Page 85 of Only Lovers in the Building

Sierra kicked off her Louboutins. “He took me to Mr. Chow.”

“Fancy.”

“Nice.”

“Overrated.”

“I’ve had better at street stalls.”

Ben cut through the noise. “This story does not start at Mr. Chow.”

“I agree,” Lily said. “How did you meet this man of questionable value?”

“We matched on an app,” Sierra replied.

Nicolas groaned.

“What’s wrong with that?” Noah asked him. “We met on an app.”

Nicolas didn’t reply, but his pained expression said it all.

“Guys,” Ben intervened in his most professorial tone, “you’ll get your turn. Sierra, please continue.”

“Over the last couple of months, we’ve been on four or five solid dates. He travels to L.A. a lot, so there have been some gaps. He makes up for it, though. Each time he takes me out, he puts in the effort. Once, he took me to a party at a mansion crawling with A-list celebrities. Another time, we went to dinner and ran into a rapper whose name rhymes with take. You get the vibes, right? He ups the ante every time—a better restaurant, a hotter club. He said we’d fly to Jamaica, but that never happened. Last week, though, we were poolside, hanging out with one of the hottest DJs. I’ll say this. He’s a little dull. I got the feeling he purposely chooses these flashy events to hide the fact that he can’t carry a conversation. I tried! God knows I tried. We could never just talk. The connection isn’t there. When he asked me to dinner tonight, I was encouraged. It was time we spent a night together without like a whole freaking circus.”

She looked to Ben and Lily to confirm that her point was getting across.

“You’re good,” Lily said.

“Continue,” Ben added.

“We get to Mr. Chow. The food is next level. I’ve never seen prawns so huge, so fresh.”

Lily interjected to praise Kylie’s cooking. “Kylie made us lobster ravioli. It was perfect.”

“It was the best I’ve had in my life,” Jeremy added.

“Aw, thanks, you two!”

“If there’s any leftover, I’d love to try it,” Sierra said.

“I’ve got you covered,” Kylie said.

“We all love Kylie’s cooking,” Noah said, impatient. “Now, let Sierra spill this tea.”

Sierra grabbed another brownie. “These are delicious, by the way.” She took a bite and, with a hand over her mouth while she chewed, went on with her story. “We’re halfway through the entrée when he initiates, you know, the talk. I’m thinking, here we go. Things are about to get serious.”

“Sorry to interrupt again,” Lily said. “What do you mean by the talk? Be specific.”

“Oh, you know. Where’s this going? Blah, blah, blah.”

“Gotcha,” Lily said. “But where did you think it was going?”

“Nowhere fast!” Sierra exclaimed. “I was curious to know his thoughts.”

“And we’re curious to know how this story ends, so go on,” Noah said.

“He says he loves my company and he’s having fun. I tell him, ‘Same.’ He says he hasn’t been seeing anybody else. I can’t go there because your girl has a roster. It took some time to build, and I’m not going to knock it down just because this one guy took me to a couple of parties.”