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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 18, 2015 3:57:55 GMT
After agreeing to get "good and drunk" with his friend at the bar, Brandon had made good on his deal. He had chased several glasses of scotch down with a few shots and had been perfectly content to continue showing Eliot Quinn that while he might not have been there to pick up women to bring back to the Penthouse, he was still perfectly capable of being a good drinking buddy and wing man. He hadn't remembered the moment that he realized that they should move the party to the Penthouse, but he did remember saying something to Eliot along the lines of "No, no, if you think that was good scotch - there's this single malt at the Penthouse that will blow your fucking mind." Things had sort of snowballed from there and he found them in a town car on the way over there.
He had managed to find his way into the elevator and led the party up to his place, laughing loudly at whatever joke had been said. It seemed like the funniest joke he had ever heard at the time and he silently congratulated himself on the genius idea to continue to party away from the crowded bar. Pulling the scotch out from his own bar, he grabbed glasses and began pouring. At the time it had seemed like a perfectly good idea, he had just forgotten that he was also expecting Amber at the Penthouse that evening.
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 18, 2015 4:08:46 GMT
Amber heard them come in before she actually saw them, she'd been in the bedroom, reading a book and waiting for him to come home. She took off her glasses, which she'd used to replace her contacts and listened carefully until she heard two voices coming from the other room. Sighing, she looked down at herself, dressed in one of his button downs, she quickly and quietly sought out her black leggings from earlier in the day to put underneath and carefully put a new set of contacts back in before she realized that they were her last set and she'd forgotten to tell Cassidy call and have more sent. She cursed silently, acknowledging that she'd spend the next few days either straining to see when she read or worked for too long or would have to wear her glasses more. She ignored that for the time being as she walked barefoot out of the bedroom, leaning in the door way she eyed Brandon, her gaze darting to his friend whom she did not recognize, before she cleared her throat and looked at him with a small smile. "Are you going to pour one for me? Or is this a boy's club thing?"
Eliot hadn't realized anyone was there, but when she made her presence known, he couldn't help but let his eyes wander over her for a brief moment. He recognized her from the Post picture. "You must be Amber," he smirked at her. "I've got to give you credit, Finn. She's exquisite."
"She can hear you," Amber interjected. "And thank you, that's very sweet, though I'm certain I look a mess right now." She eyed Brandon for a moment and, even though ten years had passed since she'd seen him this way - he was drunk. She almost laughed at that and the memories it dredged up.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 18, 2015 4:38:04 GMT
A grin broke out across his lips and he reached for a third glass, pouring Amber a drink as well. She had come padding out in her bare feet and one of his button down shirts, appealing to him, and apparently Quinn, in such a way that a small protective part of him wanted to tell her to head right back into his bedroom and change. Or stay there and he would follow soon after. Taking a sip of his own drink he pointed in Eliot's direction. "Amber, this is Eliot Quinn. He does legal ... something, for Finn Industries." Waving his hand off like it was no big deal he turned his attention back to his friend for a moment. "And obviously you already know her - and yes, she is."
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 18, 2015 5:04:23 GMT
Amber looked up at him, taking her drink from him and sat down on one end of the couch, easily taking one of the throw pillows and placing it in her lap to cover her legs. "It's nice to meet you, Eliot. When Brandon told me he was going out for a Boy's Night, I didn't know that Boy's Night was going to come in, too, or else I would have put out snacks," she joked.
She reached to shake Eliot's hand, though she wouldn't say it there was something she didn't quite like about the way he'd looked at her upon her entering the room, but she ignored it, firmly believing that Brandon needed a good friend. Speaking of, she turned to him and giggled softly. "You're drunk,"
"He is, and it's my fault," Eliot nodded. "I wanted to see if he could drink me under the table. Turns out, we're a pretty even match. So, Amber, where are earth did you come from?" he asked with a smirk. "I mean, Finn here tells me you went to high school together but haven't seen each other in ten years. Where did you run off to?" he asked. "I know you haven't been in the city, or at least any of the good spots in the city, because if you had I would've tried to snatch you up long before Brandon here."
Amber laughed, lifting her drink to her lips and taking a long sip. "I was in California, and I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't have stood a chance. Brandon won me over years ago."
"Isn't that charming?" Eliot grinned.
"It is," Amber replied before plastering a smile on.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 18, 2015 5:18:25 GMT
Brandon watched their exchange, uncertain if he was meant to be amused by their interaction or not. He grinned at Amber and leaned against the bar top, propping his chin in his hand. "I made sure that as soon as she got back from California she was protected from the likes of you," he commented, smirking at his friend. Standing back up straight and picking up his scotch glass, he crossed over to the couch Amber was sitting on and took a seat beside her. He sat down closely enough for him to toss an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him.
