So far, the day was pretty uneventful at the comic shop. He was sitting behind the counter, going over receipts while he played a DVD in the plasma TV was that was situated on the wall across from him. He was pretty good at his job so he always managed to get his most menial tasks done fairly quickly. Unfortunately, in doing so, it also left him with a fairly large chunk of the rest of his day blank. As much as Akshay wished he could leave, he could never get someone to cover for him last minute. At least not without owing them a huge favor.

Nope, instead Akshay usually just sat behind his counter, pretending to look busy while he watched whatever he wanted to watch on the wall-mounted plasma TV. Today he was feeling pretty nostalgic so he had decided to put on a Universal classic. The most awesome and best film from 1943, The Wolfman Meets Frankenstein! Akshay enjoyed the cheesy effects, the classic acting, all of it was just too much to pass up.

Besides, it made excellent background noise while he busied himself with the mediocre task of going through receipts from yesterday. Yeah, today was just going to be an average day. Slowly his mind began to drift away from the very pretty redhead he met the other day and gone was the fact that he had invited her over to see the comic he could have sworn she had stepped out from and the fact that he had invited her to lunch.

Well, not so much forgotten. It was more like he doubted she was going to actually show, so his mind, in order to protect him, let the idea slowly drift out of his head. After all, he doubted that a beautiful young woman like her would be interested in coming to the shop anyway. How many women actually take being confused for a comic character as a compliment?

“Nah, she won’t show,” he convinced himself, yet again.

It was already going to be 1:15pm so his belief in the idea was waning more and more. As much as he wanted to believe that she had some interest in him (after all, she didn’t slap him and that was always a good sign), he highly doubted it. No, the best thing he could do was to simply go about his day at work until it was time to close up.

Glancing up at the screen, he smirked as Lon Chaney began to transform into the wolfman under the full moon.

“Even a man, pure in heart who says his prayers at night, will become a wolf, when the wolfsbane blooms, and the moon is shining bright,” he muttered with a chuckle as he looked down at his receipts. “Classic lines, man,” he muttered as he continued his work.

While things seemed looking rather bleak on the aspect of his love life, if there was one thing Akshay should realize is that a wolf always keeps their engagements. Unless of course it was under the night of the full moon, then when the moon was shining bright, a werewolf would have to break any engagements that night.

Luckily though the full moon was a few weeks away and there was nothing keeping this wolf from her engagement. With a quick word in to her bosses at the diner, Emerald was taking a well-deserved night off from guarding Moe’s dinner.

Emerald smiled a little to herself as she rode up to the comic book shop on her green Yamaha motorcycle, the engine revving a little as she eased her way into a parking space. Secretly, Emerald hoped that Akshay had some sort of vehicle or wherever they were going was close by, she really didn’t want to make her date ride in the chick seat of her motorcycle, she didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable.

The wolf girl dismounted her cycle, removing her helmet as she did so. She took a look at the comic book store with a small smile on her face. She had brought Ruby here a few times for, “Inspiration” when the little girl was thinking of new ideas for her robots.

Not only that but Ruby had a sort of weakness to comic books that she was a little embarrassed about. Emerald would always lightly tease her younger sister that she was fantasizing about the whole super hero thing a little too much. Then again, Ruby had always viewed Emerald as a sort of super hero so Emerald figured she should be flattered about that sort of thing.

She wore the fairly nice newly sewn long sleeved T-shirt with a pair of denim jeans with it, figuring it was more of a casual date than anything else so she didn’t dress up too much, though the biker leather jacket and the boots may have been a dead giveaway The good thing about this was the fact that she felt at least comfortable in these clothes, rather than anything too dressy.

Emerald took a deep breath and opened the door to the shop, a small smile on her face as she immediately recognized the young man that sat behind the counter. She heard the movie that was playing and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes a little at it. Oh, she wasn’t going to let him live this one down that was for sure. With a happy wag of her tail, she stalked up to the counter with that wolfish smirk on her face.

