“Ah, that sounds much more manageable. Has she had any big breakthroughs with what the new restaurant will look like? You’re not going to be one of those places with a giant fish tank at the front, are you?” she teased him. “Oh, I wasn’t aware I had been hired as your friend. If that’s the case, you’re several years late on a lot of paychecks,” she joked, going out of her way to try to be more funny than usual if only to distract him from his current troubles. “Was there anywhere else you wanted to go after we get through with this store?”
“No. There’s already an enormous fishtank right in front of the restaurant... the ocean. We don’t need a small one.” Henry joked, leaning against the nearest wall as he looked at his friend, knowing that Mia was just teasing him... as usual. “Damn, well I’ll pay you somehow, someday. You’ll have to stick around for that, however. And I get we can go through it. I’m mainly being stubborn and trying to get note of some prices, so I’m certain the people I’ve hired won’t trick me with high prices.”
Isabelle couldn’t quite place her feelings at the moment. On one hand, she was excited to spend the night out with one of her closest friends, someone that had proven time and time again that she could count on, someone she was comfortable with. On the other hand, her enthusiasm dwindled the second she thought of going out past a certain hour, traces of insecurity shining through her glimmering facade. After all, it was on a night much like this that she’d had her ‘accident’.
For Henry’s sake though, the brunette sucked it up and put on a brave face, donning a show stopping outfit suitable for any night out. She was determined to make the best of her time with him, since she felt responsible for making him smile like he had done on so many occasions. With a soft huff, Isabelle pulled out her phone and let Henry know she was on her way out of her place and en route to their spot they’d agreed to meet at. It only took her fifteen minutes to arrive, greeting the tall man with a bright smile.
❝You’ve done what no man has managed to do in give or take three years: I’m out past eight and I’ve actually done my makeup. You should be proud of yourself.❞
As time passed he looked at the clock in front of him, his fingers tapping against the cold hard glass of his beer merging the rhythm of the song that was playing. It had been a long time ever since he found himself in a establishment that was surrounded by drunk people, and while the environment as a whole should already lift up his mood. It didn’t. In fact, he had been merely murmuring the lyrics of the songs that were sang while drinking and texting Isabelle until she had arrived.
His light eyes that contrasted with the low light of the room, turned to face the brunette, his beer stopping mid air as he smiled. “You look, quoting Joey Tribbiani because I’ve Friends way too much... You look, stop eating hot. Which is highest level if I’m not mistaken.” Motioning his body up, he greeted her with a hug and offered the seat next to him, waiting until she was comfortable enough, to get back to his own chair.
“Thank you, I’m flattered. Maybe it means that I have some value, or that I’m so miserable you had to. But you know what? I’m going to stick with the first option,” he joked, a smile spreading on his lips before his attention was back to his drink which reminded him of a simple question. “Would you like something to drink?”
Getting lost in a song while he had his headphone on was something Asher usually did, it was probably a bad habit but when a song came on that made that moment especial it was impossible to fight against it. When the first notes of “When The Levee Breaks” He could feel the song take over every sense of his body, it didn’t even matter that he was in the metro surrounded by people the song was just too much and without even realizing his mute singing became more and more vocal, it was thanks to moving his head in one of the harmonica solos that he realized he was being watched by the person sitting next to him, he was going to let it pass and kept hearing the song, but the lips of his neighbour started to move and his skills of lip reading sucked, so he took one sid of his headphone “I’m sorry, can you say that again? I couldn’t hear you”.
“I didn’t say anything, I was actually murmuring along... your headphones are so loud anyone around you could hear it, at least is a good song, but.. maybe that’s the reason why some look quite annoyed around you.” Henry replied, hardly taking the metro, but that day he had been in a hurry and the traffic made him feel completely distaste to use his car.
It wasn’t because he was hot or because she was in love. No, the way Henry had been able to simply have a pull towards her went way beyond sexual desires and feelings. Alex couldn’t explain what it was, but she knew that she was powerless and at the same time, the most powerful around him. He had a way about himself that made her smile with the simplest acts and now that they were no longer together, it almost felt as if part of her had been left behind, too. Talking about this was a waste of time to say the least because she was the only one hurting–like she had told Summer: the world doesn’t stop turning just because of her broken heart, but that doesn’t mean that Alex wasn’t in pain. Maybe that was the reason why she had kissed him in the first place. Because she was in pain and it would’ve been worse to have not kissed him. Their lips clashed and Alexandra couldn’t hold back the soft whimper that escaped and died on his lips, muffled by the warmth of his closeness and it seemed as if her whole body was shivering, craving for more of his touch.
