Todays song: Don't Text Me When You're Drunk-Zai1k/Stacey Ryan
Warning: Summit is a bit OOC in this chapter. Only this chapter, though. He's a little more nervous and hyper than usual, but it's because...well you'll see. He'll be back to his old gentle self soon.
Monday
6:47 AM
Your Apartment, Monroe, New Mill City
Sunday passed like any other uneventful weekend. You just spent it cleaning up your place, getting groceries, just basic chores and errands. It paid off though, at least now you had a clean apartment and a full fridge.
As of right now though, you were in your room getting ready for work. You were buttoning up your shirt while the morning news played in the background. You never really paid attention to it, but it made for some good background noise.
You finally finished buttoning up your shirt, and went to grab the (favorite color) sweater perched on the couch to wear over it. After getting all situated, you start putting on your shoes while the traffic report played in the background, this was the only part of the news you paid any attention to, since it kinda determined if you got to work on time. Your boss, the editor-in-chief, was lenient on you when it came to your time of arrival. Mostly because he understood your plight, but also because you did your job well and never really caused him any problems.
Anyways, let's check in on that traffic report. Some reporter was in a helicopter that was flying over the bridge, filled to the brim with cars that lined the road like ants.
"The Gardener Bridge is sure looking packed this morning, as usual! Looks like everyone's bumper to bumper! Things haven't changed with the intersection leading to the bridge as it seems to still be moving at it's standard snails pace! Back to you in the studio, Kelsey!"
Damn it. Guess today's no exception.
You check yourself over in the mirror one more time. This outfit really wouldn't be complete without...a coat, since it was like 25 degrees outside. It would probably get warmer later, but as of right now, it was freezing to the point where you could see frost on your windows.
Real quick, clothes you're wearing.
-(Favorite color) sweater
-Button down white shirt (under the sweater)
-Black slacks
-(Favorite color) canvas shoes
-Black coat (any style of coat is fine)
After getting your coat on, you turn off your tv, and grab your essentials. You hit the lights, plunging the apartment into a blanket of darkness, and walk out the door.
You walk down the hallway, and reach the elevator, but it had a large "CAUTION" sign, and there was a orange cat doing something with the button panel.
You decide not to ask what's happening, since it's probably just a circuit issue. You simply walk towards the stairs and take the 5 flights down to the lobby. You walk through the large glass doors and walk to your car, parked a little closer than yesterday. You hop inside and start your drive towards the bridge, which was a lot less packed up close. Cars were indeed moving, albeit slowly.
You put SAVI in autodrive and lean back in your seat, listening to your music while coasting along the bridge.
While you sat back, you got a message. Your phone had been on silent all night, but luckily SAVI was there to let you know someone texted.
"You have one new message from Summit Snowden. Would you like me to read it?" SAVI asks.
"Yeah." you say.
"Good morning; sun emoji," the robotic voice reads. "Would you like to respond?"
"Yes." you said.
The animated microphone pops up on the screen, signaling for you to record your message.
"Good morning, smiling face emoticon." you say
You look at the screen, and 'Good morning :)' appeared. You confirmed you wanted to send the message, and you sat back up. You were almost off the bridge so you decided to manually drive. Although SAVI's autodrive system had been proven to work well on city streets, you were still pretty nervous to use it on anything that wasn't a straightaway.
You were nearing the city, and you really only had maybe fifteen minutes to go before you finally made it to work.
"SAVI, disable autodrive." you command.
"Autodrive now disabled." SAVI says.
You put your hands back on the steering wheel and make your way into Edgewood.
You look farther into the distance and see the tall building with "NMC NEWS" on the top in large white letters.
You had the honor of working on the second to last floor that the building had. You were also lucky enough to have your own office, which you used to your benefit.
You pull into the large parking lot next to the building and drive up and down, desperate to get to a parking spot. As you expected, most of your coworkers had gotten there already, and their cars took up most of the available spots, leaving you to park between your boss's car and a tiny blue Mazda.