“So is this how you prep for all the dates you have with the pretty wolf girls, watch old Wolfman films,” Emerald asked with a curious tilt of her head. She gazed at the screen for a little while, shaking her head. The real life werewolf then would look at the comic vendor with a happy, yet semi nervous grin on her face. “So, still up for that date?”

Akshay was barely listening to the movie anymore. He had seen it far too many times to the point that he had it nearly committed to memory. By just listening to it he could see everything that happened on screen within his own mind. He just had that type of attention span for movies, comics, and music. He wondered if maybe that had something to do with his own abilities, but Akshay did not think too long about it. He knew some about his powers, but obviously not all. Maybe one day he’d know if there was a connection.

For now though, he was counting and calculating receipts. As he did so, he heard the sound of the front door to his shop opening but he didn’t bother to look up. He was in the middle of counting, you know.

“Be with you in a second,” he announced as he continued to count receipts.

But as he did so, something just seemed to try to draw his attention. At first it felt like a vibration in the air that he simply could not explain. Whatever it was though, he was having a tough time on his receipts. It was not until it grew closer that he caught the sight of a flash of red out of the corner of his eyes. That was enough to make him lift his gaze.

Breath caught in his throat, he nearly jumped when he noticed that Emerald, the wolf-girl, was actually standing there, at his counter, smirking playfully.

>> “So is this how you prep for all the dates you have with the pretty wolf girls, watch old Wolfman films,”[/color]

“Huh?” he asked a little mindlessly. It took a second but at the sound of a howl from the screen he suddenly remembered what he had been watching. He just grinned a little shrugged his shoulders a bit playfully. “Oh, heh, well, you’d be surprised how helpful the strategy is. Unleashing the primal animal within, and all that jazz.”

Cheesy, he knew that, but it was enough to put a smile on their faces. And it proved as enough of a distraction give him a chance to let it sink in that Emerald had actually shone up. He hadn’t been stood up after all and that was sincerely the best news. A weight lifted from his shoulders and he smirked as he watched the redheaded beauty.

>> “So, still up for that date?”

“Yeah. I mean, of course!” He beamed like a child on Christmas morning. “Just, um, let me grab a couple things.”

Slipping out from behind the counter, Akshay walked backward briefly, watching her momentarily as he was still surprised that she was here. Once he reached the door to the offices, Akshay, while still watching Emerald, attempted to walk through but apparently forgot to turn the knob. SLAM! He the door pretty hard but turned his wince into a not very well masked stretch. Yes, he meant to do that all along. Ahem.

“Sorry, sorry! Be right back!” he said as he did actually UNOPEN the door and slip inside.

Akshay was gone for only maybe five minutes before he finally reappeared. He was dressed rather simply but still nice enough for a casual date, or at least so he hoped. He finished buttoning up his gray sweater over his green t-shirt and smoothed out his jeans. As he did so he adjusted an orange and black backpack over his shoulder and carried a smooth, black motorcycle helmet small, orange LED lights and looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. But it went well with his silver ducati he had parked outside.

He only smirked as he pulled his backpack in front of him and pulled out a single, green rose. A little awkwardly he walked up to her and held it out.

“I’m, heh, glad you showed. Little flower here would have probably wilted otherwise,” he said with a smile.

At the comment of "Unleashing the Animal within" Emerald would arch a brow, letting out an amused laugh. She hardly thought that Lon Chaney was a good frame of reference for anything about werewolves. Then again most media wasn't a good reference for anything about any misunderstood creature. Often the most "ferocious looking of creatures were the ones that were the most afraid of Humankind in the first place.

This included mutants.

Now was not the time to thinking of common mistakes in media for werewolves though, now was the time for date like things. Oh, how it had been a while since Emerald had last been on a proper date. Johnny was the last person to take her out on a date and most that were close to her knew how well the relationship between those two ended. Akshay though, he was different, he was sweet and sort of dorky, but for some strange reason Emerald didn't mind.