It was common sense that Henry only had one person in mind, and Alex was the one. Being able to touch her once again, to exhale the scent of her skin as the room seemed smaller, warmer, oppressive in a way. He desperately needed to feel her in; something that had been only part of his imagination throughout the days he spent apart from her. And as a simple word came out of her lips, he felt weak; hearing her begging made him unable to weight the consequences of their actions, because they were far gone from restraing each other about reaching any further. Still, he wanted to please her, to hear the sounds that would come from her mouth, still moving his fingers and feeling her against it before Alex took control over the situation and he was no longer in the comfort spot of her core with his hand. And as his gaze met hers, in a matter of seconds Henry felt her closer. It was inevitable of him not to groan. “Fuck...” Resting his forehead against hers for a second, accepting he had lost the battle of keeping controll around Alex, Henry once again moved his hands down her thighs once again, pulling her up finding a way to be even closer as he moved his hand around his length motioning himself inside of her.
The tight grip on her tights, keeping Alexandra steady against the wall as he moved his body even closer against hers, feeling his skin getting sweaty as he didn’t want to break the eye contact, not until his lips desperately craved for hers, to taste those lips that sent him to a heavenly fraction of life. For that moment, nothing came into their equation, the consequences of being together despite the fact they were no longer in a relationship, the lack of protection, allowing his primitive instincts to take over his brain and actions. And the slow pace of his ministrations was his chance to savior every second of their moment together, reaching further, losing complete notion of their surroundings. Knowing it was only her. It had always been just her.
“Hey, I never said anything about you not being a bad guy. I’m just saying, that poor guy has enough on his plate without being bombarded by a 12 year old wanting to show off decoration ideas from pintrest, though I am sure they’re nice decorations.” She nodded in agreement, “Yeah if you’re thinking of going with blues and greys then maybe just a little bit of purple as an accent color? That’s a thing right?” She laughed, “I’ve pretty much reached the extent of my home designer knowledge here.”
"Beatrice wasn’t there, but she made sure I’d take notes of her incredible ideas and I found my way to share them all through the meeting, or at least those I was able to understand the purpose behind it all,” he replied, smiling once the memories reached his mind. “I hope it’s a thing, I’ll text her later so I can get to know if our bright idea could work and hey, no worries, I usually hire you as a full time friend, no need to be my designer as well. But thank you for sharing some ideas.”
❝That is a big responsibility, choosing the right song is basically the one thing that really defines how great the karaoke jam session is going to be. Thank you for trusting me.❞ She laughed, crossing her arms as she turned to face him again. She could tell Henry’s spirits were lifted once again and she was grateful she managed to help in some way. ❝Alright, sure. We’ll make a night of it.❞
"You’re saying that as if I didn’t trust you before, nonsense, I know I can.” Winking at her, he looked at her again, spending a few more minutes inside of her establishment, at least glad that he found company later that night. “Good, I’ll see you later then. You have my number, you know where I live and same goes back to you, so there’s no way you could skip it.” Leaning forward against the counter, Henry kissed her cheek before motioning his body up. “Don’t forget it!”
"Sorry that I’ve kept you waiting for so long, it was an emergency...” Henry entered his apartment with a speech to share with the person waiting for him inside of it. And he tried to make it all seem better with a smile on his face, after all they had been left by themselves inside of the apartment, with the company of a too excited puppy while Beatrice was out at one of her friend’s house. “Hope you’ve made yourself comfortable while I was out. There was beer at the fridge and Netflix is always helpful. But now we can finally go out, unless... that option is no longer part of your plans because I’ve failed you.” He joked, hoping they had seen it as a joke.
It was understandable Henry didn’t act like himself around her, yet it didn’t exclude the fact that it was uncomfortable even for someone like Mary. She was carefree and for that reason only, dealing with restrained people proved to be a challenge. There was so much pushing one could go through and, currently, the brunette didn’t feel like she could come out strong with her strangely playful manners. For that, she simply let him take the situation in his own pace, not saying anything to his own analysis.
“Probably you’re more evolved than me - and don’t take this the wrong way, it doesn’t take much for that,” she added up in a quick note before he began to think he statement carried any sarcasm, “but, usually, people aren’t cheering for meeting their exes’ current items. No matter how long it’s been.” The explanation was simply a way to get out of the focus of it. She didn’t want to be seen as the abnormal girl who would make it a big deal about seeing an ex from three years back with someone new, so she blamed it on the entire world that kind of behaviour. Even though she was sure Henry did not fit in the same category - she was certain he wouldn’t care less if he saw her with any of her many lovers. “Yeah, it’s been fun so far,” she lied, stuffing her mouth with her last, cold fries and focusing on the cup of beer she had before her instead. There was no need to add up anymore detailing, mostly because all she did was get high, drunk, flirt around and get pissed by the fact her ex-slash-current-or-not-man didn’t seem to give a rat’s ass about her.
