Morning came fast and they got up in a daze and got ready for work. They were working the same shift today and Raine was glad because she loved working with Darlene, not only was it more fun but Darlene made her job so much easier, they were in sync with each other and could get more done together than three times as many people would. They weren’t that busy so at around one, Raine went into the office and made sure she was caught up on paperwork and bills. She avoided looking at the drier as she worked and before she knew it her shift was over. Elliot texted her at exactly three o’clock, it said, ‘what’s your eta?’ she laughed but his professional language gave her an idea. She told him around four or four-thirty and ran upstairs to change. She put on some light mint green skintight skinny jeans, and even though they were jeans they looked professional. She put on a white sleeveless button-down blouse tucked in. Then she put her hair up in a professional-looking bun that showed mostly the black parts of her hair and hid a lot of the pink. She kept it a little loose so she could have some short tendrils in the front to look more business-sexy than business-business. She did her makeup and wore bold red lipstick that made her thick lips stand out against the light colors she used on her eyes. Then for a final touch, she put on fake black-rimmed glasses that made her look like a sexy teacher. She wore white high heels that looked like something a professional would wear and headed downstairs. When she got to the kitchen Darlene said, “whoa.”

“You like it?” Raine laughed.

“You’re having lunch with Elliot in that?” Darlene asked.

“Do I not look professional?” she asked.

“Yea but you are working them jeans and if I were Elliot, I’d be having you for lunch if you came to my office in that,” Darlene said.

“That’s the point,” Raine laughed.

“You’re trying to kill my brother?” Darlene teased.

“Oh, come on it’s not that sexy, it’s professional with a splash of sexy,” Raine said.

“Splash like a tsunami,” Darlene said.

“Is it too much? Should I tone it down?” Raine asked.

“No you just look really hot, I think it will be good for Elliot to be seen with you at work, I think a lot of the people there see him as a recluse that never gets laid, he’ll be so happy to show you off in that,” Darlene said.

Raine asked Elliot if he wanted her to bring lunch or wait until she got there and he said he was ordering in, the company has a service apparently. So, she got a cab and headed out to the business district. She paid for the cab and walked up to the looming building, it looked so new and clean and big. It wasn’t a tech company but they had a tech department where Elliot worked, on the seventh floor. She walked in and her heels clicked on the tile and it made her feel more confident like she belonged in a building like this. She started to go directly to the elevators at the back of the lobby but heard someone say, “Excuse me.”

She turned to the secretary who was seated behind a tall round desk with a taller counter on the outside of the desk.

“Can I help you?” the secretary asked. Raine walked over and read her name tag, it said ‘Cindy’.

“Hello Cindy, I’m here to see Elliot Alderson, he works in tech on the…” she started.

“I know who Mr. Alderson is,” Cindy scoffed rudely, “what is your business with him?”

“Well actually it’s personal, I was meeting him for lunch,” Raine said, setting her small white clutch on the counter and putting her hand on her hip. Cindy rolled her eyes and handed her a clipboard, “sign in, he’ll have to confirm your meeting before I let you upstairs.” Cindy looked around thirty-five, pretty, clean, and polished. Raine wondered why she seemed so cold and hateful and wondered briefly if she had a crush on Elliot. Cindy picked up her phone and pushed a few buttons, after a moment she said, “Mr. Alderson you have a visitor downstairs, she says she’s meeting you for lunch.” After a beat, she said, “the new building policy is that you have to confirm a guest down here.” Raine knew this was true because she had seen the spot on the sign-in sheet for Elliot to initial his confirmation of a guest. She had to write her name, his name, and her reason for being there, then he had to initial at the end of the line. It was true; however, she saw several lines where the initial part was blank, meaning it wasn’t always strictly enforced. Cindy hung up and smiled smugly up at her, Raine crossed her arms and waited for Elliot. When she saw an elevator in the long line of elevators start to open, she straightened up and tried to look sexy and uninterested, Cindy watched her, seeming annoyed. When the doors opened Elliot walked out in a pair of black dress pants and a black button-up shirt, no tie or jacket, he looked amazing. When he saw her, he stopped in his tracks and his eyes grew wide, he looked her up and down and grinned a little. She gave him a little wave and he started toward her. Before he went in for a kiss he remembered where they were and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek politely, “Hey baby,” he said softly. She saw Cindy glaring at them out of the corner of her eye.

