In The Heat of Los Angeles

I woke up before Harry for the first time all week. I snuck into the bathroom and took the chance to do my normal morning routine that I’d failed to do all week. Pee. Brush teeth. Brush hair. Put hair in ponytail. Put on gym clothes. Yeah, I’d packed gym clothes. As much as I hated that Kammi made me do this every morning I’d taken the last few days off because my schedule was crazy and I wasn’t staying at home. I need to do something today. I put my watch on and walked back into the bedroom. Harry was laying on his stomach so I sat down on his ass before leaning down and kissing the bare skin of his back.

“Good morning,” I whispered. He stretched his arms before reaching behind him grabbing me.

“Good morning,” he responded. His voice was deep and gritty this morning. He turned under me so he could look up at me. “You actually woke up before me.”

“I did. And I’ve got clothes on to go for a run.”

“Are you going down to my gym or running outside?” He pulled me down on to him hugging me. He rubbed his hand up and down my back underneath my running top.

“I hadn’t decided. I don’t really know my way around the neighborhood.”

“Use my gym,” he said. “I’ll join you.” I felt him kiss the top of my head.

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to. You aren’t the only one who has skipped the gym the last few days.” He hugged me tighter. “Though I must admit this right here is nice. Except that I have to wee and you laying on me is sort of making it worse.” I laughed as I rolled off of him. He climbed over me, kissed me quickly and then ran into the bathroom. My phone started to ring on the nightstand so I reached over for it. I saw a photo of Eliza and I on the screen.

“Good morning, Eliza Joy,” I answered.

“Good morning, E. When do you want me to come over?”

“Whenever. I was just about to go for a run in Harry’s gym but I would happily avoid that so we could get some work done.”

“Well, I was just about to leave the condo to go get some Starbucks.”

“Starbucks. Yum. Harry what do you want from Starbucks?” I yelled towards the bathroom.

“That vanilla cream cold brew thing,” he called back.

“I heard him,” Eliza said. “Want your usual?”

“Of course. Get me an extra shot today.”

“Alright. Send me a pin of where you are so I can find you,” she said.

“I’ll do it as soon as I’m off the phone. Forgive me if I’m sweaty when you get here, I think he’s going to make me actually workout which is unfair. Despite it being my suggestion.”

“Convince him to get sweaty for a different reason.”

“Oooo! I like how you think. The code to his gate is 54893.”

“Sounds good. I’ll let myself in so just be quiet or whatever.”

“I’ll try my best.” I hung up the phone, sent her a pin to help her get to Harry’s and threw my phone back on the nightstand. Harry came in to the room in just his boxers.

“She’s bringing coffee?”

“She is.”

“I could make breakfast for all of us,” he said.

“You could or you could come over here and give me a kiss.” He walked to the bed and bent down to kiss me. I leaned back slightly before using my ankles to make his knees buckle so he fell onto the bed on top of me.

“You had ulterior motives.”

“I did. I think we can burn some calories in a way that is much more fun than going to your gym.”

“Isn’t Eliza on her way?”

“Yup, I gave her the gate code.” I slid his boxer shorts down to his thighs. “She can let herself in and get to work."

“I’m glad you’re working from home today.” He slid my shorts off as I took off my sports bra and tank top. I moved so that we were laying on the bed normally and he started to kiss me again. His lips moved down my neck and on to my breasts. One of his hands massaging the left while his mouth sucked and tugged at my nipple on the right. I moaned loudly. “I really enjoy how vocal you are about your pleasure.”

“I really enjoy your tongue,” I said nearly stuttering out the words as his free hand found it’s way between my legs, his fingers sliding over the slick skin and stopping on my clit. My heart jumped into my throat. “And your hands. Definitely enjoy your hands. Fuck.”

“Not yet,” he said. I started to tug at his hair and this time he was who moaned. My feet planted on the bed and my thighs closed in a little around Harry. He moved to kiss me again and I bit his lip as his index and middle fingers slid inside of me, his thumb paying expert level attention to my clit. His fingers curled inside of me hitting just the right spot. My breathing started to speed up and I almost sounded like I was panting. His lips again moved down to my neck, then my shoulder. I loved foreplay, I loved shit like this but I was pretty sure we didn’t have time for this right now. Eliza would be here any minute and even though I ordered iced coffee I didn’t want it to be gross when I went downstairs. Think fast Everlee Mae, how do you get him to speed this process up so you get what you wanted out of the morning?

The lightbulb turned on in my head and I reached for the condom on the nightstand, he’d enjoyed when I opened it with my teeth the other night, I’ll try that again. He pulled back to watch me. Be effective and sexy, now go. My teeth were on the package and I tried to rip it open. Just my luck it wouldn’t budge. I tried again and again finally getting it open on the fifth try and it flew from the package and hit Harry’s forehead. I couldn’t help it, I started laughing. Hysterically.

“That is officially the least sexy thing I could’ve done this morning. I’m sorry,” I said, still laughing. He grabbed the condom from where it had landed on my chest.

