Friends For Dinner

“Hey Sarah”, the message begins, “I’m cooking up a special dinner tonight and I want you to be there. I’m inviting a bunch of our friends, it’ll be great!”

I’d known Steve for years, but never knew he could cook. This is such short notice though… Well, it IS a Tuesday. What else do have to do on a Tuesday night?

“Sounds good. I’ll be there. You want me to bring anything?”

“Nah, just bring yourself”

“Alright, I’ll see you then!”

“See ya!”

I continue working until five o’clock, wondering what sort of meal Steve’s preparing and who might be there. I hope Steve’s not, like, vegan or something. I can’t remember him eating any time we’ve hung out. Maybe Jess will be there, and I can ask her why she hasn’t returned my calls in a week.

At the end of the day, I leave, get to my car, and drive over to Steve’s. There are quite a few cars parked in the street around his house. I wind up parking four houses away and walking back. I knock on the door, and some guy I don’t recognize answers it. It’s surprisingly not loud for a party. I would think they would be blasting music or something, but it’s quiet. As the door opens I catch the scent of something that smells amazing. “Hey,” the guy starts, “Are you Sarah?”

I’m caught off guard by this guy knowing my name. I don’t know him. It’s kinda creepy. “Y- yeah?”

“Oh, good, Steve said to expect you.” As he says this, he opens the door the rest of the way. Inside, I see a whole party of people. They’re all just sitting around and talking. I don’t recognize any of them. They’re also all guys.

“Where’s Steve?”, I ask, hoping to see a familiar face.

“Oh he’s in the kitchen,” the guy points, as if I don’t know where the kitchen is, “checking on the entree.”

“Thanks.” I step passed the guy and wave to the group shyly as I walk passed to the kitchen.

As I enter, I see Steve closing the oven. “Oh, hey Sarah! I wasn’t sure if you’d make it!”

“Of course I came. Who could turn down a free meal cooked by a friend, right?”

“Heh, yeah, I hope you like it. It should only be about another hour.”

“I don’t know, like, anyone else here.”

“These are all buddies of mine that I met online. We all meet up like this every Tuesday. I thought this would be a good chance for you to meet them. You can trust them as much as you can trust me, so don’t be shy.”

“Okay. I guess I’ll go introduce myself. Dinner smells great! I can’t wait to eat!”

I return to the previous room and introduce myself. The guys are all very different from one another. It doesn’t seem to be a group who would usually hang out together, and I can’t really find any common interests to all of them as we chat. After a while, I hear Steve call out, “Hey, I’m about to bring out the food. If you could all wait in the dining room that’d be great.”

We move to the dining room, and I wind up seated furthest from the exit. I hope I don’t wind up having to go to bathroom during dinner, as I’d have to squeeze past half the people here.

Then Steve brings out what was in the oven… WHO was in the oven… It was Jess! I look wide eyed at the platter as she’s set down on the table.