“Who was that?”

I looked up at Lola as I placed the phone on the counter. “My mom.”

She leaned against the counter. “Oh yeah. I meant to tell you she called while you were out last night. She sounded a bit sick.”

“She said she has a really bad cold she can’t get rid of.”

“Is she going to go to the doctor?”

“She said if it doesn’t get better by next week she will.” I cracked an egg on the side of the mixing bowl. “She hates the doctor though.”

“Don’t we all.” Lola glanced around the kitchen. “What are you making?”

“Pancakes.”

“Justin’s still here?”

“Yeah.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Tell me you didn’t let him off the hook that easy.”

I avoided her eyes. “He apologized.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Apologized enough? You were really upset last night.”

It was true. I was so mad yesterday. From the moment Justin left me in the restaurant, I was fighting off tears. I didn’t let one fall until I was walking towards my apartment building and my back was to him. And by time I was in the apartment I was full out crying. I had told Lola everything and she was immediately mad and swore not to let him in the apartment. I have no idea how he managed to sweet talk his way past her considering how pissed she was at him.

“He said he was sorry and that he was going to figure something out something out so we wouldn’t have to hide this anymore.”

“Did he grovel?”

I rolled my eyes and grabbed the whisk sitting on the counter. “He’s genuinely sorry and that’s all I needed. Do you want some pancakes?” I asked, simply wanted to change the subject. Lola’s really protective of all her friends and while I usually find it endearing, sometimes she needs to back off a bit.

“And what if it happens again?”

“It won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do. He’s not going to do it again. He wouldn’t.” I glanced up at Lola. “Just give him a break, okay?”

She sighed. “Fine. I just hate that he made you that upset.”

“I think he does too.” I poured some batter into the frying pan and watched as it spread out to form circles. “Do you want pancakes?” I tried again.

“No. I have to leave for work. Don’t you work today?”

“I don’t have to be there until eleven.” It was quiet and I heard the sound of my bedroom door opening and then the bathroom door closing. I saw Lola’s eyes move to the doorway.

“Be nice to him,” I warned.

Another sigh escaped her. “I will.” She went to the fridge and pulled some food from it for her lunch. “He just better stay on his best behavior.”

I flipped the pancakes. “I’m sure he will.” I heard the bathroom door open and I looked up to the doorway. A second later he appeared, still in sweatpants and a t shirt. When I told him he could stay over last night he had gotten up and pulled out the clothes from the bottom drawer of my dresser and given me some line that he had accidentally left them here a long time ago. Knowing him though, he probably brought them over one day so he wouldn’t have a reason not to stay over some night.

“Good morning,” he said and I smiled at him.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning, Lola.”

I watched her look up at him. “Morning.”

He smiled a bit. “Are you still mad at me, Lo?”

“I’m over it. But you bringing me a latte next time you come over here sure would be nice.”

He laughed. “You got it.”

“I gotta get to work. See you guys later.”

“Bye,” Justin and I both said and I flipped the pancakes again.

“Can you grab some plates?” I asked him.

“Are those for me?”

“Some of them.” I looked over at him. “Did you sleep okay?”

“Great. How about you?”

“Good.”

“I didn’t hear you get up. I must have been really out of it.”

“You were. You were snoring.”

He rolled his eyes and held out two plates to me. “I don’t snore.”

I laughed a bit. “Sure you don’t.” I put two pancakes on each plate and he took them over to the table. I’m really not that much of a breakfast person but when I woke up this morning and saw him sleeping beside me it threw this weird domestic mood over me. Homemade pancakes just seemed right.

“So you know how last night I was saying how I was planning on going to Ohio for the long weekend?” I asked as I put some maple syrup on the table and then sat down across from him.

“Yeah.”

“My mom called this morning and she and my dad already bought me a plane ticket as an early birthday present.”

“Really? That’s cool. How many days will you be gone?”

“Five.” I laughed at his sigh. “It’s not even a week.”

“Still,” he said and then stuffed a large piece of pancake in his mouth.

I laughed again and shook my head. He’ll make this big deal about it now but then he won’t even notice when I’m not here cause he’ll go out every night while I’m gone.

“Speaking of your birthday, what do you want to do for it?”

“I don’t know. It’s still like three weeks away.”

“I know. But if you want some big party, you should tell me now.”

It’s tradition that Justin plans my birthday parties. I’m in charge of planning Becca’s, Becca plans Trace’s, and Trace plans Justin’s. I personally think I got the best end of the deal cause Justin always goes all out for my birthday. My party always blows everyone else’s out of the water.

“Surprise me.”

“I’ve got total free reign to do whatever I want?”

I shrugged. “Sure. As long as it’s not boring.”

“Come on now, Chief. When are things ever boring when I’m around.”

I smiled a bit. “Very true.”

I kept watching him as he ate, my own neglected pancakes drowning in a pool of syrup. Lola was totally wrong. Nothing like last night was ever going to happen again.

* * *

Usually being a perfectionist works pretty well for me. I try and make everything I do as close to perfection as possible and it’s great. But then sometimes, like today, it’s a big pain in the ass.

Luckily Craig, the producer I’m working with, is putting up with me being neurotic about having this song perfect. He’s so laid back that it perfectly balances out how anal I’m being.

“Do you like this take?” Craig asks me.

“It’s alright.” I said. “Could use some tweaking.”

“Let me fiddle with it.”

I lean back in my chair and crack my knuckles and then pop my neck. I always get so stiff when I’m recording. I let out a deep breath and stretch out my legs in front of me as Craig puts on his headphones and moves some dials on the soundboard in front of us. I was in the process of completely zoning out when I heard the sound of the door opening. My head lolled to the side and a smile spread over my face when I saw Emily standing there.

