I had exactly two days of not seeing Clarke. I had Monday off work to make up for working Thursday. Monday was supposed to be a day of catching up on my studies but it wasn't that simple. I couldn't get Clarke out of my head. I was backtracking on my weekend and over the couple of months I had now known Clarke, trying to pinpoint what exactly was the reason I had slept with him. Was there even a reason? Did there need to be a reason?
I think because it was Clarke Watson I needed there to be a reason. There couldn't just be no reason with him. I hadn't just met him one night in club and had a one-night stand, that wasn't it at all. So what the hell was it? Like Ava said it probably wasn't hate sex. I didn't hate him, I knew that already. Did I have underlying for feelings for him that I just hadn't realised yet? No, not romantic feelings. I wasn't secretly in love with him that's for sure. I was attracted to him though...yes that I knew, I couldn't deny that anymore. If you took away his personality his looks were my ideal guy. There was still more to it than thought though, I felt it.
Tuesday I had classes most of the day, and whilst I tried my hardest to concentrate, it was just another day of my inability to get Clarke out of my head. I wasn't having new or different thoughts about it though. I had the same few running through my brain constantly, just going in a never ending circle, it was awful.
By the time Wednesday came around I was starting to think I just had to accept it. I was in denial to a certain extent. I couldn't accept I would do something like sleep with my boss, but I had, so maybe accepting it help. That thought got my through my morning class at least, but Wednesday was my half day of work day, so when I walked into the office that afternoon my mind started to run around again.
Just walking pass the front desk I felt like they were watching me, judging me, like somehow they knew, even though that wasn't possible. Oh god, what if Karen knew. I knew she didn't but I hated to think what awful things she would think about, she didn't like him at all.
"Ah, Rory, always on time."
Karen was sitting at the desk, smiling up at me. Karen was in her late fifties and had been married for twenty-five of them and had two kids who were both done with college. Sometimes she was like my New York mother, always taking care of me when I needed her. I could literally call her if I needed anything and she'd be there. She had short brown hair which she dyed to hide the greys as she would tell me, and wore thin framed classes on her heart-shaped face. Her age didn't show nearly as badly as she thought it did.
"Of course, I know it's probably been a busy couple of days," I said her, sucking back my worry of her knowing anything about what had happened.
"Well yes indeed," she nodded at me. "Looks like the kid didn't do too badly in Paris then? I've been looking over the deal this morning. They've been negotiating numbers since yesterday but looks like a contract will be the next thing sent over."
"Well, that's great news," I smiled slightly, "and...I know we've both doubted him, Karen. You should've seen him in Paris though. He wasn't the Clarke he is here. He was professional and smart...I mean, this deal is good."
Holy shit, did I just complement Clarke willingly?
"It is," Karen agreed. "I'm happy for him. I hope he keeps it up. Right, well I have to go. If they send the contracts through they need to get signed and send off ASAP, yeah? Legal specifically should be first, it'll make the process faster."
"Yes, Karen I know how to make sure a deal goes through," I mocked her slightly. "Now go home."
Karen left after a few more reminders on what do. I think she wanted to keep Clarke's momentum up, and the best way to do that was to make sure everything went smoothly, which I was able to do when the contract was sent through only half an hour after she left. I realised I hadn't even seen Clarke and I also realised he wasn't in his office. I remembered I had glanced at his schedule before I left and he had meeting with board. He was probably still there, they would've wanted to look that deal over from top to bottom.
"Rory, you're here."
The voice startled me as I had been focused on the computer, emailing and then faxing the deal that had come through. I had emerged myself in work as I had dreaded the moment I would see him again, and I didn't know how else to get through.
"Yes, it is my job," I reminded Clarke, as he stood oddly still near me.
"Right...yes, I know that," he nodded ever so slightly. "We-."
"The contracts came through and legal are looking it over now and should have a version for you to sign and send off today," I spoke quickly, we were at work, I just wanted to focus on work and pretend nothing else had ever happened. "Hopefully there's no problems so we can send the final one tonight rather than tomorrow and you can have this deal done by Friday morning."
"That's...perfect," Clarke nodded slowly. "Um, can you book a table for tonight and Melvin's around five-thirty? Malcom wants to have dinner to discuss my role now I'm getting stuff done and he wanted to go earlier, so he could get to see him family."