The slam of the door to the counter and the frequent apologizing of her date snapped Emerald back to reality. She had winced at the loud noise and she could have sworn her ears twitched a little when it happened. Stupid sensitive hearing Emerald thought, her ears ringing from such a loud noise.

"It's alright, sensitive hearing kinda sucks for that sort of noise though,"Emerald grimaced a little, rubbing those pointed ears of hers.

Once her date returned, he was dressed nicely, nicely enough for a casual date that is, which suited Emerald just fine. Besides,s he would have felt weird if he dressed any nicer than that, she was the one that was in blue jeans after all.

Taking one glance at that helmet, Emerald quick realized that she would end up riding on the back of a motorcycle today instead of the other way around. A smile crept across her face at the Irony of the whole situation. Those blue eyes watched as Akshay shuffled with the bag in front of him, pulling out a green rose and handing it to the wolf girl. That small pink blush that Akshay saw the other day, made its combat appearance as it lit up the werewolf's cheeks brightly.

Tentatively and delicately, words seldom used when describing something Emerald did, she would take the oddly colored rose with a smile. That tail of hers began wagging like mad, as she looked up at the young man with soft dark blue eyes.

"Wouldn't missed this doodle boy, a werewolf never breaks a promise," Emerald told him kissing him gently on the cheek. While she was still the embarrassed one, she was on far higher ground than she was yesterday, which made things easier on her. "So, where are we going?"

The rose was held out and just as soon as Emerald caught sight of, Akshay was that familiar blush again. He just grinned wide as he saw her expression. To know that he caught that wolf-girl off her guard again, with a smile that was so wide he was sure that he was sure it was going to hurt her in the morning, it just made him feel a tad bit giddy. Yes, he was a dork, yes he was rather nerdy, and sure, he wasn’t the best looking guy in the world, but it made him feel good to know that he could do things that a woman of her caliber could enjoy.

And it was obvious that he was not classing Emerald on her looks alone (Sure she was a knock out) but also just her whole demeanor. Anyone else would have been terrified of her breaking their heads in but Akshay never was smart enough for his own good. Why though, he was not sure. Maybe it really was because she looked like his character. Maybe he just saw something different in her when he was sketching her.

Whatever the case it did not change the fact that he liked her. He hoped that it would work out.

>> "Wouldn't missed this doodle boy, a werewolf never breaks a promise,"

He smirked and nodded his head appreciatively.

“I’ll make sure to make a note of that for future reference,” he said with a smirk. It was good to know. Not the tidbit, but the fact she spoke so openly about herself and her powers. Most of the mutants he had ever met hid their abilities, so few actually embraced them. Emerald, on the other hand, she was different.

And he really did like different because he himself was different.

Then, she kissed him on the cheek. Akshay grinned, and wide. There was little he could do to stop it because it seemed as if the muscles on his face were on autopilot. The kiss was soft, sweet, something that would not have been expected from someone with as tough and exterior and Emerald definitely exuded. But Akshay knew he saw something, some spark in her when he met her at the park. So far this she-wolf had some surprises that he could not wait to run into.

>> "So, where are we going?"[/color]

He just smirked.

“That’s for me to know and you to eventually find out!” He beamed as he slipped his thin backpack onto his back. Adjusting his helmet under his arm he picked up the keys to the shop and decided that he could close it early this one time! After all it was not like they were going to miss the sale of the century. He began to lead the way towards the door, where he would open it for her, as such the gentleman he was. “So, I hope you’re okay with motorcycles, like, you’re not terrified of them or anything.”

Of course he wasn't going to tell Emerald where they were going, that would ruin the surprise after all. When he asked about motorcylces however, she grinned widely at him. Asking Emerald if she liked motorcycles was like asking a pup if they liked to chew on shoes or destroy things. Of course she liked motorcycles.

