Chapter Seven: Gerard
The two of them were lucky enough to manage to find a table right next to the windows that gazed out onto the Thames River, the setting sun offering a beautiful view as the many colors were reflected on the surface of the water. It reminded Gerard a little of the kinds of paintings that he used to see on The Joy of Painting, a show that he had enjoyed greatly when he was younger and still put on every now and then when the mood struck him. The vibrant orange, pink, and red in the sky offered a breathtaking sight, and he couldn’t help but say as much to Elena as she sat across from him. “We’ve got a really good view from here.”
“We certainly do,” she said distractedly, her eyes gazing out onto the river with a distant look to them.
“Something on your mind?” he asked softly, his gray eyes gazing at her somewhat intensely.
“N-Nothing important,” she stammered quickly, clearing her throat as she turned her attention back to him. “Just thinking about how I am going to enjoy this week off is all.”
“It has been a while since we last had a break from assignments, hasn’t it?” he asked aloud, the question being more of a rhetorical question rather than one he expected her to answer. “At least the job’s we’ve been doing for the last few months have all been relatively small scale. Nothing excessively dangerous has happened, which is honestly the way that I like things to go,” he said, rubbing the back of his head gently.
“I know what you mean,” Elena replied, lifting her menu and flipping it open to look at all the offered dishes. “If I could make my entire living by doing only slightly dangerous missions, I would be a happy woman.”
“Yeah, I imagine that the possibility of getting kidnapped or killed is not the kind of thing that creates a whole lot of excitement for one’s job,” Gerard said with a laugh, the sound deep and full of mirth. “However, you know what they say. No risk means no reward, and I would like to think that our rewards are usually worth the hassles that we go through.”
“I suppose so,” she relented, sighing gently as she rested her cheek against her open palm. “I just wish sometimes that I could work a more normal job that didn’t include the possibility of not coming home again, you know?”
He nodded but didn’t speak, Gerard having had those kinds of thoughts countless times before. When he had first become a secret agent for the Night Hawk Foundation, it had been one of the most exciting moments of his life. His love of the works of Ian Fleming and other spy novels when he was younger now seemed to be rewarded with the opportunity to actually live the life of a spy, but even he had not given the proper thought to the kind of dangers and situations that such a career would constantly find him in. You would think with all the spy films he had watched growing up that he would have been prepared for what seemed to be inevitabilities in the profession, but he chalked those instances up to his own rookie status. He was proud that he had made significantly fewer mistakes as time had gone on. “I know that feeling all too well,” he said eventually, picking up his own menu and allowing himself to look at it silently for a moment.
“What do you think you are going to have?” Elena asked curiously, offering him a shy smile over the top of her menu. “I am a huge fan of their seafood, so that is probably what I am going to go with.”
“Sushi doesn’t seem like a bad idea,” he replied, setting his menu down and pointing to one of the open pages. “Shall we just have them bring us a bunch of different kinds of seafood so we can try them and see which ones we like the most?”
“If that is the case, then we have a choice between salt and pepper crispy squid, wasabi salmon skewers, and coconut crumbed prawns,” she said, looking at the section of the menu where the only food items were listed.
“Those all sound quite intriguing,” he said, tapping his finger on the menu as he pointed toward one of the food items listed. “I also have to say that their bourbon pork belly bites are also really tasty.”
“You’ve had them before?” Elena asked curiously, not really knowing how familiar her partner was with the bar and the food that it served.
“I came here for a dinner celebration with some of my employees for a New Year celebration, and I tried it at that time. I might have been a little intoxicated by the time the food came around, but I remember really liking the flavor. I figure that if I was as intoxicated as I was but can still remember the flavor that it must have been good. Wouldn’t you agree?” he asked, his two hands folding together like he was praying as they rested on top of his menu.
“I could probably agree on that, yeah,” she said playfully, her head turning in the direction of the waiter as he finally approached their table, the young British lad looking like he was no older than his mid-twenties.
“Are the two of you ready to order? Or would you like me to bring you something from our liquor menu to tide you over while you decide?” he asked sociably, his blue eyes glittering from behind a mop of brown hair. He was a wiry young man, his face occupied with a spare growth of hairs that couldn’t even be considered a beard. Gerard could only click his tongue quietly in sympathy, wondering how such a guy would possibly be able to gain any kind of female attention when he went around looking the way he did.
“I think that we are, actually,” Gerard said politely, not giving the waiter’s look much more of a thought as he returned his gaze to his menu. “I think we would like to take advantage of your mix and match deal,” he said, his white teeth glinting in his mouth as he offered a kind smile.
Gerard noticed that while he was busy rattling off the items that he would like to try with Elena that night that his companion seemed to not be capable of keeping her eyes off him. Her beautiful blue eyes were twinkling in a way that made Gerard curious as to what she might be thinking, though he could think of multiple things that he hoped were on her mind. She had only been broken up with a short while ago, which meant that she still was technically on the rebound. There would be no better time for him to try and act on his pent-up feelings for her than now, and he was intending to take advantage of that. “So, it really is a shame about what happened between you and Jeremy.”
He saw her immediately bristle at his words, a frown tugging the corners of her mouth down as she looked back at him. He silently kicked himself when he saw the expression on her face, realizing that he could have gone about it in a much subtler way. “I know that it must be hard to have a relationship that lasted that long end.”
Rather than staying silent like he had expected her to, Elena sighed and nodded. “It’s okay; I kind of had the suspicion that he wasn’t being entirely faithful to me anyway. He was always being messaged by women that he assured me were just friends, but with how long I was sometimes away for missions, I would be naïve to think that he didn’t seek some sort of companionship while I was away,” she said, shaking her head back and forth like she was trying to dispel the thoughts that had suddenly popped into her head. “It’s probably better this way.”
He glanced over at the waiter and cleared his throat. “Could you also bring us a bottle of your 2005 Dom Perignon?” he asked, enjoying the look of surprise that flashed across Elena’s features.
The waiter nodded and hurried off to take their order, leaving the two of them alone once more. Gerard smiled warmly at Elena, gesturing towards her dress with the pointer finger of his left hand. “That is a lovely dress you are wearing, by the way.”
“I’m glad you like it. I wore it just for you,” she blurted, her face turning pink as she realized what she had just admitted.
Gerard sat there flabbergasted for a moment, unable to reply. Had she really just said what he thought she had said? Were his thoughts about wanting to get together with her really so far-fetched, or was destiny literally placing the opportunity in his lap? “I am flattered to hear that. It is not often that beautiful women dress up just for me,” he replied suavely, a hand moving to stroke through his black hair gently.
“Yeah right,” she said playfully, that smirk that he was so used to seeing slipping onto her face once more. “I’m sure you say that to all of the women that you take out on dates.”
“Maybe, but you are the first person I’ve said it to that I’ve actually meant it,” Gerard said smoothly, his hand reaching out across the table to take her small, delicate hand in his. “I also have a confession to make. I lured you here under false pretenses. This isn’t a date for me to apologize about how I’ve been acting lately, though I do admit that I want to. No, the real reason I brought you here is that there is something that I want to admit to you; something that I’ve been feeling for a very long time and don’t wish to hold in anymore.”
“W-What is it?” she asked breathlessly.
“I want you to go out with me, Elena,” he said softly, smiling.