A car honked. Jackie jumped where she sat, looking up to place the noise. The light ahead was green, but the first stopped car hadn't moved quickly enough. She watched as their brake lights went out and traffic began to move, but she couldn't shake that initial kick of her pulse. The horn had startled her, but that was confusing. It wasn't like the street was silent to begin with. Engines were running. People were honking. It was a busy street. Jackie must've been deeper in thought than she'd realized, but that didn't really put her confusion to rest. She was in her car, and the little gift box was in her lap, the ends of the red ribbon still pressed between her fingers. She didn't remember the bow coming untied, but it must have. Jackie took a breath, let go of the ribbon, and reached for her coffee. Her brow furrowed when she found nothing in the cup holder, but if horns were startling her, clearly she was off anyway. Worried about how this would go. That had to be it.
She got out of the car with the box in hand and started towards Levi's office. Jackie thought she could just leave the gift with his secretary. Ball left in his court, that type of thing. It seemed like a nice move. Only a little bit of a cop out. After so long, though, Jackie really wasn't sure what to expect, if anything. But the time to speculate was cut shorter than she anticipated when she saw Levi already outside of his building, standing firmly on the pavement like he was waiting for something. She took a breath, easing it out slowly as she closed the distance between them. She was the one who decided to do this. Why she felt so nervous all of a sudden was beyond her. It was just a birthday gift.
"Hey," she said, and there was an instinctive urge to kick herself for a greeting too casual for the situation they were in. Jackie smiled anyway. It was good to see him. It really, really was. "I got you something. For your birthday. I just...knew it was coming up, and I thought you'd like this. So...here you go."