***This chapter, being chapter two, is obviously a continuation of the first chapter. You'll want to read it first to get to know the characters and setting. If you have feedback, feel free to share it. Send me a message or write a comment. I hope everyone understands this is fiction. If you're anonymous and complain something is offensive or unsexy, I honestly couldn't care less. This chapter has somethings not working out for our narrator, that doesn't make anyone a monster.
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After the grueling week of work that culminated in me fucking Elise, I thought I was going to have the whole weekend to hang out with her, but, alas, Elise had apparently planned to travel to a friend's birthday party that weekend. I didn't find out until I texted her the next day to meet up. She replied that she was already three states away. I guess that's why she kicked me out? To get some sleep...she had to wake up early and get a car and a flight out?
My weekend passed, and the work week restarted with Elise back in the office fresh faced first thing Monday morning. The agriculture products plant where we were assigned had repaired the intake loading dock after the accident, and our work reverted back to its former monotony. I made a few attempts to have some private moments with Elise, but it just didn't work out. It's not like she was ignoring me, being mean, or utterly brushing me off...she was nice and professional and friendly, but it was just that she was a master at making herself unavailable. After work she would either have video chats with friends, a girly show to catch up on, or god-knows-what else that made sense that I couldn't participate in.
That situation kept up for the next week. We were coming up on two weeks from the night we hooked up, and I had kind of given up hope that we would recreate the magic. Oh well, that's what she said she'd do. She was clear from the outset. That didn't mean that I liked the situation.
...
The workweek monotony was broken that Wednesday morning when Elise and I got an e-mail from Mr. Sumrall.
* * *
To: Miller, Elise; Banks, Kevin
From: Sumrall, Vincent
Date: June 25
Re: Urgent Appt: 6/27 Meeting
Please set aside time for a status meeting with me Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. EST. With a regulatory audit looming for Pinewood plant, all reporting and status checks must be brought current. Potential need to handle large overflow work in the coming days.
VS
* * *
Hmm, ominous. Regulatory audit, large overflow work? It seemed pretty serious.
Elise and I discussed our work and second guessed ourselves all morning. We stressed whether we had completed all the necessary counts, checks, forms, and reports. There was certainly a division of our tasks, so the firm would know if one of us had skipped something or was slacking, but we figured that if we were both buttoned up it would look better for both of us. To our knowledge we were fine on our end. I mean, we were just interns.
But the fear was still there. As we moved through the plant doing our checks that day, we tried to figure out if there was anything we had let slip. We couldn't think of anything, but, just in case, we agreed that we would meet at Mickey's after work on Thursday to double check the system to make sure we had submitted everything. It would be our first meal outside a work lunch, so I hoped it might have the added bonus of allowing an intimacy to resume between us.
As we split up to move to different areas to do our assigned checks, I saw that some plant guys approached Elise. I couldn't hear what they were saying from a distance, but it was very clear that they knew Elise and she knew them. Damn, she was getting to know the client employees more than I was. Should I be trying to develop more professional relationships or keep a distance? I filed the question away for Mr. Sumrall to get a clear answer.
...
Come Thursday night, Elise and I met at 7:00 for dinner to go over everything. She was waiting for me when I got there. The WiFi from our apartments just made it to Mickey's, so we could do some work there. I probably couldn't stream Netflix, but it was enough to send and receive e-mails.
As the business dinner went along, we quickly slipped into casual conversation. It was nice to get back to that comfort level. There was no "we're coworkers who fucked" awkwardness. We joked, laughed, and poked fun at each other in our pre-hookup tone. We told funny stories of things we saw in the plant, and complained about the smell.
One item did occur to me about thirty minutes into the dinner. Elise had had three drinks. When had she started? I suppose it helped that the granny-waitress was nowhere to be seen. The bartender who had served us Long Islands at the bar a few weeks ago was our waiter. I asked, and without any hesitation she said she'd started by ordering a vodka soda, and the barman apparently didn't hesitate to serve it. He also didn't hesitate to come back with refills without having to be asked. I ordered lemonade.
