Lee Pace / Reader
- I’m quitting. Tomorrow begins my two weeks’ notice. you said and gave your boss a paper which was a written resignation note.
- Oh, ok… May I ask the reason? the boss asked rather surprised.
- Personal reasons. you answered and walked away. Today you were supposed to meet the client again. You were an assistant, who really rarely met your clients, actually nowadays you only had one client. When the things went well, you could manage things from the sidelines, like you had done before, but lately, during the past 6 months, you had been spending awfully lot time with your client, Lee Pace.
You walked the long corridor in a hotel, stopped at the door that led to room 857, the room where Mr. Pace lived during the shooting of his series Pushing Daisies. You inhaled deeply and exhaled just as deeply. Then you knocked. Three sharp knocks. That was your “thing” and your client had learned to recognize you from your way of knocking; it was efficient and professional, which mirrored you perfectly. Lee Pace opened the door.
- Good morning, Mr. Pace. How are you doing today? you asked as you entered the room. You handed him a cup of coffee and walked to a table. You took some papers and a pencil from your briefcase.
- Here is the script for tomorrow. you said and gave the script to Lee, who had just woken up.
- Thanks. he said and yawned. You tried not to look. The reason for your resignation was indeed personal. You had been working with him for six months face to face and gotten to know him quite well. That had led to the point where you had actually fallen in love with him; fallen so badly that now you couldn’t concentrate well enough to your work when Mr. Pace was in the same room. You pulled all your strength and behaved almost too formally. Avoided physical contact and long looks. You never stayed longer than you had to and preferred emails to phone calls. Just because he had a voice that melted your feet like sun melts ice cream.
After dealing with everything, settling some interviews and such you left the room and basically ran to the elevator. He had noticed that you were tense and nervous but didn’t think about it more, he assumed that you were just stressed out or simply having a bad day.
The days passed. They followed each other; quite similar day after another until it was the last day. Mr. Pace called you in the evening. He told you that he needed your help with something urgently. You agreed to meet him at his room as you usually did.
Deep inhale, exhale, three sharp knocks. Lee opened the door.
- You called, what’s up? you asked.
- Come in. he said and opened the door open wide. You stepped in. There were two wine glasses on the table.
- Oh I see you are expecting company, right, let’s deal with this quickly. What is it?
- Sit down. he said and pointed the sofa. You looked at him with a hesitation.
- Please… he continued. You walked to the sofa and sat down. Lee poured some wine in the glasses and gave one to you. You looked surprised.
- I don’t understand… you said.
- I asked you here to spend some time with me.
- Excuse me? you said and smiled nervously.
- I thought that it would be nice to spend some time. You have been so busy lately that I haven’t even asked how you are doing... How have you been doing?
- Well I’m fine, thank you. Just been… busy. you answered and sipped the wine.
- And I figured that since we’re working together more now… I could get to know you more… I actually should had done this a long time ago…
- It wouldn’t had made any difference…
- What do you mean?
- That wouldn’t had improved the quality of my services in any way… There has been no need for you to know me…
- But it feels wrong. You knowing almost everything about me and me knowing nothing about you…
- I appreciate this, but it’s highly unnecessary. you said and put the glass on the table.
- I should go anyway…
- Why? Tomorrow is Sunday, you don’t work on Sundays.
- I’ll fly tomorrow.
- What?!
- Yeah… didn’t you know? After this day I’m no longer working with you.
Lee was shocked to hear those words. He didn’t know what to say.
- Why? that was the only thing he managed to ask.
- Personal reasons. you said and stood up.
- No, I’m not going to just “take” that. I think I deserve to know the reason. he said and stood up as well. You looked away and sighed.
- The reason is… that lately my professional agendas have been distracted by my personal feelings to a point that I no longer am fit to work as your assistant, Mr. Pace.
- What that’s supposed to mean?
- It means that my personal feelings are no longer strictly professional…
- You have feelings for me?
- Well… There is a line that I should had never crossed… Therefore I am unable to be as professional as I should…
- Uhuh?
- Okay, yes… if you want to be so blunt about it.
- So you quit your job?
- Yes.
- And didn’t think it would be appropriate to tell me?
- There is a new assistant starting on Monday…
- That did not quite answer my question.
- No, I didn’t. Ok? I thought it would be easier like that. you said took the glass from the table and finished the wine.
- And now you’re leaving?
- Yes. you said and walked to the door. Lee ran to the door and made it impossible for you to reach it without physically removing him first but physical contact was something that you avoided at all times with him.
- Please move.
- No.
- Come on! It’s no big deal! The next assistant will be better than I could had ever been. Much better.
- You honestly think that now that I know that you have feelings for me I would actually let you leave. he said and looked a bit insulted.
