In Defense of my Heart

Gregory startled at Eddie’s sudden appearance. He really needed to keep it together and focus on the investigation at hand. Best to leave personal matters away from the crime scene. Now he had to be professional.

“I’m sorry, Eddie. I’m fine. As you were saying?” prompted Gregory with as neutral of an expression as he could muster. Of course, as luck would have it, Detective Badd was standing in the doorway across the room, conversing with one of the police officers outside.

Eddie frowned.

“Are you sure? You don’t look all that present—”

His attention drifted from his assistant to Badd who was intimidating the officer and sucking on one of his signature lollipops.

“Wait, Mr. E, are you blushing?” whisper-shouted Eddie. “What are you look at over…ohhhhhhh, I see.”

He nearly jumped out of his skin and instinctively grabbed his hat to keep it from falling off. Gregory shushed him loudly, earning a few curious glances from the officers nearby. He pulled his assistant over to the side for a tad more privacy.

“Eddie, please. We’re in the middle of an investigation; we need to stay focused.”

“Uh huh. And what were you looking at again?” Eddie teased.

He had no comeback for that. Taking the silence as a victory, his assistant continued.

“Don’t worry about a thing, Mr. E! I had my suspicions about you two since the beginning. I think you’re at the stage you can start peppering in some good old-fashioned flirting into the mix!”

“…Flirting? Now, I really don’t think that’s appropriate to do in the middle of a crime scene.”

Clearly not listening to his reservations, Eddie whipped out his notepad and began scribbling furiously. He then ripped out the paper and thrusted it into his mentor’s hands.

“Here you go! It’s a rush job but these’ll work!”

Gregory looked down at the pick-up lines. The options seemed a bit too silly to him, but if they work they work, he supposed.

“Uh, thank you. I’ll keep this in mind for later.”

He folded the paper to put into his pocket, but Eddie abruptly grabbed his hand.

“You have to eat it,” he said seriously.

“I believe I can remember a few sentences just fine.”

His assistant refused to let go, a fierce look of determination radiating through his eyes.

“Look, I know you’re gonna get so nervous in front of him you’ll completely blank. It happens to all first-time flirters. Eat it so you don’t forget.”

It wouldn’t be his first time flirting, Gregory thought stubbornly to himself. After all, he did manage to get married just fine a long time ago. He wasn’t completely hopeless, was he?

“If it lets you at ease, then fine,” Gregory relented and Eddie released his hand. There was no use in hesitating further, so in one smooth motion he placed the folded paper in his mouth, chewed carefully, and swallowed, silently praying he wouldn’t get any paper cuts on the way down.

“How do you feel, Mr. E?” Eddie prompted after the silence had drawn on for too long.

He placed his hand to his mouth, unsure of how to even begin answering. On one hand, he felt absolutely ridiculous taking time away from the investigation to swallow a piece of paper because he was insecure about his flirting skills. On the other, he really did feel more confident because of it.