Tenth Encounter

Lucas held his breath with anticipation. 

Had Flynn remembered their first meeting yet?

10 year old Flynn had clearly been affected by it if he had told Sarah all about it. It almost seemed too easy to have Flynn remember after a simple sip of Darjeeling.

“I haven’t had Darjeeling for a long time,” Flynn said a moment later. “I must be thinking of the last time I had it. It doesn’t matter much.”

Lucas sat down opposite him and wondered what to do. There had been a hint there and it could be his way in. He had to persevere.

“Did you drink tea a lot as a child?” he asked.

Flynn nodded.

“I did. My parents watered it down at first and I started drinking it fully at around 10? I think that was when it was. I thought it made me seem more sophisticated although it wasn’t sophisticated that I always had to ask someone else to make it for me. I don’t think I’ve had it since I was a child. My aunt didn’t approve of me drinking tea and I only started having it when I moved out.”

That was the longest thing Flynn had ever told him about himself and he knew he had made progress. Flynn was very closed off and guarded with personal information compared to the average person. Hopefully his newfound openness would continue.

“Do you make tea yourself now?” he enquired

Flynn had the grace to look guilty.

“No, Henry makes it for me when I’m at home and Sarah or Meredith makes it for me at work. They don’t normally use Darjeeling so it really has been a long time since I’ve tasted it.”

The look on his face was thoughtful and Lucas could sense he was trying to remember something. He was lucky that anyone making tea for Flynn didn’t use Darjeeling.

“Henry still works for your family? was his next question.

He remembered the butler from the garden party. It had been his first time meeting an actual butler. His parents hadn’t quite been rich enough to excuse having a butler and they were a nouveau riche family compared to the Chadwicks.

Flynn’s eyes narrowed at him.

“Yes, he does and he remembers you.”

Lucas took that to mean that Henry wouldn’t tell him anything. Flynn was easy to read on some matters.

“Is that so? I always thought I was fairly memorable,” he commented. “What do you think of the scones?”

Flynn shot him a suspicious look before taking a bite of the scones. A slight smile appeared on his face and Lucas took that to mean he liked them.

“They’re good,” he said. “Were you thinking of adding them to the menu? It’s traditionally British more than French.”

“I thought you were going for a twist on the traditional French patisserie,” Lucas replied. “I think it would be a good idea to give people some familiarity.”

Flynn nodded.

“That’s true. We can have a different section of the menu for things like this.”

Lucas took a sip of his own tea and ate his own scones. He didn’t enjoy eating his own creations with the same enjoyment that he ate other people’s. It was a common thing in his field of work though. He critically analysed his own creations instead. This time he felt like he hadn’t quite achieved the perfect scone texture.

At least Flynn enjoyed them. That was enough for him.

“I also think we should have lunch somewhere else nearby to check out the competition,” he said casually.

If he played it right, Flynn wouldn’t connect it up with being a date.

Flynn looked up from his scone and nodded.

“That’s a good point. We don’t want to be too similar to other nearby places, although… things like that were covered when we selected this location over other potential ones. We should definitely still go as it’s been a while since this location was arranged. There would have been some major changes.”

Lucas’ heart rose a little with hope. Flynn had seen the flaw in the plan, but instead of refusing to go based on that flaw, he had chosen to override it and agreed to go with him.

That was a good sign for his plan to get Flynn’s heart.

“We’ll go in an hour then,” he said. “I will get back to the kitchen until then. I have some cakes to decorate.”

***

Lucas finished putting the last edible pearl on his fondant quilted cake and stepped back to admire the effect. The clock on the wall caught his attention and he realised it was now time to leave for his lunchtime date with Flynn.

The love of his life was waiting for him by the front door. Flynn opened the door as soon as he saw him approaching. Lucas took that to mean he was eager to go on a date with him. He suppressed a smile with difficulty.

“I’ve decided on the place so we can maximise our time effectively,” Flynn said after locking the door behind them. “It’s an independent cafe down the road. It has very good reviews and offers a lot of cake which is why it’s somewhere to keep an eye on.”

