A Song For The Optimists[Solomon, Violet]

"Good. Fair warning, though. Some dishes can be quite spicy, but I'll gladly assist in any and all suggestions."

With that, Solomon maintained a firm hold on her hand as they traveled to the next location on his list. It was a slightly longer walk than the trip to the laser tag establishment. Solomon mitigated any silence by filling the air with conversation, speaking at length about his memories regarding the place they occupied moments ago, and then there was talking about his experience with the city over the last year or so. Twenty minutes passed by the time they arrived at their next location. An Indian restaurant situated in the downtown section of the COL. Solomon opened the door for Violet, following behind her to order a table for two. Once the proper preparations were set in place, Solomon held Violet's once again, leading her over to the table. Properly seated, a waiter would walk over to hand them a pair of menus.

"Hm..."

There was a closeness one felt when holding the hand of another person. For Violet, she felt safer, more confident, and maybe a bit proud. She doubted she deserved it, but she was on a date with a nice guy, who also just so happened to be her best friend. While they walked and talked, Violet couldn't help but do the young girl imagination thing, wondering if they would become more than just friends, how close they'd get, how long it'd last... Through the twenty minute walk, Violet's smile never lessened. She was pretty happy calmly talking with Solomon.

Arriving at the restaurant, Violet followed Solomon, guided by hand, over to their table. She sat down across from him, thanked their host, and opened the menu. She wasn't sure what much of this was, but she could read the menu at least. Her eye kept coming back to curry. It was something she hadn't eaten before, but heard of enough that she wanted to try it. There were a few too many to choose from.

"What do you think about the curry here?" Violet asked, looking up from her menu. "It's something I've heard of at least. There's also this rice dish... Bee-Rah-nee? I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that right. A lot of this looks so good."

"Honestly? I'm perfectly willing to buy one of each if you wanted to be experimental. I've tried my fair share of the dishes here. There is no wrong or right option. Most of it would likely come down to taste. My suggestions would probably something rich and flavorful if you want to avoid something spicy. How about Paneer Butter Masala Curry? It has a strong hint of peanut butter but not to such a degree that it takes away from the curry itself. Then, there's Chicken Tikki Masala. And butter chicken isn't bad, either..."

Solomon browsed through the menu, though most of his choices were listed out based on memory. He recalled the many times his mother would introduce him to a different culture's food each day. He learned to develop a taste for many things as a result. Solomon decided to take the initiative, turning to the waiter to order multiple things from the menu. There was a twofold purpose behind the intent; If they proved suitable to Violet's tastes, both of them could split what they wanted between one another and return to their respective homes with other meals to hold them over the next day. Two, even if none of it suited her tastes, Solomon had a whole week's worth of lunch. In other words, an absolute win. A faultless plan without any error. In the meantime, appetizers were brought out to whet their appetite for the moment. Picking up a vegetable dumpling from the plate, Solomon chewed on it softly as he tilted his head curiously.

"I hope you didn't mind if I made the choice instead. I think it's fun to try something at least once, you know? Worst case scenario, if none of the food is to your liking, we can always go to the local burger joint and hang there."

Violet looked at each of the options that he described. The menu was pretty detailed, so she figured out what she wanted by a quick read. Violet nodded. She figured out what she wanted to try. She was going to pick one dish and one dish only. He may offer more than that, but the fact was, she wasn't going to go nuts on his wallet... again. Every time he spent money on her, her mind shot back to the fact that she has her own house. Making him pay for anything more was so weird... She wanted to get him something for once. She just had to figure out what.

When the waiter came, to Violet's surprise, Solomon ordered for her. When he chose the same dish she was planning on trying, her eyes widened. Before he could see her surprise, she calmed down. "I finally figured out your secret," Violet said, interrupting him. "You can read minds, can't you?" It may not be too clear, but Violet was being silly. "You knew I was gonna choose that, so you ordered first."

"Come on. Don't be silly now. You make it sound like I'm some special main character in a series. I simply thought it would be the most agreeable dish to your pallet."

Solomon chuckled sheepishly, taking her jest in stride as he continued to enjoy the appetizers at the table. Truth be told, it was quite enjoyable to see Violet in this relaxed state of being. There was none of that frustration or poutiness he experience from their meetings prior, and she genuinely appeared as if she was having the time of her life right now. That brought him a great deal of satisfaction. He was genuinely rooting for her, after all. No matter what happened, he wanted her to understand that she would always have his support.

"So... have I been redeeming myself so far?" He inquired with a playful smile. There was no crime he had to answer for, exactly, but he certainly wanted to know if he had at least washed away the unpleasant experience in their first meeting.

