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Post by Cassidy Miller on Sept 14, 2015 18:54:42 GMT
Cassidy Miller was the definition of nervous energy. She’d been channeling that energy into getting work done for her new class at FIT and finishing things around the office before Amber Jacobs stopped her. She supposed that she had it coming, because she had treated Amber similarly the night of her high school reunion and also her first date with Brandon Finn. But Cassidy had been bombarded by her friends at Glamour who had made quick work of her hair, nails, and makeup while Amber selected what she considered to be a perfect outfit.
She was nervous, becoming only more nervous as Amber prattled out a few tips until Cassidy finally pointed out that she wasn’t really helping at all. It was shortly after that, when she found herself checking her reflection in the glass of a parked car on a busy city street outside of the restaurant Brandon had told her to show up at that she tried to calm down. After all, it was too late for second guessing.
Walking into the restaurant, she approached the hostess. “Hi, I’m meeting someone here. Jeremy Thomas.”
The hostess checked her chart, mentioned that he was already there and led Cassidy over to the table. She smiled warmly upon being shown to her seat. “Hi, I’m Cassidy,” she greeted him. “I hope you weren’t waiting long.”
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Post by Jeremy Thomas on Sept 14, 2015 19:47:04 GMT
It was probably a clear sign that there was something seriously wrong in your love life when your boss took it upon himself to set a person up on a date. Though, admittedly, Brandon Finn had been entirely useless when it came to giving him any sort of heads-up on the woman that he was supposed to meet at the restaurant. Jeremy hadn't actually realized that he had agreed to go out with her until he had been prompted for a date, time, and location that he could pass on to Cassidy Miller. Her name, Jeremy noted, was actually the entire sum of what he knew about her, and that had given him more than enough to start daydreaming about what she would be like. On the one hand, he supposed he wouldn't have been entirely surprised if she had been some sort of model that his boss needed to keep occupied while he carried on his relationship with Amber Jacobs. On the other hand, he also figured that she could have been some sort of Dungeons-and-Dragons playing IT help desk something or other that Brandon Finn was considering to be his charity case for the year. And quite frankly, having been unable to recall the last date he had been on, he wasn't really in a position to say no either way. Besides, there might have also been the vague possibility that he had been afraid to be fired if he said no. That was probably the biggest problem with being set up by your boss, he supposed.
He had gotten to the restaurant early, probably embarrassingly early if he was being honest and had kept his eyes trained on the door for long enough to realize that he was going to drive himself crazy if he kept jumping up at every single woman that walked through the door. Finally having been able to distract himself with rearranging his place setting, he had been unaware of her arrival. He looked up and smiled at her brightly before standing up and offering to shake her hand. This, he realized, was probably why he didn't go on a lot of dates. It could not have been considered the most romantic first date gesture. "Hi, Jeremy."
After shaking her hand politely, he motioned for her to take a seat, resuming his place at the table. "I hope you found the place okay."
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Post by Cassidy Miller on Sept 14, 2015 20:00:29 GMT
Oh yes, Brandon Finn had done a really good job of tracking down the attractive man she’d spotted on her last visit to Finn Industries. When he offered her his hand, she shook it and smiled at him. Sitting down, the waiter approached to ask her if she’d like something to drink and she settled on a glass of white wine before turning her attention back to Jeremy. “No, I mean, I’ve never been here before but I found it okay.”
Cassidy chewed on her lip for a moment before smiling at him. “So, you work with Brandon? He mentioned that you work in sales and marketing, that sounds pretty neat.” She paused, but only for about half a beat. “I hope it wasn’t weird, your boss telling you to go on a date with someone,” she added hastily, toying with the edge of the tablecloth. “I mean, now that I’m sitting here I’m realizing that that’s probably pretty daunting. It’s just that I stopped in the other week to talk to him – because he’s dating my boss Amber. And, well, I saw you and said there was this really handsome guy, and I didn’t really think he was going to say anything. And then he did, obviously, because you are here now and still very handsome. And I just hope you didn’t feel coerced.” She blinked, realizing that she’d just rambled. Wincing, she took a breath, gesturing with her hands, “Can we maybe just rewind to when I said your job sounded neat and go from there?”
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Post by Jeremy Thomas on Sept 14, 2015 20:11:37 GMT
Jeremy laughed, relieved that she understood the oddities of the situation, but also because he found her little rant a little endearing. He realized that she had also just complimented him twice in what he figured had been a two minute span and so naturally he was feeling his ego had become a little more inflated than it had been when he first prepared himself for this date. "You work for Amber Jacobs, then?" He asked, momentarily contemplating whether or not he should have returned the favor and complimented her as well. Hopefully, he decided, if this went well he would have plenty of time to compliment her too.