You didn't trust SAVI enough to park itself, because if it scratched your boss's car AT ALL, he would have your head. He keeps it clean and pristine, and if any minor damage to we're make itself evident, he. Would. Flip. His. Shit.
(Your boss's Challenger. You dent it, you die)
You manage to park your car yourself, and you step out, walking towards the elevator that would take you to your floor.
"Hey, (Y/N)!" a voice called from a little ways behind you.
You look back and see your friend, Fritz, speed-walking towards you.
"Oh, hey Fritz!" you said.
His name wasn't actually Fritz. It's his middle name because he doesn't like his first name, which is Kieran. He had come for an internship at the paper since he was studying journalism, and was an amateur reporter. You saw his enthusiasm, so you assigned some of the smaller, interesting stories. That, and speeches from city officials.
"How was your weekend?" you ask.
"Eh, it could be better. What about yours?" he asked.
You wondered whether or not to tell him about the date, but that could come later.
"Pretty average. I went to the SAVI Tower to snap some photos of the view from up there, but after that I mostly just cleaned my place and chilled." you said.
"Ooh! Can I see the pictures if you have 'em?" Fritz asked.
"Yeah, hold on." you say, pulling out your phone and opening the photo.
You give Fritz the phone and watch as his eyes light up.
"Whoa! I wish I actually had the time to go there, I heard that there's a bar up on the roof for tourists!"
"Aren't you still twenty?" you said.
"You wait till I'm twenty-one, I'm gonna be drinking like there's no tomorrow." Fritz said confidently.
"Yeah, and you're gonna have a hangover so bad you may not be able to move tomorrow, either." you chuckled.
"What's a hangover?" Fritz asked.
...
"Remind me to never let you touch a bottle of alcohol." you say, the two of you walking into the lobby of the building and making your way to the elevator.
Monday
9:13 AM
NMC News Headquarters, Edgewood, NMC
You walk in to the usual. Phones ringing, people running to and fro holding stacks of paper, Ellie talking and gossiping instead of actually doing anything (you'll see Ellie at some point). You nonchalantly slide your headphones in and walk through the hustle and bustle to get to your office.
You had a little novelty board on the door that had different little phrases on it so people could tell if you were in your office or not. You move the little magnet down to say "I'm here!" and go inside your office, closing the door behind you.
Walking in, although your office was messier than a bitter custody battle, you couldn't help but appreciate the view you had. It made you feel authoritative. Like a big shot CEO staring over New York. But for now you were an editor in New Mill. That's fine.
(Keep in mind, I only vaguely know what newspaper editors do, so this most likely won't contain much work, since i have no idea how to write it)
You look around your cluttered office, seeing all of the papers on the desk, chairs, and the tiny bookshelf you never actually intended to put books in, sticky notes that lined the walls, and the stale smell of coffee lingered in the room. You didn't even need these papers and stuff anymore, you just...never got rid of them. You thought of maybe using your lunch break to clean up.
But for now, duty calls.
You slink into your office chair, and turn on your computer. A few papers fall off of the monitor, spilling onto your desk.
You sigh, before simply tossing the papers to the side.
After the computer finally turns on, you go to sift through your emails.
Advertisement requests, emails from reporters you assigned to other stories, your boss praising your performance, the works.
Since this was more of an online newsletter than an actual newspaper, things were a bit easier to get done. Not a lot, but a bit.
It was especially difficult when people would email for their awful adverts to be put in the paper. Such as someone who was selling jars of sunflower seeds in seasoned water, and some guy who was selling "penis enlargement pills" that were just really old pill bottles full of red M&Ms.
You stretch out in your chair, which triggers another paperslide after your elbow hits an old file.
"Goddamn it." you curse under your breath, getting out of your chair to pick up this stuff and toss it into the paper shredder.
