Offices and Orchards (A New Adult Sweet Romance)

Chapter 12

Autumn awoke with a start, lifting her head from his shoulder.
"I fell asleep?" She jumped up, embarrassed, brushing herself off. Did I drool on him? Did I snore? Oh my goodness. "I'm sorry, it was just so comfortable...I guess.... I'm still recovering from everything that's been going on," Autumn's internal monologue from earlier reappeared: Should I be doing this? Do we like each other? I don't know what to do.
"It's fine, I dozed off for a few minutes myself. I think we're both still dealing with the fallout of orientation. We should head back though."
They grabbed the apples they had picked putting them in muslin sacs and into the trunk of Harvey's car.

A lowering sun bathed the walls and roof of an old red barn with a golden light and cast the shadow of a little sheep against the siding. The leaves on the Red Maples are as rosy as if it were spring, and the fields looked like rolling seas of emerald velvet. At around 6pm, Harvey pulled up to Autumn's  apartment building, remembering exactly where it was without even asking, but instead of just pulling over to let her out, he parked the car right out front. Autumn's heart rate leapt up as she wondered if he was going to try and kiss her goodnight. She hadn't brushed her teeth since the morning. "Are you free tonight?" he said instead, she looked at him with raised eyebrows and when she did not answer, he added,
"I've just had such a wonderful day with you, I'd love to keep it going. I'll give you twenty minutes, Barnett. Go get ready. We're going on a date."
"I can do ten," where was this fun and flirty persona coming from? Autumn was impressed with her normally very shy self. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror on the way up in the elevator and she was smiling. You like him!!! Look how excited and happy you are! But cool it.
"Great, I'll come up to get you,"
Autumn hurried upstairs to get ready. Picking out an outfit was easy: she wanted to look nice for him, she wanted to look cute. Not her normal self in work clothes and kitten heels. Her little white lace skater dress was one of her summer favourites. It fell just shy of knee length, flaring out at her hips, and was comfortable. She paired it with some flat sandals. She brushed her teeth, popped on some deodorant, perfume and refreshed her makeup, opting for some deep pink lipstick that she generally used for fancier occasions. She kept her hair in the messy bun she had been sporting all day, retying it to tighten it up a bit. Harvey knocked on the door just as she was finishing up her mascara. With a deep breath, she surveyed the reflection in the mirror: I don't look too bad.
"You look nice," he produced a bouquet of flowers from behind his back when she opened the door to him.
"Where did you get these from? Thank you so much! I'll just put them into some water," she hurried off to look for a vase in the cupboards. Flowers? Seriously where DID he get them from? This really was a real date. Nobody had ever gotten her flowers before.
Harvey stood at the edge of the living room, his hands in his pockets. He had somehow changed his clothes as well, into dark blue jeans and a plain white t-shirt. The apartment felt suddenly smaller with him in it.
"Sorry, I still haven't had a chance to clean up!" Her face turned the same shade as some of the apples. Her place was a mess.
"I'll make sure I get you home at a reasonable hour tonight. I think we're both in need of a good sleep and some time at home. But, I'm hoping you're hungry?"  All of a sudden, Autumn realized that she was starving: they had not eaten since Truffles that morning.
"You read my mind," literally. He did seem to be reading her mind. He had gotten the food exactly right at breakfast, and somehow, he had gotten the day's activities right with the trip to the orchard. Never ever would I have thought that apple picking might be something that I'd enjoy. And now he was doing it again. Nah, being hungry at dinner time is normal. Don't get carried away girl.
Shortly thereafter, they pulled up to a casual food truck-cum-restaurant with patio on the lakefront. "This is where you're taking me?"
"You don't like it?" His voice went up a little higher than he intended. He was trying to impress her without overdoing it. Plus he loved this place so having her with him was a good excuse to come.
"No, it's great, I love alfresco dining, I just didn't think that this was your kind of place,"
