Chapter 7: T.G.I.F.

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. (^-^)