For once, Mary listened without a retort. Her sharp tongue was resting quietly in her mouth, not finding the proper words to pronounce. In silence, her doe eyes gazed the Australian as he spoke. Once he was done, her look diverged elsewhere, afflicted by displaying any emotions in exaggeration. She kept telling herself that yes, she was emotional, but not the kind that would start crying in the middle of a food festival. His words truly touched her, but she refused to go through the situation he witnessed on new year’s eve. “If that’s what you want, I’ll forget you.” She made a hollow promise, although she intended to keep her end and pretend she had done it, if necessary. At least they were being straightforward, for once.
"Oh I don’t, I wouldn’t be able to find a reason why being more evolved would be a bad thing, and maybe I am, maybe I am not. We’re all different, we all come from different backgrounds, so it’s not as if I could hold something like that against me or against you,” he shared a light shrug along with a smile while his eyes stared at the brunette. “Sometimes it hurts, it makes you feel weird out when you’re forced to see someone new making this person happy, but... it’s inevitable. Changes are inevitable.” He couldn’t know where her words were coming from because their relationship had been ripped off from him and he hadn’t seen Mary moving on, because she wasn’t around. And Jane, Jane was a good exception; ending their relationship as friends never made him feel weird when she ended up finding someone to love, to get married and live happily ever after.
Her words, however, made him raise an eyebrow, unsure of what they truly meant. “You know that I’m not forcing you to do so. It’s just... we’re no longer in that page, and I think it’s unfair to you. A beautiful woman who can enjoy love, and not only love from someone else, but mostly coming from you. It may seem hard to believe, but I do care about you. Specially when I see you this way,” he commented about the state she was next to him, something that wasn’t so clear to get but it was also the same state she was at New Year’s eve, or at least, close enough in his point of view.
And he remained in silence for a few seconds, debating the words inside of his mouth. And since they were having a heart to heart conversation, or the kind of conversation that demanded honest, he felt it wouldn’t hurt to share those things. Because he had moved on from Mary, he was in love, in a relationship that made him feel good and happy about what the future was holding for them. “I know it’s awkward, and you may want to stay away from me due to our past. But whenever you need someone, you can call me. Text me... just know that there’s someone there for you, okay?”
The words rushed out of his mouth and before she could reassure Henry that everything was okay, he was standing right in front of her, making her mouth dry, craving for his tender touch and his soft lips. Not only that, but he was already saying every damned thing that Alexandra had been dying to hear. That he loved her, that he missed her. It didn’t matter that they were no longer together because it didn’t change the truth… it didn’t change the fact that she missed him too and that she had been miserable without him. It’s okay. Alexandra wanted to say as her mouth hang open, lips apart for a moment there, but no sound came out from them. Henry had managed what most people had deemed to be impossible: he had made her speechless. It’s okay, don’t worry about it. You can come back some other time. Or she could turn on her computer for him, but… really, standing there, with Henry mere inches away from her, telling Alex that he loved her–did she really want to discuss work? “I love you, too.” Finally, she breathed out and when she did, Alex realized that she had been holding in a breath and that was one of the reasons why her chest was burning. The other, the most obvious one, carried a first and a last name. “God, I miss you so much, I–”
What? You what, Alex?
It all happened in a fraction of second. One moment she was pouring out her heart to him and the other, she had her hands on each side of his face, lips searching for his as she brought him closer, closing the gap between them and finally, fucking finally, getting what she had been craving for in the past few days. Her arms slid around his neck and Alex allowed herself–even if for a brief moment, to get lost in the man she had fallen madly in love with. For a brief moment, yes, because then she was reminded of their agreement and broke the kiss, resting her forehead against his, after all, although she knew she shouldn’t be kissing him, Alex also didn’t feel compelled to pull herself away from him. She wasn’t that strong… and breaking that kiss apart had already drained too much energy, as fabricated as that truth might have sounded like if she had said it out loud. “We can’t–I can’t do this.” Alexandra whispered (mumbled would also be a great way to describe it), refusing to remove her arms from around his neck. “I want you so much, though…” As if by instinct, her lips searched for his once again. Her teeth grazed upon his bottom lip and of course, she couldn’t resist him… when she ever did? And just like that… just that easily, she gave in, kissing Henry yet again and this time, refusing to listen to the sirens flaring in her head, telling her to back off because this would only hurt more.
