It's the next Tuesday at 2:47, and Harry is supposed to be walking into Mr. Dobrev's office in exactly 3 minutes to help him prepare for the meeting between Meyerson and Montgomery at 3. Or rather, he was supposed to be there 2 minutes ago, because "on time is late, and early is on time" as Liam put it on Harry's first day.
Harry's whole day has just been kind of off, to say the least. He arrived to the office on time, which means Mr. Dobrev was annoyed that Harry was late, he messed up 3 different people's coffee orders, and he forgot to write down the name of someone who wanted to schedule a meeting between them and Dobrev, and he's just not having a great day today.
It's not really Harry's fault that he's late at the moment, to be fair. Mr. Dobrev had him pick up his dry cleaning and take it back to his flat, but the dry cleaners couldn't find the suit he was supposed to pick up for about 30 minutes, but Harry knows that that is no excuse for being "late" when it comes to Derrick Dobrev.
"You're late," Dobrev scolds without looking up from the notes for the meeting on his desk when Harry walks in.
"Yes, sir. I apologize, it won't happen again," Harry replies, kind of fearing for his entire future.
"You better make sure of that, boy," Dobrev says, sending Harry a stern glare.
"Of course, sir," Harry says, not knowing what else to say.
"Good. Now brief me on what's happening in the meeting at 3."
"Meyerson and Montgomery are coming in to discuss and sign a contract that smooths out all of the details between their upcoming merger. Meyerson is worried that Montgomery is trying to completely take over both companies, while Montgomery is worried that he'll be late picking his daughter up from school, so he needs the meeting to be finished by 3:30," Harry explains in one breath.
Dobrev nods. "We can make that happen. Good job, kid. You'll be monitoring the meeting so that there is a witness to make sure none of us do anything potentially illegal and also to take notes. Meyerson and Montgomery will also have their assistants with them."
"Thank you, sir," Harry says, letting out a breath.
"Did you bring the bagels?" Dobrev asks. Harry nods and motions to the giant box of bagels in his hand, wondering why Dobrev even had to ask. "Good. Let's head to the meeting room, then. Wouldn't want to be late, now would we?" Harry nods and follows Dobrev out of his office before glancing at the time on his phone.
2:54. Harry rolls his eyes at this man's incessant need to be early to everything. They arrive in the meeting room, and Harry immediately presents the bagels and various toppings on a platter and sits in the seat to the right of Dobrev.
"Here's Meyerson," Dobrev says to Harry when he sees the him and his assistant approaching through the windows of the meeting room. He stands up, and Harry follows his lead. "Meyerson! Nice to see you again," Dobrev greets, shaking Meyerson's and his assistant's hand.
"Dobrev, nice to see you. This is my assistant, Mary, she'll be joining us today," Meyerson says with quite a fake smile if Harry might say.
"This is Harry," Dobrev introduces, and Harry leans over the table to shake both of their hands.
"Nice to meet you," he says to them both.
Just then, a very pleasant looking man walks in alone, and Harry can only assume that this is Montgomery.
"Montgomery!" Dobrev greets, similarly to how he greeted Meyerson. "This is Mary and Harry, and you obviously know Meyerson."
"Of course. It's nice to meet you two." He shakes their hands."My assistant will be up in a moment. I accidentally forgot my brief case in the car," he laughs.
"Yeah, that sounds like you, Montgomery," Meyerson chuckles and sits down across from Dobrev's seat.
"There he is now," Montgomery says, motioning to a smaller man who is facing away from the meeting room and seems to be greeting Liam. They seem to say bye, and when the man turns around, Harry has to keep his jaw from dropping noticeably.
It's the boy he met at that 24 hour sushi place like a month ago.
'What was his name?' Harry thinks to himself. 'Larry? Lewis? Leroy?'
"Everyone, this is Louis," Montgomery introduces.
'That's the one,' Harry thinks, remembering following Louis out of the restaurant only to be rejected. 'How awkward.'
Louis immediately makes eye contact with Harry and his eyes widen. Louis then tears his blue eyes away from Harry's green, and shakes everyone's hands, making his way to Harry's. Harry notes that although Louis's hands are much smaller than his own, he has quite the firm handshake.
Harry can't seem to take his eyes off of Louis for the majority of the meeting. It's not like Harry is really needed here. He takes notes when something important is said, but he mostly just studies Louis. Harry really appreciates Louis in a tie. Louis returns his glances every now and then with a smirk, which makes Harry tingle quite heavily inside.
They watch as Meyerson and Montgomery make their final signatures on the large contract and stand up and shake hands, signaling the end of the meeting.
"It was nice doing business with you," Meyerson says.
"And you as well," Montgomery replies, returning Meyerson's smile. Montgomery's at least seemed real, though.
As it is now 3:30, it is officially the end of Harry's workday. He says goodbye to his boss and his boss's clients. They all exit the room, leaving only the assistants behind.
Harry glances over at Louis one last time before deciding to clean up the bagels and toppings before he leaves for the day.
"It was nice to meet you two," Mary says, waving her goodbyes and walking out.
Harry throws the used napkins in the trash can and begins wiping the crumbs up, when he notices that Louis is still in the room.
"Would you, uh," Louis pauses and lets out an awkward cough. "Would you like some help cleaning up?"
"If you want to, I won't say 'no,'" Harry laughs, throwing the crumbs in the trash. Louis's ass looks exceptionally nice in the trousers he's wearing.
Louis sends Harry a small smile and begins to pack up the extra bagels back into the box. "We met about a month ago at that sushi restaurant, didn't we?" he asks without attempting to make eye contact.
"We did," Harry smiles. "I was hoping we'd run into each other again. I just expected it to be on the street or in a club somewhere, and not," Harry pauses and chuckles. "Well, not in a business meeting."
Harry notices Louis's cheeks grow slightly pinker as he continues to avoid Harry's eyes. "Yes, well, I don't really do much clubbing these days." Louis finally meets Harry's eyes and Harry's the one to turn pink this time. He's just so pretty, Harry doesn't really know what to do with himself.
"So that means, when I ask you on a date, I should ask you out to dinner and not to a bar?" Harry shows off his dimples with a cheeky grin as Louis laughs nervously, his face becoming redder by the second.
"I don't think that's the best idea," Louis replies with an awkward smile.
"Why not?" Harry tilts his head slightly to the side as he closes the bagel box and walks out of the room. He hears Louis begin to follow behind him as he heads to the staff lounge to leave the extra bagels there for tomorrow morning.
"Well, I just," Louis begins nervously. "You see," he sighs.
"How about this," Harry starts, noticing that Louis seems uncomfortable with sharing whatever it is that makes him hesitant about going on a date with him. "I'll take you out to dinner tonight around 8, and if you don't like me, you don't have to ever speak to me again. But, if you do like me, you tell me why you don't want to go out with me and we'll figure that out together," Harry says, feeling proud of himself.
He can tell that Louis still feels hesitant, but Louis finally smiles and sighs in defeat. "Fine, Harry. You can take me out tonight," he gives in, making Harry smile. "But if I don't like you, I'm leaving you there."
"Of course," Harry smiles. "I'll meet you at Chez Francois at 8, then."
"Ooh, fancy choice," Louis laughs.
"I've got to make you fall in love with me somehow," Harry jokes.
"Alright, Harold, calm down now," Louis swats Harry's arm lightly.
"Let me walk you to whatever form of transportation you're using to get home," Harry offers as they get onto the elevator.
"I'm walking," Louis says.
"Me too," Harry replies. "We'll just walk together until we part ways, then."
"Fine," Louis smiles.
"Fine," Harry chuckles.