I felt like I was suffocating.

The silence that settled over the three of us dragged on and as it did, the invisible noose around my neck tightened, strangling my voice and choking off my ability to think. My pounding heartbeat kept the time, with each thump echoing in my ears until the first minute gave way to the second and then the third. I listened to the low rattle of Sophie’s breathing and wondered why I’d always thought there was nothing worse than seeing a girl cry. Looking at her now, I realized that had been a naïve belief—a nice guy’s failure to understand that anger and sadness weren’t the worst things in the world.

The truth was that I could handle someone sobbing into my shirt; I knew what to say, I knew how to calm the person down. A hug, a few strokes of her hair, and usually everything was good as new. If the girl was really upset, I’d throw in a few tissues and smile awkwardly until she felt better, maybe even buy her lunch if I got the impression that she wanted me to stick around. 

Yeah, I could definitely handle sadness. Defeat was another matter entirely.

Pale as a ghost, Sophie stared at the ground, wide-eyed and transfixed by a blackened piece of gum stuck to the mottled cement. Though she remained eerily still, Sophie kept my palm in a crushing vice grip, ignoring my half-hearted attempts to wiggle blood flow back into my fingers. She didn’t have to look at me for me to know that this was her way of pleading with me not to let go, not to leave her alone. I tried to give her hand a reaffirming squeeze but if she felt it, her only reaction was a small shiver.

With a knot forming in my stomach, I looked up to meet Richard’s gaze and saw that he was studying me from beneath raised eyebrows. He seemed peeved that Sophie still hadn’t responded, rolling his eyes as if he expected me to join him in mocking her. On the contrary, that was all it took for me to begin imagining what it would be like to introduce a fist to his pretty face. I glanced at Sophie, wondering if she’d be pissed at me for socking her ex-boyfriend or hand me a medal as thanks. Then again, the vacant look in her eye told me the answer would be neither. I doubted that a hurricane of bombs would be enough to grab her attention in her current state but before I could say or do anything stupid, Richard sighed and ended the icy lull.

“How have you been?” he asked, offering Sophie a weak smile that she didn’t return. “I tried to call you when I heard you were reading for this but I guess you changed your number. I was hoping we could talk for a minute or two and catch up.”

Richard shot me a pointed look but I feigned ignorance to the hint, checking my watch instead of acknowledging the cue for me to leave. Sophie continued to stare at the ground but I could tell his voice had stirred something inside of her. Shocked out of whatever memory she’d retreated into, Sophie’s eyes narrowed and took on an unreadable glint.

“I’m happy to see that you’re working again,” Richard went on, oblivious to his former girlfriend’s hardening demeanor. “To be honest, my agent almost had me convinced to turn down the first audition until your name started floating around. I guess he remembered that you’re better than the both of us when it comes to picking scripts.”

He laughed and I thought I could hear the sound of Sophie’s molars grinding into dust. Still, she said nothing, and when Richard motioned at me to nudge her, I shrugged, unwilling to give Sophie a reason to believe I’d taken anyone’s side but hers. Obviously used to people bending to his will, Richard sneered at my hesitance and changed tactics, painting on a nostalgic expression that only fueled my desire to hit him.

“I don’t know if it’s cool for me to say this, but I’ve missed you a lot recently. I went to the Canary Islands over Christmas and couldn’t stop thinking about that time we celebrated your birthday there--”

If Richard had looked at Sophie then instead of continuing his monologue, he would’ve seen her melancholy give way to a furious blaze as she stepped forward, delivering a brutal slap with her free hand. Richard staggered backwards from the force of being struck, mouth open with shock and eyes bright with pain. Between her fiery rage and the satisfying sound of her palm whipping across his face, I half-expected to see a burn mark scarring his cheek rather than the pink tinge Sophie’s palm had left behind.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Richard exclaimed. 

“Hey,” I started, earning a withering look from the scowling actor while he rubbed the redness from his face. Before I could continue, Sophie shook her head.

“You’re disgusting.” The words wobbled with a slight tremor and she closed her eyes, breathing deeply. When Sophie spoke again, the nervousness was gone, replaced with a steely timbre that sounded sharp enough to cut through diamonds. “I mean, Richard, are you kidding me? After everything you did to screw me over, do you really think you have the right to stand there and talk about me working again or say that you miss me?”

“It’s true,” Richard insisted and Sophie scoffed.

“Bull. You know it’s bull, I know it’s bull, so please don’t pretend like you’re suddenly some great actor when we both know that you’re not. You aren't fooling anybody."

