The first two or three times Roy saw her, he wasn’t sure he recognized her. He had found over the last couple of months that there were a lot of desperate looking middle-aged bottle red heads, especially at meetings. At this meeting, though, she was the speaker and her story sounded familiar enough that he approached her afterwards.
“Hey, it’s Meredith, right?”
She turned sharply and instantaneous recognition flashed through her eyes. “Oh, Roy? I .. huh.. I didn’t know you traveled in these circles,” she smirked.
“Oh, well, I,” it never got easier to say, “I picked up a DUI last summer, and my lawyer thought, well, you know. I guess I have to clean up a little, lie low and stay out of trouble for a little while.” Meredith chuckled, just a bit.
“Yeah, I’ve been there. Still, I’m surprised to see you here tonight. I’d figure a guy like you must have big plans for New Year’s.” His breath caught a bit, and he looked away, over her head. She was already sorry she said anything.
“Well, you know, it’s a hard night to stay clean. My friends are all out drinking, and it’s not like I have a, well, I guess you know about that.”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah.”
“Listen, if you don’t have anywhere to go right now, you want to grab a cup of coffee? There’s a little place down the road a bit that makes a decent cup,” Meredith said.
“Oh,” while Roy was trying to come up with an excuse, he caught a gleam in her eye that had become familiar to him, “You know what, that sounds great.”
“Great, it’s right up here.” Roy followed her for a bit, making a little small talk, until she pushed through the door to a small diner, “Hey Mike,” she called to the guy behind the counter, “can we get a couple of coffees over here.”
“You sound like a regular,” Roy said as he hung his coat on a peg and slid into a booth.
“Oh, I’m just a regular at that meeting,” she said, giving a little head nod in the direction of the church as she sat in the booth opposite him, “I’m not sure if I’ve seen you there before, though.”
“I don’t go to a lot of meetings. To be honest, I don’t really think it’s for me. I’m not really an alcoholic – I just made a mistake. I was going through kind of a rough period,” he said. Meredith nodded.
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I go through the motions, but I don’t really buy this stuff. I don’t need alcohol. I just, you know,” she smirks, “like it.” Roy laughed.
“Definitely, definitely, yeah. And this whole ‘higher power’ stuff? I can’t get into that. I was never into that church stuff. In fact, you know, I don’t really think I belong here at all. These people, they’ve ruined their whole lives with this stuff. That’s not me.”
“I know! Exactly. I have a decent job, I certainly haven’t lost my kid. I mean, I got divorced…but…” Meredith looked away and Roy’s face darkened.
“Yeah, but…that’s…” Their eyes met and held.
“Yeah,” still staring, faces softening, “that’s not really something you can really control.”
“Your coffee?” Mike put a couple of cups down in front of them and filled them with a viscous dark fluid. Meredith looked up at him and smiled, and then looked back at Roy. He gave her a little half-smile, she half-smiled back, and they nodded.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Written for the Flashfic Office Romances challenge on LJ.
