Mistakes Were Made

[Drew Conner]

Drew was always relieved when he found himself a day with no classes.  These rare periods were worth Argos' weight in gold since it allowed Drew extra time to follow up on the myriad of projects outside of academia that he was involved in.  The list of obligations was growing steadily and had started to eat into his already strictly managed personal time as well.  He now understood how difficult it was to attempt piecing together a viable business structure while going to school full time.  At least he was guaranteed something to do at pretty much any hour of the day (or night).

The day had started early enough with his usual morning run with Argos before a light breakfast and a lazy jaunt through the list of tasks that needed to be started, continued or completed.  From the moment he started going over his emails, voicemails and messages he felt a tightening in his chest.  'So much to do, so little time' was considered a challenge for the young man and he set about, coffee in hand, trudging his way through the swamp of work that had been waiting for him.

Morning had eased into afternoon and then further drifted into night.  Drew had taken a pause here and there to regain his bearings but he'd largely been busy the entire time.  He was on his third pot of coffee when the front door open from his vantage point in his office.  He paid no attention to it, there were only two people that had keys to get in and he didn't think either of them would be causing much of an issue.  That he didn't hear Argos, who'd long gotten bored and wandered off into the living room, barking further allowed Drew to dismiss the activity going on in the other room.  It was only when Erika Conner (Bellefonte) poked her head into the office doorway did Drew glance up from his desk, realization dawning on him that he'd messed up.

"Goddammit."  Drew uttered the rare curse as he shook his head and pinched his nose.  He instantly knew he'd messed up the moment he saw Erika.  While she was hardly dressed up enough to go dining with the queen, her attire was far more formal than the sweatpants and t-shirt Drew was currently wearing.  With a hint of frustration touching his features, Drew glanced down to his watch, which wasn't on his wrist, let out a low grunt then sifted around a few of the papers on his desk before remembering the computer in front of him had a clock, peering at it, then turning his eyes back up to Erika.  "The reservations were for tonight.  Weren't they?"  Not only did he know the answer to that already, but Drew was also now dreadfully aware the reservations were set for a time that was roughly fifteen minutes from now.  He'd completely forgotten the plans made with Erika.  The day had been so busy it slipped his mind.  How such a thing could happen was beyond him.  He'd even been the one who'd actually suggested the night out with Erika and made the reservations himself based upon the rare evening the both of them had free.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

Wearing the black, tight sitting dress that reached to her mid-thighs, the brunette opened the door to the overly familiar apartment and peeked her head inside. There was no sign of life, save for the half-asleep dog lying on the floor. Opening the door further, Erika stepped inside. As the click-clacks of her heels echoed across the nearly empty room, Argos poked his head up and started wagging his tail eager, stepping forward to greet her. Reaching down, she petted his head, smiling at the eager greeting she got.

"Where's the boss?" she asked the dog softly, looking around as her eyebrow arched in light amusement. The apartment was lit, which meant that Drew had to be found somewhere inside. After giving Argos a few rounds of pets and scratches, the brunette's brown eyes settled upon the office door and with an amused shake to her head, she started moving towards it.

She immediately realized, the moment she peeked her head inside that her husband had completely forgotten the time - or even the day. Leaning against the frame of the door, she didn't say a single word. Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest, leaning the side of her head against the wooden frame covering the sides of the door and watched with mild amusement as Drew realized he'd messed up. Maybe she should have been mad or annoyed. Maybe that was the appropriate response. Instead, she couldn't quite help savoring the moment of watching him screw up. It certainly wasn't something that happened a lot, and she was going to enjoy every second of it.

"That they were," she said evenly, gazing about the room. Despite her even tone, she couldn't quite keep the amused smirk from appearing on her lips. Looking at the watch on her hand, she shrugged and stepped further into the room, the tips of her fingers brushing against anything close enough. She moved to stand by Drew's desk, her hands moving to his shoulders, which she gently squeezed before pulling his chair from the desk and rounding him to plop down on his lap. "What am I to do with you?" she asked, even adding a dramatically heavy sigh.

