Take It to the Bank
*~o0o~*
"Ohhhh, looky what we've got here! Guuuurl, you have got to see this!"
Swiveling in her chair to look at her best friend who was manning the two open lanes of the four drive-thrus, Padmé heaved a sigh and shook her head. Honestly, Dormé was such a drama queen. "What is it this time, Dormé? It's not that weird guy who likes to come through with his pet bird on his shoulder that's he's trained to wolf whistle and call us 'Baby', is it?" Because if it was, she was so not walking over there. The last time that guy'd come through, he'd had the damn bird ask for her number. The thought still gave her the creeps.
"God, NO!" Dormé made a loud retching noise, her face screwed up in a grimace. "No. This I promise you is well worth the five steps it'd take you to walk your butt over here. Trust me, P!" Dormé waggled her eyebrows at her and shot her a wink.
Sighing, she cast a Why me? look at Sabé, her other dear friend and the bank teller at the terminal next to her own. Sabé just smirked and shrugged, "Better to just go look, P. You know she won't shut up if you don't."
Sighing, Padmé hopped off her elevated swivel chair she used at her terminal and walked briskly toward Dormé, her heels clicking on the floor, "What is it you're so eager for me to see this time?"
"Oh, just…that," she pointed through the tinted glass at the first drive-thru lane where a sweet black Dodge Charger sat idling, the driver's side window down, and sitting in the driver's seat was a young man who appeared to be about Padmé's own age. Wearing a dark green, short-sleeved polo shirt, he had a tanned, muscular forearm resting on the window ledge, his right hand was wrapped around the top of the steering wheel, his long fingers drumming a beat to the music he must be listening to in his car. He was wearing a black Under Armour baseball cap on his dark blonde curly hair, the curls reaching down to the nape of his neck. He had on black sunglasses in a wrapped driver's style, and he appeared to be singing along with whatever song he was listening to. Smirking, Dormé leaned over and whispered, "Didn't I tell you it was worth it to get a look at that Adonis, huh?"
Padmé's breath caught in her throat, and she swallowed - hard - as she stared at the hunk in lane number one. She couldn't deny that he was hot, so far as she could tell from his profile anyway, and she was certainly surprised at the mad fluttering she suddenly felt in her belly. Her hand flew up to the base of her throat where her pulse was now racing a mile a minute, and she seemed to zone out as she stared at him for several long moments. Wow. Dormé wasn't kidding this time. This guy really was the best looking eye candy she'd seen in quite some time. And, she'd always secretly had a thing for blondes, even if she hadn't ever dated any before. Well, there's a first time for everything, y'know, a little voice whispered in the back of her head. Boy, there sure was…
"Wanna know his name?" Dormé's amused voice broke the spell, and Padmé jolted, tearing her wide eyes away from him to look at her friend somewhat bewilderingly, making her girlfriend grin all the wider.
"W-what?"
"His name…Wanna know it?"
Honestly, her voice just dripped with amusement. Shaking her head, Padmé arched an eyebrow, her reply filled with wry acceptance, "Why do I get the feeling you're going to tell me anyway…even if I said no?"
"Ahhh, so you do wanna know!" Dormé crowed in triumph, smacking her right hand down on the countertop in front of her.
Padmé groaned and rolled her eyes to the ceiling in exasperation. Ever since she'd broken up with her last boyfriend, Rush Clovis, six months ago, Dormé and Sabé had been trying to set her up with every cute guy they saw. Each and every time they'd set her up on a date so far, though, it'd turned into an unmitigated disaster, and Padmé wasn't too keen on going down that particular road again.
But she couldn't deny she wouldn't mind finding out more about this particular hottie either.
Sighing, she muttered, "Ok, ok…lemme see," and glanced down at the deposit slip lying on the counter in front of Dormé. "Anakin Skywalker," she read softly out loud. "That's a rather unique name." Honestly, she didn't think she'd ever heard a better sounding or more unusual guy's name before. She also felt a tiny thrill shoot down her spine as she softly said his name again to herself, the sound of it rolling off her tongue like melted butter.