Time skip because I don't want to bore y'all
Monday
12:24 PM
NMC NEWS Headquarters, Edgewood, NMC
Your lunch break was coming up in about six minutes, so you were slightly winding down, and starting to clean up that mess. You walked out of your office with a trash can full of papers, and walked to a small workroom where the paper shredder was.
Your boss was there as well, printing off a couple of documents.
(Jon Kendall, your boss; more about him will be available in the characters section shortly after this is uploaded)
He watched you putting the trash can into the floor, and putting old papers into the shredder one by one.
"Doing a little spring cleaning, (Y/N)?" he asked.
"Yeah, after knocking down papers just by moving an inch, I figured I'd be on the season finale of Hoarders if I kept it up." you said.
Your boss laughed.
"I was wondering when you were going to get that together. It was like walking through a crime scene." he said.
You simply chuckled back, while still putting all of those miscellaneous papers into the shredder.
10 minutes later...
Four minutes of your lunch break was spent getting rid of seemingly endless stacks of paper, but at least your office was...slightly cleaner.
Just then, you heard your phone buzz in your pocket.
You went over and checked it, and oddly it was a text from Summit.
'Hey, sorry if I'm bothering you at work but if you're up for it there's this cafe near me if you wanted to go at some point on your lunch break.'
You decide to lightly tease him.
'Can't wait for that date so you're trying to set up a little something...I see you 😏'
'No I can wait just wondering if you wanted to go'
You swipe down on your screen, and see that it's only 12:36.
'I don't have a bunch of time. How far is it?'
'It's in Edgewood where do you work?'
'NMC news'
'Oh it's close to me, maybe a minute or so from my apartment'
Oh? Convenient.
'That's good. If we leave now I have 54 minutes'
'Whenever you're ready:)' he texted.
You grabbed your coat and headed out.
Monday
12:42 PM
5th Street Apartments, Edgewood, NMC
You stood outside of the large apartment building, hands in your pockets, and shivering. You haven't been waiting long, but at the first exposure to the elements, you absolutely crumbled into a shivering, teeth-chattering mess. Summit said he had to get ready to leave, and the apartment was closer than you thought.
You heard the door to the building open, and out steps the white wolf. He seemed pretty happy, actually.
"Feels great out here, doesn't it?" Summit said, while wearing nothing but a very light blue T-shirt and a pair of, admittedly comfortable looking sweat pants.
"How are you not freezing to death out here?!" you ask.
"Arctic wolf, I can handle a little cold." he says with a smile.
"You seem happy today, what's goin' on?"
You make an overdramatic gasping noise
"Are you that happy to see me?!" you say.
You didn't know why, but you just felt the need to mess with him a little.
"I am, but that is not the main reason." Summit says.
"Oh?" you say.
This mood switch came out of nowhere. It wasn't unwelcome, of course. You were happy to see him happy, but it was quite a change from his rather gloomy expression and melancholy tone the last times he spoke to you.
"The thing is, I don't know the main reason myself. I just...feel nice today." the large wolf said.
"That's good. Should we head to that cafe now? Sorry if I'm rushing, but I only have like forty something minutes left on my break, heh." you say nervously.
"Oh, right! I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long. Follow me." Summit says, walking to the left.
You follow him, bundling your coat around your body even tighter than before. You could barely even feel your fingers at this point.
You walk alongside Summit for the first couple of seconds in silence, but you decide to make some small talk.
"So um...just tryna make small talk here, but...you from NMC or...?" you ask.
"No, I'm from Alaska. Lived there until I was...around twenty-one?" he says.
"Oh. Was Alaska too boring? I heard it's a pretty uneventful place besides the...ice 'n all." you say.
You never really heard that from anyone, since you didn't really know anyone from Alaska who could vouch.
"Um...you could say that I guess? For me, it was...a-a little t-too eventful." Summit said.
Why did he stutter? Is his hometown a heavy subject? Maybe you should dodge this one.
