One Last Dance | R. Grayson

[10] Breakfast Date

Richard was waiting outside in the parking of Erica's apartment building. He had borrowed Gary's car as his car was getting repaired after that accident and had yet to be returned.

He was there on time and knew Erica might be coming out any moment. Soon enough, he spotted her coming to the parking lot, and his heart fluttered at the sight of her.

She was wearing a pleated black skirt with a navy blouse that complimented her skin tone. Instead of being pulled back in a ponytail or messy bun, her luscious blonde hair was let loose, falling over her shoulders freely.

She looked beautiful, to state the very obvious.

He came out of the car so that she could see him and a smile played upon her lips as she waved lightly to him. By the time she reached the car, Richard had the door open for her, as always being the gentleman.

"Thank you," she remarked, her smile widening to see his cheeks tint red at the brief closeness. Sometimes, he acted like a schoolboy with a crush and it only made him look more adorable.

She noticed that his injuries had healed up by then and he looked much better than the last time she had seen him at his place. He would join his duties at the BCPD from the next day and it seemed that the short break had worked well for him and given him all that much-needed rest.

"So where are we headed to?" She asked as he got in from the other side, starting the car.

 "There's a café downtown that opened up recently and I wanted to check it out," he replied, backing out from the parking and driving down to the main road, "But I am open to suggestions, I don't know the city as well as you do."

"Well, I've heard about Quail Café. I haven't been there yet but my friend Kate recommended it the last time she visited." 

With the breakfast spot decided, it didn't take them long to reach there as there wasn't much traffic in the early hours when the offices were yet to open. The sun had started to envelop the city in its warmth and people were walking or waiting for the bus at the stops to get to their destination.

It reminded Richard of the first time he had come to Bludhaven, when the city was both tranquil and bustling at the same time, very different from Gotham yet very close to home.

Quail Café was a quaint yet cozy place downtown, with vintage-inspired signage and flower-filled window boxes. It looked right out of a movie and the owners seemed to have paid special attention to keep it that way.

That once, Erica got out of the car before Richard could come to open the door for her and gently dismissed it, her hand resting on his arm as she closed the door. "It's fine, if you keep doing that, I will get flustered."

"Oh... I'm sorry, I..."

"I didn't say that to have you apologize for nothing," she remarked, the lovely smile on her face reassuring him that nothing had gone wrong.

He tended to overthink so he was probably overthinking again about being too flustering for Erica. But with her hand resting on his arm and her eyes holding the question of when they should go in, he recovered from that spell of thoughts.

The comforting scent of freshly brewed coffee and the delicate notes of pastries lingered in the air as they stepped in through that vintage door. Warm earthy tones engulfed the café and it felt like a very relaxing place to come to.

There were a few people in the café aside from them as customers had just started to come in. Soon it would fill up as the people living nearby preferred having breakfast there. But as Richard and Erica had turned up early, they could have their pick of where to sit.

They found a table by the window, where the morning sun streamed in, casting a warm glow over the quaint setting. The flowers outside added a dash of color to the settings. As they sat down, the waiter was quick to bring them the menu, waiting to take their order.

Erica didn't remember the last time she had come out for breakfast like that with someone other than herself. So it was all a bit new for her too and she could see Richard felt the same as that slight awkwardness fluttered between them.

It would clear up in a while, as it always did by the time they settled down to talk.

Both of them ordered coffee to go with the quiches and the quesadilla. As the waiter left, they felt the tension between them ease slightly.

"It's a lovely place," Erica remarked, observing the interior and the framed paintings that added to the charm of the café.

"Certainly," he replied, "we hardly had any cafes like this in Gotham."

She noticed that he mentioned Gotham without hesitation, another improvement from the last time they had talked about the city and what it meant to Richard. "Perhaps Gotham really is as dull as they say."

"It's not dull, it's just... Dark," he mused, eyes glazing over as if he was thinking about it, "Sometimes all that darkness becomes suffocating."

She nodded, understanding what he meant to an extent. She hadn't been to Gotham but she had been through a dark phase in her life that had shaken her inside out.

She knew how suffocating it could get to let go of the only thing you've known for so long to reach out for something better.

"Anyways, I didn't bring us here to discuss Gotham and get bored," he changed the topic, his eyes lighting up as he steered the conversation to a path that they could both discuss instead, "I was noticing how different these paintings are from the ones in your gallery."

She turned to look at the painting he was referring to, a soft smile creasing her face as she saw it.

"It's an imitation of a Mondrian, you know the paintings that only have primary colors in them? This one here follows the same philosophy..." 

He found himself eagerly listening to her explanation of how the Mondrian was different from the paintings she used to make. Her voice was gentle as always and each word registered in his head delicately, making him want to hold onto that moment for as long as possible.

But then their breakfast arrived and Erica stopped, realizing that she had kept talking about art for so long.

"Oh Richard, you should have stopped me. I kept boring you with painting styles for goodness knows how long."

"I was not bored," his reply was immediate, his eyes genuinely locked upon her in admiration, "Honest."

She felt her cheeks tingle with the warmth in his words but she shook her head, smiling to keep her composure. Richard could make her heart race with a single sentence; or rather with a single glance from his pretty blue eyes.

And she seemed to have the same effect on him, as visible from his reddening ears and his adorable smile that caused dimples to dent both his cheeks.

Both of them were beyond attracted to each other, there was no way they could deny it.

***