"Trust me."
And so I relented.
The first course arrived almost instantly, a plate containing two 'Sea Pearls'; delicate spheres about the size of ping pong balls. They didn't look like much, but had the most amazing silky texture and they just melted to nothing in my mouth.
"So, how long have you been with Little Bell?" he asked. Apparently even outsiders knew about our little nickname.
"Just over six years now."
"You like it?"
I shrugged. "It's a great company. They do some really fantastic work and there's lots of variation."
"I'm sensing there's a 'but' coming."
I sighed. I hadn't really planned on whining to him on our first date, but he seemed genuinely interested, and I was sick of bottling up all my frustration. "But I'm starting to feel like it's a dead end."
"Why?"
"It just seems like if something was going to happen for me there it already would have. There aren't many people there who work harder than me, but no matter how much I bust my ass for them, I can't seem to make any progress."
He took a sip of wine. "So why not move somewhere where they respect your talents?"
"I don't know. It would make the last few years feel like a waste, I guess. I hate giving up. Once I start something, I tend to stick to it until I get the job done. Besides, Little Bell is one of the best in the business. If I can make it there, that's a big deal."
"Well, it depends on why you became a lawyer doesn't it? If what you're interested in is 'making it' — and there's no shame in having that as a goal — then yeah, I'd say you're in the right place. But if you're doing it because it's what you love to do, then you might find yourself wasted there."
"What if it's a little of both?"
"That's where it gets tricky," he said with a smile.
"Don't get me wrong, I enjoy what I do," I continued. "And it's not that I care about image or status. I just like a challenge, you know? I want to prove to myself I can do it."
"That's something I can relate to. Sometimes I think I go out of my way to make things difficult for myself, just so it's more fun when I finally get there."
"Exactly," I said. "I've thought about leaving, but it would just be such a big risk, starting over again from scratch."
"Nothing worth having comes risk free."
The second course arrived. Objectively, it was probably as good as the first, but I wasn't paying much attention. Instead, I was rolling Sebastian's words around in my mind. This sort of discussion wasn't what I'd expected from him. Maybe I'd just been blinded by his initial approach, but I'd assumed our table talk would be a little lighter; a flirtatious game of back and forth. Instead, we'd ventured into a real conversation, and Sebastian was proving to be an excellent sounding board. He was honest, intelligent and articulate. It was a strange feeling, realising the two dimensional cut out in my head was deeper than I thought.
"So what about you? You enjoy working at Fraiser?" I asked.
There was a small pause. "It's great," he said with a nod. "I honestly couldn't imagine being anywhere else."
"Well, with the way they seem to take care of their employees, I can't say I'm surprised."
He chuckled. "We work as hard as we play, but they're good to us, yeah."
"I get the sense that they can afford to be."
He shrugged. "We've backed some strong horses recently. It's paid off."
"So that's what it's about then? 'Backing horses'? Sorry, I don't know much about venture capitalism. For me, it's always fallen under the umbrella of 'miscellaneous financial jobs that all seem vaguely the same'."
His indulgent expression said that was a common perception. "Well, in a nutshell, we take people's money and invest it in projects we think might be profitable. Some work out, some don't. We split the profits and losses with our investors."
"Is that what you did for Chase Adams?" The words left my mouth before I could stop them. I hadn't realised it, but that connection was still bothering me.
He did a double take, looking startled for a brief second, but it was gone again in an instant. "Ah, I'd forgotten he was there the other night. Well, to put it simply, yes. He's been a long standing client of ours."
"And now he just comes by and parties with you guys?"
"When he's in town."
I wouldn't have picked a Hollywood A-Lister to spend his time hanging with a bunch of corporate types, no matter how much cash they'd made him, but perhaps I was underestimating them. "So, you guys deal with some pretty big names then. Anyone else I might have heard of?"
He shot me a little smile. "Probably, but all of them would be quite upset if I began talking about their investments in public."
I tried my best to hide my disappointment. Stonewalled again. "Well, it doesn't sound like such a bad deal really," I said. "Getting paid to party with clients and throw huge sums of money around to see what sticks."
He looked amused. "It's a little more complicated than that." But he didn't elaborate further. Apparently, he took his bosses' penchant for secrecy to heart. Learning anything about him was going to be a slow process.
I watched him as he ate. Even doing that, there was an economic grace to his movements that was a joy to behold. It set my mind wandering, imaging what he might look like doing other things.
He caught me staring and grinned, exposing a row of perfect teeth. "And what are you looking at?"
I blushed, somehow sure he knew exactly what I'd been thinking. "Nothing."
"My mistake then," he said.
The third course arrived. Some kind of creamy crab dish that tasted so fresh I wouldn't have been surprised to learn it had been pulled from the sea just minutes earlier.
"So are you enjoying dinner?" he asked me, after we'd both scraped our bowls clean.
I nodded. "I was a little sceptical, but this place definitely lives up to its reputation. My only problem is, I'm not sure what I'm going to do once it's over. You might have ruined me for homemade spag bol and cheap Chinese forever now."