Illicit Affairs

A Beautiful Friendship

She's up almost an hour before her alarm, having had a restless nights sleep as her mind raced with thoughts. FP had said that his invite was purely platonic, and Alice believes him, she knows he won't make a move. But there's a little part of her that wonders, what if he did?

She spends more time on her appearance than usual, though if anyone were to ask, she'd say it's because of the meeting she has that afternoon, and absolutely not because she's meeting FP for coffee. She's even convinced herself that's the reason.

She gives her appearance a once over, and spritzes on her best perfume, before heading downstairs, where Hal is sitting at the dining table, flipping through the newspaper. "Hey hon, you were up early this morning."

"I have a meeting later, gotta make a good impression." She pecks a kiss to Hal's cheek. "I'm gonna head out, I'll see you tonight."

"You're leaving early."

"Thought I'd stop at a coffee shop." She explains. "A colleague told me about this little place over on Fifth Street, thought I'd give it a try. The coffee at the office tastes like cardboard."

"Oh, alright then. Have a good day, good luck with your meeting."

_

Traffic was much worse than she had anticipated, resulting in her anxiously tapping her fingers on the steering wheel every time she glanced at the time.

When she does finally arrive she finds FP waiting at one of the cafe tables. "Hey." She speaks softly, her cheeks blushing.

"Oh hey!" He replies, standing up to greet her. "Thought you stood me up." He smirks.

"Traffic was bad, sorry. I even left early so I would have some time to get here."

She may just be imagining things, but something's different about him. He's dressed as nicely as he always is, but his hair is more styled, his cologne is stronger, and his voice is warmer, more cheery. Maybe he was just as excited to see her as she was to see him.

"Well I'm starved and need some coffee."

"Now that's something we agree on." She smirks.

They both order their coffees and something for breakfast and take up residence at a table in the corner.

"So?" FP starts. "Tell me about yourself, tell me how the almighty Alice Cooper made her way to the top ranks."

She smiles a little. "Well I was always a hard worker in school, and I knew from a young age what I wanted to do, nothing was going to get in my way." He chuckles. "I got a job at the firm a little while after I got out of school and just slowly clawed my way up to the top."

"I admire that." FP tells her honestly.

"It wasn't easy, people weren't exactly thrilled about letting a woman surpass them. Kinda hard to ignore me when I was better than all of them combined."

He chuckles. "Ah, so you've always been cocky, huh? Thought that was just something you picked up to bug me."

"I wouldn't call it cockiness," she corrects. "I'd call it confidence."

"Oh really?" FP quirks an eyebrow. "Whatever you say Coopy."

_

"Hey, would you mind giving me a second opinion on the King case?" Alice asks as she and FP walk into the firm.

"Yeah, absolutely." He follows her into her office and sets his coffee cup on her desk. "Flattered you're asking me for my opinion. Guess we're making progress, huh?"