“What?!” Bram yells, nearly jumping out of his seat.
I raise my palms. “Don’t get excited, mate. As I said, nothing is certain. But he’s interested. He heard me out. He wants to help. The ball is in your court now.”
Linden looks at his brother. “I think this is a cause to celebrate.” He looks back at me questioningly. “You do think we can celebrate, right?”
“If you want,” I say. “If we’re going on vibes and feelings alone, then I’d say yes.”
Bram lets out a whoop of joy and Linden pats him on the back. James gets up and says he’s grabbing some drinks so I slide into the booth next to Stephanie. She’s being oddly quiet, smiling at Bram and Linden but not quite looking at me.
Of course this in turn makes me want to look at her.
“Where’s Nicola?” I ask. “And Kayla?” I add, as if it were an afterthought.
It wasn’t.
Stephanie looks at Bram. “Well, Nicola is at home because Ava wasn’t feeling well. And Kayla was here…” They exchange a loaded look. Finally Stephanie sighs and turns to me. “Look, Linden told me you were on a date with Justine.”
My head whips around to look at Linden, who shrinks from my gaze.
“And,” Stephanie continues, “I told Kayla that.”
Now I’m staring accusingly at Bram. “You know that wasn’t a date. You practically forced me to do it.”
“I know!” Bram exclaims. “I know. By the time I got here, they’d already told Kayla and she’d left. She was upset.”
I groan and place my head in my hands. “It was just to secure the investment. That’s all.”
“I tried to text her that but she’s not answering me,” Steph says. “The messages aren’t being delivered. She must have turned her phone off.” She briefly puts her hand on my shoulder. “I only told her because she asked where you were and I didn’t want to lie. I know she likes you…I just didn’t think she had it that bad for you.” She pauses. “Honestly, she’ll kill me for saying this, but you’re making her behave like…I think she’s head over heels.”
Hearing that makes me both warm and cold at the same time.
“Did you and Justine…” she starts. “You know…”
I glare at her and she moves an inch away from me. “No, we didn’t. But still.” I get up just in time to see James approaching with a bottle of sparkling wine. “Tell me where she lives,” I say to Steph.
“What? You’re going to go over there?”
“Yes,” I say, bringing out my phone. “What’s her address?”
She tells me and I enter it into my phone. “Thank you,” I tell her, then I turn on my heel and walk off. Bram calls after me but I don’t turn around. Let him celebrate. This is his baby, his project. This is his passion.
I need to go fix mine.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Kayla
I floated through the entire day, as if on cotton candy clouds. It didn’t matter that I’d only had a few hours of sleep or that my eyes were rimmed with plum colored circles. I didn’t care that it was Monday, that I hate where I work now, that I won’t be joining the ranks of the writers on the other side of the office.
I know I should care about all of that. I know that on Sunday morning it was still a big fat splotch on this new future I had somehow built in my head.
But Lachlan, he’d erased everything. He’d taken over everything in me and had replaced all the shit with…well, I don’t know what. Something to look forward to. Something to look back on.