They started digging into their food.  Audre could swear it just might be the best Mexican food she ever had.  The flavors of citrus and peppers combined with the pork and the plantains melted in her mouth, it was ridiculously good.  She couldn't stop the groan that escaped from her mouth as she dug in for another bite.  Christian paused from his eating to observe her, a self satisfied grin on his face.  "I take it you approve?"

"Do I approve?"  She asked him as though he had just asked if the world was round. "This is amazing!  How did you find this place?"

"Juanpa, my business partner.  His Aunt is the owner."

"Your business partner?"

"Yeah, we own the Old Town Tattoo Shop."

"I didn't realize you owned the shop."

"Yeah, we bought about it about 5 years ago we had a rough go it but it's turned out alright.  And the old man's happy that I'm actually putting my college degree to good use."   Audre's eyes widened in mock shock.

"Wait what?  You mean you actually did something that would make your dad happy?  I couldn't imagine such a thing."  Audre said sarcastically.

"Well it was purely by accident let me assure you!"  Christian responded laughing, Audre joined in with him.

"So are your parents here in Chicago?"

"Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.  That's where I grew up."

"Lake Geneva, small town?"

"Population 7,000, it's not exactly a mecca for excitement.  But it's beautiful they have great hiking and snowboarding there.  Do you snowboard?"  Audre snorted.

"No.  I hate snow and nature.  Plus I'm not a fan of things that involve a high chance of ending up paralyzed.

"There's not that high of a chance of being paralyzed."

"Yeah well somewhere there's a dude in a wheelchair who would disagree with you."

"There are ways to do it safely."  She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Is that how you do it?  Cause somehow I doubt you're one to play it safe."  He smiled at her, his eyes twinkling.

"You're right; I don't like to play it safe.  But I can when I have to.  Maybe you'll let me teach you."

"I don't think so."

"How do you know whether or not you'll like it, if you aren't even willing to try it?"

"Because I don't need to try something to know whether or not I'll like it.  I know myself well enough to deduce the probability of whether or not it would be something that I'd enjoy and I can assure you that snowboarding is one of those things that I probably will not enjoy."

"Or maybe you would, you should give it chance."

"I don't need to eat dog food to know I don't want it and I don't need to go snowboarding to sense that I won't like it."  Christian burst out laughing.

"Okay, okay I give up. . .for now."  Christian said still laughing.  "So where on earth are you from?"

"Winston-Salem, North Carolina."

"Ah that explains the little twang that I hear."

"I do not have a twang."

"You do actually.  It's cute. . .very cute."  He said Audre blushed for what felt like the millionth time, what was it with this guy that had the power to make her revert back to being a 15 year old?  "That's where your family is?"

"Yeah everyone except my other sister, she's in New York."

"Do you miss home?"

"Hell no, I got out of there I soon as I could and haven't looked back.  Not that I don't love my family but being at home can be a bit. . .overwhelming.  Hell it's overwhelming just knowing that they can contact me by phone.  I heard Alexander Graham Bell invented the phone to communicate with his mother, obviously she was nothing like mine otherwise he would've killed that whole idea."  They both laughed.

"So when's the last time you've been home?"

"Last Christmas, that's a non optional holiday.  But I have to go home in a couple of weeks for a dress fitting."

"Dress fitting?"

"Yeah my parents are having a recommitment ceremony, I'm one of the bridesmaids."

"How long have they been married?"

"This will be their 40th anniversary, although my mom is telling people who haven't known them long enough to know better that it's their 30th, couldn't resist shaving those 10 years off her age."

"That's hilarious."

"That's my mom."

"Are you two close?"

"That's a loaded statement.  I mean we are close, I couldn't imagine not having her around even on our worst days.  When my family gets together for the holidays, it's a total riot we're always laughing and joking and it was always like that growing up too.  But sometimes for her love and control are one in the same.  I know she just wants the best for us but she doesn't always seem to get that what she thinks is best for us isn't always what we think is best for us."

"What about your dad?"

"My dad, as long as he has dinner in front of him when it's time and gets to watch football and basketball during the fall and winter and golf during the summer he's pretty content.  He's a quiet guy but there's a strength about him too.  He can be pretty intimidating when you first meet him but once you get to know him he's a total teddy bear.  He and my mom are like the living example of opposites attract."    Christian noticed that she lit up a bit when she talked about her family and especially her dad, he couldn't help but smile at that.  "What about your parents?" She asked him.

