Getting his way

Chapter 10

The drive to the restaurant was relatively quiet, mostly because Chris was still being uncharacteristically quiet. Kate tried to lighten his mood by talking about random things they passed, but after a couple of grunts just gave up. She didn't like it when he shut down like that, but sometimes had to accept that he got like that. She bit her lip and looked over at him. "You're not mad at me, are you?" she finally asked with a low voice.

Chris took his right hand off the driving wheel and took one of her hands, bringing it up to his lips. "No. I love you." he said, looking over at her as he laced his fingers with hers. "Don't worry. I'll try to liven up." He wouldn't tell her about the mission before they'd gotten at least their first course, lest she was hangry.

Kate followed their hands with her eyes, but kept her silence until they pulled up at the restaurant where a valet opened first her door, then walked over to the driver's side. As Kate stepped out, Chris had somehow already moved over to her to help her out.

She took a quick look up at the restaurant; it always took her breath away how absolutely decadent the old, French renaissance-style building looked. Even though it wasn't that late, it had a striking style against the early night sky. Chris was also enjoying the view, but instead of the building, his view of choice was the woman he loved. A slight smile spread across his lips as he finally decided to stay entirely in the moment. Gently taking her hand and leading her up the steps, she followed along as she continued to admire the building.

Once inside, they were greeted by the head waiter, a distinguished, older British gentleman who would've given Batman's Alfred a run for his money in the butler-look. Greetings were exchanged, and another waiter came over, a number elegantly whispered in his direction, and off to their table they went. "I've always enjoyed how they do that." Kate commented, holding onto Chris' arm as they walked into the dining room.

Tall ceilings, golden ornaments and generally a distinct baroque look dominated the room as they followed the waiter into a table in one of the alcoves. Chris gallantly pulled out his chair for Kate, and was helped into his own chair by the waiter, who pulled out two large menus from, seemingly, nowhere. As Chris dismissed the man with a wave of his hand, he quietly slipped off as they got to studying the menu.

"What are you having?" Kate asked, looking up at him over her comically-sized menu. He shrugged in response. "I was thinking I'd do one of the month's courses. How about you?" She nodded thoughtfully as she put her thumb between her upper and lower teeth. "I was kinda thinking the same thing." she slowly answered, then continued. "How many courses were you thinking?

Chris put down his menu as he looked at her with a slight smile. "Well, I'm not the one who's gotta get up for school tomorrow morning, so.. I feel like you'll have to decide. I could go for the twelve course meal, but.. yeah, you decide." Kate nodded slightly. "Well, I'm a bit undecided about it. It's not that late, is it?" As Chris turned his gaze and wrist to look at his wrist, she leaned in slightly, not even taking her eyes off the menu, and nonchalantly said "I'm not wearing any panties." in a low voice, which made him freeze in place, and he looked up at her, bewildered, as she straightened back up and spoke at her normal volume again. "Seven sounds nice. Though, the twelve course does have those oysters that I like."

Chris wet his lips with his tongue as he continued to stare at her. "Y'know, we could've taken care of that in the car. But let's go for one, and I'll have them swap in those oysters, hmm?" Kate laughed as she looked up at him. "Seven. Don't be stingy." she teased, then flipped open the wine menu. "What are you drinking? Because one of us have to drive home, and I know you can, but I don't want you to drive drunk. Legally drunk. So..." Chris shrugged. "I'll just have a beer. They have one that I like. You can have whatever you'd like."

Kate rolled her eyes sarcastically, but kept the smile on her face. "Gee, I can have whatever I'd like? Thank you, mister boss man, for allowing me to have aaanything I'd like." Chris chuckled. "Keep up that attitude, and I might just stop giving you anything you point at." he teased, and put both his elbows on the table so he could rest his head against his thumbs.

Kate sighed and closed her menu, and no sooner had the pages found each other than the waiter was at their table again. "Have you found anything satisfactory?" he inquired, and as they both ordered (her lamb swapped out with oysters and a bottle of sparkling Muscat, for him a beer, and water for them both) he nodded, then grabbed their menus and again, almost seemed to disappear.

Silence fell over the table for a bit as Kate got preoccupied by studying the intricate designs all over the walls of the alcove, mainly cherubs and flowers. "How was school?" Chris finally asked, when he felt it unbearable to not hear her voice anymore. Kate got a faint smile on her face as she returned her eyes to him. "It was fine. It went as group projects usually go. Glad to have it over with soon." As the waiter returned with her drinks, she broke eye contact with Chris to look up at him with a smile and a thank you.

Chris also looked up at the waiter, moving back to allow him to place his items from his tray. "Just let me know if there's anything else you need." As a response, they both nodded politely. "Remember when I also waited tables?" she asked as she looked back at Chris, who nodded and replied as he took a sip of his beer. "I do. Though it wasn't quite as nice a place as this."

She stuck out her tongue at him, before taking a sip of her water. "It might not have had all this" she gestured vaguely at nothing in particular, she'd worked in a run-down diner and everything was miles above in quality, "but it had it's own charm." Chris chuckled. "Yeah. It did. Too bad the charm left with you." Kate chuckled, a faint flush appearing on her face. "Wow." was all she could muster as a reply while she chuckled, and took a sip to taste the wine.

Chris smiled slightly. "Do you miss it? You know, we could always go back there. Buy the place. You could waitress and I could cook burgers." Kate almost choked from laughter in the middle of trying to get down another sip of the wine, which gave Chris a, first concerned when she sounded like she was choking, then sullen when she started laughing, look on his face.

Kate replied: "You, cooking burgers? I'll need to see that before I believe it." Chris sighed. She wasn't entirely incorrect; gifted with a lot of things, cooking really wasn't one of them. His train of thought was interrupted by her speaking up again.

"Besides, I've been told to never mix business and pleasure." she said, teasingly. Chris leaned back, partly because he was satisfied with this explanation, and also due to the first course being served right then. As they ate their first course mostly in silence (the lowest part was different kinds of edible plants, the middle an artsy type of egg with the whites having been spherificated to make the white imitate caviar, the yolk having been turned into a flat crust to top it off) they let the food speak for itself.

It was nice, though also that kind of avant garde that was a bit over the top for Chris´ liking. Kate could still find the beauty in being served tiny, fanciful portions at huge prices, however.

No sooner had the plate been cleared than their next course was served (for Chris, a single rack off the lamb rack, again with some edible flowers and a rosemary sauce, and for Kate, the oysters she enjoyed, plated in their shells with a nice grill of cheese on top). As he looked upon her content face when faced with her favourite food, he decided he'd tell her now. After a few bites, he looked up at her again. "So, the reason I seemed a bit off earlier... I'm wearing the information lens."

Kate looked up at him in the middle of chewing, and didn't deign to swallow before replying. "That's silly. You never wear them unless--" Chris slowly nodded, and she swallowed. "What? You took a mission without asking me?" Chris nodded again, casting his gaze down at his plate. He knew she wouldn't be happy, but her response was even worse than if she'd just caused a scene.

 [MKTN1]Kapitel 10