Offices and Orchards (A New Adult Sweet Romance)

Chapter 4

"Great little place you've got yourself here," Amber exclaimed when they entered the small entryway which led directly into the living room of Autumn's one bedroom apartment that very evening.
"Yeah it was perfect timing. The apartment had been rented by a medical student who was at the end of her residency. She moved across the country and basically left me everything she had, Small but cozy."
They were on the fourth floor of a five story building, only a few blocks from the water and in a leafy neighbourhood that was about a half hour walk to the S and W offices.
"Great couch!" Amber flopped down onto the pale blue, Scandinavian style two-seater which separated the open plan living room from the dining and kitchen space, plopping her bad on the coffee table. A white TV stand with a small TV stood against the wall and Amber spotted a glass door behind some white curtains. "And you've got a little balcony?"
"Yep! Just big enough for a breakfast table, and some plants. I had kind of hoped to have more time out there. You even get a slight view of the lake."
"Come! sit over here, I'll make us some sangria! I just learned how- it's my new specialty." Amber moved herself to one of four chairs around the white, square dining table, while Autumn went behind the breakfast bar in the kitchen to get the drinks ready, dumping her work-bag onto one of the breakfast bar stools.
"You drink?" Amber asked.
"Not really, but she left some red wine. It worked out really well. I walked in, and the kitchen drawers and cupboards were literally full. all the appliances. Why don't you take a quick peek down the hall while I finish up?"
Amber checked out the restroom and bedroom down the hallway. The bedroom contained a timber bed, dressed with fresh linen in white, with accents of sand and sky blue. There were bedside tables with modern lamps on them. The balcony connected to the bedroom as well, so there was a large glass door partially hidden by curtains which matched the bedding.
"I should have known you'd have beach as your color scheme!" Amber called down the hall.
"That was a fluke!" Autumn called back.
The restroom was a little bit older than the rest of the apartment, with white tiles on the floor and walls accented with marine-themed feature tiles which suited Autumn perfectly.
"It's nice." Amber said upon re-entering the open plan space.
"Yeah, I really love this place. Sangria?" Autumn said, as she mixed together a pitcher on the counter and Gwen sang out of Autumn's CD player.
"No Doubt again."
"Oh come on. It's perfect for a summer's night."
"Why do you like them so much anyway?" That was a question she hadn't answered in a long time. She cocked her head and took a sip wondering how much she should divulge to her friend. "I just have good memories of listening to them at elementary school, that's all. First I can remember getting into music on my own."
Autumn and Amber chatted away about anything and everything, like old friends and Autumn began to feel like maybe she would fit in to S and W after all.
***
"Can you get away for lunch today? Especially since we didn't get round to our walk in the village last night," Amber asked, her head peeking over the top of Autumn's cubicle. It was early morning, the sunlight just starting to filter through the windows of the office. The night before, they had stayed on Autumn's porch, hanging out, drinking sangria and talking until late. Autumn had even had a slight headache from the booze. "Maybe, I have to send a few emails, and there is a model I need to finish working out for the new Carter project, you heard about that?" Autumn did not even wait for Amber to answer. "I feel like they might use the performance on this job to decide who gets to go to Australia. But lunch right? I should be able to. Did you want to go somewhere specific?"
Amber looked nice and well-rested, as usual, her hair looking as if she had gone to the salon for a blow-out. Autumn was envious, these days she just whipped her hair back into a ponytail.
"You're rambling."
"Sorry, I'm a bit hopped up on coffee this morning, after our late night last night. And then you come in looking like this." Autumn had for the first time in her life, taken to drinking coffee. She did find it gave her a much-needed kick of energy in the mornings. Hard to imagine that only a couple of weeks ago she couldn't even handle the smell of the stuff.
"Paco has great lunchtime happy hour specials. Ms. Charles suggested it."
"Oh, you get the nurturing mentor who has good lunch recommendations, and I get the stern mentor who won't talk about anything but software reports and powerpoint presentations. You'd do better with Chan you know."
Amber let out a laugh that Autumn had come to know well and smoothed out her hair as she spoke.
"I like my group and mentor just fine, thank you very much."
"Yeah, I would too if I was getting as much sleep as you are," Autumn yawned, as if on cue.
"Evie keeps me busy enough don't you worry. Actually for lunch, we are scoping out the place, she wants to take a client there. So, you have to come, it's a working lunch."
"Okay fine. Now leave me alone so I can get my trip to Australia."
"Don't work too hard," Amber said, "Where's your other half anyway? Why isn't he helping you?"
"Never call him that again," Autumn huffed, "He's probably in Mr. Staffordshire's office. They usually chat in the morning. He calls him Staffy, and 'Staffy' calls him Macky. Drives me nuts," She rolled her eyes so hard it was a wonder they did not fall out of their sockets.
"Hey listen, if he isn't pulling his weight, you make sure Chan can see that. He's not stupid, he probably knows already."
"I know." Autumn sighed, "It's just he already has so much attention from the higher-ups and we aren't even officially out of orientation. They're basically grooming him for the job as we speak. And I'm here, working my ass off, trying to beat someone who is already an expert. Probably wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't so condescending and pretentious and rude."
"You want this," came Amber's reminder. "You want this and you're good at this, right?" The resolution in her words made Autumn exhale heavily in a long sigh.
"You're going to be a junior advisor after graduation. Then you'll become senior then on the leadership track, on your way to some international destination. Right?" Amber had obviously been listening closely to Autumn during their conversation the night before.
"Something like that."
Amber, hard-as nails, responded with three words, "deal with it." And they were nearly enough to make Autumn cry she was so tired.
Seeing her friend's face crumble, Amber added, "It's work. You're tired. I know, but You've. Got. This. Ok?" Autumn managed a small smile and a nod. "I bet there's a No Doubt song for this."
"Like, All of them." Autumn forced a small smile onto her lips.
"There you go. Now ignoring your face, have you looked at yourself the last few weeks? Your body is awesome. All those skipped lunches are really paying off," Autumn snorted at the blunt back-handedness of the compliment but she turned back to her work with a smile, as Amber returned to her seat in her cubicle.