“It’s okay. You finally got it open. You seem anxious. Are you okay? Do you want to do this? You haven’t been the one to initiate sex. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Fuck yes I want to do this. I’m fine. Just realizing that while this was a brilliant idea for how to spend my morning that Eliza should be here soon and I maybe shouldn’t leave her downstairs by herself all morning just so I can sleep with the client we are supposed to be working with today.

“Could you in this circumstance no longer refer to me as ‘the client’? It’s weird.”

“What would you like me to refer to you as?” I felt him slide inside of me ever so slowly.

“How about your boyfriend? Or your lover?”

“HA! Not happen.” He rolled his hips against mine and I moaned. “Yes!”

“Yes, you will call me your boyfriend or lover?”

“No, that was a yes to what you just did. Boyfriend, no, we’ve been on one date. That does not make you my boyfriend. Lover, maybe, but that makes me feel weird. How about fuck buddy?” He was just getting ready to slam his body into mine and he stopped.

“Not your fuck buddy,” he replied. “I believe we have a bit more of a connection than just two people who scratch an itch for each other.”

“Then you are my friend, Harry and when it’s work related my client.”

“I’m going to make sure that I change the way you’re referring to me,” he said before slamming his hips hard against mine repeatedly.

“Whatever you say, buddy.” I was very quickly realizing that the ability to speak was going to leave me soon. His movements became faster and I screamed louder this time. “Oh god! Oh Harry!”

“I love the way you scream my name,” he said. I wanted to laugh. I loved dirty talk as much as the next girl but that was such a cheesy line that I was going to have to try hard not to laugh at him during sex. I’d discovered over time the three things that were bad to do during sex were laugh, cry, and fall asleep. I’d done them all at some point. I liked Harry enough to bite the inside of my lip to appear sexy and not like I was stifling laughter.

“Harry, baby, I’m really close,” I breathed out. That’s when I felt his hand creep back between my legs. He started to rub my clit as his hips hit mine. Every muscle in my body contracted and twitched at his touch. My was heart beating so fast as his movements had gone from seemingly thought out to erratic. I’d suddenly I lost the ability to speak, I knew he liked that I was vocal about . My head tilted back and I’m sure I looked like I was yelling because I felt like I was yelling, but I couldn’t speak or breathe. I could feel his body tense as his orgasm hit him and a short time later his body fell on top of mine. He breathed heavily in my ear as I tried to catch my breath. “Full confession. That was the best fucking way to get a morning workout in that I’ve ever tried.” It was okay now to laugh so I did.

“Agreed,” he replied. “I don’t even want to move.”

“Neither do I but we need to shower. We are now sweaty and gross. Yay workout!”

“We could conserve water and shower together?”

“We need to be quick. Eliza will be here soon. Coffee, workee.” He laughed in my ear before kissing me.

“Quick shower then we’ll go head downstairs. While you two go over your day I’ll make us breakfast.”

“And you just made this morning better.” I kissed him before pushing him off of me on the bed and heading into the bathroom. He was on my heels quickly and it wasn’t long before we were in the shower. It seemed oddly normal to pass the shampoo and soap between each other with a kiss. I was a bit creeped out by how comfortable we were becoming with each other. This wasn’t a level you should reach with someone after a few days and technically, one date, but for some reason it didn’t seem weird when he took the handheld shower head and used it to rinse my hair and help me get a knot out of my long hair. We threw on some clothes and I didn’t bother to do my hair, it was a day to let the natural texture of my hair have it’s moment. I put a little makeup on as he messed around with his hair and we headed downstairs.

“What do you want for breakfast?”

“I don’t care,” I replied. We got in view of the living room. “Hello Eliza Joy. Did you find it okay?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t difficult.” She was going through her email. “You could’ve fucked a little faster so I could get the wifi password though, my phone is struggling to play hotspot today. Oh and E, I’ve never heard you scream like that and I’ve been your roommate since we were 20. I’m sort of proud.”

“It was worth the vocal acrobatics. So worth it.” Harry turned to look at me and seemed a little shocked. I bent forward to kiss him and shove him so he’d walk down the rest of the stairs. “You walked in on us in the bathroom the other day while I was explaining the first night we had sex to my roommates, dude. You know we talk about literally everything there’s never been a secret between us. Like I can look at her and say, Eliza Joy, it’s been a while since you had a boyfriend. Have you propositioned Ty for sex recently?”

“Last week after a bottle of wine. Bastard of course likes the same kind of men I do but does not like me..”

“Do I need to get you batteries for your vibrator?”

“I have some and you hadn’t had sex in a longer period of time than I had. I may not have had a boyfriend in the last few months but that doesn’t mean I don’t have guys that I can sleep with. I’m happy to know the cobwebs have been sufficiently cleared from your vag though.”

“You two are sort of vulgar. This is entertaining and also sort of hot,” Harry said laughing. Most guys were intimidated by the fact that Eliza and I spoke so openly like this. Drew had never gotten used to the idea that Eliza knew everything about our relationship down to the freckle on his ass.

“Get used to it. You’ve seen me with Kam. We are bad, Eliza and I are worse.”

“So much worse,” Eliza said. “We learned from the best. Our mothers do the same thing.”

“Really?” Harry asked.

