Chapter 2

A man leads them to a small dining room on the second floor and to one of many round tables. Killian pulls the chair out for Emma and helps her take her seat because of course he's a gentleman. She watches as he sits across from her and she bites her lip, deciding whether she'll let her curiosity get the best of her.

She does.

"How did you get reservations?"

Killian furrows his brow in confusion as he stares at her. "I called in and asked to make a reservation."

Emma rolls her eyes and fights back a smile from his friendly sarcasm. "I know about this place. You know, like how one needs to call months in advance to get a table? How did you do it? It took you a week."

"Let's just say one of the staff members owed me a favor."

She nods and smiles as she's given a menu and studies it in awe. Just the descriptions of some of the plates make her mouth water, "Sabayon" of pearl tapioca with island creek oysters and white sturgeon caviar to name one. "All of these sound amazing. How the hell am I supposed to decide what to eat?"

She hears him chuckle and tears her eyes away from the menu to meet his oh-so blue gaze. "How about you tell me what you want to try and we can sample a bit of each other's dishes?" he asks with a small grin.

Emma smiles and nods and the two of them wait in silence until they order. Once the man leaves, she breaks the silence. "So… you're a full-time musician?"

"Aye. I do what I love and it pays the bills."

"Are you a one-man band or do you work with others?"

"I'm in a band with a couple of my mates from college. There's never a dull moment with those two."

"That sounds fun."

"It really is. What about you? What do you do?"

Emma smirks and shrugs her shoulders. "Why don't you try guessing? Everyone who's tried before has gotten it wrong."

"Alright," Killian leans back in his chair and stares at her for a while with a smirk, making her cheeks burn. "I'll go with a teacher."

Her mouth hangs open. "Holy crap. How… how did you know that? Did Ruby tell you?"

He just shakes his head and smiles. "You're something of an open book, lass."

"Do tell."

"Well, you are very mature, which isn't surprising for a woman your age, but I've meet some that are quite the opposite. You're quite patient, not to mention you know how to deal with bothersome people. One needs to have both of those features to teach children. Or when dealing with parents. Plus, you sometimes correct people's grammar."

"I do not!"

"You did it to me twice when you first called."

She rolls her eyes. "Shut up."

He grins at her and sits forward. "So, what grade?"

"Eighth grade English. They're not too annoying for me. Plus, I get to teach them some great works, like To Kill Mockingbird."

"It's been ages since I've read that."

"It's such a great book."

"But...?"

"What?"

"I can feel a 'but' at the end of that sentence."

Emma sighs. He really has this reading her like an open book thing down. "They just finished the book which means I'm going to have to grade papers soon."

"Well, that sounds lovely."

"God, it can be awful. Sometimes, they just don't get the main message! It can be really frustrating. But that's what happens when you have kids that are more focused on graduating middle school than their English class."

Killian laughs and she can't help but smile as she observes the all little details, like how the corners of his eyes crinkle when he smiles or laughs and how he sometimes scratches the back of his ear when there's an awkward pause in their conversation. Her stomach tightens because she knows that that the last time she felt this way, things ended poorly. But as she stares at the dark haired man with gorgeous eyes and a smile that could make any woman melt, she sees a little glimmer of hope in him, and it's that glimmer that calms down her nerves.

Her train of thought is interrupted by food being placed in front of her, and she can't help but gape at the plates. The portions are tiny, but the caviar so beautifully presented she doesn't want to touch it. So she just stares at it.

Emma hears a low chuckle from across the table and she whips her head up.

Killian is looking at her with amusement. "You can eat it, you know."

"I know," she scoffs in response, "it's just so pretty."

"Lass, if you don't eat it, I will."

Emma narrows her eyes at him and takes a bite of the caviar. Her eyes widen, and she looks down at her dish, then to her date. "Oh my god." She takes another bite. "Oh my god. This is amazing."

Killian grins at her and begins to start his own. "Told you."

For each of the plates for throughout dinner, Emma gawks at them, feeling like she could float away as soon as she tastes them, as Killian laughs at her. By the time she finishes the dessert, she can feel a huge smile on her face taking form.

