Choking On Sapphires

I Bet You Look Good On the Dance Floor

You're having a late afternoon tea again with Alfie. You're wearing a much more casual dress, the tight bodice and light weight fabric across your chest and shoulders, breezy layers made up the skirt. You'd had to start switching over your closet for the rising heat of the season. You sat in the chair with one of your legs underneath you, your elbow rests on the table, your chin in your hand. You felt an air of ease between the both of you now. The first initial "feeling each other out" stages of building relationships like these now passing without significant trauma. At this point it was going on weeks since you'd last spoken.

"I was surprised to see this meeting was for pleasure and not business with the short notice you gave." Alfie has a slight grin on his face, fingers delicately touching china.

"You told me not to let my bee's keep me from seeing you and I found myself being supremely aggitated with how much my bees needed me this morning and your words just floated to the surface of my mind." you move your other hand as you speak, leaning towards the basket of bread. This time there's more of the pretty little decorated round fruit filled doughnuts you'd praised so much last time. You don't hesitate to take one between your fingers. "A hive was knocked over and I did not want to deal with it," you shake your head taking a quick bite that your barely even chew. "Then I remembered I am the boss and I have people to handle these sorts of things so I don't have to anymore." you shrug slightly, finishing off the puff. You take a sip of tea with your free hand. "Those are new aren't they?" you motion with one finger to the basket.

"You weren't lying when you said you liked these, were ya?" he gives you a pleasant look with his eyebrow raised. His shoulders were much more relaxed than the last time you were here.

"Not in the slightest." you admit, your voice lowering and shaking your head, your eyes swinging back to another pastry. "Told you." you say motioning towards him with a puff in your hand. "Sweet tooth." you say and take a bite. He takes the same sort of roll as last time and begins to pull it apart.

There's a knock at the door and he shouts for them to come in. You sit up straight as the two men walk towards Alfie, clearly workers as they wore the same apron, with the same black and white smudges across them. One was older and bald, the younger of the two shorter with green eyes. You were thinking of how they resembled emeralds when the light hit them as you kept noticing a nervous tick already in the time he walked from the doorway and stood a few feet from you.

Alfie pulls out his glasses, you sip your tea and watch the other man, waiting to leave with the other over the rim of your cup. Something was off about this kid. Alfie is discussing what seems to be rather mundane numbers with ingredients you recognized. The boys eyes glance over you and as he sees you studying him and he gets anxious. His fingers pick in the pocket of his apron. He leans forward just slightly, biting the inside of his lip. He's staring at one space, you're assuming to keep his eyes from darting everywhere. His eyes roll up and he lets out a very subtle heavier breath than usual, he's acting like a bored child now, impatient. You keep looking at him, sipping your tea, your back against the chair, elbows perched out, both hands raising your tea to your lips. You see him tense and hesitate when Alfie spoke to him, then he nodded too many times.

Something didn't seem right. This didn't seem like any first job jitters to you. You watch him leave, after he shuts the door behind them, not looking up to either of you before he pulls it to. You cast your glance downward, slowly moving it back to your cup, taking another sip, in thought about the kid.

"What was all that about?" he asks, moving papers into a pile and off the table.

"I wasn't listening, sorry, what?" you say, snapping out of your focus and returning your eyes to his.