[Drew Conner]

Drew actually breathed a visible sigh of relief just then. He knew Erika wasn't the type to fly off the handle but seeing disappointment in her eyes even over something as relatively inconsequential as losing track of the time and day was more than he cared to experience. What made the situation doubly worse was that it happened to be his fault. It was almost startling to think that he'd actually tumbled headlong into his work that he'd forgotten his own wife.

Brown eyes turned upward as Erika came to settled upon Drew's lap. He peered at her, studying her features for the moment as his hands went to her as if on instinct. "Keep loving me even though I'm not nearly as infallible and perfect as you originally thought?" He said with a faint trace of that smirk of his coming out. "I think I remember drunkenly insisting we wouldn't do this." His head shook as he looked out over the piles of paperwork spread out across his desk. He then frowned and turned his attention back to Erika. "I'm sorry... I'll call and see if we can push the reservation back a half hour and we can make still make it."

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

"Of course I do," she replied, without a hint of doubt. Nothing like this could ever make her stop. "I've learned to love you with all your flaws," she teased, cupping the back of his neck with her hands. She followed his gaze towards the paperwork and she honestly didn't understand how anyone could find something like this fun. Well, mostly because she couldn't possibly stand sitting still for so long. Although, she still understood just fine that this was going to be part of their lives and there was little point in getting mad over something that he hadn't done on purpose. "You did," she nodded as she turned to look at him again. "Or we could order in," she added with a shrug.

Leaning in, she kissed his cheek before moving closer to whisper into his ear. Making sure she'd get his attention, the brunette smirked before continuing, making sure her lips brushed against his skin as she whispered, "Considering how I'm not wearing any underwear, that might be the wisest choice." She pulled back, then shrugged. "But who knows. Maybe I'm wrong."

[Drew Conner]

The projects Drew had started taking on lately had drifted well out of the realm of 'fun' and had firmly drifted into the territory of 'work'. While he'd never claim to not get a certain sense of satisfaction and enjoyment out of the work he did, Drew also could no longer opt to not do it. Even though his parents were fronting much of the capital for his endeavors it was still up to him to create something financially viable at least to the point where he could continue his relatively modest lifestyle at Bellefonte without having to dip into the generous monthly stipend he and his sister received. He doubted anyone would blame him given his recent endeavors for doing such a thing, after all, that's what parents were for. In Drew's mind, however, the twins hadn't relied on their parents to support them in years and they'd be damned if it would happen now.

And through it all, Erika was able to render Drew speechless long before the words spoken in that hushed, husky tone of hers ever reached his ear. The light kiss against his cheek had been enough to silence the response he'd queued up and the whisper succeeded in causing a single brow to quirk. It seemed as though even now Erika still had enough ammunition to surprise him into a near stupor. "Well." He said, using the filler word as a stall in order to collect his thoughts. The gears on the conversation had shifted considerably and left him scrambling to keep up. "I guess we could reschedule." He said, eyes peering up at her with no small amount of mischief gleaming in them. "Eve's gone for the night so we won't be disturbed." Came the not so subtle hint as he ran his fingertips up along her bare thigh on a quest to test the validity of her bold claim.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

The brunette couldn't help but to issue a joyful laugh. Her hand went down to clasp his, their fingers interlacing as she brought his hand up to her lips. She turned back to look at his workstation as she gingerly kissed each of his knuckles. "If I'd known you'd be so easy to convince, I wouldn't have put up all that effort." Another heavy and overly dramatic sigh fell from her lips before she turned back to look at him, her eyes filled with mirth. "Oh, but darlin'," she began, taking on an British accent as she placed the back of her free hand against her forehead. "What about the children?"

Pushing herself up, she hoisted herself on top of the drawer and shook her head. "And this mess." She shook her head, still speaking with the British accent. "So much to do, so little time." She shook her head disapprovingly, still unable to keep the humor out of her eyes. She rarely was around the boy she'd fallen so deeply in love with. She also enjoyed how easily it came to her, being both serious and playful around him. "Desperate times calls for desperate measures, I suppose."

