Chapter 11
Hannah arrived at her apartment building in New York City after several weeks of being away. With two suitcases in tow, she walked into the lobby and over to the elevator where the attendant greeted her. “Ms. Burchfield!” he announced in excitement, much like he always did. “I thought you forgot about us”
“Rodrigo,” she said with a light huff from exhaustion. “I could never forget about you,” she continued, looking on at the young Hispanic man, wearing a suit, in front of her. “How has everything been over these past few weeks? Anything good happen?”
“On your floor, absolutely nothing,” he answered with a smile as she stood in front of the elevator. “Now, above you, there was some drama involving the neighbors fighting over the property in the hallway between their doors and what painting the landlord was going to hang there.”
Hannah laughed. “What does it matter? It’s a hallway.”
“To some people, it’s an extension of their home,” explained Rodrigo as the elevator door opened with a loud ring.
“And to some people, they only want another reason to complain,” she quipped as she pulled her luggage behind her and stepped onto the elevator. With the doors closing behind her, she pressed the button for her floor and waited on the large metal box to start its ascent. The elevator started to climb up the building, floor by floor, illuminating the number at the top of the box while Hannah was left to think about her trip and what all had happened while she was away. From spending nights in Dubai, to traveling through Northern Africa and even spending a weekend in China, Hannah was thankful to finally be back in New York City. She was happy to finally be back home.
The doors to the elevator opened up on her floor and she stepped out, pulling her two suitcases with her down the hall to the end where her apartment was. During the walk, her mind started to wander as she thought about where she had been and how far it had come in such a short period of time.
“Do you ever think about not going back?” asked Alexis as they sat on the beach in Sydney, looking out at the sunset and reflecting on everything that has happened. “Do you ever wonder if we made the right decision?”
“About dinner?” asked Hannah as she rubbed her chest, feeling a small bout of heart burn setting in.
“No, about taking the positions we did within the consortium,” continued Alexis. “Do you think it was a mistake to take this job?”
Hannah shook her head. “I don’t know how to answer that,” she replied. “I mean, you found what you thought was a great guy, and unfortunately, he turned out to be a stubborn jackass. But to answer your question, honestly, I don’t think it was a mistake. I do wonder if the two of us were ready for such a position, but I think it’s one that we will have to learn and grow in.”
Alexis smiled as she watched the sun slowly move off into the horizon. “I hate that you’re leaving in a few hours.”
“And I hate you couldn’t get on the same flight as me,” quipped Hannah. “Seriously, Sulagna said we were going home. Why can’t you drop everything and come home?”
“I need to stop off in Dubai for a few hours and grab some things,” she explained. “I have a few belongings at Nathanial’s place that I’d like to pick up.”
“Panties?”
“And a dress,” she continued. “I have an entire outfit over there that I might want to wear when we get home. I am assuming we will hit up a few bars and clubs during our stay.”
Hannah laughed. “But of course,”
“At least we get to reconnect with everyone in our lives,” said Alexis as she stared off into the horizon. “We get to see our old bosses and laugh in their faces, because they’re no longer our bosses.”
“We still have to work in that building with them,” explained Hannah as she slowed Alexis down. “Be prepared not to burn that bridge yet, ma’am. We may still need them.”
“Oh, I would never,” clarified Alexis as she turned to look at Hannah with a grin. “I simply want to enjoy being colleagues with Richard and the rest of them instead of having to be their subordinate.”
Hannah nodded. “That will be great,” she said in affirmation. “I just know that, even though I’m home, I’m not going to be settled. I know that another trip like this is on the horizon and you and I will be back out in the world before we know it. I’m afraid to plant any roots or make any plans, because God knows where we will be next week.”
“Tokyo,” said Alexis. “After we leave New York, we’re going to Tokyo.”
“Shut up,” stated Hannah rudely as she turned her head. “Why would they send us to Tokyo?”
Alexis laughed. “I was kidding, but your face was priceless.”
“You don’t kid!” screamed Hannah. “The last thing that I was expecting was for you to want to actually tell a joke or mess with my head.”
