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 g****e.
A mixer is an informal social gathering where people interact with the purpose to get to know each other.
“Okay. Informal. That’s a start.” She said out loud to herself. “So I should dress down. Why did Taylor make it sound like it was a group date?” She opened her armoire and then walked into her closet that separated her closet of a bedroom from her closet of a bathroom. “Maybe I will try to look somewhat cute just in case.” She chose a pink ruffle dress that she had found at a thrift store. It had long sleeves and a ruffled scoop neck collar. She wore flat strappy brown sandals because she didn’t want to look too tall. And she had extra time so she painted her toes blue.
Taylor picked her up at seven as she promised. Taylor was wearing a tight purple dress that had a high neckline but scooped low in the back. She wore tall black strappy sandals and had a belted purse that looked similar to a high class fanny pack. Her toes were painted purple to match her dress.
“You look nice.” Taylor said as a half compliment.
“G****e said it was informal.” Meredith said as an excuse.
“It is. It is, don’t worry about it. You look good really.”
“Okay.”
“Let’s go. It’s at a Sushi Bar with Karaoke. Jane thought it would be perfect for a mixer.”
“I barely know what a mixer is so I’m not sure I know what would be considered perfect for one.”
“You’ll have fun and you like sushi, right?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had sushi.”
“They have miso soup as long as you promise not to slurp.” Their Uber had arrived and they loaded into the back seat and headed towards their destination.
“Hey Jane.” Taylor said once they arrived in the Sushi Bar and were met by a girl about five-feet-three with long dark wavy black hair and a petite hourglass figure. She wore a scrunched black dress and strappy black heels and a moonstone ring on her middle left finger. She had her makeup done in cat eyes and was wearing a black cat eared headband.
“Hi. Glad you made it. The guys are all here already.” She turned to Meredith and extended a hand. “Hi. You must be Meredith, I’m Jane. I’m so happy you came.”
“Thank you.” Meredith took her hand and then Jane immediately let go and grabbed Meredith’s shoulder and led her into the bar to where the guys sat at a round table. “Let’s have some fun.” She whispered and slid into the booth.
Meredith found herself on the end next to a guy named Jordan. He was about five-feet-ten and lanky. He had light feather brown hair combed to the side and dark almost black eyes. He was British but had been living in the States for six years on a work visa. The only thing they seemed to have in common was that neither of them had tried sushi before.
Jane ordered a sample platter for the table with several different kinds of sushi and they all took turns trying and laughing as they popped their sushi cherry. At least that’s what Jane kept saying. Only half of them had tried it before. Taylor, Jane, and a guy named George were what Jane called sushi pros.
“So what do you do for a living?” Meredith asked Jordan in between bites of sushi. She wasn’t sure what to say in this situation as she hadn’t dated in so long. He had mentioned his work visa so she figured that was a safe question.
“I’m a scientific researcher at the university’s chemistry laboratory. I’ve been there for the full six years.”
“Oh wow that must be exciting.”
“If you love explosions.”
“Oh my!” Meredith wasn’t sure what to say to this.
“I’m joking, Luv.” Jordan chuckled. “It’s probably rather dull for an average sort but I quite enjoy it.” Meredith smiled at him. She wasn’t entirely sure why but he seemed nice. He wasn’t ugly in the least he was mildly handsome but his accent made up for the fact that they had nothing in common. She could listen to him talk all night. He really liked photography and had gotten into drone photography recently.
“Oh that sounds really cool.” She told him. It sounded like her origami passion but he was able to talk about his.
“It is, you should come sometime. This city is amazing to photograph.”
“It sounds like fun.”
“I really like your dress by the way.”
“Thank you!”
“I’m sort of obsessed with vintage dresses. My mother had a collection and they were all so cool.”
“Oh?” She wasn’t sure how to take this. Was he gay? He didn’t seem gay. He seemed to be interested in her. Why would he come to the mixer if he were gay.
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I don’t wear them or anything I just find them very fascinating. I’m straight as an arrow, Luv. I can show you if you like.”
“Ha… I’m not sure if this is vintage. I found it at a thrift store.”
“Thrift shopping! I love thrift shopping. You can find such amazing gems. I got this belt at a thrift store.”
