Thirty minutes later, they were pulling up to Le Creuset, one of Plateaux's most favored restaurants.

  They served a variety of cuisines but were probably the most well known for their fondue. The car pulled up to the front as the valet opened the door. John looked around as Jayne confirmed the reservation. Nice place, It was like an Olive Garden but without the vines and...well.. grapes. Good lord why did he agree to this? The Ma?tre D beckoned them to follow him to their table. "Oh good, you made it!" A slender man in a suit stood from one of the corner tables. "Tyler!" Jayne hugged Tyler as they went to sit. As they began to find their seats, a slender blonde woman hastily made her way to the table. “Hi everyone! Sorry I’m a lil late! My name is Leslie. John extended his hand for a hand shake. “John”.

  "Hey Leslie, why dont you tell John about the thing we talked about earlier?" Jayne subtly guided the conversation forward as they found their seats. "Oh god, she planned the topic of conversation." John thought to himself as he pulled Leslie’s chair out for her before finding his own seat. He crossed his arms and turned toward her, awaiting her response. "Oh! Yeah! I was driving home from work and got stopped at this light right? It was one of those lights that's really close to a train track so its got that bar that comes down. Anyways, my car wasn't on the track but it was so close to the bar thing. So I am sitting at this light and I hear the bells going off. I wasn't thinking anything of it until the lady in the car next to me starts pointing. So I look over and the bar is coming down and I'm freaking out! The lady next to me is laughing hysterically and right as it gets close to my tail end, the light turns green and I get away from it. Anyway, so long story short I almost died.". At the sight of the pleading look in Jaynes eyes, John decides to loosen up and try this "socializing" thing. "So tell me Leslie, what do you do for fun?" "I like to rock climb, I do a lot of hiking, and I've been known to kayak once in awhile." She flipped her hair back and rested her head on her fist. "What about you?" John opened his mouth to speak when the waitress showed up, retrieving a small notepad and pen from her pocket. She did a quick glance of the table before introducing herself. "Hello, my name is Dawn and I will be your server this evening. Can I start you off with anything to drink?" "Yes," Leslie begins. "I'll have an ice water with a slice of lemon." Dawn wrote it down and moved on to the next person. Both Jayne and Tyler ordered a red wine and went back to talking among themselves. "And for you sir?" John shifted his eyes from his sister laughing at some witty retort Tyler had just thrown her way. In an exaggerated southern accent he ordered. "Why yes ma'am I do believe I will have myself an Old Fashioned."

  Dawn snickered as she wrote down his drink. Leslie, upon hearing the chuckle, whipped her head around and did a quick look over of this woman. She was probably around 5'8, judging by the size of her bun she had long curly brown hair, dimples you could hide a penny in, and much to Leslie's dismay, she had a great body. "Excuse me, I'm sorry but like did you say your name was Dawn?" Leslie straightened her posture as she eyed her target. Nobody was going to get in her way when it came to John Divine. Dawn placed her notepad and pen back in her hip apron. It was obvious by the way her shoulders tensed and how heavy she exhaled that she had heard that particular comment before and she was not a fan. "Yes ma'am" she responded very respectfully. "Like the dish soap?" John cringed and shifted his seat a little away from Leslie. He couldn't believe she just said that. Not being one to start a conflict, he waited to hear Dawns retort. "Yes ma'am, like the dish soap. Let me go put these in for you." Dawn turned on her heels and walked away before Leslie could continue. She did everything with a smile and just walked away. John was impressed. Hopefully the awkward comments would end there. He wasn't going to write off what otherwise was turning into a nice evening over one poorly worded question. After some light banter, Dawn reappeared with their beverages.

