Sherlocked (BBC Fanfiction)

Chapter 2 - Engage

A waiter by the name of Angelo sat Sherlock and I at one of the tables inside.  It was warm within the restaurant and smelled of Italian food.  We sat down in the corner table and handed us menus.  “Anything you want, it’s free,” Angelo told us, smiling.  Confused, I looked up at him.  He hugged Sherlock around the shoulders.  “This man…this man got me off a murder charge,” he whispered to us, leaning in.

            I eyed him suspiciously.  “I convinced Lestrade during an atrocious triple murder charge Angelo was in the opposite part of town hijacking a car,” Sherlock said, a smile playing with the corners of his lips.

            “Anything on the menu, I cook it myself,” Angelo put his hand over his chest, beaming.  “He saved me from goin’ to prison.”

            “But…you did go to prison,” Sherlock said, his eyes slightly narrowed.

            “Yes, but not for murder.  I go get candles, it’ll make it more…romantic,” Angelo raised his eyebrows and took one last fleeting look at us.

            “I’m not his date!”  I called out.  Sighing, I returned my eyes to my miniature menu.  Rubbing the back of my neck, I inhaled and asked, “So…do you…have a girlfriend or…what?”

            Sherlock looked up at me and shrugged one shoulder.  “Girlfriend?  No, not really my area,” he told me.

            “Oh right then.”  I paused.  "Do you have a boyfriend?  Which is fine, by the way-"

            “I know its fine,” he said.

            “So you have a boyfriend?”

            “No.  Jordyn, you should know that I consider myself married to my work.  I’m flattered by your offer-”

            I started to panic, thinking he thought I was attempting to ask him out.  “No, no, I’m not trying to…no,” I stammered.  “No.”

            “Ah.  Okay,” he said, both of us obviously embarrassed.  I looked down at my menu, knowing my cheeks had third degree burns, and decided on the ravioli.  “What about you?”  Sherlock asked.  I glanced up.  “Do you have a boyfriend or...girlfriend?”

            My thoughts brought me back to Brendon and almost instantly I felt sharp pains in my stomach and my heart beat irregularly.  “Uh,” I mumbled.

            “Have I brought up something I wasn’t supposed to?” 

            “Um…no.  I…had a boyfriend.  But, um…he…died.  In war,” I confessed.  Angelo came and gathered our menus, handing us glasses of water

            “What’ll it be?”  He asked.