Long timber tables and benches were lined up next to each other in the patio area, with light bulbs strung off of poles around the patio railings.
"You don't know me that well it seems. basically my ideal place: schnitzel and sausages and beer and outdoor dining. Apple pickers know that food tastes better outside." He winked at her. She too was an apple picker too now after today.
There were Bavarian blue and white-colored ribbons tied to each of the poles and candles in lanterns on the tables. "At least it seems authentic,"
"How can you tell?"
"The blue and white – they are Bavarian colors. I went Munich for Oktoberfest one year, which I was really surprised to learn is actually in September," Harvey gave a wave to the man working at the food truck kitchen area, and indicated that they were gonna sit down on the patio.
"I'd love to be able to do that sometime,"
"What's that?"
"Go to Munich,"
"What's stopping you?"
"Work. My studies, maybe. But I really couldn't leave during harvest."
"Yeah. I get that, I never like having to leave the seaside in the summertime- this year was such a big change for me."She cocked her head and examined his face- the soft blue eyes, the shared jaw, the full lips. I think I might have gotten this guy completely wrong.
"Maybe that's why you've been so stressed and tired this past month?" He was right, she had been stressed and tired, but for her, that was pretty commonplace around this type of year seeing as September 11th was nearly there. But this year, she really hadn't felt like herself at all. In a good way. The internship was doing more for her than she expected, than she even realised.
"How about I order this time? two steins of Beck's. from Bremen in the north of Germany,"
"Have you been there too?"
"Yeah. Love it up there. You heard of the Town Musicians of Bremen? It's an old fairy tale I loved as a child." He shook his head and scrunched il his forehead. "It's cute, a donkey, dog, cat and rooster are trying to make their way in the world when they find a house that's been taken over by robbers. They manage to scare them off and live happily ever after together. That's the super abridged version at least, but ever since I was a child, I always wanted to go and visit the city where they came from." Harvey just kind of stared at his date while she spoke. He'd never seen her like this before- she seemed down-to-earth, not stuck up at all, for one, but above all, she seemed relaxed and at-ease, and she had never been more beautiful. The hanging fairy lights cast a soft glow on her cheeks and she had never smiled so much. She had a dimple on the right side of her face, just one, he noticed. And all he could think of washe wanted to kiss it
Autumn chose the 'Bunteteller', or colourful plate, a mix of pork knuckle, Bavarian sausages, potatoes and a large schnitzel, all piled up on a bed of sauerkraut.
"Prost!" They cheeses and more dug into the food, chatting about places they'd been to and where they wanted to visit.
"You don't like chicken?" Harvey was incredulous that she would not eat the schnitzel, "Not even chicken schnitzel?"
"Schnitzel's good, but I just ate chicken all the time last year. Roast chicken was the easiest ready-made hot meal to get at the grocery store so I'm a bit over it at this point. But you don't like spicy. How do you not like spicy food?" Harvey could not handle what Autumn thought was the mild heat of the hot mustard that was on the plate for the sausages.
"We never ate too much growing up. It's not that I don't like it, it's just that I haven't had much experience I think."

When Autumn came back from paying the bill, she grabbed Harvey's shoulder, squeezing it gently, and saying "Where to next?" she was a little tipsier than she had realized from all of the beer, but it made her feel more confident in flirting with him. "Let's walk around. see what we can see," Harvey ventured.

They walked down one of the streets along the lake and Autumn felt a warmth all over her but she was not sure if that was from the beer, the weather or the company. In any case, was it too early to rejoice at a fantastic first date? Thankfully, it was Sunday tomorrow, and so there was still another day off before going back to work and she could think about things.
"Cupcakes? I have a major sweet tooth," She followed Harvey's gaze to a café a little ways up the street. The baby pink sign was aglow with a cupcake and coffee cup.
"You read my mind... again," He put his arm around her shoulder to give her a little squeeze and releasing her, the couple walked off toward the shop in the warm air of the evening.