Chapter 25

By the time you came back around from dropping off the coffees in the Lawyer’s offices, Eric and Andy were both in the intern conference room. Eating your pastries.

“Hey dude,” Eric said, just popping the last bite into his mouth. “Thanks for bringing in snacks.”

The empty box was sitting in the middle of the table. All you could do was sort of raise your hands as you watched Andy peeling the chocolate filling out of the pastry he had in front of him and eating just that part.

“Yeah, yeah,” you finally said, shaking your head in mourning for your lost breakfast. “You’re up next time though.”

“Sure,” Eric nodded, and you knew there wasn’t a chance in hell he’d think to reciprocate.

“Can I have another?” Andy asked.

“That was the last one,” you sighed.

You grabbed your seat and opened up your laptop, getting started again on the pile of emails and digital files that needed sorting before you could all get to the real task for the day - keyword searches on thirty-year-old hardcopy files.

Sabrina arrived right on time, and she flashed you a smile as you looked up and saw her wearing your sunglasses again.

“Morning,” she chirped. “Andy, you’re here early!”

“I am?” the dopey guy said. “Oh, yeah. Garrison told me yesterday I have to start a half hour earlier now.”

“So you were late, then?” you asked him.

“What?” he asked back.

“You got here five minutes ago. So you’re late for your early start,” I said.

“What?” Andy asked again.

“Can we maybe get to work instead of debating the time-space continuum of Andy’s life?” Gemma asked.

“I don’t know, I have to wonder if the fluctuations are being caused by strange gravitational forces,” you said. “Like, is Andy a black hole, and time dilates around him?”

Gemma snickered. “Maybe the dilation matches his pupils. Andy, did you smoke up last night again?”

“Yeah, I mean- Wait, is this a trick question?” The interns had signed an employee policy that you were not using recreational drugs, but had been assured that since marijuana had been legalized in the state that didn’t count. Andy had been a little paranoid about talking about his habit anyways.

Eventually you all fell into your regular work patterns. You only had to kick Andy awake once, and a couple of the associate lawyers dropped off stacks of files for you all to sort through ASAP. That actually meant ‘before the other stuff, but after anything a Partner gives you to do.’

Around eleven you stood up and stretched, then headed for the washroom. As you were coming back out, Sabrina was walking down the hall. She grabbed your arm and pulled you further into the office, towards the staff kitchen.

“Did you ask her yet?” Sabrina asked you immediately after starting to fill her water bottle.

“No, I didn’t want to. I apologized again this morning for yesterday, I thought it might be bad form to ask her out right after that,” you said.

“Oh,” Sabrina said. “That actually makes sense.”

“Also, I spoke with Becks this morning. It went well,” you said.

Sabrina grinned. “I know, she told me. Nice job finally figuring out you could buy her a coffee.”

“No one said anything about that,” you said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I can’t give away all my secrets,” she said, and smirked. “Speaking of which, what’s with not buying enough pastries for me?”

You rolled your eyes. “I got one each for me, you and Gemma, but Andy and Eric got to the box while I wasn’t in the room. So we both missed out.”

“Well, I guess you’re just going to figure out another way to fix my chocolate addiction,” Sabrina said. She glanced around, making sure no one was nearby listening, then leaned in and whispered, “I hear sex is a pretty good serotonin replacement.”

“Here? Today?” you asked, surprised.

She pursed her lips and shook her head. “No. But it’s fun to tease you.” She finished filling her water bottle, and you both started walking back. “By the way, the video from the restaurant? It’s doing some killer numbers.”

“That’s great,” you said. Considering you’d watched it about three times last night yourself, you could understand why.

“So when are you going to ask her?” Sabrina asked.

“At lunch, I think,” you said. “I’ll see if she wants to grab something from the bodega downstairs, and ask her while we aren’t in the office.”

“Good idea, I approve,” Sabrina nodded. “But, um, could you actually get me some reese cups while you’re down there? I’m craving chocolate now.”

You laughed, and you both entered the intern conference room to get back to work. The thing was, you didn’t miss Gemma giving you a sidelong glance, lingering as you sat down and then glancing away when you tried to meet her eyes.

Now what did that mean?