That one summer

Orion

I was glad Rory hadn't asked what her name was saved as but I was also glad that she enjoyed the lunch. I stepped out in the basement and saw Rory's bike was not parked in her usual spot. I did a quick look around to check if she had parked somewhere else but did not find it.

I had somehow noticed she only skipped riding her bike when it was icy outside, and that was not the case today. I sat in my car and saw Rory's text. That was the first time she had texted me first. So, instead of replying back to the text, I dialled her number putting her on speaker. It would take me half an hour to reach the meeting venue.

Rory picked up the call and her voice had uncertainty to it, "Hello?"

"Why do you sound like that, already bored after having lunch with me?"

"What no, not like that. I was just surprised you called."

I looked at our picture on my phone and could not help but smile at it "Get used it, because you will be getting my calls quite frequently."

I certainly heard a laugh on her end, "If that happens, you will find yourself in the blocked list."

"Aurora Miller, is that a threat?"

"Yes, it is. Will you please tell me now why did you call me?"

I stopped at the lights and saw the florist shop where I had picked up the flowers this morning. I had convinced the store owner to give me a discount as I would buy flowers from her every Monday and she had agreed to it only after negotiating the minimum value of purchase. That was some good business deal for her.

"I am glad you liked the flowers and my best part of the day was to see you open about yourself to me."

Her voice almost went down to a whisper, "You could have texted you know."

I did not Rory could get this shy, "Yeah well, I would not be able to hear your voice then. Also isn't it easier to speak on call?"

There was silence on her end, I could only hear Declan calling someone out for a meeting. "I will hang up now, but I will be waiting downstairs at five to drive you back home."

Rory responded back almost too quickly "You don't have to do that. I have my bike."

"I did not see your bike downstairs."

I heard a grumble, "If it's not causing you any trouble then I would be glad to get a lift. But now I need to get into a meeting with an annoyed Declan."

I laughed at that. To see your childhood friend get annoyed at work is funny to watch. "Alright, I will see you in the evening. Don't daydream about me at work."

Rory scoffed, "You are the one daydreaming! Bye."

With that, she cut the call. I enjoyed watching Rory get all flustered, her cheeks turn rosy while she is trying to put up a straight face but ends up looking cute.

The meeting was done by four, I still had some time before I had to pick Rory up. I decided to stop by a nearby coffee shop and pick up coffee and cake for her. When I entered the café, there were only two other people ahead of me. As my turn came in, I placed the order, Flat white with vanilla syrup for Rory and a Mocha for me along with four different flavoured cupcakes.

Thankfully it had stopped raining now and by the time I reached the basement, I saw Rory stepping out of the elevator. My face lit up seeing her smile at me. I stepped out of the car and opened the door for her. Most of the parking lot was already clear.

She kept her phone inside her bag and stood in front of me., "I will get used to it if you keep opening the door for me."

I bent down and left the faintest of kiss possible on those delicious plump lips of hers and Rory did not push me away but leaned in for some more. Of course, I will give her what she wants, I held her waist and pulled in closer for a deeper but soft kiss. I placed my forehead on hers, "That's the plan!"

Rory had turned pink again and I loved every second of it. I helped her get onto the seat and closed the door for her. I came around and sat in mine and handed her the coffee, "Here is your coffee and I also picked up cupcakes."

"You are spoiling me, but I am happy that you are keeping your promise of bringing me coffee."

"Now let's get you home."

She put down the address on the navigation and somehow the address seemed familiar. The drive to her place was a short one of about thirty minutes. I wanted to spend more time with her.

During the drive Rory spoke about her day at the office and how John from the digital team had accidentally sent a group mail asking someone named Ms X out on a date instead of a private one and they had spent the rest of the evening figuring out who that was before HR pulled him aside. 

As soon as I pulled in front of her apartment, I realized why it seemed familiar to me. I looked at Rory with confusion, "You live in the same apartment as Ev?"

Rory angled her body towards me and laughed, "Why do you sound so surprised? We found out after the barbeque dinner and have even hung out a couple of times."

I nodded my head, "That's a twist I was not expecting"

"That's hardly a twist, a twist should be totally unexpected. Something like Rhys and Ev ending up together. Don't tell her I said that though. She is quite sensitive about that."

Hi raised my palm for a high five, "You see that too! I had called it but Rhys called her a devil."

That made her tip her head and laugh quite loudly and all I could do was stare at her. "Well, thank you for today. It was a pretty good day."

I unbuckled my seat belt angled myself towards her and hesitated before asking wondering if she said no, "You know, Saturday is still four days away. How about we go out for dinner tomorrow night?"

I was waiting in anticipation,

"I would be too lazy to get dressed up after work to go out for dinner."

I opened my mouth to say it was alright and that I should not have pushed it, but Rory brought her finger up and paused me,

"How about we take lunch breaks together? we can go to the cafeteria and need not go out every day. Does that sound okay?" Rory looked at me with furrowed eyebrows.

I got out of the car, opened her door, and held my hand to help her step out, "I did not mean to be rude, but I would rather have us enjoy the dinner than me feeling sleepy."

I closed the car door, stood in front of her, and placed both my arms on either side caging her. Rory looked up at me all confused. But before she could say anything, I pulled her in for a tight hug.

Rory's hands slowly went up and held my back as she let herself rest on my chest. Standing so close to her was making me go hard, but I did not want to shun away any feelings.

I was intoxicated with how good Rory felt and smelt. There were hints of vanilla, citrus, and something forest-like. "I change my answer, this is the best part of my day."

I dropped a kiss on top of her head when she tilted her head to look up at me smiling. "You are mad!"

Rory laughed as I made a loud noise of kissing her cheek. I did not want to let go of her, but then we heard whistles in the back. We turned around to see Lina, Juniper, and Ev at the window.

Rory stepped out of my embrace and started walking towards the apartment, "Thank you again, and see you tomorrow!"

I waved back at her and Ev shouted from the window, "Can you please leave now, we are about to have a meeting,"

Rory had already entered the building and I could not see her, "Don't go too hard on her please."

This time it was Lina who called out, "We won't steal your job, Rhino!"

With that, the window was shut and I got into my car and drove back home.