A grin slowly stretches itself across my face and I lean back in my chair, my eyes going to the ceiling. “Are we doing a quiz or something?”

“Just answer the question.”

“Maybe…a caramel macchiato?”

“Really?”

“Is that the wrong answer or something?”

“Nope, that’s great.”

It’s quiet on the other end of the line and my eyebrows rise a bit. “So was asking me a prying question the only reason for your call, Cassie?”

Her light laughter comes over the line and my smile grows a bit. “It was hardly prying.”

“Knowing someone’s Starbucks drink is like knowing a piece of their soul.”

“You should put that on a bumper sticker.”

“I might.” My eyes fall on Trace, who’s sitting on a couch across the small room, playing with his Blackberry. He looks about as bored as I am. “How’s the stomach?”

“I ate a bit of lunch and all went well so I’m thinking I’m pretty much better.”

“You know why? It’s cause I convinced you to take yesterday off instead of going into the store.”

She laughed again. “That might be it. Although I think I lost a few million brain cells from watching all those movies.”

I called her up yesterday morning to see if she had ended up going to the store and when she told me she had postponed the renovation until today, I had decided to go over to her place again and chill with her. She had looked better from the day before, although still not healthy, and had eaten a bit of toast although she did end up throwing it up later. But at least yesterday she was smiling and laughing a bit and her fever was down. I hooked up her TV downstairs and we had spent a good portion of the afternoon watching movies.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“So are you still at the studio?”

“That I am.”

“How much longer will you be there?”

“A while yet.” I wasn’t going to tell her this, but I was actually supposed to be at the studio yesterday but I blew it off to hang out with her. That’s just a perk of producing a song for an up and coming artist. You can basically rearrange whatever you want and they’ll go with it. Not that I’m not paying for it today because I’ve been at the studio since ten this morning and it’s now four and we probably won’t be leaving for another few hours. But a long day is worth it since I got to spend all day yesterday with Cassie.

“Too bad.”

“Are you still at the store?”

“I’m leaving soon. The contractor’s already gone and there’s not a lot left I can do.”

“What’s your schedule look like tomorrow?”

“Most likely same as today. I’m hoping to get some unpacking done at some point too.”

“Well you know my offer still stands.”

“And don’t think for a minute I won’t take you up on that free physical labor and put you to work.”

I chuckle and slouch down in my chair a bit more. Talking with her just puts me at ease. “Don’t make me regret my generosity.”

“I’d never do that.” I hear the sound of a bell and people talking. “Hey, I’ve got to go.”

“Alright. Call me when you’ve got tomorrow sorted out.”

“Sure. Bye.”

“Bye.” I drop my phone onto my lap and stretch my arms above my head, grimacing a bit when my shoulders pop. “Where’s Bridget? She’s been gone for like half an hour.”

Trace doesn’t look up from his Blackberry. “You’re the one who told her to take a break.”

“Yeah, but half an hour? I don’t want to be here all night.”

“I’m sure she won’t be much longer.” Trace smiles and raises his eyebrows but still doesn’t look at me. “You realize that girl has a major crush on you.”

“Bridget?”

“Yeah, man. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed.”

Of course I’ve noticed. The poor girl was painfully shy when I first met her this morning and blushed at every time I said anything to her. She’s warmed up a bit over the past few hours and it’s obvious she’s got a schoolgirl crush on me. What can I say? I’ve just got that charm.

“Well maybe if she wasn’t like sixteen…”

“And if you weren’t lusting over Cassandra Reyna.”

I scoffed. “I’m not lusting over her. How would you even know?”

He finally puts his Blackberry to the side and looks up at me. “Because I’ve had to listen to you go on and on about her for the past couple weeks,” he says with a smirk as he settles into the corner of the couch. “It’s a bit sickening really.”

I roll my eyes and turn my chair away from him to face the soundboard. So maybe I’ve been talking about Cassie a lot lately. Sometimes I’ll start going on about her to Trace and I know I’m talking too much and he’s losing interest but it’s like I can’t stop. The girl has such a hold on me it’s scary.

“I don’t get a response for that one?”

“You’re such a dick, Trace.”

He laughs loudly but I ignore it. I love him to death but sometimes spending the entire day with him can get to me. Especially when he won’t let the Cassie issue go.

The studio door opens and I look over to see Bridget Sparks burst into the room.

“I’m so sorry. My mom called and I didn’t realize how long I was on the phone for.”

I can’t help but smile. She’s so young and sweet. This is her first record and she’s still so naïve to the business. It’s almost a little refreshing. “No worries. Sometimes when moms get talking it can go on forever.”

The corner of her mouth turns up and she lifts her hand up to play the ends of her hair. “She’s just really worried about me being out here without her. She calls like fifty times a day.”

“Well it’s good you got someone like that in your life.”

She’s just standing there smiling at me and I glance to the side to see Trace silently laughing at me. I shoot him a glare before clearing my throat. “So are you ready to do the second verse?”

She blinks as if she’s forgotten why she’s here in the first place and then shakes her head slightly. “Okay.”

She gets settled back in the recording booth and I adjust a few dials. I start the music to the track and she begins to sing. While she may be young and naïve, her tone and pitch is absolutely amazing. Jive was lucky to have snatched her up.

We’re half an hour into recording the verse when there’s a soft knock on the closed door. I don’t move or look away from what’s in front of me, knowing Trace will get it. But when I hear a familiar voice, my head jerks to the right and a smile jumps onto my lips. Immediately pushing the chair away from the soundboard, I stand up.

“This is a surprise.”