Dormé quickly processed his transaction, printed his receipt, and placed both his receipt and his bank card back in the clear plastic cylinder, set it in the pneumatic tube, pressed the button to send the container back to him, and then pressed the call button, and she jerked her head toward the glass and made a face at her friend, motioning that she wanted Padmé to speak to the man. Shaking her head no at first, she watched as Dormé mouthed YES! at her, twisting her features and giving her a rapid nod of encouragement, and pressing the call button to turn on the microphone. Gulping, her eyes wide, Padmé found herself leaning over and saying, "There you go, Sir. Your receipt and card are in the cylinder. Thank you."
They watched as the cylinder landed back in the outside box, and the blonde man reached over and grabbed it, pulling it into the car and then twisted the cap on the end, reached in and grabbed his receipt and his card, before replacing the cap and then setting the container back in the box. Finally, he looked at the window, and this time, he reached up and grabbed his sunglasses, pulling them down his nose to look at them both over the top rim of his shades, "Thank you, Miss. If I may ask, what's your name?"
Padmé gasped, her hand flying up to the base of her throat again. She'd been working here for the last four years as a bank teller. Not once in all that time had any of the customers in the drive-thru lanes ever asked her for her name. That creepy bird guy didn't count, because it was the damn bird that'd actually asked her for her name and number. So, this was a first, and it was all the more daunting because it was him doing the asking. And, suddenly, she felt like her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth. She opened and shut her mouth twice…but not a sound came forth. Dormé, highly amused that this man had pretty much rendered her friend speechless, jumped on his question, pressing the call button again and smugly declaring, "Padmé. Her name is Padmé, Sir…Oh, and she's single, too!"
Padmé's face blushed red as a rose, and she reached up and smacked Dormé in the middle of her back for that last comment. As they watched, the golden hunk grinned roguishly and nodded his head, "Good to know," he said. "Well, thank you for your help today, Padmé. I'll see ya round." Flashing them a wink, he grinned wider and pushed his sunglasses back up his nose, put his car in gear and drove off, but not before turning to glance at them one last time, a huge smile on his face.
Padmé stood absolutely still, stunned into silence. Dormé snickered, "Well, it seems that you made quite the impression there, Girlfriend!" Her tone was smug, an I told you so look clearly written all over her face, as she faced her friend and crossed her arms over her chest, grinning like she'd just won the lottery.
Padmé rolled her eyes, "Oh, don't be ridiculous, Dormé. He was simply being polite, nothing more. Besides, did you see his address on his deposit slip? He lives clear on the other side of the city! It's doubtful he'll ever come back by this branch anyway. It's way out of his way to come here when there are three branches on that side of town."
"Mm-hmm…I dunno, P. Something tells me we'll be seeing a lot more of Mr. Skywalker round here from now on." Dormé smirked at her and turned back to the window as another car pulled up into lane number two.
Padmé just shook her head and walked back to her terminal and called for the next customer in line to move forward. Ignoring Sabé, who was trying not to laugh at the exchange, Padmé firmly put the blonde Adonis out of her mind and focused her attention back on work, certain she'd never see that gorgeous hunk of man again.
"Padmé! Padmé! Come here! Quick! You're not going to believe this!"
Glancing up from her almost finished lunch, Padmé sighed and looked over at Dormé's back where she stood just inside the employee break room, which was off to the left of the open tellers' work area. Her friend had started to open the door and was now peeking out, staring at something inside the bank. Heaving a sigh, Padmé pushed herself up from her chair and walked over to stand behind her friend, looking around her to try and see what she was seeing.
"Oh. My. God. Look! It's him, Padmé! That blonde Adonis! I told you he'd be back by here!" Dormé crowed in triumph.
Padmé rolled her eyes. It'd been almost two weeks since that day Anakin Skywalker had come through lane one of the drive-thru and asked for her name. In all that time, not once had he been back by the bank. Not once. And, Padmé would know. She'd been secretly looking out for him, hoping he'd come back by. Shaking her head in exasperation, she said, "Dormé. Get real. You need glasses, Girlfriend. It's not him. I told you, he lives on the other side of town. No way is it hi-…Arrhh."
