The Suite Adult Life

April (8.1)

They'd been texting. No video chats or surprise coffee shop visits. It started with simple texts asking how the other's day had been or what the weekend was going to be like. Like all growing text conversations go, the questions started to get more personal and the text bubbles grew as did their word count. The hours that they allowed themselves to continue their conversations grew, sometimes late into the evening, making the following mornings hellish. She had devised a little game where she found a picture of his from the past and asked him to tell her the story about it. Not the article it accompanied, but the story of how he got the shot. She found herself falling asleep to those stories as if they were being read to her. A part of her desperately wanted to ask him to record the story so she could listen in the evening, but they weren't in that sort of place.

The use of emojis grew. That was unexpected. Neither of them liked that form of communication and they certainly didn't use them egregiously or erroneously. But when neither could think of the words they wanted to use or even have the courage to use the ones that they did, the little pictograms came in handy. She remembered when he used the winking heart face for the first time. For some reason it rocked her to her core. It felt like he was standing just behind her, his lips hovering just over her ear, and his breath sending shivers along her skin.

She hadn't thought that conversation was particularly flirty. They had been laughing over something they had both seen. Something so idiotic that they were joking about how they thought they were above such social barbarism. Bailey would like to say she waited and thought carefully about sending the same thing back as a reply, but she didn't. It was sent almost immediately. However, that evening she would look at it like it was a scandalous and secretive thing.

There was one subject they never broached. They didn't dance around it. Instead they opted to pretend it didn't exist. They spoke of high school and college, just not that first semester at Yale and Columbia. They discussed her time at Columbia and sharing stories of their shared places. They briefly mentioned how cool it would have been if Cody had pursued a PoliSci degree and silently Bailey thought about how great it would have been if they reconnected in law school.

This is how their days went until he asked her for coffee. She was about to remind him of their unspoken yet agreed upon rules about not meeting in person when he said he was ready to talk and listen. Was he really ready to forgive her? God she hoped so. London wasn't happy that they were talking again when Bailey accidentally let it slip; but, if it meant really healing then bring it on!

He chose the very first place they had met. Something about going back to the beginning felt like rewriting time. Like maybe they didn't have to lose almost six months. Again she was early. Unlike the beautiful autumn day, the skies had opened and were letting a torrential downpour almost flood the city. He hadn't driven his bike, opting to take a taxi instead. Even with an umbrella his pants clung to him grossly. What was the point of an umbrella when the wind was just going to make the raindrops fall sideways?

He shook the water off of the nylon and popped it in the basket next to the door. He wasn't worried about it being stolen. The one he carried wasn't the one he originally bought! The Umbrella Exchange was a time honored tradition in the city. He watched as she stood to greet him and they did the awkward dance of whether or not they should hug. It was brief and light. Her arms reached up to him but he was left to stiffly return it with only one arm.

She was dressed far more casually than the first time they had met. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun, the long and thick tresses standing high atop her head. Her face was free of makeup and she looked younger, all of the stress gone from her face. She was in leggings and a sweatshirt and tennis shoes. She looked like she was making a stop after a run but that meant she put effort into her look. Cody got the feeling that she threw on whatever was on her floor, maybe made sure her teeth were brushed, and just made her way there. Her field of fucks was barren.