saturday mornings are for pancakes // a dream x reader fanfiction

CHAPTER 69: HOME

APRIL 4

OVER ONE YEAR IN NEW YORK

The office is buzzing with excitement today. Everyone is skipping out on their work to crowd around the front desk. Someone brought out a secret bottle of champagne they hid under their desk, and everyone around me drinks it out of the little styrofoam cups from the water fountain.

Magnolia floats across the floor, already on her third cup, and she props herself up next to me. "You know," she begins, "I'm a CEO now."

I laugh. This whole celebration is because she got the promotion, but she's tipsily mentioned many times.

"Someone's going to have to fill my spot." Magnolia's eyes have a glint of mischievousness. "It's only a couple more college classes, and the spot could be yours."

I shake my head immediately. "No, I think I need to stay on the coding side of things, but thank you for sort-of offering it to me."

She waves it off. "No problem, y/n. You're the best."

I drink from my own cup, which contains normal water. Someone yells Magnolia's name across the office.

She turns to me before leaving. "You and Ben will be at my celebration dinner, right?"

I nod once. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Good." And once again, she disappears into the crowd.

_ _ _

I rush around my apartment, trying to find my favorite shirt. I know I washed it last week because I panicked from a string hanging from it. I dig through the clean laundry, then the dirty laundry. I huff and sit in one of the piles, that I'm hoping is clean, as I think about where in the world I put it.

I settle for my second favorite shirt. I have just slid it on when I hear a hesitant knock on my door. I glance at the clock. One of these days I need to remind Ben to stop being so punctual.

"One second," I yell. I glance around the room, only finding one shoe. I pick it up to ensure I don't lose it and head to the door.

"Listen," I say as I fling the door open, "we need to talk about this–" I drop the shoe I was holding. "... punctuality thing.." I fade off my original sentence even though the person in front of me is not who I thought it was going to be.

It's been over a year since we've seen each other in real life, but I've seen his face a hundred times over facetimes in that time. His hair looks a bit curlier than usual, but everything else is exactly how I remembered it.

"What's wrong with my punctuality?" Clay smiles as he asks the question.

Oh god, his smile.

"Hi," was all I could say in response, "You're here."

He chuckles. "I am here. In New York."

I take my hand off the doorknob, and I pull him into a hug. He lets out a surprised gasp as I tug him close, but then he relaxes, wrapping his arms around my waist.

I release from our hug, and I look at him again. I couldn't even function what was happening. Clay's standing in my New York apartment. It's something I–

"Wait." I remember why it's strange for Clay to be in New York. "What are you doing here?"

He rubs the back of his neck with his hand. "I was hoping we could talk."

"We do that on the phone," I point out.

"It's something that needed to be in person."

"Okay," my voice is hesitant. I open my door wider and invite him inside.