"Come on, Kate! Let's go!" Jared called.

Kate sighed and got up from her bed, unable to delay the inevitable any longer. They were back in New York City and Jared was insisting that the two of them go out with Irina for lunch. Kate would rather parade naked in front of the whole of Winterlake singing "Hello Dolly".

"I'm coming, I'm coming," she called back. "Hold onto your scrotum," she muttered to herself.

The fact that Jared was still involved with Irina was surprising in and of itself. It had been a while since the model had spent any time with Jared and Kate had just assumed her lack of appearance meant he was done with her. So imagine Kate's surprise when Jared told her over breakfast that morning that they'd be breaking bread with a certain stick-thin Russian.

Irina was waiting in Jared's room, sunglasses on and designer bag in the crook of her elbow. Kate did her best impression of a smile, but it didn't warm to her eyes. She knew that Jared wanted her to spend time with the model, but it was really hard to build a bond with her when she was only a few years older than herself.

"Kate, so good to see you again," Irina said, taking her by the shoulders and giving her an air kiss near her cheek.

"You, too," Kate replied, forcing a polite tone.

"Ready to go? Our reservation is at 2," Jared said.

The two women followed him out of the hotel suite and down the corridor to the elevators. Kate stood as far away from Irina as possible without seeming insulting. Irina was too busy clinging to Jared's arm to notice anyways. The elevator arrived and they got on. Kate knew how the day would go: Irina would be all over her dad while Kate hung back hoping to keep her lunch down.

The drive to the restaurant was quick. Jared spent most of the time on his phone responding to emails. Kate tried to busy herself with looking out of the window at the city whizzing past. Irina was prattling on about a stupid fashion show or photo ahoot she'd done and Jared gave one word answers as she spoke.

"So then Alex said, 'We don't have anything in that size - you'll have to walk in these,' But the shoes were three sizes too small!" Irina said, pausing as if she were waiting for a laugh.

"Wow," Jared said blankly.

Kate had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. They pulled up to a restaurant with an outdoor patio full of tables, chairs, and umbrellas. The sun shone as they walked along the sidewalk to the front doors and Kate welcomed the air conditioning when they stepped inside.

The restaurant was semi-crowded with diners. A bar area had high top tables and a sports game playing on several TVs. The hostess led them through the maze of tables and people to a booth at the back of the space. Irina slid in next to Jared, forcing Kate to take the seat opposite them.

"Your waitress should be with you shortly," the young woman said, glancing at Jared with a smile.

He nodded in her direction and picked up his phone again. Kate glared at him over the top of her menu for several seconds.

"Are you actually going to interact with us or are we just supposed to sit here?" she asked in annoyance. "Cause, I gotta tell you, I could have sat alone in my room with room service and been just fine."

Jared sighed and put his phone down. "Cut the attitude," he warned her. "Did I tell you that I took Kate to check out NYU?" he asked Irina.

"That's exciting," the model said, shimmying to the edge of her seat. "Do you know what you want to study?" she asked.

Kate regarded her for a moment. "Yes," she replied simply.

Irina rested her head on her fist, waiting for Kate to continue her sentence. Jared looked pointedly at the teenager, urging her to respond.

"Photo Journalism," she sighed, looking out across the restaurant.

"Is that, like, where you go to placed at war and take pictures and write about it?" Irina asked.

Kate looked at Jared with a mixture of annoyance and frustration. "Yes, Irina. It's exactly like that," she said tensely.

"Good afternoon, my name is Karen. I'll be your waitress today. Can I start you guys off with some drinks and appetizers?" a bubbly middle-aged woman said, coming up to their table.

Jared glanced at his menu. "I'll have a sparkling water, please."

"Same for me," Irina ordered.

Kate, feeling particularly obnoxious, ordered a soda, much to Jared's annoyance.

"Any starters?" Karen asked.

"None for me, thanks," Jared replied. "I think we're ready to order, though," he added. "I'll have the soba noodles with sugar snap peas and carrots."

"Just the house salad for me," Irina said as she handed her menu over.

Once again, Kate aimed to frustrate. "The burger. Medium-well. Extra cheese. The fries are fine for me," she said with a smile. She saw Jared's lip curl slightly in disgust. "Thanks, Karen," she added with a broad smile as she gave her menu back.

The waitress disappeared to put their order in, leaving the three of them in an awkward silence. Kate busied herself with examining the wood grain of their table to avoid meeting Jared's glare. He started up a conversation with Irina about a designer and a fashion show and Kate tuned them out.

About thirty minutes later, their food arrived and Kate  dug into her burger with gusto. The table was silent as they ate, despite Irina's best efforts to start conversation. Their waitress came over several times to ask how the meal was and if they needed anything else. On her final pass to drop the check off, she paused.

"You know, its so nice to see a father taking his daughters out to lunch," Karen remarked with a smile.

Kate nearly choked on her french fries. She coughed repeatedly and it was all she could do not to spit her food out on the table.

"Thanks," Jared said, handing the waitress a large bill that more than covered the cost of the meal. "Keep the change."

Karen's face lit up. "Thank you so much! You guys have a nice day!"

"Let's go," Jared said, nudging Kate under the table. Irina was already sliding out of her side of the booth.

"I'm not done yet, Dad," Kate protested with emphasis.

"Yes you are," he insisted. "We need to go." He stsrted walking away, not waiting for her.

Stiffling laughter, Kate wiped her hands and face off before sliding out of the booth and trotting after Irina's blonde highlights. Outside, Jared was being photographed by two paparazzi. He kept his head down as they walked briskly alongside him.

"Jared, who's your friend?" one of the photographers called.

Jared ignored him and sped up. Kate had to jog to catch up to him. She just made it to the cab right before Jared closed the door.