Work Text:
Judy was sure that once Violet became CEO, their lunch dates would come to a stop. Or, at the very least, they’d become much less frequent. It’s not only that Violet’s workload had doubled– maybe even tripled– since her promotion, it’s that Judy expected Violet to be having lunch with people far more important than her now.
But apparently that’s not true. Because here they are, having lunch together like they do everyday. Like they have been doing everyday for coming up to a year now. Just the thought of it makes Judy smile. One whole year of Violet Newstead. One year of lunch reservations for two.
“And then I told him if he didn’t like my terms he could stick his poxy little contract.” Violet says, sticking another french fry in her mouth, bringing Judy back to the conversation. “You’d tell me if you thought I’d gone mad with power, right?”
“Absolutely not.” Judy replies with a laugh.
And she wouldn’t trade these moments with Violet for the world. But that still doesn’t stop her from wondering.
Violet smirks. “So, how’s your morning been anyway? Not worse than mine I hope.”
It’s just that surely Violet doesn’t really want to hear about Judy’s morning for the hundredth time. Surely there’s someone a little more… Well, relevant she could be talking to right now.
“It’s been good! Nancy is really getting the hang of things now, I think she’ll do well with us.”
“You’re not too rushed off your feet with the training?” Violet asks, a genuine look of concern on her face.
“Not at all.”
And surely Violet doesn’t really want to hear more about how Judy’s getting on now that she’s started training new employees.
“Well, good. I’m glad she’s doing well.”
“Violet?”
“Hm?”
“Why do we still have lunch together everyday?”
Violet’s clearly caught off guard by the question. She looks at Judy curiously, not answering straight away, and then she sounds a little unsure of herself when she says, “Uh. Do you… Not want to… Have lunch together?”
“No!” Judy replies quickly. “Goodness no. I mean yes! I do. I love having lunch with you.”
“Okay.” Violet says with a small chuckle, still not understanding, but glad to have some reassurance at least.
“I just mean– You’re so important now. You’re so much busier now. I just thought you’d have more important people to talk to, that’s all.”
“Judes, I am never going to be too important to spend time with you, you know that right?”
“Well… Yes, but– but I just thought… I don’t know what I thought.”
“Okay, fine, you wanna know the truth?” Violet asks and Judy nods. “I could get tons more work done if we didn’t eat lunch together everyday.”
“So… Why do we eat lunch together everyday?” Judy’s heart sinks as the question leaves her mouth. Has she just put an end to her favourite part of every work day?
“Because I love having lunch with you too.”
“Oh.” For some reason, that’s not the answer she was expecting.
“Would you like to have lunch less often?”
“I would if it meant you didn’t have to stay at the office so late every night.” Judy admits.
“Judy.” Violet says softly, looking at her like she’s just said something completely absurd.
“I mean it, Violet, don’t do that just for me.”
“But it’s for me too. Didn’t you hear me? I love spending time with you and I hardly get to do that back at the office now.”
Judy’s heart flutters and she wonders where on earth Violet gets the courage to say things like that to her outright. Does that mean that she can do the same?
“What if…” She begins, before she has too much time to think about it. “We started seeing each other after work instead? You could get more done during the day and we’d have more time in the evenings. And you wouldn’t have to think about picking work back up until the next day.”
“You mean like, grab dinner or something?” Violet asks, considering it.
“Sure. Why not?” Judy replies with a little shrug, trying not to let on that her heart is currently racing inside of her chest.
“Huh.” Violet says, now wondering why on earth she herself has never suggested this before.
“I mean, if we both love spending time together, we owe it to ourselves to spend time together outside of work too, don’t we?”
“We do.” Violet agrees, the look in her eyes now indecipherable, but it sends a pleasant shiver down Judy’s spine and she’s suddenly all too aware of herself. Is she blinking too much?
“That settles it then. We won’t eat lunch together tomorrow.”
“And I’ll make dinner reservations.”
Judy smiles. They aren’t losing their reservations for two after all.
“That would be wonderful. And, you know, we don’t have to eat out every time. You could come over to my place, I could come to you.” She suggests.
“Okay.” Violet gives a nod, the smile on her face wide and bright. “We can still have lunch together sometimes though, right?”
“I think I could be okay with that. But only when you can squeeze me in, alright?”
Violet wants to argue that she’d happily continue having lunch with Judy everyday and dinner on top of that and still go back to the office afterwards if she had to.
Instead, she simply says, “Alright. You’ve got yourself a deal.”