“Ouch.” Richard lowered his hand, examining Sophie for a long beat before frowning. “I guess you weren’t kidding when you said that you’d never forgive me.”

“I’m sorry, but do they wipe your memory before or after you land on Planet No Duh?”

“After, and so sue me that I’d hoped you’d moved on enough by now to at least talk things out with me.”

“Oh, trust me, I certainly wasn’t planning on pining over you until they shipped me off to a convent.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Either way, it’s been two years, Richard. Don’t you think it’s kind of late to pull the ‘let’s be friends’ card?” 

“No, I don’t. Besides, I thought you of all people would understand why things worked out the way they did.”

I shifted uncomfortably, wondering if I had overstayed my welcome in the conversation. The nosy part of me wanted to hear every word the pair traded but now that Sophie had regained her footing, I knew that I had no right to stick around. I wasn’t dating her and even if the thought of them frolicking around some island paradise left me heated with unwanted jealousy, I certainly wasn’t about to admit that today or under future threat of water torture.   

I tugged at my hand gently, giving Sophie the opportunity to tell me to leave if she wanted to. Instead of letting go, she tightened her hold on me, wringing my fingers like a rag.

“What do you want me to understand?” Sophie’s voice kept its edge despite dropping to just above a whisper. “The fact that I kept your secret and you had your PR team dump me through a press release? Because I don’t get that at all.”

“I’m sorry, Soph, I didn’t want… Look, I just want to make it up to you, that’s all.”

Grimacing at his use of my nickname for her, I watched Sophie’s reaction while she processed what he’d said. The turbulent emotions that flitted across her features went by too quickly for me to guess what she was feeling but I had a hunch that deep down, she wanted to believe him. A second pang of envy hit then, leaving behind a new crop of knots that took root inside my stomach.  

“How?” she asked and I could hear a hint of what sounded like hopefulness glimmering beneath her harsh tone. My heart sank.

“Do this movie.”

Sophie snorted. “Who does that help more, you or me?”

“Look,” Richard said, glancing at me with a look that said he wished I’d taken the bait to leave earlier. I struggled to keep my own expression neutral. “Kelly loves you for this role and honestly, with you and me in a package deal, there’s no way the producers won’t back the casting. They want me, Kelly wants you, and Michael should be up there spinning that to them right now. If you finish reading with me, we’ll probably be handed contracts to sign before breakfast tomorrow.”

“You talked to Michael?” I blurted, too stunned to stop myself from jumping in.

“I told you he knew,” Sophie muttered and Richard sheepishly tugged at his collar.

“Yeah, yesterday afternoon. Sorry, what’s your name again?”

“Parker Jennings,” I replied, offering my left hand when Sophie showed no sign of letting go of my right. “I work with Michael and Sophie.”

“I figured.”

Richard accepted my handshake with enough force to let me know the gesture was far from friendly. He studied me from head to toe and I was relieved to recognize a glimmer of mutual dislike in his eye. I matched his fake grin with a wide smile and, no longer seeing any need in pretending to like the guy, returned his crushing grip with as much strength as my left hand could muster. Pumping our clasped fists up and down, I wondered if Sophie had any idea about the wordless challenge that was taking place in front of her.  

Even after Richard dropped my hand, we continued sizing each other up. He’d left my fingers with the ache of a growing bruise but I still felt a degree of pride knowing that I stood a few inches taller than him. It wasn’t much—in fact, if I really thought about it, it wasn’t anything—but it made me feel better all the same.

  “I still don’t buy it,” Sophie said, ending my staring contest with her ex. He turned to face her with his bottom lip jutted in a childish pout. “You want something, I know you do.”

“I don’t want anything,” Richard insisted. “I’m just trying to be nice to you. Is that some sort of crime now? I know you’ve never trusted me--”

“I’ve never trusted you because you’re physically incapable of being honest. Face it, I’ve known you for way too long--and I know you way too well—to not recognize this as a textbook example of you trying to play me.”

“I’m different than I was back then.”

“No, you’re not.”

“How can you say that?”

“There’s a reason why I never lost when we played poker.” Sophie waved a hand in a circle around her face. “Your tells are exactly the same.”

“Alright.” Richard chuckled, rubbing his right temple with the knuckles of his fist. “Alright, fine. Maybe I don’t feel comfortable telling you the truth when you have your bodyguard here on standby.”

“Oh, please.” Sophie scoffed with derision, clearly unimpressed by Richard’s excuse. “You wouldn’t tell me the truth if we were on a barge in the middle of Antarctica.”