"What about you? W-Where are you from?" Summit asked.
"Oh, I'm from Welborne." you said.
Summit looked at you and disbelief, before quickly composing himself, probably as to not be rude.
"Oh."
Now what he meant to say was, "I wouldn't take you as being from Welborne."
You had gotten this a lot whenever you were asked about what city you came from. Most people who came from Welborne who moved usually were criminals trying to hide from cops, while you looked like you came from the streets...of a gated community. It wasn't a sensitive topic by any means, but it did sometimes get annoying.
"What was it like there? If you don't mind my asking of course." Summit asked.
"It was...crazy to say the least. Loads of crime, even in the nicer areas where I lived, there was bound to be a burglary." you said.
"Ah. Were you ever robbed?"
You had been robbed. Many times. The police reports, the blue and red lights, the hiding in the closet...it was insane.
It never exactly traumatized you, as you had been accustomed to it early on, but you knew if you told Summit, or anyone for that matter your experiences, you'd get a pitiful gaze. The last thing you wanted was a pitiful gaze.
"Someone...tried to steal my mom's car once, but that was it." you lied.
"Oh. Also may I ask something else regarding to the Galaxy date?" Summit asked.
"Yeah, go for it." you said.
"How are we going to get there?"
You heard that glass breaking sound effect in your head, as you realized you forgot the most crucial part. You lived across the bridge, and by the time you would be ready to go, you'd be stuck in traffic and most likely miss your reservation.
(You had called them in the last chapter, I just never mentioned it)
"Ah, geez uuhhh...how tall are you again?" you ask, trying to gauge if this extremely tall wolf could possibly fit in your car.
"I'm six foot ten."
Holy Shit!
"I could just stay in the area after work. I don't know what I'd do, but if I crossed that bridge and went home to get ready I would miss the reservations."
"Yeah...I-nevermind."
Summit was going to say something, but he cut himself off.
"What was it?" you asked.
"N-Nothing." the large wolf said.
"Come on. Spill." you persisted.
"Okay...if you...would be okay with it, would you like to maybe come over to my place and relax there until we have to leave?" he asked, "Although, it is okay if you don't, really. I don't want to pressure yo-"
"Summit. Dude. You're fine! I'd be cool with chilling at your place. You worry too much." you say.
"Also, you're acting kind of...how do I put it...jittery? Are you okay?" you ask.
"Yes, I'm fine. I had to take some migraine medication this morning and it made me a bit hyper, heh. I'm sorry if I'm overwhelming you."
You had a feeling it wasn't a migraine, but you weren't going to press him.
You two both arrived that the cafe he was talking about. You didn't know what to get, so you simply just let Summit pic for you. He bought you this sandwich you already forgot the name of, but it was absolutely heavenly.
Eventually though, you had to get back to work.
And it would go by fast.
Monday
7:49 PM
Denver Street, Monroe, NMC
As you were driving back home, you thought back to the transport issue.
Even though Galaxy was in Edgewood, Edgewood itself is huge, and getting there would take maybe forty minutes. That, and you didn't know if Summit's gargantuan ass could fit in your car. He probably could, but checking wouldn't be too far fetched.
"I mean....it is an executive type though," you say, peering into the large backseat. "I'll have to test it on him at some point."
It wasn't something to needed to worry yourself with too much. Besides, the city had taxis and trains, and you had a metro card just in case.
"You have one new message from Summit Snowden. Would you like me to read it?" SAVI asked.
"Yup." you said.
"I'm sorry I was hyper today, that migraine stuff did a number on me." SAVI read.
"Why does he apologize so much?" you thought aloud.
It's like he felt bad sometimes for just...existing. You didn't pay it any mind at the moment, you just responded to the text and went on your merry way.
(Tune in next time, where in part of the chapter, we'll be in SUMMIT'S POV. Even though it'll be in third person)
End of "(Y/N) The Worker Bee."