2 updates in 24 hours? Let the OCD commence!! Cheers for all the lovely reviews on the last chapter, keep them coming! :D hope you guys enjoy this ch. just to let you know there's only one more to come in the 'engagement arc', which should be up by tuesday. xxx
Pete made his way down the impressive if overly decorated corridor of Vogue House in Hanover Square, ignoring the questioning looks he was getting. Luckily for him, most people here knew who he was and so didn't bother asking what he was doing or where he was going, but that didn't have any effect on the bats that were flying around in his stomach threatening to force his breakfast back up. He hadn't been shocked when by the time he had returned to his flat last night he discovered that Allie had cleared up and left. He'd gone to her house and stood outside for about an hour debating whether or not he had the balls to swallow his pride and knock on the door. He hadn't.
"Jesus, you look as shitty as I feel,"
Pete turned around to see Lara leaning against the door of her office smiling weakly at him as she sipped what seemed to be the biggest cup of coffee Pete could ever remember seeing in his life.
"Why, what happened to you?" he smirked at her, walking over and brushing his lips over her cheek. Having gotten to know the red head more and more over the past three and half years, Pete had come to think of her as a little sister, becoming almost as protective of her as he was of Allie.
"Well there I was lying in bed nursing the remnants of my hangover and Alyssa decides to come in from her night out with you -which I'm guessing by all the door slamming went exceedingly well- and starts playing David Gray and Ashtar Command as loud as she can."
Pete winced at that comment; it was easy to tell what kind of mood Allie was in by what music she was listening to and he knew from experience that Ashtar Command and David Gray were reserved for anger and depression only. Bollocks.
"She told you about New York, didn't she?"
Pete looked at her sharply as she rolled her eyes and stepped back so that he could move into her lavishly decorated office.
"Oh, don't look at me like that," she laughed. "I'm the best mate, roommate and I work with her…I know more about Allie than she knows about herself," she perched on the edge of her desk and held a box of pastry out to him. "So do you fancy cluing me into what happened?"
"I was a complete wanker," he muttered, taking a croissant from her and breaking it up in his hands, not even that hungry.
"Well that much I gathered," Lara smiled at him. "I mean after that,"
"I shouted at her and then I got pissed and walked out," he shook his head. "By the time I got back, she'd left,"
"Pete," Lara sighed. "I know that it's not ideal, but Allie's dreamt of this kind of thing since she was 11. It'd be the equivalent of West Ham calling you and asking you to be captain,"
Pete laughed and nodded, knowing that was true. Sitting on the edge of the chair across from her, he took a deep breath and met her warm brown eyes.
"I flew off the handle, but it wasn't because of that," he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. "I uh, I kinda had something planned for that night and when she told me that it all fell to shit and I don't know, I just got angry…"
"Well what was so important that you reacted so badly?" Lara frowned.
Staring up at the red head, Pete knew that on top of being Allie's best mate, they had also formed their own friendship over the past three and a half years, he could trust her with anything. Reaching into his jacket pocket, he located the small black velvet box and pulled it out, watching as Lara's eyes immediately widened when he opened it and showed her the ring.
"That," he nodded to the box. "Is the reason I reacted so badly,"
"Oh my God," Lara pressed her fingers to her lips. "You were going to ask Allie to marry you?"
"That was the initial plan, yeah," he snorted. "But then when she told me about the job, I just…I just lost it and all I could think about was that I was going to lose her and fucking hell, Lara I know that's not an excuse but I…"
"Pete," Lara looked at him earnestly and reached out, taking his hand. "You should have told her,"
"When?" he laughed. "Before or after I stormed out and left her on her own crying?"
"Ok, good point," she conceded and then looked him dead in the eye. "I know that this sucks, and I know that with all this," she gestured to the ring. "It couldn't have come at a shittier time but you know how much this would mean to her and you know that if she even thought for a millisecond that you didn't want her to go, she'd ring Jack straight away and tell him no,"
"I just want her to be happy," Pete sighed. "I want her to go and have fun, but I just…I'm a selfish prick. I'm scared to let her go,"
"Dunham," Lara laughed, shaking her head. "I love you, but you are so talking to the wrong girl about this,"
"Yeah," Pete chuckled. "That's why I'm here; I wanted to sort this out before she does something stupid like turn it down,"
"Ok," Lara nodded and held out her hand. "Let's go find your girlfriend and beg for forgiveness,"
"Why do you need to beg for forgiveness?" Pete frowned.
