Chapter 518

The first part of the date - the one that you’d come up with prior to Becks’ involvement, kept a smile on Gemma’s face. She might not have been able to make any big purchases, but browsing the big Flea Market for a couple of hours was still fun. You walked hand-in-hand down the long aisles, looking into booths that were alternately filled with antiques, speciality goods and farmer’s market-style produce. It also gave her a chance to dicker and negotiate, which she loved. You ended up buying an old, gilded picture frame that thankfully fit in her purse, and which she intended to put a picture of the two of you and Sabrina to take home with her, along with a set of speciality ‘definit not Lego’ minifigures customized to look like you, Gemma and Sabrina.

The browsing also just gave the two of you time to laugh, make mooning eyes at each other, and chat about all the silly things going on. Gemma told you a bit more about her college friends, which hadn’t been a major topic of conversation. Most of her time in the past few years had been focused on her Ex, and she regretted that and wanted to make sure she had a better social circle for her final year. The people were there, she just needed to tighten up relationships to go from ‘friendly’ to ‘friend.’

After the Flea Market came a brief walk through the Gardens, a super-manicured part of the city that was attached to an old castle-like building from the early 1900s that was now a museum - neither of you was particularly interested in getting out of the sun so you enjoyed the grounds without paying for a ticket to go inside, and cuddled for a bit on one of the shaded benches under an old oak tree.

Then came dinner at a nice steakhouse, and you and Gemma might not have been the most dressed up in the room, but you definitely thought she was the most beautiful and let her know it every chance you got.

It was right after the appetizer plates had been taken away, an order of cheesy garlic bread having been devoured between the two of you, that you almost jumped out of your seat when a foot ran up your leg. The feeling was something you were used to now, but it was always Sabrina doing that move.

Gemma laughed, covering her mouth with a hand as her eyes sparkled playfully. “Sorry,” she said. “I was just thinking that it’s not really fair that Sabrina and I get to do ... things in a place like this and you can’t.”

“Little harder for me to make that work,” you said, surreptitiously reaching under the table and finding her foot with one hand. She’d kicked off her shoe and you interlaced your fingers with her toes, making her snicker a little and bite her lip to stop from giggling.

“Do you want to try?” Gemma asked, biting her lip. “Because I want you, love. Right now. You could seriously slide right the fuck in, I’m so ready for you.”

You groaned softly, your thumb running across the bottom of her foot. “How would we make it work?”