"I have to admit that I know very little about what that would entail." Except for what had been printed in the paper before. When he got bored, sometimes he had to admit that it was kind of interesting to see what kind of gossip was getting printed about the people he knew. And outside of who Brandon Finn was as a boss, he didn't know much about the man except that he had recently ended a string of relationships with models to resume a relationship with his high school sweetheart, Amber Jacobs. Okay, Jeremy admitted, maybe he liked the gossip columns a little more than he cared to admit. But the fact remained, he still knew nothing about the beautiful girl sitting across from him. "So what do you do? And what do you like about your job? Dislike? I'm sorry ... that probably sounded like a job interview question."
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Post by Cassidy Miller on Sept 14, 2015 20:17:36 GMT
Cassidy grinned at him, nodding. “Well, I’m Amber’s assistant. I’ve been working with her since she was working as an assistant style editor for TeenVogue in California, which is where I went to school and interned. When she got the offer to come work at Glamour as a Beauty section editor, she brought me along with her. I like it a lot,” she smiled. “Amber’s a great boss and she really lets me get involved with all of her projects, so it’s not just – coffee and picking up dry cleaning. She even helped me get into some classes at FIT so I could finish my degree. There were…complications when I was out on the west coast.”
Amber had expressly forbidden Cassidy from talking about her loser ex-boyfriends on the first date.
Cassidy was relieved that he didn’t seem put off by her little rant from before and felt herself relax a bit more. “Are you from New York originally?” she asked.
It was one thing she was curious about. Any time she really tried to speak to Amber about growing up in New York City she was made acutely aware that it was different than the way she’d grown up. And while Cassidy liked to believe she was far from some doe-eyed country girl in the big city, she just knew it tended to set her apart when she and Amber would talk about certain things.
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Post by Jeremy Thomas on Sept 14, 2015 20:42:45 GMT
He smiled at her, appreciating how much she seemed to enjoy her job, as well as her boss. It was kind of nice to hear someone so enthusiastic about all aspects of their career and their life. Not that he necessarily had anything to complain about on his end, but he just hadn't been sure what type of person to expect on this date. Jeremy had been pleased so far if he was being entirely honest.
Taking a drink of water, he nodded, "I am. I grew in the city, went to school here, and still work and live here. It's kind of like a black hole, you just get sucked in and can't seem to find a way out. But it's great, really. How are you liking the city? Are you from California originally?"
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Post by Cassidy Miller on Sept 14, 2015 21:18:22 GMT
Cassidy smiled at Jeremy, listening to him talk about the city with a laugh. She shook her head at his question. “No, I’m from Wisconsin,” she nodded. “Super small town, you know? It was nice, but I went to UCLA originally for undergraduate and then ended up coming out here. I like it a lot, it’s really exciting around here,” she admitted. “There’s still a lot I want to do, but Amber says it’s all touristy stuff.” She waved her hand dismissively, “I’ll get to it eventually.”
Chewing on her lip, she leaned in a bit and tilted her head about him. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?” she asked curiously. She knew that Amber and Brandon didn’t and jokingly wondered if New York City parents limited the amount of kids they had because a two bedroom apartment in Manhattan was expensive enough.
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Post by Jeremy Thomas on Sept 14, 2015 21:45:29 GMT
For some reason, he was finding it much more easy to talk to her than he was anticipating. He had so many questions he wanted to ask her to keep her talking to him, just to keep their conversation going. All things considered, he supposed he might actually have to thank Brandon for this one. "What kind of things are on your list?" he asked.
As for his family, he nodded. "I have an older brother, actually. I don't see him outside of holidays anymore, actually. He moved overseas after college for work and liked it so much that he just stayed there. He got married and has a couple of kids now, so he's happy. What about you? Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
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Post by Cassidy Miller on Sept 14, 2015 21:53:13 GMT
“Oh, I have the list with me,” she replied, immediately reaching into her bag, but then blushed, shaking her head. “Which I realize is really lame.” She pulled the folded up piece of notebook paper out of her wallet and chewed on her lip. “Please don't laugh,” she told him before holding it out. Amber had teased her about it at one point, it had been something she’d written on their first plane ride out to New York City upon moving from California.
When he asked about her siblings, she grinned. “I’m the youngest of six,” she nodded. “I have three older brothers and two older sisters. They’re all great. They all still live in Wisconsin for the most part, except for Ryan – my oldest brother who lives with his family in Milwaukee. And then my sister Charlotte lives with her kids in Maryland – her husband’s in the military and they live on a base there – or Post, she always tells me it’s a post, not a base.”