If it hadn’t been clear before how much his body urged for how, the moment the words echoed outside of her mouth, like a poem he was desperate to read, Henry was certain that there was no one else. It didn’t matter what others would say about their bad timing, their different point of views about moving on; not when his brain wanted to keep their moments vivid right inside of it, when his lips wanted to touch her lips again, to feel the softness of them, of her entire body against his mouth. There wasn’t a moment of his day that he didn’t miss that woman, that he didn’t feel the pain of being away from the person who had his heart. And before he could complement his speech, he had her again. The fast pace of their kiss, as he moved his hands resting on her waist, pulling her closer, trying to avoid having any sort of space between their bodies. Until Alex had been able to be more sane than he could be, which caused Henry to notice how he lacked control around her. Not only that, but an almost unaudible no left his mouth when her lips were no longer something he could taste. “You’re... right,” he tried to say while his lungs grasped for air, “but...” I want you so much though, she knew exactly what to say in that moment. How to arouse him, and have him head over heels about the woman he wanted to have in his life but couldn’t. And soon, his eyes were no longer hurting from looking at her and seeing what he was missing, he had her once again in his arms.
While Henry could have been a better adult, he was responsible enough to restrain both of them from reaching any further that night. He has already had his hands traveling down his thigh, pulling up against his body, against gravity and using his strength to move his body to rest at the nearest wall, without breaking the kiss, afraid that at some point they would no longer Be driven by passion and he'd lose that moment. He could say so many things, how much he wanted her, loved her, how much he'd like to forget their conversation so they could move forward. But words would not speak louder than actions at the moment, which was exactly what he was aiming for. Letting her legs slowly move down, allowing the brunette to stand still as his hands slid her skirt up, his fingers tracing a path between her legs, reaching her. Feeling the fabric of her panties against his thumb, which caused him to open his mouth allowing muffled sound to come out of his lips. He was weak for her, it was clear and as he broke their kiss, his lips traveled down his neck while his fingers ministrated feeling the warmity of her core, moving the fabric aside, to finally feel her; he wanted to be gentle, but at the same time he just wanted to have her once again, craving for her wetness gathering to insert two of his fingers inside of her, noticing as his hardness was increasing due to the pleasure, due to the idea of giving her pleasure.
“That poor architect,” Mia chuckled, “It’s nice that she’s taking an interest though. What sorts of decorations has she been showing you? Nothing too outlandish I hope.” She thought on Henry’s question for a moment, “Well, I’m no professional decorator, but I know red is supposed to be a lucky color in China. Or, I don’t know if this counts as lucky, but a deep purple is generally considered a royal color. I don’t know if those would go well together though. You might have to pick one or the other.”
"Hey, I can be a nice guy... in fact, between us both, I’m the nicest one. We were talking about going through some strong textures such as weathered wood, with a color scheme of cool greys and blue tones. And now that you were talking about those colors, maybe we could merge blue and purple, they are somewhat alike, right? I don’t know, I can only pretend I understand what she’s talking about, I’ll look at pictures and tell her if I’ll find it pretty or not.” He replied, staring at Mia, knowing that it was keeping his mind busy which was good.
Walking over to the stand where his collection of opal pieces were, he quickly spotted the necklace he talked about and picked it up. He liked making pieces like this one. They seemed to have a personality of their own when he was creating them. “Here you go. All of these are opal but this one is my favorite.” he told his customer. “I use to take ballet and contemporary but I’m not sure if I would be able to keep up completely with talking about jazz. I’m sure she talks your ears off when talking about all of it though. She sounds well rounded for a twelve year old.” Whereas, when he was twelve, he was trying hard to impress him parents and find his own footing in his family. It was good to hear that this dad was open to letting their child enjoy their passions.
“She does, sometimes it makes me feel like I’m talking to an adult, so it’s always good when all of a sudden she acts like a kid and I know she’s my cute twelve-year-old daughter who’s just growing up too fast,” he replied with a smile on his lips. It was always a delight to talk about his daughter, the girl who made him so proud. “I’m sure you two would have a lot to talk about. I won’t say next time I’m here, I’ll take her with me... because I fear the idea of Beatrice wanting to buy it all, but at some point you might get to know each other.” The beginning of his comment was a joke, one that maybe the man wouldn’t, but deep down, he was glad that he could’ve made one. “I guess I’ll take this one, is a beautiful piece.”
If there was one thing Mia was good at, it was comforting her friends in their time of need, and as soon as she’d heard about Henry’s unfortunate break up, she made sure to clear a weekend day to help him get back on his feet. As nice as sulking and mourning could be, she knew that a good distraction could be better than all the cartons of ice cream in the world. She’d swung by his place earlier that morning and picked him up so they could go window shopping for inspiration for the remodeled restaurant. “So what were you thinking? Keep the old color scheme or have a new one? Is there any particular theme you want? We could keep an eye out for decorations,” she offered.
