Chapter 39: Vol.1 Ch.39: Interlude: A date well started

Tory’s POV

Since we ended our shift with our lunch break, Mari and I had decided to start our date with lunch at the Femme Fatale since it was part of our wages.

That darling daughter of Lisa, Claire, had even promised to make us a special entree. I looked forward to that. I still remembered those sweets she made us, but she had promised that this time it would be aphrodisiac-free. I had eaten a lot of Belgian dishes since I moved here, and I still preferred good old Japanese food, but I was really curious to eat Claire’s food again. I wondered if it was going to leave another everlasting impression on me.

We took our seats and Claire brought us both a little plate with two cutely presented croquettes and a little salad with a lime vinaigrette on it. She asked us to give us our opinion as she was still working on the recipe, and left us to our date after asking Mari to make them together sometime soon to get some tips from her. I noticed that Mari was really flattered by the girl asking her advice and that she was looking forward to spending time in the kitchen with her. I felt a little jealous, but I did my best to repress it. After all, I could not get jealous each time Mari enjoyed cooking with someone else. It was her job, for crying out loud.

Mari and I looked into each other’s eyes, while we both took a bite from the croquette. I could not believe the sensation that went through me. I felt a warmth spread through my body while a bitter salty taste that was slightly spicy thanks to the outer crust spread over my tongue. I think I even let out an accidental moan. I looked into Mari’s eyes and I could see she shared the same experience. I looked around us. Somehow, it felt a bit like we were doing something we should not be doing in public, but we were just eating.

I decided I really wanted to be the one to give Mari this experience and decided to feed her a little bit of croquette.  I took a piece on my fork, and just like in all those shoujo mangas I read as a girl, I brought it to her mouth and said: “Aaaah!” Mari looked a bit embarrassed. She looked around to make sure we weren’t being watched and then ate the piece from my fork. I could feel myself getting really excited, seeing her cute reaction and moan as a reaction to the food I fed her.

Mari noticed me watching her, and decided to do the same to me, and offered me a little piece of croquette on her fork and also said “Aaaah!” Guess, I got that one coming. Now it was my turn to feel embarrassed. I looked around. It really felt like we were doing something naughty in public. Nobody was watching us, so I opened my mouth and took the piece of croquette in my mouth. Again I felt the rush going through my body. But this time I thought it was even more powerful because it was delivered to me by the girl I love.

I looked at my beautiful tanned, blue-haired girl and started laughing.  “And she wanted us to tell her how to make this even better… I think if it was made even better, it would probably be outlawed to eat this in public.” I said jokingly. “Just imagine the whole restaurant eating this at the same time.” 

Mari almost didn’t recover from my joke. 

I noticed that Lisa was coming toward our table. The first thought that popped up into my head was that she was going to reprimand us because we were making quite some noise, but luckily I immediately noticed her smile, so I immediately knew it was something else.

“Claire asked me to serve you this white wine with your croquettes.” and she proceeded to serve us both a glass of dry white wine. I appreciated that she treated us like we were regular customers, or friends even, and not like staff on break. This was without a doubt the working place where they had treated me the best. I could hardly believe they had had trouble keeping their staff.

When I took a sip of the wine, it was like an explosion of taste in my mouth. I never experienced anything of the like. I did not know that wine could complement food like this. Mari was clearly impressed by the combination and wanted to know what the wine was. She was clearly bothered that she could not tell just by the taste.

When it concerned food Mari got really competitive. When she ate something she did not know, she wanted to know everything there was to know on how to make it.  I noticed that really quickly when she interrogated me on how I made the okonomiyaki, that I left for her in her apartment after our first night together. I thought that was rather cute, but on the other hand, I liked having some secrets, so that I could make stuff she couldn’t. So I just told her teasingly that she would have to provide me with another occasion to make it for her.  I know that was a bit childish of me, but if your girlfriend is a chef you have to pull out all of the stops just to make her something that she would not make a million times better if she got the chance.

While we were enjoying our main dish, cod à la provençale with mashed potatoes, we could overhear Lisa talking to Anna, the pretty woman that helped us recover from the éclairs. I suspected her to be Claire’s girlfriend, but I did not dare to ask. They were gossiping about Frank’s love life. So the two of us became quiet so we could pick up some of the gossip and boy, were we served. After two of those stories, I started to feel sorry for the guy and his mother just kept going on. When we heard the story about the kleptomaniac girl that stole his clothes and sold them in a second-hand shop, it became too hilarious, and when we heard that she left him when she stole his best friend’s girlfriend, we just couldn’t hold it in anymore and started laughing out loud.

I felt bad laughing so hard at another person’s misery. But boy, he sure knew how to pick them. Unfortunately, Lisa had noticed we were listening in on the conversation and had moved a little further away with Anna so we could not listen in anymore.

After our main course, we decided to skip dessert and head out.  Since it was a Sunday, all the shops were closed, so I invited Mari to my apartment with the promise of a little private piano recital. Of course, secretly, I planned to let it end up as a little more than just a recital. She immediately said okay. When she said she really wanted to hear me play. I felt so happy that I embraced and kissed her.

“I love you,” I whispered into her ear, I took her hand and led her to my place.