Offices and Orchards (A New Adult Sweet Romance)

Chapter 9

The group of S and W employees waved at them from a table in the corner, drinks already in hand, and smiles already plastered on faces. It was a mixed group. "Hello you two," A soft-spoken African-American man said, holding up two shots of clear liquid as they neared. Bradley Curtis was the head of human resources. He had contributed to the Carter project they had finished the day before and had sat in with Chan on the meeting with the client that morning. "It's Staffordshire and Wells' newest superstar and his sidekick. Let's see if you can drink as well as you work." a shot was pressed into each of their hands, and Harvey held his out to cheers her. She wasn't too happy about being called the sidekick, but before she could protest, he clinked their little glasses together, and threw back the drink. "Oh man, Tequila?" She coughed and her glass was filled again. "Oh hold on!" Bradley intervened, "there's the issue of age." He said to whoever had filled the shot glasses. "Don't worry, we'll just finish this one," Harvey reassured Bradley. "Salt and lemon, let's at least do it right!" Autumn called out, tipping salt into her hand, licking it, taking the shot, and then biting onto the lemon. Tequila was a good summery drink.
"Not sure you want to know what happens when I drink tequila." she said with the second glint Harvey had ever seen in her eye. "What happens?" Bradley Curtis asked. "Yes, what happens?" Harvey added, a little too eagerly.
"I get numbers wrong," She said with a laugh. "8's become 2's." The others laughed and she felt proud of herself for saying something in front of a group of people at work, the kind of thing she would try to avoid at all costs.
"You? Get numbers wrong? Never!" Harvey said. She looked him in the eyes and smiled: A full mouth, crinkle at the eyes, real, genuine smile. At him. She was beautiful when she was angry, but when she smiled a real smile? Her full lips pulled back, white teeth on display, green eyes twinkling? He could have fallen in love with her that very second. Maybe he did, just a little bit.
The Park Bar was known for it's delicious bar food and impressive array of beverages. The group was served huge platters piled up with fries smothered in rich curry sauce, buffalo wings, hearty loaded potatoes, sliders, and three kinds of gourmet pizzas. I guess I will get my pizza after all, Autumn thought, before proceeding to devour a bit of everything in front of her.  She scarfed all she could down, not realizing exactly how hungry she'd been until her fourth slice of pizza. "Where did you put all of that?" Harvey looked at her empty plate. "I was hungry," She replied as she took a sip of the long-island iced tea she had been given. The iced tea was alcohol-free if her taste buds were judging.
"Another tequila shot?" somebody said, putting down the little glasses in front of them. Autumn picked up hers, threw Harvey a look, then put it back in a second, setting the glass back down on the table with a flourish, returning to her meal as if nothing had happened. She was like a different person!
"It's not a celebration until the interns are tipsy." Someone presented the table with another pitcher of iced tea like it was a championship trophy. "My liver is going to hate me," she mumbled, to no one in particular. "You take a day off tomorrow, do a few green juices. You'll be good as new!" Harvey replied.
"You think I don't look new?" Autumn replied in mock-anger, looking up at him through long lashes, simultaneously filling two glasses. She handed one to him, cheersed and took a draught. A pleasant haze started to cloud Autumn's vision, her exhaustion melting away, being replaced with a feeling of thankfulness and joy: to be celebrating finishing orientation at a company she was proud to be at, for something she was good at, with a group of people, and in particular one person, she was getting more and more comfortable being around.
The S and W employees spent the afternoon drinking, eating, chatting. Harvey shared a few stories that had the group rolling with laughter. Autumn wished she was more confident, funny. No wonder people liked him. Why was he so sarcastic and condescending and rude to her?
By the end of the event, the group had gone through a staggering amount of food and alcohol. After the bill had been paid, it was a matter of minutes until most had cleared out of the still noisy bar, leaving Harvey, Autumn and a couple of stragglers with the scraps of food to pick at. "Well, it's been a pleasure," Harvey said. They held up what was left of their drinks, and they proudly cheersed each other: "We did it, congratulations!"
"I'm going to need to call us a cab. I definitely can't drive you home now. Is that okay with you?" Harvey asked.
The taxi ride through the city seemed impossibly long. With the noise of the bar gone, and the alcoholic daze settling in, combined with the exhaustion leftover from the past few weeks, Autumn dozed off. When they pulled over at her apartment building, she found her head resting against Harvey's shoulder. She jumped upright, mumbling "Sorry, I must have fallen asleep." She had started to wonder what it would feel like to be that close to Harvey, actually she had even thought of pretending to fall asleep as a guise for laying her head on a high school crush when they had returned from a field trip together, she never thought she would actually have fallen asleep. Her cheeks flushed crimson. She expected to see him to say something unkind, or to make fun of her, but he looked concerned. "You ok?"
"Fine. Thanks. I'll just be going now." She mumbled, exiting the taxi. To her surprise, Harvey stepped out as well. "I just want to make sure you're ok."
Autumn shook her head. "I'm fine,"
"I'll just walk you up to your door, ok?" She threw him a look, a little confused by this new direction their relationship seemed to be going in
When they got up to her floor, she unlocked the door to her apartment and pushed inside, adding "You want a drink of water?"
When they stepped inside, Autumn was instantly embarrassed. She had forgotten about the mess that had built up. She started to quickly scoop up clothing into her arms before depositing them in a pile. Harvey's eyes roamed over her apartment, a small smile on his lips. "I never thought that perfect Autumn Barnett would secretly be messy," he chuckled. Autumn groaned. "You know the week that we've had."
"I didn't say it wasn't cute." Harvey stood near the door, his hands in his pockets. Autumn swallowed thickly, going to the kitchen to grab them both glasses of water. You're tipsy and tired, and he's just being nice. She returned to the door with his glass, which he threw back in a three gulps. "Thanks. I needed that. Ok Barnett, I just wanted to make sure you got home ok. I'm going to head home myself. I'll see you Monday. Can't believe it's gonna be September already. Have a good weekend," Autumn glanced over at him, and mumbled "You too McIntosh. Bye." She closed the door on him and went over to the couch and plopped down, bursting into tears. It was nearly September. She had been so busy with her internship she hadn't really paid attention to the dates. But every time she even heard the name of the month, her heart broke.
She could still recall hearing the rumors going around in her class- another student had just come back after being at a dentist appointment and had heard something then. Autumn found out later the teachers had been told not to say anything, wanting to leave the conversation to the parents. But the kids found out somehow and when her mother had showed up to pick her up, She knew what she had heard was true. The teachers didn't know where her father had been that morning.
She could still recall her friends, 11 or 12 at the time. They kept her as busy as they could, always calling, always coming by for no reason while Autumn stayed home from school with her mom. It was at least October until she went back.
Even now, it's hardest when I'm by myself, she thought, seeing his silhouette walking out the front door, hearing the screen door bang and bounce close behind him.
***
Autumn awoke on her sofa with a faint pounding in her head and no idea how long she had slept. She replayed the events of the day before in her mind, and exhaled deeply. Shaking her head clear of sleep, she got up and wandered over to her bedroom, picking up clothes off of the ground and dumping them on the bed, before flopping down on top of them. Thank goodness I've got the weekend ahead of me! Some much deserved down time. What a crazy few weeks. Not another summer's day to waste. Ok, shower and coffee, for starters. Still can't believe I like coffee now.