“What are you doing here?”

She came further into the room. “I remembered you said you were recording here today and I wanted to see you. The receptionist said it was okay to come back.”

I could the unsure questioning tone in her voice and I motioned for her to come over. “Cool. I needed a break.” When she reached me, I grabbed her arm and pulled her down on my lap. She gave me an uncertain look.

“What about…”

I followed her gaze to Craig, who was still engrossed in the music. “He’s cool. He won’t say shit.”

She relaxed against me and her hands joined mine, wrapped around her. “I didn’t interrupt you guys?”

“I needed a break,” I repeated, kissing her cheek and then her jaw bone. I love that she came to see me here. As much as I enjoy recording, it can get exhausting and this is the perfect interruption. “You don’t work today?”

“The photoshoot I was going got moved to next week,” she said. “But guess what.”

“What?”

“You have a photoshoot next week, right?”

“No clue. You’d have to ask Trace.”

“Well, you do. And I know cause some of Avidity’s models are in it and I’m doing makeup for them.”

“Really?”

“Don’t be too excited,” she said sarcastically and I smiled.

“No, that’ll be fine.”

“Hair is fine. This will be great.”

I kissed her cheek again. “Yeah, it will be.”

She turned her head and stared at me and my smile widened.

“Working with a girlfriend has never worked well for me,” I said, answering her silent questions. “My mom always told me you should never mix business with pleasure.”

“Do you always do everything your mom tells you?”

“As much as possible.”

She laughed and turned her head back to face forward. “Well lucky for us it’s only one day we’re working together.”

“True.”

“Stop being annoying. You know you’re excited about working with me.”

I laughed a bit. “It’ll be a complete adventure.”

“It always is.”

I leaned my head against the back of my chair. Now I actually do remember about that photoshoot and if there’s going to be models in it with me…shit, I hope Em’s not the jealous type. I’m trying to remember any times when she was dating Ben and she got jealous over another girl and I can’t remember anything but that doesn’t mean it never happened. Working with her will be great as long as she doesn’t get upset over anything the photographer may have me and the models do. Here’s hoping.

“I think I got it right.”

I looked over at Craig. “Cool. This is Emily. Em, this is Craig.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” she said.

Craig stretched and pushed back his chair. “I’m gonna go get a coffee. I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Sure.”

“So what are you guys doing?” Emily asked after Craig left. “A song for your new album?”

“Yeah. Want to hear what we’ve got?”

“Yeah.”

I hand her my set of earphones and lean forward a bit and fiddle with the soundboard. As the song plays, I watch her reaction. She’s staring down at the ground as she listens, holding the earphones to her head. She doesn’t move until she’s pulling them from her ears.

“Well?” I asked, the tiniest bit anxious to hear her opinion. She’s my first outside opinion and she’s not one to sugarcoat anything or give false compliments. If she hates it, this could be brutal.

She leaned back and gave me a quick kiss. “Amazing.”

“Really? You’re not just saying that?”

“Like I would lie just to boost your ego.”

I smiled. This was true. “It’s just a rough cut. We still have a lot of work to do.”

“So you’re going to be here for the rest of the day?”

“Probably.” I stretched my arms above my head and cracked my knuckles again before replacing my arms around her stomach. We sat there silently for another minutes before I could no longer ignore the burn in my legs. Emily’s really not that heavy but my legs are scrawny and this is no longer comfortable.

“We gotta move,” I said, pulling my arms away. She stood and I got up after her. My eyes wandered the room and when they settled on the large leather couch by the wall, I grabbed her hand. “Over here.”

I led her over to the couch and laid down, stretching out my body along the length of it and then pulled her down on top of me. She giggled a bit and propped her elbows on either side of my head.

“I think I like this much better.”

I smiled. “Me too.” I wrapped my arms around her back and she laid her head down on my chest. I love laying here with her like this. I could seriously stay here forever. It’s calm and relaxing and just…perfect.

“What are you doing for the rest of the day?” I asked after we had laid there for a few minutes.

“I have to go get some clothes for when I go to Ohio.”

I frowned a bit. I wasn’t looking forward to her being away for five days. And I had the entire weekend off too and now I’m going to be all alone for the whole time. Maybe I’ll convince Trace to take a trip with me to Vegas or something. Not that Trace needs convincing when it comes to Vegas. But I’d still rather have time with Em than go somewhere.

“Stop your pouting.”

My eyes moved down to her head. She still had it on my chest and wasn’t even looking at me. “How do you know I’m pouting?”

She lifted her head to look at me. “Well were you?”

I rolled my eyes. It’s not like I was intentionally pouting.

She laughed and put her head back on my chest. “Don’t get upset just cause I know you so well.”

I smiled a bit and moved one hand to run through her hair. It smells really great. I haven’t figured out yet if it’s her shampoo or something else but her hair always has the faint smell of vanilla. It can be completely intoxicating.

“Have you planned anything for my birthday yet?” she suddenly asked, pulling up her head to look down at me.

My hand slid from her hair and joined my other one on the small of her back. “You said to surprise you so that’s what I’m going to do.”

A small pout formed on her lips but it was must cuter on her than I’m sure mine was on me. “A hint?”

I acted like I would give something up but in reality I wasn’t going to say a word. I like playing with her like that. “Nope.”

She sighed and stared at me for a moment before leaning her head down to brush her lips to mine. “Can I bribe it out of you?” she whispered against my lips.

A smile formed. “Maybe.”

Let’s be honest, there’s no way I was cracking. But I definitely liked where this was heading.