“Aurora, you know I’d do anything for you.” Damien said, “But this?”
“Don’t you love me?” She asked softly.
“You know that I do.” He reached up to cup her face in his hands. Her lip trembled.
“Then please,” Aurora pleaded, “It’s all I ask.”
“Okay.” He kissed her hard on the mouth and pulled back, staring intensely into her eyes. “For you.”
Flynn rolled his eyes as he turned down the music and handed Damien the microphone typically used for pub trivia. Damien stood up on his barstool and took a shaky breath.
“I could stay awake just to hear you breathing,” The whole Thursday night crowd at Archer and Hopps stopped what they were doing as his off key voice rang out across the bar. “Watch you smile while you are sleeping, while you’re far away and dreaming.” Aurora shot him a reassuring smile and a thumbs up. “I could spend my life in this sweet surrender, I could stay lost in this moment forever.”
She leapt to her feet, her voice joining his, “Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure!”
A reluctant smile crept up Damien’s face as most of the bar patrons started singing along, “I don’t wanna close my eyes, I don’t wanna fall asleep cause I’d miss you, baby, and I don’t wanna miss a thing.” He reached for Aurora’s hand with his free one and twirled her. She tried to keep singing through her giggles, “‘Cause even when I dream of you, the sweetest dream would never do I’d still miss you baby and I don’t want to miss a thing.”
“Satisfied?” Damien grumbled, hopping down from the stool to rapturous applause.
“More than you can even imagine.” She said, kissing him on the cheek.
“Enjoy it while it lasts, cause you’re up next.” He flashed her a teasing smile as he pulled a card from the deck. Three of Clubs. “Rory, I dare you to add your number into the phones of three people in here.”
“No problem!” She started looking around the room, but Damien held up a hand.
“Not so fast. I get to pick which three. Him…. her… and him.” He pointed to three different people across the room.
“Okay, I’ve got this.” She shook out her shoulders to psych herself up and walked over to her first target. It was a guy in his early thirties, fully engrossed in the baseball game on TV. She crept up behind him and waited for her moment. The batter on screen made contact with the ball and the guy jumped up, cheering as he watched his team race towards home. Aurora quickly snatched the phone, punched in the number, and placed it back down before the final runner scored. She turned and gave Damien a triumphant grin as she made her way over to her second target. She was a woman in her early twenties who was sitting alone at a booth, looking around uncomfortably while waiting for her friend to get back from the bathroom. Aurora knew exactly how to play it.
“Oh. My. God. I love your necklace. Where did you find it?”
“Thank you! Its from this place called The Owl and the Scythe in Greenpoint.”
“Ugh! I’d love to go and see if they had any left but I live over in Bushwick and Greenpoint is such a haul. Ohmigosh, could you do me a huge favor? Could you take my number and text me if you’re ever there and they have it still?” The woman started to look skeptical, “I would just hate to travel a full hour and transfer like three buses just for it to be out of stock.”
“Okay, sure. The buses are a pain.” The woman handed her phone to Aurora, who punched in the contact info.
“Thank you, you are the sweetest.” As she walked away from the woman, she shot Damien two fingers up.
The third target looked to be the toughest. Long beard, hulking shoulders, and a leather vest—He was the portrait of a scary biker. Aurora took a deep breath and stepped up to him.
“Hi! I’m so sorry to do this, but can I please use your phone?”
“You want to what?” He growled, turning slowly to face her.
“Um, use your phone? Please?”
“Oh, ‘course, darlin’. Didn’t hear what ya said there.” He gave her his phone, she inputted the number, shot a text to Damien saying “Winner!”, deleted the text, and gave it back.
“Thank you so much!” She graced him with her most charming smile. Aurora made her way back over to the bar, giving a small bow as Flynn applauded her. She sat back down and took three sips of her drink.
“Rory, you did the dare, you don’t have to drink.”
“Not exactly. I added a number to all three phones, but it wasn’t necessarily mine.”
“What?” Damien asked incredulously, “You didn’t…” Aurora just raised an eyebrow while picking up the next card. Jack of Diamonds. “D, what’s the wildest thing thing you ever seen while investigating someone?”