“Yeah,” I replied. “My Mom and Eliza’s Mom were college roommates. They are still best friends and do everything together. We have been best friends since the womb.” I picked up the coffee that Eliza had brought for me and then handed Harry his cup. I laid down on the couch propped up by a few pillows. Harry sat down between my legs and rested his head on my chest. “There is pretty much nothing she doesn’t know.”

“You have four nipples,” Eliza said.

“That’s pretty much public knowledge.”

“I didn’t know that until she told me on Tuesday when I brought her coffee after you finally left her office.” She was being kind to me by leaving out the plethora of other things I’d told her. That first morning over coffee I spilled everything to Eliza in one long run on sentence that didn’t make a whole lot of sense. But she was who I talked to about everything. While I had a boyfriend for six years Eliza had enjoyed the company of several eligible bachelors in the Chicagoland area.

“But seriously, I really don’t keep anything from her so I hope you aren’t pissed off about that. And while we may share information we don’t share men so don’t get any ideas. I’ve had people suggest it. Didn’t go over well.”

“I wouldn’t dare suggest that. It’s stupid to assume that because you’re close friends that you’d do that. And no I’m not pissed off about the fact that you tell your best friend everything. I have friends that I have those sort of conversations with as well. Everyone does.” He started to get comfy between my legs as Eliza started to go through the list of voicemails that we had this morning and who I should probably return calls to. I picked up my phone to look through for an email when I saw a text from Kammi.

Work from home does not mean stay in bed all morning and have sex. Get your ass to work you fucking slacker.

“You called Kammi?” I asked.

“No, she called me. She wanted to borrow that necklace I got in Paris on our last trip and couldn’t find it this morning when she stopped at home. She asked what you were doing, I told her that your most recent words were ‘oh god oh god oh Harry’ and I think that was pretty word for word on what you’d said.”

“You weren’t exaggerating. And I’m likely not going to hear the end of this tonight.”

“Oh definitely not. Especially not if Nick is coming over after dinner.”

“I thought there were no boyfriends allowed,” Harry said.

“Technically there is not. The shows are re-runs tonight but we still have roommate time. Because we leave for Malibu in the morning Nick will likely stay with us tonight and then just leave with us in the morning and hang out at the office or just meet us at the office to leave. He usually gets a pass on nights like that.”

“Does that mean I can come over tonight?”

“You can stay home tonight, Mister. You shouldn’t get used to sharing a bed with me,”

“But you’ll be gone all weekend and then the next week and a half after that.”

“Don’t whine,” I replied laughing.

“Wait, you aren’t coming to Malibu?” Eliza asked.

“I haven’t been invited,” Harry said looking up at me.

“We all figured you were coming. You should come, there’s more than enough room. E’s master suite is HUGE.”

“I like that the three of you all decided that he was coming.”

“All four, it was actually Nick’s idea according to Kammi.”

“You’re all dead to me.”

“You’ll be having sex, you’ll forget that we are dead to you by the time you’ve put your suitcase down.”

“So do I get to meet you at the office to go to Malibu too?” I groaned.

“We can discuss whether you are coming to Malibu later. Eliza Joy, what do you want for breakfast. Harry is cooking for us.”

“I don’t care. Whatever you both want to eat.” Harry turned to look at me.

“What would you like, love?”

“Whatever is fine. You surprised me yesterday and did a good job.” He moved slightly to kiss me. He pulled back from the kiss smiling at me and kissed me again quickly before standing up to go into the kitchen to start cooking.

“You two are going to get gross fast,” Eliza said.

“Probably,” I answered. “He’s a good kisser so I have no intention on stopping him.”

“So Harry, did you actually text Grace yesterday?” Eliza asked.

“I didn’t text her. I called her,” Harry replied. “She’s a lovely woman. Told me I should come to Chicago next week with you ladies.”

“Seriously? You didn’t tell me that,” I said as I popped up from the couch. “What is with the people in my life inviting you to shit without consulting me.”

“Obviously they know that I’m perfect for you and you should stop fighting it.”

“You are not perfect for me and even if you are you don't know that yet.” I groaned. “Of course my fucking mother invited you to Chicago.”

“She said she wanted to meet the man who finally made her daughter call home about a relationship.”

“She acts like I never call home.”

“She said that yesterday morning was the first time in almost a week that she’d talked to you.” That was actually correct. I’d had a busy few days and hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to Mom. Our calls were usually really long so we survived on text messages and had a weekly phone call date, which was usually Tuesdays and I’d missed this week because I was with Harry. We had talked Friday when I called her about the interview I had on Monday. I needed her to remind me that I don’t sound stupid all of the time.

“She’s going to get another call today because of this bullshit. I can’t believe she invited you. Actually, wait I can. She likes to meddle in my relationships. She’s a mother, it’s what she does.”

“She seems very sweet.”

“Don’t get on her bad side,” Eliza said. “We got in trouble a lot as kids. I feared Grace more than I feared my own Mom. Grace has this terrifying look that she gets. And that damn wooden spoon.”

“The wooden spoon of death is a more accurate name,” I said.

“Wooden spoon?” Harry asked.

