It Started With 'I Do' (A Creatures/Dexter Manning fanfic)

Chapter 2: Accidentally in Love

"Can I start you out with some drinks?"

"Coffee for me. What about you, love?" Love? God, his accent's thick.

"I'll just take an orange juice."

She left for a couple minutes while we pondered our potential orders. When she came back, I ordered a blueberry crepe while Dex just got a regular breakfast platter. She left again, this time taking the menu, and Dex rested his elbows on the table.

"So, Rachel," he started. "How have you been since I saw you twelve hours ago?"

I smiled. "I was sleeping pretty well, that is after I stayed up until almost 2."

"Same. I was about to go to bed until I heard a notification from a Miss @RachelD_Awesome."

I laughed lightly and blushed at him saying my Twitter handle. "Oh yeah, you saw that. Sorry that I woke you up with that." I twirled a strand of hair with my finger. Great, he probably thinks I'm the hasty type.

"Not at all, love. You made it easy for me to find you." He smirked and winked. "You know what else I saw? You absolutely jamming out when I came off the elevator."

My face went pale for a second and I rubbed the back of my neck. He's onto me now. "Really? How... how'd I look? Not too much like a dork, right?"

He just smiled and shook his head. "Not at all. You looked like you were having a blast. What were you listening to?"

"Panic! At The Disco."

"Really? I only really know one song by them. The one that goes... what a beautiful wedding, with a..." I laughed at Dex's attempt at trying to remember the words to "I Write Sins Not Tragedies". "Then again, I think that's them."

"Yeah, that's them. Their music's my guilty pleasure, to be honest."

"I know how that feels."

"Oh really," I answered flirtatiously. "What's yours, Dexter J. Manning? What does the J stand for?"

With a serious face, he said, "To answer your second question, it's Joaquin."

I was skeptical. "Dexter Joaquin? Yeah, I'm sure it is."

He finally broke his serious character. "I'm just joking, it's James. Also, for the first question... you're going to laugh at me for this, but... I get really happy when 'Happy' comes on."

"Why would I laugh at you for that? Happy was everyone's guilty pleasure when it first came out."

"Well, it's pretty out of character for me. I don't sing out loud to most songs, but that one gets me every time."

"Well, it looks like we balance each other out." I smiled and he winked. After another half hour of small talk, our food came out and we dove into it. He had the bigger platter, but finished his when I still had a few bites left. While I trudged along at a steady pace, he sat across the booth from me and stared at me with puppy-dog eyes.

"C'mon, love, you got a few more to go!" he cheered.

"I'm trying as hard as I can, Joaquin!"

"Oh great, I'm Joaquin now."

"You asked for it, Joaquin."

"Rachel, stop calling me Joaquin."

We went back and forth for another minute, me calling him Joaquin and him yelling at me about the nickname. We stopped when we realized half the restaurant was watching us, and I finished my crepe. After sitting and talking for a few more minutes, he paid the bill and we left the restaurant together. By this time it was already noon.