"Oh, I ate the last of the coco pops this morning," she winced as he laughed. "You know what that woman is like when she doesn't have breakfast; it's the equivalent of Satan with major PMS," pushing through the door, she smiled at one of interns who immediately looked at her like she was God. "Hey Colin," she winked. "I don't suppose you've seen Allie, have you?"
"I uh," he stuttered, obviously amazed that she knew his name at all. "Yeah, I think she's in a meeting with Jack…um, I mean Mr. Radin,"
"Oh fuck," Pete winced and then looked at Lara who had the same panicked expression on her face.
"Come on," she grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hallway after her. "Ok, it's the last door on the right, now fucking run!"
Doing as he was told, Pete jogged down the hall until he reached the room, his heart pounding when he heard her voice coming from inside.
"I'm sorry, I know it's an amazing opportunity but…"
Fuck it, he thought pushing the door open and almost falling into the room.
"Christ!" Jack jumped up from behind his desk and looked at Pete warily. "Are you ok, Pete?"
"Yeah," he nodded, breathlessly. "I just…I need to talk to…" he gestured towards Allie and gulped down a much needed breath of air.
"We're actually in the middle of something," she told him coolly, not even really bothering to look at him.
Silence descended in the room and Jack looked back and forth between the two, catching the pleading look Pete was giving him to somehow help him out. Looking down at his desk quickly, he panicked and picked up his stapler.
"Oh shit," he cried. "I'm out of staples and I desperately need them for uh…" he picked up a pile of junk mail and waved them at Allie. "For these contracts," jogging around the desk, winked at Pete. "I'll be back in a minute,"
Allie stared at her best friend in horror as he closed the door leaving her alone with Pete.
"Now do you see the reason Jack flunked out of acting school?" she muttered under her breath, still not allowing herself to turn and look at Pete.
"Allie," Pete walked around and sat on the chair next to her.
"I turned the job down," she told him firmly. "So if that's why you're here, don't worry,"
"Allie, I was a dick last night," he told her, wanting to reach out and take her hand but knowing she would only pull away. "I should have never walked out on you," he felt disgusted with himself. "You needed me and I left. Typical Dunham move, my old man used to do the same thing to my mum,"
"You're nothing like him," Allie answered immediately. She'd never met the man, after all he'd died four years before she knew Pete even existed, but from what she's heard about him, she could safely put her hand over her heart and swear that Pete was nothing like him.
"That's what I used to think," he snorted. He watched as she shook her head and continued to stare forward. "Allie?" he tentatively reached out and pulled her head around so that she was facing him, his breath catching when he saw the tears in her eyes.
"Last night was my fault," she whimpered. "I wanted to tell you so badly, but then when I got there everything was so perfect and I didn't want to mess it up," she sobbed quietly and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I'm sorry, I just…"
"Oi," Pete jumped up and crouched on the floor in front of her, holding onto the side of her chair to keep himself balanced. "Why are you apologizing? I'm the one who fucked up here?"
"Oh yeah," Allie rolled her eyes. "How exactly?"
"Because I let you down," he shrugged. "Allie I know how much this job means to you," he shook his head and smiled at her. "Christ, you're the only person I've ever met who can bring themselves to the point of a heart attack just thinking about a pair of fucking shoes," his smiled widened when she laughed; it had only been a few hours, but Jesus he had missed that sound.
"I know how much you love your job; I know that while most kids used to go to Halloween parties as ghosts and shit, you used to go as Coco Chanel." She looked up at him in horror and he laughed. "Give your old man enough beers and he'll tell me anything,"
Allie dropped her head into her hands again and groaned; she was going to kill her dad.
"The point is," Pete smiled, tilting her chin up so that she was looking at him again. "This opportunity for you has been about 20 years in the making and there is no fucking way that I'm going to be the bloke that stands in the way of it," he shook his head. "You deserve this, Allie,"
"I don't get it," she whispered. "Before you said…"
"A lot of things that I didn't mean," he interrupted. "I got scared," he told her honestly. "I thought that I was losing you and then last night was meant to be…" he stopped and cursed himself realizing he may have said too much.
"Last night was meant to be what?" Allie asked him.
"Uh," Pete stuttered the weight of the ring in his pocket suddenly doubling again. What if he asked her now? He could just take it out, get down on one knee and…no, she didn't deserve that. Some quick snap shot proposal to get him back into her good books after he behaved like a wanker was in no way good enough for the woman in front of him.
"It was going to be a normal night," he blurted out. "Just us having fun, being normal,"
Allie laughed and shook her head slightly.
