Nina and Amanda
Amanda laughed. “He’s not going to come back and interrogate us, Nina. And the less we volunteer the better.” She paused, wondering idly if this was the first time she'd called Nina by her first name. It was something she did with others -- Ria for example -- but Amanda had typically kept herself strictly to ‘Mayor Clarke’ on the job. Since they were so rarely not on the job, the opportunity hadn't come up until now. And as they were in unfamiliar territory, maybe it couldn't hurt to give in to Nina’s desire to unnecessarily brainstorm a cover story.
“I suppose, if it does somehow come up, we’re in the best standing if we stick close to the truth and spare as many details as possible. So no need to bring up our work connection, I think, since that's obviously not what the waiter cares about.” Amanda sat back again in her chair, reaching for her water glass as she shifted to cross her legs. “We've been together a couple of months. Since June 9th, say, which would make the grand opening of this place fall on our two month anniversary. Hence -- big night for us.” She gestured between them with her glass before taking a sip.
"All right." Nina wasn't a very good liar, nor had she taken advantage of many opportunities in her life during which she could have lied. Sticking to the truth -- and bending it a bit -- seemed doable. She thought for a moment, going over the details of their working relationship and pondering how to further stretch the truth, before speaking up again.
"It took a little while for us to endear ourselves to each other after we met, because we'd been set up by…. A friend." How odd to think of President Hemings as such, but such sacrifices were needed for this charade. "And neither of us were really looking, necessarily, until…" She looked at Amanda expectantly, then, asking wordlessly for a little support. Much like she did during certain government meetings, in fact.
Amanda gave Nina an amused glance, impressed despite herself that the other woman was keeping up with her. Then she picked up the thread seamlessly, an act that was almost second nature after even only a few months of working together. She might not know every cue of Nina’s yet, but that one she had grasped.
“Until … it just clicked.” There wasn't an exact equivalent to anything in real life, so she adlibbed. “A late night discussing current events over a bottle of wine led naturally to an invitation to stay the night. At my place, I imagine. Wouldn't you think? I'd say I'm much more likely to make the first move than you.”
"Yes." Nina didn't have a problem admitting it, either, even as a blush appeared faintly on her face. She studied Amanda across the table once more, considering her for the first time as something more than just the US government liaison, advisor, and occasional thorn in her side. "I think you'd be more likely, yes. And it sort of snowballed from there, so to speak. Once we saw each other a little more clearly, it was easier to spend time together -- or more importantly, to want to spend time together."
Amanda returned Nina’s assessing look, her eyebrows lifting slightly. They appeared to be on the same page, though she would've liked a peek at exactly what thoughts were flitting through her colleague’s mind at that moment. There were greater depths to Nina, Amanda was sure of it, but the problem lay in reaching them.
“Very well, then. We’re agreed.” Her gaze lifted, landing on the approaching form of their waiter. Amanda stretched out her arm and gestured for Nina to take her hand across the table. “And not a moment too soon. Here he comes with the extra poppers now.”