December 18th
11:52 AM
Precinct Parking Lot
Ema stopped at the edge of the parking lot and turned to Apollo.
"So, where are we heading?" she asked, her frown from her run-in with Klavier finally beginning to fade. Apollo's expression went blank. Ema waited for a moment, before crossing her arms and speaking up. "You mean to tell me that you went to all the trouble of asking me out to lunch, and coming by to pick me up, and you never picked out a place to eat?" Apollo's hand slid up to his prominent forehead as he sank into his increasingly common blush. "Sounds like Apollo Justice, alright." Ema finished, giving him a light pat on the shoulder and smiling. Apollo lowered his hand, looking slightly confused. Ema smirked.
"Don't worry, I'm not mad about it. After all, you had to work up the courage to ask me out, anyway. The least I can do is give you some leeway. I'd suggest that we go down to the Borscht Bowl Club, but, from a scientific perspective, your face suggests that you'd be mortified to have Mr. Wright see you out with me."
"I...guess you'd be right about that." Apollo said, scratching the back of his head.
"There's a place I frequent a couple of blocks over." Ema said, motioning over her shoulder. "Let's head there." Apollo nodded, and the two set off down the road. After a minute's walk, Ema stopped outside a small deli-like restaurant.
"Here we are." she said. Apollo paused for a moment, before suddenly darting forward to hold the door open for Ema. Ema just looked at him, giving a small laugh at his abrupt and rather forced move. "Thanks, Apollo."
The two sat down at a small booth and Apollo finally took a proper look at Ema. She seemed to have gotten over her annoyance with Klavier, but he was getting increasingly worried that he was pushing his own luck with mistakes.
"Hi there, Ema!" a feminine voice called from behind the counter. "The usual?" Ema turned and responded.
"Yeah. I'll get a second for my friend here, as well." A bright-eyed woman looked out from the kitchen and saw Apollo.
"Hey, somebody finally asked you out, Ema?" the woman asked, giving Apollo a friendly, but appraising sort of look.
"Yep. This is Apollo. You might have heard about him, he's a defense attorney." Ema responded. The woman turned back to Apollo.
"Justice, right?" she asked. Apollo nodded, and she continued. "Yeah, I heard about you. You were in that big trial where they brought in a jury, right?" Apollo nodded again. "Quiet one, huh? Well, Ema. I wouldn't have guessed you'd pick a defense attorney, considering your old crush on Mr. Edgeworth." Apollo's head jerked back to Ema.
"You know Prosecutor Edgeworth?" he asked. Ema shrugged.
"Kind of. I met him way back when I helped Mr. Wright out with one of his cases, and again when I came back from abroad for spring break seven years ago. And, like Rosa here was so kind as to remind me, I had a bit of a schoolgirl crush on him for a while." she said, idly fiddling with a loose hair strand. It seemed as if this wasn't a topic she was particularly interested in discussing, so Apollo remained silent. The moment dragged on into an extended period of aggravating silence, before Ema picked up the conversation again.
"Come on, Apollo. You can relax, this isn't like you at all. Where's the snarky, serious Apollo I'm used to?" Apollo leaned back slightly in his chair, running a hand through his hair.
"Sorry, Ema. I'm just...not experienced at this. Casual conversation isn't really my strong suit, either." he mumbled, mentally kicking himself for what had to be tenth time that morning alone.
"There's nothing to apologize for, Apollo. You're not at risk of losing a case just by talking to me." Ema said warmly, "You just need to lighten up and talk like you would to anybody else."
"That's the thing, Ema. It's different if I'm talking to Trucy or Mr. Wright. There, I've already got a fairly good idea of how they'll react and how I can go about responding to them, but this isn't like that." Apollo explained.
"Why not? What makes it so different for you? You talk to me all the time during investigations." Ema questioned.
"I'm just...worried about making mistakes." Apollo responded. Ema gave him a slight smirk. He felt marginally better having admitted this, but still looked apprehensive. Just then, the other girl, Rosa, approached their table.
"Here you are, you two." she said, flashing Apollo a more genuine smile than those from earlier. After setting two trays down, she returned to the kitchen. At that moment, it occurred to Apollo that he didn't actually know what Ema had ordered for them. Looking down at the tray, he saw a reasonably sized sandwich backed by a generous salad. He glanced up at Ema, but before he could speak, she did.
"I'll say it again, Apollo, you need to relax. I'm not sitting here and waiting for you to mess up so I can laugh in your face. It might interest you to know that I've never been on a date, myself." Apollo raised an eyebrow.
"You serious?" he asked, surprised. To his further surprise, Ema laughed.
"Come on, what kind of high school did you go to, Apollo? Did the science geeks there ever get a date?" she asked. Words flew from Apollo's mouth before he could
think.
"But you're so pretty-" he blurted, cutting himself off and slamming a hand to his face. Ema stopped laughing.
Now you've really done it.
After a tense moment, he lowered his hand and looked back up. To his utter shock, Ema had a wide smile on her face. After watching his bewildered expression for a moment, she broke back into laughter.
"Apollo, did you just hide your face out of shame because you complimented me?" she asked between decidedly uncharacteristic giggles. Apollo remained silent for another moment, and Ema continued, "That was a really sweet thing to say. You haven't done anything wrong." Finally, she set into her lunch, and Apollo followed suit.
I guess I can add good taste in food to the positives about Ema, he thought.
The two sat in relative silence as they worked through their lunches. After finishing, Ema pushed her tray to the side of the table and once again looked back to Apollo. Shortly after, he finished as well, and Ema spoke up again.
"I'm still wondering about something, Apollo." she began. Apollo looked directly at her, and she continued, "The whole time we've been here, it's seemed as if you're unsure about why I agreed to go out with you at all." Apollo's embarrassment was once again on the rise, and in relation, Ema was beginning to wonder whether Apollo's hand had spent more time nervously scratching his head or sitting on the tabletop. After another several seconds spent stuttering, he finally forced out an answer.
"It's just..." he fumbled for the best wording, "I didn't really expect you to agree," Ema frowned slightly at this, "I've figured that you'd be more interested in someone like..." he trailed off into silence. Ema leaned over the table, looking at Apollo suspiciously.
"Liiiiike?" she pressed.
"Er, like...someone like Klav-" Ema's hand practically flew to his mouth, cutting him off.
"If I'd brought my Snackoos with me, you don't even want to know how many you'd be hiding from right now." she snapped, apparently genuinely annoyed. "Apollo, I agreed to go out with you because I like you. Unlike Klavier, you don't force yourself into the face of every girl you see. You're friendly, helpful, and smart, but you still balance it out by being witty and fun." she was quite impressed by how red his face could go in such a short time. "On top of that, you actually appreciate science and everything it can do. Scientifically speaking, I think you're a pretty good match for me." she finished, pulling her hand away. Apollo sat in his chair, seemingly stunned.
"Th-thanks, Ema." he forced out.
Moments later, Rosa returned.
"Quite a first date you two are having," she mused. "Here's your bill." Apollo pulled out his wallet and paid for the meal, still blushing profusely. Ema stood up.
"Thanks, Rosa." she said, moving to Apollo's side of the table. She offered her hand to Apollo, flashing another smile. "I'm still not getting anything from Gumshoe. Why don't we go to the park?" she suggested. Apollo reluctantly took a hold of her hand as they made their way out of the restaurant. Ema led the way, thinking to herself.
He really is pretty cute when he's embarrassed, even if that is nearly all the time.