"Um well my step parents have been together about 22 years, my mom died of breast cancer when I was three and my dad married my step mom when I was about seven so she raised me and my brothers."

"I'm sorry about your birth mom."

"Me too, I didn't really know anything about her.  My older brothers have at least some memories of her but I don't have any.  I know she was beautiful and I know she loved us.  I would've liked to have more memories of her.  But my step mom I mean she loved us like we were her own, I couldn't imagine someone really wanting to raise three angry and rambunctious boys that weren't theirs.  Especially since my dad was a truck driver, he was on the road a lot, we hardly saw him at all growing up.  She had to do everything, but she stepped up like a champ.  She's my mom in every way that counts." 

"She sounds like a great lady."

"She is.  My dad too, even though I felt like I didn't really get to know him until I was older."  Audre nodded. 

They ate in a comfortable silence for a while, sometimes catching each other's eye and smiling before looking away.  Audre looked around the restaurant and found her eye drawn to a the chalk drawing it was a stylized picture a Mexican woman were wearing long skirt and white blouse falling off of her shoulders she had belts of ammunition wrapped around her upper body and a trumpet in her hand. 

Across the bottom she saw C. Mueller.

"You did that drawing?"

"Yeah,"  He said shrugging his shoulders almost as if embarrassed.  "When we were trying to get the business off the ground we were barely making ends meet.  Juanpa's aunt and cousins used to always send over food for us so we wouldn't starve. And I did this picture for them, I was just messing around, it's nothing special, just a copy of La Adelita."

"What's La Adelita?"

"She's this mythic figure from a Mexican folk song.  It's supposed to be based on an actual woman who was a Soldadera, a woman soldier who took care of the male soldiers but also fought along side them in battle during the Mexican Revolution.  La Adelita represents a woman of strength and courage but also femininity and sensuality at least that was how she was described to me by Juanpa's aunt."  Audre looked at the picture mulling over with Christian had just said.

"La Adelita. . .I like that.  And you shouldn't sell yourself short on the drawing; it's amazing even if it is a copy."

"I'd like to see some of your drawings."

"They're not as good as yours."

"Fuck that, that tattoo drawing was amazing."

"Well other than that tattoo, I haven't really done anything in years, probably not since I was in law school other than random doodles in the middle of boring ass meetings."

"See I don't think I could do that, it's like if I don't paint anything for a while I get in a funk, I'm just thrown off my game.  I need that creative outlet in my life otherwise I feel like a rat in a cage or something."

"It used to be like that for me when I first started law school I would make sure that I took a certain amount of time that was just mine, no one else's.  It was my time to paint or draw or whatever I wanted to do.  But then I started spending more time studying, more time changing, soon when I would look at my old drawers, it felt like they weren't even mine they were someone else's."  She looked down at her food, half expecting a lecture about how she should do something for her and not be so lost in following the rules or something to that effect but it never came.  She finally looked up at him, he just smiled at her not a pity smile or a sarcastic smile but a genuine one.

"Maybe someday it will be different."

_________________________________________________________________________________

"You did not just say that!"

"I did and I stand by it, the Beatles are so overrated it's ridiculous."

"The Beatles are not overrated, they are the greatest band in the history of music."

"What exactly made them great other than the fact that they had good historical timing and mastered the art of fucking up the blues and marketing it to the masses?"

"Fucking up the. . .fucking up the blues?!"  Christian threw his hands up incredulously.  "The Beatles were more than music, they were a revolution, they were a movement, they changed music forever how can you possibly say they're overrated have you even heard the White album."

"Which album?  You're going to have to be more specific, all of their albums sound like the White album to me."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"  Audre shrugged her shoulders.

"Just what I said."

"Alright, you tell me one artist better than the Beatles and why they're better and I'll tell you why you are wrong."

"Stevie Wonder, he did the same thing they did only with more socially relevant lyrics AND he did it blind."

"Okay he gets props for the blind thing and Innervisions is definitely one of the greatest albums ever written but that song Jungle Fever and all the shit he did in the 80s single handedly fucks up all the great shit he did in the 60s and 70s."