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Post by Jeremy Thomas on Sept 14, 2015 22:43:33 GMT
Jeremy grinned as she retrieved her list, wondering for a moment if he was able to guess how many items were on her list. "No laughing," he agreed. Actually, he wondered how many items on her list he had actually done himself. He had spent most of his life assuming that the touristy things to do in the city were just that, they were for tourists, and so as a native New Yorker he had never paid much attention to things like visiting the top of the Empire State Building.
At the mention of her family, he shook his head softly, "Six is a lot," he commented. "Do you ever miss Wisconsin? Do you think you'd ever move back?"
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Post by Cassidy Miller on Sept 15, 2015 0:22:54 GMT
Cassidy smiled a bit and handled him the list when he promised not to laugh at it "I don't think I'd ever move back to Wisconsin," she admitted. "It was nice, you know - something charming about growing up in a small town. But I like living in the city. Don't get me wrong, I miss my family - but we talk a lot. I hate that I keep missing my nieces and nephews growing up, but we Skype all the time." She laughed, shaking her head. "I want to do really well at my job, move onto bigger things and do something different. It's not that I'm ashamed or think there's anything with the fact that most of my family stayed close to home - it's just not for me. I don't know if i know how to explain it," she admitted.
"What about you, what's your family like?" she asked.
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Post by Jeremy Thomas on Sept 15, 2015 0:54:41 GMT
Jeremy looked over her list and grinned, noting that there were absolutely things on the list that he had never done before, but there were also things that he could see having the desire to do. He thought it was kind of sweet that she still seemed so excited to get to experience things about the city that he was sure a lot of people, himself included, took for granted. He handed the list back to her, "You have a lot to keep you busy," he commented, taking a drink from his own glass of wine. "I'm glad that you're liking living here," he added, at least glad that having her move to the city had given him a pleasant date with her.
"My family is pretty boring really. As I've gotten older I haven't spent as much time with them as I used to but we keep in touch pretty regularly. My parents have figured out how to work their emails pretty effectively so they've been sending me these long updates on their lives recently. It's mostly just my mom going on and on about some new group she's taking part of and how my father is handling retirement. My brother and I don't talk much, but we see each other a lot at holidays. I think he just keeps busy with his family, and the time difference is kind of intense." He nodded, thinking to the fact that he should actually probably give his brother a call at some point to see what the plans were for the holidays this year. "But I'm sure I'll see him at Thanksgiving."
He smiled at her, "You mentioned you're in school right now? What are you studying?"
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Post by Cassidy Miller on Sept 15, 2015 1:08:03 GMT
Cassidy smiled at him, listening to him talk about his family. She thought that New Yorkers certainly had a different kind of relationship with their family than she did - or maybe just the ones she knew. Or maybe she was just a little weird. She pushed the thoughts away and smiled at him, "I'm taking classes at FIT, Amber thinks I can become an editor too, but I don't know. She's really good at it, I'm just really good at...assisting her with it." She took a sip of her wine and shrugged a shoulder up. "I love it though, it's exciting. I've always loved fashion and the business side of it, working on the publishing side of things is really fun and you get to meet a bunch of people. I grew up in a town where I knew basically everyone, I think that's the best part of living here. I'll never meet everyone," she laughed. "Which I know is probably weird," she admitted.
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Post by Jeremy Thomas on Sept 15, 2015 1:34:39 GMT
It had taken until just then for him to realize that she might actually be younger than he was expecting. Between classes and being early on in her career, she was in a different place than he had currently found himself in. The thing was, he wasn't sure that it actually bothered him, or that he felt like it was weird. The truth was he was just enjoying their dinner together, and so far he could foresee himself calling her to do it again sometime. So again, he had to remind himself to thank Brandon Finn for the world's more awkward set-up, which turned out to be a pretty great date. Again, so far, he didn't want to jinx it.
"That's great, actually. I think it's kind of awesome and terrifying to think that there are so many people in the city that you could never possibly meet them all. But I don't think it's weird, there are a lot of weird things in this world, but getting outside of your box isn't weird."
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Post by Cassidy Miller on Sept 15, 2015 2:00:21 GMT
"Yeah, you totally get it," she agreed excitedly. "It's about the possibilities."
She liked him. And not just because he was the handsome man she'd seen the other day at Finn Industries. It was because he was easy to talk to - he was interesting and nice and he didn't think she was weird for having a list of touristy things to do or for rambling the way she tended to do. She liked his smile and the fact that she didn't have to act a certain way around him. If she were being honest, she knew that typically when she was on a date, she tried a bit harder to fit what she thought they might like. But having no preconceived notion of what Jeremy was like going into the date, she'd only really been able to go into the entire thing acting the way she normally would. She realized just how much she was hoping he would ask her on a second date.
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