“Don’t take things too seriously with this job,” continued Alexis. “I need you, girl. I need you to help keep me in line and I really need you to help me get through this.”
“And I need you, to just be you.”
Hannah reached her door and placed her key into the slot before swinging it open to see her apartment was just as she left it. She pulled her suitcases in behind her and pulled them straight to a side room off the main hallway where the washer and dryer were kept. Without sorting anything, she opened the suitcase and started tossing all her dirty clothes from one of them into the washer and loading it with soap. “It’s going to take at least two cycles to get the global funk out of my clothes,” she said, referencing the various smells she accumulated while traveling in different corners of the world. She left the laundry room and took a turn into a small kitchen, similar to the one she and Alexis shared in Dubai. “Please be here,” she said as she opened the fridge, praying to whatever God would listen, that a bottle of Chardonnay would be waiting on her. Her prayers were answered as an unopened bottle rested comfortably on the top shelf.
“It really is the simple things,” she said as she found the cleanest glass she owned and poured herself a glass of wine before closing the refrigerator to find a magnet on the front. “Yep, simple things,” she said again as she read the numbers off the magnet and typed them into her phone, calling a local Chinese restaurant to bring her dinner. With the wine in her right hand, she walked out of the kitchen and into the living room where she unbuttoned her pants and dropped them to the floor before reaching over the back of a chair to find a pair of shorts and slipped them on.
Hannah’s apartment was not typically filthy or dirty, but always in a constant state of clutter. Clothes would be strewn about and could be found around furniture from where she came home after work and immediately undressed. Empty wine glasses could always be found on the end tables beside her couch, though food debris and trash would always find its way to the garbage can. She was not incredibly neat, but she preferred the clutter to a pristine living space.
After the phone call, she looked in her phone to see a familiar number. “I wonder if he’s made it back here yet?” she said, referencing the man she met in Sydney. She hovered over his number with her thumb, contemplating calling him or even if he was interested in her. She continued to dwell on the brief moments they spent together and whether or not it’d be fun to spend more time with him, even though she admitted how he made her feel and how she wanted to experience more of it. Without anymore hesitation, she pressed the button on her phone and called Russell.
“Your timing is impeccable,” he said as his greeting.
“My timing is however I choose for it to be,” she remarked sarcastically as she sipped on her wine. “Have you made it back to New York yet?”
“Actually, I just got back,” he said. “Are you?”
“Yes, I am standing in my apartment drinking wine out of one of my own glasses,” she informed him.
He chuckled over the phone. “Well I am very happy that you made it back home.”
Hannah breathed for a moment as the conversation started to get awkward. She knew what she wanted and she had no problems going and getting it, but she didn’t know where to start and didn’t want to come off sounding like a giddy school girl. “Look, I’m going to be blunt,” she started, knowing that it would be easier for her to just come out and say it. “I’ve got a lot of Chinese food coming to my place right now and it’s a lot more than I can eat on my own in a single sitting. If you’d like, you can come and enjoy it with me.”
“You’re inviting me over for dinner?” he joked.
“Well, I told you I’d buy our dinner when we finally had one together,” she said. “But in some circles, Chinese food isn’t considered food.”
Russell laughed. “I love it and was actually considering ordering some tonight.”
“Oh, well, come eat mine then,” she continued. “Just bring something for you to drink. I have water and a few bottles of wine that I will probably kill tonight.”
“I’m actually in a beer mood,” he explained. “Would you text me your address and I can head that way right now?”
Hannah smiled. “Absolutely,” she said. “Oh, hey, just a heads up. I’m wearing my blouse from today and some gym shorts. I hope you weren’t expecting me to dress up.”
“I’m wearing a Manchester United jersey and blue jeans,” he replied. “I think it will be ok.”
Hannah nodded. “Perfect. I’ll see you soon.”