It was a little Ironic though, considering the fact that Emerald herself didn't want to have Akshay sit in the back seat because she thought he would be uncomfortable with it. After all, most guys didn't exactly want to sit in the "chick seat" of the motorcycle, most the time it would have made them fairly uncomfortable to sit in such a position.

However, Akshay was not like other guys that much was certain. He didn't really seem like the type to get all embarrassed about that sort of thing. he seemed to be really relaxed and laid back most the time. Besides he viewed her as some sort of super hero the way she fought and worked out, not like some nutso ready to strike. He was a strange one alright that much was certain. . Not that there was anything wrong with hat.

The wolf girl would stride over to her: Green Machine , a huge grin on her face. She retrieved her Green Helmet and would strap it on her head firmly.

"Nice bike you have there, even if it is not as cool as my Green Machine over there," Emerald teased, a coy grin clear on her face. The wolf girl looked at him beneath the visor curiously, Rose gripped in one hand. "So are we ready to go?"

Akshay stepped out of the shop and held the door open for Emerald to follow him outside. Once she did, he smirked a little as he stepped aside to let her past. When was the last time that he was on a real and actual date. Normally his “dates” are just him picking up a girl or two at the clubs that he normally inhabits but this was different. He rarely asked out women on the fly, especially not when he was simply out drawing, and ESpecially not when they were as attractive as her.

This was going to be just as new a territory for him as Emerald was acting it was. He really hoped he did not trip over his own words or say or do anything foolish.

Outside, he turned to lead Emerald to his motorcycle when he glanced back at her comment.

>> "Nice bike you have there, even if it is not as cool as my Green Machine over there,"[/i]

He arched a brow as he paused, stepped back, and watched her retrieve a helmet from another motorcycle that was off to the side. The green beast certainly was a beauty to behold and the simple fact that it was Emerald’s only made him grin all the wider. The more he learned about her, the more he was glad he actually did ask her out.

He nodded respectfully to her bike.

“Impressive,” he said with a smirk. “But don’t knock the ducati,” he beamed as he walked up to his own silver motorcycle and patted it’s side. “Otherwise I may have to race you prove my point and I dunno if you’re green kitten over there will be able to handle it.”

He winked. His “smack talk” was said in a playful and jovial tone. Obviously there was no ill will meant in it so he hoped that Emerald was not going to take his challenge personally. He was a joking guy. Then again, he was damn good at riding his bike. If Emerald wanted the challenge…

>> "So are we ready to go?"

He blinked, then nodded.

“Oh, yeah! Let’s go,” he said as he slipped his own motorcycle helmet over his head. Once it was secure he climbed onto his bike and waved Emerald over. He revved the engine of his cycle. “If you’re worried about your rose, you can slip it back into my pack.”

Emerald was now wondering if one of the reasons Akshay asked her out in the first place was maybe because he saw a persons true colors just by spending some time with him. Ruby was a lot like that and Emerald did see some similarities between the two of them, they both seemed to see a side of her that she herself didn't often see.

Akshay was pretty attractive himself, Emerald had to admit. While he wasn't the normal "hot Guy" that Emerald would hear some girls blather on endlessly about he was sweet in sort of a dorky kind of way. Emerald now was sure she inherited her mothers love for dorky guys that were smaller than her. The good thing was at least Akshay didn't yell "You're extremely beautiful!" Then it would be far too close to home for comfort.

However, it did seem he wished to challenge the werewolf., in a sort of joking way but a challenge was a challenge none the less. Poor guy, if he knew anything about Emerald he knew there was one thing he should never do and that was challenge her to something, that was just asking for trouble.

"Oh," Emerald tilted her to the side with a small smirk on her face. She swaggered confidently to the back of his bike, giving it a quick scan with her eyes. "You should know better than to challenge me Akshay, it never ends well."

While she was joking (mostly) part of her did want to race bikes with him sometime. Emerald would place the rose back into his backpack for safe keeping, not wanting it to get messed up on the ride over. The wolf girl slid her helmet over her head and hopped on the back of the bike, wrapping her arms around his middle.

