"For drinks or food?"

The question came with a small smile and head tilt.

"For food, I always go with red curry, but drink-wise..." Standing up, she leaned over the table just far enough to look over at the menu he was holding. Her hair lightly grazed his hand as she loomed overhead. Concentration wrinkled her features as she gave the menu a quick lookover.

"mmm... I don't really know." Her lips twitched into a sheepish grin. "I usually just drink water."

Her lips twitched into a nervous smile.

Alcohol.

Normally, if it were annalise henderson or aaron faust asking, she'd brazenly declare herself strong enough to take how many shots they offered. Mostly because she didn't want to be the party pooper of the group, or come across as 'embarrassing to be around'. But, with Vallen occupying the opposing seat across from hers, she couldn't help herself from mulling over the cons of accepting that devilish drink.

"Just one," She eventually responded, easing back into her seat with awkward movements. Her hands fidgeted together as the waiter came and went, collecting their orders without difficulty, and removing the menus from their sight. Alone, again, she sighed, eyes trailing the edges of the table.

"So..."

The question tickled the back of her throat, inducing a small cough.

"Spare time," She echoed back the words, contemplative in her response. Work played a major aspect in her leisure time -- mainly because she enjoyed what she did, for the most part. But, if she were to exclude that aspect of her life entirely, then she'd have to settle with... "Reading, for sure! I try to go to my local bookstore weekly, at least and see if they have anything new in stock. Im," She sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck, "a bit into the romantics. It's hard to describe it, but they're all just SO good."

When the word 'recommendation' fell from his silver tongue, Rory immediately recoiled, cringing at the thought of revealing those titles...

Carefully, she racked her mind of everything and anything she's read in the past year. There had to be something that wasn't smut-filled garbage, right? Something that treaded more on the fluffier side of love?

"Ah..." Her hand instinctively went to her cheek, giving it a soft, slow scratch as she awkwardly kept her lips curled in prolonged thought. "It ends with us...? By Colleen Hoover? You probably haven't heard of it, but it's one of my favorites right now..."

It wasn't. It was more, like, one of her favorites 8 months ago, but Vallen didn't need to know that.

Her eyes followed his fingers, bottom lip curling beneath her teeth. There was something about Vallen going out of his way to research this dumb book that made her heart skip two beats over.

"Ah, okay," She murmured.

Pulling her bangs behind her ear, her eyes lifted back up to meet his, barely catching the start and end of his heart-throbbing smile. A blush crept across her cheeks at his question, "Ahhh, I wouldn't say that," She shook her head. Though, deep down, she knew he was right; nothing would make her squeal more than a guy sweeping her off her feet in a blaze of romantic glory. "I just find them cute, I dunno."

When their drinks arrived, she looked at hers with a wary eye. She'd have to be careful with that one.

"What do you mean," Her brow arched upward and her head naturally tilted to the side, puzzled by the random question. What was there to be excited about, she wondered.