“Hey there,” she said seductively. He sucked in a breath and took her hand and started to walk away.

“Don’t you have to initial this?” she asked pointing to the clipboard. He rolled his eyes and went to sign it, Cindy was seething. He didn’t even look at Cindy before he turned and put his hand on Raine’s elbow and said, “you look… great.”

She smiled at him and waited until he looked away before she raised an eyebrow at Cindy, who just took the clipboard and threw it down on the desk behind the counter angrily. Elliot led Raine by the arm to the elevators and pushed the button for ‘seven’. As soon as the doors closed he pulled her to him by her waist and kissed her, she let out a little giggle of surprise and kissed him back. Then the elevator stopped on the second floor, so she quickly pulled away and wiped the lipstick off his lips with her thumb. He wiped his lips a little to make sure it was gone and stepped over to allow three tall men in suits some room. They all looked like they took themselves way too seriously and Raine smiled politely at them. She remembered what Darlene said about Elliot being kind of a loner at work and his coworkers thinking he was weird, these men confirmed that by the way, they eyed them both. They were looking at him like he was beneath them and her like she was a fresh piece of meat, Elliot put his hand on her back protectively. The guy she knew probably thought of himself as the alpha of the group chuckled and said, “Elliot are you gonna introduce us to your friend?” Elliot just glared at him so Raine held out her hand and told him her name.

“I’m Jake Rodgers, marketing, Raine… that’s a pretty name,” Jake said, shaking her hand, trying to be charming.

“Thanks,” she said politely but without any warmth or kindness.

Jake didn’t let go of her hand and said, “so your Elliot’s…?”

“Fiancé,” she said, she saw Elliot’s look of surprise out of the corner of her eye and she took her free hand and put it on the back of Elliot’s shoulder.

Jake looked at her hands and said, “fiancé? Where’s your ring?” like he didn’t believe her. The other two men chuckled, to them they were the jocks and Elliot was the nerd, because some people never grew out of high school. They thought they were better than him, even though Elliot was smarter and hotter. They were all plain-looking white men in business suits and looked like a group of clones, while Elliot even wearing a suit still had enough character in his face to stand out, he couldn’t help looking like a male model with his jawline and big blue eyes.

“It’s being cleaned,” she said, jerking her hand out of his, “it’s a beautiful calla cut, I love it…” she put her hand on the front of Elliot’s shoulder on top of her other hand and looked at him lovingly, he glanced at her then looked forward and fought a smirk. She continued, “but not as much as I love my future husband.” Her voice cracked on the last word and she realized this part of the statement rang truer than she thought. Elliot looked at her surprised but touched and she gave him a soft kiss forgetting everything but him for a moment. Afterward, she saw Jake look away, embarrassed. They all mumbled congratulations to Elliot as they got off on the sixth floor. She relaxed when they were alone again.

“What was that?” Elliot asked, smiling.

“Some people don’t take the word ‘girlfriend’ serious enough, I wanted him to know for sure he had no chance in hell,” she said.

“Because of me?” he asked.

“Yes… but even if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t date a guy like that if we were the last two people on earth.”

Elliot laughed and shook his head, “and then you called me…” he stopped as they got to his floor and the doors opened. She smiled at him and he took her hand and led her out to a hallway. They walked around a bunch of cubicles and most were empty.

“Only certain people have to stay late on days like this, I’m always one of them,” he explained.

“Where is your cubicle?” she asked.

“Office,” he corrected.

