Tristan was used to coming up with well detailed plans. Plans that, when told to other people often received high praise, and if they needed to be changed a bit. The adjustments necessary to make them perfect were only minor.
But seated across from him, Ariel was looking at him as though not only was his well thought out plan of how they would operate flawed. But that the flaws were so big that if they were holes in a ship, then it would have been at the bottom of the ocean.
All of that over her feeling they needed a story.
Looking over at Ariel, Tristan wanted to tell her that she was being ridiculous. There was no need to waste time coming up with a story for people. At the end of the day they were engaged, and pretty soon they would be getting married.
Surely, other human beings had more important things to worry about than wonder exactly how he and Ariel got to be an item. 'You are being ridiculous,' He wanted to come out right and tell her that. But he decided that that would be a bit too harsh. And so he bought himself some time by enjoying his wine as he thought on how to delicately put her down. Setting the glass on the pristine white tablecloth, he looked at her.
"Ariel, I am certain that to you coming up with a story will be very important. But as soon as we announce our engagement to the world, people will be so wrapped up in the story, and in following what's going on in the moment that they will not care about our backstory,"
"Afterwards there will be more scandals and stories out there. We will simply disappear into the background," There, a well thought out statement that was not rude, or dismissive. Surely she would get the point now. But to his surprise, Ariel shook her head. "It is not going to be as simple as you think," She told him. Looking so completely certain of that fact that Tristan decided to hear her out.
"And why exactly is it that you feel that we won't be able to just go on ahead without people trying to delve into our past. After all, the future and the present will be much more interesting?" Taking a sip of her own wine, Ariel swallowed before replying to his question.
"Because we will be selling them a love story, not a hot dog off the street. People adore love stories and one of their favourite things is the get together. If we do not have that part locked down, then they will most definitely begin to doubt us," Tristan heard everything she said. But he really did not think that a back story could be that important.
"If somebody is too nosy we will simply brush them off, or switch the conversation over to something else. That should be easy enough," Ariel shook her head.
"You do it one time, people will let it slide. But around the fourth and fifth time they will start noticing that something is up," Tristan sighed, but he had to agree with her. Evasiveness like that would be very easy to spot. Given that he lived amongst sharks, that would be akin to blood in the water. Something that he did not want at all. Especially around a person like his cousin Zachariah.
That would literally be Tristan giving the man a knife and asking him not to stab him in the back. "Alright, then maybe we can just tell them whatever comes to mind at the moment. Then we can create this big thing where people believe we don't want to share our love story because we want it to be just between the two of us," Again, Ariel shook her head.
"I am a nervous liar. Whenever I feel cornered, either the first thing out of my mind is a completely horrible lie or it's the very honest truth. Can you imagine the looks that people would give us if I told them that our love story is that the very first time we met, I was on my knees between your legs in a matter of seconds," Tristan felt the blush spread from his neck all the way to the tips of his ears. He tried to take a sip of wine to calm himself but he ended up almost choking. Coughing to relieve the pressure in his throat, he glared at her half-heartedly.
"You did not have to say it like that. It sounded so dirty," He told her. Looking unrepentant as she dug into her meal, Ariel shrugged. "That is exactly my point. If me saying that was enough to get you to react in such a manner. Can you imagine how an absolute stranger who was not there when all of this was going down will react if I say that?" Just thinking of what his cousin would do, or what a member of the press would do if they ever caught wind of the story made Tristan feel queasy.
She was absolutely right. Thinking that they did not need a backstory had been a very big oversight on his part. He would have to convince everybody that he and Ariel were a love match. If they did not have a proper get together story then that would be very difficult to do. "Thank you for making me see how important it is to have a backstory," He began, pausing when he saw the way her eyes widened, like she had not expected him to be grateful to her.
A pink flush rose across her cheeks and to his embarrassment, Tristan felt his ears get even hotter. Clearing his throat in a bid to get over the awkward moment, he continued his statement. "You are absolutely right. We need to come up with a meet cute. Do you have anything in mind?" Her own blush fading, Ariel nodded.