Mia hummed along softly to the music playing through her headphones as she busily went about her job of replacing client files in their proper cabinets.
She stopped when she suddenly found herself in sudden darkness. She stopped her mp3 player and took the headphones off. She set them on the table in front of her and turned around slowly.
She cursed when she found that she couldn’t see anything. The room she was in was windowless, walls covered with filing cabinets. There was only one door. She’d never really thought of the room as a scary place before. She liked the room and its orderliness. Only orderly because she had spent a long time making it so.
She jumped as a hand touched her cheek. She mentally kicked herself for daydreaming. She swore then that she would never listen to music as she worked. It was against policy anyways. And now look where it had gotten her.
She mentally shook herself and started paying attention to the hand that now caressed her neck. She thought it was slightly calloused. Packaging? No, she thought, they never come to this end. Receiving then. That made sense. They’re only down the hall. She tried desperately to think of who worked in receiving but was being distracted by that exploring hand. It was causing pleasant little flutters in her stomach.
She gave up on trying to figure out who it was and decided to explore on her own. Her hand slowly reached out and found her companion’s face. Man in receiving. Not that she had expected much else. But the stubble on his face made it kind of obvious in her opinion. She continued upward and paused over his left eye. She could feel the roughness of dried blood. Hm, she thought with a smile, cut over the left eye…
She let out a soft laugh. “Quincy.”
He pulled away from her and she frowned into the darkness.
“Would you have done that with anyone, Mia?”
“I didn’t do anything… did I?” She moved forward until she collided with him. She wrapped her arms around him.
He tangled a hand in her hair and pulled her head back gently. His lips brushed over the side of her neck and bit her gently. She moaned softly. “You do have a point. And now that you know who I am, what are you going to do?”
She ran her hands up his arms and over his broad chest. “We’ll just see about that, won’t we? Now, how about we start by turning on the lights, hm?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea…”
“Why not?”
“You’ll change your mind, I know it.”
“Oh, honestly, I’ve seen you at least once a week for a long time. I know what you look like without the lights on. Why on earth would I change my mind?”
“I don’t know…”
She reached behind him and turned on the lights. He pouted and looked away. She tried to hide her smile.
“See? I’m still here.” He mumbled something and she sighed. “Fine, don’t believe me.” She pulled away from him. “Can you help me finish putting these away?” She waved a hand towards the stack of files.
He sighed, looking even more crestfallen, and picked up a small stack. “Sure.”
They worked in silence and Mia did nothing to conceal her staring. She did it intentionally of course. She watched how his muscles moved under his shirt and the way he glanced at her shyly from time to time.
Once everything was done, Mia gathered her things. She grabbed his hand. “C’mon.” She pulled him through the building and outside, to her car.
“… Mia?”
“Heavens, Quincy, get in the car. Coffee? Sound safe enough to you?”
He blushed. “I’m sorry… I’m not used to this… stuff…” He frowned, trying to find a better word.
“I’ll get you used to ‘this stuff’.” She smiled at him and got in the car.
He followed a second later.
“See? That wasn’t hard.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed it gently. “Relax.”
He nodded.
She sighed. “I don’t mean to make fun of you… it’s just one of my flaws. I apologize.”
“No need to apologize, it’s fine.” He smiled boyishly. “One of the things I like about you.”
Mia blushed. “My mother used to tell me it was not at all an attractive attribute…” She bit her lip to stop from crying, “nothing I did seemed to be.” She started the car and drove out of the parking lot and into the empty streets.
At one of the lights, she began to sing softly.
Quincy’s eyes slid shut at the soothing noise, and he allowed his head to loll around against the headrest. “You have a lovely voice.” His voice was rough as sleep threatened to take him.
She laughed. “Thanks.”
He shrugged. “I’ve no voice of my own. I make a smoker sound lovely.”
“Who’d have thought you had such a sense of humor. You always seemed so… somber.”
He shrugged. “My job isn’t that exciting. No need for humor.”
“I think lack of excitement is where humor is needed most.” She drove past the coffee shop. “Damn, they closed early.” She sighed and continued to drive.
“… Where are we going?”
She looked at him. “My house… if you don’t mind?”
He shrugged. “I think I can handle it.” He smiled at her.
“Ah, makin’ jokes on yourself. I don’t know if that’s a good thing.”
He laughed and she decided that she liked it. It was low and rough. She grinned.
She made a left and then a quick right into a driveway. “Here we are.”
Quincy looked at the house and then at her. “You put files away and you can afford this?” They were parked in front of a three storied building. He thought it looked like an apartment building.
“I-it’s been passed down through my family…”
He frowned slightly. “Oh.” He wanted to ask more but she didn’t look too comfortable as it was.
They got out of the car and walked quietly to the door.
Once inside, Quincy stopped. The entryway in which they stood was painted a deep purple. The floor was stained dark and sconces supplied a dim light.
“… It looks like a bar in here.”
She laughed. “Would you like to see the parlor?”
“What?”
Silently, she took his hand and led him back outside. On the lawn was a little sign that said, simply, ‘Mia’s’.
As they approached the sign, a man appeared on the sidewalk.