Cocoa Remix

Chapter Ten: The First Warning

Some twenty minutes later, Avery laughed at the look of bewilderment on James’ face as she went to retrieve the darts that were stuck firmly into the carpeted wall surrounding the dart board.

“Sorry, did you really think I was going to be some kind of dart throwing savant?” Avery said, laughing at the expression her partner was wearing.

“I just didn’t think you were going to be this bad at it. Are you sure you don’t need glasses?” James said, then chuckled when she glowered at him.

“You’re one to talk. I’ve seen you squinting at your computer screen.” Avery said, pouting a little as she stepped back to the line to watch him take his shots.

“Ah, I guess I do need to get my prescription updated.” James said with a dramatic sigh. “Have I gotten to the age of reading glasses already?”

“You could just increase the text size on your screen.” Avery said, shrugging a bit. “Not that I keep mine at 200% or anything.”

“Excuse me,” Ginny said, coming up behind them as a dart left James’ fingers, thunking fractions of a second later into the dart board. “I just wanted to let you know that your dinner is going to be served in just a few minutes.”

“Thanks. We’re about done here anyway.” Avery said, giving their server a warm smile.

“Sure thing, toots.” Ginny replied, giving Avery a cheeky wink in return.

As promised, their dinner was served a few minutes later, with a round-eyed Avery being served tender slices of apple and rosemary stuffed pork roulade served over a bed of garlic mashed potatoes with a side of roasted brussel sprouts. From what Avery had told him, James knew that many themed restaurants served only mediocre foods, with high price points; you were paying for the experience. He’d been prepared to be disappointed with the food, and had thus far been pleasantly surprised.

Truly’s Place seemed to be attempting to buck the norm by not only giving their patrons the 1920s art deco vibe, but the food and drinks to suit. So far as James could tell, they were pulling it off. His steak looked like it had been prepared to a perfect medium well, and the red wine jus and the crispy shoestring cajun spiced fries smelled amazing - though he would have to get a taste to be sure. 

James had been carefully cutting his steak into pieces when he looked up and caught Avery staring. He hesitated just a moment, knife poised in his uplifted hand, catching on to what she was thinking. They had been partners for a long time, after all, and she was looking at his plate with particular longing.

“Do you want to try some of mine?” he finally asked, which caused the raven haired beauty to beam.

“Yes, please. Let’s trade, though. You can try some of mine, too.” Avery replied, the sunny expression on her face making her look five years younger.

James smiled at her childlike reaction. It was something that he rarely got to see on her face. Avery wasn’t an overly serious person, per say, as her laughter always sat just under the surface where it could easily rise up with bubbling glee. But, she could be hard - intimidating, even, in the way of a woman who knew exactly what she was doing and how to get what she wanted.

Some people might build walls, but Avery didn’t need a wall when she could coat her skin with diamond shell; the brighter she shined, the better and more successful she was, the more difficult it became to get close to her. James felt lucky to have met her when he did.

Though, at the time they met she’d been seeing someone else. He’d been patient, waiting for the right time to make a move. He knew there had been other suitors. Avery hadn’t divulged much of her dating life to him recently, but she’d been open enough about it before that he was aware of her penchant for younger guys. She’d gone through a string of them before swearing off dating all together.

As James understood it, Avery found it difficult to gauge whether or not another person’s interest was sincere. Even though she wasn’t ultra wealthy, the stability she had gained was impressive to the less established young men in the dating market, and she’d grown tired of being treated like some kind of sugar mama - or even worse, a mother substitute.

That was a few years back now, and James had the feeling she probably had continued dating, but was just a touch too embarrassed to share her exploits with him. Not that he judged; it wasn’t like he’d never dated a younger woman. Technically, Avery was a few months younger than him - though it sometimes felt like she was the elder.

Just now, though, she was radiating the magnetic exuberance of a young woman in her prime. She had cut a piece of pork for him, and slid both her chair and her plate closer to him so she could push the tender meat onto his plate without having to reach across the whole table.

“There you go.” she said, smiling sweetly up at him. 

He felt his heart skip a beat, and had to swallow down a blush as he slid a piece of steak onto her plate in return. They’d spent so much time sitting across the room, or the table, from each other that it felt rather intimate to be sitting so close. 

James smiled inwardly, and wondered just how well things were going to go tonight. It wasn’t his goal to bed her, and he knew it was probably a bad idea to sleep with Avery on the first date, but nothing about this date had really been a good idea. If things kept going the way they were, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to resist - especially if she invited him up to her place again. It probably wouldn’t happen, but a man could have dreams, right?

While it was true that Avery had a pretty serious sweet tooth, the reality was that all food was that all food had a similar effect on her. Although it was said that smell was the strongest sense in terms of memory, Avery had always found that taste did more for her than smell - though the sense of smell was integral to the sense of taste.