Padmé's vocal cords suddenly stopped working with a sharply inhaled gasp, as she stared in shock at the man she'd been dreaming about every night for the last two weeks. He was waiting in the teller line, glancing with mild interest all around at the inside of the bank. From where the two of them stood, essentially hiding behind the break room door and because of the elevated counter, they couldn't see his legs, but there was one thing they could tell and that was that he was definitely tall. Very tall. In fact, Padmé was certain he would tower over her tiny five-foot-four frame. Even when she was in heels!
"Still think I need glasses, huh?" came Dormé's dry reply.
"Oh, shit! It's him. It's really him! God, Dormé, what do I do?!" Padmé's voice came out in a raspy squawk, as she reached up a trembling hand and brushed it over her curly chestnut locks.
"How about calmly walking out there to your terminal when he's the next one in line and politely calling out, 'Next, please,' and then see what happens when he walks over?" Dormé glanced over at her, a smirk plastered on her face, her eyes dancing with mischief.
Padmé looked at her best friend with an annoyed expression. Dormé just grinned and shrugged, "Just saying." Seeing her friend hesitate, Dormé sighed and shot her a pointed look, "Come on, P. Just give it a chance, will ya? See what happens. You won't know if you don't try."
Looking in Dormé's dark eyes, she gulped and nodded. Hastily stepping back to the table, the remnants of her lunch now forgotten, she reached in her purse, grabbed her compact mirror and quickly gave herself a once over, rubbing at her front teeth with her forefinger, fluffing her long, dark curly hair, then applying fresh lipstick before popping a couple of mint-flavored Tic-Tacs. Putting her mirror back in her purse, she turned to her best friend, smoothing out her red silk blouse and navy pencil skirt with her hands, "How do I look?"
"Like you're going to wet yourself," Dormé smirked.
Padmé's jaw fell open in shock, "Dormé!"
Her friend just laughed and shook her head, "P, you look great! Seriously. Just relax and be your usual charming self, and he'll be falling all over himself to ask you out, I'm sure. Trust me."
Nodding, she squared her shoulders. She could do this. He was just another customer. Plain and simple.
Except he's the hottest looking customer you've ever seen, that sly voice whispered in her mind again.
Shaking off her thoughts, and her nerves, she took a deep breath, grabbed her navy leather purse and pulled open the break room door and calmly walked out and over to her terminal, her navy blue stiletto heels clicking on the tiled floor. Depositing her purse on the shelf below the counter and then climbing up into her elevated chair, she logged back into her terminal, and then glanced up with a smile at the line of customers, calling out, "Next, please," just as the blonde Adonis reached the front of the line.
Trying not to let any of her nervousness show, Padmé smiled politely as he stepped forward toward her, a warm smile making its way onto his own handsome face. He flicked his blue eyes over to her nameplate on the counter in front of her terminal, and his gaze seemed to sharpen and his smile actually seemed to grow wider. Swallowing, she made sure to carefully modulate her tone, because she was seriously afraid her voice would come out in a squawk otherwise. "Good afternoon. How may I help you?"
"Why, hello again, Padmé. It's nice to finally meet the owner of that lovely voice in person."
Padmé felt her face heat up at his words and knew a blush had bloomed hotly on her cheeks, "Thank you, Sir. How may I assist you today?"
Grinning wolfishly, his eyes twinkling at her response to his words, he handed over a deposit slip and some cash, "Just need to make a deposit today, thanks."
"Of course, Sir," she smiled and nodded and reached up to grab the money and the deposit slip. When she did, her fingers accidentally brushed against his, and she inhaled sharply as tingles of electricity seemed to race up her arm. She quickly glanced at his face, and she swore she thought she'd heard him gasp at the innocent touch, too.