...
"So, if we totally screwed up, I can't find where we did it," I admitted after about forty-five minutes of doc review.
"Same here, everything's in order. We're probably overthinking this meeting, but I'm glad I have an intern partner that doesn't drop the ball," she said, smiling. It felt like a beam of sunlight. Her smile, framed by her face and gorgeous golden hair could have that effect.
"HEY!! Well look who it is!" boomed a voice behind our booth.
I turned and saw that massive guy from the plant, the one picked up those fifty pound bags like they were nothing...what was his name.?. Cody or something.
After confirming it was that guy, I turned my focus back to our table. I saw that Elise had a devilish grin.
"Hey Cody, good to see you with a shirt on," she said.
"Ah chickenshit, you loved the gun show," Cody shot back. Oh please.
"Don't be too sure of yourself."
The banter between the two continued for a little bit more, but Cody went with two of his buddies to a booth nearby. They ordered drinks and Elise and I went back to our chat. After the interruption of our conversation, though, we didn't slip right back into our easy flow. We resorted to perfunctory questions of how we were and what we might do with the rest of the summer. It got a little stale. All the while Elise kept glancing over to Cody's table. I tried to limit it, but I looked over there from time to time too. It looked like they were really getting after it; the bartender brought several rounds of drinks - and they weren't beers either. They looked like stout liquor drinks, and I know I saw at least three rounds of shots of some clear liquid served.
"Excuse me, I've got to visit the ladies..." Elise said as she stood up and walked to the back hallway where the restrooms were.
For the first time tonight, I was able to see her outfit. She was waiting for me when I walked in, so I hadn't seen it before now. As she sauntered to the bathroom, her hips swayed from side-to-side with a little more swagger than normal, and the skirt that she was wearing certainly accented her supple ass. It was a seersucker skirt and it only came a few inches down her thighs. Her tanned legs looked great, and I wasn't the only person looking.
Without any fanfare, I saw Cody get up and go to the back hallway as well. With the amount of alcohol being served at their table, it wasn't a surprise that he had to start emptying a leg as well.
A few minutes went by, and I saw Elise emerge from the back hallway. She was backing out and was talking to someone behind her, who, I saw a few seconds later, was Cody. They were laughing and sharing some funny story, because they laughed together at some mutual joke. Rather than return directly to our tables, I saw them head to the bar. The bartender was right there to take their order and quickly served them up two shots a piece.
They both downed whatever was in the glasses and shared another laugh. At that, the two returned, Cody to his table and Elise to ours.
"Shit, don't ever lose a bet to Cody!" Elise said.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Oh, when we were both in the hallway headed to the bathroom he bet me he could bullseye a dart with two tries."
"People actually use that dart board? I've seen it but always wondered why it was back there."
"I asked the same thing. Cody said it was so random people wouldn't get stabbed, which was apparently a problem when the game was out here."
"Did he hit the bullseye?" I asked.
"First time, nailed it."
"So you lost the bet and took a shot, why did he do one?"
"He said he wanted to do it with me."
"What would have happened if you'd won?"
"He would have chugged six beers at the bar with no shirt on," she said laughing.
We were interrupted again by a shout from Cody's table.
"Elise, you said you could hold your own at anything...I bet you three shots of Patron that I could beat you in darts left handed."
No hesitation from Elise, "You're on."
They went back up to the bar. Each got a big liquor-drink and walked back around the hallway. I saw Cody take her arm as they made the turn, and they looked to be cozying up as they disappeared around the way. I let it go, and looked back to my screen. I only had a few more spreadsheets to check before I could tell Mr. Sumrall with confidence that I had triple-checked every report and that everything was good to go.
In the intervening ten minutes, there would be occasional 'woops' and the cheers from around the corner. It sounded like the darts game was getting heated, and maybe even a close one.