Looking at Mia, he knew that she was there for him, a friend he could always count whenever they were in time of need of each other’s presence and even when they just wanted to have some fun. She was indeed a gift in his life, and at least, he could smile and try to move on with his life, even if his mind was still stuck on Alex. “Beatrice has been showing me all sorts of decoration through pinterest, which is driving my architect crazy. Needless to say, I’ll be forced to change the color scheme, well... and it isn’t a bad thing. Maybe it’ll bring us all good luck. What is the color for good luck?”
[Henry, hello. The Rutherford’s brand identity that we’ve talked about has just arrived. Would you like to discuss them in person or would you rather I just sent them to your e-mail account? x Alexandra.]
Alex stared at her phone’s screen for an extra minute before she let out a defeatist sigh. She had sent that text to Henry a little past lunch, earlier on that day and still hadn’t received a response. Although she would completely understand if Henry needed to take some time away from her, but her mother had always taught her to be a professional first and foremost. She had committed not only her name, but also, the graphic designers’ names when she suggested her agency could work on Rutherford’s new identity, so of course she would redirect things to Henry once she received them. However, seeing as her ex hadn’t even looked at his phone ever since she had sent him the text, the only thing that Alexandra could conclude, was that he was avoiding her. Once again, she wouldn’t blame him if he was, she was just hoping he wasn’t.
Ever since their break up, for each day she got to spend at the agency Alexandra would be the first to get in and the last to leave, because it was easier to focus on her job, than to admit to herself that she was upset. No, scratch that–she wasn’t upset. She was sad.
Alexandra turned off her computer and got up from her chair. She had just grabbed her jacket when she saw him standing by her door, making her heart skip a beat the second she recognized him, and now, looking at Henry, she definitely wouldn’t blame him for ignoring her (if he was ignoring her), because all she wanted to do was to close the distance between them and kiss him. Those kisses they used to share that would steal the air from her lungs. “Henry, hi.” She offered him a smile as she folded her jacket over her arms, standing tall in her six-inch heels that made her almost reach his height. “I didn’t think you were coming. I–” She chuckled, feeling like a teenager again and unable to remove the smile from her lips, because even though it hurt that they were not together, she was too damn happy that he was there. “Hi… It’s good to see you.”
His green eyes had been staring at the same person for too long, the moment Henry left the architect’s office, he could swear her voice was still in there, haunting him with ideas for the restaurant, words echoing and reminding him of the long hours spent inside of that office. Henry could feel in his body that he was tired, urging for the moment he’d have his work back and he could feel in peace. Soon, it’ll be perfect again and you won’t even remember what happened. The architect reassured him and he tried his best to pretend that it was the truth, after all, he had to focus on the bright side now that he didn’t have his personal cheerleader next to him. Alexandra King. And just like that, a fragment of his memories around her made it seem as if he had conjured her. Looking at his phone, the one he had just turned on, he felt he was dream and the world had stopped when his light hues read her name and a new text coming from Alex.
For a moment it almost felt as if nothing had changed, there was a smile on his lips, warmity filling up his being with the thought that instead of getting that text from his ex-girlfriend, he was getting it from his girlfriend; the way they should be, if life wasn’t always a constant challenge with disappointments. And Henry stood still, struggling with his thought until he finally noticed the time she had sent it and what time it was at that moment. His heart skipped a beat as he left the building, reaching inside of his car to head to her office. They knew him, they’d let him in without a doubt; and he could only hope she was still there; because the idea of not showing up and Alex debating if it happened because of their break up was killing him.
His lungs were asking for air when he finally stopped in front of her door, watching every movement she did in front of him, mesmerized by her presence just as much as he had been when they started their relationship. Oh, he loved that woman. It was undeniable, because at the same time it made him happy to see her, it ached him that he couldn’t touch her, taste her lips against his. And it didn’t matter that everyone was telling him, he could move on. Because he didn’t want to. For the first time, he was too stubborn to care about everything else. “I’ve got your text. I was at a meeting, I didn’t see it before, I...” Words were constantly leaving his mouth as he reached closer. He was drawn to her, and soon there was just a few inches between both bodies as if he couldn’t stay away from her. They needed to talk about his restaurant, the new brand identity. But the words that left his mouth were far from that subject. “I’ve missed you. I know I shouldn’t say something like this because we know where we’re standing now, but God... Alexandra, I love you.”
