Rona, Sacha and Phuong walked quickly down Victoria Street to Phuong's uncle's restaurant. They were given a table near the kitchen, separated from main part of the restaurant, and it was a little cramped - but, as Phuong and Rona had promised, the food was indeed on the house, and it was pretty good, too: Sacha couldn't complain about that. The table was small and square, with one side against the wall: the three of them sat around the other three sides, crowded over the white plastic while the waiting staff rushed in and out of the kitchen behind them - but even clustered so closed together, Sacha could hardly hear in the noise of the restaurant what Rona and Phuong were saying.

And it was Rona and Phuong doing all the talking, still: they had evidently known each other for some time; and it was clear to Sacha that they had also not seen each other in quite a while, months maybe, and so they had a lot of catching up to do.

Phuong ordered the food when her uncle came out to greet her. Rona contributed a couple of suggestions, but Sacha was unfamiliar with the restaurant and so felt unable to suggest anything, and deferred to the choices of her two companions. She felt, somehow, as if she had been disabled: switched off, cut off - she felt like she was merely a tourist in some new world that Rona and Phuong were much more comfortable in.

The food arrived, amid clouds of steam and good cheer: Rona was evidently well known at the restaurant, and the waitress who brought them their food asked fondly how she was. With this brief distraction Phuong turned to Sacha to ask her something; but she had only just opened her mouth to speak when Rona grabbed her by the arm and proceeded to tell her some anecdote while the waitress listened gleefully.

Throughout the meal, Sacha could see Phuong trying to break free of Rona's cheerfully relentless chatter, to ask Sacha something or at least try to draw her into the conversation. Sacha was grateful for it, but didn't have the opportunity to say so. Nobody had the opportunity to say anything much with Rona in such an obliviously talkative mood.
Rona's good mood seemed to deepen Sacha's discomfort, which had been present since before Rona had even 'phoned her that morning. Sacha's search for a job wasn't going well; she was eating into her savings which she'd worked so hard to accumulate and which were meant for grander things than just buying groceries and paying bills. Now, isolated even in the company of Phuong and Rona, she found her thoughts returning to the grim, wearying search for employment. She didn't want to have to be doing it any more - but she had no choice. Sitting there in the restaurant, being all but ignored by Rona, only made her more aware of it.

She finished her food, having eaten as much as she could stomach, stood up, and politely made her excuses. Rona turned and smiled up at her, oblivious. "See you later" she said, seemingly not reading anything of Sacha's mood. Phuong waved and said a friendly "Goodbye". Rona had started talking relentlessly to Phuong again before Sacha was even out the door.