"Is this that whole is it better to burn out or fade away argument because that's ridiculous, later musical sins don't negate past greatness."

"I think it's totally does Stevie Wonder fucked up his legacy while the Beatle's legacy still remains in tact so you can't compare."  Audre rolled her eyes at him.

"Still remains in tact?  Hello Ringo Starr anybody?"

"He doesn't count."

"Bullshit."

"Whatever.  Are we ready for dessert?"  Audre looked down uncertainly.

"I don't know, if I should."

"You're kidding right?  Please don't tell me you're one of those chicks that are always on a diet and looks for fat on her stomach."  Audre shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"No.  But I don't think there's anything wrong with being health conscious."

"Yeah well sharing a little dessert isn't going to throw anything out of whack.  Besides, everything on you seems to be in good working order. . .very good working order."  He said as he let his eyes drift over her body, it was a move that anyone else doing would've seemed lecherous.  But for some reason when it did it, it made her feel kind of warm all over, still there was no well in hell she was going to let him know that.  She smirked at him.

"Gee, that was almost. . .sweet." 

______________________________________________________________________________________

"Oh my god this is orgasmic."  Audre said with her eyes closed, she and Christian were supposed to split a Tres Leches cake but she was practically inhaling the whole thing by herself, the decadent cake melting in her mouth.  She opened her eyes and saw Christian watching her, his blue eyes dark with intensity.  She cleared her throat.  "Okay if you could have a dinner party and invite any three people living or dead who would they be?"  Audre leaned in waiting for Christian's response.  He squinted his eyes, thinking about it.

"Leonardo Di Vinci, Thomas Paine and Megan Fox."

"Okay I get the first two, but Megan Fox isn't that the chick from transformers?"

"Hell yeah and she's hot!"

"She doesn't seem like the best conversationalist."

"Who says she'd be there for conversation."  Audre burst out laughing as she reached for her wine glass, Christian's eyes flickered mischievously at her from across the table.  "What about you?"

"bell hooks, Frida Kahlo and Djimon Hounsou."

"Who is Djimon Hounsou?"

"From Amistad.  Oh, and Blood Diamonds that movie with Leonard Dicaprio?"

"I didn't see either, I don't watch Leonard DiCaprio movies on principle."

"What principle is that?"

"The principle that says I don't like actors that seem like douchebags."  Audre shook her head, laughing.

"Okay, do you remember that Janet Jackson love will never do without you video." 

"I remember her in those ripped up jeans, I liked that a lot."

"Well he was in video too."

"Please tell me you don't mean that dude in the white Homer Simpson drawers rolling around in the wheel?"  He gave her a dubious look.

"What you can get the human blow up doll but I can't have my chocolate fantasy?"  Christian shook his head.

"Well if that's your type I guess I'm screwed."

______________________________________________________________________________________

"Favorite author?" 

"Roald Dahl."  Audre looked at him in surprise.

"Roald Dahl is my favorite author too." 

"Really, you the dark irony type as well?"

"Yeah his short stories are brilliant the first time I read Lamb to Slaughter I got chills."

"I think Man from the South was my favorite." Christian responded.  Audre nodded.

"Great story but okay so what did you think when Tarantino used it as a story in Four Rooms?"

"It was alright, not Tarantino's finest hour.  The Hitchcock version was better."  Audre smiled.

"I agree."  Christian looked at her with feigned surprise.

"You mean we actually agree on something?"  Audre rolled her eyes in response.

"Don't let it go to your head." 

_________________________________________________________________________________________

"Excuse me Christian, we'd like to close up now."  Roselina said smiling apologetically at the two of them.  Christian and Audre looked around and realized they were the only ones still in the restaurant.  The bus boy had started putting up all the other chairs while half the staff was getting their stuff together and giving them impatient looks.  Audre looked down at her watch, it was 11:37pm.  The last few hours had flown by without either of them realizing.  He smiled guiltily at the girl.

"Lamento mucho Roselina.  We are standing between you and a hot Friday night date are we?"  The girl giggled.

"Maybe."  She said, blushing again.  Audre could relate to the feeling, nevertheless she still fought back the urge to roll her eyes as she stood up.

