The glass

I checked the time on my phone once again. Still five minutes until Marcus arrived at the restaurant. I had matched with him on tinder a few weeks before this date:

Left... left... left... Ooh! Look at this... Finally, a cutie had caught my eye, and right I swept. He had brown hair, light brown eyes, a trimmed beard, a sharp jaw, and broad shoulders. Just as I was admiring his pictures the screen lit up. IT WAS A MATCH!

He started typing ...

On a scale from 1 to 10, you're a 9 ‘cause I’m the one you need ;)

Smooth, I liked it.

It turned out he did not live far from me and we had a lot in common. Soon enough our chats turned into phone calls that lasted hours; he seemed too good to be true. As I was reminiscing on the way we met, his frame entering my vision brought me back to reality. He looked just as good as he did in his pictures. His cologne reached my nose: Sauvage de Dior. I loved it.

-Hi Amber, I hope you did not wait for me too long.

- Oh no worries, you are right on time.

He sat down and we chatted while looking at the menu before Lucas, the waiter, showed up.

- Let me get you guys started with drinks.

- I would like a glass of Bordeaux and as for the lady…

He looked at me attentively.

- I would like a glass of merlot, please.

- Excellent choices, I shall be back with them shortly.

I got up to use the bathroom, telling Marcus I wouldn't be long.

While in the stall, I heard a lady complaining on the phone about her date. Apparently, the man was talking about himself nonstop and did not even feign interest in her.

- He has crumbs all over him and chews with his mouth open!

I could not suppress my laughter, which she inevitably heard. When I exited my stall, I apologised, trying to hide my smile. She didn’t seem to mind. We chatted a bit and ended up exchanging numbers.

-My name is Linda, by the way.

- Amber.

As we were leaving the bathroom, I glimpsed at my table from the bathroom entrance. To my surprise, I saw Marcus reaching for my drink. I did not step out any further so he would not spot me. He poured a liquid from a weird looking vial into the glass and swirled it before putting it back. He looked around making sure no one saw him. I felt a mix of fear and rage rise in my stomach. What to do? What to do? Linda was still besides me and had seen the whole thing. I was tempted to leave on the spot. Maybe call the police even. Linda agreed. Just as I was turning around to head out, I ran right into a waiter, causing a loud crash, spilling his tray. I looked over at the table. Marcus had stood up and was coming our way… fuck.

- I am so sorry for this, feel free to add it to my tab. Are you okay, Amber? what took you so long?

- Yes, I’m fine, I was just helping a girl out. Linda, this is Marcus; Marcus, Linda.

- Hi. Anyways now that all is good, why don’t we head back to the table?

Linda watched my departure with concern. I was completely overwhelmed and did not know how to act. As we sat down, I received a text from Linda: “Pretend to drop it.”

Smart, I thought to myself.

I pretended to reach for the glass, pushing it right off the edge of the table. It was about to reach the floor, but our waiter rushed towards it, catching it midway. Only a third of its contents had spilled. Lucas apologised frantically and said he would be back with a new one. Relieved, I smiled at him and thanked him. I witnessed clear the annoyance in Marcus’s face. I smiled innocently at him, deciding at that moment that acting normal and flirty was the way to go.

…

Lucas

I was serving this rich-looking couple at my middle right table. It seemed like a first date. I saw the lady reach for her drink, I could tell by the angle of her hand and the look in her eye that she was intentionally pushing it off the edge. Luckily, I ran towards the table and caught the glass just in time. I could not afford it being deducted from my salary…again. This was a 5-star restaurant, after all, and the fine glassware was expensive. Damn those rich people. I apologised to the lady nonetheless and headed to the kitchen with the intention of getting her a new glass of wine, but when I checked, we had run out of merlot. There was less than half a cup left in the bottle. I did not want to deal with a frustrated client; I knew how entitled those people could be, so I decided to simply pour both the remaining wine from the bottle and what was left of her original merlot into a new glass. Nothing was wrong with her drink to begin with, I told myself before going back out there.

…

Amber

Our waiter came back with a new drink. I chatted with Marcus as if nothing had happened, impatient for the dinner to end. I could still see Linda keeping watch from her table. She was two rows away and could see me whenever she turned her head to the side. She was right about her date, I could hear him talking from across the room. He didn’t seem to take any hints either.

