Loverboy

"This place is classy." Hennessey commented as she and Gemma walked into the dimly lit dinner bar.

Gemma smiled to herself. "Yeah, that's because I chose it." They both let out a quiet laugh as they made there way to sit at the bar, which was vacant aside from the bartender on the other side. Gemma caught her reflection in the mirror behind the bar. She moved her bangs out of her eyes and sat up straighter as Hennessey ordered them two white wines.

Gemma turned back to Hennessey and smiled. "So you and Jay seemed to have hit it off." Gemma said, as a tint of red crept up onto Hennessey's cheeks. "You're welcome."

Hennessey snorted. "For what?"

"For introducing you two." Gemma said matter-of-factly. She thanked the bartender as he set down the wine in front of them and took a sip of it, Hennessey following suit.

"Oh, whatever." Hennessey said, waving her hand dismissively. "Here they come." Hennessey quickly put down her drink and straightened her skirt out, dusting off any stray debri.

Gemma smiled and shook her head before taking another sip of her wine. "Hello lovely." Max greeted her as he and Nathan took a seat next to her.

"Hey there." She smiled brightly at them. Gemma watched as the rest of the boys scattered along the bar. Jay took the seat next to Hennessey and the two smiled and began to talk in a much quieter tone, his hand grazing hers. Gemma smiled at the pair and turned her attention back to Nathan.

"Where'd Max go?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowing together.

"Oh, he went to go try and get us a table with Tom." Nathan answered, and she nodded as acknowledgement. Silence filled the air between them. Nathan strongly wished he wasn't the designated driver tonight so that he could drown a shot or two to calm his nerves. "So uhm listen," he began, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "I'm really sorry about earlier."

"I said not to worry about it." She wanted to be done with this subject. She was tired from the work day and wanted to unwind with her possibly new friends. "Water under the bridge."

"Yeah, but--" Nathan began, but Gemma cut him off.

"Really Nate. Let's just drop the subject, please?" She pleaded, forcing a tiny smile. She was going to need a stronger drink if this was how her night was going to go.

"At least let me make it up to you. Let me take you out to dinner." Nathan said, surprised at his sudden burst of bravery.

"Oh, Nathan." She cooed, placing her hand on his. "That's really sweet of you." Nathan sat up straighter, trying to ignore the tingly feeling that was running through his body at her mere touch. "But you don't have to. Let's not mix business with pleasure. You know?"

Nathan felt his heart drop. "Y-yeah. Of course. You're right." He looked away to compose himself, trying to hide his disappointment.

Though it killed Gemma to say that, Nathan was just too young for her. Finding him as attractive as she did just made her feel weird. Gemma grabbed her drink to down the rest of it and frowned when she realized she had already finished it. The bartender set down another in front of her. "It's like you read my mind." She told him.

"No, the guy at the end of the bar did." The bartender smiled and turned back around to his previous task.

Gemma looked over and saw an older gentlemen, smiling at her. She grabbed her clutch and drink and began to move off her seat. "Excuse me, Nathan." She said absentmindedly, squeezing his shoulder as a goodbye and heading down the bar to the older gentlemen with a smiled plastered on her face.

Nathan felt his heart plummet into his stomach. Yeah, he knew it was a long shot for Gemma to say yes to him, but it still didn't make it hurt any less seeing her flirt with another guy. He ran his hand through his fringe and sighed heavily. He knew his first screw up was looking her up and he could only imagine that she might have thought less of him for being so nosey.

"Don't get so down about it." He looked up and saw Hennessey looking at him, Jay beside her ordering a drink. "That's just Gemma being Gemma."

Nathan looked at Gemma, who was completely oblivious to everyone except for that guy that she was flirting with. The man had dark, hair tinted by a few grays. His broad shoulders filled out his expensive Armani suit and Nathan could only imagine he had a chiseled physique underneath. Nathan looked away disgusted as the guy seemed old enough to be their dad. "That's the type of bloke she goes for?" He asked, looking back at Hennessey.

Hennessey nodded. "Older men? Yeah, unfortunately." Hennessey scooted over to the seat next to Nathan with Jay in tow.

"Why?" Nathan asked.

Hennessey shrugged. "She has a bunch of reasons, most of which I can't remember. All of which lead back to maturity."

"I'm mature." Nathan protested. Though he knew that he hadn't done anything to prove it as of late.

"Didn't you giggle and stare at her chest this morning?" Hennessey questioned. Jay snorted with laughter from beside her, earning a light punch from her.

"Do you ever think she'd be interested?" Nathan asked, knowing her probably shouldn't. He was only setting his hopes up.

Hennessey shrugged. "Dunno. It never hurts to try though, right?" She smiled confidently.

Max appeared beside Nathan and told them their table was ready. Jay grabbed Hennessey's hand as they went to grab Gemma and head off to their table. Max looked at Nathan picking up on the sadness it held. "She turn you down?" Nathan nodded and got off the stool. Max threw his arm around his shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll get her to say yes mate." Max beamed at him with complete confidence. Nathan mustered up a smile as he followed him to the table.