"We didn't wake you, did we?" He had forgotten all about their plans to meet up after his boy's night and part of him felt a little guilty for that. It had actually been a small bit of guilt that had gotten him to go along with Eliot's plan of drinking themselves stupid in the first place. Having a constant, stable relationship was something that was going to take some getting used to; not only for himself, but he was sure for his friends too. But having Eliot here now, with Amber in the room, he felt a strange urge to show off how wonderful she was and all of the positives there were to having someone like her around. He supposed it was much like when children received a new toy and had to show it off to all of their friends.
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 18, 2015 5:38:57 GMT
Amber almost laughed when Brandon exerted a bit of possessiveness over her. She allowed it, curling into him and shaking her head. "I was awake, I was reading and looking over some notes for a meeting tomorrow morning," she nodded before leaning up and pressing a small kiss to his cheek. "You two certainly seemed to have a good time tonight," she observed as she took a sip from her drink. "Hopefully no one got into too much trouble," she joked.
Eliot eyed the two of them for a moment on the couch before shrugging. "Well, Brandon was perfectly well behaved. I have to eventually get going though, because I rarely end a night on a well-behaved note and I refuse to start tonight," he chuckled.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 18, 2015 14:26:48 GMT
He grinned, "One of us has to be well-behaved. At least ... better behaved."
As Eliot mentioned needing to leave soon, Brandon shook his head. He wasn't sure if was the fact that he had instinctually become more posessive of Amber or if it was because the dynamic of the evening had changed, but he was finding that two competing sides of his personality were oddly prevalent at the moment. On the one hand he was more than happy to let Quinn see himself to the door and spend the rest of the evening with Amber, but on the other hand, he wasn't sure if he should excuse himself from the woman curled against his side and finish out boy's night with one last round at a bar. He wondered when he started thinking that it had to be one way or another - when he started thinking that he had to stifle one side of his personality to prove to Amber that things would be different this time around.
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 18, 2015 15:18:46 GMT
Deep down, Amber was aware that Brandon had been going out and enjoying Manhattan's night life while she'd been gone. She on the other hand, had gotten married and started spending her nights in save for work and charity appearances. So she knew that it was probably more difficult for him than it was for her to stay in. She resolved that one night soon, she'd suggest that the two of them go out drinking the way they once had (though perhaps without any of the illegal activities).
Amber chewed on her lip for a minute. "I'm going to go to bed. If you want to go out with Eliot and make sure he doesn't run into any stranger danger, that's fine. Just wake me when you come back?" she suggested, leaning up to kiss him softly, she smiled at him before standing up off the couch. She regarded Eliot warily, not exactly a fan of the way he'd looked at or spoken to her earlier. "It was nice to meet you, Eliot. Hopefully you don't get into too much trouble tonight."
Eliot smirked, "Well I make no promises," he grinned before nodding at Amber as she walked around the couch and back towards the bedroom. He smiled at Brandon, "Look at that, you got permission to have your curfew extended."
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 18, 2015 15:33:22 GMT
He finished the glass of scotch in his hand and stood up from the couch. "Then we shouldn't waste it."
As long as he felt he had Amber's permission, it made going out seem so much easier. Not that she hadn't been in support of him going out before, it was just easier to feel more relaxed with the assumption that she now knew how these evenings would go. As long as he never left boy's night with a woman other than her, then it shouldn't have been a problem. If they happened to get into trouble along the way, then so be it - but this was a lot more comfortable of an arrangement than accepting that their nights would consist of movies on the couch and crossword puzzles in the morning.
There were just some aspects of domesticity that he couldn't handle just yet.
---
The pain hadn't reared its ugly head until he opened his eyes the next morning. Squinted at the light he tried to roll over and go back to sleep. It only took a couple of minutes for him to realize that the pounding at his temples wasn't going away. The walk to the medicine cabinet seemed comparable to that of hiking through the mountains and so he instead stayed right where he was, hoping that if he didn't move then the headache would just subside over time.
Years of experience had told him that if he moved, the discomfort in his stomach and the light-headed feeling that he knew was inevitable had a good chance of making him feel nauseated. It wasn't the worst hang over he had ever had, but the realization of the number of drinks he had consumed the night before made him willing to give up drinking - for the day. Or the morning. Or at least until he was able to get out of bed.
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 18, 2015 16:11:12 GMT
Amber was already awake. She was sitting in bed, going over a presentation, deciding to be quiet for a bit and not wake Brandon because that would just be too cruel. But of course, once he was up, it was a different story. She adjusted her glasses slightly, the feeling of them still fairly foreign since she was normally used to her contacts being in. She texted Cassidy, who was already on her way with coffee. 'Knock loudly' she advised. She slipped off the bed, reaching into her purse to pull out a bottle of Advil and rattled it somewhat loudly before placing it on the bed beside him. "Good morning, did you have fun last night?" she asked, her voice a hair above how loud she would normally speak.
