Dangerous black ties

Dinner continued

What was all that about? I am referring to the whole Donnie episode.

"Meredith, if you are ever alone and see him walk the opposite way, Do not talk with him. Call one of us immediately." Edison says sternly.

"I didn't play on talking to him; he is a gross man. Did you know he's married? That's inappropriate to send a drink to a woman you don't know." I tell him

"So if you see him, you will what, Mer?" Dexter asks to make sure I am actually listening.

"Well, to avoid him like the plague and call one of you?" I answered a question.

"Well yes. Don't sound so unsure." Jermery confirms.

"You do realize I don't have any of your numbers. So how exactly would I call y'all? I don't exactly carry around a bat signal." I say it sarcastically.

There was a slight amusement on someone's face, though there were a few stern faces too.
Man, what crawled up their butts?

Edison pulls my phone out.
"I deleted all the stuff your dad sent so you won't have to hear or see it. I took the liberty of adding our names to your contacts." He places it on the table.

"Thanks," I say unlocking it immediately. Checking my notifications.
One message from the auto shop said my car was ready.
"Yes!" I shouted to myself, softly punching the air.

"Meredith. Hasn't anyone ever told you that it's rude to play on your phone while you eat?" Alex teased.

"Nah, nobody tells me what to do," I say quickly as I look down, not meeting any of the piercing gazes I feel on my face.

"If that's what you have to say to sleep at night, go right ahead." Dexter laughs softly.

"What was the yes?" Edison asks, punching the air and mimicking me.

"My car is ready. It was at the shop getting repaired. I had to pay a little each month. Now it's ready. Sorry, I'm just excited." I say to him:

"What happened to it?" Alex asks

"Well, other than my dad crashing it, It was just driving badly," I say awkwardly.

"Any more information than it was driving badly?" Brooks asks

"Just frame damage and cosmetic damage I had fixed," I say with a fixed smile.

The food is sat down in front of everyone. I sigh. I texted Carter from the copier room if he still wanted to do lunch on Monday.

-Beep-
My phone went off.

I check it.

Carter:
Absolutely where do you want to go?

I think for a second before replying light chewing on my nails.

"There's a couple of restaurants across the street we could try if you want."

Typing and deleting over and over rephrasing. Before settling closing my phone and sliding it under my thigh.

"You have a lot of bad habits, Meredith," Edison says.

I was still biting on my nails, retracting my hand from my mouth.

"So is smoking, Edison," I say, glazing at him.

"I'll tell you, Meredith, I will stop smoking if you stop your bad habits. That means all of them," Edison tells me, smirking.

"All of them? Like I have more than one?" I am confused.

"Yeah, you bite your lip," Edison says
"You pick at your nails," Jeremy says calling me out right then and there. I look down and catch myself going exactly that.

"You lie; thankfully, you are so bad at it that it's almost amusing until you remember you are being lied to," Alex says.

"No deal. I don't even realize I'm doing it." I finally ate along with everyone else.

"Have you thought about getting a bracket or something you can fiddle with instead of the self-mutilation?" Jeremy says.

"No, I haven't tried it," I say quietly, feeling awkward with what feels like an integration.

"So what kind of car do you have?" Edison asked suddenly.

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know?" I teased.

"I am quite curious myself," Dexter says right back in a playful manner.

"1964 Chevrolet El Camino," I say.

"You can drive a standard?" Jeremy asks.

"Otherwise, I wouldn't have bought the car in the first place," I say he glared at me.

"Besides, i can't drive it right now not with my arm hurting. I'm just going to call them in the morning and ask them to hold it; they only charge $20 a day to hold it. No big deal." I tell Jeremy.

"Well, I can pick it up for you tomorrow if you want, and make sure it drives alright? Dexter offers.

"No, you probably have things to do; it's okay." I am still eating my food.

"Mer, if I had other plans, I wouldn't have offered. Besides, if it's not driving right, they should fix it 100%." He tells me:

"Okay, as long as you don't mind, I guess," I say this awkwardly, rubbing my arm.

Once the food was gone, I opened my wallet and put a tip on the table.

I slid my wallet back into my back pocket.

One by one, everyone started leaving, saying goodbye to one another.

Edison Dexter and I walk back to the car.

"Thank you." I look at Edison with a smile.

"Of course," he says.

Once we get to Edison's house, Dexter says goodbye, saying see you in the morning.

It was just Edison and me.

Standing outside.

"There's something I want to do. Only if you are okay with it." Edison says.

"Okay, with what?" I ask, confused.

He leans in, slowly trapping me against his car with both hands on opposite sides of my head.

He leans in, his lips nearly touching mine.

"Can I?" He asks, looking at me softly.

"You're my boss," I say, looking at his lips.

"So, I'm not going to let anything that happens between us come into the workplace. I just want you to be mine." He tells me:

"Then prove it," I say, looking up at him, that the smell of his cologne fills my nose.