Chapter 6: Half Day Friday

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 actually giving a presentation so much as having a meeting with Mr. Hubert before sending their designs to Edward Maxwell’s office. Meredith wouldn’t even be seeing Edward Maxwell let alone any of his staff. Greg was going to be making the delivery before lunch and picking up any notes needed at the end of the day.

Meredith had prepared the fonts and worked with Karen all of Thursday to get it just right and set into the ads perfectly. Meredith pulled up Adobe Illustrator on her work computer and adjusted a few lines and finalized her mock ups before creating a portfolio. Karen was sitting besides her antsy but not wanting to touch anything else on the design for fear of overworking it. They packed up their things to set up in the meeting room and met Greg and Mr. Hubert there an hour before lunch. 

“Wow!” Greg couldn’t help but blurt out his appreciation of the design concept and difference in level there was between him and these two designers he interned under. 

Mr. Hubert raised his eyes to Greg who quickly settled down and tried to act more business-like. Mr. Hubert studied the designs each in turn then flipped them around a few times and studied them again. 

“You created a new font.” He seemed to say it more as a statement rather than a question so Meredith wasn’t sure if she should respond so she said nothing and so did Karen. “Hmm.” He continued to stare at the designs and they all looked at their watches. They needed to get it to Mr. Maxwell’s office soon.

“I have other fonts.” Meredith offered.

“No, this one is good. It’s classic and retro in a luxurious feel.”

“Oh, good.”

“Yes, good. Not great though. We will see how they receive it. The color palette is genius it fits the car’s colors perfectly.”

“Yes that was the idea they can market each car color individually and it looks like it was the primary focus all along.”

“Very well done.”

“Karen these lines are spot on. Not too much, just right.”

“Thank you.” Karen responded.

“Okay let’s get these up to Edward’s office and see what he thinks. We still have a week to work out any changes.” Mr. Hubert looked at Greg who quickly grabbed up a duplicate packet that was to be sent to Edward Maxwell’s office.

“Yes, sir.” He said and was quickly out the office and on his way.

“You two did good work. Take a break for now so you can be fresh when they send for revisions. Don’t go too far so you can be here when we get the word but make sure to take time to relax.”

“Yes, sir.” Meredith and Karen said in unison. They didn’t need to be told twice to relax. Meredith put her stuff away at her desk and headed down to the lobby to meet Taylor for lunch.

“Mer!” Taylor was extra bouncy as Meredith got off the elevator. Meredith didn’t know how that was even possible.

“Hey Taylor.”

“Sooooooo! How was your presentation?” Taylor asked as they walked past Ben and waved. He blushed and smiled in return.

“It wasn’t a presentation. It was just a meeting before sending the mock up to Edward Maxwell’s office.”

“Yeah soooo… How was it?”

“It went well. We have the rest of the day off, or on-call sort to say, until we hear back from Edward’s office.” 

“Oh my god, that’s amazing! Half day Friday!”

“Something like that.” The had reached a new cafe and Meredith raised an eyebrow at Taylor.

“I wanted to check this place out.” Taylor shrugged.

“You better not be cheating on your clerk from our regular place.”

“Never!” Taylor faked a gasp of shock then giggled as they pushed in through the door. They each ordered. This time Meredith went with a bowl of Potato soup. “I never get how you can eat soup all year round.”

“What? I love soup! So shoot me.” Meredith laughed as they found a table in the corner. It wasn’t a booth but they had their own table and that was enough.

“So tonight is that mixer that I told you about.”

“What tonight? What happened to no distractions?”

“Yeah well it was already scheduled, I can’t help it.” 

“Well hopefully I won’t have a ton to rework. Plus I have the whole weekend.”

“I kind of told Ben he could take you out tomorrow night.”

“What?! Why? How? Taylor what the fuck?”

“It’s just two nights and I felt bad for turning him down for you. He was so adorable. And what ever happened to the not taking your work home rule?”

“True.” Meredith blew on her soup and slurped it down.

“Do you really need to slurp?” Taylor asked as she took a bite of her spinach and strawberry salad.

“Yes, I do. In some cultures it is a sign of respect to the chef.”

“I think that’s just tea and it’s not American.”

“Whatever. It makes it taste better.”

“Sure. So tonight I’ll meet you outside your place at seven and we can share an uber.”

“Okay.” Meredith took another long slurp then grinned at Taylor mischievously.

After walking Taylor back to work Meredith walked three blocks to a specialty store that sold origami paper. She secretly had a passion for origami but thought it was even weirder than slurping soup so didn’t tell anyone about it. She had never even told Chad about it which made it hard to hide when he was over her place. But she had managed to get an old hat box which she told Chad belonged to her dead grandmother so he would never be tempted to open it and she kept her supplies in there. She loved how the paper could take shape similar to her graphic design but in a three dimensional form and with such intricacies. 

Meredith wasn’t a huge youtuber, but secretly she would watch tons of origami youtube videos of the most fascinating paper sculptures. She had heard of a museum exhibit that would be coming into town in a couple months and she really wanted to get tickets to go see it if she could manage. 

Meredith browsed around the different paper patterns and types and finally chose a few sheets that would fit nicely in her purse and headed back to work. She still had plenty of time to kill but wanted to get back just incase Edward Maxwell’s office was done reviewing the mock ups.

As she walked into the lobby Ben looked at her and grinned. He cut off the other guard who was telling him some story and walked a couple of steps to the reader as Meredith searched her bag for her badge.

“About tomorrow night, would it be okay to postpone it to next week? I am really sorry but my grandmother needed me to take her to night bingo with the girls and she only goes once a month. I had promised her last week.”

“Night bingo?”

“Yeah it’s her only vice.” He said with a chuckle.

“Yeah it’s no problem. I really do have a big project that’s due next Friday so next Saturday will be perfect.”

“Oh thank you for understanding.”

“Do you have a pen and a piece of paper?”

“Just a pen.”

“Hmm.” Meredith reached in her bag with a slight sigh. She ripped the corner of her newly purchased origami paper and wrote her number on it then handed it to Ben. “Text me the details.” She smiled and swiped her badge and headed up to her desk.