“I hope I’m not completely interrupting.”

“Never.”

Cassie steps fully into the room and it’s then I notice that she’s carrying two Starbucks cups. She hands one to me.

“Caramel macchiato?”

I laugh. “Is that what the whole Starbucks question was about?”

She smiles and raises her own cup to her lips to take a sip.

“You didn’t have to get me this.”

“You’ve taken care of me the past few days plus you finished painting my living room,” she states. “I owe you like a month worth of coffee.”

I raise my drink to her in a mock toast. “Well thank you. This is exactly what I needed.”

“Justin?”

Bridget’s timid voice reminds me that I kind of deserted her in the booth. Quickly going back to the window, I lean down into the mike. “Sorry, Bridget. Wanna take five?”

She nods and exits the booth. “Was the verse okay?”

“It was great.” I turn back to Cassie. “Bridget, this is Cassandra Reyna. Cassie, this is Bridget. She’s the one I’m producing for today.”

Cassie smiles and offers her free hand to Bridget. “Hi. Nice to meet you.”

Bridget studies her for a brief minute before shaking her hand. “You too. Are you the designer?”

“I am. Do you follow fashion?”

“I want to be a fashion designer.”

“Hey, what about singing?” I interject and she blushes.

“I want to do both.”

I chuckle. “You’re just going to be one of those amazing celebrities that does everything, huh?”

Bridget’s face gets a bit redder and she ducks her head. “Whatever.”

A silence falls over the room and I move towards the door, motioning for Cassie to follow me. “Come out here for a second.”

We leave the room and I close the door behind us. When we’re alone in the hallways, I turn to her and am about to tell her how great it is to see her but she speaks before I can.

“Somebody has a not so secret admirer,” she smiles, gesturing to the closed door.

I laugh and roll my eyes. “Yeah well, she’s a little young for me. Besides, I have my eyes on another female,” I say, smiling at her.

Cassie’s eyebrows rise and she laughs lightly. “Is that so?”

“And here I thought I was being obvious.”

She raises her drink to her lips, her eyes never leaving mine. Once she swallows, she speaks. “So we have unpacking plans for tomorrow night?”

“We do. You know, one of these days you’re going to have to let me take you out for an actual date. Seems like all we’ve done together is do home renovations at your place.”

“You don’t have to help me if you don’t want to.”

“Oh, I want to,” I quickly interject. “But at some point I’d like to take you on a proper date.”

She smiles and wets her lips. “At some point I’m sure that can be arranged.”

I watch as she takes a drink and then wipes the corner of her mouth with her thumb. “So let me ask you something.”

“What’s that?”

“What’s your reasoning behind the three week kissing rule?”

She raises her eyebrows, probably not expecting the question. But it’s a legitimate thing to want to know. “Honestly? It weeds out the sleazy guys. Only the decent ones stick around for three weeks.”

“So that makes me a decent guy?”

Her smile returns. “Well we’re only on week two. I’ve yet to see.”

There’s never been a moment since I’ve met her where I’ve wanted to kiss her more. I try to not entertain the thought. “Seventeen days actually,” I correct.

She simply laughs and takes another sip of her coffee. I flash her a grin and lean back against the wall. “If you think about it, your three week rule probably kept me from catching the stomach flu from you.”

“See, we all benefit from it.”

I could seriously spend all day here with her. She puts me in such a great mood. But I know I need to get back to Bridget. “I’d love to stay out here but I should probably get back inside.”

“I was just going to say.”

“Did you want to stick around?” I ask, hoping she’ll say yes.

“I would but I’m exhausted after today.”

“And you should probably get as much sleep as you can so you can get completely better.”

“You know, you’re like my own personal nurse.”

I laugh. “Well you’re a good patient.”

“I try.”

Mindful of both of our cups of coffee, I step forward and give her a hug. “I’ll give you a call later about tomorrow, okay?”

“Sure.”

I hug her probably a few moments longer than necessary but can’t help it. She fits perfectly against me. When I pull back, I bring up my hand to brush my fingers across her smooth cheek.

“Thanks again for the coffee.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll see you later.”

“Bye.”

She begins to walk down the hallway and my eyes follow her. She glances over her shoulder once and laughs as she finds me staring at her but I can’t look away. With a lift of her hand, she gives me a short wave and then disappears around the corner. Only once she is completely out of sight do I turn the doorknob and re-enter the room, hoping the rest of recording will go smoothly so I can get home and call Cassie.

Trace is back on the couch and Bridget’s sitting in my vacated chair when I step back into the room, shutting the door behind me.

“And how is Cassie doing?” Trace asks.

I can’t help but smile. Just hearing her voice does that to me and yes, I’m well aware that is pathetic. “She’s great.”

“She’s gone already?”

“I asked her if she wanted to stay but she’s still a bit under the weather so she’s going home.”

“Are you dating her?” Bridget asks suddenly and my eyes turn to her. I forgot she was here for a second.

Trace begins to snicker. “Yeah, Justin.”

I shoot him a glare and then turn back to Bridget. I never would have expected such a bold question to come from such a seemingly timid girl. “It’s a little complicated,” I say and leave it at that. And it’s no lie. I’m not quite sure what Cassie and I are to each other at this point. We’re definitely past the point of friends, but I wouldn’t define her as my girlfriend at this moment.

Bridget falls back into silence and after an awkward moment, I decide to take charge.

“Let’s get back to recording,” I say, draining the last of my coffee and tossing the empty cup into the trash. Last thing I need is the two of them analyzing my relationship with Cassie. At this point, my brain does that enough all on it’s own.