"Pete, you're the head of a firm and I work for Vogue," she grinned. "When did this relationship ever approach the level of normal?"
"I thought that was what you wanted?" he frowned.
"What?" Allie laughed. "No! I mean, ok the GSE thing can get a bit…heavy. But I don't want us to change," she shook her head. "Ever,"
"We won't," he promised her. "Allie…" he trailed off, not sure what he wanted to say. The way she was looking at him now, her eyes still shimmering with tears, biting her bottom lip softly was pushing all thoughts out of his head. "I uh," he laughed, slightly embarrassed. "I got you something,"
He reached into his jacket and pulled out the small object, holding it out to her and watching the slight wave of confusion pass over her face.
Allie laughed as she picked the plastic toy out of his hand and inspected it. Opening it, she felt her heart skip realizing that it was a compass.
"It's so you find your way back," he grinned. "I know its shit, but there was nowhere open this early that sells flowers or anything,"
"No," she shook her head. "It's perfect,"
"I don't tell you enough that I love you," Pete told her honestly and she opened her mouth to protest but he shook his head. "Well I don't tell you enough howmuch I love you," he brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled. "I didn't want to fall in love with you," he laughed. "I thought that if I did there was no way that someone like you could ever love me back; but you were so perfect…every tiny little thing used to get me and I think by the end of that first night I knew I was fucked,"
Allie smiled as he took her hand in his and linked their fingers together.
"My life would be nothing without you," Pete told her. "Not many people get to fall in love with their best mate," he pointed to the compass she was holding and laughed. "Just don't loose that thing, no only did it cost me a whole pound," she laughed. "But call it a form of insurance," he grinned. "If you don't come back, I'll fly out there myself and fucking drag you back,"
"Are you sure about this?" she asked him, her eyes boring into his.
"I want you to be happy," he told her. "And I know how hard you work and how much you deserve this, so yeah," he nodded. "I think you should go," he leant forward and kissed her forehead. "But you come back fucking talking about sidewalks and soccer, and I swear to God, we're finished,"
Allie laughed and rested against him, breathing in his scent and trying to keep the tears from falling.
"I love you so much," she whispered in his ear, holding him closer.
"I know," he kissed her shoulder gently. "I love you, too."
"Ahem,"
Both of them turned around to see Jack peeking his head in the doorway, looking mildly nervous.
"Uh, sorry kids I don't mean to interrupt but…well I was listening in to the whole thing and I called New York," he winked and walked over to Allie, kissing the top of her head. "You fly out on Thursday, kiddo." He smirked at Pete. "Nice touch with the compass by the way,"
"Cheers," Pete laughed and felt more than a little proud of himself. Jack was as close any bloke would ever get to being a bird so a comment like that from him was pretty flattering.
"Fly the British Vogue flag, Harding," Jack warned her. "Don't let them think we're all uncouth freaks with bad teeth and a crumpet obsession."
Strolling back out the door, he waved at them over his shoulder and let it swing shut behind him.
"So I'm going," Allie nodded slowly, trying to get her head around it.
"Yeah," Pete smiled at her, although the weight in his chest was doubling every time he actually took into account the fact that she was leaving him for two months.
"Did you mean it?" she whispered, bringing his attention back to her. "About being ok with this?"
"Harding," he grinned, standing up and pulling her with him. "I'm going to fucking miss you like crazy," he tucked her hair behind her ears. "But I know you need to do this and I'm proud of you."
"Really?" she beamed up at him; the first genuine smile he'd gotten from her this morning.
"Really," he promised. "So are we done fighting?"
Laughing lightly, Allie nodded and rested her head against his chest. She'd barely slept a wink last night, too worried about what she was going to say to Jack or what was going on with her and Pete to even contemplate it.
"Yeah, we're done," she told him.
"Thank fuck for that," he smirked at her. "Finally I get to do this,"
Leaning down, he kissed her softly as his hands rested in the curve of her hips. He'd missed her, missed the taste of her. Christ, the last time he'd kissed her was less than 24 hours ago and he was in withdrawal, what the hell was going to happen to him when she buggered off for seven weeks?
"We never got to have that dessert last night," she mumbled as he sucked her bottom lip into his mouth. "Or that champagne," she sighed happily and wrapped her arms around his neck as he kissed her harder, pulling her body closer to his. "We'll have to save it for something special,"
Pete almost laughed at that, his mind drifting back to the ring in his pocket.
"You know what?" he grinned down at her before leaning down and kissing her again. "I'm pretty sure I can think of something,"