Chapter 4: Santiago – Dinner and a Show

Amy sat down at the elegantly made table, her cheeks still red from the awkward stare-down that occurred moments ago. Why did this have to be so hard? And why did she seem to feel the need to make it even harder?

"WHY?! Why did I have to say something as stupid as 'I was intimidated by how attracted I was to him'? Blegh! Who says that? Stupid people, Amy. Stupid people" she thought, getting a strong impression that Jake knew her cover story was more fact than fiction. She had a sneaking suspicion that this was the case for Jake as well. She remembered what he said:

"Well, I had been planning our first date since the moment I met her"

Amy's chest tensed again. The tone of his voice and the way he looked her in the eyes for just a second before breaking away immediately had Amy believing him. Amy remembered the sensation of his hand gripping hers when he said it. It made her head feel foggy, like a tear-gas canister went off inside her body. It was all very confusing and painful. It made it hard for her to look Jake in the eye. She buried her nose in a menu.

The silence between them seemed to last for hours until the waiter mercifully made her first appearance. She dropped off a plate of oysters and a bus boy behind her poured them each a glass of chilled champagne, leaving the bottle in an ice bucket next to the table.

"Any other drinks I can get for you?" the waitress asked.

"Could we just get water for the table?" Amy asked.

"Sure, be right back with that"

"Thank you" Amy said as the waitress hurried to get them water.

"Eugh! Oysters? How does anybody eat these things? They look like little alien fetuses in the womb" Jake said, taking off his jacket and throwing a stink face at the oysters.

"Ew"

"Did you decide what you're going to get?" Jake asked.

"Hmm, I was thinking either the filet mignon or the roasted duck, you?"

"I'm def going for the lobster. Wouldn't want Lucia to think I snubbed her recommendation"

"We wouldn't want that, now would we?"

"Nope"

An awkward silence enveloped them. The air was tense with all the words left unsaid between them. Amy felt like her chest would explode if they didn't start speaking normally soon. She took off her jacket, hoping to feel less stuffy. It didn't work. She couldn't take it anymore.

"Hey Jake, did you really-" the words fell out of her mouth without permission. She stopped herself as soon she was able. What was she doing? What was the end of the sentence? Was it "did you really like me all the way back then?" That was the last thing she wanted to talk about! Was she insane? She even said his real name. How stupid could she be?

"I'm sorry, never mind" she said, hastily and hoping he'd overlook it.

"'Did I really' what?" he asked looking at her, searching. She panicked

"Did you really think that…" she looked around for anyway to salvage the situation and found the oysters.

"Oysters were alien fetuses?"

"Uhhh, no. I just thought they looked like alien fetuses and are, therefore, disgusting"

"Well, have you ever even tried one?"

"No, because they look like alien fetuses"

"Well, how do you know you won't like them if you haven't even tried them?" she said, quickly grabbing an oyster and holding it up to him "Here, just put it in your mouth"

"'Here, Just Put it in Your Mouth', name of your sex tape!" he said, momentarily distracted from the oyster getting closer to his mouth.

"Ha, ha, ha very funny. Now, eat it" she said, shoving the entire oyster, shell and all, in his mouth. He gagged and spit the oyster out.

"Ugghck! That was so gross, aauuugh it was in my mouth. I had it in my mouth" He said, reaching for his champagne.

"'I had it in my mouth,' name of your sex tape, HA!" Amy said, pointing at him. Jake glowered at her.

"That was a pretty good one" he said, not wanting to admit it. The waitress brought them their water and Jake drank his quickly. Amy silently congratulated herself for getting out of the blunder she made. It might not have been the most elegant of solutions, but she was fairly certain she had made him forget about it.

"So, buttercup, I never knew you were so intimidated by how attractive I am. I can't really say I'm surprised, I have that effect on most women" he said, leaning his folded forearms on the table. Amy mentally groaned. She thought she was out of the woods with this subject. She thought it best to just play along.

"What about you, sweetie? I never knew that you were love-sick for me since the moment we met. It must have been so hard for you all these years" She said smiling her cheesiest smile. Jake tilted his head and looked at her. It was tender look, so tender it scared her. She wished he would stop doing this to her. Couldn't they just get through this case? Did they have to keep dancing around their feelings? She wondered if they could just have an honest heart-to-heart, maybe get back to work, and skip the turmoil. She considered the risks and decided against it. A talk could make their situation go from hard to impossible. It wasn't worth it.

