Meredith headed home, having gathered up some relevant material to continue to sketch into the night. She usually didn’t bring work home for several reasons. Firstly she wanted to have a work free environment, at least that’s what she told herself. Really she just wanted to resist overworking herself, which would be very easy to do considering her Hermit lifestyle.
Secondly she was afraid of losing something and having to come up with a lame my-dog-ate-my-project excuse. Or in her case her cat.
And speaking of her cat, thirdly, she didn’t want her cat to interrupt and felt it was rude to not give him some much needed attention after having been at work all day.
This was a different situation and she had promised herself as she walked down the subway stairs towards her L train that she wouldn’t make a habit of it. This was a one time event and would never happen again. Work and personal life were separate for a reason. There were no if, ands, or buts about it.
Meredith carefully scanned the cars as the train pulled up and saw a semi full car that seemed safe to get on. She once made the mistake of not scanning before getting on and ended up in a car with a homeless man using a painters bucket to relieve himself. She knew it wouldn’t smell like roses as the song claimed but she never knew it could smell so horrid until that day. She then swore to everyone that hers really did smell like roses in comparison.
She would never make that mistake again and had been very vigilant to check the cars before getting in. As she found a seat that seemed relatively safe from anyone trying to have a conversation with her she started to think of her encounter with Ben earlier. Had he really asked her out? She didn’t know he was truly into her she just thought he liked to flirt with her in his charmingly shy sort of way. She had no idea that he actually wanted to have dinner with her or anything beyond that.
What would be beyond dinner? She didn’t even know anymore, it had been so long since she dated. Had she even dated? She couldn’t recall. She had a few dates in high school before she started dating Chad. But those were kids playing nothing more than milkshakes and skeeball. She had no idea how grownups did it. Dinner and a movie didn’t sound so bad but what else was there to this dating life?
She wasn’t a virgin. She had gone all the bases with Chad long ago. But it had also been a long time since she had been to home base with anyone. She shook her head and told herself not to worry about it. First things first, she needed to go to dinner with Ben as promised. It would be good for her to get out and start putting Chad behind her even if it was an innocent dinner with the guard from work.
Meredith got off at the next stop and walked down the street to her apartment building on the northside of the city. She lived in Uptown in a little ancient apartment building with sconces for lighting. She had enough to splurge on a one bedroom apartment. But the bedroom could hardly be called that. It was barely bigger than a closet and fit her bed and a small side table comfortably but nothing more. Her apartment opened up to a large living area, in comparison to her bedroom. It had a tall ceiling, which carried throughout the apartment as well as wood floors.
She didn’t have much in her living space. A small loveseat and a reading chair. A bookcase mostly full of graphic design magazines and Disney blu rays. She had a fluffy carpet under a small coffee table and a stand with a decent sized tv on it in the corner. In the opposite corner she had an armoire her mother gave her and her bike hung on a hook in the wall. She loved to ride her bike to run errands but it was sometimes cumbersome to take it to work while wearing a skirt or worrying about her fancy Target slacks getting mud on them.
Dino greeted her at the door. He was a large Orange Tom cat with an extended chin that made him look regal she thought. She scooped him up as she kicked off her shoes and padded into the breakfast nook/dining room where she had a small table and chairs and his food bowls. She put him down to fill his bowls then explained to him the situation at hand.
“I have a very very important project that I brought home.”
“Meow.”
“I know, I know I promised not to bring work home but if this goes well I will get a raise and then I can buy you that cat tower you have been talking about for months.”
“Meow.” He began eating.
“I knew you would understand.” She smiled to herself at her great convincing skills and grabbed a sarsaparilla bottle from her small apartment fridge in the connected kitchen. She went back to the living room to get to work.
She decided to go with two new fonts one to show on Friday and if they wanted a revamp she would already have the second one ready. She would show a conservative version Friday but she really wanted to stretch the limit of her design capabilities and began to sketch. She sketched shapes all night until she couldn’t see straight anymore. Triangles and rectangles and circles and all kinds of squiggles and dots intertwining with each other. It was how she warmed herself up and pulled herself out of her box and into a word of possibilities. At least that was what she told Dino when he inquired about it after his dinner.
She had cold leftover pizza as she continued to sketch and a revelation hit her brain. She was in another world and had created three fonts by 8:00.
“Meow.” Dino rubbed his head on her knee and she sighed, satisfied with her work.
“Yes I know. I promised you popcorn and Pixar tonight, didn’t I?” She got up and set up her air popper in the kitchen and got a little bowl for Dino’s popcorn. She drizzled melted butter on each of their bowls of freshly popped popcorn and sprinkled it with salt then headed back into the living room. “How about Up tonight?”
“Meow.” She put the disc in the player and pushed a few buttons on the remote then set Dino’s bowl on the loveseat next to her and they both curled up to watch their movie and eat their popcorn. Meredith was so worn out from her shape drawing that she fell asleep before the first squirrel.