“Actually, I would because I want to. You know, I understand that you’re pissed about what happened and you have every right to be--”

“That’s an understatement,” Sophie muttered.

“But I’m trying to change, Soph. I really am. I know I can’t fix the past but trying to make things better now is my way of learning for the future.”

I snickered, unable to stop myself from laughing at the cheesiness of his line. Richard scowled and I glanced at Sophie, half-expecting to see her grinning or rolling her eyes. Instead, she stared at Richard in disbelief while understanding dawned on her.

“Oh,” she said after a long beat. “Wow. I had no idea.”

Richard shrugged. “Yeah, well, I’m sure you can understand why I tried to keep it under wraps.”

“Now that I think about it, this is the longest I’ve ever seen you go without a nose bleed. Wow,” she said again, biting her lip. “Interesting.”

“What?” I asked reflexively, hating how easily I’d been shut out.

Sophie and Richard exchanged looks and the actor ran a hand through his hair. “Now do you get why I wanted to talk to you without an audience?”

“Yeah, I do.”

With a hint of reluctance, Sophie untangled her hand from mine, sending needles through my fingers as blood resumed flowing to their tips. “Sorry,” Sophie said, furrowing her brow. “Would you mind?”

I stared at her and wondered if it was a trick question. “I thought you said you hated--”

“I know,” Sophie said abruptly, cutting me off. “I’m sorry, it’s complicated.”

“Clearly.”

Sophie’s frown deepened. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like I’m doing something wrong.”

“All I want is for you to tell me what you’re doing so I can text Michael. Are you going home or are you going to go back upstairs once you two finish talking?”

“I don’t know.”

“That’s not an answer.”

Sophie opened and closed her mouth twice, looking at Richard before dropping her gaze to the ground. “Fine, then tell him I’ll be back in ten.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. Tell him I’m sorry and that I ate something bad at lunch or whatever.”

“Sure.” I shrugged and pulled out my cell, grateful for an excuse to break away from the two and stew in my frustration alone.

I walked further down the sidewalk and plopped down on a bench, jabbing the touch screen’s glass keys and typing out a text to Michael. From where I sat, I could only hear a few stray words of Sophie and Richard’s conversation, though the tone of it came through loud and clear. Richard cradled his face in his hands while mumbling apologies and Sophie stood patting his shoulder, wordlessly forgiving him. The scene surprised me, not only because of how quickly Richard’s ego had fallen away but because I knew how deep Sophie’s grudges ran. For someone who’d rather hire a team of lawyers than pay a parking ticket, it was hard to believe her hatred of her ex had transformed into sympathy in less time than it took to blink.

Sighing, I closed my eyes, too tired to keep track of my thoughts as they whirled and multiplied inside my head. I wondered if anyone would notice if I stayed out here for the rest of the afternoon, napping and enjoying the sunlight. Michael might, maybe, if he needed coffee or someone to refill his water glass. Even that was a stretch, though; I had a feeling he wouldn’t see a problem in recruiting Sam to fill in for me.

With that thought, I drifted into a light sleep with greater ease than I’d enjoyed in weeks. I’d just begun to slip into the early stages of a dream when a pair of hands took hold of my shoulders. Sophie didn't even get a chance to shake me before I jumped up, straightening my tie at the same moment that my phone buzzed against my leg.

“What’s up?” I asked, rubbing the tiredness from my eyes.

“Are you okay?” For some reason, the concern on Sophie’s face was less than comforting and I nodded once before changing the topic.

“Michael’s calling,” I said, not bothering to check the caller ID before reaching into my pocket and pressing a button to silence the call. “Are you two ready?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Sophie glanced at Richard while he tilted his head back and squeezed medicated droplets into his eyes. “Sorry about all this.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Parker—“

“Can you tell him to hurry up?” I pulled out my cell when it began a second wave of vibrations. Rather than waiting for Sophie to wrangle her potential co-star, I answered and began walking towards the studio’s entrance. “Hello?”

“Every time.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, confused by Michael’s reply.

“Every time I’m having a good day, you two find a way to make sure it doesn’t last. I don’t get it. It happens too often to be a coincidence so do you guys plan it in advance, or what?”

“Look, I’m sorry, we’re heading back right now.”

“Five minutes ago I landed the third best deal of my career and I didn’t even get to celebrate it for thirty seconds before finding out Princess Unstable had gone AWOL.”