“It’s an Italian thing. Nuns used rulers. Italian mothers used wooden spoons. Pops got me a shirt when I turned 18 that said ‘wooden spoon survivor’, Mom threatened to take him out with the wooden spoon when she saw it.”

“It’s nice that your parents appear to get along really well,” Harry said.

“They were best friends when they were married. They grew apart and wanted different things. Didn’t change that they were friends. And they had me so they knew they needed to stay friends. Do yours get along?” I asked Harry. We’d touched briefly on our family lives on our date last night. He had of course looked up all of the information in the world about mine. I knew he had a sister who he was very close with but we were able to dig a little deeper into things since I had allowed last night to be considered a date.

“Not quite that well. You won’t find them traveling to Mexico for a vacation every year.” Eliza laughed. None of my friends found the close relationship between my parents odd, but it was all we’d ever known. “Okay Eliza. What else do I need to do today other than lay here and watch you teach Curly here how to act?”
“I can act!” he protested.

“You think,” I replied laughing. “We will see.”

“Just answer your emails and call Kammi, she’s texted me twice this morning to get on your call sheet.”

“I’ll call her now.” I stood up from the couch and walked to where Harry was in the kitchen. “Call me when breakfast is ready,” I said. He leaned down to kiss me.

“Okay, don’t stay on too long,” he said before kissing me again. I headed to part of the kitchen where I could watch Harry and Eliza but they wouldn’t be able to hear me while I called Kammi. If she had text Eliza to get on my call sheet rather than me there must be something important.

“Scarcello Mackin Entertainment, Kammi Mackin’s office,” Ty answered.

“Hey Ty, it’s E. Why did her cell phone direct to you?” I asked.

“She was having breakfast with her Dad and didn’t want to get disturbed but he just left. Let me transfer you in.” I listened to our hold music for a few moments. We had the best hold music in town. We had our artists all submit acoustic versions of some of their songs and it rotated through a playlist of them.

“Took you long enough to call,” Kammi said.

“Whatever it’s still early.”

“You’ve been avoiding working this morning for sex. Which if you try to do again I’m going to ban you from working from home forever. So, are you going to have Harry just come into the office tomorrow and leave for Malibu with all of us,” she asked.

“What is with all of you assuming he’s going to Malibu?”

“He is,” Kammi said.

“I hadn’t invited him. Eliza basically invited him this morning because you whack jobs all think he should come. And evidently my mother invited him to Chicago next week. So basically all of you suck.”

“He should come to Malibu. I mean what better way to get to know a guy than half naked and half buzzed?”

“I have an idea, not with all of my roommates.”

“Whatever. We all need to get to know him better. So just deal with it and bring him to Malibu. And you probably should bring him to Chicago. It’s going to be a while before you have a chance to get home again. What if he isn’t in the States and doesn’t get to meet Grace?”

“Then Grace can deal with it,” I replied laughing. “We’ve been on ONE DATE. You all are going to have me married off to him by a month at this rate.”

“You don’t normally let people make it past one date, he appears to be on the road to two.”

“Oh my god, I ran into Rachel on the date.”

“How’s the ex-sis doing?”

“Still calling me her sister and pregnant already.”
“Jesus! Really?”

“Yup and she looks so excited about it. I’m happy for her but fuck if I don’t feel like a slacker. You know the minute that my Mom or Dad or worse Nonna Scarcello find out that she is having a baby that I’m going to get asked that every fucking time I see someone.”

“Probably. Though if you brought a boy home to Chicago Nonna would probably leave you alone. She’d know that you have a life and don’t just work 24/7.”

“That’s probably true. Although then I’d constantly have her asking how Harry was. You know how my Nonna gets.”

“I do. So, he’s coming to Malibu?”

“Fuck off. Yes, I’ll tell him to come to Malibu. What is with everyone?”

“You look happy. You’re my best friend. I like seeing you happy.”

“Thanks. Can I admit something very odd for me?”

“Of course,” she said.

“I feel happy.”

“Being happy shouldn’t feel odd.”

“It does. I don’t really know how to deal with this. He makes me smile constantly. Like my face hurts from smiling this much.” Eliza had brought her laptop to the island and was sitting and talking to him while he cooked us breakfast. “He’s making Eliza and I breakfast right now. I don’t get it.”

“Get what?” Kammi asked.

“Why he likes me?” I’d whispered it. Admitting it to Kammi was the first time I’d admitted it to myself.

“Because you’re a fucking catch. You’re absolutely brilliant, hot as fuck, and one of the kindest people I know. I mean you can also be an amazing bitch but sometimes it’s funny to watch because you normally feel terrible when you do it and I can see it on your face. Don’t think so little of yourself, Everlee. You’re amazing and he’s lucky he figured it out before someone else did.”

“Thanks. I don’t like being vulnerable like this. Letting him in is hard. But I like him enough that I want to.”

“Good. You deserve to be happy you know. I get that it’s hard to be vulnerable but you need to be willing to because it’s obvious that he likes you a lot. And maybe this is the circumstance that will work. He might get your life better than anyone else has.”