Lucas fell into step next to him and looked down at Flynn. His gaze was focused and he knew that Flynn was more confident when discussing business matters.

“I’m sure the cake there is inferior to the ones I make,” he replied with a smirk.

Flynn smiled up at him..

“It probably is.”

Lucas felt his own face heat up. The smile accompanied by a compliment was strong enough to have an effect on him. Once Flynn started flirting with him, if that ever happened, he would be a blushing mess.

“...You have a lot of faith in me,” he said. “I can only hope it will be justified.”

Flynn nodded and they carried on along the street until they came to the cafe in question. He went into business mode again when they stepped inside. Lucas could see his quick glances around.

The cafe was quite different to the patisserie with white walls, net curtains and shabby chic style furniture. The cake counter caught his attention and he surveyed the wide variety present. They were definitely homemade cakes from someone who knew a few things about baking.

“Are you going to take some back and get me to make the same cakes?” he whispered to Flynn.

The love of his life smiled again.

“That’s an interesting idea, but no. I would prefer it if you made different things so people don’t compare us.”

Lucas felt that he really was being spoiled by all the smiles.

“That’s true. Let’s just order their most popular things,” he replied.

The cafe was getting busy and another couple was already waiting behind them so he walked forward to the main counter to order whilst Flynn went to look for a table. He asked the person serving for the most popular menu items so he could impress Flynn with his market research.

The most popular items turned out to be ice cream floats, club sandwiches, cream tea and death by chocolate cake. Lucas elected to skip the cream tea due to the one they had eaten an hour before and carried a tray with the other three items to the table that Flynn had picked out.

By now Flynn had taken off his coat and was looking around at the photos on the wall. They were mostly of instagram style photos of cakes.

“Do you like looking at shots of instagram worthy cake?” Lucas asked as he set the tray down carefully.

Flynn changed his attention to him and then the cake.

“Death by chocolate is their best selling cake? I’ve found it’s easy for people to overdo the chocolate and it ends up tasting very sickly instead.”

Lucas picked up the ice cream float and put it in front of Flynn and did the same with the cake and then the sandwiches.

The love of his life took hold of the straw with his lips and sipped at the ice cream float. Lucas’ thoughts took a momentary turn for the dirty.

“The drink is actually quite nice,” Flynn commented. “They’ve used high quality ingredients, we can add something similar to the drinks menu.”

Lucas tried his glass and found the same result. It was reminiscent of something he would have as a child.

Flynn tried the sandwich and pronounced it passable and moved onto the cake with more visible enthusiasm. The cake was attractive with two neat layers of chocolate sponge, swirled chocolate frosting and chocolate shavings on the top.

From the look of extreme concentration on Flynn’s face, he knew he had gone into critical mode. It reminded him of their first meeting where Flynn had given him a surprising amount of sass for someone that young.

“What do you think?” he asked when he saw Flynn swallow.

“It’s just below the line between sweet and sickly. Anymore and it would be too much. It could do with less frosting though. If you do add one to the menu, keep the frosting to a minimum and be careful with the sugar to cocoa ratio.”

Flynn paused and Lucas wondered if he had found his own words familiar.

“It’s something to watch out for,” he added a moment later. “Do you think everything will be ready before opening day?”

“I think between us, we can do it,” Lucas answered. “I do the baking and you do the planning. We make a good team.”

“I feel the same way.”

Today was looking to be a good day for him. Flynn had nearly remembered him twice and complimented him twice. Things were looking up for him. Another day together and Flynn might actually remember him.

“When the patisserie opens, will you desert me?” he asked.

Flynn blinked and he could see he had surprised him. It had been one of his concerns. Right now Flynn was spending a lot of time with him for the sake of preparing everything for opening day and long term operations. When that time had passed, he would just be another company employee to him which wasn’t good for his plan.

“That’s… an odd term to use,” Flynn said. “I won’t desert you, we just won’t see each other as regularly. I will visit a lot though. I like your chocolates and cakes.”

Should he try asking the obvious question? Lucas was in two minds about it. Then he remembered that it was hard to get opportunities like this so he went for it.

“Do… you like me?” Lucas asked.