“I said we’re on our way,” I snapped, the words sounding harsher than I’d intended them to. I cleared my throat. “Sophie wasn’t feeling well and she needed some fresh air.”

 “Tell her—“

“She’ll apologize to Kelly once she gets inside,” I said, finishing his sentence and pushing through the front doors of the building. “I’ll see you in a minute.”

Despite my head start, Sophie and Richard had caught up by the time the elevator arrived, with Richard looking around every few seconds to make sure the girls passing by had a chance to admire him from every angle. I rolled my eyes, wondering how Sophie had managed to date a guy who was essentially just a worse version of Phil Thorne.

“Is Michael mad?” Sophie asked when we stepped out into the tenth floor's hallway.

I shrugged. “Probably.”

She gnawed her lip and followed me into Kelly’s office with Richard trailing a few feet behind. I could hear him stopping every few seconds and although I didn’t dare turning around to confirm it, something about him told me that he was using the picture frames hanging in the corridor as mirrors to fix his hair.

Sam’s face broke into a relieved smile when we walked in and she waved the two actors towards the casting room before beckoning me to her desk. “Are you alright, Parker?”

“Sophie just asked me that and I’m fine.”

“Really?”

Her eyebrows arched with skepticism and I frowned. “Yeah, why?”

“You look a bit green.”

“I’m not sick.”

“That’s not what I meant, love.”

“What did you mean?”

Rather than answering, Sam smiled and nodded at the door Richard and Sophie had disappeared through. “I’ll tell you later. Michael wants you to sit in on this.”

“Do I have to?”

“Trust me, I’d much rather you stay and chat with me but Michael’s already bitten my head off once today and I’m running out of superglue.”

I chuckled and slipped inside the well-lit room, eyeing the set up of the cameras and letting my gaze drift over the seating arrangement. Michael and Kelly sat at a long table, squeezed in between the producers from the meeting and joined by a few men and women I’d never seen before. A cameraman stood fiddling with the positioning of his equipment and motioned for me to shut the door. I hurried to an empty seat next to Michael, apologizing when I bumped against the table in my attempt to sit down. It wasn’t until after I’d accidentally elbowed Michael and the man to my left a few more times that I looked up and saw Sophie staring at me.

Two collapsible chairs were set up in the middle of the room, angled so that the actors could cheat to the camera while they delivered their lines. Richard sat sprawled out in his, lazily twiddling his thumbs while Sophie paced back and forth behind him. She kept her gaze trained in my direction, sighing when she finally came to a stop.

“I’m ready,” the cameraman announced, flashing an A-OK sign to Kelly.

“Are either of you planning on running away this time?” the director asked, prompting Sophie and Richard to shake their heads.

Kelly eyed them warily but the minute he shouted, “Action,” I understood why Richard had been so confident about Sophie and him landing the roles. The people seated around me had all leaned forward, too engrossed in the unfolding scene to bother jotting down notes or scribbling on the legal pads set out in front of them. Kelly was silently punctuating each line with the staccato hand gestures of a conductor, smiling whenever Sophie or Richard nailed the delivery just how he’d envisioned.

The dialogue, the scripted panic… I guessed that I was the only person who didn’t care about any of it, at least not really. It was hard to focus on what they were saying when their body language told the real story.

From the way that Richard looked at Sophie to the way that she moved around the makeshift stage, it was impossible to tell where the acting ended and their real selves began. They read each other without stuttering once, pausing at the right beats and picking up momentum seamlessly. Even in front of a room full of gawking eyes, they seemed more like friends chatting over a cup of coffee than celebrities in the middle of an audition. It was natural and engaging—exactly what the producers needed to see to believe what Michael said about Sophie being the ideal candidate was true.

It was exactly what the producers needed to see and more than I really wanted to.  

“Wait!”

Sophie’s outburst startled me out of my trance and I watched her cling to Richard’s arm with an earnest desperation. It reminded me of the way she’d held my hand when I’d first chased her down outside. “Please stay,” Sophie whispered through a gentle sob. “Please.”

Richard knelt down and I could feel the tension pass through them even as they hesitated. The rest of the panel breathed in expectantly but I shifted in my seat, uncomfortable and able to guess what was coming next. From the way her chair was positioned, I could see Sophie looking at me from the corner of her eye; it was subtle enough to show up on the playback screen as if she’d been staring into space but I knew there was nothing accidental about her decision to break the fourth wall like that.

