Savior (Scomiche)

Wine and Paperwork

It took a little while before I decided to contact Scott. I didn't want to bother him, but I also didn't want him to think I was going to abandon him after he told me his secret.

Me: Hey

Him: Hi

Me: How are you?

Him: Fine, I guess

Me: Anything wrong?

Him: Nothing in particular, haha. Paperwork bores me. Too many numbers!

Me: Oh, ew, I'm sorry

Him: It's okay, just bored out of my mind and I have hours of it left. On a Saturday. How are you?

Me: I'm pretty good, thanks. Anything I can do to help out? Remedy your boredom?

Him: Nothing from over the phone

Me: Oh :/

Him: But... I suppose you could stop by...

Me: I'd love to. Address?

Him: 1682 Pine Avenue. Looking forward to seeing you

Me: (:

He was looking forward to seeing me, and that alone gave me the incentive to move fast. I fixed up my face, grabbed my keys, and scooped up a bottle of wine that was honestly probably Avi's.
Slightly speeding, but not enough to get pulled over, I drove to his neighborhood. I searched for his house, winding through each street. Finally, I pulled into his driveway and parked before heading to his door. My knock was tentative and nervous, but hopefully he wouldn't notice how those emotions were radiating off me when he opened up.
I heard some shuffling behind the door before it swung open.

"Hey," he breathed out with a smile. "You found it."
I grinned as I watched a sleepy chocolate lab approach the door. "Yeah, it wasn't too hard. Just a lot of houses around here."
Scott nodded. "Well, come on in." He blocked Beyoncé (the dog unfortunately, not the lady) from escaping as I stepped inside.
Immediately, I skimmed over the small house. It was cute, nothing too elaborate, though. I wondered why he had chosen a house when he lived alone. At least, as far as I knew he lived alone.
I slipped off my shoes after the door was shut and headed a little farther inside. "So, I brought wine. I thought maybe that'd make looking at numbers a little more enjoyable."
He chuckled, "Yeah, that'll help. Thank you."
I worried for a split second if he was being sarcastic, but dismissed it as soon as he took the wine from me and examined it. He brought it to the the counter and dug out a wine cork opener.
"Please don't judge me for opening this so soon," he begged with a laugh. "It's been a long day. And it's only three."
I squatted down to the dog that was now sniffing me. "Hey girl. You're adorable." Then to Scott, "No, I understand. I wouldn't mind a glass myself." I scratched the scruff of Beyoncé's neck before standing back up and heading to the table where he had mountains of papers.
"This is a lot," I commented, snooping and reading through them.
Scott arrived, serving me a glass half full of wine. "I know. It's awful, isn't it?"
It was then I noticed how relaxed he was acting. He was dressed in sweatpants and a loose t-shirt, something I wouldn't have guessed he even owned. I mean, he did mention how many hours he had left of work. Might as well be comfortable. But his attitude was different as well. He was laughing and happy and not trying to be formal or something he's not. It was so casual, so... nice.

I sipped at my wine. "Mm, definitely. How can I help? What do I do?"
"Just sit over here," Scott instructed, walking and gesturing to a chair with a small stack of papers in front of it. "And basically what you're going to do is highlight every number you see."
My eyes widened as I sat. "I may need more wine for that."
"Tell me about it." He took a large taste and downed it while sliding into the chair nearest to me at the square table.
I set down the glass and picked up a highlighter, preparing for the stack ahead. I'd only gotten through one page before he began talking.

"Sorry, I'm making you do this. I'm desperate and my boss isn't too much of a forgiving person."
"Don't worry about it!" I assured. "I'm happy to do it."
He smiled sadly, obviously doubting me. "You're too nice to me, Mitch. Seriously."
"I'm just doing you a favor. That's what friends are for."
The words seemed to sting him in some way. Like, I was accepting he just wanted to be friends. Maybe he'd expected something else. He had admitted that everything in him wanted to trust and date me. There was a possibility that was becoming real, more and more feasible in his mind.
"Why do you have to highlight all the numbers anyway? What's the purpose?" I went on, hoping it would take that hurt look off his face.
"Well," he started, snapping his gaze back to the page. "I have to enter all these amounts into the computer system and some inventory numbers, too."
"That's gonna take forever!" I exclaimed in disbelief, highlighting $79.94.
"Yeah, I know," he sighed. "But I'll live. I'm just so grateful you came over. This'll cut the time in half, plus now I have someone to keep me company."
That made me smile. He enjoyed my company. That zoo trip did wonders for us. It actually felt like... like maybe we could be something.

We stayed silent for the next few minutes, focusing heavily on the pages in front of us. Once I'd gotten comfortable with what I was doing, I started the conversation.
"So, you have a nice place here." It was lame, but at least it was something.
"Yeah, Beyoncé and I like it. It's a little big, though. There's a bedroom in the basement I don't know what to do with." He shrugged.
"Guest room?" I suggested, flicking my eyes to him just for second.
Scott laughed. "I don't have guests. You might be my first visitor, actually. That's weird." He thought for a moment. "Huh. Kind of sad, too."
I frowned. "Well, I'm honored. I'd love the grand tour later."
"You got it."

Silence.

He must've noticed it as much as I did because he cleared his throat and said, "Music?"
I agreed, so he swiped up his phone and put on Pandora, biting his left thumbnail as he scrolled through his massive list of options. He decided on Today's Hits, and set a volume before placing his phone face down on the chair beside him.
I hummed with Katy Perry as I highlighted ten numbers on one page alone. He kept glancing at me, but I ignored it for the fact I wanted to save myself from stuttering if I were to speak.
When the song ended, I heard him sigh. "Mitch, honestly, your voice is amazing."
I blushed and kept my head down. "N-not really." Dammit, stupid stutter.
"Yes, really. I don't know if I've heard anyone sing better than you."
"I wasn't even singing, I was humming." My head tilted up to look at him.
"Still amazing."
I sighed and shook my head. "You literally named your dog after the best singer on this planet. PLUS I bet you can sing better than I can."
Scott laughed, running the yellow marker across several lines. "Yeah, right."
"I'm being serious."
"Mitch, we've been through this."
I groaned, mainly because he was right. Also, I didn't want to argue with him. I wanted him to like me, and for that, I had to let my brain work out every sentence so I didn't screw up my chance. Suddenly an idea struck me, though. I planned out the sentence before it came stumbling from my lips.
"What if I sang with you?"
Scott raised his eyebrows in consideration. "Th...That's not a horrible idea. We'll see."

I guess that was the best I was gonna get, but hey, that was fine by me.