~Annabel's POV~
I wake up in a jolt, and am quick to turn off my alarm. I look over at Harry, and stare at his toned upper body, his arms long and tanned, and covered in black ink, along with his chest. Smiling to myself, I push the hair out of his face, before getting up.
I'm thankful today is Friday, and casually realize that it's my birthday. I don't react. I've just turned 20 is all. I know Harry is going to get me something and hopefully he forgets to go out and buy a gift for me. I didn't want money spent on me, all I wanted was a simple happy birthday, and maybe, just maybe, some birthday sex.
I got ready in just an hour, with my hair and makeup done, and I decided to dress myself in a pretty casual burgundy dress, with lace ontop of an opaque matching burgundy color. The sleeves went a little below my elbows, and the dress was a good length. I smoothed out the front, and stared in the mirror.
I was 20, now.
I was a woman, and it felt normal, but I smiled, knowing that I have lived 20 years, rough or not.
"Morning love," A raspy voice interrupts my thoughts behind me, and I smile.
"Morning Harry," I giggle, as his arms slip around my waist. He rests his chin on my shoulder, and looks into the mirror.
"You look beautiful." He compliments.
"Thank you."
"We're a good couple." He says, and I laugh out loud.
"Yes, I like to think so." I say, as he kisses my cheek multiple times, and I turn around to face him. I place my hands onto his bare chest, and look up into his green eyes.
"Happy Birthday, Annabel." He smiles.
"Thank you," I whisper, and he presses a kiss to my forehead, as my eyes flutter shut.
"We'll celebrate later tonight, okay?" He says, rubbing my back, and I nod.
"I have to get to work." I say, not wanting to go, and he kisses me softly on the lips before agreeing to let me leave.
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"Happy Birthday, Annabel!" Lilly screams and I pull the phone away from my ear.
"Thanks, babe. I miss you," I laugh.
"So do I, we need to celebrate tonight." She gushes. "We have to drink a lot, you're 20 after all!"
"Still not legal,"
"Well, when did that ever stop us?" She speaks, and I laugh at her sass.
"You're right, I suppose. But I don't want to go anywhere, I just want to stay home."
"Bummer! We were gonna party all night, why do you want to stay home on your birthday?!"
"I don't know, Harry wants to celebrate as well, but I don't want to go out."
"Okay.. Well, I have to go. Have an amazing day, babe!" She yells into the phone, and the line disconnects.
"What's this about not going out?" Bea walks into my office, with two mochas in her hands.
"Harry, my boyfriend, and my best friend want to celebrate for my birthday tonight, but I'm just not feeling it." I explain, taking a sip of the mocha.
"It's your birthday?" Bea asks excitedly, and I nod sheepishly. "Happy Birthday! If I'd have known, I would've gotten you a gift!"
"No no, don't get me anything, please! This mocha is enough for me." I gesture to the drink, before drinking more of it.
"Alright, well, I hope you have a good day! I'm gonna leave you to get your work done. If you need anything, don't hesitate to call!" She says, and I laugh.
"Thank you so much, Bea!" I yell, and she closes the door behind her. I sigh, and think about how grateful I am for having amazing friends. I begin to pull out my laptop from my bag, and turn it on, before pulling out all the papers that were finished being edited from the previous night's work load. I grab the pile of today's work, and remove the yellow stick note that sits ontop of the paper-clipped stack of paper that reads; Today's Work: Decide if you think the story should be published or not. 100% your opinion.
I raised and eyebrow, and shrugged. Seemed easy enough. I unclipped the stack of new stories, and set them on my desk, before getting up to turn in the finished papers in. Smoothing out the front of my dress, I began to walk to Jack's office, and knocked on his door when I got there.
"Come in!" I hear a distant voice call, and I push the door open. "Ah, Annabel." He says, standing.
"Hi, Mr- Jack," I correct quickly. "I have the edited papers here, all finished and ready to be published." I say, and hand him the stack.
"Thank you. Good work. Now, I assume that you got the work for today, just deciding if the book should be published?"
"That's what Bea gave me." I smile, and he nods.
"Good. Well, thank you for turning in this work." I smile, nodding, and begin to walk away. "Also, Annabel." I turn to face him. "I hear through the grapevine that it's your birthday?"
"That's true," I say, burying my face in my hands.
"Well, Happy Birthday, Annabel." He smiles, and I thank him, before heading back to my own office. I take a breath, and begin walking, looking down at my feet.
I should've worn different shoes...
And before I know it, I'm on the ground, papers scattered everywhere.
"Oh shit, I'm so sorry." I hear a familiar voice say, and I look up.
"Louis?"
"Annabel! Hey!" He says, pulling me up from the ground.
"What're you doing here?" I smile, brushing off my dress.
"I work here! I was just picking things up from the copying machine."