"Sorry can I just use your bathroom really quickly before we go?"  She asked, the girl nodded pointing to the direction of the bathroom while she and Christian continued conversing in Spanish. 

Audre went to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror, hurriedly fixing her slightly out of place hair and pushing her tits back up.  Her phone started buzzing in her purse and she pulled it out, she had a text message.

R U DOING THE FREAKY SNEAKY YET?  Audre let out an half sigh half laugh as she looked at Jenelle's text.

GO AWAY.  She texted back, she began applying her lip gloss and her phone beeped again.

TAKE THAT AS NO.  DNT B A PRUDE!

GOODNIGHT JEN!

WHTEVA.  SPINNING SAT?

YEAH CALL ME IN THE MORNING.

She turned off her phone rolling her eyes as she left the bathroom. Christian was standing by the exit door talking to Rosalina and holding her sweater.  He turned towards her as she approached.  She looked at him.

"You paid the bill already?"

"Yeah you can take it off of my retainer fees."  He said grinning at her.  They both said goodbye to Rosalina and the other staff milling about as they left the restaurant.  It was still fairly warm outside so Audre held her sweater in her hands as they walked towards Audre's car.  When they got to her door she looked up at him almost shyly.  She realized how close he was standing to her; she could smell him, a combination of soap and something woodsy.  She struggled to keep from blatantly inhaling his fresh scent.

"I had a good time tonight."  She said finally.  He smiled down at her, brushing away a strand of hair that was covering her eye.

"Me too."  His eyes drifted down to her mouth and his thumb followed the trail, brushing lightly over her bottom lip.  He bent towards her, his head tilted and mouth inches from hers.

"I don't kiss on the first date."  Audre said hoarsely even her eyes drifted closed.

"Well it's a good thing we aren't really on a date then."  He whispered as his lips gently met hers.  She had a sarcastic response ready but somehow it had disappeared into the mush of her mind as his surprisingly soft lips pressed lightly against hers.  His hands were on the side of her face, as she wrapped her arms around his waist pulling him into her.  She parted her lips slightly and his tongue met hers as they gently melted into each other.  She could taste the sweetness of the cake they had eaten earlier.  His fingers lightly massaged the back of her neck and she moaned in response, her chest pressing tightly into his.  Suddenly she felt his body pulling away from her and her eyes flew open in surprise and biter disappointment.

"What happened?"  She asked almost bewildered.

"Just didn't want to push you past your threshold. . .not yet anyway.  After all we haven't even had a real date yet."  He said smiling that infuriating sexy smile at her.  "So can I call you for a date sometime?"

"Um yeah that would be. . .that would be nice." 

"Good night Audre."  She bit her lip.

"Good night."  She said pulling herself together finally.  He reached around her, his arm lightly brushing up against her body, she jumped away as though he had a disease.  She knew that if he touched her there would be little to stop her from pulling him into the back of her car and fucking him like she was in heat and well, that just wouldn't be very lady like.  He opened the door for her and she got in, brushing down her disheveled hair.  He looked down at her smiling, he looked so damn good, her face reddening slightly as he closed the door.  He motioned for her to lock her car doors then waved to her through the window as he backed away.  She waved back, before watching him as he turned and walked back to his car.  Her head tilting slightly as she watched his firm ass walking away, damn where does he get off having an ass like that she thought to herself as she watched him for a minute. 

She frowned at her reflection; she was getting way too excited about this.  Audre could instantly provide a whole list of reasons why this thing shouldn't be happening.  True the list had steadily dwindled by a considerable amount during the course of the evening but something inside her was still holding back.  She could at least admit to herself that she liked Christian, she liked him a lot.  Which made this whole thing even scarier: she felt like her heart and her ego had taken a bit of a beat down in the last year she couldn't help but feel like she needed to put the brakes on this thing between her and Christian before she got too emotionally open too soon.  She had barely been dating Greg for a month before she had started practicing writing her name with his last name at the end.  It was pathetic, she knew that now that's why she was afraid of getting that giddy feeling so early on in things.  It shook her up a bit.  But her gut reaction to Christian was unlike any she had with even Greg.  With Christian she couldn't really play it cool with him, not even a little bit and she couldn't figure out for the life of her whether that was a good or a bad thing.