The restaurant is a din of noise around them and it takes time to sort through the conversations that are important and the ones that aren't, especially with the additional white noise of silverware and plates (and heartbeats) adding to the confusion. He briefly considers taking a deep breath but he doesn't breathe anymore so he's not sure how much good that will do.

Then again, placebo effect. It was calming as a human, maybe it will do the same as a vampire.

He closes his eyes and leans back in his chair, letting his shoulders rise and fall as everything comes back into focus again. It doesn't make the heartbeats go away, however, and Neal sets his jaw as he opens his eyes again, focusing on the woman across the table from him.

"Sorry, it's just ... " Loud. It's very, very loud. " ... Is the wine here yet?"