Taylor had been true to her word of keeping distractions away from Meredith so she could focus on her project. That being said she did send a picture of Edward Maxwell to Meredith when she woke up along with heart emojis and a text that said “For motivation purposes. GL on your presentation.” Edward had piercing green eyes and dark brown hair with a perfectly groomed matching dark brown beard. His nose was angled just right so as to not be overpowering but not hidden behind such a majestic beard. He was wearing a pinstriped suit with brown derby shoes and his tie and top three buttons were undone exposing his a little chest hair that had peeked up from beneath his shirt. He was built but not popping out of his suit built. He wasn’t as muscular as Ben the guard but he definitely worked out. Meredith could see why Taylor called him one of The Davids It was Friday and Meredith, Karen, and Greg weren’t actual
Meredith had gotten an email from Edward Maxwell’s assistant, Henry saying everything looked good but the font looked old. What did he not understand about classic? That was okay because she had anticipated as much and in fact held back so as to truly wow them next Friday. She still had two fonts that she had created and she knew just which one she was going to use. She talked to Karen before heading out and called it a day. She still had to get ready for this mixer that Taylor was taking her to.Meredith arrived home and had racked her brain the whole way from the office building to her apartment about what to wear tonight. She wasn’t even sure what a mixer was. Is it a date? Is it just a coed hang out of some sort. What was it? She decided to try google.A mixer is an informal social gathering where people interact with the purpose to get to know
Meredith woke up the next morning feeling good about herself. It wasn’t love at first sight. She didn’t believe in that. The guy wasn’t even Prince Charming even though the had a princely accent. She had finally stopped saying no and went out. Even if she hadn’t had a decent time with one of the guys there she had fun. She tried sushi for the first time. And although she wasn’t excited to go try it again she didn’t find it terrible, except that weird green paste. She did karaoke for the first time and actually really liked it. The whole event was pleasant. She didn’t have to date the guy she had been paired off with but he seemed like a nice enough person to hang out with again. He was funny, he had interesting hobbies, and he was smart. She decided to text both Taylor and Jordan the same message: Thanks for last night. I had a lot of fun
Meredith avoided the pigeons and made sure she had no loose popcorn in her purse as she headed to the Metra the next day. She would take the train to Schaumburg where her mother lived. Meredith’s mother picked her up at the train station and the went to Yu’s Mandarin for lunch. Meredith really had been craving Chinese food since the sushi left her wanting a little more asian in her life. “So how have you been this week?” Meredith’s mother asked her after they ordered drinks. “I got a big project at work so I have been crazy busy. It’s due on Friday so I still have a lot of work to do.” Meredith looked around the restaurant. She felt uneasy as though someone were watching them somewhere. “Oh! Meri, that's wonderful.” Her mother had called her Meri since she could remember. “Will you get a promotion?”
Meredith spent all day Monday with Karen in the meeting room with their laptops going over the ad campaign and adjusting and perfecting their designs. Mr. Hubert kept walking up to the glass window and just watching them without coming in. They knew he was anxious when he kept pulling out his mustache comb and running it through his mustache over and over. It just added to the creepy effect he was creating, which wasn’t helpful to their concentration.“Even if they don’t see this as amazing I’m proud of what we have going here. It truly is amazing.” Karen told Meredith as they looked at the preview on the screen. “Choosing to go with the more risky font without a backup is a bit of a gamble but it allows us time to perfect it rather than split between two projects essentially.”“Exactly. Mr. Hubert wants us to wow
Meredith showed Jordan into her apartment with a giggle. She had promised to show him her origami collection since he showed her his photography. He had phrased it: “I show you mine so you have to show me yours.” “I don’t know how my cat Dino will take to you but it seems like he is giving us some privacy. Not many places to hide in this small apartment but leave it to a cat to find a place to vanish to.” She said as she pulled the large hat box down from her armoire and bent down to set it on the coffee table. It took up most of the table. “Nice box.” Jordan said in his slightly slurred British accent with a smirk. He had a double meaning as he had been checking her out from behind but it went over her head. “Thank you. I got it a a thrift store. I thought it would be perfect for my origami.” She opened the box
The next day Meredith met Karen, Greg and Mr. Hubert in the meeting room and they went over their ad campaign. Mr. Hubert sat for thirty minutes not saying a word just scrutinizing it in every way possible.“And you didn’t make a backup?” He finally asked.“No, sir. We thought it would better to risk a gamble on having more time to refine and polish one rather than work on two.”“That was a good idea. Had anyone else done it I wouldn’t have agreed but the two of you are something else. Great work indeed.”“Thank you, sir.” Meredith and Karen said in unison while Greg nodded in agreement.“I want the three of you to spend as long as possible with the printers to
Meredith was woken up by a very loud alarm that Taylor had set by the bed. She groaned and rolled around but she knew she had to get up because the big day had finally arrived. She padded out Sarah’s bedroom and into the the living room following the smell of coffee into the kitchen. “Morning!” Taylor said as she flitted around the kitchen and paused to hand Meredith a mug. “I made a light breakfast just in case you’re nervous. Also don’t want you bloated or anything when you’re supposed to look sexy.” “Thanks.” Meredith responded grumpily, half sarcastically and half actual gratitude. She was actually kind of hungry she had forgotten to eat dinner the night before. She finished pouring her cup of coffee and adding three spoons of sugar with a splash of two percent milk while Taylor set their dishes on the other side of the island in front of two bar stools.