For a second, time seemed to stand still as they simply stared at one another, vivid blue locked with dark brown, and Padmé literally felt the hair on her arms and on the back of her neck rise up at the same moment a shiver of excitement pulsed through her body, causing goosebumps to break out on her skin. Never in her entire life had she experienced such a reaction. Swallowing thickly, she nodded her head, reached up with her left hand and swept some tendrils of hair behind her ear, and set about processing his transaction. She strove to appear businesslike and professional, but she couldn't help flicking her gaze his way once or twice…and noticed his blue eyes were practically dancing and focused squarely on her. Feeling heat rise in her face once more, she printed off his receipt and reached up to slide over his bank card and receipt across the counter, a small smile plastered in place on her lips.
"There you go, Sir. Your card and your receipt. Is there anything else I can help you with today?" She arched her eyebrows in a polite inquiry and was stunned when he chuckled, nodded, and reached into his wallet, grabbing a small white card out of it and proceeded to slide it over to her across the counter. She frowned slightly in confusion but reached out to take the card, picking it up and looking at the front. She quickly scanned the wording, and her mouth dropped open slightly in surprise, her now wide eyes staring at him.
"Yeah. Take my business card. See that handwritten number on the bottom? That's my cell. You'll need to go ahead and add me to your contacts so when I call you tonight after work, you'll know it's me who's calling." He grinned, standing there waiting for her response.
For a long moment, all she could do was blink at him, which made him grin all the more. "Uhm…"
He arched a golden eyebrow, "It's okay to call you, isn't it? I mean, you are single, right? Your friend said you were." At that precise moment, the ever-clever Dormé just happened to walk behind her chair, and he motioned with his head toward her, smirking and his cerulean eyes gleaming.
"Yep. She sure is!" Dormé piped up with a grin as she stepped over to her own terminal and hopped up in her own chair. When Padmé turned to shoot her friend an embarrassed glare, Dormé, unabashed, simply shrugged and smirked, "What? You are."
Anakin grinned all the wider, "See?"
Still shocked speechless, all Padmé could do was turn back to him and slowly nod her head, her wide-eyed gaze never leaving his amused expression. When he tilted his head, his twinkling eyes still radiating amusement, she cleared her throat, and replied in a soft voice, "Uhm, okay. Is…Is there anything else I can help you with, Sir?"
Chuckling softly again, his amusement apparently growing, he said, "Yeah, actually. I need your number. That's kinda important. I mean, I can't call you without it, now can I?"
She froze, mortified, a blush blooming on her cheeks, just staring at him, causing him to grin wolfishly, and he winked when he said, "I mean, it's a moot point without it."
Nodding again, because she was just flabbergasted that this gorgeous hunk of man would hit on her during a banking transaction – and that Dormé would so blatantly encourage it as she had, Padmé grabbed a sticky note from the pile of yellow Post-It Notes beside her keyboard at her terminal and quickly scribbled down her name and cell number before sliding it across the counter toward him.
Anakin picked it up along with his bank card and receipt, glanced at the sticky note with a nod and a satisfied smile, and carefully put all three items inside his wallet before sliding it into his back pocket. "Great. Uh, when's a good time to call you?" He arched his eyebrows at her questioningly.
Blushing to the roots of her hair again, Padmé shyly looked down at her keyboard before flicking her eyes back to his, "Seven. I'm free about seven." Her voice came out in a rushed whisper, which was better than the high-pitched squeak she was afraid it would.
Obviously pleased, he nodded again, "Great. I'll call you at seven, Padmé."
"Ok. I guess I'll…talk to you later then," Padmé said, and she couldn't keep the pleasure (or the nervous anticipation) from her tone…or her warm brown eyes…if she'd tried.
Turning to walk away, he took a single step, stopped, glanced back at her and said, "Padmé, you can count on it." Shooting her a final wink, he made for the exit, a clear swagger to his step, and Padmé couldn't peel her eyes off of him as he disappeared out the heavy glass doors into the parking lot.
As soon as he was out of sight, Padmé reached down for her purse, digging inside it for her phone. Pulling it out, she unlocked it and hastily added Anakin to her contacts, double checked to make sure she had his number entered correctly, and clicked to save his info. She also grabbed her wallet and safely tucked his business card inside it.
