Fuck you for ruining NYC for me (G×G)

I missed you

Thursday, October 7th, 2021

I rescheduled all of my meetings from Thursday afternoon in order to have as much time as needed to finish our conversation from last week. I got home a bit before 1.40 p.m. and decided to stay down in the lobby instead of going home for the last 20 minutes. I was sitting in one of the comfortable chairs in the waiting room next to the reception when Fletcher walked in. I jumped up and walked to her.

"Hi, Cari," I greeted her a bit awkwardly as I didn't know what to do with my body. I really wanted to hug her but I couldn't do it without her consent. "Thank you for coming."

"Hi, Avery. I promised that we will continue our conversation. I still have a lot of questions." Cari said while she looked me up and down. "So are we staying inside? The weather is nice but I don't think it is warm enough to walk around in just a suit."

"Oh, shoot, totally forgot to take a coat with me." I scratched the back of my neck. "Would you mind coming with me to pick one up? Of course, I can also just run up and be back in less than 5 minutes if you don't want to." I suggested both options.

"Run up?" She asked back with a confused expression.

"Oh, I live in one of the apartments attached to the hotel," I explained. "I thought you knew and that's why you wanted to meet around here."

"I didn't know." Cari shook her head amused. "NYC is really working on a different level concerning our constant run-ins. I just thought it would be nice to take a walk along the pier..." She explained. "Let's go, I can walk with you."

"So did you have a good time with Nina on Tuesday?" I asked to break the silence while we were waiting for my elevator.

"Yes, I have been quite busy with my upcoming album, and Nina lives in NJ so we were really in need of a night out together," Cari said as we stepped into the elevator and I typed in my code.
"Nora looks great. I can see that she is happy that you are back."

"Nora is amazing. She has been there for me along the way and she definitely does not let me get too entangled with work. She pulls me out of my head and forces me to socialize." I smiled thinking of Nora and her antics. She calls it "Getting rid of the geek mode" night when it inevitably happens and she claims my evening to stop it.

"Glad to hear that you also had someone to lean on," Fletcher added and, even though I was surprised, I just nodded in agreement.

"We are here," I said while I heard the familiar sound of my stop and the elevator door opened in the next second. "Give me a second and we can go," I said while I entered my closet on the left side of my hallways

I could hear that she took a few steps into the apartment but didn't say anything. I put on one of my lighter, black pecoats which was perfect for today's weather.

"I am ready." I stepped out again and I could finally see that Cari was looking out of the window right next to the kitchen but didn't dare to go further into the apartment. "You can go and check it out if you want."

"No, it is okay." Fletch looked back at me. "I know you don't like people with shoes inside."

I smiled at that comment. She was right, that hasn't changed in the last six years. I couldn't handle shoes inside the house. Especially outside shoes. Maybe it was one of the only things that stuck around in my life from my dad, even though he didn't.

"I can make an exception." I offered.

"Maybe another time." She shook her head and walked back to the door. "Ready?"

I just nodded intensely, I didn't trust my voice after hearing her suggesting the possibility of having her over another time. That insinuated that she wanted to keep seeing me in the future. Right?