Want to come over and tell me them over a bottle of wine?
Evangeline
I wish, but Jules is acting crazy lately.
Something about a business rival acting weirdly…
I don’t know, he’s making me stay here tonight.
Mia
BUZZKILL.
Tell me all about it.
The date, not the buzzkill.
Evangeline
Well, he picked me up in a suit and a car worth more than all of my college tuition. AND he gave me another bouquet of pink flowers even though the last one is still overtaking my entire kitchen counter.
And then he took me to this fancy steakhouse.
Mia
And dessert???
Evangeline
We didn’t have any.
Mia
Girl, you have the biggest sweet tooth of anyone I know.
I don’t believe that for a second.
Evangeline
Well, HE had dessert. I didn’t.
Mia
?
OHHHHHH.
One weekafter Alek’s and my night at the club, my kitchen was overflowing with pink flowers of all shades and sizes. They were never as loud or overwhelming as Alek’s first bouquet, though I knew that was because he wanted to get my attention after weeks apart.
I was beginning to learn things like that—how Alek thought. We texted constantly and saw each other almost every day after Jules dropped me back home after rehearsals. Alek couldn’t even wait twenty-four hours after one of the best days of my life to ask me on a date, taking me to a nice restaurant that night before showing me how it felt to be consumed by a villain.
And now I knew he sent me flowers because he simply didn’t want to go long without seeing me, which was good because I liked how he clung to me. How he continued to give me articles of clothing, refusing to take the scarf back. How he was alwaysasking me if I wanted to go to dinner, the movies, or for a walk around the park.
And though I’d never gone to his house —because I knew once we did, we’d take that final step together—he’d come to mine often, sometimes to cuddle me while we watched trashy television, sometimes to make me feel things I’d never felt before.
Tonight would be our first night without seeing each other. The thought brought a frown to my face as I stretched on my kitchen counter the morning before my second rehearsal as Juliet. I’d had to quit my job at the cafe due to my new role, which would have really stressed me out had my salary not increased with our new investor.
I had Alek to thank for that. And I was too grateful to protest it much.
