. This was a completely different world to mine. Ten thousand pound bottles of champagne, lifts that went up to the sky, table service in seconds, and door to door drivers. This place was rammed with people who made more money each year than the GDP of several medium sized, first world countries. What the hell was I doing here?

'This is a clichéd question', I said, 'but I'm going to ask you anyway. Do you come here often?'

'I like to eat out', Devizes said, 'and there are several places I like to do that, this being one of them. They have excellent service here, and the chef is considered to be one of Europe's best.'

'I guess what I mean', I went on. 'It's probably none of my business, but you know, we're from different sides of the coin so to speak, do you bring a lot of women here?'

'Alice, I asked you here because there was something about you that intrigued me. There was something about you that was different from a lot of other people I usually meet. It may sound a bit strange, but it's kind of hard for me to meet women, especially normal ones. If it makes you feel any better, I haven't been on anything like this for over a year. Before that I was in a relationship that didn't go at all well, and I was kind of put off.'

One of the waiters came past and filled up our champagne glasses. Devizes didn't even need to click his fingers, and it made me wonder whether he had a button under the table to call them over with.

'Have we decided?' the waiter said.

'I haven't even looked at the menu', I said, grabbing it quickly.

'Take your time', Devizes said. 'There's no rush.'

The waiter disappeared again, as smoothly as he'd arrived.

'You've got nothing to worry about Alice', Devizes went on. 'Like I said before, I wanted to get to know you, which is what we're doing now. Don't worry about the money thing, money gets in the way of things far too often.'

I smiled. 'There are no prices', I said, holding up the menu.

'It's ok', Devizes said, 'we don't need them.'

'You choose for me', I said. 'I don't really know what to order.'

'What kind of thing do you like?'

'Everything', I said. 'I love to eat.'

'Ok', Devizes said. 'The lobster is good here, but the steak too. I'll order a selection and then we can try a bit of everything.'

'That sounds great', I said.

'Are you hungry?'

'Starving', I said, and we both laughed.

Devizes clicked his fingers and the waiter was there again immediately. Devizes ordered almost everything from the menu, just so we could try it, and then a selection of wines to pair up with the food. Half of the order was dressed up in such colourful language I could only guess at what was going to come out. I looked around again at the rest of the people dining with us, and wondered if they all knew I was a fraud.

'What would you usually be doing on a Saturday night?' Devizes asked.

'Oh god, I don't know', I said. 'Nothing as exciting as this. Either working I suppose, or trying to write. Maybe hanging out with my flatmate, dreaming of going on holiday or finding myself on another bad date.'

'Oh?' Devizes said.

'I'm internet dating', I confessed. 'I mean I was. It's been a terrible experience so far, so I've given it up. I took my profile down a few days before we met.'

'How does internet dating work?' Devizes asked. He seemed to be genuinely unsure.

'Badly, mostly', I said. 'You look at people like you might do something you want to buy from Argos, and then email them if you want to find out more. It works for some people, it didn't work for me.'

'What's Argos', Devizes said, and there was a moment before I realised he was kidding.

'I just kept having bad experiences', I said. 'People who didn't look anything like their photos, and I mean not even the same skin colour, people who'd paid someone to write their description for them, people who just wanted a free meal. I got all sorts of rejects and weirdos. I don't know why but they just seemed to go for me, like bees do for honey. Everyone else I spoke to had good experiences but I just couldn't find my man.'

'Better for me', Devizes said. 'Oh, and I don't think I'm a reject or a weirdo, but I guess you'll have to decide that for yourself.'

'You seem very normal', I said.

'Well that's very decent of you to say.'

'And you're very attractive. And your rich. So why are you single?'

'I guess I've had the same bad luck. I didn't always want to settle down of course. I've made my money through hard work, a little bit of luck, but mostly hard work, and that amount of dedication takes its toll in other areas of your life. I'm sure you find the same when you are writing, that if you throw yourself into a project, everything else gets left by the wayside. I guess I just didn't have time to concentrate on building my business,
and
being in love.'

'But you do now?'

'The business is already built', Devizes said, and smiled.