Following her gaze, Richard glanced in my direction before cupping Sophie’s face in his manicured hands, murmuring something that made a lady at the end of the table sigh with quiet appreciation. I chewed on my thumbnail while the echo of blood pumping through my veins deafened me to what they were actually saying. Whatever dialogue had brought them to this point mattered less than my masochistic refusal to look away. As if compelled by a force beyond my own will, I watched while Richard stroked a thumb against Sophie’s cheek, deftly licking his lips before pressing her mouth firmly against his.

He held Sophie tightly against his chest while the tape continued to roll and it wasn't hard to tell that he was enjoying the moment far beyond a professional level. From what I could see, I didn't blame him for that, although the knowledge that this had once been a regular part of their relationship made the knots in my stomach tighten as the kiss drew on. It was only after I caught sight of the notepad belonging to the man next to me that I remembered Sophie had already filmed this scene six times today--six times with six different guys. There wasn't enough Pepto-Bismol in Los Angeles to make that realization any less nauseating and despite the circumstances, no amount of denial could make me any less envious.

By the time Kelly ended the shot, I’d gnawed the skin around my thumb to a bloody mess while the rest of the room had erupted with self-congratulatory cheers. Some applauded the fact they’d backed the film from its infancy while others claimed the movie would sweep its competitors at the box office. What everyone had in common, however, was a sudden shared desire to take credit for pairing Richard and Sophie as the film’s leads. The same men that’d ripped Sophie to shreds hours before now shamelessly shouted over one another to sing her praise.

“Genius. Absolutely genius.”

“Flawless.”

“Fireworks,” Kelly said, a flicker of triumph lighting up his eyes.

Sophie and Richard may have been the ones in front of the camera but it was obvious that they were far from the only actors in the room.

I joined Michael in shaking everyone’s hand, feeling the layer of grime on my hand thicken with each palm that I touched. When I reached the end of the line, I scanned the crowd to see where Sophie had run off to, tensing when I spotted Richard bent and whispering something in her ear. She glowed a light pink, oblivious to the cool stare I’d locked Richard in before he winked and disappeared into the sea of waiting flatterers.

It was that last exchange and not their kiss that bothered me as I stood pressed into the far corner of the elevator an hour later, only half-listening to the casting staff chat about how excited they were to wrap the day. Michael and the producers roared with laughter while they joked about a game of golf they’d played a few weeks ago and I chuckled in spite of myself, unsure if I was genuinely amused or simply unsurprised that they were friends outside of the conference room. The yelling, the insults… The entire front they’d put up when discussing Sophie’s role had just been business, like everything else that Michael brushed off as a necessary part of the industry grind.

Sophie had been one of the last people to board the elevator but even from across the cabin, I could still feel her shooting looks at me. I set my jaw and avoided her gaze, fully aware that ignoring her would frustrate her to no end and hopeful that she’d take it as a sign that I didn’t feel like talking. If she wanted reassurance that her screen test had gone well, I could point her in the direction of a hundred people who’d jump at the chance to tell her the same. Maybe it was jealousy more so than fatigue but I didn’t see the point in being the one to say that she looked great kissing her ex-boyfriend or anyone else, for that matter.

When the elevator doors opened to the main entrance hall, the flood of bodies that poured out swept Michael away still laughing. I sighed when I saw that Sophie had hung behind, only surprised that I made it two full steps into the lobby before her hand darted out and caught my sleeve.

“Happy to be done?” I asked, forcing a grin that burned the muscles of my face.

“Ecstatic. Chemistry tests always leave a bad taste in my mouth.” Sophie laughed at her own joke and I felt the corners of my lips falter into a grimace.

Even though she was smiling, I could tell that Sophie was nervous by the way her hand fluttered to her hair and I waited to hear whatever she wanted to say next.

“It was pretty embarrassing having you and Michael in the room for that last read-through,” she blurted, looking down to examine her shoes. “I told him I’d mess up with you guys watching but I guess he wanted you to get the full experience or maybe he just wanted to watch me squirm. I’m sure it was awkward for you, too, huh?”

I shrugged, unwilling to betray my feelings of lingering unease. “Not really. There's nothing strange about watching you do your job.”

“Oh.” Sophie’s smile disappeared and she moved on to twirling a new strand of hair. “I guess—maybe it’s just me, then.”

“Yeah, maybe.” I coughed, clearing the bitterness out of my tone. Ignoring my own resolve to avoid the topic, I added, “You guys looked good together.”

The comment prompted worry lines to spread like deep fissures across Sophie’s forehead. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Huh?”

“You’ve seemed kind of pissed off at me since we were outside earlier. I just—“

“I’m not,” I interrupted. “Everything went well and Michael thinks it’s a done deal on his end. That’s all good news, right?”

