The Design(28)
A gentle knock on my bedroom door distracted me from my dress hunt and I turned to find Hannah standing there with a cup of yogurt in her hand. She peeled off the foil lid and licked it clean as I waved her into my room.
“Heading out?” she asked, eyeing my hair. I’d just finished swooping it into a low knot at the base of my neck.
“Yeah, just a dinner. What about you?” I asked, turning back to my closet. Hannah and I were still working out our boundaries with one another. Living with her was kind of like living alone. She usually got home late after hanging out with friends and I usually got home late from working. In the mornings, we had our walk to work, but she usually liked to check in with her mom then, so really, I was living with a ghost.
That's not to say that I hadn't learned anything about her. I knew that she preferred the thermostat set at freezing temperatures, she had a rule about dishes (namely that she didn’t do them), and she preferred to blast rave music at 6:00 am while she was getting ready for the day.
It wasn’t all bad: she’d left out some chocolate cake the other day and I’d stolen a bite so small that I’d convinced myself she wouldn’t be able to tell. Hey, sometimes you gotta take what you can get.
“Oh, you're off to dinner? Fun. I don’t have any plans tonight. Well, not unless you count binge watching some episodes of Law and Order.”
I frowned at the dresses hanging in front of me. I wanted the dinner to be just Jason, Brooklyn, Grayson, and me, but I also didn’t want to leave Hannah alone by herself. We weren’t really friends, but this would be a good opportunity to get to know her better.
“Why don’t you come with us? It’ll be fun,” I said with a smile. “It’s actually going to be a small group, and Grayson is going.”
“Our boss, Grayson?” she asked with raised brows.
I nodded. “He and my sister are old friends.”
Her brows raised even more. “Your sister the pop star? Oh my god, will Jason Monroe be there too?”
I forgot how weird it was for other people to hang out with my family. To 99.9% of Americans, Brooklyn Heart and Jason Monroe were the new “it” couple in Hollywood, the stars they saw splashed across magazine covers in disgustingly cutesy poses when they checked out at the grocery store.
“Yes, Jason will be there too,” I answered, trying to downplay the whole situation. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
“Oh my god! Let me just get dressed really quick.”
…
Two hours later, as I watched Hannah put her hand on Grayson’s shoulder for the third time since our appetizers had arrived, I deeply, deeply regretted inviting her. Why did I have to care? I should have let her watch SVU reruns until her eyes popped out. Because of my need to be friendly and polite, I’d all but set myself up to be the fifth wheel in heels.
As soon as we arrived, I knew the evening would be a disaster. The fancy French restaurant placed our group at the best table in the house: a secluded corner with low ambient lighting. But what good did that do me if I wasn’t even sitting beside Grayson? When we’d arrived at the table and chosen seats, Grayson scooted in beside Jason and then Hannah claimed the chair next to him so fast that I was left wondering if she had some kind of superhuman speed. No, really. I’d stood next to the table for a second, watching the four of them take their seats, cozy as fucking bugs in a rug. I’ll spare you the terrible details, but for the first thirty minutes of dinner, I had to listen to Hannah monopolizing Grayson’s every breath with her stories from college, her stories about growing up, and her favorite things about working at his firm.
Wow, keep telling him it’s a coincidence that you both love hazelnut creamer in your coffee. There's hazelnut, and there’s vanilla. By that logic, you're also soulmates with smelly Gary from finance.
I peered at Hannah from beneath my lashes just as she subtly hiked her skirt up another inch on her thighs. Grayson was chatting with Jason about investments or something equally as boring, and Hannah was using the opportunity to her advantage. Why oh why had I invited her?
“So Grayson, have you ever been down to South America?” Hannah asked, cutting off his conversation with Jason. “Because I went down there with my college’s architecture club. Our original mission was to build a school, but instead the kids taught us that you don’t need four walls and a dingy old desk, you can learn from anywhere.”
“Wait, so did you end up building the school for them?” Brooklyn asked.
Hannah shot her a glare. “No. We lost time because it rained the first day, so everyone decided to spend our last four days touring the ruins down there instead. Anyway, Grayson, the ruins are even better in real life. You absolutely have to take a trip there.”