I kept my face pressed to the glass as I dialed Julian’s number.
“Hello?” a sleepy Julian murmured into the phone. I glanced down to read the time. Oops. It was 6:45 AM on a Sunday and we’d been up late the night before at Dean’s opening.
“Oh god, sorry to wake you. I didn’t realize how early it is.”
He groaned.
“But, now you’re awake anyway. Get dressed and meet me at the address I’m about to text you.”
He groaned again, louder this time, and then I heard something hitting wood.
“6:45? Do you realize I only went to sleep four hours ago?”
“Four hours ago?” I contested.
We’d both stayed at Provisions until closing and then Julian had hailed a cab for me. I’d assumed he had headed back to his hotel after that, but apparently he hadn’t called it a night when I had.
“What exactly did you do after I left in the cab? It was already really late.”
Oh god.
I knew the answer to that question. Dumb, dumb, dumb. There was definitely a girl lying next to him in bed, probably sliding down his body at this very moment. Oh, gross.
“Wait. Don’t answer that. That’s a breach of privacy. Just wake the girl up, get her some coffee, and get your butt down here. I found a good property I want you to look at.”
I heard him shuffling around his hotel room through the phone. Cabinets opened and closed and then I heard the distant sound of his bathroom sink.
“There’s no girl. Dean wanted to go to this diner for some food after you left.”
I scrunched my brows. “But we ate at Provisions. You had a giant burger and then wolfed down half of my fries too.”
“Yeah, but Dean and I were both hungry again by the time the restaurant closed. Don’t you have guy friends? You should know that we require constant feeding.”
I mulled over the question. I had Lily, and sometimes she had a mouth like a sailor. That was pretty much it.
“Nope. Just you,” I answered.
Silence hung between us for a beat too long and I wondered if maybe I’d done something wrong by calling him my friend. Weren’t we friends? Or did he only see me as his employee? I mean he’d licked salt off my hand the night before. Clearly, we weren’t just acquaintances.
“Just give me a second to shower and then I’ll meet you at there.”
“Okay.” I smiled.
“You owe me breakfast though,” he added with a grumpy tone.
I laughed. “Fine.”
I hung up, texted him the address, and then realized I was standing there, smiling down at my phone. Weirdo.
It wouldn’t take him long to get to the building, but I still had some time to kill before he arrived. I wandered around the block in search of a street vendor serving hot pretzels, but the area was all but deserted. People were sleeping in and enjoying their Sunday morning. Meanwhile, I was walking around with a grumbling stomach and a yearning for warm dough.
I looped back around to the building and plopped down on the sidewalk, using the brick wall as a back support.
The city was quiet, leaving me far too much freedom with my thoughts. Usually I loved sleeping in on the weekends, but I’d woken up early with excitement settled in the pit of my stomach. Thoughts of Julian had lingered in the back of my mind as I’d fought to fall back asleep. I’d enjoyed hanging out with him and his friends the night before. I had no clue what Dean thought of me, but I thought he was really nice, and freaking gorgeous. He and Julian made quite the pair. Dean was a bit intimidating, with his own set of striking features to contend with. His dirty blond hair was cropped short, framing his sharp features and dark brown eyes. He was successful and driven. He’d given me a tour of his restaurant and I’d hung on to every word.
I wondered if Dean and Julian were best friends because they were both excruciatingly good-looking or if it was just a happy coincidence.
Speaking of best friends… I stared down at my cell phone and pulled up my text conversation with Lily.
Josephine: Are you awake?
I hadn’t talked to her in two days and I knew she was probably going stir crazy back in Texas. Or maybe I was the one going stir crazy without her?
Josephine: Wake up. Wake up.
She wasn’t texting me back, the whore. Then, finally, my phone buzzed in my hand.
Lily: Are you kidding me?! Are. You. Kidding. Me? You’re an hour ahead of me and it’s ungodly early, even for NYC!!
Josephine: Lil, I was just watching the sunrise over the Hudson and it reminded me of how beautiful you are.
Lily: Enough with your false flattery, Slutilda. If you keep texting me, I will straight up kill you. LET ME SLEEP.
Josephine: Last night was fun.
Lily: Last night? It still IS night. Don’t care. Don’t care. ZZZZZzzzzzzz…
I rolled my eyes.
Lily: Fine… Did you bang your boss or are you guys still pretending to be friends?
I narrowed my eyes at her text message. I hadn’t told her much about Julian. I mean, I’d had her google him so she knew what I was forced to sit across from every day, but I hadn’t told her that I had an itty bitty crush on him. Really, it was just a silly schoolgirl thing. I had no intentions of acting on it.
Josephine: There’s no pretending. We ARE friends.
Lily: All right, then I’m going back to sleep.
“Waking the whole city up?” a voice asked from the corner of the street. “Y’know some people actually enjoy sleeping in.”