“You’re right. I know you are. I’m scared because we are like four days in to this and I already like being around him way more than I should. It’s probably a good thing that I’ll be gone for a week and a half. Cause me to slow down and not feel like the idea of sleeping at home tonight it going to suck,” I said laughing.

“Well, I’m excited for a chance to discuss this tonight with everyone present. And I’m also excited for the chance for us to all get to know him this weekend.”

“Yeah,” I replied. “So what did you need on call sheet for?”

“Oh! Yeah, I did totally have a purpose for this! LA Magazine moved the time of the photoshoot on Monday. We will need to be in the office on Monday at 6:00 for hair and makeup. Ty has an entire glam squad scheduled for us.”

“6:00? Ugh. That means we have to come back Sunday night from Malibu. I hate that idea. Especially considering we are flying to New York Tuesday and leave at like 5:00 AM. It almost makes me wish we’d scheduled our flight with the pilot as a Red Eye.”

“We still can if we want to. Let’s talk it over tonight. Nick is making the trip with us and staying at my parents’ house with me. If we are all on board for leaving Monday let’s just flip it and leave late Monday night.”

“Okay. We will talk about it tonight.” Harry walked over to where I was sitting on the counter.

“Breakfast is ready, love,” he said.

“Okay. I’ll be off in a second.”

“Okay.” He leaned in to kiss me. “Hi Kammi. You should’ve come and worked here today too.”

“He’s funny. We’d never get anything done if all four of us were at his house.”

“I know. He is very funny.” He winked at me before kissing me again. “Okay. I’ll see you at home. Eliza and I will be there by 6:00. Let me know if we should pick up dinner.”

“Okay. Ty or I will text you. Good luck today. Hopefully he doesn’t suck at acting or you’re going to have a tough day.”

“That’s the truth. I’ll talk to you later.” I hung up the phone and jumped off of the counter walking over to Harry and Eliza. We ate breakfast together before they got to work. I would leave the room whenever I needed to make a phone call but I watched Eliza work through scenes with Harry. Thank god he was actually pretty good, especially for someone who had never really acted. It was also nice to see how far Eliza had come. She was tremendous as an acting coach and would make a great one full-time if she ever decided to give up acting. I was prepared that this new show would steal her away from me and had started trying to figure out what would come next for me without her. I hated the idea of working with someone other than Eliza but I would never want to prevent her from growing in her career because she was a fucking badass.

“Do you really have to stay at home tonight?” Harry asked as I was picking up all of my stuff from his bedroom. Eliza had left and was picking up dinner on the way home.

“I do,” I replied. “I need to pack for Malibu and so do you.”

“Are you sure you want me to go? It is soon to be having a weekend away together.”

“I’m sure I want you to go. You got to know Eliza a little bit today but were working. This weekend will be a chance to get to know all of my roommates. And we can spend some time together and get to know each other more.” He was sitting on the bed watching me move around the room.

“Okay. I just don’t want to pressure you into bringing me just because your roommates think I should come.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him. I straddled his lap and sat looking him in the eyes. Man he had gorgeous eyes. “I want you to want me to come.”

“I want you to come to Malibu. Meet me at the office at 10:00 tomorrow morning. Or you can come earlier and hang out with Nick. I’m sure he’ll be in my office most of the morning.” I leaned forward to kiss him as he hugged me tightly. He still looked unsure. “I want you to come.”

“Okay. I’ll pack tonight so that I can meet you in the morning.”

“It’s supposed to be nice weather. Bring stuff to be outside. The house is awesome. And if you’d prefer not to stay with me there are enough bedrooms that you don’t have to share a room. You’re right it is soon to be taking a weekend away together but I’m going to admit that I’m excited about it.”

“You are?” he asked. He instantly looked excited, like a kid on Christmas.

“I am. Maybe we can even do dinner while we are there, just us.”

“Like a second date?”

“Like a second date.” I started laughing. “I am going to be gone for a while. We should probably have one of those before I leave for New York and Chicago.”

“We should.” He kissed me again before nuzzling into where my neck and shoulder met. “I don’t think I’m ready to let you leave.”

“I have to. Roommate night.”

“I know. I get it. I just rather like you sleeping in my bed.” He was mumbling into my skin which made me giggle.

“Tomorrow and we get to sleep in my bed.”

“I know. Okay, finish gathering your stuff. The longer I hold you the less likely I’m going to be to let you go.” He kissed me and I stood up. I went into the bathroom and threw the last of my makeup into the bag. Harry was standing in the doorway waiting when I came back into the bedroom. He pulled me into a hug again. “I’ll come to the office tomorrow early. Nick and I can hang out. I should get to know him better.”

“You’re really sweet.”

“I’m trying, just like you. You are trying to open up and let me in. I’m going to try to be sweet and not just talk about how you have a nice ass.” I leaned back as my jaw dropped. He had managed to be relatively sweet all day and there it was. His cocky sense of humor that unfortunately was sexy as hell.

"You are such an ass.”

“You think I’m funny. You’re smiling.”

“I may think you’re funny but I also think you’re an ass.” I started towards the stairs and down to the main level of the house.