It wasn't that she was angry with him. She'd told him to go out for the night. What's more, when he'd come home, she'd been woken up just like she'd asked - of course he then kept her awake for another forty five minutes making idle chit chat before finally falling asleep. She was really just having a little bit of fun at his expense - because she could. "Let me go get you a water so you can take those," she announced as she wandered off towards the kitchen.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 18, 2015 16:38:47 GMT
He hadn't even felt her beside him until she started to move around. Brandon pressed his face into his pillow to keep the combination of light and movement from bothering him more than it already had. He grumbled a response around the fabric in response to her question of fun. Yes, fun had been had. And lots of scotch. Followed by shots of something. He had to stop thinking about it as the thought of alcohol was not appealing in any way at the moment.
The rattle of the pills in the bottle had done nothing for his headache but he was relieved to hear that she was going to come back with water for him. Sitting up a little slower than usual he accepted the pills and the water from her hand when she returned. "Quinn has a slightly more painful idea of fun than I do." Weren't you supposed to get over getting drunk as you got older? Not embrace it? In the past several months since he had been trying to take a more serious approach to his career, and his life in some indirect manner, he had been good about finding his limit and not overinduldging. He cursed his rationality for making him weak, making him lose some of the tolerance he had worked so hard at building up over the years.
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 18, 2015 16:50:17 GMT
Amber grinned a bit at Brandon, shaking her head with a slight laugh. "I'll bet he does," she nodded even as she then started moving around the bedroom, putting her things away and packing them into her bag to bring along to work with her. "But as long as you had fun," she nodded. That was, after all, why she had encouraged Brandon to go out. She didn't want to make him feel as though he were trapped with her, doomed to be domestic for the rest of their lives. She wanted him to go out with friends and have a good time and not sacrifice whoever it was he felt he needed to be just because he wanted to date her.
"Cassidy is coming by with coffee and Gatorade," she nodded. She was still speaking loudly, and trying not to laugh. "Are you going to work today?" she questioned, asking only because he'd tried very hard to convince her to take a sick day hours ago, when he'd been chatting to her.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 18, 2015 17:56:04 GMT
He winced at how loud her voice seemed in combination with the pain still pulsing through his temples. It sounded like she was yelling everything she said at him and he shushed her softly. "It sounds like you're screaming at me," he remarked as he busied herself packing up her things. He had just noticed the glasses that she was wearing and smiled. "You look cute."
At the mention of coffee and Gatorade his stomach did a small flop. It was going to be difficult to adjust back to feeling like a normal human being again. A joke about wishing he had a mimosa or bloody mary instead would have passed his lips had it not been for the fact that thinking about any more alcohol made him feel faintly sick. "I should go to work today - but this bed is looking incredibly tempting. Do you know what would make it even more tempting?" He grinned at her and pulled back the sheets as an invitation for her to get back into bed.
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 18, 2015 18:37:13 GMT
When he mentioned she looked cute, her eyebrows rose and she shrugged her shoulders. "I can't stand them," she admitted, taking them off and putting them down folded on the night stand. "And I would love to get back in bed with you Brandon, but I can't, I have too many meetings this morning." She leaned over and kissed him softly, then pulled away when she heard someone knocking on the Penthouse door so loudly that it nearly rattled in its frame. She almost laughed, "That must be Cassidy."
When she went to open the door for her assistant, she gratefully took the coffees, extra aspirin, and Gatorade. 'I ordered your contacts but they're not going to be here for a few days,' Cassidy explained.
"Maybe I can just be blind for a few days," Amber muttered as she took a sip of coffee.
'How hung over is he?'
"He'll live."
'HI BRANDON!' Cassidy shouted, and Amber couldn't help it, she finally busted out laughing.
"Cassidy, I'll see you at the office," she nodded before seeing her out and walking back into the bedroom. "Cassidy says hi," she informed him, dissolving then into a fit of giggles.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 18, 2015 19:06:33 GMT
He winced again at the sound of the door, but he had to bring his fingertips up to his temples to try and smooth away the pain at the sound of Cassidy's much too loud greeting. "Ow," he muttered to himself, pulling himself out of his bed. Stretching slowly, he tried to at least wake up his limbs so that he could try and make it through a majority of his day at work. He figured that if Amber was doing the responsible adult thing then he should at least try it.
Her fit of giggles caused him to smile at her, "Yes, I heard. Very loudly."
Crossing over to her he pressed a soft kiss to her lips, "Are you sure you can't get away with having her move your meetings around? I'm sure I can make it worth your while."
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