“Easy. I was hired to run surveillance on this guy whose wife suspected was cheating with his secretary. Which he definitely was.”
“Sounds pretty run of the mill so far…”
“Wasn’t finished. He and the secretary liked to get into a bit of role play. Specifically Little Red Riding Hood role play.”
“No! With costumes?”
“Oh yes. Only, she was the wolf and he… was the grandmother.”
Aurora laughed so hard her drink nearly came out her nose, which in turn made Damien start laughing.
“Sounds like you’re having a little too much fun over here.” Flynn reached over and pulled a card after passing a customer their beer. Four of Diamonds. “Aurora.” He said with a smirk.
“Flynn.” She leaned in towards the bar.
“Between you and me, of all the men you’ve been with, where does our boy Damien rank?”
“Hey!” Damien started, but then changed his mind, “Actually, tell him, I’m not worried.” Aurora glanced over at him with a smile on her face and took four sips of her drink. Damien’s jaw dropped as Flynn burst out laughing.
“What? Gotta maintain some mystery, keeps ‘em from getting lazy.” She shot Damien a wink and squeezed his hand under the bar. “Your turn to pull, Flynn.” Eight of Spades.
“Flynn, I dare you to tell me—”
“You can’t use a dare card to ask a truth question.” Damien protested.
Flynn looked over at Aurora. “I’m fine with it if you are.”
“I’m definitely fine with it.” She replied, fighting off a smile.
“Majority rules, sorry Nazario.”
Aurora cleared her throat, “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted,” She gave Damien a small nudge, “I dare you to tell me the sappiest thing Damien ever said to you about me.”
“Sappy? Me? I’m not… I don’t—“
“You do, especially when you‘re deep into this game. The sappiest thing… It’s so hard to choose, there are a lot of ‘em.” Damien groaned. “Oh, I’ve got it! Damien once said, and I quote, that you were like the sun personified because—“
“Because,” He finished himself, a small blush rising in his cheeks as he met Aurora’s eyes, “You’re warm, powerful, and you make everything you touch a little bit brighter.” Aurora was taken aback. She knew he loved her, and that he could be sweet when he wanted to, but she never imagined he would say something like that.
“Oh, Damien.” They leaned forward as if drawn together.
Flynn cleared his throat and the two jumped back. He grabbed another card and passed it to Damien. Queen of Hearts; Love life related, can’t be skipped. “Y’know,” he said, “This question was a lot more fun before you two got together.”
Damien thought for a minute. “Well, I’ve already told you about when I realized I first had feelings for you,” Aurora bit her lip, remembering their first night together. Lying naked in his arms, her heart was so full she thought it would burst. “When, uh, did you first realize you felt something for me?”
She gave a small smile, “Do you remember the night you came out dancing with me and Nadia shortly after the Icy Bench Incident?”
“The night Nadia almost started a bar brawl after someone spilled their drink on her?”
“That would be the one. The bouncer kicked us all out before I was able to grab my coat. I was shaking, both from the cold and the pure rage I was feeling towards Nadia, and you came right over and put your coat over my shoulders without even saying a word. It was such a small gesture, but so thoughtful and caring. I felt warm and protected and the jacket smelled like you and I started to imagine what it would be like if I had your arms around my shoulders instead of your coat…” She trailed off, blushing.
Damien smiled warmly, “Well, if I knew that was all it took to win your admiration, Rory, I would’ve given you my coat a long time ago.”
She gently flicked him and pulled a card. Seven of Hearts. “Damien Nazario. Light of my life. What the hell is your middle name?”
Damien took seven long sips, finishing his drink, never breaking eye contact.
“Seriously? I’m your girlfriend now and you still won’t tell me?”
“I can’t give away all my secrets, no matter how much you make me want to.”
She shook her head, “Fine. You’re lucky I like you.”
He looked at her, adoration glowing on his face, “Yeah, I am.” They had been together a few months now, but that look still made her heart race. “Want to get out of here? I’d like to plead my case for my spot in your rankings.”
Aurora tossed back the rest of her drink and took his hand, “Lead the way.” Damien threw down a tip for Flynn and the two of them left the bar, talking, laughing, and doing that “slow couple’s walk” he used to hate the whole way back to his place.