"Besides," Emerald began squeezing him around the middle a little tightly. "I've been known to play dirty when it comes to street races. Now come on, lets see what this baby can do."

When it came to dates and socializing about most things Emerald tended to be a little awkward at time. However, when it came to her bike and challenges, oh did she know how to lay on the smooth/smack talk. Then again, Emerald would be lying if she said she wasn't trying to make her date a little nervous. Besides, she had to retain the upper hand somehow so she didn't revert to being a blushing girly girl again.

>> "Oh, You should know better than to challenge me Akshay, it never ends well."[/color]

Akshay say on his bike, revving the engine when he glanced back to see Emerald saunter over in a most dangerous way. He had to admit that he was a little awestruck by the vision that stalked up to him that he really had no idea how to keep his head on straight. The woman was extremely attractive, she was tough, and she even seemed to like him. That was the best part of all.

But apparently there was some spark in her eye the second that he mentioned the possibility of a race between the two of them. He meant it. He loved his ducati and he knew that he was good at riding it. He is sure that he could take her in any race, or at least he was sure. Now he was beginning to have second thoughts. Judging by the look on her face, the way that she carried herself, it was obvious that she had confidence in her skills to. Maybe she was more a challenge than he originally thought?

He would have to keep a careful eye on her.

He turned back around, a smile playing on his lips as he revved his engine once more. Once he felt her climb on, he began to tilt his bike so that he was ready to go. She wrapped her arms around his mid-section and gave him a playful squeeze, to which he squeak. Totally. Un. COOL!

>> "Besides, I've been known to play dirty when it comes to street races. Now come on, lets see what this baby can do."[/color]

A twinkle appeared in his eye as he nodded to her, a smile at the corners of his lips. He reached up and pulled his visor down. Though he could not tell, obviously since he was going to be riding this beast, from the side view, the pair of them did look pretty badass on the bike. Passer-bys would pause and gawk at them, wondering what trouble the dynamic duo would get into.

If only they knew Akshay smirked under his helmet.

Revving the engine one last time, checking that Emerald was secure, Akshay kicked up the kickstand and checked to make sure there was no traffic and rode out into the street. Normally Akshay would have played it far more safe but the young wordsmith knew how to let loose. Besides, Emerald seemed like the type of girl that valued a little bit a speed in her diet…so why not?

“Hold on tight,” he smirked.

With a small laugh on his lips, Akshay tore out into the street, aimed directly for their destination…

The werewolf would merely nod at his hold on tight oprder, making her grin like a fool. Oh, she was very familar with the ways of the morotcylce and knew how it would suddenly jerk if you revved up the motor and took off too fast. Being a little bit of an adrenline junky herself always loved that feeling when the motorcycle took off into the streets and now wans't any diffrent.

If Akshay listened carefully he would almost be able to hear a happy noise elict from the wolf girls lips as they tore off towards thier destination. Hell, if the date was just this she would be completely freaking content with it. T

he realese that riding a motorcycle gave her was similar to the one she would gained when she would shift into her wolf form and run through a forest, nothing compared to the blissful feeling she would get with those two instances.

While she wasn't driving this particular bike the feeling was still the same and Akshay was winning huge brownie points for being a motorcycle rider himself. Emerald would hold onto him securely, her tail wagging back and forth whenever it got a chance.

"We there yet champ?" Emerald asked, "Not that I mind the ride but I'm mighty curious where we are having this lunch of ours."

The adrenaline poured through Akshay’s veins as he rode through the streets of New York on the silver ducati. Not only was his heart beating fast because of the rush he got from riding this mechanical beast but also for the fact that he had a pretty girl clinging onto him. Akshay was no stranger to giving a lovely female a ride on his ducati but rarely did they ever feel like this young woman. Normally girls were scared or clung tightly out of fear. Emerald, though, was different. She was actually enjoying every second of the ride.

She was certainly a woman full of surprises. Lovely surprises.

