salute ➳ 〚h.s.〛 〚a.u.〛

chapter 22 - fast friends & woeful waiting

Marlow Reyes certainly knew how to make an entrance but not quite in a good way. Every eye turned in her direction as she tripped over the the slight incline just inside the door of the diner and nearly went sprawling down toward the ground. Like someone who was used to being clumsy, she caught herself immediately and straightened, brushing her dress back down like nothing amiss had happened in the first place. She ignored the various looks she was receiving from the other patrons as she scanned the diner looking for Piper. After spotting the redhead sitting at a booth, she headed straight in that direction.

"Sorry I'm late." She slid into the bench opposite Piper and let out a long tired sigh. "One of the partners is dealing with a complicated case at the Royal Courts and I had to join him at his trial. It took ages and nothing even happened and all the barristers seem to do is talk pretty and try to sound like they know more than the other person and it's just exhausting."

Piper's eyebrows shot up her forehead, her coffee cup raised halfway to her lips. The tirade that had just blown right out of Marlow had been surprising only because Piper had assumed Marlow's ranting nature was exclusively a drunk thing. Apparently not. The clumsiness she'd exhibited when she'd been wasted on New Year's was also, apparently, not a product of alcohol consumption and just a part of who Marlow was.

"Sorry," Marlow said again sheepishly, her cheeks flushing a bit. "Didn't mean to go off on you like that. It's just frustrating."

"I work in IT. I understand better than anyone, trust me."

Marlow chuckled, an uninhibited smile slipping onto her face. The innocent sideways grin was a contrast to the rest of her, dressed prim and proper for her job. As she shrugged out of her long coat, Piper admired the gorgeous black peplum top that she was wearing layered over a grey skirt. Her hair was swept up into a polished bun and highlighted her striking features, her warm brown eyes and her wide smile. She had a lot of life to her hiding behind that professional outward appearance and Piper could easily tell why Niall had his eye on her.

"I'll admit," Marlow raised her hand to call over the waitress before turning back to Piper, "I was a little surprised you invited me out like this. I don't remember much about New Year's Eve but I'm almost sure that I made a terrible impression and I may have threatened your boyfriend."

Piper forced a laugh, ignoring the way that any mention of Harry made her break out in a cold sweat like she was an addict jonesing for a fix.

"I think I need to apologize." Piper smiled apologetically at Marlow who for the most part just looked confused. "My behaviour on New Year's was atrocious really."

"It was a party," Marlow shrugged off a little too quickly.

"Niall told me that you were quite ill after." Marlow flushed once more, fiddling around with the menu in front of her. "I hate to think that I pressured you in any way. I've had years of emotional trauma and drowning my feelings in liquor to handle a wild night out. I should have been more considerate to the fact that not everyone is a borderline alcoholic like me."

Marlow looked embarrassed but she managed a little laugh. "Were you a big partier in uni?"

Piper felt a tightness in her chest like she always did when she thought of life at MIT. There had been a period when she was starting her Masters, four years the junior to everyone else in her program, that she'd felt an incredible amount of peer pressure to start acting like everyone else around her and stop sticking out like a sore thumb. It had led to her experimenting with a lot of things she really hadn't been ready for — mostly sex and booze — and she'd made quite a few poor decisions.