Patticake With Four

warning: contains a spolier for 'Divergent' by Veronica Roth

My Italian pronunciation has never been admirable, despite my dedication to the country's cuisine. I therefore only pointed at the dish I desired and smiled an apology at the waiter. Although when he opened his mouth I determined he was not from Italy but closer to somewhere in Eastern Europe. We were arranged alternatively adult, kid, adult kid - Eliza, Moffat, me, Ben, Shannen, Martin, Guntas and, for some reason Alex Vlahos who was between Guntas and Eliza. Evidently, he'd become quite close to Steven and another Doctor Who writer. Wonder why...
"So, Ben says you want to be a writer," Moffat turned to me.
"Yeah. I did NaNoWriMo in twenty-twelve. Fifty thousand words in thirty days!"
"Good start."
Then the conversation took a nerdy surge towards books. We talked for the whole meal about all manner of stories: obvious ones like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, obscure ones like the Belgariad, TimeRiders. As well as some sort of in the middle, like Divergent, a teen fantasy I'd recently read and had pictured one of the main characters as Alex.
"Oh I read that. What, do you mean Four? You pictured me as Four? Well that IS flattering. Also awkward considering how he and the narrator eventually hook up but you weren't to know that!"
Alex's eyes darted to his food and I felt I should apologise but what to apologise for really stumped me.
We left that particular book there and discussed the TimeRiders series by Alex Scarrow at great length. Alex seemed a bit dejected throughout. Obviously something bigger was bugging him but I did NOT see now as the time to ask. Surely somebody would later, maybe somebody he knew a little better than the fangirl who'd basically just declared she saw him as a teenage Dauntless instructor who would climb a Ferris wheel to make sure I didn't fall.
When the meal finally wound to a close, we separated into two cars that would do the rounds and drop everyone off at their respective destinations. I was with Ben, Alex and Shannen, while Guntas, Eliza, Moffat and Martin occupied the other car. I was sat in the back behind the passenger seat with Ben driving and Shannen in the passenger seat. Alex was in the seat behind Ben. I guess he must have gotten used to fangirls by now because the air between us was fully cleared and we even played games. For ages, we played that one where you put your own hands together then hold them out close to the other person's then try to avoid getting slapped.
I think Shannen was tweeting Eliza the whole time because she kept laughing and telling us their conversation.

S: ben wants 2 know where hes goin
E: moffat says just 2 follow us
S: yh and then he leads us all 2 our death by tall building
E: ohmygod what if he poisoned the food?
S: haha maybe cos alex seemed down all night & hes perfectly content now playin patticake with jo
E: oh god that image i cant!!

And so on and so forth.