"That was incredible."

"I'm glad you enjoyed the food."

Emma just laughs. The check comes, she tries to snatch it, but she's still slightly in a daze from the food, and misses it as Killian grabs it. He takes out a card from his wallet and hand it to the man, and she can't help but feel somewhat bad. She saw the price on the menu, which was insanely high. "I can pay for half-"

"No need, Swan," he interrupts her, "it's our first date. I'll pay."

"What a gentleman."

"I'm always a gentleman." He wiggles is eyebrows at her and she rolls her eyes at him, though she can feel a smile toying at her lips. What a dork.

As soon as he gets his card back, Killian gets up to pull back Emma's chair, offering his hand to her as she gets up (she takes it). They walk out of the restaurant together, side by side and in silence. He doesn't wrap his arm around her or try to get her to hold his hand; he just keeps one hand in his pocket while the other holds his jacket.

When they reach her car, Emma stops and leans against it, bringing her eyes to the man standing in front of her. "Thank you. For everything. Tonight was really nice."

"Of course. I'm glad you had a wonderful time." Killian takes her hand in his and gently rubs his thumb the along the top of her hand. "Can we do this again?" he asks, his eyes focused on their hands. Killian lifts his gaze to meet hers, his eyes hopeful, but there's a little bit of fear in them that she knows well (she has it too).

Emma chews on her bottom lip as she watches him. She gives his hand a light squeeze before pulling it back. "I'll text you," she says with a small smile, before taking out her keys and getting in the car. She starts it, grins as she watches him wave, and drives home.

.

Emma opens the door and closes it quietly, leaning against it, her fingers lightly tapping the enormous smile she has on her face. She lets out a content sigh and throws her keys on the table before kicking off her heels.

"That's a big smile."

Emma jumps what feels like three feet in the air, spinning around to find Ruby and Mary Margaret sitting in her living room with smug grins plastered on their faces.

"Seriously?" She places her hands on her hips and takes a couple deep breaths to let her heart rate slow down from the unexpected surprise. "What the hell are you two still doing here?"

"Well," Ruby starts with a smirk, "I recall saying that once you had dinner with Killian, I wanted to hear every single thing. So that's why we're here."

"We helped ourselves to your leftover mac-and-cheese," Mary Margaret cut in, nodding over to the kitchen sink, "which was really good, by the way."

"So, go on, tell us how it went. We both saw that huge grin you had on your face when you walked in."

Emma feels her cheeks turn crimson as she sits down between her friends, biting her bottom lip to prevent the smile from forming again. "It was," she begins and plays back the whole night in her head, from start to finish, "really nice."

She knows she's grinning like an idiot again. She tries to stop.

But she can't.

Ruby squeals and throws her arms around her blonde friend. "I am so happy for you! So now what?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to keep in touch?" Mary Margaret asks eagerly. "It's been ages since you've looked this happy."

"I told him I'd text him."

Both of Emma's friends shriek and envelop her in a hug and they all break out into laughter. She knows her friends mean well, but sometimes they get more excited about her social life than she does. It's pretty hilarious.

After another ten or fifteen minutes of grilling, Ruby and Mary Margaret go home, leaving Emma alone to recover from her first date. She changes out of her red dress, slips into her Pizza My Heart t-shirt and flops onto her bed with her phone in her hand. She stares at it for a bit, debating whether she should text Killian yet or not. She groans and falls back onto the mattress. What's the worse that can happen?

She sits up again, takes a deep breath, and texts him.

Thanks again for tonight. If I could eat there everyday, I would.

Her phone buzzes a minute later.

You're welcome. If I could see you in that dress everyday, I would too.

Emma smirks and rolls her eyes. Idiot.

Goodnight, Jones.

Goodnight, Swan.

She sets her phone on her nightstand and snuggles into the blankets of her bed, falling asleep with a smile on her face.

Hi again! I'm sorry it's been awhile, but school started and I have to deal with a lot of senior stuff. Anyway, I will keep writing and try to update as soon as I can. I'm sorry it's so short, but I hope you guys like this chapter! Reviews are always amazing!