It's Immortality, My Darlings.

  23 | Introverted Extrovert | Binge Watching Queen | Main Blog: EnticingSims  

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“Oh yeah?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. “When’s that supposed to take place?”

“How about tonight?” He asked. She cocked her head to the side.

“Why are you acting as though we’re not going to be working late.” She mentioned. There was no time to go anywhere that wasn’t a club by the time they got off. He pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

“Hey, This is Tatum Crowe, I wanted to schedule a deep cleaning for my Vet Clinic later on today?” He said. “Okay, perfect, thanks.”

He didn’t say anything else and started texting. Her phone vibrated and she pulled it out of her shorts to see a text from Tatum, notifying her and the rest of the staff that they were closed for the day.

“No work, no distractions, I’m yours. Anywhere you want to go.”

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“Oh aren’t you cute.” Tatum leaned down to greet Pumpkin. He was up when Peyton got up, so she thought she’d bring her curious pup along. Tatum went to greet Peyton with a kiss and she put her hand up.

“Absolutely not. Explain, now.” She demanded. He nodded.

“She’s my sister.” He answered. Peyton shook her head.

“No, I met your sister Natalie before she stopped working with us.” She argued and he nodded.

“Yes, you met my air headed little sister Natalie. Avery is my overbearing bigsister.” He explained. “Apparently, she was coming to talk to me about you.”

“About me? How does she know about me?”

“Natalie talks too damn much, that’s why.” He muttered. “Natalie told Avery that there was a new girl at work who I had set my sights on. Avery came to make sure I didn’t fuck it up, inadvertently fucking it up.”

“Your sister knew and I couldn’t tell.” She mused. “I’m sorry for bolting out of there.”

He laughed. “I can’t blame you. It shocked both of us, but I did bring your favorite boots. I want to see you in them for our first official date.”

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Per usual, she and Tatum stayed late. By the time she got home, it was midnight. She passed out as soon as she changed into her pajamas, she wasn’t cut out for twelve hour days, but she wasn’t going to make a fuss about it. While it was happening more often recently, she was just assuming it was just that time of year. A couple months ago, especially during the weekends, they were closing by five, but now if she was lucky, she could escape by eleven.

She was sound asleep when she heard harsh vibrating on her nightstand. She slowly lifted her head and grabbed her phone before looking at it.

Are you up?

I am now. What do you want, Tatum?

Meet me at the park.

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“I didn’t mean it like that.” He said quietly. “I’m sorry for not calling you when I was supposed to. It won’t happen again.”

“This,” She motioned between the two of them. “Won’t happen again until I get some answers.”

“Peyton––”

“My break is over, Mr. Crowe.” She mentioned as she broke away from him and exited the break room back into chaos. She’d rather be dealing with a thousand sick cats than her love life. At least she could fix the cats.

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Tatum came into the break room and scared Peyton.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were avoiding me.” He mentioned as he sat down and let her draper her legs over his lap.

“That’s because I am,” She admitted. “I slept over, the next thing I know, I’m being woken up by some girl, I get home and I left my favorite boots at your place and this whole.. romantic interaction is falling apart before it even starts.”

He laughed and pulled her into him, “You’re over thinking it.”

“I’m overthinking it? You were supposed to call me, possibly to explain, and didn’t, but I’m overthinking it, okay.”

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The next day at work, Peyton went out of her to avoid Tatum. He gave her instructions to perform a minor surgery. She was qualified to do so, but it felt weird without him there. But they were busy, everyone was busy, it seemed like every damn pet in Brindleton Bay needed them.

When she finally had time to take a break, she was deciding whether or not to abandon ship.

The whole Tatum and Avery situation was starting to stress her out. Was he lying, was that his girlfriend, his ex? Why did she have a key to his house? Why was this so complicated? So hard? Was it even worth trying for?

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“It’s five o’clock in the afternoon, where did you lay your head last night?” Rhonda teased as Pumpkin came racing around the corner and started scratching at Peyton’s feet. “And where are your shoes?”

She picked up Pumpkin and eyes her feet. “Fuck me. I left them at his house.”

“Tatum’s house?” She guessed. Peyton just nodded. “Did you––”

“No, we didn’t. It’s complicated… he was drunk and then he was hung over,” She said, though she wasn’t saying much. “I’m going to give Pumpkin a bath, and myself, and I’m going to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She didn’t mean to dismiss Rhonda, but she also wasn’t in a place to tell her about ‘Avery’ when she didn’t know about Avery herself. She didn’t want to assume the worse, but she bolted out of his house before she could figure anything out.

Not that she was sure she even wanted to.

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“Tatum?” The girl said.

He sat up and blinked and his eyes went wide.

“Avery!” His voice woke up Peyton who followed suit before she checked her phone. It was 4 in the afternoon.

“I should, uh go.” She dismissed herself.

“I’ll call you later.” Tatum agreed.

She ran out to her car and didn’t look back.

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And so they slept for hours…

Not hearing the sound of the door unlocking…

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He took her back to his room and she was beginning to feel weary.

“Are you looking for something from me?” She asked. It wouldn’t be the first time and she wanted to know what his intentions were.

“No, other than to allow me to hold you,” He looked confused as he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I really need to sleep off this headache, I should never drink again.”

“Just sleeping?” She clarified.

He nodded. “Just sleeping, pinky promise.”

He linked his pinky within hers and pulled her into the bed with him.

“I could get used to this.” He murmured into her hair before her fell fast asleep.

