Strangers by Eden Darry

Author:Eden Darry [Darry, Eden]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: NineStar Press, LLC
Published: 2016-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Delivery

Charlotte cradled the phone between her ear and shoulder and used both hands to lift the blind slats covering the window. Although the likelihood of her weird date actually being outside was slim, Charlotte watched a lot of horror films. She had visions of Judy sitting in her car, staring up at the building, probably under the sickly yellow glow of a streetlight or something equally creepy.

Their date started promising. Judy seemed chatty and friendly, if a bit overbearing. Charlotte put it down to first date nerves. When Judy suggested Charlotte order vodka and soda instead of rum and coke because it was less fattening, Charlotte bit her tongue and decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. Her best friend, May, always told Charlotte she was too picky and got put off much too quickly. “You’re like bloody Goldilocks, Char,” May would grumble.

Charlotte decided enough was enough when Judy told her she had used Google Earth to see the road Charlotte lived on.

“I never gave you my address.”

“It’s amazing what you can find out about people just from their Facebook. You need to be much more careful about security, Charlotte. Do you even have antivirus software on your computer? I bet you don’t.”

The whole thing had creeped Charlotte out. Judy clearly took her job in cybersecurity much too seriously and couldn’t understand what she’d done wrong. “You Googled my street. Don’t you think that’s a weird thing to do?”

“You’re overreacting. Anyway, shall I schedule you for another date, say, Wednesday?”

Charlotte was nonplussed. She should have told Judy to shove it; instead she mumbled something about having to check her diary first. After repeatedly turning down offers of a lift home, Charlotte escaped the bar, looking over her shoulder the whole way back to her flat.

May’s phone was switched off, so Charlotte couldn’t even talk to her about the horrific date and discuss the likelihood of Judy going all Fatal Attraction on her. Charlotte did the next best thing and called to order a pizza.

She realised the person on the other end of the phone was speaking to her. “Sorry, what was that?”

“I asked if it was another bad date.”

Rather than be offended, Charlotte laughed. She’d been ordering from the family run pizza place since she’d moved there nine months ago. She was on first-name terms with both Carlo and Fran, his wife.

“God, am I that predictable?” Charlotte dropped the slats back into place and sat down on the sofa.

“Every Saturday night recently, you’ve called us and ordered a large pizza with extra pepperoni and a tub of gelato. I assumed you wouldn’t be calling us if your date went well. You’ve paid for my daughter’s ballet classes this month.” She heard Fran in the background, shouting something in Italian. “My wife says I should mind my own business.”

“No, I don’t mind, really. It was another bad date. I think I’m about ready to give up.”

“What happened this time?”

“Well, the date itself was okay. The conversation was pleasant, and we have some things in common.

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