“I’m not talking about the movie, Parker. I don’t know how you feel about--I just don’t want you to get the wrong idea about anything that you might have seen or overheard.”

“You mean between you and Richard?” Sophie nodded and I hunched my shoulders around my ears. “Honestly, the personal stuff is none of my business and, like I said, the rest of it's your job. There’s nothing for me to get the wrong idea about.”

My answer seemed to upset her and I watched Sophie's face fold with disappointment. “Oh,” she repeated, softer than before. “You’re right. I probably just imagined… something.”

“Yeah.”

“So, what are you doing after this?” she asked, changing the subject and smiling, though it didn’t come anywhere close to reaching her eyes. “I was thinking we could have a celebratory dinner at Morton’s, my treat.”

“Actually, I have to go back to the office. Michael’s giving me a ride and he needs me to, uh, finish up a project before clocking out for the day.” I winced at the lie, knowing that the only place Michael was taking me was back to my apartment. 

“That makes sense since you were here all afternoon. Well, do you want to get lunch tomorrow?”

“I can’t,” I lied again, finding that it became easier each time that I did.

“Another project?”

“Something like that, yeah.”

“Alright,” Sophie said, realizing that I’d blown her off, though obviously not understanding why. I wasn't sure that I knew why I'd done it either. “Well, thank you again for today.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I guess I’ll see you when you’re not busy.”

“I’ll call you.”

Sophie let out a short puff of air that could’ve passed for a laugh and nodded. “Right.”

I watched as she hurried away and joined the stampede of workers that called five o’clock quitting time. She hadn’t fully disappeared from my line of sight before I began kicking myself for turning down her invitation. It wasn’t the prospect of fine dining that I regretted missing out on so much as I hated knowing that I'd hurt her feelings--again. I reached into my pocket and traced the cool glass of my phone’s screen, debating whether or not I should text her and apologize for my bad mood now or wait until later.

“Hey, Parker, you ready?”

I looked around and met Michael’s curious stare, letting go of my cell and heading towards him. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Michael jabbered on while we walked to his car, punching the air with excitement when he recalled the parts of the meeting that I’d missed. He was floating too high on cloud nine for me to bother pointing out that no one had signed a contract yet and I had a feeling that mentioning it would do little more than earn me a ride home in a cab. Something was bothering me, though, and the moment I buckled my seatbelt, the words came tumbling out.

“Did you know?” I demanded, cutting off his imitation of the southern producer’s accent. “About Richard and Sophie. Did you know they’d…”

“Dated? Of course I did. I also knew they broke up for some hush-hush reason, I guessed that she’d freak out when she saw him, and I had total faith that you’d be able to work your voodoo magic and get her back in the casting room.” Michael beamed with a level of smugness that rivaled Richard’s; I looked away.

“So that’s why you brought me along.”

“Don’t be stupid. I brought you along because you’re my intern and this was a good learning experience. Your skills just happen to also be aligned with what I needed them for.”

When I didn’t respond, Michael rubbed his knuckles roughly across the top of my head; it reminded me of all the times he’d done the same thing when we were kids. “What, are you mad? You really wanted to be back at the office filing headshots instead of getting in on the action out here?”

“No, but—“

“Let me guess, you want a heads up the next time I need you to do damage control. Fine, no big deal. Do you want me to apologize, too? Give you a hug? Change your diaper?”

“Go to hell.”

“See, and that’s why I like you so much more than Scott.” Michael brought his car’s engine to life, shifting the gear stick into reverse while the motor purred. “He would’ve made me say sorry." 

--------------------------------------

A/N: Wow, I can’t believe how long it’s been since I last updated but what’s really awful is that I had most of this chapter written in early October. The truth is that between moving to London, trying to find a job, trying to find friends, applying to law school, fighting off three different colds, and dealing with a newly long-distance relationship, spending time on Wattpad has been a pretty low priority—yes, even for a notorious addict such as myself. Even so, I appreciate everyone who’s been reading and sending me messages of support during my absence. It means a lot and I hope that as my posts become more regular again, you’ll become re-invested in the story that I still have left to tell. Please point out typos or anything that reads awkwardly. I'm on a significant amount of cough medication and my brain is working at a turtle's pace. 

Also, if you celebrate it, Happy Thanksgiving! It’s my absolute favorite holiday and you can be sure I found a restaurant in London to feast on the world’s most underrated bird.  

Dedicated to everyone because I love all y'all.