“You do have a nice ass,” he said as he followed me. I held my hand up, flipping him off. I couldn’t help but also laugh. He kept me on my toes if nothing else. I grabbed my bag with my laptop off of the floor in the kitchen and my purse off of the counter.

“I feel like a fuckin’ bag lady.”

“You do have a lot of bags.”

“Clearly I need to focus on packing in fewer items for this weekend. Which I need to go home and do.”

“Fine, I’ll let you leave.” He hugged me again, bending down to kiss me. Unlike the kisses upstairs this one wasn’t just a series of simple kisses. I felt it in my fingers and my toes. I nearly dropped all of my bags too. “Text me and let me know you get home okay.”

“It’s just across Los Angeles, dude.”

“Still.”

“Fine. I’ll text you and let you know I get home okay.” After one final kiss I walked towards the door and out into the driveway. I put my bags in the back of my Range Rover and opened the door to climb in. As I sat down I saw Harry was still standing in the doorway watching me to my car. I smiled and waved at him before turning and pulling out of the driveway. I knew it was sort of time to come clean with my father, so I went through the motions to call him.

“Hey kiddo,” he answered.

“Hey Pops. How was the office today?”

“Good, still here. Getting stuff finished up to head to dinner with Cameron since he leaves in the morning to head back to New York. How did your working day at Harry’s go?”

“Really well, kid oozes talent and charisma. Eliza helped him work through his audition for the Nolan film and we have an audition and meeting schedule for him Monday. It’s the one he has his heart set on but she worked through a few more with him. Pops, I’m gonna lose her someday. What will I do without Eliza?”

“You’ll be okay and you’ll both be doing what you love.”

“I know but she basically runs my life. I’ll be lost for a while.”

“You might be. So Malibu this weekend?”

“Yup, we are all working until like 11:00 tomorrow and then heading up. Are you planning on coming this weekend?” I asked. Please say no. Please say no. Please say no. Please say no.

“I thought I’d head up Saturday to spend some time at the house and have dinner with all of you kids. Not sure I’ll stay too long though. Is it just the roommates or is Nick coming?”

“Nick is coming and we all decided to invite Harry too.”

“That’s a great idea. Show him a good time for a weekend and relax him before his meeting Monday. And it gives all of you a chance to help him a little more.” Not what I was thinking but alright.

“Yeah, we thought it was a good chance for him to get to know all of us. We are all coming back on Sunday and tonight we are deciding if we are going to wait until Tuesday morning to fly to New York or if we are rescheduling the jet and going on Monday as a Red Eye so I can be in New York Tuesday morning to get work done.”

“Whatever you guys decide is great. But don’t worry about working yourself too hard. Your meetings are just Wednesday and Thursday is a chance for you to meet with your New York team. Then Friday your mother expects you home before the boys are home from school.”

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“We talked this morning. She was checking to see if she should plan on me being at the birthday dinner on Friday.”

“Will you be?” It wasn’t completely odd to have Pops home when I was. It meant he got to see Nonna and Papa.

“I won’t. I’m not going to head home this time. Your grandparents are busy most of the weekend with though your Nonna says you need to stop at the house to see her.”

“Of course I will. I’ll call her before I get in town Friday. I’m there until Wednesday morning. So I’ll have time to see them.”

“I forgot this was the trip where you were speaking to the Northwestern students. Try to recruit us a few interns while you’re there.”

“Always,” I replied. “Will I see you in the morning?”

“Yeah, I’ll stop in to see all of you before you head to Malibu.”

“Alright. Have a good night with Cameron, Pops. Love you.”

“Love you too, Kiddo.” I hung up the phone and quickly finished the drive. I knew I’d failed. I should’ve just said it. ‘Pops, I’m dating a client. And he’s pretty great.’ But I couldn’t do it. I needed to figure out how. I grabbed my bags and hopped in the elevator to head up to the condo. I sent Harry a text to let him know I was home.

I’m home safe and sound.
Good. You should’ve stayed for dinner.
Roommate dinner.
I know. Have fun with them. Call me before bed.
Miss me already?
I just might.
You’ll be fine.
Call me before you go to bed.
Okay. I will. But I’m home now so…bye!

“I’m home,” I yelled into the condo.

“Living room!” came the yelling voice of my three roommates. I dropped my bags in the entry and went towards them.

“Welcome home,” Ty said. “I don’t know that we recognize you anymore.”

“Fuck off. You all do the same thing when you have boyfriends.”

“Are you calling him your boyfriend?” Kammi asked as I poured myself a glass of wine from the bottle on the coffee table and sat down.

“Fuck no. He tried this morning, I told him no.”

“She didn’t really say no other than that. It was more like ‘yes yes oh god yes!’ over and over,” Eliza said.

“What can I say? The sex is really good.”

“How was the day at his house, EJ?” Kammi asked Eliza. I realized that the Chinese carry out we’d gotten for dinner was also sitting on the coffee table and reached for what I’d ordered and started eating.

“It was fun. He’s really cool guy and he’s really into our girl. I’m actually glad I got a chance to work with him. He’s actually really good. I think he’ll knock his audition out of the park.”

“I hope so, he has his heart set on this role.”