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He tiled her chin up for a kiss and after indulging in it she pulled it away.

“I meant what I said, Mr. Crowe. No special treatment.” She reminded.

He nodded. “And I meant what I said.”

He pulled her in again and this time, she had no arguments.

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“I don’t want you to break your own rules for me though… I just… what if I don’t know what I want?” She questioned as she laid her head on his shoulder. She was probably talking herself out of the one thing she wanted to pursue since day one, but she couldn’t stop talking.

“I can tell you that from working with you for the past few months, you’re not a woman who doesn’t know what she wants. You’re making this more complicated than it has to be,” He pointed out. “But you said it, I made them, I can break them and I want you, if you’ll have me.”

She laughed nervously. “Do men even say that anymore?”

“I just did and you’re stalling.” He mentioned. “Am I coming on too strong?”

“No, I just––” She sighed. “I’m making it more complicated than it has to be. Which is weird because I’ve been imagining this moment… but I didn’t come to Brindleton Bay for a love story and it scares me.”

“I wasn’t looking for one, yet here we are.” He agreed wholeheartedly.

“If we’re going to do this… I don’t want any special treatment at work. When we’re at work, you’re just my boss.” She warned him. No one could catch wind that she was dating the boss… she didn’t need that kind of attention.

“I can do that, but there’s something else I wanted to do.”

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“Trust me, I’ve read company policy so much I actually could recite it to you verbatim in English and Italian.” She mentioned with an awkward laugh.

“You speak Italian?” He asked.

“Fluently, it was actually my first language, but that’s so not the point.” She muttered.

“Stop giving me more reasons to be attracted to you, I’m doing just fine on my own.” He mentioned as he laced his hand in hers.

“Where do we go from here?” She asked as she grabbed the side of her arm. They could risk it all, sure, but she wondered if it would all be worth it if it ended in heartbreak.

He stepped closer to her, closing the gap between them. “I don’t know, but I want to find out.”

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“But what?” She asked. She waited and he wouldn’t answer her and she tried to leave again, only to be stopped. “Stop fucking with me Tatum.”

“I’m not–– I just,” He grabbed her waist and rested his hand on the side of her head. “This never happens to me. I’ve had many assistance that I’ve let go in the past because of their attraction to me, I have a strict no dating in the workplace policy. But I have never fallen for my assistant and I look at you… and I want to risk it all and I don’t know why.”

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“Please?” He placed his hand on the side of her head as she pressed herself hard into the wall and crossed her arms.

“This is a joke to you and I don’t want to be a part of it.” She looked at him and he shook his head.

“It’s not… I promise. I’m sorry, okay? I’m an idiot.” He reasoned and she looked away. She felt like she’d memorized that line from any guy she’d ever liked. “I just don’t know how to do this.”

“Do what? Because the only thing you’re doing right now is hurting my feelings and making me feel like I’m crazy!” She yelled at him and his head hung low. “If everything last night was just you being drunk, just tell me that. Don’t––”

“It wasn’t.” He admitted. “I may not have intended to kiss you, or to hit on you, or to pull you into my bed. But the call was intentional. I was tipsy at that point, at my best friend’s bachelor party and they were all getting ready to leave. I figured I could maybe just tell you how I felt in the car. If you didn’t feel the same way, I could just pretend it was drunk and none of it was true, but we started doing shots and by the time you got to me, they all hit me at once. As you saw, drunk Tatum is forward, but clearly not forward enough and apparently sends mixed signals.”

“He is the master of mixed signals. I just… I just want to know what the hell was up last night if you didn’t intend for most of what happened.. to happen.” She stated all though it was more of a question. She was trying to not get her hopes up and she was trying not to misread the situation, but he was making it so damn hard.

“I don’t have a girlfriend, I swear. That’s true. But…”

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Peyton woke up and stretched before she noticed Tatum and nearly had a hear attack.

“Are you insane! You could have killed me!” She mentioned. He motioned for he to scoot over and placed her legs over his lap.

“My apologies, I didn’t want to wake you. Why’d you leave bed in the middle of the night?” He wondered. “I assume you’re the one who took my shoes off since I don’t remember much, so thank you.”

“I didn’t want to complicate things.” She sighed. “More so than they already are. And you’re welcome.”

His eyebrows raised into his hairline. “What’s so complicated?”

She pointed at him, “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Pretend that you didn’t tell me you have a girlfriend, that you didn’t kiss me and then pull me into your bed.” She refuted. She started to feel angry and she didn’t know why. She could have just went along with it, but for months he had been doing little things here and there that had been driving her crazy. She had had enough.

He laughed. “To be fair, I didn’t tell you I had a girlfriend. I told you I told the lady at the bar that I had a girlfriend.”

“You know what, I’m leaving.” She ripped her legs from his grasp and made it toward his room to grab her shoes and leave.

He got up behind her and grabbed her wrist. “Peyton, wait.”

“No.”

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Tatum woke up before Peyton the next morning. His head was throbbing, there were parts of his night he didn’t remember, but kissing her was one of them. He debated on whether or not he should bring it up or if he should pretend he was too drunk to remember.

She deserved more than that, at least he thought so. But he had crossed so many lines last night he wasn’t sure how to approach the whole situation. Both their lives, his business, all of it could be on the line. All because of a drunk text he made.

Though, he had to admit, he forced his own hand, and laid his cards on the table. If she didn’t know he had feelings for her before, she certainly did now and the ball was in her court.