Chapter 2: Lunch with Taylor

Meredith stepped off the elevator and was met with a frown a red head against a wall to the side. 

“You’re late.” Taylor told her as she pulled her along and out the front doors. Taylor was what Meredith described as cute as a button. They had met in film appreciation class in college and became fast friends. Taylor was five-feet-one and weighed practically nothing. She loved kickboxing and anything with pumpkins. She had short naturally red hair that fell just to the top of her shoulders. She wasn’t too curvy but just enough to say: “Yes, I am a woman.”

Taylor always wore heels to make up for being so short and always had on cherry red lipstick which only added to the allure of her red hair. She had far too much energy and drank far too much coffee. She rushed her friend Meredith down the street and around the corner to her favorite cafe.

Taylor had an internship at Maxwell Sharpe during school and networked while she was there as her way of getting her foot in the door. Later she told Meredith it’s all about knowing someone and got her a job there as well with a friend’s referral. Meredith was very thankful because none of her other prospects looked very promising.

They arrived at Taylor’s favorite Cafe where she shamelessly flirted with the cashier as she paid. She continued flirting as Meredith contemplated the menu and finally ordered a tuna melt on wheat. They went to take their seats with their table number at the end of their table. 

“Smith really seems to like you.” Taylor said as they sat down. “You should ask him on a date.”

“Who?” Meredith asked looking around.

“The guard at work, silly.”

“Oh! Ben?”

--Author's Note:

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“First name basis already? You definitely need to go out with Mr. Muscles.”

“I don’t know. I don’t have time really.”

“How are you busy? You spend most nights with your cat on the couch watching Disney flicks.” 

“Well-”

“Invite Ben to watch with you. Who knows he might secretly be a Disney Classic super fan like you.”

“Yeah I think he is more into Nickelodeon but I don’t know. I just haven’t been up to dating anyone new really.”

“Mer! Honey! It’s been almost two years since that jerk left you. Besides, he was a creep. He faked being allergic to latex and onions. You need to move on and let your heart let him go.”

“I know. I know, I really do know. It’s just he was my childhood sweetheart and I don’t know why I’m so stuck in the past really.”

“You just need to go out and do it. Stop hmming and hahing and go do it.”

“You’re right but not now. I was just given a big project by Mr. Hubert from Edward Maxwell’s office. We have to have it done by the end of the week. I’m the head designer on it.”

“Oh! Edward Maxwell, the eldest brother. He is dreamy!”

“I wouldn’t know. I just deal with his assistant.”

“Too bad I hear he recently broke up with his girlfriend. Something about how she wouldn’t commit.”

“Hmm.” Their food was dropped off and the table number swiped up quickly as the food runner headed back to grab the next set of dishes.

“Who wouldn’t want to settle down with him. Those perfectly dark brown hair and green eyes. Oh my god he looks like Michealangelo himself chiseled him.”

“Mmm. This Tuna melt is amazing. Taylor your cafe’s are always spot on.”

“Thank you.” Taylor absently munched her salad as she dreamed of a Maxwell angel for desert. “Mer you need to jump on that.” she finally said out of nowhere.

“Jump? On what?” Meredith said between bites unsure what her friend was talking about now.

“Edward Maxwell.”

“Oh.” She’s still on him, thought Meredith.

“It’s like the heavens have parted and given you this one opportunity to date one of the Davids”

“One of the Davids?”

“Yes. I call him and his two younger brothers the Davids because of their god-like features.”

“Umm okay…”

“Edward is the tallest at six-feet-four and 220 pounds of solid muscle.”

“How do you know that?”

“Fan Club.”

“Ah.” Meredith downed a bit of her sweet tea then went back to her tuna melt.

“They all have green eyes and dark brown hair. Clinton is the most friendly but he is also married so that doesn’t help much.”

“Why would I care that he is married.”

“To date a David would be a dream. And if you were able to date a David you would forget Chad ever even existed.”

“I see.”

“Brayden is the most closed off of the three. He is always short with people and never seen smiling. Personally I think he is gay because he doesn’t even try to bring dates to functions ever.”

“Well I guess that leaves him out.” Meredith said sarcastically not really interested in the conversation but humoring her friend as usual.

“That’s right. And I’m not the only one that has him pegged as gay. That’s why your project is perfect. If you do an amazing job as head designer Edward, the only available David, will have to take notice and will of course ask you to dinner to go over how amazing you are. Then ask you to date him because how sexy you are at dinner and then ask you to marry him since you know he is looking for commitment.”

“Wow. So all I have to do is murder this project and knock it out of the park and suddenly I go from Meredith Glenn to Meredith Maxwell just like that?”

“Yup pretty much. It’s flawless.”

“Right well let me get right on that.”

“That’s the spirit.”

“I’ve never seen any of The David’s let alone Edward and I highly doubt that he will be present in the meeting for the project. It is a prominent client and rather important but I don’t think he will meet with us personally. He will most likely go over the sketches we send this week with his assistant and then change everything we send because, well that’s how all our projects turn out.”

“Well you will just have to make such an impression that he will want to join the meeting personally when you go to present.”

“Right.”

“When do you present?” Taylor dabbed her mouth. She put the napkin on her plate and pulled out a pocket mirror from her purse.

“We have two weeks officially but we have to have it in by the end of the week so we can make any changes before next week.” Meredith brushed a few crumbs from her blouse and stacked her dishes and silverware while Taylor reapplied her cherry red lipstick.

“Well let me know what they say on Friday then I will help you to look extra sexy for your presentation next week.”

“Uh huh.” Meredith shook her head as she scooted out of the booth and the two of them headed back to work. He knew there was no way she was going to get this idea out of her friend's head. The best thing to do was to go along with it. Meredith didn’t think it was even possible to make her look sexy to begin with. 

She was tall and thin. At five-feet-nine she loomed over her little friend Taylor. And she weighed around 135 pounds which at that height made her rather thin. She was a C cup and while she did have curves she didn’t find them that appealing personally. Her hair was frizzy and blonde. Her friend always told her she had perfect beach hair and Meredith would reply she had perfect shipwrecked hair. Her eyes were Hazel and Meredith found that to be another flaw. She couldn’t even be called blonde and blue eyed, no she was blonde and hazel eyed. What prince charming is looking for that.

That was one of the reasons she was so stuck in the past. She didn’t think she was attractive and didn’t think anyone other than Chad would ever want her. It’s why she had put up with Chad cheating on her and mistreating her so often. But her friend Taylor thought she would be able to make her sexy for her meeting with Edward Maxwell in two weeks which Meredith was sure would never even take place to begin with so what’s the harm in dressing up for work for one day. Not that she was ever out of dress code but she definitely wasn’t sexy with her Target blouse and Thrift store skirt that she had her mom alter to fit her taller figure better. She wore worn black flats she found on DSW’s sale rack a couple years ago and had her hair pulled into a frizzy ponytail.

Meredith shook her head one more time knowing she would have to get ‘sexy’ for her project presentation in two weeks. She headed back to work with Taylor and would be starting her first meeting for her project that would supposedly lead to her name being changed to Mrs. Maxwell.