“Oh, so you have an office? fancy,” she teased. They got to the far corner of the floor and there was an office, the inner wall facing the cubicles was all windows and she could see into it. It had an L-shaped desk with several computer monitors and several other electronics on it, she could tell right away it was Elliot’s. On the far wall was a big window with a rounded top and a great view. Elliot opened the door and she looked up in time to read the sign on the door: ‘Elliot Alderson: Chief Technology Officer- CTO’, she stopped in surprise. Elliot turned and watched her, waiting on her to come in.

“I didn’t know…” she started, pointing at the title.

“It’s nothing,” he interrupted, “come in.”

Elliot sat in his office chair, which was big nice, and leather. The seats across from him in front of his desk were shorter but still leather. They didn’t roll like his did, so she sat down and looked around the room. She turned as a group of people walked past and looked in at them curiously. They looked more friendly and less douchey than the men in the elevator, probably because they were in tech too. She wondered what they thought of Elliot, wondered if they gave him the respect he had clearly earned. She couldn’t really imagine Elliot bossing people around.

“I can close the blinds,” Elliot said, pushing a button on his desk causing a row of blinds to cover the whole wall of windows, blocking them from the rest of the floor.

“Wow, this is like… so cool,” she said.

“Want to touch it?” he asked.

She spun around and said, “can I?” He nodded. She hopped up and went around to his side, he pointed to the button in a row of buttons. She pushed it and the blinds opened again.

“Ekk,” she said, “I’m so excited.”

Elliot laughed, “Do it again.”

She did and the blinds closed again, and she said, “you don’t understand, the thing about buttons is you’re never allowed to push buttons as a kid but the joy of getting to never goes away.”

“It’s my favorite part of this job,” he said, and she didn’t know if he was kidding or not.

“I just want to push all the buttons!” she said.

“Okay, calm down, come here,” he said, pulling her down onto his lap, facing away from him. He wrapped both his arms around her and grabbed both her wrists playfully and said, “can you be good?”

She wiggled a little and pretended like she was trying to get free, then she sighed, “I guess I can try.”

He chuckled lightly against her neck and she got cold chills, he kissed her lightly and whispered, “if there weren’t cameras in here I’d bend you over this desk right now.”

She bit her lip and whimpered, “can’t you disable them?”

He lifted her off him and laughed, “of course, I can, but I’m not going to, I’m supposed to be staying out of trouble.”

She turned around and leaned on his desk, “so how do we order food, you push a button and Rosie brings our trays?”

“Rosie?” he asked.

“Jetsons,” she answered.

He laughed, “yes, those trays with the very realistic dome covers? that’s exactly how it works.”

“Right? Has anyone in the history of the world actually used those covers? Where do cartoons get the idea that that happens, especially for just like a Tuesday at home?” she laughed.

“What about anvils?” he asked, “are those real?”

“Gilmore Girls?” she asked.

“What?” he asked, confused.

“The bit from Gilmore Girls where Lorelei is talking about where all the anvils went,” she said.

“I’ve never seen Gilmore Girls,” Elliot said.

She laughed, “wow so I’m dating Lorelei, nice.”

“Who’s he?”

“She is one of the Gilmore girls,” she laughed, “I think we should watch that, it’s actually pretty good, it’s silly, but you would love Luke,” she said then realized what she’d said and made a face.

“What is it?” Elliot asked.

She felt panic starting but fought it, “I just umm, I just realized how hungry I am, I haven’t eaten much all day.” Elliot knew she was lying; she could tell, but he dropped it. He brought up a list on one of his monitors of what all they could order. She picked out some chicken strips and fries with green tea. Elliot laughed at her for ‘playing it safe’ and he got a steak and salad.

“Oh steak, so brave,” Raine said.

“I’ve tried almost all of the stuff on here, I know what I like,” he said.

“And so do I, which is almost nothing,” she said.

“You can have some of my steak if I can have some of your fries,” he said.

“I don’t like steak, and you should have got your own fries,” she laughed.

“You don’t like steak?” he asked

“Nope, it’s too meaty,” she said. He laughed at her then someone knocked on his door and he said, “come in.” The server brought a cart in and sat out their food and drinks and Elliot took out his wallet.

