Hello, Again

Chapter 10 (Part 1)

She looked up again; nobody noticed her antics, poring over the large stacks of paper instead.

It was the second meeting between Thompson & Lowell and the UAI, and once again she was filling in Campbell's stead, the only difference being her elevated importance - at least in the first fifteen minutes. She'd brought over the catalogues Amelia had requested before the art exhibition, volunteering to drop them over as a respite from having to manually sort through hundreds of catalogue entries about Indo-European art in her dingy office, and also because nobody from her department wanted to face Mark Lowell at the utter delay.

"He's ruthless", Rosie Johnson had whispered conspiratorially when Emily had decided to shoulder the responsibility - it was their fault to have released the documents after a delay of five weeks, after all - and had shaken her plump hands off the matter with the solitary comment, watching the blonde stagger under the weight of the antiquated documents, barely even helping with wrapping them up for the transit.

Emily wasn't quite sure why she'd chosen to play the courier, but her co-workers gave her enough reason to justify her cause anyway.

She messaged George on the way - Love, I'll be home late tonight. Meeting at Ames's office. - and was only mildly concerned about his delayed response when her phone had started vibrating loudly in the middle of a discussion about inverted beams and Greek colonnades and though she wouldn't ever admit it - she welcomed the respite.

But then her phone rang two more times, and Amelia's frown became more and more pronounced with each instance, and Emily was forced to stash her handbag away from the brunette's sight to better evade blame later.

The corporate world was a stuffy place, Emily recapitulated.

Glancing at the other occupants of the room, she suddenly caught Armin Bluhm's eyes, and was quite taken aback by how keenly the German man was looking at her, his light blue eyes twinkling. She grimaced at him, trying to divert attention from her nearly-visible phone, when he shot a smile her way and glanced at her lap.

Shit.

His eyes still twinkling with mirth, he turned towards Amelia, who was busy scribbling something on the margins of her sheaf of papers, and called her to attention

"Amelia, let's take a five minute break, yeah?"

"Huh?"

"I have some emails to check - that's alright, yeah?"

"Yes, of course", replied Amelia, and Emily noticed that she looked a little flustered. Standing up rapidly, she gathered her things, and stood motionless for a few seconds before stepping out of the room.

"There, you can check your phone now", put in Armin sweetly, a cheeky smile on his face, as Emily watched Amelia exit the room. Distracted, Emily glanced back to take in the shoulder length sandy-blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, and kind eyes that crinkled at the corners.

Her phone beeped again. George had never been a patient man.

...

She watched him walk over to the window sill and settle down on the floor, his movements surprisingly agile for a man of his stature, the scotch sloshing in the coffee cup held loosely in one hand. He looked up at her expectantly, and she leant down to place her own mug (carrying coffee) on the floor before sitting down beside him, her back against the wall, as Adam looked out of the window.

It'd be months before the two of them would find such tranquillity again, in a quiet October afternoon when Amelia would fondly kiss him on the cheek and snuggle against his shoulder. At the moment, however, she kept her distance and watched him out of the corner of her eyes, as he gazed out of the window at the loft's backyard.