“I can’t believe you came home tonight,” Ty said. “If I were you I would totally have stayed there again tonight. He’s fucking hot.”

“He tried but he knows it’s roommate night. By the way, next week we can do roommate night in Tribeca but we need to vote on if Nick is allowed,” I said.

“He said he’s fine going to visit Kevin and Danielle during roommate night.”

“Let’s take a vote. All okay with Nick being at a special New York edition of roommate night raise your glass,” I said. Everyone except Kammi raised her glass which made her laugh and raise hers. “He’s allowed on a temporary basis next week. After that he will have to continue to petition for conditional acceptance.”

“You’re funny.” Kammi was laughing. She very rarely asked to break the rules of the roommate bond and have Nick included in a Thursday night. We traveled enough that we made special exceptions for when Nick needed to be part of it. “So I do have some news.”

“You better not be pregnant,” Ty said. “You’ve been drinking wine like you’re Jesus doing a reversal and turning it back into water this week.”

“Not pregnant,” Kammi said laughing. “But, I am moving.” My mouth dropped. I hadn’t expect this news. “Nick and I have been talking about it for a while and we sat down with Joe and talked about it as the three of us and I’m moving in with Nick.”

“I’m so happy for you,” I said laying over on the couch and hugging Kammi.

“So which room is mine?” Ty asked.

“Nick figured you’d say that. We will get one of the guest rooms set up so that you can stay with me whenever you want, but it’s just me moving.”

“Fine.” Ty was being pretend grumpy at the idea of Kammi moving without him. “I’ll stay here stuck with these two bitches.”

“You live here for almost nothing,” I said. “I’d like to see two bitches that feed you and put up with your obnoxious ass.”

“You love me, you’d miss me.”

“I would.” I laughed. “So all of you win. Harry is meeting us at the office tomorrow morning to go to Malibu with us.” Ty high-fived Eliza and I started laughing before reaching for a second glass of wine, it was going down perhaps too easy tonight. It had been a stressful, yet fun week. Wine was a requirement tonight. If I have a hangover in the morning it won’t matter, I’ll only be in the office until 10:00 or 11:00.

“I’m glad you weakened,” Kammi said. “I’m surprised you didn’t bring him home.”

“I hadn’t submitted the petition to have him allowed at roommate night. So I thought it was best to leave him at his own home. Plus I’ve stayed there the last three nights and I’ll be gone for a week and a half starting Monday.”

“I forgot you were staying in Chicago longer than we all are,” Kammi said.

“You’re coming?” I asked.

“I am,” Kammi said. “Ty is still trying to decide.”

“It will be a fun week. I got a suite for Jonathan’s birthday, he doesn’t know yet.”

“He will love that,” Eliza said. “And my Mom said that your Mom is going all out for Friday night dinner to celebrate.”

“Ugh, my mother.”

“What?” Ty asked.

“She talked to Harry on the phone yesterday because the ass found her number in my computer that was at his house and called her. She invited him to Chicago.”

“Whoa. Are you taking him?”

“Fuck if I know. We’ve been on one goddamn date. But of course my mother, she thinks he’s cute so she invites him. And since Pops isn’t going home I’ll have to go my Nonna and Papa Scarcello which would be a tremendously bad idea. Nonna would ask if I was marrying him.”

“So leave him at your Mom’s. Oh wait, that might be a worse idea,” Kammi said.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t leave Grace along with a guy I was dating. She’d literally ask every awkward question possible. That would be a fucking nightmare.”

“I would love to watch that,” Ty said. “Almost as much as I can’t wait to see James’ reaction to the fact that you’re dating your newest client.”

“It will be a matter of time. I need to come clean with him at some point. I thought I would try today and I failed, horribly failed.”

“You should maybe wait to tell him,” Eliza said. “Grace is your Mom. Moms get that shit. Dads will immediately want to grill the guy so he doesn’t break the heart of their daughter and make sure that they are aware that if they do, they will break their knee caps.”

“Yeah, I need to figure out how to do it though. I told Harry we could try to go on a second date before I head to New York where it’s just us and not everyone. And I know that Pops is heading up Saturday for a little while. I’m sure he’s bringing whoever he’s currently dating, I don’t know.”

“Isn’t that some b-list actress?” Kammi asked.

“B-list is being kind, I think,” I replied laughing. “Sorry, I don’t really want to get to know her. I should try. But she’s like 35. The idea of my father dating someone that could barely have babysat me as a kid is just weird. Though I should get used to it. The last one he dated was only 37 I think.”

“She was,” Eliza answered. We turned the TV on and started watching Grey’s. Nick perfectly timed arriving with the end of the episode and joined us for the re-run of Scandal. My phone vibrated and I looked down to see a text from Harry.

How is roommate night?
Good. We have already opened our third bottle of wine.
Don’t get too out of hand.
Worried?
Not at all.
Disappointed you might miss out on Drunk E?
Maybe a little. I’ve only met Drunk E once. She was rather fun.
I’m sure you’ll get to see her tomorrow night. MALIBU!
I am all packed. Are you?
Nope. I might just make Ty do it. He knows what I should wear better than I do. And it saves me from doing the work.
I would like to vote that you wear as little clothing as possible.
Why am I not surprised?
I’m a man. You’re a beautiful woman. I can’t help it.