She hung up and held the phone in her hand, typing out her address and sending it to him. “I could clean this place up a bit,” she thought to herself as she walked over to the couch and sat down, pulling her shoes off and placing them underneath the coffee table. “Nah, that’s too much work.” She leaned back against the couch and exhaled slowly, finally able to relax and enjoy herself. Her mind started to wander when she heard a knock at the door, prompting her to leap to her feet in excitement. “These guys are always the fastest in town,” she said, impressed at how she called her food in ten minutes earlier. She walked over to the front door and placed her hand on the door knob, twisting it slowly and pulling it open, expecting to see the same, short, Chinese boy who always brought her food to him.
“You’re not Chinese,” she said as she looked at Englishman in front of her.
“No, I’m not,” he said as he held a six pack of beer in his hand, wearing the clothes he told her he would be wearing.
Hannah nodded slowly as she looked at him with a strange gaze. “How did you get here so fast?” she asked.
Russell stood in the doorway and laughed. “Well, funny story, I live three floors above you.”
Hannah’s eyes lit up as she opened them wide. “You’re kidding?”
“No, I live in this building too,” he replied. “Might I come in?”
“Yes!” she exclaimed as she stepped out of the way. “Please, please, come in.” Hannah stepped to the side as she looked at Russell walking into her apartment. “I’m sorry, but usually the Chinese food is extra fast. I don’t normally expect my men to be.”
Russell laughed as he examined her apartment and found the kitchen, setting his beer in the refrigerator before walking around the counter and finding his way back into the living area. “I’d say I like your apartment, but we have the same floor plan too.”
“I think everyone here has a pretty similar floor plan,” quipped Hannah. “The architects weren’t very creative when they designed this place.”
“Ironically, most of the apartments I looked at possessed similar floor plans,” continued Russell. “I think they all found an architect they liked and stuck with him.”
“If it’s not broke…” she said with a smile as a thundering knock filled the room. “That’s him,” she said with a smile, turning back and running toward the door with enthusiasm. She reached forward and grabbed the door knob, twisting it and pulling it back to see the familiar Chinese man waiting on her with a large sack of food. “Chen!” she screamed as she opened the door to see the small man wearing a Yankees hat. “It’s good to see you!”
“Where’ve you been!?” he screamed as he held out the sack of food. “We thought you died!”
Hannah laughed. “Where have I been? Oh, only to Dubai, Beijing, Seoul, Marrakesh, Cairo, Istanbul, Yemen, Oman, Azerbaijan, and finally Sydney.”
The young Chinese man looked at Hannah with a blank gaze. “Where’s Marrakesh?” he asked in a blunt manner.
“Morocco,” she replied.
“That’s unfortunate,” he replied.
“It wasn’t the worst place I visited, but it also wasn’t the best,” she explained as he turned around and walked away rudely, clearly through talking to her. “If it weren’t for the food, I’d punt him across this hallway,” she thought as she closed the door with the bag in her hand. “I hope you like chicken,” announced Hannah as she walked into her living room to find Russell sitting on the edge of her couch, leaning forward awkwardly.
“Do you consider that to be chicken?” he asked as he sat uncomfortably.
“I don’t ask questions,” she said as she placed the bag on the coffee table in front of her couch. “I only acknowledge that it tastes great and it will satisfy my yearning for this food.”
Russell nodded as he approved her message. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
Hannah shook her head. “Right now, no,” she said as she held back her innuendo. She walked into her kitchen and grabbed a couple plates and forks, not knowing how coordinated Russell was with chop sticks. She sat the plates on the table to find Russell struggling to utilize the utensils, and instead of trying to use them as a pincer, skewered the food with them instead. “Ok, you don’t eat it like a kabob.”
“Why not?” asked Russell as he held the stick in his hand with the impaled piece of chicken on the end. “This is results.”
“You’re absolutely right,” she answered. “That is a result. It’s not the right result, but it is a result.”
Russell placed the chicken in his mouth before taking the chop stick and impaling another piece. “In my profession, the only thing that matters are results,” he said as he swallowed the sweet piece of chicken. “It doesn’t matter how you get to the result, as long as it’s the required result, you can move on.”
Hannah laughed, taking her chop sticks and using them properly to grab a piece of chicken like a pincer. “While I do enjoy getting the right results, the journey is equally as important.”
“How so?”