All smiles, I took the first sip from my new glass as we were waiting for our food. If it weren’t for what I had seen earlier, this would have been the perfect date. How could he be so charming? He was so delicately mannered and knew how to hold a conversation, but I could not shake the image of him spiking my drink. Soon enough our waiter arrived. He placed down our plates: beef filet mignon covered in smoked gouda and caramelized onions with sweet & sour beets, broccolini, fresh horseradish & cabernet sauce. I started eating, trying to end my agony as fast as possible. I yearned to get up and leave, but what if he followed me into the parking lot and would not let me leave? Dwelling on all the ways it could go wrong, I decided to be patient to avoid upsetting Marcus. Maybe he would not hurt me… I was halfway through the meal when I started to feel lightheaded. Why was I feeling this way?

…

Marcus

Damn this woman, she had to drop the drink I spiked and now I had to sit through this nonsense date to keep up appearances. She seemed nonchalant, unaware of what she just avoided. But halfway through the course I picked up some unease in her. Could it be? But how? The waiter did change her drink… maybe he didn't? Weird. I witnessed her motions slow down and when she spoke, she seemed a bit unfocused. Luck was with me after all … I was not going to blow it asking questions, that was for sure.

- Hey Amber, what do you say we get out of here? You seem tired and you look like you’re done eating.

She could barely answer.

- Huh… tired...

We would get out of there before anyone noticed what was happening. I did not know how, but it was as if she drank the GHB. I called the waiter quickly to pay the bill and got up to leave. Amber, on the other hand, seemed to barely know what was happening and could not even stand on her own. I surveyed the room to see if anyone noticed and caught Amber’s friend looking at us. I smiled at her and rushed Amber to my car. Up close, I could not believe how beautiful Amber was. She had milky white skin that contrasted her dark features, her eyes were soft, her lips were so plump and full, the sweet cinnamon aroma coming from her hair was… Mmmm, so good, I thought to myself. What was a beauty like her doing on Tinder to begin with?

As I was getting Amber in the back seat, Linda came out of the restaurant. I tried to get in the car quickly, but she caught up to us before I had the chance. She saw Amber lying unconscious in the back seat.

- What are you doing to her? Let her out right now! I know what you’re trying to do.

- Honey, Amber has just had a little too much to drink and has asked me to take her home, I said in the calmest voice I could find.

- No! I saw you trying to spike her drink earlier. Let her go.

I froze for a minute. How? This minx knew too much, and, frankly, she was getting on my last nerve.

…

Linda

I was so relieved when I saw the waiter bring Amber a new drink, but I decided I was going to keep an eye on her. Who knew what this guy was capable of? It was hard to enjoy my time with the pig in front of me anyway. I had to stay – if not for me, for Amber.

About half an hour had passed before I saw Marcus get up with her. She seemed off, though. I awaited her response to my text asking her if she was okay. As I glanced at their table, Marcus caught me staring and smiled a bit. Something was most definitely going on. They left the restaurant, and Amber had not answered me. At this point, I was worried and excused myself from my date. I took my things and headed out while making a phone call on my way out. There he was, closing his backseat door. I rushed towards him. When he saw me, he tried to rush off, but I knew what was going on. Seeing the state in which Amber was made me furious. I tried to get her back, but it only seemed to be irritating him. I felt scared, even so, I hid it as best as I could. He was getting closer to me, threateningly so, and I started to back away. I was panic-stricken and knowing that there were no bystanders, only amplified the feeling furthermore. He grabbed me forcefully, dragging me to his car. He opened the trunk. I was yelling for help and furiously trying to break free, but he covered my mouth with a cloth. I felt myself slowly losing consciousness.

…

Amber

Waking up, my head was heavy. I did not recognise the room I was in. The natural lighting was high in intensity & the whiteness of everything made it hard for me to discern my surroundings. In the door entry, a police officer and a nurse were talking, but they turned to face me as soon as they heard me move.

- Good morning, Amber, how are you feeling? It was quite the night for you, wasn’t it?

Turns out the guy I knew as Marcus was a wanted felon and my kidnapping would not have been his first rodeo. He targeted women on dating apps and had a few rape cases to his name. Luckily for me, Linda had called the cops on her way out of the restaurant, and they were able to arrest the criminal before he could get out of the parking lot and hurt either of us.