Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Allie had dropped her mail on the edge of her desk when she’d gotten in for work that morning, and she hadn’t really thought of it since. She was too busy scouring through the files for the Miller v. Doyle case that she didn’t even have a chance to get to it until late afternoon.

She was searching for a reason to take a break and as her eye caught sight of the stack of envelopes in the corner, she saw her excuse.

She reached for her mail and leaned back in her chair lazily as she sorted through it. Bills. Bills. Delivery Pamphlets.

She frowned as she picked out a golden envelope. She opened it quickly, curiosity getting the best of her, and she pulled out the letter. No… not a letter. But an invitation. A wedding invitation.

Her heart stopped when she read the names on it.

Allie lowered the invitation as the words sunk in. He was getting married.Married.

The guy she was in love with for years was getting married.

A thought came up in her panic-stricken brain as she refused to process what she’d just found out: she needed food.

She got up from her desk and walked over to the other side of the bullpen. She found Harry at his desk, typing something on his computer.

Without a word, she opened up one of his drawers to find his food stash.

“Hey Allie, what’s- No! Not my gummy worms!”

Harry leaned over to grab them from her but she inched out of reach. She was staring off into the wall, not really acknowledging him as she leaned against his desk.

He gave a good look at her and asked. “What’s wrong?”

She didn’t answer but instead just handed him the invitation she clutched in her hand.

He took it from her and took a second to read it. He groaned and handed it back to her. “Weddings are the worst. They’re just reasons for people you haven’t talked to in years to rub their happiness in your face.” He shuddered. “Who are the offenders?”

Allie didn’t reply for a while. She just needed a second to process.

She ripped a gummy worm in half with her teeth and tossed the pack back to Harry. He caught it easily and took a couple worms himself while waiting for her response.

“Remember that guy from college I told you about?”

Harry scrunched his eyebrows. “The one who threw up in your sink and never called you again?”

She rolled her eyes. “Ew, no. I shouldn’t have told you that story.” She sighed and pushed her hair back. “I meant the guy I was in love with basically all of college who friendzoned me.”

He straightened up, “You mean that douche who led you on for the fun of it?”

She protested immediately. “He’s not a douche and he didn’t lead me on!”

He scoffed and raised an eyebrow at her. “You said you guys used to sleep on the same bed sometimes.”

“Yeah but it was different than it sounds like.” She didn’t want to get in to it. It was a time filled with hurt and tarnished memories. Trying to explain her relationship with Will was like picking at a scab that took years to heal. She tugged the sleeves of her blue dress. “It was my fault. It was all in my head.”

She could see Harry wasn’t happy with her answer but he smartly dropped it. “So I’m guessing this is the guy getting married?”

Allie nodded. She groaned and covered her face with her hands. “What am I gonna do?”

“Don’t go.” He said simply.

She took her hands away from her face. “I can’t not go. We were best friends and it would be weird if I didn’t go. It’s not his fault that I felt something he didn’t.”

“Fine. Why don’t you just go with a hot date and rub it in his face what he missed out on.”

“Are you kidding? I’m an associate Harry, I never stop working. I barely have time to do my laundry and you think I have time to find a date?”

“Just ask one of your friends to go with you.” He sorted through the pack until he found a red gummy worm.

“I don’t even know who I would…” She trailed off.

She had her “I just had the best idea” smirk and it took him a second before understanding what she was thinking.

He shook his head and started protesting immediately, swiveling away from her. “No, no. No way.”

She grabbed the back of his chair and pulled him back to her. “Pleaaase. You’d be perfect.”

He just repeated his previous answer. “No. I’m not wasting my few vacation days on something I don’t even want to go to.”

“But you said I should bring someone who’s hot and there’s no one hotter than you.”

He squinted his eyes at her. “I know what you’re doing. And flattery will get you nowhere.”

“It’s not flattery if it’s true.”

“Allie…”

“Okay, fine but you can’t tell me it’s not working.”

He sighed. “Yeah… it’s working.”

“Please, just go with me.”

“Well come on, Pressman, you’re a lawyer.” He challenged with eyebrows raised. “Present your case.”

She straightened. “Well, first, you’d get a free trip to Hawaii.”

“Plane tickets?”

“If they’re not included, I’ll pay for yours.”

“Hmm, that’s more like it.” He was being so smug and she wanted to smack him. But she didn’t think that would help her convince him. “Still not quite there though.”

“Fine. I’ll pay for your coffee for two weeks.”

“Two months.” He countered.

“Three weeks.”

“One month.”

“Deal.” She said with a winning grin.

He put his hand out and she shook it. She leaned closer and whispered with a grin, her hand still holding his. “I never said anything about it being good coffee.”

Harry took in a breath. “You wouldn’t dare.”

She smirked. “Get ready, Bingham to drink the cheapest coffee available. ” She released his hand to pull back and laugh. “You sure you went to Harvard Law?”

“Top of my class, in fact.” He stated leaning back in his chair, resuming to his natural state of casual arrogance.

“Yeah…” She lifted herself from his desk and started walking away. “They all say that.”