Speeding through the streets, but be careful not to be too reckless, Akshay found himself enjoying the ride more than he normally did as well. Sometimes it was always better to share these types of things with someone else.

His destination clear in his mind, he pressed onward, turning corners and weaving in and out of traffic. He hoped that the place that he had picked out would be okay with the wolf-girl. Maybe he should have just met her for coffee first, or something. After all, he really didn’t know anything about her except that she looked almost exactly like one of his comic book characters and that she had a mean punch.

Oh well…he would get to know her down and roll with the punches.

>> "We there yet champ? Not that I mind the ride but I'm mighty curious where we are having this lunch of ours."[/color]

He grinned as he saw the street he was looking for coming up. He nodded his head in reply that they were about to arrive. Though she could not see his face due to the visor, he was clearly smiling.

Rounding the corner, he slowed his bike down and pulled up to the sidewalk. In front of them was restaurant that was very simple looking. It had a green awning above the front doors that said “Gallagher’s Steakhouse” in flowing white letters. Normally on dates guys go for the fancy French restaurants and such, but that was never really Akshay’s cup of tea. He was man of simple tastes and that was something that anyone he asked out should be informed of up front.

Akshay killed the ignition and flipped up his vision as he glanced over his shoulder to Emerald.

“I hope this place is okay for you. You are a carnivore, I hope,” he beamed from beneath his helmet.

Emerald was glad that Akshay was a safer driver than she was, but she somewhat wished she was at the wheel, just to do some dangerous this to just scare him. Maybe she was a little reckless, but it seemed to her that anyone that rode a motorcycle was a little reckless. All she could hope though was Ruby's first vehicle wasn't one of the two wheeled monsters that Emerald drove, if anything she wanted Ruby to drive a nice, safe car.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the bike began to slow down and Emerald's natural, "scan your surroundings" instincts took over. Not that she thought anything bad would happen, it was just in case anything "out of the ordinary" occurred while they were there. All the wolf girl could hope was that none of her semi-bad luck would follow her here.

There she went, over thinking and over worrying about things once again when Akshay clearly spoke to her. She had already dismounted herself from the Bike and removed her helmet, she had just yet to take her hair down.

The she-wolf pulled the hair tye that she had used to pull her mighty mane back out of her hair, shaking her head a little to get all the stray strands back in a comfortable out of order. This was when she noticed the words "Steakhouse" on that sign, and her tail began wagging back and forth about a mile a minute.

"Hell yeah I'm a carnivore, I need meat to live, to exist, to thrive," Emerald rambled, obviously extremely excited about this. The grin on her face was unmistakable for that of pure and utter elation. "Aw man the only thing that would make this place better would be if we could hunt our own food. Still, seriously a great choice!"

Emerald walked up to the young comic book nerd and looped her arm with his, giving him a look to lead the way. She didn't mind follow a lead to a place she hadn't been to yet and besides, he may have something else up those sleeves of his.

Akshay smirked as he stood back and watched as she shook out her hair. Removing the helmet from her head, her red hair cascaded down and Akshay found himself just staring at her. Not in a creepy, obsessive way or anything, but merely because he was enchanted by her appearance. She really was gorgeous. Part of him wondered if she ever realized that about herself. From the way she reacted around a simple compliment, he doubted it. But hopefully she would realize that about herself.

He was sure his fawning over her would help.

Undoing the strap of his helmet, Akshay pulled it off his head and immediately brushed his hand through his hair to fix it. After that was done, he tucked his helmet underneath his arm as he watched Emerald. He truly hoped that she was fine with this restaurant. After all, he really did know if she would have had problem with eating red meat (though he doubted it). Thankfully, by the wag in her wolf tail, she seemed just fine with it.

>> "Hell yeah I'm a carnivore, I need meat to live, to exist, to thrive,"[/color]

Akshay laughed. Her response was enthusiastic and one that he was very thankful to hear.