"What? I didn't know you work here, so do I!" I exclaim.
"No way, I never knew that! Where's your office?"
"Up here, on the penthouse floor! And yours?"
"You work up here?" He asked, shocked.
"Yeah, I do." I nodded sheepishly.
"Wow, I'm only up here because the machine on our floor is broken. You must be really good at your job. I'm down on the 22nd floor."
"Oh, not too far. Just 3 floors down." I smile.
"How long have you been working here?"
"Um, like 2 or 3 days." I say quickly.
"What? And you already have a penthouse office? How the hell did you score that?!" He laughs.
"It's confusing. You see-" I begin. "How about we talk about it over lunch?"
"Sure, when's your lunch break?"
"12:30." I say.
"Same, so just meet me at my office?" He asks and I nod. "Cool, see you then. My office number is V114." He smiles, and I thank him, before going back to my office. I whip out my phone, and compose a new text to Harry.
To Harry: You never told me Louis worked here!
From Harry: Oh yeah, guess I forgot. Sorry love. Need me to stop by at work today to drop off lunch?
To Harry: That's okay, I'm gonna have lunch with Lou. Thanks babe.
From Harry: No problem love, have a good day xx
I smile, and sit down at my desk, and begin reading.
"Please," She begged, tears spilling out of her bloodshot eyes, that were once a beautiful misty blue. Even he could see now, that he's caused all the color to fade, and even so, she still loves him.
"Andy, this is all too much. It's too much pain for you, and I hate seeing you this way." He says softly into her ear, strands of softly curled brown hair tickling the side of his face.
"If you hate seeing me this way, then just let me be with you." She begs, and he sighs at her persistence. Even though it was a trait in her he loved the most, he couldn't fall for it this time. He musn't.
"Don't you see, Andrea? I am the cause of your pain. I am the source of it all. I'm the reason all your happiness has disappeared, and I want you to be happy. I want the girl that I fell in love with, back. But as hard as it is for me to say this, it's just not me. I'm not the one for you."
I star the top of the page and sign my name, clarifying that I wanted this book to be published. It was well written, yes, but the feeling, the vibe that I felt had really blown me away, and I would love to read that whole thing, which, I think I might sometime later. I check the time, and it's 12:26. I decide to head down to Louis' earlier, and I grab my purse, phone, and keys, before locking the office door behind me.
____________________
"So, how long have you known Harry?" I ask, before shoving a fork of pasta into my mouth.
"I'd say a good 7 years, we knew each other way back in middle school." He says.
"That's nice, you guys are really close."
"Yeah, he's one of my best friends. He used to be really different before you came into his life."
"Really? How so?" I question.
"He was just a dick to everyone. I'm surprised he even maintained friends. He's only had one girlfriend and after that ended he swore to never date again. You really changed him for the better."
"What happened with his previous girlfriend?"
"Um, I'll leave that for him to tell you." I laugh, and nod. "So, how did you get the penthouse office after 3 days of working?" He asks, and takes a bite out of his meal.
"Okay, well, I went in to apply for a job, and I actually talked to Jack myself. He gave me the job on the spot, and when I came to work, Bea led me to that office and said it was mine."
"Bea?"
"Sorry, my assistant."
"You have one of those too? Damn," He laughs as I do.
"Well, Jack was kind enough to do that for me. And hey, I'm not complaining." I joke, and wave my hand to a waiter, signaling for the bill.
"Wow, yeah, he was really generous." Louis speaks just as the waiter approached our table. He sets the bill onto the table, and I pull out a credit card. "Uh, no. No way, I'm paying." Louis speaks up.
"No, I am, I already have my card out!"
"Annabel, honestly let me pay."
"Louis," I mock. "It's my birthday, and that means you have to listen to me." I say, and sign the receipt.
"Happy Birthday, but I'm still mad at you for paying." He says as the waiter takes the bill.
"Thank you," I laugh. "Well, this was nice." I say, tucking my card away.
"Definitely, we should do this more, now that I know someone that works here."
"That'd be great!" I say, as we walk out together, and head to our cars.
"Yeah, well, I'll see you maybe later tonight? Are you doing anything for your birthday?" He asks.
"No, Harry wants to celebrate but I don't know. We'll see." I flash a smile, and he nods, and back to work we drive.
_________________
~Louis' POV~
I pull into the parking lot, and get out of my car, headed to my office. As I approach the glass doors, I feel a vibration in the pocket of my jeans. I had a text from Harry.
From Harry: Tell me if you see anything suspicious between Annabel and her boss. Thanks man.
-H
Way ahead of you, Harry.
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AH I HAVENT UPDATED IN YEARS!
just kidding.
so I'm thinking about starting a new fan fic soon, but I don't know when. I have a lot planned out for this story, I imagine there to be a sequel, and another one after that, so like a trilogy. Tell me what you think!