the balcony ••• awsten knight

nine

may 2017

Awsten spends his time split between Houston and Los Angeles when he's not on tour.

Emily is quietly thankful for the time that Awsten spends in Houston, or anywhere other than the offices in LA.

She has enough of her own grievances about her job and the people that she works with, without him being around to add to that.

When he's around, she has to be on her guard even more than normal. Emily is usually fairly closed off with everyone at work anyway, which can be exhausting as it is. It's added pressure when Awsten is around; she has to make sure that she has enough witty comments left in her to retort with, whenever he inevitably says something to piss her off.

Today is one of those days that Awsten is around. And unfortunately for the both of them, they won't be able to avoid each other as easily as they normally do.

Emily is called into the conference room, just as she's about to go on her lunch break— she's already pushed it back three times today, because the work load on her desk has been continuing to pile up. She has a feeling that she won't be getting a lunch break at all today.

She sighs as she leaves her office and heads for the conference room.

"Emily!" Jeremy cheers, as soon as she opens the door. "Come in. Take a seat," he gestures to one of the many free seats around the table.

She offers him a quick smile as a greeting, before her eyes scan the room, finding the only other person there to be Awsten.

The two of them roll their eyes as their gazes meet and Emily sits down as far away from him as possible.

"What's she doing in here?" Awsten grumbles, a deep frown on his face.

"Very professional," Emily retorts, sarcastically, causing him to glare.

"I have something to ask of both of you," Jeremy begins, pausing momentarily as he rethinks the wording of his sentence. "Actually, no. It's more of a task that I'm giving both of you. I'm not asking," he says, more clearly, catching both Awsten and Emily off guard. "You'll be working together on a project for the next week or so."

"Working together?" Emily echoes, her eyes wide.

"That's what he just said. Weren't you listening?" Awsten responds, quick on his feet with the remark— but, thankfully for Emily, she hasn't run out of steam just yet.

"Oh, I was listening just fine. Working with you just seems like a nightmare, so I had to make sure I wasn't somehow sleepwalking," she bites back, allowing her professionalism slip briefly, to let some venom seep into her tone.

"Alright. Come on, you two," Jeremy cuts in with a sigh. "We've got a busy few months ahead of us and we need to elevate what we've already got. I want merch designs for the upcoming tour, new website updates— all of that kind of thing," he explains. "Awsten, how long until you fly back to Houston?"

"About a week and a half," Awsten mumbles, rubbing his hands over his face.

"Great. You've got a week to get this done," Jeremy says, with a sense of finality. He slides a binder over to Emily and she catches it before it can fall off of the edge of the table. "That has all the information you need on what I want you to do in case you need some guidance. I want this done and I want it done well," Jeremy adds, sternly, before standing up. "Now, play nice," his expression brightens to a smile that he offers to the two of them, as he heads towards the door.

Jeremy leaves them alone in the thick, tense silence.

"This is fucking ridiculous," Awsten mutters, running his hands through his hair.

Emily doesn't rise to the comment for now; she just begins flipping through the pages within the binder that Jeremy left. She reads through the laminated pages, resisting the urge to roll her eyes— she's trying to concentrate, but all she can hear is Awsten subtly huffing and puffing like a moody teenager at the other end of the table.

"Will you cut it out?" Emily snaps, finally.

"Sorry, I won't breathe in future," Awsten quips in return.

"That'd be much appreciated," she fakes her best smile, feeling satisfied at the way his eyes narrow at her.

It falls deadly silent after that. The quiet looms in the air, as if it's taunting both of them— teasing, mocking the fact that they have to even be in the same room together.

"Look, I'm not happy about this either," Emily finally breaks the silence, causing Awsten to look up at her— she doesn't meet his eyes just yet, as she continues flicker through the folder. "But, let's just get this over and done with."

Awsten only nods in response.

"Wow, no snarky remark for that one?" Emily asks, shocked. "There's a first time for everything."

"Hey, you can't call me unprofessional and then be a fucking hypocrite," Awsten swiftly calls her out.

"God, I was kidding," Emily holds her hands up in defence. "Remind me to never kid with you again," she mutters, closing the binder and sliding it across the table to him.

She stays quiet as Awsten reads it; his face twists in a similar way to how Emily's did when she read it.

"Does he think we're five?" Awsten questions, mostly rhetorically.

"He must think that laminating the most basic-ass information and putting it in a binder makes him seem more important," Emily responds, with the same tone. "More of a big boss man maybe."

"Maybe he thinks it makes his dick bigger," Awsten mutters, dryly, and Emily snorts, unintentionally; she covers her mouth quickly when Awsten looks up at her, quizzically.

"Sorry," she mumbles, sheepishly. "That was funny."

An amused smile briefly graces Awsten's lips, and Emily almost thinks it's a nice sight to see,
but he soon goes back to avoiding her gaze entirely.

"So, when do you want to start this thing?" Awsten lets out a breath, being as civil as he can.

"I'll be honest, I've got a shit-load of work to finish off today," Emily sighs, thinking about everything that she's got left to do in her office. "But, we can start tomorrow afternoon. I've only got one meeting before then."

"Where should we work?" Awsten questions. "There's meetings in here all day tomorrow."

"We can use my office," Emily suggests. "It's not very big, but I can clear some stuff so that we've got a little more room," she shrugs.

"Got it," Awsten nods, curtly, pressing his lips together as his eyes wander the room for something to focus on. "I should go," he announces, standing from his seat.

"Yeah. I should get back to work," Emily gets up, too. "So, tomorrow...About two o' clock?" She suggests, the two of them now standing in front of each other. "Does that work for you?"

"Two o' clock is fine for me," Awsten agrees.

It falls quiet again, but this time, their eyes are locked on one another's.  Neither of them are sure who should move for the door first, but as soon as Emily takes a step, Awsten does, too.

"You should, uh— After you," Awsten stammers, opening the door and stepping aside to let Emily out.

"Oh. Thanks," she murmurs, clearly caught off guard by the gesture.

They both just hope this week will be somewhat bearable.

***