She smiled as he helped her out of the car, such a gentleman move. Something told Vanessa that this was going to be a fun night, and she was suddenly rather glad that their cars had run into each other, because it was turning into quite the pleasant surprise. "As long as there's a bar to grab drinks from, I never mind waiting." As they headed into the little Italian restaurant, Vanessa instantly fell in love with the place. Being partially Italian and having a family who was insanely proud of all of their heritage, she was dreading the tacky pictures of grapes and big fat men with black facial hair and chef hats. Instead there was a large mural of a gorgeous country side, that could have been anywhere in Europe. On the other walls were framed portraits of various Italian cities. That alone sold Vanessa. "Do you drink red wine?"
The night that continued was, to say the least, interesting. They hadn't waited that long for a table, only about half of a bottle of Merlot long. Dying for some good Italian food, Vanessa ordered eggplant parm. with a side dish of penne noodles, and she was anything but disappointed. Since they were taking a cab back to the apartment, Vanessa had made sure that their wine glasses were constantly filled, resulting in quite a drunk evening. By the time they had gotten to dessert, things had already gone well beyond interesting. Once or twice during the meal, Richard had started to dance on that borderline of terse and rude, but Vanessa didn't mind, not when it was few and far between. She insisted that she pay for the entire meal, and she ensured that exactly that would happen, by slipping the waiter her credit card as she went to the bathroom.
Way too much wine in her system, Vanessa offered a cup of coffee or even better, a final glass of wine, at her place. However neither of them made it passed a few sips from the wine she had pulled out from her cabinet. Instead the two engaged in more entertaining, more adult activities, which was quite a surprise to almost everyone.