"Hmm, that went rather well, wouldn't you say?"
Padmé jolted in her chair when Dormé's mirth-filled voice sounded in her ear, and she turned her head to see her best friend standing next to her terminal, leaning with her back against the counter, her arms folded across her chest and a smirk on her face. Padmé rolled her eyes and airily said, "Yeah. Well…we'll just have to see how it goes. I mean, we may not hit it off at all, y'know." Even though she hated to give Dormé any occasion to say I told you so, she couldn't deny that, deep down in her gut, she was hoping that things with Anakin would go well. Very well, at that. Please, please, please let them go well! She silently chanted to herself.
Smirking even more, Dormé pursed her lips, "Oh, I've got a feeling you're going to hit it off alright. In fact, P…I'd say you can take that certainty to the bank, my friend." Smiling with supreme satisfaction, she turned and walked back over to her own terminal.
Watching her, Padmé couldn't help but think…maybe, just maybe, this time her friend might be right.
"Hey, Boss...You'd better come over here. There's something you gotta see."
Walking out of her office, Padmé, who was now in charge of all the bank branch's tellers, made her way over to her best friend. Dormé was working the drive-thru lanes again today. "What is it, Dormé?" She sure hoped it wasn't that weird guy who wore the Coke-bottle eyeglasses and carried his pet frog around with him everywhere. That would just be too creepy.
"Oh, just…that," Dormé smirked and pointed through the tinted glass at the vehicle now parked in lane number one.
Stopping beside her friend's chair, Padmé glanced out the window, and what she saw made her heart melt and her face beam with happiness.
"Hi, Angel…Sorry, but they wanted to see you."
Her husband of six years sat behind the wheel of their navy blue mini-van, his sunglasses pulled down his nose so he could look at her over the rims, his brilliant baby blues twinkling like always, and he grinned at her, thumbing behind him with his left hand before he rolled down the back window to reveal their three-year-old twins, Luke and Leia, strapped into their car seats in their separate chairs, and waving their little arms at her.
"Hi, Mama!" they chortled in unison, laughing and grinning at her.
Grinning back, Padmé reached over and pressed the call button, "Hey, you two! Are you being good for Daddy today?" She laughed when the twins nodded their heads vigorously – but Anakin just rolled his eyes and shook his head in amused exasperation. He'd taken the day off work to run some errands and take the twins for their well child visit at their pediatrician's office.
"Hardly," came his huffed reply. Smirking, she didn't doubt him for a moment. Twins…especially Skywalker twins…could be much more than a handful.
She just laughed, "Aww…Poor Daddy. Guess I'll just have to make it up to you tonight when I get home from work."
His eyes lighting up with a devilish gleam, his warm honeyed baritone washed over her, causing her to shiver in anticipation, "Promise?"
Winking at him, her reply was smooth as melted butter, "Mr. Skywalker, you can bank on it."
His grin turned feral, "Oh, I will, Mrs. Skywalker. I most certainly will."
Throwing her another wink, he pushed his sunglasses back up. Heart full of love and happiness, Padmé waved at her family through the window and pressed the call button again, "Bye! Love you!" She watched as Anakin rolled up the back window, mouthed, I love you and then blew her a kiss before putting the van in drive and pulling away from the drive-thru.
"I told you so."
Turning to her gloating best friend, Padmé chuckled and shook her head, amused and delighted to agree with her for once, "That you did, Dormé. That you did, and honestly, he was the best bank transaction I've ever processed."
Snickering, Dormé shook her own head, "P, you can take that to the bank!"
Laughing along with her best friend, Padmé couldn't help but agree.
*~ oOo ~*
A/N: Hi, Everyone! So, I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything. Ok, a long while, yeah...But I'm back with this little Anidala one-shot! I got the idea from a movie I had watched and this was the result! It's all fluff, but I hope it's funny, enjoyable fluff! Thanks for reading and please review! :D
