True to form, I’m late. My plane was only a couple minutes past the scheduled arrival but I hate fighting to get off planes so I always end up waiting until the aisles are clear. And today, I was really into a sketch that I didn’t even notice that the plane had cleared out until a stewardess came and asked me if everything was alright.

The other side of the arrivals gate was pretty empty when I walk through and it isn’t hard to spot Justin waiting for me. He’s sitting alone on a row of seats and has his phone pressed to his ear. When I near him and he sees me, he snaps his phone shut and stands.

“I thought you missed your flight,” he says. “Everyone else already came out.”

I stand on my toes and give him a quick kiss. “I got distracted and didn’t notice everyone else was off the plane.”

He smiles and shakes his head as his arms wrap around me. I’m pulled into his body and I let my own arms loop around his neck. Now that I’m standing here with him I realize just how much I’ve missed him the past six days.

“I’ve really missed you,” he says, his lips dangerously close to mine.

I wet my lips and I breathe in deeply, the scent of his cologne filling my lungs. “I missed you too.”

“Oh yeah? How much?”

A smile plays at the corner of my lips. “If we weren’t in the middle of LAX, I’d show you.”

He laughs and his arms tighten, squeezing my body against his. “Damn, it’s so good to have you back,” he says with a sigh. His lips trail from my temple towards my mouth and my eyes flutter shut. Any stress from the past couple days disappears when his lips find mine and he kisses me deeply. It doesn’t even matter that we’re in a busy airport and there’s a million people everywhere. All that matters at this point is Justin.

He kisses me slowly and deeply and doesn’t pull back until my legs feel a little weak. I can honestly say I’ve never had a guy leave me weak in the knees before him. Of course, Justin’s blown all of the other guys completely out of the water.

His lips slowly part from mine and he places a couple quick kisses on my nose before pulling his head back from mine.

“We better grab your bags.”

“Mm hmm,” I agree, letting my arms drop from his neck. He steps back and grabs my hand and intertwines his fingers with mine as we walk through the airport. He asks about New York and I tell him everything that’s happened over the past six days. A lot of it I’ve already told him and I’m sure it’s boring him but he just let’s me talk.

I remember one time probably over a month ago I was telling him this long drawn out story and stopped at a certain point because I knew it had to have been boring him to death. But he had said that he didn’t care what I was talking about, he just liked to hear my voice. Ever since then I never feel self conscious about going off on rants or tangents around him.

When we finally reach his car I take a break from talking about New York. “How’s Bridget’s album?”

Justin smiles and puts the car into reverse. “Done.”

“Really?” When I left for New York, they had still had to finish three songs. “That’s great.”

“Bridget wanted you to hear it so I have a copy at my house for you.”

“Perfect.”

I’ve come to completely love Bridget over the past month. Ever since I helped her out with her first date, she’s completely opened up to me and even called me at the store a few times when she needs to talk to which I’m only too happy to oblige. She’s surrounded by males for most of the day and I know I’d go crazy after a while too. She’s reminds me of Elodie when she was younger and I’m glad Bridget feels like she can open up to me.

“So do you want to go straight to your house or what?” Justin asks as he pulls out onto the freeway.

“Can we stop at the store?” I ask. “I wanted to check in and see how everything went. I haven’t talked to Kyle since Tuesday.”

“Sure. Do you need to stay long through?”

I reach across the console and grab Justin’s hand and give it a squeeze. “No. Just long enough to catch up on what’s been happening the past couple days.”

“And then…?”

I smile at him. “And then we’ll go to my house, order some take out, and get a movie.”

His smile turns satisfied and he rests our joined hands on his leg. As we drive towards Beverly Hills, he tells me about Bridget’s album and all the work they’ve done over the past week. I lean my head back against the seat and listen contently. It’s so good to be here with him that I just want to soak up every thing about him and every single word he says. I’m almost sad when he parks in front of my store because I just want to be alone with him longer. But I get him to myself all evening so that will hopefully cure this craving.

Kyle’s behind the main counter and he looks up when we enter. An infectious smile breaks across his face when his eyes connect with me and I can’t help but return it.

“Hey, you’re back,” he says, coming around the counter.

“I came straight from the airport,” I say, flexing my fingers a bit hoping Justin will loosen his suddenly too tight grip on my hand.

“How was New York?”

“Great. I got Saks.”

Kyle’s smile grows. “Awesome. I knew you’d get them.”

Justin’s foot is taping on the floor and I can tell that he’s anxious to go. I kind of want to stay and tell Kyle all about New York but at the same time, I know I’m going to be here all day tomorrow and it’s been a long six days since I’ve seen Justin.

