T H I R T E E N

I S A A C

The next day, I went to see where Henry worked.

The rain had eased off, and the company's name, emblazoned proudly above the entrance in its customary orange print, glinted in the sun.

I spotted Henry's and Shania's desks over in the far corner and hurried over to them, trying not to catch Aaron Smith's eye.

"Hey," I said, kissing Henry on the cheek.

"Isaac!" Shania cried, leaping up and giving me a hug.

"Weren't you in the middle of a call?" Henry frowned, and she sat back down immediately.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs Bates, your opinion means everything to us -"

I leaned against Henry's desk, and smiled at him. "Hello to you, too."

He shook his head slightly. "Sorry. I - erm - I'm just a bit tired. It's great to see you, though!"

"Well," I said, "I thought I'd take a look and see where it all started."

"It's not very exciting," Henry grinned, and I nodded.

"I want the works. A tour."

"A tour?"

"A tour."

❄

Henry was right. It was kind of boring.

Most of our tour was spent talking to henry's co-workers, ("so you're that one person that's been calling us!") stealing biscuits (they had a biscuit tin for the staff) and me answering the phone instead of Henry (it's harder than it looks. Or sounds. Whatever.)

"I'm really sorry about the other night, by the way," Shania said once the tour had finished, and we were finishing the biscuits.

We were getting a lot of nasty looks.

"So I am," Henry said. "I had to throw those boots out. Seventy quid, they were, and I only wore them twice before someone threw up on them!"

Shania and I studiously ignored him as he finished the last of the bourbons Cathy had only brought in this morning.

"Oh, it's fine," I said, blushing, "Sorry for - erm - getting food poisoning."

Shania snorted. "It's put Mike off cooking for at least a year, though," she said. "So there were some bonuses."

"Maybe more than one," I said, looking at Henry, who was still talking about his ruined boots.

❄

s/o to @nintendos for pointing out the little error i made in this chapter - u the best

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lucy xox

for @verbivore because she's lovely!! c: