when all is said and done | e.d.

three

harper

it must be the boring, monotonous voice of one of tall men in grey suits that makes me tired, causing my hand to slip and hot coffee to spill all over my white blouse.

i hold back a small yelp, and ethan looks at me sharply.

no one else in the meeting room seems to notice the small event, which leads me to let out a small breath of relief.

i'm not entirely sure what i'm doing here, but mr. bentley couldn't make it, which makes me the next representative of the company.

they were talking about taxes or something, and i always leave ethan to take notes that i can look at later.

speaking of the devil, he looks down at my stained shirt and does his best at holding back a laugh.

"not the time," i whisper angrily to him. "you're my assistant, so... assist."

he nods, and grabs my arm, pulling me up out of the chair. heads turn as we walk to the door, but he hides me well, since i'm rather tiny compared to him.

the meeting continues on, muffled voices being heard from the hallway.

"how do i fix this?" i ask, clearly frustrated as i find a water bottle filling station and try to dab the water on with a small cloth.

"harper, it's coffee. on a white shirt. it's not coming off," ethan says from behind me.

"this meeting is important, i think!" i yell quietly. "i'm supposed to be in there, not out here desperately trying to make myself look at least a little presentable."

"it's fine, don't worry about it—"

i turn around angrily, and step closer to him. "do you know how hard it is for people to take me seriously? i am young and a woman co-running a company too big for me to handle. everyone's always watching, ethan. they're waiting for me to slip up. i don't want to give them a front row seat when i do."

he's quiet, but nods.

i huffily turn back to the water and continue my lame attempt at stain removing.

"remember the emergency kit?"

his words spark a flame of hope in my heart, and i turn around with a grin. "do you have it with you?"

he nods, and grabs the black backpack off his back that he wears everywhere we go.

when we first started working together, he made an emergency kit of things anyone at anytime might need.

i put in a few of my own items in there, in one of the big pockets.

he unzips the bag in my portion, which we've never had to use until now. of course there's been times when i've gotten a paper cut, and had to grab a bandaid from the small pocket, or a water from the side.

we crouch on the ground, and he digs past feminine products and nail filers until finally reaching the bottom of the bag.

his face ignites in a triumphant smile as he pulls out white material.

it's a shirt that i forgot i put in there— just in case.

"yes!" i exclaim, grabbing it from his hands and trying to locate the nearest bathroom.

"go, go," he pushes me lightly in the direction of one. "i'll cover for you."

i race to the girls bathroom and find a stall. the coffee stained blouse gets thrown in the trash as i slip the other white one on.

thankfully, it's very similar in style and texture.

no one will even notice.

slightly out of breath, i head back into the meeting room, and a couple of heads turn. i give them a polite smile and find my seat again.

ethan notices the new shirt and gives me a discreet fist bump under the table.

how professional.

"why do you always know what to do in these situations?" i whisper to him, and try to play it off like i'm discussing something very important.

he shrugs. "it's my job."

we sit through the rest of the meeting, and he takes notes the entire time. his scrawl fills up pages upon pages of legal pad papers, and i already dread going over them when we get back to the office.

after i've shaken all hands and engaged in polite conversation, we finally get into the uber to go back.

i shiver from the bitter chicago winter. "today is not a good day."

ethan turns to me. "why not?"

i shrug. "don't know. it just isn't."

the ride back to the office is dead silent, not even the driver or ethan trying to engage in conversation with me.

i guess it's rare when we talk about things that aren't work related.

even after knowing him for a couple years, i still don't know anything about the guy's personal life.

i vaguely remember him mentioning a twin a couple of years back, but that's it.

he's quiet most of the time. does he have any office friends? or just friends in general?

i spend the rest of the afternoon looking back at the notes ethan took, and summarizing them to report to mr. bentley.

a jingle of keys makes me look up from my work.

"goodbye, ethan. have a good weekend."

he looks surprised, as if he just remembered it's friday. "oh, yeah. you too."

i wait until he leaves before clicking my pen and gathering up my own things.

when i get back to my apartment, i do my normal friday night routine.

unlike most 24 year olds, i don't go to bars.

instead, i apply a hair and face mask and drink far too much green tea as i watch hours and hours of netflix.

at 1 am, i finally fall asleep on my couch.

but out of general curiosity—

— i can't help but wonder what ethan is doing right now.