- Well…
- You didn’t think that I would have a right to know when you started to feel that way for me?
- What would you had done? Talk me over it?
- I…
- You don’t understand, when you come into a room, all the air disappears and I cannot work without air!
Lee stepped a bit closer and tried to see your face but he couldn’t because you were looking to the floor.
- I need to go and pack. you said and looked at him.
- Please, don’t make this harder than it already is. you said silently.
Lee nodded and stepped away from the door. You opened it and said
- Listen, I am sorry for… this. I did not plan it, it just happened. Goodbye, Mr. Pace.
Then you walked away biting your lip so she wouldn’t cry. You got to your room, sat on your bed and stared at your bags. You had not packed yet and it was the time to begin. You emptied the closets and folded everything away to your bags; that was the plan anyway, however you did not seem to get anywhere and the clothes were just piling up on your bed. You had bought a bottle of wine to go with the task at hand and you opened it. There was no point of getting a glass, you had planned to empty the whole bottle by yourself.
You stopped to go through some papers, some of them were important and you organized them for the new assistant and the papers that were unimportant you threw away. You did the same to the files that you had on your tablet, or the tablet was not really yours and you had to leave it behind. You started to delete your personal files and upload the most important files to your personal Dropbox –account.
Then you came across it; a photo of you and Lee, ahem, Mr. Pace. It had been taken during your first day working with him face to face. You had been actually flirting a little with your client and after four weeks of flirting you had gotten a verbal warning about it.
The crew been filming outside, it was a beautiful, slightly hot day and you had been serving cold drinks, which had ended with you tripping and pouring a glassful of ice cold lemonade on Lee Pace as he had caught you and saved you from falling and most likely hurting yourself. Your heart had stopped and you had been so ashamed but he had just smiled and asked you who you were;
- Oh, hello! he had said.
- I’m so sorry, Mr. Pace.
- Are you alright? And… who are you?
You had told him that you were fine and you were actually his assistant, had been for some months already but you had been managing his affairs from afar. He had flashed a wide smile and then finally let you go when the other members of the crew had come to hurry Mr. Pace to change his shirt because the filming was about to continue. Then during all the breaks he had come to talk with you and the casual chat had turned into subtle flirt… and by the end of the first month he had actually asked you out for a drink. That was when you had gotten the verbal warning and had not showed up to the hotel bar when you had agreed to. Mr. Pace had waited for you for an hour and then returned to his room, very disappointed… heartbroken even.
After that you had been very formal with him and you had never discussed about the fact that you had ditched him without an explanation. Weeks passed and you had managed to push your personal feelings aside, until you couldn’t anymore.
You were about to delete that picture when there was a knock on your door. You put the tablet on the table and sighed. “Yeah-yeah” you had shouted and then walked to the door. You pressed your head against it and took a deep breath before turning the handle. You straightened your shirt and opened the door.
- Hi.
It was your client… ex-client… at the door.
- Mr. Pace. What a surprise, I wasn’t expecting to see you again… you mumbled and tried to decide whether to look at him or not.
- May I come in? he asked.
- Uhm… certainly. I apologize for the mess, I was not really expecting any… anyone. you said nervously. He had never seen you so scatterbrained because you had always been so sharp-witted and professional. He stepped in and after you had closed the door behind him, you turned to face him. At that moment he put his hands on your cheeks and kissed you without a warning. You did not know what to do so you just froze still. He pulled his lips away but stayed close, still cupping your face with his large, strong yet gentle hands. You felt his breath on your skin and his warmth radiating, luring you to forget all the restrictions and rules.
His lips still ghosted over yours.
- Tell me why you ditched me.
His lips touched yours when he spoke, although the touch was just featherlike and you suspected that you were just imagining.
- When, what? you asked, slightly confused about everything.
- I waited for an hour for you, but you never came to get that drink with me.
- Oh… You still remember that…
- Yeah… So why?
- I’m sorry, I couldn’t come… It could had gotten fir- you said and then he kissed you again. This time you kissed him back. He moved his hand behind your head and tangled his fingers in your hair. His other hand moved from your cheek to your neck, shoulder, he slid it down your arm and then pulled you closer by wrapping his arm around your waist. He tasted of wine, he had clearly had a glass or two as an encouragement before coming to talk with you. You caressed his shoulders and arms as you let yourself to get lost into his embrace. Finally you had to pull away to catch your breath. He pressed one gentle kiss on your lips and then let you go.
Your head was spinning, his head was spinning. You chuckled as you touched your lips. You walked to the wine bottle and took a long sip. Lee was smiling in the entrance hall of your hotel room, taking off his shoes. You offered the bottle to him and said
- How about that drink?