"I don't know if I'm that good an actor," Stephen deadpans, feigning uncertainty in her proposal. In all honesty, though, it sounds good. He suspects the reason Molly gets him out of the office more than his past girlfriends ever could is precisely because she's as much of a workaholic as he is. She gets it, enough that she doesn't mind that they're working a city council election in a shabby little office with a fraction of the resources that he's used to. Or was, at least. Spend long enough anywhere, he figures, and a person's gonna adapt.

He taps his pen against his desk, pretending to think it over. "But, sure, I could go for dinner and a movie and pretending to be reasonably normal people." Besides, sometimes he likes to yield to her without any resistance just to see how pleased she looks when she gets her way.