>> "Aw man the only thing that would make this place better would be if we could hunt our own food. Still, seriously a great choice!"[/color]

“I’ll see what I can do next time,” he added with a wink. He was joking of course but then again he was joking kind of guy. He didn’t even know if this woman would give him the time or day for another date. He could only cross his fingers and hope so. “Shall we?”

Upon taking his arm, he them led her into the restaurant…

Emerald's mind briefly was distracted for a moment, thinking about the various pieces of meat she could possibly get at this establishment. She had sort of forgotten to eat her usual snack around this time, so the werewolf was starving. She had to keep up her food intake in order to be able to shift or do anything for that matter. Emerald had always been a big eater, but she had no idea that it would come into play for her powers as much as it had.

"Oi, I have one condition with this date," Emerald told him as she strolled on beside him, walking strong and tall as usual. She had always had that Alpha female sway about her, but not in the way that some girls in a high school would stroll around with their man candy, oh no, she just walked like she always knew what she was doing and like she was thinking several steps ahead, which she usually was. "I help pay for the food, because now that you have gone and gotten me excited about awesome meat, I'm way hungrier than before and will probably eat you out of house and home If I let you pay."

Emerald wouldn't mind if he offered to pay, but she just felt guilty as all hell about her stomach wanting her to eat so much especially when she was out on a date. She kept her arm securely around his as the entered the restaurant, tail wagging a little softer now. There was a little bit of dread at the pit of her stomach, somewhat scared that they may make a big deal out of the whole, werewolf mutant thing. Especially with the nice looking human boy. Oh well, no one had adventures without going anywhere.

Akshay confidently led Emerald by the arm into the restaurant. He was more than pleased with the way that things were going thus far. Emerald seemed pleased with the choice, the restaurant did not look too crowded, and so far it seemed like he was actually impressing her. Though Akshay talked a big talk, he always judged himself for every little thing whenever he actually went on a date. Normally that usually led to him picking apart every little thing he did until he was so careful that he was not longer having fun on a date.

Thankfully, though, being around Emerald seemed to calm him a bit so that he was not so crazed. He was going to play this date by ear and keep himself from over thinking things too much.

He opened the door to lead her in but paused when Emerald stopped, looking like she had something important to say.

>> "Oi, I have one condition with this date…I help pay for the food, because now that you have gone and gotten me excited about awesome meat, I'm way hungrier than before and will probably eat you out of house and home If I let you pay."[/color]

He tilted his head as he looked at her eyes. God she really could be intimidating. She was tall, walked with a confident air, and just had this badass aura that made absolutely NO ONE want to mess with her. And it definitely made absolutely no one want to argue with her. But that was not how he really felt at the moment. He was not scared of her, well not totally. But at the same time he did not want to keep her from doing what she wanted to do.

Stopping, he took a breath as he watched her face closely. She was probably not used to hearing the word no. He smirked at the thought before he finally spoke.

“How about we split the bill down the middle, then?” he offered the compromise with a grin. “Clean cut even for the both of us?”

It really was the best compromise. That way he could pay for himself and at least part of her food without her having to feel awkward about buying her entire meal. Not that Akshay was at all prideful about the compromise. Besides it was obvious that she was a powerful figure and the last thing he wanted her to feel like was like he was trying to exert any kind of dominance over her. So he would work with her.

Once she finally agreed he nodded and led her inside and towards the hostess. The interior of the restaurant was really quite impressive. Not too fancy but rustic enough to make it seem like absolutely anyone would eat there (and they could!). It was actually one of Akshay’s favorite restaurants. And from the wagging of Emerald’s tail, it seemed as if she enjoyed it too. Most impressive though was the smell of prime steaks cooking that wafted through the room. It was enough to make anyone salivate.

But, Akshay kept his composure as he strolled up to the hostess behind her podium.

“Hi! Table for two, please?” he beamed.

The hostess smirked as she nodded to Akshay, blinked at the pairing between him and the tall redhead, and nodded. “Of course! Right this way,” she announced and led them to a smaller table for just two…