They didn’t talk about it again for months. Harry and Allie just fell back into their normal routine of agonizing over filing subpoenas and constant late nights at the office.

Allie never complained though. She was working at one of the top firms in New York City, and it felt even more satisfying because she’d earned this. She had slaved over her Harvard law degree and sacrificed a lot of her sanity. But she had made it.

And she wasn’t going to waste her chance by slacking off.

Harry hadn’t always been as helpful to her as he was now. He had been in this firm for two years when she’d gotten there and in the beginning he had made sure to make her life hell. He allocated all the menial tasks to her and she had despised him with all her being. She had never understood why he was so hard on her.

Until one day when they were forced to work together on a pro bono case.

They were going over previous cases together in the firm library trying to find a precedent to prevent their case from getting dismissed. By then it was already 2 a.m and Allie was on her fifth cup of coffee. So, she was running on an unusually short fuse.

When he gave one of the usual snide remarks, Allie couldn’t help but snap. “God, Harry! Could you try not being a dick to me for like one second?” He shut up quickly and pulled back in shock. She had never raised her tone at him like this before. She’d always shoot back with a come back but never at this severity.

She seemed to be on a roll and kept going. “I don’t know what I’ve ever done to you to make you hate me this much but can you just get over it so we can focus on the work, please?”

He was still staring at her like she’d lit herself on fire or something. She broke his stare with an eye roll and turned back to her work.

“Pressman.”

“Whaaat?” She whined. It was late and she just wanted to finish this.

“No. I mean…” He sighed and messed with his hair. Allie frowned. If she didn’t know any better she’d think she was making him nervous. “Pressman. Your last name. That’s why I’ve been hard on you.”

She blinked. He wasn’t making any sense. “What?”

“You’re related to Cassandra Pressman, right?”

Her face fell. She wasn’t ever going to escape her sister’s shadow, was she? “How did you know that?”

He leaned back in his chair. “I went to Yale with her for my bachelor’s. We kinda hated each other, actually.” He wouldn’t meet her eyes and he kept wringing his hands. “We had this stupid rivalry, kept fighting for the #1 spot in the class.” He sighed. “I got #2.”

She had known him for months and she’d never seen him like this. There was none of his usual swagger. He was being more real and himself than she’d ever thought he could be. “I guess I wasn’t completely over that so I took it out on you. And I’m sorry.”

She didn’t know what to say. Being second-best to Cassandra was something she understood very well. That’s what her whole life had been like. But she loved her sister a lot. And even though she sometimes hated the fact that she was in her shadow, she could never hate Cassandra for it. Cassandra couldn’t help being so spectacular, it was in her DNA.

She looked down at her papers and started sorting them to have something to do with her hands. “It’s okay. Let’s just forget about it and move past it, shall we?”

He nodded and that was that. They’d been friends ever since.

She would even go as far as to call him her best friend (apart from her sister, of course).

But there were still some things she’d rather do with her other friends. For example, picking the dress to wear to the wedding.

She had asked Elle for help. She was a paralegal at the firm and they’d quickly bonded over how male associates could be dicks.

Elle was helping her find something to wear. She told her she wanted something classy that would also still make her feel hot.

Allie was in the stalls trying on some outfits while Elle waited on the bench outside, flipping through a magazine.

“So let me get this straight. Harry is going as your date?”

Allie was struggling to get her zipper up so it took her a second before replying. “Yeah.”

“And he’s going as your fake boyfriend.”

Allie huffed as she tugged at her dress, checking herself out in the mirror. Her dress was pale pink and ended just around the knees. “Yeah, he is.”

She opened the curtain and let Elle judge her outfit. She looked her up and down and shook her head. “No, that’s not it. It’s totally fading you out.”

Allie turned and examined herself in the mirror again. “Yeah, you’re right.” She stepped back in the stall and closed the curtain to try the next one.

“But you’re not actually dating?” Elle asked.

“Yup” Allie called out, stepping out of her dress and hanging it up.

“That’s stupid.” Elle was never one to beat around the bush. It’s what Allie liked most about her. “Maybe you guys should cut the bullshit and just call it a date like you both want it to be.”

This dress was a wrap around, so it was way easier to put on. She adjusted it and took a second to check herself out in the mirror. This one was a light blue, slightly off shoulder and it dipped down into a low V to show off some cleavage.

“Elle, we’re just friends and he's doing me a favor. That's all.” She yelled as she examined the dress’ slit. Allie opened the curtain and stepped out of the stall.

Elle lowered her magazine and raised an eyebrow. “I think that might change after he sees you in this dress like wow.”

Allie smiled. “Really? It’s that good?”

Elle nodded. “Yeah, it is. Classy and will turn several heads. It’s perfect. What do you think?”

Allie turned to see herself in the mirror. She played with the dress and smiled. “Yeah, this is it.”

Elle smiled. “Great!”

Allie stepped back into the stall to get changed into her normal clothes.

She thought of what Elle had said about her and Harry. Maybe this trip would be a little weird for them. Maybe it would change what they had between them.

She hoped not; he was too important to her for that to happen.