Chapter 11

What the hell happened to Sabrina last night? I kept thinking as I walked to my car. I’d just grabbed some coffee and sweets from a little cafe not far from her place. She was still asleep when I left and honestly, I doubted she’d be waking up anytime soon. Everything felt… blurry. I was so exhausted, and after what we did, my brain couldn’t even string together a proper thought. But someone had to clean up. So I got up, searched around for supplies and tackled the floor by her bed. She’d thrown up–probably from being absolutely wasted–and yeah, the sight wasn’t exactly pretty. I slipped on some latex gloves, wrapped half a roll of paper towels around my hand and dealt with it. So… yeah, I don’t think me cleaning that mess is very interesting. When I got back, she was still asleep, just like I’d expected. I left the coffee and all the sweets on her kitchen table. I had a meeting to get to, so I pulled a post-it from my bag, wrote my number on it, and stuck it there for her. By that point, I was running on fumes–barely an hour of sleep–so I called Enzo to come pick me up. When he pulled up, I got into the car right away. I let out a heavy breath, sank into the passenger seat and closed my eyes before he even had the chance to bombard me with a million questions about last night. He only woke me when we arrived at the building where the meeting was held. My mind was somewhere else the whole time, so I just let my team handle the decisions. That wasn’t me–usually I’m the hard-working, always-organized, never-tired one. But it didn’t matter. She deserved every ounce of my energy. By the afternoon, I was already three coffees in, my nerves completely fried. My temper doesn’t exactly mix well with that much caffeine, but it was the only way I was going to survive the day. When we got back to the hotel, I sat on the couch across from Enzo and braced myself for the incoming interrogation.

“So?” he asked, eager. “So what?” I muttered, eyes on the TV, though I wasn’t actually watching it, I was lost in thought. “Where did you take her?” he pressed finally. I turned to him with a sly smile. “71Above” I said, calm as ever. He rolled his eyes. “Oh, you’re so predictable. You took her to the same place you close business deals… ugh!”. “It’s a nice restaurant, got a nice view” I defended, though half-heartedly. I knew there were better places I could’ve taken her, but just being around her already had me nervous. Putting myself in an unfamiliar setting on top of that? I’d probably have broken down internally. “Yeah, sure. Nice restaurant, my ass!” he shot back. “You should’ve taken her somewhere romantic! She’s not just some random person”. “Well, we didn’t stay long anyway” I snapped, irritated just remembering it. “People recognized her and we had to leave”. “Oh…”, his tone softened, but only for a moment. “Listen, I know how you feel about all this. But if you two keep… whatever this is, you’ll have to deal with that eventually. What happens when you go official?” He said it like it was the most normal question in the world. “Hey, whoa–official? What? No. I mean… yeah… I don’t know, we just–” I panicked. I never want to set high expectations with anyone. Every time I do, I end up getting hurt. “I’m just saying, jeez…” he threw his hands in the air. “Yeah, I know…” I muttered, eyes dropping to the floor. “So where did you go next?” he asked. “The observatory” I said, glancing back at him. “No. You. Didn’t. How?!” he let out a breathy laugh, completely stunned. “I know a guy” I shrugged, a cocky smile tugging at my lips. “Hah, you are a hopeless romantic after all!” he said, proud like he’d just uncovered my deepest secret. “Am I?”, I side-eyed him. “Yes, you are!” he laughed at my disbelief. “Then we fucked at her place”. “Okay, moment’s over. What?!” he stared at me, grinning in shock. “Yep” I might’ve skipped a few details, but that’s what happened eventually. “I also left her my number” I added casually. “Has she texted you?”. “I don’t know. I haven’t checked my phone in… hours, honestly”. His eyes went wide. “Oh my God, you’re so clueless it hurts. Check your goddamn phone right now!” he practically shouted. I got up to grab my phone, unlocked it, and sure enough–one new message. Sent a couple of hours ago. Unknown number. “I think that’s her”. “Well open it!” he yelled, leaning forward. I opened it quickly. Just a ‘heyy’. But I knew it was her. Who else could it be? I don’t exactly have much of a life. The curse of having money; you can’t trust shit.

“What should I say?” I asked Enzo nervously. Talking to guys never stressed me out–I didn’t care if I said something wrong. But now… now it was different. “I don’t know, maybe just greet her back?” he rolled his eyes and muttered something in Italian I didn’t quite catch. I typed a simple ‘hi’ followed by ‘are you feeling better?’ and hit send. “What? No! Oh my God, two i’s, y/n!” he groaned, burying his face in his hands. “Give it to me” he demanded, reaching for my phone. I tried to hold him off, but he still snatched it away. “Okay, so…” he started typing. I could hear the little bubble-popping sounds of the keyboard, each one making my nerves worse. He had his back completely turned, so I couldn’t even peek at what he was writing. “Shit, she saw it!” he said, way too excited. I was terrified of what Enzo had just sent her. When he finally turned the phone to me, I covered my face with both hands and collapsed back on the couch, eyes squeezed shut. I didn’t even want to look. He had sent; ‘I had a really great time last night’, ‘we should definitely do it again’–and a wink emoji. “Enzo, what the hell!? That makes it sound like all I want is sex!” and that was the last thing I wanted her to think. What I really wanted was to get to know her–go on actual dates, learn her secrets and give her gifts no one else had thought of. Enzo just rolled his eyes. Sometimes I forget he’s a guy too… then he reminds me by being a complete asshole. My phone lit up with a new notification. ‘I am, yeah’, ‘thanks for the coffee’. I snatched it back from Enzo and quickly replied, ‘you’re welcome’. Almost instantly, the three dots appeared. ‘and yeah, we definitely should ;)’. Enzo gave me a smug little you’re welcome shrug and a smile. I punched him in the arm for it, but I couldn’t hide my grin. I liked her message, and a few seconds later, the dots appeared again–she was typing.

‘for how long will you be in la?’ she texted. Honestly, I didn’t know. I had no meetings or deals until next week, so the truth was; for as long as she wanted me here. Enzo was flying back to New York tomorrow anyway–to take care of the dogs. ‘as long as you want me to’, I finally typed back. She liked the message.‘what r you gonna do now?’ I asked, hoping she didn’t already have plans. I wanted to invite her to the hotel, maybe let her get to know Enzo better too. But she replied that she had to head to the studio for some recording. ‘no problem’, ‘see you tomorrow then?’. ‘yeahh’, she sent back,‘goodnighttt’. I started typing a reply, then froze. “Should I put a heart at the end?” I asked Enzo, tilting my head. “Yeah, sure” he said casually, like it was nothing. “I mean… it’s not like we’re together. And it doesn’t mean I love her, I mean… I am in love wit–“. Before I could stop him, Enzo leaned over and pressed send. “Enzo!” I shouted, tossing the phone across the room. I wasn’t ready for whatever she’d say back. So we waited, and waited. Eventually, Enzo got sick of the silence. He picked the phone up off the floor and checked the screen. “She liked your message” he said, his tone unreadable. “What does that mean?” my heart was about to explode. “That means she likes you back!” he replied excited. And just like that, I felt my entire life gain meaning again. Sabrina… likes me?!

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Heyyy! Thank you for reading this chapter! Tomorrow starts school (😔) and unfortunately i won’t have so much free time to write. So the next chapters might take a while 🙁

✨byeee✨