Work Text:
“Pleasure doing business with you,” the silver-bearded man said and shook her hand. “If you will follow me, we can get your account set up right now.”
Lily picked up her coat and bag from the chair opposite her and followed the Phoenix Bank director to a desk at the front, where a young, handsome man was arranging neatly some files in big dossiers.
“Miss Evans wants to open a Savings Lite account,” the director told the clerk. “Here’s all the paperwork.”
The younger man took it, nodded obediently and turned straight to his computer, already typing at speed. Lily sat comfortably on the chair opposite him, her gaze lingering for half a minute on his eyes — a sparkling hazel framed by wire-rimmed glasses — before becoming fascinated by a black curl messily falling over his forehead.
Suddenly, he gave a jerk and looked at her — stared for a moment, then added a sheepish grin like an afterthought. “Good morning!”
“Good morning,” she replied with a chuckle.
“Sorry.” He shook his head at himself, then continued typing, his gaze now playing between the computer and her and a self-deprecating smile on his well-defined lips. “Mornings are hard. Especially Mondays.”
“I’ve never been a morning person,” she commented, inwardly thinking of the coffee she hadn’t picked up on her way here in order to show herself more professional. She was definitely ordering one once at the shop. “Though there are worse days.”
“Than Mondays?” he asked with a grin — a question mostly rhetorical — then picked up one of the papers the director had left on his desk and glanced at it before starting to enter the information on the computer. “A pharmacy, huh?” At her nod, he continued, “Yeah, that’s a job with long hours. What time do you get off work?”
“On Mondays I get off at two-thirty, but there are days where I work till eight pm.”
“Eight pm.” He tutted — a clicking of his tongue between very white teeth, she noticed. “Brutal.”
Lily shrugged, holding back the small fit of jealousy crawling up her throat. Not all had the privilege to get a cushy, well-paid job at a bank and get off every day at two-thirty. Some had to study science for five years and then start their own business from scratch, working themselves to the ground and listening to every patient’s impatient whining. Alas.
“I’m going to need your signature here —” Lily dutifully signed on the screen presented to her “— and here —” another one “— and we’re done.” He pressed Enter on the keyboard with a flourish. “You can access your new account from the Phoenix Bank app, it will be on a separate tab under your Business account. Do you want to check it out now and make sure everything looks all right?”
“Sure.”
She reached across the chair to her bag and dug a hand inside. Her fingers encountered keys, her wallet, pills, a pack of tissues — no phone.
“Wait a minute,” she muttered, now picking up the bag and setting it on her lap. Its ridiculously plentiful contents mocked her while she continued fumbling with them like an idiot in front of the cute employee, god —
“Do you want me to call your phone?” he offered.
“It’s on silent,” she replied sheepishly, now red all over.
“I could still call. If you give me your number.”
She looked up at him. He was watching her with what was supposed to be professionalism, but she noticed the hint of amusement dancing in his eyes, the little tilt at the edge of his lips.
Something clicked inside her head.
“Wait, I know.” She reached for her coat instead — and there was the damn phone, inside her right pocket. “Found it.” With quick, swift moves — look at her, all professional and capable and nowhere near a hot mess — she pulled up the Phoenix Bank app, to find her new account staring up at her, with a grand zero in savings. “Yeah, it works.”
“Great,” he said pleasantly, but Lily wasn’t paying much attention — she now reached for her wallet and pulled out a business card.
“But you should call me,” she said, placing it in front of him. “After two-thirty.”
He grinned and picked up the card, then sat back in his chair with an air of great satisfaction. “You know, I think I’d better just come pick you up straight after work. In case you misplace your phone again.”