the twenty-first century ellinghams

chaprer fourteen: an offer

~about eleven years ago~

their second date is a train wreck. at least in the beginning. that morning when she had gotten into her car, her check engine light was on. unable to deal with it at the moment, she took an uber to work. one of her superiors had her sitting in on an interrogation, absolutely sure that the guy would confess within the hour. he did not. as far as she knew when she finally left at seven, he still hadn't, and the interrogation had started at four.
rushing home and getting ready as quick as possible, she had to explain to her mom over the phone about how, "your facebook hadn't been hacked, it just updates, mom." she finally arrives at the theater at eight, half an hour past the movie starting. she scans the dark theater for david, who's sitting in the middle back. there weren't any typical movie seats, they were all love seats or couches. he waves her over, and she goes over to him, sitting down on the couch with a sigh.
"rough day?" he asks, extending a box of junior mints, her favorite, towards her.
"you have no idea," she says, pulling one from the box. "what did i miss?"
"oh, you know. birds." she looks towards the screen, watching as flocks of birds begin to attack school children. he looked nice again tonight, in a casual way. he was wearing a pair of black converse, jeans, with a navy blue and forrest green flannel over a white shirt. he had traded out the rolex for a couple of string bracelets, and he had written something on his lower arm. without thinking, she rotates his arm to see it better. it says "junior mints" in his messy handwriting.
"what's this?" she whisper asks.
"oh, um," he laughs, clearly a bit embarrassed. "when you said yes to the movie idea, i texted janelle to make sure you still liked junior mints. and i wrote it down, so i wouldn't forget." she recalls the phone call with janelle last night on her way home. she had asked her if she still liked junior mints, blaming it on being "just curious."
"oh," she replies, unable to contain her smirk.
"yeah." she slides her hand away from his wrist and into his hand, and he takes it. then, with her other hand, she steals another junior mint.
"thanks." she pops it into her mouth.
he laughs, "of course." the moment settles, and for a moment, she thinks that the evening just might go smoothly. that is, until the projection begins to stop running smoothly, then not at all. a guy walks out from the projection room and into the theater.
"it seems that our film for 'the birds' has some water damage that we were unaware of. we're very sorry to announce, but we will not be able to show this movie until at least next sunday. please consider seeing one of our other showings tonight, listed in our lobby. have a wonderful evening," he says.
before he's out of the room, someone shouts, "will we get a refund?"
the man pauses in his stride. "no, i'm sorry," then, much quicker than before, hurries out of the room. there's a collective groan from the group. stevie and david get up and go out into the lobby. they examine the showings list but are unimpressed by their options. they walk outside, and they're greeted by dark grey storm clouds looming above.
"i know a place, a diner, not far from here, just a few blocks. we'll have to walk though, i took an uber here," she says, looking up at the sky.
"sounds good," he replies. they begin walking down the street, making small talk along the way. they're about three blocks into a five block journey, when suddenly, with a boom of thunder, the skies open up. it begins to pour down, hard and forcefully.
"oh shit!" she yells. they both hurry to get under a bus stop covering, but the rain is coming down so hard it does little to help.
"we should just go back to the theater!" david yells over the pouring rain. she shakes her head.
"we're closer to the diner than the theater! it's smarter to just keep moving forward!" she replies.
"how far away is the diner?"
"two blocks!"
"two blocks?"
"yeah!"
"okay... i guess we're gonna have to run! ready?"
"i guess!" he takes her hand, and they begin running through the rain, getting absolutely poured on. by the time they get to the diner, they're completely soaked. they stop for a moment in front of the counter, catching their breath. they look at each other in their soaked clothes and begin to laugh. it's the kind of laugh where once you start, it's hard to stop. the hostess eyes them both suspiciously, clearly not wanting two wet twenty-somethings in her establishment. she impatiently drums her fingers on the counter. finally, they both get it together and catch their breath.
"table for two?" david asks.

~present day~

"welcome back everyone! how was the holiday break?" stevie asks the class, leaning casually against her desk while addressing the room. a few students mutter a "good" or "fine" which was, to be fair, better than usual. she laughs, "alright, well, let's take all that enthusiasm and transfer it into looking over our first semester exams, shall we?" groans from the group. "ugh, you're killing me!" she jokes. she pulls the stack of exams from off her desk behind her and begins walking up and down the aisles of counters. "new year, new attitude. right?"

the last student walks out the door, and she quickly shuts it behind her.
"i need a coffee," she mutters to herself. she grabs her coat and bag from under her desk. she walks quickly out of the science building and into the cold vermont air, booking it to her car. between her graduation and returning to teach, ellingham had invested in making the main road that went in and out more accessible. students still couldn't drive up during orientation weekend and the coach system was still in place, but she and david could still take their own cars to and from. she had just pulled out of the starbucks drive thru, coffee in hand, david's in a cup holder, when her phone starts to buzz. then, the car screen informs her she has an incoming call from her old boss. she assumes it's just a holiday message, the one she always got from him every year. she presses a button to accept the call.
     "jim, hi! how are things? how was your holiday break?" she asks. he laughs.
     "nice, as always. i love paul, but, and i mean this lovingly, he cannot cook." she laughs too.
     "is that why we never had dinner at your guys' house? or is it because you can't clean?" she teases.
     "touché, bell. i guess my husband and i aren't the best hostesses. but i love him, so what can i do? anyways, i have something important to talk to you about."
     "what is it?"
     "we need you to come back."

     it takes her a moment to process the statement. in the end, she still can't. "you have my number" was more of a thing said to ease the parting, like how you say, "i hope we can still be friends."
     "what?" she replies, immediately regretting how stupid it made her sound.
     "not for a long time, a week, ten days tops. i had someone resign, and i can't hire and train someone that quickly. we need you, stevie."
     "jim, i don't think i can-" she starts.
     "just don't say no yet, okay? give it a day, think it over. if you do decide on it, i'll need you in houston the day after tomorrow. don't worry about tickets or anything, i'll get it covered. same with getting payed. as far as i'm concerned, you're just an employee who came back just to quit a week later. absolutely devastating. capeesh?" she sips her coffee.
     "capeesh," she says in a tone that mocks his gruff tone. "i'll get back to you by tomorrow morning. what kind of case are we dealing with?"
she can hear the smile in her voice when he says something that would only make him and her smile.
     "homocide. you're speciality."

     "knock, knock, knock," stevie says, pushing the door to david's office open with her elbow and the toe of her shoe. "ew, pretend i didn't say that." she walks into david talking with a student. one they had both become familiar with named kylie. david smiles at stevie before turning back to kylie.
     "i'm hoping this is the last time i see you in this office this year, but considering it's the first official day back, i'm guessing we're not off to a great start," he says to her. "but, that means the only way we can go is up, right? until then, no burlington visits for a week. plus, you have a scheduled meeting with your counselor for..." he pretends to look at his watch, the new one she got him. "ah, right now. better get going." kylie dramatically sighs.
     "i'll be better. promise," she says, before slowly getting up.
     "let's hope," david replies.
     "bye, mr. eastman," kylie says in a sweet voice. she turns to leave and sees stevie. she frowns. "bye, ms. bell."
     "bye, kylie. always a pleasure." she watches until kylie is out of earshot. "you know she totally has a crush on you, right?" david looks like he's seen a ghost.
      "what?" he replies. she sighs and walks over to hand him his coffee.
     "i guess only one of us can be the observant one. here, drink your coffee. i have something to tell you about."