“Well, in my field, I am to acquire large quantities of crude oil. The end result is to acquire the crude oil, but I also have to worry about how I am getting that oil and what deals I’m making or, potentially, what deals I’m severing to get that product at the right price. Am I cutting off my nose despite my face, is probably the best way to put it.”
Russell chuckled as he chewed on a piece of chicken. “What?” he said with a mouth full of food, covering it with his hand so she couldn’t see it. He swallowed it and looked at her with a gaze of disbelief. “What did you say?”
“Cut off my nose despite my face?”
“Yes, what does that mean?” he asked, hoping Hannah could clarify the expression.
“Oh, it means needing to do something but staying mindful of everything else,” she explained.
Russell nodded, though still looking a bit confused. “I don’t understand why that expression ever came up. Who would honestly want to cut off their nose?”
Hannah shook her head as she continued to eat her chicken. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “If you think about it too much, you’ll end up giving yourself a migraine.”
“But I’m a lawyer. That’s what we do.”
Hannah reached over and grabbed her glass of wine, turning it up before standing and walking away from the couch. “Can I get you anything?” she asked as she walked into the kitchen to grab the bottle.
“No, I’m quite alright,” he replied as he continued to skewer his chicken, making a game of it after knowing that it was annoying Hannah.
She walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, removing her bottle of wine and carrying it with her into the living room. “You sure I can’t bring you anything?” she asked. “I’m bringing everything in here with me now so that I don’t have to go back.”
“I’m perfectly alright,” he said with a warm smile, showing off his positive and pleasant disposition. “I know where your kitchen is located, because it is in the same part of the apartment as my kitchen.”
“Right, I keep forgetting about that,” realized Hannah.
“Yeah, your apartment is oddly familiar with mine, apart from the panties I’ve been sitting on between the couch cushions,” he said, pulling out a small, lacy thong and holding it up on his finger.
She walked forward and yanked them off of his fingertip before looking at them. “I’ve been looking everywhere for these,” she admitted. “Sometimes they just come off where they come off. I hope you understand.”
“Oh, I fully understand,” he confirmed. “The first thing I do when I get home is remove my pants. After that, it’s fair game as to what happens next.”
Hannah laughed as she tossed the panties to the side of the room and walked over back over to the couch. “I’m glad you get it then,” she said in a snarky tone. “Most men would’ve seen those and went crazy.”
“Why, because I found your panties?”
“Yes, because you found a pair of my panties in my apartment,” she said, continuing with the sarcastic voice. “And if you want to see more of them, I have a drawer in my bedroom that is full of nothing but panties.”
Russell giggled as he listened to Hannah justify her panties being in her apartment. “Hannah, I’ve got a terrible secret I have to tell you. This could shatter your perception of me but it is something that you have to know.”
Hannah’s face relaxed as she turned to face Russell on the couch, looking at him with a serious intent. “What?”
Russell took a few deep breaths and composed himself before turning and looking at Hannah, focusing in on her eyes while he paused. “Hannah, I keep my underwear in my apartment too.”
She slapped him on the arm lightly as he broke out in a monumental laugh. “Rude!” she shouted with a smile spreading across her face as he flinched, bracing for impact in case she attempted to hit him again. “I would honestly hope you keep your damn boxers in your apartment. Where the hell else would keep them?”
“I could hang them from the window or leave them in the hallway,” he stated plainly as he continued to flinch.
“Yeah, but be honest with me. Do you think anyone cares about your underwear? Women’s underwear comes in various shapes, sizes, colors, cuts, and styles. Men’s underwear comes in one of two styles, and if you can’t decide, you can get them combined. Who really cares?” preached Hannah with Russell looking on in laughter. “If you and I were to walk down to the street and both hold up our underwear for all of New York City to see, I can almost promise you that everyone will be looking at what I’m holding and not caring what you happen to have in your hands.”
“You’re absolutely right,” he said. “Your underwear is a lot more scantily clad and a lot more fun to look at. Mine is absolutely boring and if you didn’t know you were looking at boxers, you could honestly think you were looking at a pair of thin shorts.”