“He’s flirting via text,” I whined. It was official. I was pretty sure I was drunk.

“So invite him over,” Nick said. “You four allowed me in tonight. I think he could be allowed in for the re-runs.”

“Should we take a vote?” Kammi asked.

“Yes,” I said hopefully. I was laying in an oversized chair with my head on one arm and legs draped over the other.

“All in favor of E inviting the Brit over tonight, say aye,” Ty said.

“Aye,” Eliza, Kammi and Nick replied. I clapped excitedly and clicked to call him.

“‘Ello, love,” he answered.

“God you have a sexy voice.”

“Aww, Drunk E.” He started to laugh at me.

“I am. And I’m lonely.”

“You have all of your roommates with you. You aren’t lonely.”

“But I am. You should put your bag in the car and come over here tonight. You can just come to work with me in the morning. You can sleep in my bed.”

“Text me your address and I’ll be over in a few minutes.”

“Yay!” I quickly ended the call and sent him our address. It wasn’t long before the doorbell rang and Ty jumped up to answer the door. I watched as Harry walked in, saw my bags on the floor and dropped his next to them.

“Hello everyone,” he said as he walked over to me. I opened my arms widely so I could hug him and he just laughed at me. “Oh, love. You’re drunk.”

“I am.” He kept laughing as he bent down to kiss me before maneuvering his way in between me and the back of the couch so he was laying with me. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me again.

“And now we have happy Drunk E,” Kammi said.

“We do,” I replied as I snuggled into Harry. “Drunk E likes Harry. He smells good.” Everyone started to laugh at me. His smile was huge as he laughed. His dimples were big enough I’m pretty sure Michael Phelps could win a gold medal in them.

“You smell like a vineyard.”

“Probably. Ty got my favorite wine tonight. I think I’ve had at least one of the bottles by myself.”

“Do I need to take you to bed?”

“Oooo. I like the way you think.”

“To sleep.” He laughed again. “Or make you pack.”

“Drunk E packing is a thing of beauty,” Ty said. “She packed drunk for a trip to New York back in January. She got there and had no underwear and shorts.”

“I really wanted to be packing for a tropical vacation.” I poked Harry in the dimple. “Hi.”

“Hi,” he replied laughing. “You are cute when you’re drunk.”

“I know.”

“We should get you packed.”

“Probably. Ty, do you want to help pack for me for Malibu?”

“Of course,” he said. Harry pushed himself up off of the chair before pulling me up.

“I’m watching this,” Nick said as he stood from the love seat he and Kammi were sharing.

“Ditto,” Kammi and Eliza said at the same time. Everyone headed to my room, I noticed Harry pick up not only his bag but all of mine that were at the door still. He followed me to my room and put them down before laying on the bed.

“You have a comfortable bed,” he said. I climbed on next to him and curled up in his arms, my leg resting in between his.

“You aren’t allowed to lay in bed with him,” Nick said from the chair in my room that he normally occupied when he did his stare at me in my sleep thing.

“Why not?”

“Because it’s YOU we are packing,” Ty said. I pouted at Harry and he pouted back at me. I stood up and started to go through my closet with Ty.

“So are you ready for a weekend with everyone in Malibu?” Nick asked Harry as he sat up on my bed.

“Yeah, I think it will be fun. I’m excited to get to know all of you better.”

“Are you going to Chicago?” Eliza asked.

“Well, Grace did invite me. But I figure I should wait until Evie asks me.” We all turned to look at him. No one called me Evie except my family. Even the people in this room called me Everlee or E, sometimes Ev depending. But it was only family that called me Evie “What?”

“You called her Evie,” Kammi said.

“Yeah?”

“Only her family calls her Evie,” Nick responded.

“Drew didn’t even call her Evie,” Eliza answered.

“Should I not call you Evie?” Harry asked.

“I actually rather like it,” I replied smiling at him. “I like the way you say my name, much like you like the way I scream yours.” I winked at him and his jaw dropped.

“Oh Ev,” Eliza said shaking her head at me.

“Drunk E, go sit down. I’ll pack for you,” Ty said. Everyone ended up sitting except Ty who got me packed. Once we had my weekend of clothes picked which included something to wear for a date at Harry’s request my roommates left the room and I changed into pajamas crawling in bed with Harry.

“I’m glad you invited me over tonight,” Harry said.

“Me too,” I replied as I moved to kiss him.

“Despite you feeling the need to embarrass me in front of everyone.”

“You shouldn’t feel embarrassed. I mean I did almost laugh at you for saying that this morning but I do love the way you say my name. Hottest fucking accent ever.”

“When you scream mine it comes from a fucking gorgeous mouth,” he replied as he leaned in to kiss me again. His hands sliding up under my shirt and rubbing my back. “And as much as I’d love to hear you scream it right now you are drunk and need sleep.”

“Okay.” I pouted. “You owe me buddy.”

“I know.” He kissed me as he hugged me close, rubbing my back and coaxing me to sleep.

Notes