He Who Wants A Rose, Must Respect The Thorn

Date Night Part I

You know that nervous excitement you get on the first few dates with someone new? Well I had that all day today. I tried to shake off the nervousness, but I couldn't. It's not like we'd never been on a date before, jeez with our history, but I just felt jittery. I guess it's good to have a few nerves though. Trouble was, this was whilst I was taking notes in the afternoon meeting with a supplier in Chicago.

As I typed up in shorthand, a notification pinged onto my screen. A new message from J.

J: hey babe, can't wait to see you tonight ;) xx

I smiled stupidly behind my computer screen, hoping that no one noticed. I wanted to reply but I just didn't get the chance. These meetings were always such a pain in the bum when I had to do them back home for Bobby, but here they were even worse. The guy in Chicago was pushing us back as he had gotten into the office late from a trip overseas, so we had to schedule this meeting for this afternoon. Meaning that everything in our schedule for today was messed up. It was already 5 o'clock and I was chewing savagely on my pencil, counting down the minutes until this ended. Which didn't seem like it was going to be any time soon...

.......

An hour later and we were still in the meeting. To say I was getting impatient was an understatement. I kept glancing over at Nick and he looked back at me apologetically. I rolled my eyes and glanced at the clock. I needed to get these notes saved and ideally typed up before I left for home. That wasn't going to happen if I wanted to leave at a decent time to get ready for my date night with Julian. But I hate to say it, but honestly, I shouldn't be handing my work over to someone else to do, not when I've only just got here. I needed to show my worth, not necessarily to my brother, or to the other members of our team, but to myself. I promised myself I was moving here for my career and my brother, not for love...not 100% anyway. So, I decided that I better message J.

Me: Hey J, I'm still in my meeting!!! I really don't think I'm going to make it tonight. I'm soooo sorry :( xxxx

almost immediately I had a response

J: seriously? You gotta be kidding me babe? Not tonite. What time do you think you will be leaving? xxx

I felt utterly guilty. And I didn't want him thinking I was just bailing out on him because I didn't want to see him.

Me: I honestly don't know. The asshole is trying to barter with Nick. We're trying to call it a day. I need to get these notes written up before I leave too. xxx

I didn't hear anything else from him which was making me feel worse and worse. I didn't want to cancel on him, and I certainly didn't want him thinking I wasn't bothered.

J: ok babe, don't worry about it xx

I felt my insides tearing up at his reply. I bit my lip in frustration at this jerk who was pushing both my buttons and Nick's for different reasons. I still frantically typed away, putting down key points that I needed to take. God how long was this really going to go on for?!

........

Two hours and three quarters in total. Can you believe that?! By the time we left the meeting room it was almost 8pm! It was freaking dark outside! I hurried to my office, glad of the exercise. Sitting there in the chair all that time was making my back ache. I told my brother that I'd be staying late to get this finished, although he'd told me to go. I just couldn't. Besides, I reckon J would have already made other plans now he knew I couldn't make it. That wasn't a nice feeling. But either way, I sat my Mac on my desk and pulled up my chair. Now, to get this god damn shit written up.

........

The words were beginning to morph into one huge black blob as my eyes narrowed, staring at the screen. I needed a break. I needed sleep. I needed food. I finished off the paragraph I was currently writing and let out a huff as I sat back in my chair. I ran a hand through my hair as I jumped when the door to my office opened. "you're still here too?" I asked seeing Nick poke his head round the door. "I'm just about to leave. I was gonna make you leave too. Take you home" he said, as I yawned. "but there's no need." he added with a smirk, "I'll see you in the morning" he said then stepped away from the door, leaving it ajar. I frowned, I hated my door being left open. But before I even moved to go and close it, a figure appeared in the doorway.

My heart leapt as I saw Julian walking into the room. His eyes locked with mine and he gave me his gorgeous smile. "hey short stack. You hungry?" he smiled, holding up a hamper. I leapt up from my chair and rushed over to him.

I rushed at him with such force he stumbled back against the door closing it with a thump. "hey easy there babe, I'm happy to see you too" he chuckled with a smirk as he looked down at me, pressing myself up against his chest. "I've missed you" I smiled up at him, "I'm sorry I had to cancel our date" I said, looking into his beautiful blue sparkly eyes. "hey its cool" he said looking back at me, "figured you'd be tired, so I brought the date to you" he smiled, brushing his thumb across my cheek. I blushed as his tender action, and reached up to press a kiss to his lips. "we better get this eaten up before it gets cold" he said once I pulled away. "smells good, what you brought?" I asked, taking his hand and leading him to the back leather couch that sat beside the window. "oh my guy had fixed me up something" he said, pulling out the take out boxes and plates. I watched as he opened out the steaming food and my mouth watered. Chicken, veggies, cheese, even some fruit and a little wine for me. "J this is amazing." I gasped, "thank you" I blushed, looking back at his handsome face. "no problem baby." he said, "I didn't wanna miss our date night"