Hannah leaned back against the couch, enjoying the time she was spending with Russell. Their meal was over and now they were spending time together over a couple of drinks. The bottle of wine was slowly emptying while Russell was already on his fourth bottle of lager. Time passed quickly as they spoke to each other about a variety of topics. They joked about their families, talking about how they were brought up in very different atmospheres but how they both ended up being successful. The conversations continued on about their schooling and their educational backgrounds, focusing on where they attended and why Russell moved to the United States. The conversation moved on as the alcohol continued to flow, making the dialogue flow easier and their mannerisms more relaxed. Eventually they sounded more like old friends reconnecting than a potentially blossoming relationship.
“So, what is your relationship like with your best friend, Alexis?” asked Russell as he stood up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen to grab another beer. “I know you said she’s your best friend and the two of you have been exceptionally close for years, but what’s it really like?”
“I guess you could say she’s more like my sister than my best friend,” explained Hannah. “We’ve been as thick as thieves since grade school and there isn’t anything that I wouldn’t do for that girl.”
Russell smiled while he listened to Hannah explain her best friend, jealous that he didn’t have that. “Of all of our differences, you can safely say that is the largest one,” he informed her. “I don’t have very many friends of whom I can say I am that close to. I have friends, but none of them are that close to me.”
“Do you not let yourself get that close to someone?” she asked as she pried for more information.
“No, it’s not that. I typically just do not like people,” he answered her with a smile. “I always keep a very pleasant and friendly disposition about myself because I’m always happy to be alive; it really beats the alternative. But honestly, I am not a fan of human interaction. I am as introverted as they come, which is what makes tonight incredibly odd.”
Hannah laughed as he explained his position. “Would you not normally put yourself out here like this?”
“Absolutely never,” he replied. “When you approached me in the café after our meeting, the first thought that went through my mind was to run for the closest exit. I’ve never been great with confrontations and I’ve never been great with interacting with other people. It’s why I excel in business transactions because I will always say what everyone else is afraid to say, not because I’m courageous, but because I don’t have the social awareness not to say it.”
“I suppose that’s why you’re so successful then,” reasoned Hannah as she sipped on her glass of wine. “They send you to those meetings across the world because you will get the job done.”
Russell nodded slowly as he grinned from ear to ear, holding his beer in his right hand while looking into Hannah’s eyes. “I’m really glad you called me,” he said, changing the subject to a much more serious matter. “I wanted to see you but I didn’t know how to instigate making it happen. I’m really thankful you called and I’m happy we’ve been able to spend some great time tonight getting to know each other.”
“Well, I thought about spending the night alone doing some laundry, but I have a few days to do that before I’m dispatched to some corner of the world,” she replied. “I’m glad you decided to come over as well.”
He stood up and finished his beer, walking over to the garbage can and throwing it away. “Ms. Burchfield, I’m afraid I’m going to have to call it a night,” he said as he stood in the center of the room. “I have to be in court tomorrow to represent a very high-profile client of ours through some litigation and I cannot be late.”
“Aw, you don’t want to stay a little longer?” she teased.
“No, I’m afraid I cannot,” he replied with a smile. “However, I would like to take you out tomorrow night if you can free up some time for me. I think it’d be quite nice to have a proper date.”
Hannah smiled as she sat on the couch and looked up at Russell. “You know what, that would be absolutely perfect,” she said. “I would love nothing more than for you to take me out, but I warn you, Alexis will be in town and she may need a hug at some point.”
Russell smiled. “Well, that’s quite alright. We can go to dinner and maybe she and a friend of hers can join us for drinks afterwards.”
“I think she’d be for that,” replied Hannah as she stood up from the couch and walked over to Russell. She placed her arms around his neck and interlocked her fingers, pulling herself in close as she leaned in to kiss him. Their lips lightly touched as he placed his hands on her waist, holding them together for a few seconds before releasing and turning toward the door.
“I look forward to seeing you tomorrow,” said Russell as he reached the door with Hannah a few steps behind him.
“As do I,” she replied as she watched him open the door and walk out. “As do I.”
THE END