“It’s paid by the company,” the server said.

“I know, this is for you,” Elliot told her, handing her a bill that Raine couldn’t see well enough to tell how much it was.

“I don’t know if I’m supposed to take tips,” she said.

“Well then it’s not a tip, I’m just handing it to you,” he said.

She smiled taking it and said, “thank you, Mr. Alderson.”

As she left Elliot said, “I’ve never seen her before, she must be new.”

“Does everyone here call you Mr. Alderson,” she asked.

“Most of them, except the ones you met earlier and their… gang,” he said.

“Marketing is the tough crowd huh?” she asked, and he grinned.

“Nah, they’re just dickheads,” he said.

“So, if you’re CTO are you their boss?” she asked.

“In a way, they aren’t directly under me because they aren’t in my department, but I guess if you get into it I rank above them,” he said.

“So, you can’t fire them?” she asked.

“I can recommend them for termination but what’s the point? There will just be more assholes that replace them, in a company this big, it’s mostly assholes,” he said.

“So how many people rank above you?” she asked.

“The CEO, the vice president,” he said.

“And?” she prompted. Elliot just blushed and took a bite of his salad. She had never cared about what kind of job a guy had, and especially Elliot, he could work in fast food for all she cared. But this was surprising information, and it was kind of intimidating.

“Does this bother you?” he asked.

“No, no not at all, I mean I don’t care, either way, I just didn’t know… I’m a little surprised is all,” she said.

He grinned, “you didn’t think I could get a job like this?”

“I didn’t mean it like that, I just can’t see you like being an authority person, you just seem too nice to boss people around,” she said.

“You can be kind and manage people, you do it,” he said.

“At a small coffee shop… but I guess you’re right, it’s kind of the same thing in theory,” she said trying her chicken after she had arranged everything the way she wanted it.

“Like it?” he asked.

“It’s good,” she said, though it didn’t compare to Papi’s or hers. But she didn’t complain, she wasn’t really here for the food anyway. They ate and he kept stealing her fries but she didn’t complain, she kind of liked that he felt comfortable enough with her to do something like that.

They talked about his job some but most of it went over her head, he explained it well and she nodded and tried to follow it. He could be reading the phone book and she would be enthralled, his voice made her feel like she was dreaming. Then he said, “I didn’t know you wore glasses.”

“Oh, I don’t, these are fake, I just wore them,” she shrugged.

“To drive me crazy?” he asked.

“You don’t like them?”

“No, I do, too much, you look like a sexy teacher, but I can’t do anything about it here.”

“I’ll wear them again when you can,” she said.

He grinned, “And what else?”

She laughed, “that’s a surprise.”

Then she remembered something, “oh I talked to Krista, she wants me to come in before your appointment this week, but only like half an hour before so the last half of mine will be the first half of yours and we can have some time with her together.”

“Okay,” he nodded, “I’m so proud of you for going, baby.”

She smiled and finished her chicken, sliding the remaining fries over to him. He took one and said, “you know you eat fries weird right?”

She sighed, “I was hoping you didn’t notice.”

“You touch each one before you eat it,” he laughed

“I’m checking the texture, I can only eat certain ones if they are the right texture,” she said defensively.

He shook his head and laughed, “okay, but you should taste this steak, it’s really good.”

“No,” she said, “you know how slow I eat, steak takes longer than most things so I don’t even bother.”

“Just a little bit, that won’t take long,” he said.

She sighed, “fine but just a teeny bite.”

He cut the tiniest little piece and stabbed it with his fork, then he held it out and fed it to her across the desk. She took it in her mouth and he watched her. She chewed it and it tasted like ordinary steak, she swallowed and shrugged, “it’s okay.”

“You didn’t like it?” he asked.

“It was okay, I’m not a big meat person,” she said.

He raised his eyebrows and looked away.

“Don’t start,” she laughed.

“Actually, I just wanted to feed you something,” he said.

“Why?” she giggled.

“It’s just sexy,” he shrugged.

