Learn more about Gemma

You both had sent in your orders to the waitress and the conversation was still dead in the water. Your only interactions were small talk about the food on the menu and the weather on the patio. Gemma had her phone out and was browsing Instagram posts. Things were not going well. The longer your shared silence grew, the more your hopes were dropping about the success of your date.

It felt like at any moment Gemma would call the whole thing off as a mistake and your chances with her would be over. You could feel yourself begin to suffocate with each moment quietly passing by. You wanted to break the ice with some sort of conversation, just to relieve this uneasiness, but you had no idea what Gemma was into aside from law. Eventually, you concluded that the law was one thing you two had in common. Since there was little else to work with, you gave it your best shot.

“So,” you started, to gain the platinum blonde’s attention. “What brought you into the field of law?”

“Oh?” Gemma said, putting down her phone. She brushed her hair and took a sip of her drink to give the question some thought. “I guess it’s kind of a family business. My dad’s a lawyer. My mum was a paralegal. That’s how they met.”

“Oh. Cute.”

Gemma laughed. “Yeah, they fell for each other over a zoning law dispute.” She wiggled her fingers and said, in a facetious tone, “It was the most romantic thing ever!”

“So wait, if you’re learning to practice law back in Australia, what are you doing out here?” you asked.

“Well the international law courses are mostly the same anywhere and it’s good to get perspective about how things are done in other places compared to your own,” Gemma explained. She also added, in a conspiratorial tone, “It also looks better on your transcripts when you can say you’ve studied abroad…”

You shared a laugh with her before you followed up. “So, how have you been liking America so far?”

“Yeah, I’m loving it! I love the food, and the clothes! The sales you have here are almost criminal! I think I have more clothes here than I do back home now!” she said.

“You’ve always had a nice sense of fashion,” you told her.

“Oh? So you’ve noticed?” she smirked, as she fiddled with her straw and gave you a knowing glance.

You smiled back, a little dizzy from the attention. “Hard not to notice someone that looks so good in everything she wears,” you admitted.

“Well, that’s just my work clothes,” she teased. “You haven’t seen me in my everyday wear.”

“I’d love to see you in your other clothes,” you said. “I mean, if you look this nice in business wear, I’d be interested to see what you look like outside the office.”

“We’ll have to do that sometime then,” Gemma grinned, taking a sip of her drink.

“A second date?”

“If this one goes well, then why not?” Gemma said, raising an eyebrow suggestively.

“Is this one going well?” you asked, trepidatiously.

Gemma narrowed her eyes and scrutinized you for a long moment, trying to decide whether it was or not. You started to feel awkward, so you did your best impression of a sexy male model, posing and using your cup as a prop. The straw dangled in your slack jawed mouth in a pathetic attempt to up your sex factor. It was enough to elicit a snort of laughter from your date. She chuckled, “Too early to tell.”

“Here are your orders!” the waitress said, arriving with a platter of food. She laid out your meals in front of you. “Let me know if you need anything else!”

You had ordered a club sandwich while Gemma got the burger plate. You eyed the size of Gemma’s burger. It required both her hands to lift and she had to jack open her jaw just to get a bite down. She realized that you were staring and went a little shy. Covering her mouth after her bite, she murmured, “Maybe we should have gone for the burritos after all!”

You laughed together and continued to eat. Gemma took smaller, dainty bites, a little self conscious of her eating now.

She stopped after a bit and asked. “So…” she mumbled through her food, “Why did YOU go into law?”