The waitress, who seemed wary of them, came to the table and took their orders. Amy took a sip of her champagne, wishing she could down the whole thing.

"It was hard" Jake said.

"What?"

"It was hard. For Johnny, I mean. Waiting for you, y'know, for Dora"

"Oh, um well, it wasn't easy for her either"

"Yeah, totally. We are just KILLING this case. They might as well confess now" Jake said, putting back on his goofy demeanor.

"You're giving me whiplash with your mood changes, you prick" Amy thought.

"I know, right?!" she said, trying to keep up with his pace.

"Hey, can I see the itinerary?" he asked.

"Sure" she replied and fished the paper out of her purse. She handed it to him and quickly studied it.

"There's a magic show at 8:30! It's only like forty-five minutes long. We totally have time to catch it before meeting up with the DiMagios!" Jake said, his mouth forming a huge, open-mouthed grin. Amy found her jaw-dropping as well.

"Whaaaaat?! That's awesome, let's go!"

"Okay!"

"I wonder if he'll chop a lady in half?!"

"If you want I can nominate you as an audience volunteer" Jake said, a mischievous look creeping into his eye.

"No, thank you"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you want to volunteer yourself? When he asks for volunteers you can just-"

"Oh my god-"

"Pull a Katniss Everdeen and yell 'I volunteer as-

"Shut up-"

"Tribute! I volunteer as tribute!' You could even braid your hair to the side for effect"

"I'm going to stuff another oyster down your throat" she said, picking up an oyster.

"No, no, no, don't do that!" Jake said cowering away from her.

"Aw c'mon, Johnny, baby! It's good for you" she said through giggles.

"Nooooooo!" Jake said as he grabbed his jacket to shield himself from her advances.

After they finished dinner (the oysters never again going near Jake) they headed to the theatre to see the magic show. Jake gestured to the poster on the wall that showed a tall man in a spectacular pose surrounded by key props for a magic show.

"'Ivan the Incredible,' huh? Look, sweetie he does saw a woman in half. This could be your big chance" he said, earning a slap to his arm from Amy.

"Let's sit down, you dork" she said, pushing him towards the theatre doors.

They found seats in the middle of the audience. Jake wanted to sit right up front, but Amy wanted the back. The last thing she wanted was to be picked on by a magician. They compromised and sat in the middle. Amy made sure to pick seats right in the middle of the row. She figured the magician would be less likely to pick on them if they weren't anywhere near the aisle.

The show started promptly and "Ivan the Incredible" turned out to be a pretty good magician. Amy tried to figure out how he was doing his tricks and suspected Jake was doing the same. Her musings were confirmed when he whispered into her ear:

"There was a card up his sleeve. He was using sleight of hand"

This sparked a game between the two. They whispered back-and-forth their theories, much to the chagrin of the audience members near them.

"How do you think he does that?" Amy asked as Ivan the Incredible began producing doves out of thin air.

"They're up his sleeve?"

"Ooh, bet that jacket does not smell good" she said, sending them both into a strained giggle fit they tried their best to contain. Amy squeezed his knee to try and steady her bubbling laughs. She noticed people were starting to give them annoyed side-ways glances. Jake took her hand and gave a supportive squeeze.

When Amy was finally calm she moved her hand back to the leg that was crossed over the other. She was surprised to find Jake's hand had followed and still gently cupped her hand. It was a quick motion, but Amy felt it had gone too far. She wiggled her hand away from his.

"Oh, sorry" he said easily as he moved his hand back to himself and continued to watch the show. Amy was relieved that he seemed unaffected by the incident. This was getting to be too much. He kept doing these sweet little things that made her heart…well, flutter! She thought about their night so far.

It all felt like a date and not just any date, but a date that was going well! If this were an actual date she would have let his hand stay. She would have been excited that he was being just the right amount of affectionate at just the right time.

Except this wasn't a date. This was an assignment. It was an assignment she was on with her partner and they both needed to understand that.