"Are you?" Violet asked, blinking. He probably was some main character. "You are pretty heroic, kind, generous, and handsome. You kind of check all the boxes for a main character type thing, yeah? And your one flaw: competitiveness. Got us kicked out." Violet brought that up just to pick on him. The playful smile being proof.

As she nibbled on a few snacks, she looked around the restaurant. She took in a few decorations, a few meals other people had. She was getting to know the aesthetic. He pulled her from those thoughts with a question. Redeeming himself? She was confused at first, but it clicked a few seconds later. He was talking about their first meeting. Violet's cheeks reddened again, both in shyness and shame.

"Solomon..." she spoke softly, "How do you not realize you redeemed yourself a long time ago? You gave me a home and a friend. You've guided me in something that my own father couldn't get in such a short time. You have no idea how much all of that means to me... This date, and spending time with you outside of Quincy training, is a wanted bonus. It is me who needs redemption. I treated you horribly."

"That was only half of my fault, you know. Fine. I concede. It's difficult to argue with someone when they offer such flattering words."

Solomon didn't view himself in such a grandiose light as the main character who took to the stage. Each of those attributes she felt defined him well was simply a natural part of his disposition. She thoroughly countered him well mentioning his competitive nature. It was difficult to deny that part of himself; the boundless desire to improve upon his strengths, cultivating his abilities until they stood at a pinnacle he could truly take pride in. All in the name of his ambitious need to defend those who could not readily defend themselves. He was indeed an archetype of a character who would feature well in a certain genre or series, but he never viewed things from that perspective. His heroism was not anything special, but he found himself touched by her words. It was nothing short of gratifying to be viewed with such a significant degree of importance. Heartwarming, even.

"Once again, you find me on the backfoot with all of this flattery. From my point of view, you have already redeemed yourself as well. I know it must have been difficult to place your trust in others when you couldn't find love in those who brought you into this world, but I wanted to show you that things could be different. This is going to sound incredibly cliché, but I truly believe there are people in this world who are worth placing your trust in. And I'm honored you've placed that trust in me."

Violet was such a novice at this, but there was one feeling she was suppressing. With how they were talking, she wondered whether she should get up and try and kiss him. It did seem like one of those cute romance scenes in the movies, right? That felt strange though! She couldn't do something so bold. Even with the confidence she tried to show people, Violet was shy and insecure. His words uplifted her and made her blush deeper reds than the most beautiful of roses.

“I-I… Well, I’m glad,” she finally forced out, practically choking on the words. Unable to keep eye contact, she looked down to a provided glass of water and decided to use it as a distraction. She took a drink, probably a little longer than she should, and set the glass down with a softer red in her cheeks. “Thank you, Solomon.”

"There is no need to thank me. If anything, I'm glad we could enjoy some time together like this. If time permits it, I certainly wouldn't be against a second date."

Voicing those genuine words, Solomon shifted his attention to the food being set on their table. The varying aromatic scents only increased his hunger as he took to enjoying his part of the meal as he spoke at length with Violet on any topic they found enjoyable. It was a far cry from the travesty that counted as their first meeting, a fact that brought him no small measure of joy, as well as a fond memory to reflect on in the future. After all, he had certainly done his best to show his support. It was satisfying to see his efforts were bearing fruit, even more so to know she was making strides. His support would never wave, and he would remind her of that until she grew tired of it. For now, he simply enjoyed the various meals he ordered, sampling from each until their meal was properly finished.

A second date, huh? Violet was surprised. They were having fun, but she questioned whether he felt any sort of romance when with her. It was their first date! Violet had to shake the thoughts from her head. It probably took three or four or ten for that to happen. Like she would even know. It was smarter to enjoy each other’s company. If things went that way, then they went that way.

Violet took her time with her food, trying to increase the duration of their date. The longer they sat here, the more they would talk. The more they talked, the more Violet opened up and shared less frustrating parts of herself. In other words, her parents came up very little. Instead, she asked Solomon and shared information about goals, friends, food, places, and accomplishments of the past.

After the two finished eating, and had sat too long, they ended their time at the restaurant and made their way back to Violet’s place. It was a decent walk, as they had traveled pretty deep into the city market areas. They had been out long enough that dinner time had gone by, filling the air with enjoyable talks. Soon, they ended up back at Violet’s house, their date likely soon coming to a close.

“You know, I may take you up on that second date, but I actually just got a promotion at the store… Maybe I can take you somewhere or… I don’t know, buy you something? Or… I don’t know, I can make you something too. I’m a decent cook…”