'So I guess we have to drink to love', I said, already feeling tipsy. I tend to get more ballsy when I'm drunk, and say what I think a little bit more.

'What more is there to drink to?' Devizes said, and we clinked our glasses together.

Sat here opposite him, I had a chance to really take him in. His eyes were absolutely mesmerizing. I'd never seen eyes quite as green before, on someone with such Mediterranean features. He wasn't quite olive skinned, but he had a naturally darker skin tone than mine, and a healthy complexion. He was tall, broad across the shoulders, strong across the chest, square jawed and much more manly than I had remembered. He had just the right amount of hair as well - something, to the constant consternation of others, I found of huge importance. I couldn't see much of the hair on his arms, but when his sleeves lifted up enough, I could tell that he wasn't Robin Williams hairy, which you sometimes find with people with darker skin tones. His teeth were white, but not too white. His hair was of medium length, cut perfectly, and left to style itself naturally, and although he'd shaved, perhaps that morning, he had a five o'clock shadow, which always turned me on. He wasn't thin and he wasn't fat. He was well mannered and carried himself confidently, and sort of exuded this kind of sexiness that very few people have the capacity to do. Oh and he had a cracking bum. I made sure I got a healthy look at that when he went to the loo, and as much of a look at his packet as I could without getting caught, when he came back to the table.

When the food came, they had to bring over another table just to put it on, because there was so much. We had fish I'd never ever heard of, and meat cooked so perfectly it melted on my tongue like butter. We drank glass after glass of delicious red and white wine each one over a thousand pounds a bottle, and I was stuffed and happily drunk before we'd even dented the surface.

I ate like a horse, while Devizes picked carefully at his food, knowing what he liked and what he didn't, and never once over-indulging. I, on the other hand, couldn't get enough of it, and crammed as much into my mouth as I could, until I was literally about to burst.

'Don't forget about pudding', Devizes said.

'Oh my god, you are kidding me right?' I said.

'Not at all. 'Dessert, coffee, liqueurs, cigarettes if you want them, chocolates.'

'The works.'

'The works.'

'It's a bit different to pizza hut', I joked.

'You've never done anything like this before?' Devizes asked.

'Are you kidding? I've never been anywhere near a place like this, not even with work.'

'Are you enjoying yourself?' Devizes asked.

'Uhuh', I nodded. 'I'm really enjoying myself, thank you.'

We looked at each other and smiled, and then I noticed it. It was the bloody moment, here already without enough forewarning, and we had two huge tables in the way of us. I couldn't just climb over them, or get up and go around and kiss him, because by the time I'd done that the moment would already be over. Then because I was thinking about it, or doubting myself, the moment began to slip away anyway - it had a tendency to do that in my presence - and then it was gone already before I had a chance to stop it. Fuck. I laughed nervously. Devizes smiled. I think he must have seen it go as well.

A waiter came over, asked if we were finished and then cleared the table, actually picking the whole thing up and taking it back to where he'd brought it out from. He could have done that half a minute ago, I thought.

'Tell me about your book', Devizes said, breaking the soft, uncomfortable silence that had descended in the moment's wake. 'Did you bring it with you?'

'Yes', I said, a little too excitedly perhaps.

I pulled it out of my bag and went to hand it over to Devizes. 'Wait', he said, already in the process of moving his chair over. 'I'll come to you.'

He sat down next to me, put his arm on the back of my chair, and leaned in so close I could smell him. I don't know why I did it, but I couldn't help myself. Ok, I do know why I did it, I was drunk and he was turning me on, and I was desperate to chase back that disappeared moment with all my strength, but it was something so out of character for me, I immediately got embarrassed, and could feel myself going red when he looked at me. I put my hand on his thigh and kissed him on the cheek - not a crime I know, but a risk at least. I think it surprised him a little, because he kind of looked at me shocked, and for a moment I wondered if I had done something he didn't want, like I'd misread the situation completely.

'Sorry', I said. 'Shit, sorry.'

'Come here', Devizes said, and lifted my chin up so we were looking at each other again. I bit my bottom lip.