Illicit Affairs

Coffee

"Alice?" She vaguely registers a voice saying. "Alice, honey, wake up." Hal shakes her shoulder to wake her, and she flutter her eyes open, looking at him with a groggy expression.

"What? What's wrong?"

"You're going to be late."

"Why?" She shoots up straight as rod and reaches for her alarm clock. "Shit!" She hisses out. She must have turned it off and fell back asleep, she'd normally be on her way to work right now.

She jumps out of bed and makes a beeline for the bathroom, combing her hair up into a ponytail and brushing her teeth. She doesn't have much time but she still manages to swipe on some lipstick and mascara, giving her some semblance of a put together appearance.

"Can you give me a hand?" She asks Hal as she struggles to reach the zipper on her dress. He does so, watching as the dress hugs her curves perfectly. "Thank you."

"You look beautiful."

She smiles at him, using his shoulder for balance as she slips on a pair of heels. She presses a chaste kiss to his lips. "I love you. I'll see you when I get home, have a good day."

_

She makes it to work just in the knick of time, much to her surprise, and manages to slip in without anyone seeing her. She's always early, something that people admire in her.

She briefly finds herself wondering if FP was late as well, she had left shortly after him but still, she wonders if he feels as burnt out as she does.

However, if he was late, he was still earlier than she is, that much is proven by the coffee and muffin on her desk. She picks up the sticky note attached to the takeout cup:

Thought you might need this. -FP

(P.s don't worry, I didn't poison it.)

She smiles at the kind gesture, she wasn't expecting it after she had treated him last night, but she's grateful for it. She's sure she'd be a zombie all day without coffee, and FP's right, the coffee they have at the office, is awful.

_

"Come in." Alice calls in response to the knock on her door. She looks up to see FP walk in and gives him a small smile.

"Hey, thought I'd bring you the Crimson file. I've got it all signed, but just in case you wanted to give it a once over."

"Oh great, thank you." She takes the file from him and thumbs through it, making sure that everything is signed properly, not that she doubts him, just a force of habit.

"Hope you won't kill me for using a stamp instead of handwriting the company name." He teases.

"I suppose I can let it slide, just this one time." He smiles at her, and she briefly notices his eyes give her a quick once over. She feels her cheeks flush and she's suddenly all too aware of her appearance and how little time she had put into it today. She awkwardly clears her throat, breaking the awkward tension between them. "I, um, I was going to come find you later. I wanted to thank you for the coffee and muffin, it was a much appreciated surprise."

"Little tired this morning?" He chuckles.

"To put it lightly, yeah. Hal had to wake me because I fell back asleep. I was almost late."