“Oh. It’s cool.” It actually was a really cool belt but Meredith felt she had one too many drinks and asked, “What else are you obsessed with.”
“Hmm… Donald Trump.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah I have a tattoo of his name in the font like on the trump towers between my should blades.”
“Wow.” She was speechless.
“It’s really amazing.” She was sure he was joking so she laughed and he laughed with her. She hadn’t even noticed that Jane and George had gone up to sing together until they returned to the table.
“Mer! Go sing something!” Taylor yelled across the table.
“Yeah go!”Jane encouraged her as she and George slid back into place.
“I’ll go with you.” Jordan offered.
“Oh! Okay.” She couldn’t say no and got up. They looked through the book on and she pointed to a song, “Do you know this one?”
“Ha ha! Yes! Let’s do it.” They told the DJ and then went up after the next singer was done and began to sing.
“Sometimes I like to close my eyes and imagine what it’d be like when summer does come.” Meredith began and they sang In Summer together from the movie Frozen.
They finished the song laughing and returned to the table. Meredith was really enjoying herself. She didn’t remember having this much fun in a long time. And the sushi wasn’t bad as long as she avoided the green paste stuff. She was starting to feel the effects of the alcohol and excused herself to the bathroom. Taylor followed.
“Jordan seems nice.” Taylor said once they entered the rest room.
“He’s cool. And funny.”
“And he has a killer accent.”
“Yeah.” Meredith chuckled as she washed her hands. “I think I might call it a night though. It’s getting late.”
“It’s only eleven.”
“Yeah that’s late for me. And don’t forget I have a super important project. I need my rest.”
“True.” Taylor puckered her lips and reapplied her cherry red lipstick. “I’m pretty sure Jordan lives up north near you. See if he’ll share an uber.”
“Oh? Okay.” When they returned to the table Meredith said her goodbyes and Jordan got up as well and said he needed to go too. They agreed to share an uber and rode to Meredith’s apartment. She found out on the ride home that his favorite foods were oranges and carbonara. She actually liked carbonara, she was excited she finally found something in common with him.
When they arrived at her house he got out to walk her up the steps and waited eagerly for her to let him in. But she knew enough of the dating life to know not to let a man in on the first date. If this was even considered a date. He took her phone out of her hand and put his number in it under Weird Brit Jordan and handed it back.
“Any time you want to go check out some drone photography hit me up.” He smiled at her.
“Okay.” She smiled back. Then he leaned in and kissed her. It wasn’t sparks and fireworks, it was sweet and charming and she had momentarily forgotten about Chad.
“Good night, Luv.” He said and was gone.
“Good night.” Meredith whispered into the dark night and went up to her apartment to swoon.
--Author's Note:
I hope you are enjoying the story. I am having fun with Meredith and can't wait to see what else she does now that she's letting loose. Don't forget to add it to your library. (^-^)
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.
Meredith stepped onto the elevator. She was wearing platform nude pumps, a very sexy high-waisted black pencil skirt with a gold zipper that traveled up the back, a cropped short-sleeved red satin blouse, and a very confident smile. Her hair and makeup had been done to perfection and she was, as Mr. Hubert had put it earlier, “Wow.” Across from her in the corner of the elevator one of the three Maxwell brothers stood leaning slightly against the wall. He wore elephant grey derby shoes, a solid blue three-piece suit with a skinny grey tie tucked into his vest, his dark brown hair was parted on the side and buzzed short around the sides but long on the top. His clear green eyes looked the color of mossy but with the clarity of an emerald. His jaw was clenched as though he were deep in thought and he wore a five o’clock shadow across it. Meredith had been
“Your late.” The David told her. “Sit down.” Meredith glanced into the corner office, along the side wall closest to her was floor to ceiling black shelves full of books and a few shelves had room for awards and framed event photos. Against the back wall she noticed as she walked across the room was a large framed abstract painting in bold colors and below it was a dry bar with an assortment of liquor bottles and glasses. The other two walls were floor to ceiling windows looking out over the financial district of Chicago. There were potted plants in each corner, two modern grey arm chairs sat in front of a large black desk with a iMac and and mouse to the left and a macbook pro in the center of the desk with a small stack of papers to the right. The David sat in a black leather chair as he frantically typed something on his macbook pro. Meredith sat down in one of the grey chairs in front of his des