“I just stopped by to grab a few things,” I say, breaking the slightly awkward silence that’s fallen over us. I pull my hand away from Justin’s and move towards my office. “I’ll be back in a second,” I saw before Justin can follow me.

Maybe it’s cruel of me, but I want Justin to be alone with Kyle. Ever since his snide comment on Kyle a couple weeks back, the subject has never been brought up again. I honestly don’t know where the hostility towards Kyle came from but I don’t want to deal with it. If Justin can just spend some time with him maybe he’ll figure out that he’s not a bad guy. They could probably get along great if given the opportunity to get to know one another and I’ve made it a goal to make that happen.

I take my time gathering my things and then regress about ten years and stand off to the side of the door, trying to eavesdrop on their conversation, which I know will be happening. Kyle can’t stand awkward silences and he’ll talk just to fill them and Justin’s not rude enough to completely ignore him.

I can hear muffled male voices but I’m too far away to really hear what words are being spoken. After an unsuccessful minute, I give up and leave the office.

Justin’s face is stony as he listens to Kyle talking about some new LA band. His arms are crossed over his chest and he looks like he would rather be anywhere but here. I step further into the room and when his eyes meet mine, the hard expression melts off his face and he interrupts Kyle mid sentence.

“Are you ready?”

“Yeah.” I turn to Kyle and inwardly wince at the uncomfortable look on his face. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to leave them to fend for themselves. “I’m coming in early tomorrow morning so I’ll see you when you get here.”

“Sure.” He smiles. “I’ll bring the coffee?”

My lips turn up. “Sounds perfect. Sugar free-”

“Nonfat vanilla latte,” Kyle finishes for me. “I remember.”

I laugh and am about to retort when Justin’s quiet voice interrupts.

“Cassie?”

I glance over at him and quickly nod and turn back to Kyle. “So I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Sure.”

I give him a wave and then follow Justin outside. I wait until we’re both in the car before speaking, trying to make my question sound light and innocent.

“So what were you guys talking about?”

Justin doesn’t look at me as he turns on the car and checks over his shoulder for traffic. “Some band his friend is in.”

He doesn’t take the bait to go off on a rant about Kyle, which I was kind of hoping he would. I know we need to talk about it but I don’t want to be the one to bring it up and I’m waiting for him to say something.

I really don’t even know why I’m trying to ruin this reunion by trying to broach the subject of Kyle. I should just be happy that I’m back in LA with Justin.

Reaching over, I grab his hand again and pull it towards me. “Do I get to pick the movie tonight?”

He smiles for the first time since we stepped into the store. “Don’t think so. I can’t handle any of your cheesy movies tonight.”

I let out a dramatic sigh, even though it really doesn’t bother me too much. We could be watching the history channel for all I care. It’s not like we ever really watch the movie when we’re laying there together.

“I want to stop by my house and grab a change of clothes for tomorrow. I have a meeting with Scott Morter at ten tomorrow morning.”

It takes me a minute before I place Scott Morter as Justin’s agent. “What for?”

“I got offered a role in this movie and he wants to give me the script and talk to me about it.”

This is news to me. When I first met Justin he was very into his clothing line. By time I moved out to LA, he was all about producing Bridget’s album. I never even thought about him doing another movie and he’s never mentioned it before right now.

“A movie? You never said anything about that before.”

He shrugs. “It hasn’t really been anything until Scott called me yesterday. He just got called about it then.”

“Will you take it?”

“Depends on the role and the script. I’ll have to read it.”

“Can I read it after you’re done?”

He smiles over at me. “You’re more excited than I am,” he teases, squeezing my hand. “Yes, you can read it but you can’t tell anyone I let you. I think that’s kind of something I’m not supposed to do.”

I make a zipping motion over my lips. “Sealed and in the vault.” I rub my thumb over his knuckles. “So how long will your meeting go tomorrow?”

“Maybe an hour. And after that I was thinking I should come get you from work and go for lunch.”

That sounds appealing. “Perfect.”

“And Rachel’s having some sort of dinner party thing tomorrow night and told me to bring you.” He pauses and gives me a side glance. “Okay so now it seems like I’m monopolizing you. We don’t have to do all that if it’s going to make you sick of me.”

I can’t help but laugh a bit at that. “Let’s do it all. I think I’ll survive.”

Sometimes I don’t think he realizes that at this point, I feel like I’m never going to get sick of him. A month ago, that thought was scary. But now…maybe it’s not such a terrifying thing.