Malcom Reynolds had always been Henry's number two. The two were friends who met in college and whilst Henry started his business venture alone, Malcom eventually came along for the ride. When Henry passed away Malcom was the one to step in until they got Clarke in. He cared about this company as much as Henry did but didn't seem to have the same sway as Henry for whatever reason so he never made as many deals which is why he moved himself more into the finical part of the company. He sat on the board and had a majority share in the company and I was surprised that I hadn't seen him in Clarke's office whispering into his ear every day. I was glad he was now going to guide Clarke along.
"Yes, of course I can. I'll ring them up now and get it done," I told him calmly.
"Perfect," Clarke said, straightening his suit up. "Well, I've...got a lot of work today. I'll be in my office until then."
"And I'll be right here."
It was ridiculously awkward, but at the same time weirdly professional. We were getting more work done this way. I mean it was mainly because we weren't arguing for a change, but also because Clarke was doing something of importance for once and something I think was something he truly cared about. Maybe we could just forget that anything happened and move on with our lives. That would be the best solution.
Clarke left for dinner at around five after he signed all the stuff legal had sent back up. He was worried that I was going to be stuck here at work though because I wasn't finished but I told him I could get it done, I wasn't going to leave it all for Karen to do tomorrow anyway, so I'd do my best to get it down and not too slowly.
At around six-thirty I finally had the paperwork done and organised it into the correct folders and was ready to send it off the Lesly office in Paris. I was actually confident that we could have the deal down by tomorrow...that was up until I realised Clarke had missed a page to sign in the contract. I sighed and realised I had to get it signed tonight if we wanted this done by this week, if I left it for tomorrow there was a chance it wouldn't even go through by Friday.
I texted Clarke to tell him I could come to the restaurant to get him to sign it, but he texted back saying they were leaving and I should met him at his apartment, and he'd send a car around. I wasn't thrilled with idea but I also realised I could probably send the documents from Clarke's place, that was as long as he had kept Henry's office the same.
Clarke had taken up residency in the same penthouse Henry once lived. It was a big block of units that overlooked central park and was in the expensive part of town. Henry had lived there for a while and I was sure Clarke had lived there at one point too but obviously eventually moved out. So Henry was living alone in this huge three bedroom penthouse, and now Clarke had the same fate and was living alone, I just didn't know if he had changed anything in the penthouse.
As I walked out of work I saw the black car that Clarke had sent and I squinted as I saw the driver standing by the car as I was sure I recognised him, and as I got closer I realised I did.
"Trevor?!" I asked excited as I got closer.
I saw him look up and then smile at me and I then knew it was him. I ran towards him immediately hugging him. Trevor was no ordinary driver, he was also a friend. Trever had been a close friend of Henry's and worked for him for ten years and drove him literally everywhere and in-tern drove me whenever I needed to. It was safe to say we formed a close bond. Something that was easy to do when stuck in a car for long periods of time.
"I haven't seen you in so long. I wasn't sure you even worked here anymore," I said stepping back from the hug.
His face dropped a little. "I wasn't sure I was going to come back, honestly. When Henry...passed I needed time so I used my holiday pay and took time off work. I wasn't sure I wanted to work for Clarke and work near a company where I'd be reminded of my friend not being here anymore. Then last week I realised I needed to do it for Henry, help his son where I could, and I would be letting Henry down if I didn't."
"Well, I'm pretty sure Henry wouldn't judge you," I told Trevor, "but I'm really glad your back. So much is changing in that office it's nice to see a familiar face."
"Me too," Trevor smiled at me. "I was just happy Clarke let me have my job considering he didn't know me."
"He'd know you were a friend of Henry's, he'd respect that, trust me," I informed Trevor.
He looked intrigued by my comment. "Well, I'll drive you over to the house now and you can tell me about Clarke then?"
"Um...yeah, sure."
I liked Trevor too much to deny him his request. So on the ride over I talked Clarke up, something it seemed like I had been doing a lot of lately. I did explain his disconnection in the beginning but told him how he had improved. He seemed slightly impressed and had definitely been worried Clarke would tank the company.
When we got the apartment building Trevor told me he could wait but I insisted I get the subway home as I wasn't sure how long I would be and I was closer to home here then the office. He eventually agreed but told me he'd be around if I needed a ride. He was always looking out of me.