She leaned back in her chair and sighed, “I think everything we do together is sexy.”

He gave her a look that made her shiver, she swallowed to calm herself and looked out the window at the city to distract her mind.

“Hey,” he said and she looked at him, he continued, “earlier, in the elevator,” he swallowed and she could tell he was nervous to bring it up. She stood up and walked over the to the window and leaned against the wall so he wasn’t sitting directly across from her, she thought this might make him calmer.

He started again, “why did you… when you said that it sounded like you meant it.”

“When I called you my future husband?” she asked.

“Yea,” he almost whispered.

“I did mean it, I was going to say it just to mess with them but when it came out it just felt… real.”

“Are we crazy? I mean love you but is this too soon for us to want these things?” he asked.

“Probably but who cares? And I said future husband, that could mean in ten years or something,” she said.

“But I want it, soon,” he said, “is that wrong?”

“No, it’s what you feel and feelings can’t be wrong, they just are,” she said.

“But it’s not what you want, I know we talked about this but when you said that I just… realized how bad I want it.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t want it, in fact, I just said I did,” she said.

“I know I’m sorry, I’m just getting too wrapped up in my own insecurities, and I know Krista or anyone else would say I’m crazy for knowing this soon, but I do, I know,” he said.

“Know what?”

“I want to be with you, only you, for the rest of my life,” he said looking back at her.

She smiled and sighed, “come here.” He got up and walked over to her.

“I want all that too, so stop worrying about labels and what anyone else will think or say about it, just enjoy being in love,” she said.

“I should, it’s just hard for me, I’m not used to things going right or being happy,” he said, “I feel like I’m just waiting for something to mess this up.”

She instantly thought of her case against Luke and shifted nervously. Elliot picked up on it and said, “what?”

“I do the same thing, about everything, I always have, but if we feel this strongly for each other and if it’s meant to be, nothing that happens will change that, I know nothing could happen to change how I feel about you,” she said.

“Me either, I’m not worried about my feelings for you changing, I know they won’t, I just worry about outside forces messing stuff up,” he said.

“This is about us, just you and me, nothing out there,” she gestured out the window, “should matter, no one else does matter, it’s just you and me.”

He pushed a piece of her hair off her forehead and kissed her softly, “I’ll try and remember that.”

She pouted sympathetically at him, “I know what it’s like to overthink things, I do it so much too, but we talk about it, that’s healthy and it makes me so happy that you trust me enough to just open up like that, you know you can tell me anything.” She touched his cheek and he looked down and sighed.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“You don’t know everything about me,” he said, “there are things in my past, really bad things that I can’t talk about with anyone but Krista and Mr.Robot, and I hope that if you ever know these things they don’t scare you off, I guess I feel like the sooner we are married the sooner I can know you aren’t leaving,” he said.

“Elliot, are you faithful?”

“Of course,” he said

“And do you mean the things you say to me?” she asked.

“Of course I do baby,” he whimpered tearing up.

“I know, and that’s what counts, and I know, I know with your disorder there are certain things…” she paused wanting to be as sensitive as possible, “in your past, I know that in order to have it, things had to have been a certain way, and that is all up to you to talk about with whoever you want to, I would never judge you for something someone else did.”

He was crying softly so she wiped his tears away, “I will never leave you, even if you decided you don’t want to be with me, I will never not be here for you,” she said. He leaned forward and put his head on her shoulder and she cradled his head and rubbed the back of his head.

He calmed down and said, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, I love you, and I’m so proud of you, it’s so hard to be open like that,” she said.

“How are you so perfect?” he asked, pulling back to look at her.

She shook her head, “I’m not perfect, I…” she wanted so badly to tell him about the case, he waited for her to continue, after how he’d opened up she had to give him something, it would be wrong of her to not say something, “there are some things you don’t know about me either, but you will, I just need to make sure it’s the right time.”

He nodded, “you okay?”

“Yea it’s just something I… I can’t…” she didn’t know how to explain it without telling him everything, she gave him a desperate look and shook her head.

