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Five years ago, Eleanor wouldn't have looked at Tahani Al-Jamil twice. Not that she wasn't gorgeous and smart and very well dressed. And Eleanor is just a bisexual woman. It's not that Tahani didn't have smooth skin and a British accent and huge tits. No, it was that five years ago, Eleanor hadn't nearly died. And Eleanor was just an Arizona trash bag, childish and petulant and maybe a little bit evil if she's honest.
But now, her life is different. She nearly died and she's been reading a lot of philosophy and watching a lot of videos and she needs to talk to this Chidi guy. But then there's Tahani and her honeyed voice hits Eleanor's ears and, well, Eleanor is just a bisexual woman.
So, when Tahani asks Eleanor out to dinner when Eleanor is in another country, she's swept up in it. She's overtaken. She's…swooning, probably? Yeah, she's probably swooning.
"Yes," Eleanor says, immediately, awestruck.
"Where are you staying?" Tahani asks, her eyes traveling up and down Eleanor's body.
What does this fucking goddess see in Eleanor's 5 foot 1 dirt bag vibes. Like, she's tried to clean up her act, sure, but she still looks like someone who grew up drink Four Lokos in the desert if she's honest with herself. She does tell Tahani exactly where she's staying.
"I'll have my driver pick you up at 7:30, sharp," she says and leaves the room.
True to her word, a black Escalade pulls up outside of Eleanor's hotel.
"Eleanor?" The driver calls to her out the rolled down passenger seat window.
"That's me," she says, suddenly very self-conscious of the cashmere sweater she threw onto a credit card earlier and the khakis she packed on her trip.
Then, the hardest part comes. Does she hop in the front seat or does she do the fancy people thing and climb in the back? She supposes she's being picked up by a driver, being chauffeured and meeting a beautiful woman on the other end of it. She gets into the back seat.
Tahani's pick of restaurant is entirely too fancy for what Eleanor is wearing. She is stopped by the maître d' who looks like he's about to tell her to get her hobo ass out of there when she hears Tahani's voice calling "yoo hoo!" from across the room.
The maître d' looks red in the face at that but escorts Eleanor to the booth. Eleanor awkwardly shuffles herself in across from her gorgeous date.
"I think I'm a bit underdressed," Eleanor admits, noting there is already wine poured for both of them and reaching for it immediately. "I'm more used to dressing for, you know, Applebee's."
Tahani considers her. "I think you look perfectly lovely."
"No offense," Eleanor says, swallowing down the decadent wine. "Mm, that's good by the way. Anyway, no offense, but I don't really get what you see in me."
"There's just something about you," Tahani admits, sipping her own wine. "I can't put my finger on it, exactly. But I feel like I know you already. And I think this could be the start of something beautiful."
Eleanor gets the feeling that it very well could be.