Tell Gemma about your debate skills

“Well,” you said, thinking about what got you interested in the law in the first place. You put your sandwich down and wiped your mouth to explain. “I’ve always been able to talk my way in and out of things. As a kid, it was extended bedtimes, unsupervised nights with the parents out for the evening, paid movie nights… for education purposes.”

Gemma nodded along, striking a point in the air for your prepubescent wins.You went on. “In high school, I joined the debate team, became the team captain and led our way to regionals. Being able to argue, through sound logic and reasoning, enough to sway someone else’s opinion…” you shook your head and smiled. “Well, that was like a rush! Becoming a lawyer seemed like a natural fit for my skills.”

“The man with the silver tongue…” Gemma chuckled.

“It got you to come on a date with me, didn’t it?” you argued.

Gemma pursed her lips but kept a smile on. “And were you going to ask me out before this whole thing with Sabrina?” she jabbed.

You winced. She probably had a point. If she hadn’t caught you with Sabrina, you probably wouldn’t have even interacted more than the casual office small talk. Gemma swirled her straw in her cup and raised an eyebrow, waiting for a response.

“Well,” you sighed. “I did think about taking a shot with you, but…”

Gemma leaned in intently on her elbows and rested her chin in her palms. She was wide eyed and smiling, deeply invested in what you were about to say.

You shrugged. “... I figured you’d heard it all before. An attractive woman like you probably already had all the guys clamoring for your attention. What was I going to say that would make a difference? I mean, I saw the way you shot down Eric on our first day.”

This time, Gemma let out a sigh. You quirked your head.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Gemma waved off. You narrowed your eyes cynically. Finally she rolled her eyes and let you in on her gripe. “It’s just that it always ends up this way. I get all the attention from the guys I’m NOT interested in and get the ‘friend’ treatment from the ones I AM interested in!”

“Hmm,” you nodded, sipping your drink. “Maybe you need to change types.”

Gemma gave you a friendly shove as she scoffed, “Sure… Maybe I should! Maybe I should go for the bad boy biker dude!”

“Maybe one with a mohawk!” you added.

“And a jacket with metal spikes on it!” She topped. She then slapped her hand on the table adamantly and looked around. “That’s it! Next biker I see gives me so much as a nod, I’m hopping on his Harley and riding out of here!”

“That would put a damper on our date for sure,” you noted, deadpan.

“Mhmm…” Gemma replied, taking a big bite out of her burger before she pressed you further. “Or maybe that’d just mean you’d go rushing back to Sabrina, wouldn’t it?”

“Ah… what do you mean?” you laughed nervously.

“Don’t pretend I didn’t see what I saw in the copy room,” she munched.

“That… well…” you squirmed. “It was nothing serious...”

“It looked serious to me…” she replied with a raised eyebrow. “Are you going to share the full story with me or not?”