“Hey, whenever you’re ready,” he said, she knew he probably thought it was something to do with her past and not her present but at least he knew something, she felt a little bit of the weight lift from her shoulders.

“You’re not mad?” she asked.

“About what?” he asked.

“I feel like not telling you is like… I’m hiding something, I mean I kind of am, but I have really good reasons, but I feel horrible, I have felt horrible for not telling you, I want you to be in every part of my life and I want you to know all of me.”

He looked a little confused, but he said, “you are faithful and mean what you say to me?”

She smiled, “yes, one hundred percent.”

“Then that’s all I need to know,” he said.

She felt so relieved that she burst into tears, he held her until she stopped

“Okay, when is your lunch break over?” she asked, wiping her eyes.

He looked at his phone, “about ten minutes ago.”

She laughed, “well I should go then?”

“Nah you can hang out for a while, I can work with you here,” he said. She walked over and sat down in his big chair and spun around a little. He walked over and spun her to face him and put his hands on the arms. He leaned down and got close to her face and tried not to grin, “get out of my seat,” he whispered.

“Ohh bossy, that’s very sexy Mr. Alderson but I don’t work here, and you can’t tell me what to do,” she said.

He hung his head and let out a little laugh, then looked back up and kissed her softly, “please?”

She pretended to sigh like she was bothered and said, “okay since you said please, but don’t forget, it doesn’t matter what your title is here… with me,” she grabbed his collar teasingly and pulled him close to her, “I’m in charge.” He moaned a little and she kissed him. Then she stood up and he watched her licking his lips.

“You really are,” he said.

She laughed, “Elliot, I was just playing.”

“But I’m not, I already told you, I’m wrapped around your finger,” he said pulling her by her waist and kissing her again.

“We have to be good, or I’m going to have to ask you to throw me on this desk and … well you know, and since you have to do what I say, you’ll do it,” she teased.

“Oh I would?” he said.

“Yea, you would,” she giggled.

He laughed and sat down, she loved this, the way they could just play like this. She leaned on his desk and pestered him as he worked. After a while, she told him she had to go, as she ran her hand through his hair, and he got up to walk her out. They took the elevator alone, the whole building seemed empty. It was kind of creepy, actually. They were talking and laughing as he walked her out to the lobby. Cindy was still there, glaring at them as Elliot made her giggle and held her hand. She pretended like she was going to walk away without kissing him and he pulled her back and said, “No, come here.” He kissed her and then kissed her hand and said, “love you.”

“Love you,” she said. He turned and walked toward the elevator and she started walking out. She looked at Cindy and smiled, “have a good night, Cindy.”

Cindy looked surprised that she was being nice and said, “you too.”

She didn’t want to be one of those bitter girlfriends who was mean to the other women Elliot had to interact with, she wasn’t threatened anyway. Who cares if Cindy likes him, who wouldn’t? She listened to some music on the cab ride home, and a song came on that made her set up and say, “oh my gosh.” The driver turned and looked at her, they were stuck in traffic. The song was ‘sex and candy’ and it made her think of her and Elliot, and their cotton candy escapades. She listened to the words more carefully and realized how sweet it could be, with a different sound. She started forming an idea and ran upstairs as soon as she got home. She changed into comfortable clothes. She spent all evening working on slowing down the melody on her keyboard and writing a percussion for it on her rock band app. She recorded it all on her laptop with a MIDI cord. Then when she had all the music laid down, she recorded the vocal. She thought about Elliot as she sang, pictured them licking the cotton candy off each other’s fingers and body. Elliot’s tongue reaching for the fluffy pink sweetness as she held it just out of his reach. She sang like she was making love to him with her voice, she wanted to be sure he felt what she did when he heard it. Not only the sexual side but the love and sadness. The lyrics painted a picture of a man who was lonely and stuck in his own mind until ‘she’ appeared, bringing lightness to his darkness. A girl lounging in his chair, taking over the spaces in his life that were most intimate. Teasing him with longing looks, begging him to challenge her, and daring him to try and push her away. Him being unable to comprehend how something this good could be real in his life. It was perfect for them in so many ways, and by the time she had finished recording the vocals she was both turned on and crying. She worked on editing the track for an hour or so until her phone rang. It was Elliot, “Hey there,” she answered.