I hadn't been in this building for so long that stepping in it again felt weird. I remembered what it all looked like but it had been put to the back of mind, so seeing it again sparked my memories. I had to walk through the lobby and go to the front desk to be allowed up to the penthouse as you needed a key for the elevator to make it go the top floor. For security reasons there was a list of people who were allowed up to that floor, if you weren't on the list you weren't allowed up. I was on the list.
When the elevator doors opened to the single hallway that led to the penthouse I suddenly had a fear that Clarke had changed everything inside and just cut out everything Henry had put into the house. I knocked on the door kind of reluctantly, only to hear someone yell to come in. I slowly opened the door and sighed immediately.
It was a sigh of relief. Everything was the way I remembered it. Not a piece of furniture was different or moved. It was all still clean and crisp and modern, the way Henry liked it. I was a relief because this felt like a part of Henry and for some reason to me it felt like it would be an insult to change it. Maybe it was because I had ordered half of the furniture in this house.
As I entered the penthouse there was some foyer with two side tables on either side, both displaying flowers, a service most likely provided by a maid or something. The longue room, kitchen and dining room were one big long joined room. With the longue room coming first which contained two huge grey couches, and large coffee table and a massive flat screen TV attached to the wall. Moving along to the right there was a large wooden dining table which had eight chairs around it. Across to the right there was the kitchen which started with a long marble top bench which connected to the rest of the benches that wrapped around the end of the room. The one feature that always got me about this part of the penthouse though, was the windows, which stretched the whole back wall and were from ceiling to floor which meant there was a huge view, but there were tinted so no one could see inside.
"If you hadn't of spotted this missed page we could've been in grid-lock for a week." I saw Clarke suddenly enter from the hallway on my left. "Is everything okay?"
I must've had some type of look on my face because Clarke suddenly looked concerned, which was rare for him.
"Yeah," I said quickly, snapping out of the trance I had put myself into as I looked around the room. "I just...I haven't been here since..."
"Since my father died?" Clarke guessed.
"Yes," I nodded slightly. "You didn't change a thing."
"I couldn't bear to," he shrugged slightly. "I don't have any style when it comes to furniture anyway. Dad picked all this out and I wanted it to stay."
I looked at Clarke as I realised it was the first time I had heard him refer to Henry as Dad and not father. It was odd, but felt rather loving.
"Ah we better get this paper sorted," Clarke said.
"Oh yeah," I said, quickly pulling it out. "Just sign it and I can send it. Is Henry's office still the same too? Cause then I can do it from here."
"Yeah of course," Clarke smiled. "Just follow me."
I followed Clarke into his father's old office. The large hallway twisted and turned past the three bedrooms and giant bathroom it had. I noticed the bedroom tucked into the corner of the penthouse as the door was opened and it was definitely lived in. It wasn't the bedroom Henry used to have and I realised Clarke hadn't taken that room despite it being the biggest. Henry's office hadn't change as I walked in. The desk was still pushed up in the back of the room with the printer and fax machine around it. The bookshelves on either side of the room still remained and looked untouched, and the two large maroon arm chairs in the room looked unused. I guess Clarke didn't come in here much.
I sat myself down at the desk and pulled the documents out and Clarke leaned over to look at them. I was suddenly aware of how close he was and my whole body tightened. I don't think Clarke even noticed.
"So, what exactly did I miss?" Clarke asked.
"Just one of the many signatures that I'm not sure what they all do," I admitted, locating the page.
"It just different clauses. Each signature ensures I can't do anything shady in the contract," he explained. As he spoke I felt his breath on my neck and I breathed in quickly.
It was almost a flashback from the other night. Having him near my neck, I could suddenly nearly see his lips back on my neck has they had been Paris. It almost made me want it again.
"Okay done, is there just one more?" Clarke asked me with a frown.
"Ah, yeah," I said quickly, snapping out of my trance. "Just here, ah....sorry."
As I had turned the page Clarke had also attempted to turn it at the same time, meaning that in that instance our hands actually touched. It was such an odd sensation as I had completely avoided his touch up until now. Even this time Clarke seemed to notice that there was an odd sensation between us. It made me want to get out of here before I definitely did something else that would confuse me.
"It's okay," he muttered. "So..."
"Yep, just this, and then I'll email it and I'll be out of here," I told him, and I truly hope I meant that.