Blair readjusted her stack of papers and stood. New clients always made her antsy and extraordinarily particular about details. She knew that she was sometimes a little too much. There were plenty of ex boyfriends that had told her so. Even some of her friends had commented on it.
And unfortunately, there was nothing to occupy her time or her brain until the meeting. She had been so focused on being prepared for it, that she had finished preparing already. So instead she was stuck trying to get other small things done while she waited.
“Ms Rollson, do you have a minute?” Her personal assistant stuck her head in. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything. I know you have a big meeting.”
“I’m fine, Anya. What is it?”
When Anya blushed, Blair laughed, “It’s alright. You can let him in. I’m ready for the meeting.”
Anya nodded calmly and opened the door wider, motioning him in. Larger than life, in walked Elliot. While he’s dressed professionally; suit, tie, black shoes and all, she knew better.
“Alright, what whirlwind of terror are you looking to release into the world today?”
“Terror? Me?” Elliot laughed and sat in one of her chairs. “I just came over to see my friend, see if she was ready for lunch. How’d your meeting go?”
She chucked a pencil at him. “The meeting hasn’t happened yet. It’s not for another hour.”
“Oh so you do have time for lunch. I was thinking Thai.”
“What if I wasn’t ready?”
He shrugged. “I know you’re already ready. For one, I know you. You’re more than prepared. You’d also be a lot more manic and pacing if you weren’t done with the prep yet. And you never ever would have let Anya open the door to let me in if you were busy. She would have shuffled me off to the break room to distract me until you were in the meeting so I couldn’t bother you. At all. Till next week.”
Blair scoffed. “Anya wouldn’t have kept you in the break room for a week.” She paused with a bright smile. “She would have let you out to use the restroom. So why are you here?”
Immediately he leaned onto her desk. “I have an idea.”
“Good for you, Elliot.” Blair shook her head.
“Blair, I want your help with it.” He began pulling out several folded and ripped pieces of paper. A bit of a mess. Once they were all out on her desk he started shuffling them around as if he could make sense of them and where they should go. She definitely couldn’t see it.
“And you brought it to me. Why?” She motioned to the papers. “Elliot, you don’t need me. Your last idea made you plenty successful. And you didn’t need me for that one. Besides, our work ethics don’t really match.”
Satisfied with the mess of papers where they were, Elliot sat back down and grinned. “But you are killer good at details. And this has lots of details I can’t seem to keep track of.”
Blair groaned. “So I was the person you came to.”
“You’re the best at details. I couldn’t think of anything better than the two of us working together.”
“Elliot. I have a meeting. A big one. I can’t start delving into your project right now.”
He put his hands up as if he could stop the words from coming out of her mouth. “Oh not now. Though now that I’m looking at all the papers I’ve strewn across your desk I realize that’s how it looks. Let’s meet up tonight for dinner, to celebrate your awesome meeting, your new clients, and my idea.”
Blair was already double checking her papers. “Yeah. I can do that. Tell Anya and she’ll make sure it gets on the schedule.”
“You have Anya pencil in your dates? Are you really that busy?”
Blair’s head shot up. “Date?”
“No worries. As long as you show up.” Elliot gathered up his papers and began stuffing them back into his suit coat pocket. He was at the door before she could think of words. He left the door open and headed straight over to Anya.
“Elliot!” Her voice was much louder than she’d intended. “Get back in here.”
“Did I forget something?”
“No.”
He came rushing in anyways. “What?”
“What do you mean a date?” She stood, moving around the desk. “Aren’t I supposed to know when someone is asking me out on a date?”
“That’s what the bit at the end was. I figured I was making sure that you knew what I was saying.” Elliot’s smile was toned down from his usual goofy grin. “Blair. I’ve asked before and you didn’t realize it. I’d figure it out about halfway through what I thought was a date and have to pull back. So this time I wanted to be clear.”
“Clear? Yeah, clear. Ok. I have a meeting, Elliot. I can’t be distracted right now.” She shook her head. “When did we have a date?”
He opened his mouth to answer but she stopped him. “No. Don’t tell me. We hang out way too much together.”
“Too much? I wouldn’t say too much. I like when I’m with you.” He leaned in and tapped her arm. “However, let me point out that you haven’t said no since finding out that I’d asked you on a date.”
“That’s because my brain isn’t even comprehending going on a date with you. I can’t imagine it.”
“You don’t have to. I’ll see you tonight and it will be real.” Elliot took one of her hands. “Blair, we have been friends forever. And yeah we are different but that’s good. I’m not looking for a female version of me. I like you. I think we complement each other well. And if you don’t want to date after tonight, tell me and uh…” He smiled brightly. “And you can still help me on my project. Good plan eh?”
Blair laughed. “How about this? I agree to meeting you tonight and I’ll tell you then whether it’s a date or not.”
“I can do that.” Elliot nodded. “I know I didn’t give you enough processing time. No worries. You completely put me out of your head for your meeting, because I know you can do that. Come back to this later. I shouldn’t have sprung this on you now.”
“No, no. It’s good. I’d rather know than go through another date without realizing I was on one.”
“Me too. See you tonight, Blair.” Elliot slowly let go over her hand and eased out the door. Again she watched him move over to talk to Anya and smiled when he looked back and winked at her. Sitting back down in her chair she pulled her papers in front of her and stared. “A date.”