“Hey, it’s me,” he said.

“I know, you off work?” she asked.

“Not yet, just taking a break, outside smoking,” he said.

“Hot,” she teased, and he let out a sexy little laugh.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Working on a present,” she said excitedly.

“For who?” he asked.

“You of course,” she said.

“What for?” he asked sounding a little excited himself.

“Because I want to, I just thought of it on the way home and I just finished it before you called,” she said.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Elliot, I can’t tell you that,” she said playfully.

“Is it some kind of art?” he asked.

“Maybe but not the kind you’re probably thinking of,” she said.

“Okay, so it’s not a painting…” he started.

“Stop trying to guess, you’ll ruin the surprise,” she scolded.

“Okay baby, I’m sorry I’m just really excited,” he said almost completely monotone. She giggled because it was just his way of speaking and he couldn’t help it, but it sounded ironic.

“What’s funny?” he asked.

“Nothing, you just don’t say that a lot… that you’re excited,” she said.

“I’m not used to the feeling either, haven’t felt it much… until I met you,” he said.

She smiled feeling warm inside and said, “Well when do you want it?”

“Whenever you want to give it to me,” he said.

“Ohh really?” she teased.

“Be good, I have a long night… alone,” he said.

“Well I can send it tonight,” she said.

“Send it how?” he asked.

“To your phone or email or whatever,” she said.

“So, it’s a file?”

“Yep an audio file,” she said.

“You can send it through text, it should work,” he said.

“Okay, I need to get it on my phone first,” she said.

“Do you know how?” he asked.

“Yes, Elliot, I’m not a total idiot about tech stuff, maybe compared to you but I know how to upload a file,” she laughed.

“Sorry,” he said.

“No you’re good, I know how it is, when you’re an expert at something it’s hard to know what level other people are on, I’m like that with coffee, I don’t even train people because I end up treating them like idiots, Amber trains everyone on our drinks,” she laughed.

“Yea that’s a good way of explaining it, thank you for understanding… shit I have to get back, I want to get out of here before midnight.”

“Okay, tell Cindy I said hello,” she said.

“Who’s that?” he asked.

She laughed, “never mind, I’ll tell you later when you aren’t in a hurry.”

“Okay baby, I can’t wait to get the file, love you.”

“Love you,” she said, and they hung up.

She uploaded the file to her phone and sent it to him, then waited, five minutes later he still hadn’t responded. But she knew he was busy, and he probably wanted to wait until he got home to listen to it so he could be completely focused. She put all her electronics away and felt the familiar relief she always felt when finishing an art project. She wanted a treat so she went downstairs and got one of the cupcakes they hadn’t sold today and some decaf cappuccino because she felt like having something light with lots of foam. Darlene came home at around ten and had a cupcake as Raine finished hers. They talked and laughed until it was time for bed. Elliot didn’t respond to her text until around midnight.

E: Holy shit babe, I wanted to call so bad but you’re probably asleep, I love it so much, I listened to it five times already

R: I’m awake, I’m glad you like it

E: It’s perfect, every word is us, your voice killed me and I’m dead… did you make all that music?

R: Yes, keyboard and rock band lol it’s not super professional but it’s all I know, I’m dating a texting ghost now?

E: lol yes… seriously baby it’s perfect, best present I’ve ever gotten, thank you so much, I love you I have a lot more to say but I’m crashing

R: Me too, I love you, goodnight

E: Goodnight

She smiled as she fell asleep thinking about Elliot listening to her version of what was their first official song. She had never seen him so excited about anything and she felt like she was going to burst because she was the reason for his joy. She wanted to tell Darlene about it, but she was already snoring. Instead, she hugged Sam until she fell asleep.