  "One water with a lemon wedge, two red wines, and one Old Fashioned." She placed a coaster down before each person and placed their drinks upon them. Leslie's was last. John began to sense there was a spark of mischief in this woman. Once again she pulled out her notepad and pen. "Are you ready to order or do you need a few more moments?" After everyone glanced around, they decided to go ahead and order an appetizer. Jayne sat up straight. "We would like a Fondue Sampler, please. Any objections everyone?" Jayne taking charge of food ordering was nothing new to him. When they were kids, she used to do it when her brothers were to busy playing instead of reading the menus. She never steered him wrong though so he let her run with it. Leslie straightened her menu and placed it down in front of her. "Excuse me, do you have any nondairy or low fat cheese?" This time it was John who tensed his shoulders. This lady had done nothing wrong. "I'm not sure, I can check if you would like." Dawn made a note to ask the kitchen on her way back. She tried to keep positive. She hadn't had this job long. "Do you not know the menu?" Leslie clearly had a snooty tone in her voice this time. There was no mistaking it. Even Jayne looked awkward at Leslie’s answer. Sensing this would only get worse for whatever reason it began in the first place, John came to the poor waitresses defense and redirected the moment. "I'm sure she does. It's probably just not often that someone comes into a fondue restaurant and asks for dairy free cheese. It says here they have a lot of vegetables you can dip too, we can order one of those, that way there is for sure something you will eat." At this point in the conversation, Jayne and Tyler came back to reality and were realizing what was happening. Jayne did not expect Leslie to be the jealous type. She hoped John wasn't miserable. He wasn't the type to put up with that kind of nonsense usually so she was very nervous.. It wasn't a grape sized fiasco, but it had potential. As Dawn disappeared to the back, Leslie rolled her eyes.

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  After they all decided on the veggie option, Dawn left again. Leslie excused herself to the ladies room. "So Leslie is something huh?"Jayne asked nervously. John sat back and ran his fingers through his hair. "She is something else, that's for sure." John," Jayne leaned forward."I am so sorry, I didn't know she was catty like that." John stood up. "Don't worry about it Jay Jay. I'm sure she’s lovely. I’m gonna get some air, I'll be right back. He walked outside and shut his eyes as the breeze brushed his face. He was grateful that Jayne cared enough to try, but he wasn't gonna meet anyone right for him wearing a button down shirt and loafers. He was just about to go back inside to rejoin his party when Dawn stepped outside and hailed a cab. Guess her shift must have ended.

  "Taxi?" She shouted, followed by a whistle. John walked over. "Hey, it's Old Fashioned" she said, turning to acknowledge him. "Hey, Its Dish Soap" John put his hands in his pockets as he tried to come up with a decent apology. Dawn chuckled. I'm actually named after the phase of the sun rising before it actually comes over the horizon, it's just easier to say I'm named after the soap. "John looked at his feet. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. We didn't get you in trouble did we?" Dawn smiled. "No, My shift is over so I'm out for the night. Your new server should be with you soon." "God," John sighed. "I honestly don’t know how much more of her I can take. She was so rude to you. I'm probably just gonna text my sister I'm not feeling good and head home." Dawn hung her head in guilt. "Don't do that on my account. It'll hurt your girlfriend's feelings." John laughed. "She's not my girlfriend. My sister is one of those matchmaker types and the family is kind of in the middle of some pretty stressful stuff right now so she didn't use her best judgment." He smiled as he looked at his feet again.

  A taxi pulled up and Dawn went to leave as John opened her door for her. "Oh, such a gentleman. Thank you." As the door closed behind her, she rolled down the window and stuck her head out. "Hey, Old Fashioned?" John had just turned around to go back inside as he heard her call for him. "Yeah Dish Soap?" Dawn bit her lower lip and squinted her eyes as she thought about what she was fixing to ask. This guy was handsome. He was tall, polite, and had a sense of humor. A bit timid around people perhaps. One thing was for sure. The guy needed to lighten up, and she knew just how to do it. He needed to get away from there. She knew the moment she saw him that he was uncomfortable. She made a devilish grin as he walked up to the window. "You hungry?" John smiled at her question. " Starving, what day of the week is it?” Dawn thought for a moment, “Saturday, why?” John smiled wide as he undid the top button of his shirt collar. “I know just where to go.”