As she partook of the flavorful meal, Avery saw washes of color - some shimmering, some flat, and some in between - swirl around her. She was used to this; it happened sometimes - though it could be rather distracting. More distracting was that sometimes, as the synthesia came over her, the people around her would also change. It was subtle; sometimes, she only caught glances of the change from the corner of her eye, and she had often thought it was just her imagination. But now, after having experienced something concrete, she knew what it was.

It was magic. Not the magic she felt when James looked at her with the tenderness his eyes held as he shared his meal with her, though an argument could be made that love - or maybe lust? - had the ability to bend the fabric of time and space.

No, she was pretty sure it was the kind of magic that people wrote about in fantasy novels, the kind of magic that seemed to follow common threads despite being developed at similar times in far flung regions of the world which shared nothing else in common. Here, in this restaurant, the magic was far stronger than she’d experienced it before. 

Avery glanced around, and saw that their server was watching her from the bar. When their eyes connected, she couldn’t help but stare. Ginny’s eyes were bright, neon blue. It wasn’t just her irises - but the entirety of each eye, from corner to corner, was blue. And they were glowing. Ginny stared right back, her eyes growing wide as looks of simultaneous realization came over both women.

“HRRk-!” Avery began coughing violently, having gasped - and accidentally breathed in a piece of half-chewed pork that had been in her mouth at the time.

Suddenly, the world had snapped back to normal. That just made her cough a little harder, as her mind and body both lurched to accommodate the abrupt shift in reality. James leaned over and patted Avery’s back, looking a little concerned - but also amused.

“How have you survived this long when you can barely eat without injuring yourself?” James said, chuckling when she narrowed her eyes at him. 

Avery wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand as she caught her breath, her brain straining to get back up to speed with her thudding heart. By the time she looked over at the bar again, Ginny was gone. A new server, a young man with dark hair and eyes - who seemed completely normal to her as he chatted with the bartender - had taken up Ginny’s former position, as if he’d just swapped places with her during a shift change. Which is probably what had happened, truth be told. Though Avery couldn’t help but wonder if everyone in the joint was some kind of supernatural being, she had the feeling that the world of magic probably wasn’t all that populous - otherwise how would they stay hidden? Then again, there were plenty of books and tv shows about supernatural beings; she’d often heard that truth was stranger than fiction.

That just bolstered her resolve; by hook or by crook, she was going to get some answers. She just hoped that she wouldn’t make herself look completely nutbars in the attempt. She straightened herself up, and slapped a smile on her lips as she looked up at James. The first step in not looking like a crazy person was probably to continue eating her dinner without choking to death.

“Sorry,” Avery said, looking suitably sheepish.

“No need to apologize.” James said easily, returning her sheepish smile with a flirtatious one of his own. “Just gave me another reason to feel you up.”

His hand was still resting on the small of her back, which he’d been rubbing to soothe her during her coughing fit. Avery blushed at this, but didn’t say anything, instead turning her attention back to her food. James did the same after a moment, and she found that once his hand had left her, she missed the warmth of it.

The rest of their meal proceeded without a hitch. They ate, and chatted about small things, avoiding the topic of work as much as possible - though eventually they both gave in and started complaining about their particularly troublesome clients. It was a comfortable path for their conversation, and rolled along like a wagon down a pair of well worn ruts in the road, until their new server came over to check on them.

“I’m Josiah and I’ll be taking care of you from here on out. Can I get you anything to drink, or maybe some dessert?” the dark haired server asked. Unlike Ginny, who had been fully decked out in period dress, Josiah wore black slacks, black shoes, and a black button down shirt - the favored uniform of many servers, and one that fortunately didn’t look out of place in Truly’s Place either. Some looks were called timeless for a reason.

“I’m not sure I can eat another bite,” Avery said, rubbing at her protruding belly. She’d managed to eat everything on her plate, and knew she’d probably end up paying for it with cardio later.

“Just the bill, please.” James said, reaching for his wallet.

Avery’s phone buzzed, and since James was distracted with the bill, she took her phone out to give it a circumspect look at it. She always tried her best to ignore her phone in her off hours, especially when she was with company, but she had become conditioned over the years by numerous emergencies to always check. If it wasn’t important, she would just ignore it. Well, she might ignore it. Ok, so she would probably deal with it anyways, just so that she wouldn’t have to bother with it on Monday, but… Oh. It was not a work eMail.

She blinked down at the text message. It was from an unknown number, and made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.

“If you really want to know more, come back to Cocoa Remix tonight. Just be warned - once you get involved with our world, it will be difficult to remain in the old one. - Pascal”