Audrey shook her head. “A bottle of wine should be alright.” Despite being so small, Audrey had grown into a strong alcohol tolerance—not exactly something she should be proud of, but it was an added bonus in situations like this. The most, she suspected, she’d get would be a light buzz. Not even Audrey wanted to semi-unconscious for what might happen after they left Puzzles. After the waitress left they were left alone to their own devices. She continued to hold his hand, her thumb stroking softly over his. It bothered her how soft his hands were. She had calloused hands, much like people in her profession. Darius read books, Audrey threw knives. The only thing she ever bothered to read were her communicator and the works of The Great Bard (mainly due to Ari). A slight worry of the inability to connect rose in her gut.
“I hope you’re not too tired. Now I’m the one to feel bad for bringing you out so late. Maybe I’ll be giving you the backrub, after all.” And a happy ending at that, she couldn’t help but think. Before she could say anything else, the waitress had returned quickly with the bottle of wine and two glasses. Popping it open, she poured them both their drinks and left the wine sitting on the table while she scurried off again to return the other order. Audrey stared at her glass. She knew there were proper ways of drinking wine. Hell, Laurent spent an hour trying to get her to not just drink it all in one gulp. So she went about her time, airing it for a little, then taking a wiff of it.
“Like I said, you definitely need a vacation, especially after the evacuation,” Audrey shrugged. “Actually, for that one, I think the whole city deserved a break. We’ve been getting hit way too hard by whatever’s trying to destroy Emillion.” She was certain something set on it. This didn’t happen to normal cities. Audrey finally took a sip of the wine and smiled, placing it back down. “What I’m trying to say,” and she said it again, “is you really shouldn’t overwork yourself.” At that, she squeezed his hand softly. Taking another sip, she looked back up at him. “So, tell me more about Darius. Because in essence, all I know is you’re really nice, and you’re good with your hands.”
She knew other things too, like Quen being his little sister and his tendency to overwork himself. The problem, she had figured, was that they met on the professional relationship of doctor and patient despite Audrey liking the idea of playing doctor in a different way.