“Purple, huh?”

The two words hit Vince like a suckerpunch from John Cromwell. Red lights flashed in his head as a fucking cacophony of sirens went off in his head. Fucking hell Vince, you should have gone green! It would have matched her dress, it would compliment you eyes! Purple was too gaudy! How could you possibly think to pull a stupid stunt like wearing purple to an important fucking da-

“It looks nice.”

Vince froze for half a second and let out a gentle sigh of relief. Bullet dodged, so far so good! She liked the dress, she liked the vest, everything was going to be A-OK.

“Tell me more about this dinner.”

FUCK.

It was like her every question was a landmine that one wrong answer would firmly plant his boot on, and no matter how quick to recover the whole thing was going to blow up in his face. His heart fluttered with her every word she spoke.

“Dinner.” The word left his mouth quickly. “Yes, uh dinner! I decided to try something new for once you know? Tacos and pizza are fantastic, but I wouldn’t want to serve you tacos in a dress that nice so I decided to try something…fancier.”

He took a brief mental pause and walked with her to the dining hall of the Tarot. Vincent silently cursed the rather compact and efficient layout of the secret base, as it didn’t really give him a ridiculous amount of time to really explain. He opened the door, revealing a lone table covered in a silken table cloth. The rest, normally spread out cafeteria style, had been pushed inelegantly to the back, some of the massive tables even stacked on top of each other if needed for space. Several candles sat mounted on some sort of fancy holder, filling the room with a soft light as they flickered. Each plate was served a portion of some steaming pasta dish that had some unnecessarily long name, tenderly cooked portions of sliced chicken precariously placed on the top. Twin wine glasses sat empty next to an extraordinarily expensive bottle of wine that was nestled in a silver bucket filled to the brim with ice.

Vince sucked in a sharp breath, nervously looking to her. “I know it’s a bit much…”