[Drew Conner]

"Since when am I that difficult to convince?" Drew's eyes narrowed and he gave Erika a bit of a sideways glance. She'd stopped him on his journey to see just how accurate her initial statement had been, though it was obvious she was still playing with him. It was almost effortless in the way she could tug at his strings like a puppeteer toying with a marionette. While he silently cursed real life for settling in and preventing every day from being nothing but a series of magically romantic moments where they could do as they pleased without a care in the world the scarcity of these playful times lent them weight.

With a gaze that gleamed in equal parts lust, mischief and the ever present love and adoration Erika always saw, Drew watched as she pulled away and pushed herself up to a more precarious sitting position than she'd been in before. A brow quirked again at the British accent she took on. "I thought we agreed to send the children away until they were twenty and had their own apartments." He grinned, scooting the chair he sat on closer.

Drew's lips had parted in preparation for another witty reply based upon Erika's comment on too many thing to do without the time in which to do them but he stopped before he could get the first syllable out. His eyes widened in realization and he almost started as if pinched. "That's it." Drew said quietly, nodding to himself as he glanced away, then down to the desk in front of him. "You're one hundred percent right, I don't have the time to get all this done. Especially not with the deal in LA coming up. When that finally clears I'm going to have more than I can handle." His eyes lifted back to Erika. "You're a genius. I should hire a personal assistant."

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

"Oh right," she snapped her fingers. "Why raise our own children when we can pay others to do it?" It wasn't something she'd ever agree to, of course, but that wasn't something either of them had to worry about for at least another few years. At least. Neither of them had the time for kids and she was fairly certain it was on neither of theirs agendas for the time being. They had all the time in the world and although they often acted much older, they were still teenagers, barely closing in on the twenty year old mark.

Erika's brows furrowed in confusion at the way her husband reacted, then it slowly changed into curiosity. Sitting still, she watched him as he shuffled through his thoughts, his face reminding her of something akin to a lightbulb. She remained quiet then, until he finished. Which was when she issued a soft laugh. "Boy, I'm sitting here with no underwear and that's what you're thinking about?" She couldn't even be mad at it. If anything, she simply found it even more amusing than her previous reaction to finding him here.

Brushing her hair away from her face, Erika rested her leg on top of the other. "Maybe you should. It couldn't hurt. If anything, you could always try it out and if you don't like it, there's no harm done." She smacked her lips together and shrugged, before adding, "Just make sure he's really cute. Gotta get some lovin' somewhere," she winked playfully at him before placing a kiss at the top of his head.

[Drew Conner]

There was nothing like the beautiful young woman who'd become his wife under the most whimsical of circumstances reminding him of certain choices in attire she'd made to bring Drew back to reality. His head tilted as Erika's words sunk in. She was speaking sense at this point, though it did serve to drive home how different Drew's mind worked at most times. "Right." He said with a curt nod, his attention now fully focused on the girl in front of him. "About that." The smirk came out again as he scooted forward to where Erika was sitting and reached out to rest his hands upon the smooth, bare skin of her thighs. "We're ordering in, right?"

A light chuckle escaped as Drew's head shook. "Right. I forget one date night and I'm now a neglectful husband." He said while sighing in mock resignation. He reached up and gently took hold of her cheeks after she'd kissed his forehead and held her there just long enough for him to tilt his head to give her a soft kiss. "You know exactly where to get your lovin'." He said, letting a smile gently caress her lips. "I'd hate for my PA to suddenly go missing."

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

"We are," she said, smirking as she looked down at him. Even now, in the midst of everything else, it caught her just how much he still drove her mad. Just from the way he looked at her to a simple touch. To this day, it still send a pleasurable shiver down her spine. Her smile turned from a smirk to something a lot more genuine, something warmer. Her previous playful expression softened as she watched him. Boy, was she far gone or what.

Again, the brunette couldn't keep the laughter from bubbling out. This time, it sounded more like a gleeful shrill, as if it had come from a five year old girl. Returning the kiss, her arms found their way around his neck and she sighed softly. "Don't worry, babe," she began, head shaking. "You're more than enough for me to handle. No point in sending some poor bastard to the sharks." She let her arms drop then as she started looking around for a phone she could use to call for food. She was famished.